EarthQuaker Devices Presents the Plumes Small Signal Shredder
AKRON, OHIO, July 2019 – Plumes™ is a low to medium gain overdrive based on the trusty lime-green overdrive that has been an industry staple since its inception. This is the kind of overdrive that works in conjunction with a good valve amp to create the warm saturation people like to call “transparent”. While this circuit has been the foundation of countless other overdrives available today, we feel the Plumes has a few twists and turns to make it unique enough to stand out.
Plumes does away with the trusted JRC4558 OpAmp and the BJT buffers and replaces them with low noise JFET OpAmps for a more robust and precise signal with a significantly lower noise floor. The 9v power input is internally converted to +/- 9v for more headroom and a clarity that is almost three-dimensional. We’ve raised the input impedance to a whopping 10 megaohms for a stronger signal with more clarity and chime. We’ve also adjusted the cutoff of the tone control to deliver a more useful range of travel with more booming bass on the low end without sacrificing the cutting midrange and bright top end.
Last, but certainly not least, the Plumes offers three different clipping options to ensure that it will work with a wide variety of gear and playing styles. Mode 1 is symmetrical clipping utilizing a pair of light emitting diodes. This is the crunchiest setting the Plumes has to offer. When played through a clean amp, it’ll deliver a reasonable facsimile of that classic crunchy valve amp tone. Mode 2 is clean boost mode. This eliminates the soft clipping diodes altogether and leaves you with straight OpAmp drive. This is perfect for pushing your clean tone out in front or driving the preamp of an already overdriven amp into tasteful breakup territory. Mode 3 is an asymmetrical silicon diode arrangement similar to the stock screamer but with more output and clean clarity; the tone some people describe as “transparent”.
The Plumes features EarthQuaker Devices relay-based “soft touch” Flexi-Switch™ Technology for both momentary and latching footswitch operation as well as a very low 25 mA current draw. Each and every Plumes is built one-at-a-time by delightful little hands in Akron, Ohio; the charred, black heart in the heart of it all…
Plumes is available to pre-order through authorized EarthQuaker Devices dealers, and will be in stores on August 3, 2019.
About EarthQuaker Devices
Akron, Ohio-based, hand-crafted effects pedal manufacturer EarthQuaker Devices, top-six in the U.S. and one of the top-10 in the world, create products that are available in over 865 retail locations in approximately 50 countries. Its key retailers include Guitar Center, Sam Ash, Sweetwater and Thomann. The company has sold approximately 250,000 units.
The company’s current workforce reaches over 50 individuals, and has been praised for its commitment to inclusion, diversity and cooperation with other pedal manufacturers by Best Guitar Effects. The company also has an in-house global marketing team fluent in seven languages (Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Czech, and Polish), and, in 2018, rolled out a live dealer training program, which has been completed in 31 cities.
EarthQuaker Devices also has recent distribution partnerships with Yamaha Australia and Yamaha Asia. The company also sponsored a week long, mid-May tour of Japan including legendary punk/metal crossover act Boris, Crypt City, Ohio’s Lisa Bella Donna, and Stillman’s band, Relaxer. The tour offered attendees an opportunity to play and purchase EarthQuaker products.
Stillman also holds a U.S. patent (Patent no: US9,.899.013BI, issued February 20, 2018) pertaining to an effects pedal implementing a switching mechanism between forward and reverse delay effects.
On May 6, EarthQuaker Devices founder and president Jamie Stillman and his wife, Chief Executive Officer, co-owner Julie Robbins, received honors as Exporter of the Year 2019 from the U.S. Small Business Administration during an awards ceremony at the National Institute of Peace. The presentation was part of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week activities. National Small Business Week is a national recognition event to honor the country’s top entrepreneurs. EarthQuaker Devices was selected for this national award amidst candidates from each of the 50 states, as well as District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
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