“Durability, quick action, and a lifetime of switching enjoyment”: EarthQuaker Devices’ new utility pedals are built to last a lifetime – and could be the key to a smooth-operating pedalboard

Earthquaker Devices is bringing its “artistic flair” to the utility pedal market with five tiny pedals that it thinks are so rugged they come with a lifetime guarantee.

The line – comprising an A/B Box, an ABY Box, a Buffer/Preamp, a Buffer/Splitter, and a dual effects loop – is built with high-quality parts that can supposedly survive even the most grueling tours. Moreover, their tiny footprints make them ideal additions to pedalboards where real estate is at a premium.

Of course, EQD is better known for left-field effects that do rather peculiar things, like its “insane synth buzz bazooka” Time Shadows pedal and its “mind-blowing” Zoar Dynamic Grinder.

But pedals like the Silo have proved it can do no-nonsense jobs just as well, and this new line is set to further such evidence.

First up, the A/B box ($69) offers a completely passive design so players can “choose between two of pretty much anything”.

Its inputs and outputs can be used in both directions to switch between amps, channels on amps, run as a dry and a wet path, or as a mute switch. And plenty more. The ABY Box, meanwhile, kicks things up a notch to help those who “can’t decide when and where you would like your signal to go”.

A more typical application would be to run a single input out to two destinations, such as two different flavors of tube amps, either individually or simultaneously.

EQD wants to go beyond those realms and solve a long-standing ABY box issue by enabling the pedal to run two different instruments to a single source input.

Then there are the two buffer devices. Described as “an important tool to combat tone loss with long cable runs or in signal chains running lots of true bypass pedals”, the Buffer/Preamp ($79) is on hand to restore tonal integrity.

Offering a high of 1 Mohm input impedance and low 100 ohms it creates clear and dynamic signals even when paired with the most NASA-complex pedalboards. In addition to remedying high-end loss, it also has hidden wizardry to give the signal’s low-end a “subtle, yet powerful, little kick”.

The Buffer/Splitter ($89) does all that and, for an extra $10, does so with an extra input. This allows users to split their signal and send it wherever they’d like, with two amps again being the most expected utility. It can also turn a mono signal into stereo, or send one output through the effects loop, and the other through dry.

Last but certainly not least, the Flexi Loops pedal ($129) introduces the pedal boffin’s Flexi-Switch tech into the utility line. It can be used to remove all of a player’s effects from the signal path, creating a “path of least resistance” in the process, which preserves tone when those pedals are lying dormant.

Therefore, as it says on the tin, two loops can be created, with pedals introduced and subsequently removed from the signal chain on the fly.

Beyond that, one channel could be used as a mute. It’s built to last with high-quality soft-touch momentary switches for “durability, quick action, and a lifetime of switching enjoyment”.

Decked in trippy black and white finishes, the pedals look the part and will stand out on every pedalboard.

Check out Earthquaker Devices for a closer look.