New Earthquaker Devices Zoar Dynamic Audio Grinder Distortion Guitar Pedal

From Earthquaker:

Zoar is a medium-high gain discrete distortion (using only transistors; no opamps or diodes in here!) that has that touch sensitive amp-like quality to it that everyone craves. It has been finely tuned to create a highly tweakable hi-fi and modern sounding distortion, but with the ghosts of old school circuitry to deliver a grind that is both instantly familiar and delightfully unique. Want that defined sparkle and tightness of an overdrive? This has it. Want that low-medium gain fuzz that's perfect for drop tuned guitars and basses? This has it. Want to be able to dial in and control every nuance of your tone from jangly on-the-verge of break up to blowing the walls out heavy saturation? Then this is the pedal for you.

Customize Your Sound
This meticulously crafted box has six knobs that allow you to truly customize your sound with the Level, Weight, Gain, Bass, Middle, and Treble controls. The red LED light indicates when the distortion is activated by the Flexi-Switch enabled footswitch.

The Gain control on Zoar goes from the edge of break up all the way over the cliff into the crunchy, grinding abyss. The character of the distortion is heavily dependent on the setting of the Weight control as well as your guitar's pickup type, and it is further fine-tuned by the EQ section.

Touch-Sensitive Controls
While having its roots in a very familiar past, the passive 3-band EQ has been finely tuned for modern tones. While this style of tone shaping seems simple on the surface, it is deceptively complex and highly interactive.

The 3-band EQ and Gain controls give you nearly unlimited options with great focus and sensitive precision, but the real powerhouse of Zoar is the Weight control. This control dictates the amount of low end that is passed into the circuit, thus controlling the entire character of the pedal. From a mere clean boost to a high gain distortion to overdrive to the crispy Hi-Fi fuzz territory, this function gives you everything.

The Level control hits unity gain around noon, but this is dependent on where the other controls are set. In addition to controlling the output volume, it also plays a small part in the controlling the voice of Zoar.

Running Zoar at 18v
Want to elevate your sonic spirit to a higher level? Try running Zoar at higher voltage! Zoar can handle power up to 18v DC. Higher voltages will yield a different frequency response with more defined dynamics and a faster response.

Controls
Level: Adjusts the output volume.
Weight: An input frequency control that changes the voice and saturation of the distortion.
Gain: Turn clockwise to increase distortion.
Bass: Passive bass control, 0–800Hz +/- 15dB.
Middle: Passive middle control, 500Hz–3kHz +/- 10dB.
Treble: Passive treble control, 1kHz–10kHz +/-15dB.

Dimensions: 4.75 x 2.50 x 2.25 in. (121 x 64 x 57 mm) with knobs
Current Draw: 10 mA

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

Power
This device takes a 9-18 volt DC power supply with a standard 2.1mm negative center barrel plug. DO NOT POWER THE ZOAR HIGHER THAN 18V!