sunn Life Pedal EarthQuaker Instruction Manual
- June 12, 2024
- sunn
Table of Contents
Pedal EarthQuaker
Instruction Manual OPERATION MANUAL
Life Pedal EarthQuaker
Sunn O))) and EarthQuaker Devices are pleased to bring you the Life Pedal
Volume III. The Life Pedal V3 circuit has been meticulously tweaked from the
original to squeeze every last drop of heavy crushing tone available. The
octave section has been fine tuned to make it more pronounced without losing
the bottom end and we added a third footswitch, utilizing Flexi-Switch
Technology ® , for the octave to allow an additional method of quick and
radical tone shaping. We are excited to have this back in permanent
production, it is a true labor of love.
Birth of a Life Pedal
In the writing sessions for Life Metal Stephen & Greg worked extensively
shearing their tones toward a broader energy spectrum over high powered
saturation and across planes of sonic character, with the ambition to take
full advantage of Steve Albini’s (the recording engineer for the album)
exacting capture skills.
The results are astounding: there is breadth and luminosity of colour, vast
sonic cosmoses, fleshes abstract colour (synthetic and objective) through
resulting themes which emerged from the mastered depths of saturation and
circuits between the two players and their mountains of gear.
The Life Pedal is designed to represent the core front endchain used in those
sessions, to drive the tubes of the band’s multiple vintage Sunn O))) Model T
amplifiers (ortake your fancy) into overload ecstasy. This is a 100w tub amp
full stack’s holy dream, or its apostate nightmare.
An octave fuzz inspired by the Shin-Ei FY2 & FY6 units leads the circuit into
a brutal big box rodent inspired distortion, recreated with the best
components,and including a three-way clipping switch (OpAmp,Asymmetric &
Symmetric). Second stage is a purely clean boost to further overdrive the
preamp tubes of your vintage system into -scaped harmonics, and feedback
overtone bliss.
Chasms are cleared, mountains sheared, glaciers calved, novæ birthed. Vintage
valve amplifiers recommended. We hope you transcend.
Designed and manufactured by EarthQuaker Devices in the dark corridors of
Akron, Ohio.
What is it?
Life Pedal is a distortion with a blendable analog octave up and a booster
combined in one compact package. The “Amplitude” side is faithfully modeled
after the classic “White Face” distortion unit, using modern, reliable
components to last a lifetime. The only modifications made to the original
circuit are in the clipping section. The traditional circuit uses a single
pair of silicon diodes for a tight, compressed crunch. The Life Pedal
introduces two additional clipping options to better adapt to different rigs.
The first position is no diodes to allow for full, grinding OpAmp assault at
maximum volume. The second position utilizes two silicon diodes and one LED in
an asymmetrical clipping configuration. This delivers a slightly compressed
and smooth crunch, similar to a valve amplifier. The last position is the
stock double silicon diode configuration which provides that classic tone you
know and love.
The Octave in Life Pedal is an all-discrete, analog full wave rectifier base
on a classic vintage design. Located at the input of the circuit, the Octave
control slowly blends in the octave effects as you turn it clockwise. This
feature can also be used via expression control allowing for wild, hands-free
octave swells mid-riff. Because this is an analog octave effect, it is
monophonic and works best playing single notes above the twelfth fret while
using the neck pickup. Playing chords with the analog octave will sound
clanging and chaotic. Using the bridge pickup and playing below the twelfth
fret will produce a very subtle octave effect. Going full Octave transforms
Life Pedal from a simple distortion device into a swelling, raging fuzz
similar to the classic Super Fuzz!
The “Magnitude” section of Life Pedal is a simple all-discrete MOSFET booster
designed to blast your preamp tubes and drive them wild. It is a 100% clean,
nononsense, high impedance booster that adds very little color to your tone.
It does not add distortion on its own but has plenty of output to push your
amp into saturation.
The signal path goes Octave > Distortion > Boost. The octave distortion and
booster can be used independently with their own respective footswitches. The
Petrine Cross is the octave distortion and the Christian Cross is the booster.
Controls
Octave: This blends in the analog octave as you turn it clockwise.
Distortion: Turn clockwise for more distortion, counterclockwise for
less. This provides about +60dB of gain.
Filter: This is a low pass filter with a frequency response from around
500Hz to 30kHz. Turn counterclockwise for more high-end, clockwise for less.
Amplitude: Output volume for the octave distortion side. Clockwise for
more hearing loss, counterclockwise for a healthy life in old age.
Clipping Switch:
- OpAmp: No diodes to allow for full, grinding OpAmp assault at maximum volume.
- Asymm: Utilizes two silicon diodes and one LED in an asymmetrical clipping configuration. This delivers a slightly compressed and smooth crunch, similar to a valve amplifier.
- Symm: This is the stock double silicon diode configuration which provides that classic tone you know and love.
Magnitude: This is the output volume for the booster. Clockwise to blow
up your amp, counterclockwise if you are a baby. Unity is somewhere right
around noon on the dial.
Amplitude Footswitch: Distortion Activator Magnitude
Footswitch: Boost Activator
Octave Footswitch: Octave Activator
Octave EXP: Connect any expression pedal to this input to control the
analog octave blend. Before inserting the expression pedal, make sure the
pedal is powered off.
Power
This device take a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative
center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-
wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make
extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power.
Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and nonpenal specific power
supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. DO
NOT RUN AT HIGHER VOLTAGES!
Current Draw: 15 mA
Octave Distortion: Input impedance: 1 MΩ /
Output impedance: <1 kΩ
Booster: Input Impedance: 500 kΩ /
Output Impedance: <1 kΩ
Flexi-Switch® Technology
This device features Flexi-Switch Technology! This relay-based, true bypass
switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching-style
switching.
- For standard latching operation, tap the footswitch once to activate the effect and then tap again to bypass.
- For momentary operation, hold the footswitch down for as long as you’d like to use the effect. Once you release the switch, the effect will be bypassed. Since the switching is relay-based, it requires power to pass signal.
Warranty
This device has a limited lifetime warranty. If it breaks, we will fix it.
Should you encounter any issues, please visit
www.earthquakerdevices.com/warranty.
www.earthquakerdevices.com
©2022 EarthQuaker Devices LLC
EQDLIFEV3EU-R0
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
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