And when self-oscillation takes off, it quickly becomes destructive (slashed speakers anyone?). ThereвЂ™s something about the echoes (particularly at shorter settings) that is reminiscent of a magnetic drum echo like an Echorec вЂ“ fluttery and metallic. Setting the feedback to the brink of oscillation and rolling back the delay level so that it sits nicely under your guitar in the mix will give you a wonderful, cavernous bed of lo-fi repeats to float upon. But itвЂ™s when you take each of these parameters to their extremes that the pedal really shines. With just three knobs to work with (feedback, delay level and delay time), you might assume the sounds itвЂ™s capable of are fairly limited. The Micro Dream delay is another prime example. But somehow, all these sounds are really useable, and probably some of the best you can coax from the pedal. Fully clockwise ,В it will make it sound like youвЂ™re playing your guitar through a 5-watt practice amp thatвЂ™s been thrown off a bridge. But fully counter-clockwise itвЂ™ll make your amp sound like itвЂ™s been locked in a safe and dropped to the bottom of the ocean. For much of the tone spectrum, youвЂ™ll find creamy, wall-of-noise distortion (a little bit Big Muff-ish, albeit way more aggressive and unstable). The tone knob is the heart and soul of the pedal.

Chunky as hell, with giants knob and a sloppy silkscreened design, players may be duped into thinking itвЂ™s some kind of Big Muff appropriation (like so many others out there), and while it most certainly it can get you into Muff territory, itвЂ™s so much more than that. Perhaps Death by AudioвЂ™s most distinguished offering (favoured by fuzz lords Ty Segall and John Dywer), the pedal is a beast. Vincent, Kevin Shields, The Black Angels, Radiohead, Death from Above, and Animal Collective, just to name a fewвЂ¦ And this is no doubt the reason that theyвЂ™ve become central to the sound of some of the most interesting artists out there today вЂ“ The Oh SeesвЂ™ John Dwyer, Ty Segall, St. To force you to explore tones you didnвЂ™t know existed, or that you never thought would fit into your вЂsoundвЂ™. While their pedals are most definitely capable of more traditional tones, this probably isnвЂ™t why you would buy one. The guiding principal of the Death by Audio philosophy is extremity вЂ“ they are sonic extremists. The point is that nothing is superfluous вЂ“ everything has its place, everything is entirely useable, and everything begs to be used. They force you to be more creative with your playing and explore ways your guitar and amp and other stompboxes interact with the pedal, rather than simply allowing it to overwhelm your playing.ДonвЂ™t get me wrong through, their simplicity by no means equates to mundanity some of the parameters on their pedals are the strangest on the market вЂ“ from an вЂAltitudeвЂ™ knob on a rever b to introduce gain, to a plethora of filter controls on a fuzz. The virtue of DBAвЂ™s pedals is their simplicity. While having heaps of features to play around with is great, they can be hugely detrimental to the player, who gets sucked into fiddling with knobs rather than fiddling with their guitar. All the hard work is done for you and hidden under the hood. ThereвЂ™s no screens, no complicated interfaces, no expression pedal options or MIDI compatibility. They donвЂ™t mess around with DSP technology вЂ“ most of their pedals are two or three knob affairs, maybe a switch or two, and rugged as youвЂ™d ever want. True, the same can be said for a bunch of great pedal builders working today. With few prospects on the horizon, he built a couple of pedals based on a prototype heвЂ™d been working on, knowing that if a dozen or so sold, heвЂ™d be in the clear.В That pedal was the Total Sonic Annihilation. As the story goes, Ackerman was trying to scrape together some cash to take a trip to Europe with his girlfriend. The company was started back in 2002 by Oliver Ackerman (who later fronted NYC noise band A Place To Bury Strangers).

Right from from the get-go, Death by Audio were different. HereвЂ™s why their pedals sound like nothing else out there. Death By Audio are one of the few pedalmakers doing what many try to do, but that actually succeed вЂ“ make gear that is completely unique. In a nutshell, thereвЂ™s nothing else like their pedals out there. And in this respect, Death By Audio stick out like a sore thumb (in the best possible way). That being said, there are builders out there doing incredible stuff вЂ“ challenging the status quo or dismantling it all together.

Death by audio overload