Earthquaker Afterneath

As with most earthquaker pedals, the only thing better may be their official description. We cannot do any better explaining this pedal, so here is what Earthquaker has to say: “The Afterneath sounds a lot like it looks – a wizard in a cave in a box. You are the wizard – or sorceress, if you prefer – and the cave is your instrument’s signal, vast, expansive, and magical.”

External Control: None
Cost: $$$

HornFX Review

Interface:  3/5
The pedal is laid out fairly simply. The controls take some time to get used to, but once you are familiar with each knob’s function, you will really enjoy exploring some of the sounds this pedal can create.

Versatility: 2.5/5
Although this pedal is more specifically geared toward ambient sounds, there are a large amount of textures and colors that can be achieved. This might not be a great pedal for use in a pop setting or at a regular bar gig, but if you have some room to explore sonically, this is a great addition to your setup.

Quality of Effect: 4.5/5
There are so many lush and gorgeous sounds that this pedal can make. If the word ambient is anywhere in your musical lexicon, then this pedal will be a wonderful addition to your effects chain.

Live application: 3/5
If you are looking to add lush pads of sound, or long echoing spacey environments to your playing, this is a fantastic pedal to use. Not well suited for basic reverb applications. Its lack of presets can be somewhat of a hindrance as well.

Product Information

Enhanced Otherworldly Reverberator

The Afterneath sounds a lot like it looks – a wizard bursting forth from ethereal cave and ready for the ambient battle. You are the wizard – or sorceress, if you prefer – and the cave is your instrument’s signal, vast, expansive, and magical. Do you go inside? Roll a D20 to proceed!

Once inside, a reflection of light from an unknown source catches your eye, and you notice a bizarre sheen on the walls of the cave. You timidly inch closer to the walls of the cave. Placing your hand gently on the cavern wall, you feel the rock move. The cave is alive! Alarmed, you emit a loud gasp, which reverberates throughout the subterranean landscape. Upon further listening, it appears as though the reverberations of your voice are in fact a swarm of short digital delays which may be used to create wild and cavernous reverbs, or scattered, short, rhythmic delays with bizarre characteristics.

Controls

Take a moment to consider your Intelligence and Wisdom scores, as well as your spell inventory before proceeding further. You have seven spells at your disposal…

Will you cast “Length,” which controls the decay length of the reverb?
What about “Diffuse,” which adjusts the spread of the reverb? With your wand (or just the knob) turned counterclockwise, the reverb is sharper with more attack, resulting in a stuttering sputter of individual early reflections. Clockwise casts a washy, more ambient-sounding hex.

Overwhelmed by fear, you hastily cast “Dampen!” As you shout the incantation, you notice that a counterclockwise variation of this spell results in brighter tones, while as you rotate your wand clockwise; you hear darker tones with a mellower top-end. It’s almost as if your magic changes the hardness of the cavern walls, and thus the tonal characteristics of the reverb!

Elsewhere in your book of magic is “Drag,” which separates the individual digital delay lines, literally dragging them through the very fabric of time and space towards an unknown event horizon from which they may never return. Clockwise “Drag” positions will gather the delay lines close together for a more reverb-like effect. Turn the “Drag” counterclockwise, and the delay lines will begin to pull apart for a scattered ping-pong delay effect.

The Drag can be put under voltage or expression control using the “EXP” jack located on the side and operates in 9 different modes which are selected by the small “Mode” control. These modes are: Unquantized, Unquantized with slew, Unquantized volt/octave,
Chromatic scale, Major scale, Minor scale, Pentatonic scale, Octaves & fifths and Octaves. These modes drastically change the way the Drag control functions, especially while using an expression control or CV.

The “Reflect” alters the depth of the cave, and with it the regeneration of the reverb. This acts as a feedback control and will self-oscillate if cast by a high-level user. Turn clockwise for more wash and echoes, counterclockwise for less.

Finally, the “Mix” alters the alchemical balance between the input signal and the effect. The Afterneath does not go fully wet but does lower the level of the input signal as you raise this control to create the appearance of a fully wet reverb.

Modes

The Modes control changes the way the Drag control functions. The LED will change colors indicating which mode you are in.

1. Unquantized: Smooth, unquantized response over the operating range
2. Unquantized with Slew: Smooth, unquantized response over the entire operating range, but with a musical slew that is reminiscent of turning the varispeed knob on a vintage British tape delay. The “Drag” will lag behind the knob or cv changes, but then quickly catch up.
3. Unquantized Volt/Octave: Smooth and unquantized, yet scaled to align with the 1v/octave curve to allow melodic modulation of audio in the buffer, or control the frequency of self-oscillation like a voltage controlled oscillator.

4. Chromatic Scale: Quantized 1v/octave to the chromatic scale

5. Minor Scale: Quantized 1v/octave to the minor scale

6. Major Scale (Lydian): Quantized 1v/octave to the major scale (Lydian)

7. Pentatonic Scale: Quantized 1v/octave to the pentatonic scale

8. Octaves & Fifths: Quantized 1v/octave to omit all but octaves and fifths

9. Octaves: Quantized 1v/octave to omit all but octaves

MEASURES
4.625″ X 2.5″ X 2.25″ WITH KNOBS

POWER
Our pedals take a standard 9 Volt DC power supple with a 2.1mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. Do not run at higher voltages!
CURRENT DRAW IS 65 MA.

Product info taken from the Earthquaker website.