Hungry Robot Pedals

Delays, reverbs and ambient devices

The ambient side of the range is where Hungry Robot built its reputation. The Borderland is a digital reverb pedal built with ambient players in mind, which the maker describes as "the perfect pedal for creating lush, modulating, ambient textures"⁵. Its three footswitches do more than a typical reverb: the left switch sends the pedal into near infinite sustain, the middle is master on/off, and the right is tap tempo⁵. Delicious Audio's write-up noted the same sustain function, describing how "the third pedal prolongs the reverb (sustain)"⁶.

The Wash is a combined delay and reverb pedal, a true 2-in-1 that Pedal of the Day said "completes the arduous task of using both delay and reverb to create an organic, below-the-mix wash of sound"⁷. The delay side offers Delay Level and Delay Feedback controls to fine-tune up to 1000ms of analog-voiced delay, while the right footswitch engages the Wash circuit itself, which the maker says is what makes the pedal stand out from other delays on the market⁴⁷.

Other entries in the ambient line include:

• The Moby Dick V2, a delay pedal with tape emulation and modulation that updates "one of the first pedals that put Hungry Robot on the map"⁸. Pedal of the Day called it "this shimmery, old school, retro tape delay," with a Mix knob that blends your signals⁹.
• The Aether, a modulating delay pedal with the standard Echo, Feedback and Time controls you would expect on any delay¹⁰.
• The Stargazer V2, a reverb pedal with two independently voiced reverbs that can be stacked in parallel¹¹.
• The Doppler, which pairs delay and reverb with a Delay Level knob for the delay signal level and a Verb FB knob for reverb decay length.

Fuzz, overdrive and gain pedals

Hungry Robot's dirt pedals tend to be original circuits rather than clones. The [fz] fuzz is the clearest example: Pedal of the Day described it as "a totally unique fuzz circuit that isn't based on anything," with the familiar Fuzz, Tone and Volume knobs on the outside and six internal dipswitches inside¹². The manual even ships with five example dipswitch settings to help players get going¹². Eric Junge says he had played through very few fuzz pedals in his life and approached the design with little prior experience of the format¹².

The Collective is a newer fuzz pedal designed by Hungry Robot, with a middle footswitch for master bypass¹³. Earlier gain pedals include the Bumblebee, an EQ-Boost-Overdrive-Distortion-Fuzz multi-function dirt pedal that Pedal of the Day said could perform "many functions, from a delicious clean boost, all the way up to a sick, grungy distorted tone," with a Master knob controlling overall volume¹⁴. The Lumen marks a return to the overdrive world for the company¹⁵.

The [hg] and LG pedals take a different approach to versatility: the [hg] has its own set of six internal dipswitches that allow you to drastically shape the overall sound of the pedal to fit any rig and playing style¹⁶, and the [hg+lg] combines the two circuits into a small footprint dual overdrive with 12 dipswitches total¹⁷¹⁶.

The people: Eric, founder and builder

Hungry Robot is very much a one-person operation in the public eye. Eric Junge designs the circuits, and reviews of the company's pedals have referred readers to "everything that Eric and the Hungry Robots are up to" since at least 2014¹⁴². His design philosophy comes through in the [fz]: rather than voicing a fuzz after pedals he knew, he built a circuit from the ground up¹².

Hungry Robot Classics

Around its 10 year anniversary on July 31, 2022, Hungry Robot launched a Classics program⁴. As the maker puts it:

Classics reissues are direct-only, built one by one as orders come in rather than mass produced¹⁸. The line brings back discontinued models such as the original [fz] fuzz¹²¹⁹⁴, the Starlite, the original Moby Dick reverb, and the Wash V1, whose right footswitch engages the Wash circuit¹²¹⁹⁴.

The Wallflower

The Wallflower is an all-in-one shoegazer multi-effects pedal combining reverb, octaves, chorus and distortion, with five unique effects inside the enclosure and two footswitches: a left engage/bypass switch and a right distortion switch²⁰. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson called it the "Ultimate All-in-one Shoegazer Reverb-Octaves-Chorus-Distortion," noting that production hitches delayed its arrival by approximately half a year, and that it was available from Effekt Boutique for €229 / £200²⁰. It is a large enclosure pedal, though smaller than the Screen Violence²⁰.

The range (32)

Questions