EarthQuaker Devices releases Special Cranker, a three-knob successor to the Speaker Cranker

July 21, 2022 · 4 sources

EarthQuaker Devices has retooled and expanded its Speaker Cranker design into a new overdrive pedal, the Special Cranker¹. Guitar World reported the pedal on April 29, 2022, at $99¹; MusicRadar listed the same $99 price in its June 8, 2022 round-up², and Delicious Audio covered it on July 21, 2022³.

The Special Cranker is an all-discrete analog distortion circuit designed to add grit and boost without drastically altering the amp's tone, the maker says⁴. EarthQuaker describes it as picking up where the Speaker Cranker left off, with the same character as the original but more gain, double the output volume, an added Tone control and a diode selector switch⁴. The switch carries the original asymmetrical silicon diodes plus a new germanium option; the maker says germanium gives a softer, more rounded response with tamed highs and lower output, while silicon adds a brighter, more modern edge and higher output⁴.

The controls are Level, which sets output volume, with unity gain between 10 and 12 o'clock depending on the diodes selected; Tone, which cuts highs counterclockwise and boosts them clockwise, with a flat response around 3 o'clock; More, a gain control that changes the bias of the transistor and may produce noise when adjusted; and the diode selector⁴. The More control goes from nearly clean to a medium gain overdrive at maximum, and Level adjusts the output from nothing to nearly double at maximum, according to the maker⁴.

The pedal uses relay-based true bypass switching with EarthQuaker's Flexi-Switch technology, which allows momentary and latching operation; because the switching is relay based, it requires power to pass signal⁴. It ships with a limited lifetime warranty⁴. Delicious Audio described the Speaker Cranker as a one-knob overdrive then selling used for about twice the price of the new pedal³.