New OD pedal from Earthquaker Devices; Special Cranker

D

Dtown

Member
Messages
635
Adagietto said:
The colors sort of evoke a flaming match head.
Click to expand...

I find them evocative of Dole Whips at Disney World… which makes me worry that the true cost to me of this pedal will manifest itself down the road in the form of dental work…
 
S

shoule79

Member
Messages
389
Stopped by a local shop today and they had one in stock. Tried it for about 10 minutes, and after 1 minute knew it was going home with me.

It seems to just be “more” of your amp and guitar. A tele through a Fender combo was dialing up lots of good Neil Young tones. It does the 70’s rock distortion and transparent drive thing too. It’s a little loose on the low end, and definitely not a refined sounding distortion.

Anyways, I’ve been taking my AC15 out to gig and it doesn’t like my usual distortions as much as my Fender amps, and it seems like this is going to be a good fit.
 
W

Will Smith

Member
Messages
141
shoule79 said:
Stopped by a local shop today and they had one in stock. Tried it for about 10 minutes, and after 1 minute knew it was going home with me.

It seems to just be “more” of your amp and guitar. A tele through a Fender combo was dialing up lots of good Neil Young tones. It does the 70’s rock distortion and transparent drive thing too. It’s a little loose on the low end, and definitely not a refined sounding distortion.

Anyways, I’ve been taking my AC15 out to gig and it doesn’t like my usual distortions as much as my Fender amps, and it seems like this is going to be a good fit.
Click to expand...

Spot on review. I did the exact same thing.
 
eriwebnerr

eriwebnerr

Member
Messages
2,895
LOVE this pedal. Literally everything about it, the tone, control set, the price, the graphics / colors. Such an awesome offering for $99. Really well done - sounds sooo good boosting a MIAB style drive too. Grabbed it on impulse but very glad I did. So many good tones from edge of breakup to. Tweedish, to almost fuzz.
 
reprove

reprove

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
414
I’ve been playing around with pedal orders and have ended up with the SC last in my drive chain. The main three are a 81 DRV -> Keeley Moon->Special Cranker. I love how it reacts to everything hitting it. I even have a couple fuzzes in the loop of my EUNA and even those sound great hitting the SC.
D7F0190E-FC51-46E6-9923-806B77AE701D.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Sparadrap

Sparadrap

Member
Messages
1,167
In early 2020 I had bought this Cranker Speaker new. Nobody was interested in buying it back then. Due to Covid reasons, I haven't been able to step on it ever since. And now I see prices going up on Reverb :)
 
F

fuzzaholic

Member
Messages
329
Been watching all the demos I can find. Still not sure. I know it's "just" $100, but it'll be the 9th time I'm spending "a little" money on a pedal the last couple months, and most of those didn't find their way onto my main board. So I'm trying to be REALLY concious about the way I drag my family into bankrupcy :)


Anyway...In one of the main official launching clips, Jamie mensioned how he specifically designed the Cranker for his Musicman HD130. I have one, love it to death. I wouldn't say it's picky with pedals or anything, but there is something 'different' about the response of that solid state preamp. It definitely seems to favour dirt pedals that sound kinda harsh/grainy when I play 'em through other amps...

So yeah, that's what's been hauting me the last couple days :)
 
Adagietto

Adagietto

Pending
Silver Supporting Member
Messages
3,385
My Special Cranker showed up two days ago. I thought I'd share my initial impressions.

Basically, I like it. It sounds enough like my memories of the Speaker Cranker. It's interesting in it's almost like two layers of distortion are going on. There's bite in the treble while there seems to be a layer of snarl underneath. Regardless of how much I end up using it it, I didn't have an Electra in my collection.

The Special Cranker adds features that makes it more useful than the Speaker Cranker. This starts with an essential MV.

What I like:
  • The sound, of course. It's not a TS, klone, BB, etc., and has its own thing going on.
  • The MV was sorely needed IMO. Lack of one was why the Speaker Cranker didn't work for me. It was always in the back of my mind to get that sound again, but with a master volume.
  • The added tone control seems useful throughout its range. The jury is out on the Ge setting, but it's nice to have.
  • The upgraded build features top jacks and a nice foot switch. The foot switch now is a soft-touch relay activated affair that can go directly into momentary switching.
  • It can sound good with bass, although not quite a sound I'm going for there.
  • $99 is a steal.
What could be improved:
  • It would be more useful (at least to me) if it was capable of even lower gain. As it is, I may not use it above 9:00, and most of my brief playing has been at minimum gain or slightly higher (alone or stacked). Still, I feel that the pedal is worthwhile for the limited gain range I'm likely to use.
  • I'm ambivalent about the colors and graphics. At least it doesn't have skulls, eyeballs, or occult symbols on it. I'll take legible control labels any day.
 
Gretsch47

Gretsch47

Gold Supporting Member
Messages
1,156
I like mine, mostly with my Allen Hot Blond (Bassman). It seems to match the Fender type amps better and definitely has lots of bottom and fuzzy gain, grit on tap. I keep the Tone and More set fairly high (3:00) and the Level at about (11:00). It's a loud beast of a pedal. I can get some "Powderfinger" (Neil) type tones on the Special Cranker and the Bassman. I have other drives that sound a bit better with my VOX amps but it's a keeper. I've had a hard time finding the right mid-gain overdrive to get "that" driven, tweed type sound, this fits the bill better than anything I've tried, including most tweed type drives.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.




Trending Topics

Top Bottom