Released as a Reverb exclusive to celebrate the 13th year anniversary of A Place to Bury Strangers’ wall-of-sound-breaking “Exploding Head” LP, the Death By Audio Exploding Head Echo Destroyer is another sonically murderous pedal by the Brooklyn-based builder.
Featuring three delay circuits connected in series, each with controls for Time, Feedback and Blend, this is a wild stereo pedal that can also be subjugated, if needed, into regular old-time echo effects like slapbback or, you know, regular repeats (by just turning two of the three Blend knobs to zero).
But, needless to say, the pedal shines when it’s allowed to showcase its aural perversions, which are on full display when the Infinity footswitch is pushed: it momentarily feeds the output of the third delay into the first one, creating multi-feedback sonic… arousal. The Blend knob in the black channel controls the volume of this feedback.
Only 500 units will be printed of this stompbox, and each will come with a 13th anniversary double LP of A Place To Bury Strangers’ Exploding Head.
Check out what Death By Audio owner and A Place To Bury Stranger founder Oliver Ackermann has to say about it, in the video below.
Death By Audio Head Echo Destroyer, Builder’s Notes
Back in 2009, A Place To Bury Strangers released their first major label album, Exploding Head. Recorded at Death By Audio studios in New York, the record was lauded for its shoegaze-inspired layers of sound. Now, in celebration of the record’s 13th birthday, that sound has been recreated in a single, aptly named effect: the Death By Audio Exploding Head.
The brand describes the otherworldly pedal as a “triple delay dream maker/destroyer system in an ultra-small footprint.” It features three delay circuits connected in series, all with their own individual controls over delay parameters like multi-tap echoes, feedback, noise, slapback, swells, and more.
The Exploding Head also features a stereo output section, so players using a TRS cable can achieve a wide stereo spread of the trio of delays. Here’s a breakdown of the control layout:
- TIME: Controls the time of each delay, from ~10ms to ~600ms.
- FBACK: Controls the number of repeats for each delay. Different amounts of feedback for each delay section can lead to new rhythmic patterns of repeats.
- BLEND: Controls the volume of each delay section. At maximum, the repeats will be louder than the clean signal.
- INFINITY SWITCH: Momentarily feeds the output of the third delay to the first delay, creating a multi-delay feedback network around the individual delays. The first (BLACK) Blend knob controls the volume of this feedback.
These pedals will be limited to just 500 units, and each will come with a 13th anniversary double LP of A Place To Bury Strangers’ Exploding Head, digitally remastered by Oliver Ackermann and pressed on clear vinyl.
