Electro-Harmonix has unveiled its latest fuzz pedal, the Ripped Speaker.
Paying homage to the earliest iterations of distorted guitar and bass tones – which were achieved by using a faulty channel on a recording console, or, as the name suggests, slashing a speaker cone with a razor blade à la the Kinks' You Really Got Me – the pedal boasts a simple four-knob configuration, with controls for Volume, Tone, Fuzz and RIP.
The Volume and Fuzz dials naturally set the level and amount of fuzz, while the Tone knob offers a tilt-shift-type EQ. In other words, with the knob at noon, the EQ is flat, while turning it counter-clockwise or clockwise either boosts the bass frequencies and cuts the trebles or boosts the trebles and cuts the bass, respectively.
The RIP is a bias adjustment control which sets the amount of clipping applied to the top and bottom of the signal. At noon, the effect is neutral; turning the knob clockwise produces a sputtered gating effect, while turning it counter-clockwise generates a smoother gating effect.
The Ripped Speaker is available now for $99. For more information, and to hear audio examples, head over to Electro-Harmonix.
