EarthQuaker Devices reissues Dirt Transmitter as Rancho de la Luna edition

June 18, 2025 · 5 sources

EarthQuaker Devices announced the Rancho de la Luna Dirt Transmitter, a special run of its discontinued fuzz pedal, on June 18, 2025. The pedal is a collaboration with guitarist and producer Dave Catching, who owns and operates Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, California¹².

The Dirt Transmitter is one of EarthQuaker's oldest circuits. The maker says the design is Fuzz Face inspired and began when founder Jamie Stillman came across unusual silicon transistors. The first units shipped in January 2008 with three controls: Fuzz, Tone and Level. Stillman added the external Bias control shortly after, which the maker describes as opening up the circuit¹². The Bias control starves the transistors of voltage; the maker says the pedal is "properly biased" at 5 o'clock, with gated, velcro-like fuzz as the control is turned down¹.

The Rancho edition carries four controls: Fuzz, Tone, Bias and Level. It uses relay-based, true bypass Flexi-Switch switching for momentary or latching operation, runs on a standard 9 volt DC supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel, and draws 3 mA. EarthQuaker lists input impedance at 500 kΩ and output impedance at 100 Ω, with dimensions of 4.75 x 2.50 x 2.25 in. (121 x 64 x 57 mm) with knobs¹. The artwork is by Mike Egan¹².

The idea came from a 2023 invitation to Stillman to play on a recording session at Rancho de la Luna for an album marking the studio's 30th anniversary. Stillman used the Dirt Transmitter on many of the recordings, and a pedal release tied to the album followed¹.

MusicRadar and Gearnews both give the price as $179, and both list it as out now²³. Guitar.com's review gives $189⁴. Guitar Pedal X reports that 1,600 units were made, with 160 allocated to the UK, and that the earlier Legacy Reissue of the larger original version was limited to 1,000 units⁵. EarthQuaker's product page carries the notice "THIS DEVICE IS NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION"¹.