Video by EarthQuakerDevices via YouTube
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Hello fellow dirt dissenters, thank you for giving in to your tonal temptations and following the spirits of the path less traveled to the dynamic audio grinder known as Zoar®.
Zoar reaches back the past and keeps its eyes on the future. A classic fuzz living communally with a time tested three band passive EQ section; informed by modern precision and a little bit of midwestern witchcraft. A tool designed to delight the seekers and the purists alike. One foot in the gutter, one fist in the gold if you will…
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.
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 the pickup type and further fine-tuned by the EQ section.
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. Here are a few pointers for dialing in Zoar and learning all it has to teach.
• If Bass, Middle and Treble all are zeroed out, no sound shall pass. This is the nature of a passive EQ.
• Turning up one of the three bands will affect the other two.
• Setting all three bands in unison at noon will give you a completely different response than setting them all in unison at 9 o’clock, or, say 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock…you get the idea.
See, highly interactive. A good starting point is setting all three bands at noon and experimenting with each one individually.
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. Simply dial in the 3-Band EQ to 12 o’clock and adjust the Weight to see how drastically it dictates your sound. 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 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. By adjusting the Level control with any combination of EQ (boosting the frequency bands and cutting the output volume), you can achieve drastically different curves that have the feel of the more traditional low pass filter type tone control.
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. When powered at 18v, the range of clean tones are widened, dirty tones become punchier with better note articulation, low frequencies are tightened, higher frequencies will cover a broader spectrum without becoming harsh and the output volume nearly doubles! The experience is not unlike plugging into a wall of high wattage tube amplifiers!
Each Zoar Dynamic Audio Grinder is crafted just north of Zoar mountain in the EarthQuaker Devices colony by many delightful humans and one loving robot under the guiding spirit of the Zoarites.
0:00 – 2:21 Guitar 9v Demo
2:21 – 4:20 Guitar 18v Demo
4:20 – 6:47 Bass 9v Demo
Shot and Edited by Chris Tran
Recorded and Mixed by Jeff France
Performed by Jamie Stillman
Guitar 9v:
Guitar:Music Man St. Vincent HHH
Amp: Park P45
Guitar 18v:
Guitar: Gibson SG Standard w/ P90 Pickups
Amp: Park P45
Bass: Precision Bass
Amp: Ampeg SVT450 w/ 8×10 cabinet
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