Subdecay

The story: an Oregon builder since the mid-2000s

Brian Marshall founded Subdecay in 2004⁹⁸⁷. He has played guitar and used stompboxes for over 25 years, and his interests outside the workshop run to synthesizers, electronics and cats²⁷. The company began with fuzz and overdrive designs, and its later work, such as the Vector preamp, is described by Subdecay as merging "their early roots of fuzz and overdrive with their current design ethos"¹.

The Quasar phaser line dates to 2005, when Subdecay began designing and building Quasar phasers¹⁰. Limited-run experiments have also shaped the lineup: the Blueshift flanger was a return to the Prototype series and Tweaktronix line the company built in the summers of 2007 through 2009, with customer feedback from that run intended to feed a future production pedal¹³.

Subdecay's pedals are built in Oregon. Product pages for the Octasynth, Spring Theory and Siren each state the pedal is hand made in Oregon¹¹¹².

Known for the Quasar phaser and synth pedals

The Quasar phaser line

The Quasar Phaser is a multi-mode phaser pedal that Subdecay has been building since 2005¹⁰. The line has run through several versions:

The Quasar 5's envelope speed control mode includes an Offset control that slows down or speeds up the modulation when you hit the guitar strings¹⁷.

Synth pedals

Subdecay's synth pedal range includes the Octasynth, M3, Octave Theory and PixelWave, plus synth-adjacent pedals like the Vitruvian Mod and Harmonic Antagonizer⁴. All of them are monophonic, so they track one note at a time rather than chords⁴.

• The Octasynth is an analog synth pedal, an octave generator with a resonant low pass filter, and Subdecay calls it their simplest synth pedal, a set-and-forget design¹¹⁴.
• The Octave Theory is described by Subdecay as the quirkiest of their synth pedals, and was the company's first pedal to use an ARM microcontroller⁴².
• The M3's development history is told in a self-interview by Brian Marshall published in November 2023².

The company also makes filter pedals: the Prometheus V1, an analog envelope filter, is described by RockBoard's PedalPedia as "a highly-regarded analog envelope filter pedal that offers a vast range of tonal possibilities", though it is no longer in production¹⁸. The Prometheus DLX that followed it is listed by Subdecay as discontinued¹⁹.

EZ MIDI for pedal builders

Alongside finished pedals, Subdecay offers the EZ MIDI platform for pedal designs. The EZ MIDI Control board is customizable with the EZ Wizard Programmer board, with no coding required²⁰²¹, and for pedal builders Subdecay can provide a customized version of the EZ MIDI control board or loose LQFP48 48 pin ICs, with a 64 pin IC available if more inputs or outputs are necessary.

The current lineup:

• EZ MIDI 2: a DIY board that serves as both the brain of an effect pedal and a programming interface through a web-based MIDI editor, with pots 1 to 6 assignable in the editor and full MIDI control of all parameters²².
• EZ MIDI PRO: a MIDI control board based on the EZ MIDI Control board that adds MIDI, savable presets and tap tempo to pedal designs, with more customization and support, including changing MIDI CC assignments²¹.
• EZ MIDI MCP: adds presets, MIDI and an OLED display to a pedal with up to 8 digital pots, and can run on the builder's own hardware⁵.
• EZ Wizard: a programmer board for prototyping effects with MIDI control, used with an EZ MIDI Control board²³.

Discontinued pedals

Several Subdecay pedals are no longer made^2425192. Subdecay was founded by Brian Marshall in 2004², and the company has been designing and building Quasar phasers since 2005¹⁰.

Related builders

Subdecay's designs have a life beyond the company. PedalPCB sells PCBs such as the Simpletone Overdrive, a board product related to the Subdecay Stupid Box V1, but states plainly that it is "in no way affiliated with Subdecay Studios, Inc." and that the product is not manufactured or distributed by Subdecay²⁷.

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