EarthQuaker Devices has unveiled its latest creation, the Gary fuzz pedal, a collaborative effort with Lee Kiernan of IDLES.
The Gary pedal was born from Kiernan’s desire for a compact version of the discontinued Gray Channel pedal, which is a key component of his rig. However, the collaboration quickly evolved into something more, resulting in a gleefully bipolar expression of dark fuzz and fluid overdrive.
The Fuzz Side:
The fuzz side of Gary is a high-gain, pulse-width modulated monster that can deliver sounds ranging from a thick, saturated wall of sound to a more focused, biting tone. The “Yes!” knob controls the sensitivity of the envelope, allowing players to dial in a wide range of fuzz tones, from subtle to extreme.
The real grime and grit comes in when the fuzz turns the signal into a square wave, enabling the player to dynamically adjust the duty cycle depending on the pick attack. The “Yes!” knob controls the sensitivity of the envelope. When turned all the way down, an unadulterated thick and heavy square wave fuzz tone results that will sustain for days and go dead quiet when you stop playing. As you increase the Yes! control, the envelope becomes more interactive, and the pulse width narrows the harder the strings are hit, creating a nasty nasal and biting tone until it gets so narrow that Gary goes to his dark place and disappears completely. In other words, the sound will disappear entirely with higher sensitivity settings until the player sends it crashing back like a tidal wave. Creative manipulation of the settings can create a sound that an only be described as an alternately exploding and imploding amp blown through a phase shifter.
The Overdrive Side:
The overdrive side of the Gary’s personality is more sedate, offering a warm, organic tone that can add grit and sustain to a relatively clean sound. The “Go” knob controls the amount of gain, while the “That’s It” knob adjusts the overall volume.
simple and natural sounding overdrive that keeps your tone lively and drives your amp crazy. This side is based on the green channel of our Gray Channel, which is our take on the classic little yellow overdrive that started it all for us. Lee used this pedal with the clipping switch permanently set to the middle position, which removes all the diodes from the circuit, producing a full-bodied, cutting opamp distortion with plenty of volume on tap. We have reproduced that tone here with exacting precision. Go sets the opamp drive and can range from a simple full-range clean boost all the way up to a smooth and natural distortion. In conjunction with That’s It, which is the master volume for the drive side, you can use Gary’s softer side as a clean boost to push your amp into overdrive or turn up Go and use all of Gary’s internal magic to create the finely tuned dirt you desire.
Go: Gain control for the overdrive. Turn this up to increase the opamp gain to a thick and full distortion, or turn it down and turn up That’s It to use it as a clean boost.
That’s It: Master volume for the overdrive side.
Left Footswitch: Overdrive
Yes!: Sets the sensitivity for the envelope that controls the duty cycle for the square wave fuzz. The envelope is highly dependent on the level of the incoming signal, which can be affected by any gain pedals in front of Gary, pickup strength, source instrument, etc.
Oosh: Master volume for the fuzz side.
Right Footswitch: Fuzz
In short, the Gary pedal is a tribute to the twisted creativity of Lee Kiernan and the innovative powers of EarthQuaker Devices that can create a wide range of sounds, from classic rock to modern punk. It’s yet another high-quality effect that lives up to the versatility and innovation of its creators. Our only real question: Who the fuck is Gary?
