Anguish

🔥 One-Off Alert!

Jason at QuirkFX only makes one of each pedal — ever. This is the Anquish in existence, and once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Anguish - A dual preamp pedal as strong as a mother’s love, and as definitive as the crows circling. 
Based on the Hudson Broadcast, itself based on the classic broadcast consoles of the 1960s. It features a Triad steel-core transformer and a Germanium transistor.

In the low-gain setting, the Broadcast can cover everything from sparkling clean boost through to transparent overdrive, all with a healthy dose of volume available to push your amp. Advancing the gain on the Broadcast starts to saturate the transformer and the circuitry, giving it some subtle yet dynamic compression. The second footswitch kicks it into high gain, and you get some nice distortion tones (fuzzy, thanks to the germanium, but still very dynamic). The switch activates an internal charge pump and the thing starts running at 18volts, with lots more headroom and volume on tap.

Controls:
LOW CUT – Attenuates the low-end. Since this control lies at the front end of the Broadcast’s circuitry, it's very interactive with Gain.
GAIN – Controls the gain level (both in LOW and HIGH gain modes)
LEVEL 1 – Controls the volume of the pedal in LOW gain mode
LEVEL 2 – Controls the volume of the pedal in HIGH gain mode
LEFT FOOT SWITCH – Bypasses the pedal (on/off)
RIGHT FOOT SWITCH – Toggles between LOW and HIGH gain modes
INTERNAL TRIMMERS – Sets the total amount of gain available in each mode.

I found the image for the design a long time ago, and I’ve been waiting for the right pedal to use it (it had to be a big footprint to get the full image on there). It’s unique and unexpected, like the Broadcast circuit itself. The death of the lamb is heart-wrenching, the mother’s anguish purely visceral. Already that would work for an overdrive: emotion and power. But the tension of the circling crows suggests what might come next. Crank the gain and make it dirty, and the crows descend…

Made in Chicago, USA

From The Builder:
A middle school teacher with a workshop in my basement, spraying things in the garage when weather allows. My daughter taught me to solder in 2019 (after being in robotics club in high school....NERD!), and I've been building pedals ever since. The circuits are based on existing pedals (I'm always up front about which), but it's the finishing that's quirky, with unique (occasionally odd) designs. Minor imperfections are par for the course and part of the charm.

Each design is one-of-a-kind, which means NO ONE ELSE will ever have this pedal but you. Hope you enjoy!