We’re not big fans of limited editions – if it’s that good, why not let everyone have a go? Luckily,EarthQuaker Devicesseems to have come round to that way of thinking with the Special Cranker.
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This medium-gain overdrive, an evolution of the old Speaker Cranker, was first launched in a run of just 100 units for the Japanese market a year ago. But now it’s going global, and that’s good news for tonehounds everywhere. In fact, it’s great news.
我们在这里得到的是对传奇的伊莱克电路的看法，而这是一个形容词是合理的，因为electra是一个从未真正存在的踏板。该简单的电路不是为脚踏箱而设计的，而是用于在70年代后期安装的一个模块，在数十年后，它是DIY Builders的模板，几乎消失了。
反过来，这导致了许多精品店致敬，包括发言人曲柄。但是，尽管EQD的第一个努力遵循了单个控制旋钮的原始公式，但它通过提供三个控件的音调奢华以及用于葡萄园或硅片剪切二极管的拨动开关来震撼人心。
We’re told the Special Cranker also has additional gain on tap when you crank the transistor-biasing ‘more’ knob. The basic idea remains the same, though: asymmetrical hard clipping with the promise of natural amp-like drive and supreme sensitivity to the player’s touch.
Incidentally, there is one difference between this pedal and the Japan-only version of last year: the paint job. For our money this acidic orange and yellow colourway is at least four times less appealing than the dapper black and gold of the original, but we won’t be complaining if the sounds are golden.
In use
If you have an unfortunate friend who doesn’t get on with overdrive pedals because they sound too much like overdrive pedals, this might just be the cure. It’s supposed to crunch up like someone’s smuggled an extra gain stage into your amplifier, and that’s exactly what it does.
Starting in silicon mode with all three controls aimed skywards, we get a rich and meaty medium-gain drive that you’d probably file under ‘transparent’ simply because, in EQ terms, it’s not changing much. But that’s not really the point. More than anything, it’s the playing feel that puts the ‘Special’ in this pedal’s name.
它的触摸敏感与超速驱动可能一样，从某种意义上说，与我们的旁路音调相比，对选择动态的响应能力的丧失基本上为零。保留了该干净信号的每个细微差别，而可以通过吉他的音量旋钮轻松控制驱动器的数量。
The gain range is broad enough, from a slight scuzzing up with the right-hand dial at minimum to something more like a cooking tweed monster at full blast, while the tone control serves up pleasing shades of treble attenuation just about all the way around.
Flipping over to germanium clipping isn’t exactly a game changer but it does make things a tad more soft and smudgy in the midrange. This could prove a handy precision tool in the quest to find the perfect balance between sweetness and presence.
EarthQuaker makes a lot of stompboxes and they tend to be pretty good, but the company’s recent output in the field of natural-voiced overdrive has been so consistently great it’s starting to get a bit annoying. And this one is right up there with the best of them.
Key Features
- PRICE£109
- DESCRIPTIONOverdrive pedal, made in USA
- CONTROLS级别，更多（驱动器），音调，锗/硅剪裁开关
- FEATURESTrue bypass with Flexi-Switch latching/momentary switching; powered by 9-volt mains supply only
- DIMENSIONS126 x 67 x 57mm
- CONTACTearthquakerdevices.com,audiodistributiongroup.com
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