Earthquaker Gary - Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz and Dynamic Natural Overdrive *Authorized Dealer*

The Earthquaker Gary is the latest in a long line of Earthquaker devices that is both perfectly normal.... and totally out there. Truly two pedals in one, the right side of the Gary is the "out there" side: A ripping fuzz in which the attack and sustain qualities are functions of the pedal settings, picking dynamics, and volume settings on the guitar. From endless singing fuzz to glitchy sputter to literally cutting out entirely, the right side of Gary invites plenty of experimentation. It can sound as normal as the fuzzy lead on The Guess Who's American Woman or it can sound as if your amp is having a mental breakdown. The right side of Gary is best suited to single note leads, especially as you turn up the envelope sensitivity. 

In contrast, the left side is a straightforward Op Amp overdrive. At low levels of "Go" it's a transparent boost that imparts very little signal coloration, but can add a ton of volume. As you crank up the Go knob the tone gets gradually thicker and ultimately moves into the distortion zone. The amount of available distortion will not replace your favorite distortion pedal, and the left side is really best thought of as a clean boost that can transition into some nice grit. And of course you can feed the fuzz side into the boost side for even more massive levels fuzz, boost....whatever. 

The Earthquaker Gary is two very different worlds coexisting in the same housing. The left side boost is a high quality multi-purpose boost than could live on anyones's board. The right side of Gary may seem less obvious to some, but it's wide range of tonal options and ability to range from smooth fuzz to schizophrenic sputter means that there is something there for just about everyone. And the fact that you can get two very different functions in a standard format box for $199 is a very compelling proposition. 

In the words of Earthquaker....

EarthQuaker Devices is proud to introduce you to your new best bud, Gary. This little big guy was dreamt up by the one and only Lee Kiernan from the crushing and most necessary band, Idles!

Gary started as a simple request to create a compact version of the now discontinued Gray Channel, which was a mainstay on Lee’s board and a big part of his main drive tone. This was all fine and good, and sounded quite sick, but Gary was demanding that we look deeper and explore his dark side a little more, Gary after dark, Saturday night Gary. So, we sat him down and began the trek of figuring old Gare-Bear out once and for all. The result is a real exercise in light and dark; smooth to shredded and everything in between.

Gary’s right brain consists of a dynamic and destructive fuzz that is both domineering and interactive. It is a ripping fuzz tone with an envelope-controlled variable pulse width and enough volume to blow everything up. This nasty little fuzz turns the signal into a square wave and allows you to dynamically adjust the duty cycle with pick attack. Yes! Controls the sensitivity of the envelope. When this is all the way down you will get an unadulterated thick and heavy square wave fuzz tone 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 you hit it.  As the pulse width narrows, the tone becomes more nasal and biting until it gets so narrow that Gary goes to his dark place and disappears completely. In other words, with higher sensitivity settings, the sound will disappear entirely and come cruising back to Gary’s big guy tone. With proper playing dynamics, this creates a very cool effect that can sound like an exploding amp coming in and out of life, blown through a phase shifter.

This effect can also be controlled with an expression pedal for manual operation or for finding just the right pulse width to cut through the mix for a set-and-forget operation. When using an expression pedal, Yes! operates in conjunction with the expression pedal to set the peak of the sweep. Set Yes! to the desired stopping point and express yourself as you please without worry of taking Gary over the edge!

Controls:

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. For best results, place Gary near the front of the signal chain to get the most dynamic response from the envelope. Once this control gets around noon, the pulse becomes so narrow that the signal will disappear. This is completely normal.

Oosh- Master volume for the fuzz side.

EXP- Controls the pulse width with an expression pedal. This will defeat the internal envelope and allow you to adjust the duty cycle in real time. Note that the Yes! Control remains active when an expression pedal is in use and sets the peak of the sweep, allowing you to fine tune the range.

PRO TIP: Plug a dummy cable into the expression jack to defeat the envelope and use the Yes! Control to hard-set the duty cycle to find your perfect ripping fuzz tone!

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.

Right Footswitch: Fuzz

Left Footswitch: Overdrive

This device features Flexi-Switch® Technology! This relay-based, true bypass switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching style switching.??

- For standard latching operation, tap the footswitch once to activate the effect and then tap again to bypass.??

- For momentary operation, hold the footswitch down for as long as you’d like to use the effect. Once you release the switch, the effect will be bypassed.??

 Since the switching is relay based, it requires power to pass signal.

Power: 

This device requires a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise.

DO NOT RUN AT HIGHER VOLTAGES!

Current Draw: 20 mA