IDLES and EarthQuaker Devices Introduce You to Gary

An Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz and Dynamic Natural Overdrive

AKRON, OHIO, NOVEMBER 2024 – 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. 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.

Gary’s left brain displays his softer side. This is a simple and natural sounding overdrive that keeps your tone lively and drives your amp crazy. This side is based on the green channel of the Gray Channel. Lee used this pedal with the clipping switch permanently set to the middle position, which removes all the diodes from the circuit, producing a full-bodied, cutting opamp distortion with plenty of volume on tap. We have reproduced that tone here with exacting precision.

Gary Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz and Dynamic Natural Overdrive

Video by EarthQuakerDevices

EarthQuaker Devices are also releasing a special limited edition of Gary in a red brown enclosure. This colorway will be limited to 500 units and is only available from the EarthQuaker Devices Reverb shop.

Each and every Gary comes with a limited lifetime warranty and was softly brought to life by the delicate hands of EarthQuaker Devices in the elegantly unrefined canal-front city of Akron, Ohio USA. Gary is available now at EarthQuaker Devices dealers worldwide.

Tech specs

• Fuzz pulse width modulation is dynamically controlled either by using the on-board envelope or an external expression control.
• Overdrive section from the highly sought-after Gray Channel®, capable of producing thick, full distortion or for use as a clean boost.
• Yes! controls the sensitivity for the envelope or sets the pulse-width limit when using an expression pedal.
• Oosh is the master volume for the fuzz.
• Go is the gain control for the overdrive.
• That’s It is the master volume for the overdrive.
• All-analog signal path
• True bypass
• Silent relay-based switching with Flexi-Switch® Technology
• Limited lifetime warranty
• Current Draw: 20 ma
• Fuzz Input Impedance: 1 MΩ / Fuzz Output Impedance: <1 kΩ
• Overdrive Input Impedance: 500 kΩ / Overdrive Output Impedance: <1 kΩ
• USA Retail Price: $199.00

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