Electro-Harmonix has unveiled the Ripped Speaker, a fuzz pedal which pays homage to one of the ways that early distorted guitar and bass sounds were made.
At low fuzz settings the Ripped Speaker emulates the lo-fi distortion sounds of yesteryear, the kind of sounds created by a razor blade applied to a speaker cone, a loose tube or a faulty channel on a recording console. With the FUZZ knob dialed up, the sound is transformed and the pedal delivers a modern, fully saturated, searing tone.
Its RIP knob is a bias adjustment which sets the amount of clipping at the top and bottom of the signal. Noon is neutral. As the knob is turned clockwise the pedal produces a hard gating effect and the signal sputters before the gating fully engages. It’s ideal for emulating a dying battery effect. Turning the knob CCW produces a smoother gating effect where the signal fades out quickly.
The TONE knob is an active control providing a tilt-shift type EQ. That means at noon the EQ is flat. As you turn the knob counter-clockwise the bass frequencies are boosted and the treble is cut. Going clockwise boosts the treble frequencies and cuts the bass.
The Ripped Speaker features true bypass switching, comes equipped with a 9 Volt battery and accepts a standard EHX 9 Volt power supply. It features a USA street price of $99.00.
