Earthquaker Devices Space Spiral
Earthquaker Devices, or EQD has always been a pedal company that drastically changes your tone. They are very experimental and most of the time, amazing. The Space Spiral does not drift from that line of thinking. It is analog delay with a modulated sound much like the 70’s sci-fi era.
If you are wanting a normal analog delay or don’t like the experimental sounds that EQD, then just stop reading. These are not the pedals that you are looking for. Go get a Carbon Copy if that is what you want or need. If you want simple modulation pedals, EQD is not for you. Alright, I have given my warning, moving to the good stuff.
The Pedal
Let’s start by looking at the top row of controls. In order, the controls are Time, Repeats and Mix. This is pretty standard for a delay pedal. Time to control the length of the delay, Repeats to decide how many times you would like the note to repeats, and Mix to decide how much each note carries over in the next. It is super easy to make this pedal self-oscillate. There are some tricks that I will explain later to make it stop and stop.
The bottom row is where all the fun and magic happens. In order, the controls are Depth, Shape and Rate. These are the controls for the modulation. The uniqueness here is that the original note is unmodulated and it only alters the delay notes after the original. So you have to be careful that your original note blends well with the delay. You can turn the modulation off by turning the bottom row of controls all the way to the left; but that defeats the purpose and uniqueness of this pedal.
The Modulated Sound
This space like delay is very strong and not subtle! I found leaving the controls at noon was still pretty intense. I dialed the depth back to about 9 o’clock and that brought the modulated sound to a very pleasant place for me. After chaining it with a Walrus Audio Julia before and a MXR Carbon Copy after it, I cranked up the depth knob to about 3 o’clock. It stacked very nicely with other pedals. I found that I could play with the Shape and Rate knobs to my liking. The depth knob is key and could almost make the delay feel like a reverb. If the Repeats knob is past 3 o’clock, you will start to self-oscillate until the knob is turned back down.
Gripes
First thing (that I think is minor); is I would like a button to turn the modulation off and on, so that I could use the pedal as a normal delay and not lose my settings. This would allow me to completely remove my Carbon Copy off of my board.
The next thing is small and minor too, but the text underneath the knobs is hard to read in general. Which means reading it on a dark stage is going to be even harder. I have memorized the text near the knobs, but I could see some people getting annoyed with needing to do that.
Final Thoughts
This delay is very unique, and it lives up to my standards for an analog delay. The pedal by itself can be overwhelming but what is more important is that it stacks really well. It doesn’t overpower your other pedals and blends really nicely. I am impressed how easy that it is to make the device self-oscillate. It can be used both as a regular delay and to create some funky sounds that are very eerie. The top mounted power and jacks are a win for pedal board room in a regular size enclosure. So, if you are looking for a new funky delay that has a very unique sound, this pedal is a very good fit for you.