CopperSound Triplegraph

The CopperSound Triplegraph is a digital octave pedal designed by CopperSound Pedals and Jack White, and it is played like no other octave pedal on the market: instead of footswitches, you press three proprietary, foot-sized telegraph keys, the kind used to tap out Morse code¹. The left key triggers an octave down, the right key an octave up, and the middle key activates a killswitch or an auxiliary effects loop¹.

Over four years in the making, the pedal is built around a high-power DSP Blackfin processor, and CopperSound describes the result as a state-of-the-art, clean-tracking octave pedal capable of standing its own against industry standards¹. It belongs to the wider family of octave and pitch pedals, but its telegraph-key interface puts it in a category of its own.

The three keys, Kill and Auxiliary modes

The playing surface is three telegraph keys made of custom stainless steel and aluminum, built to withstand both hand and foot operation¹. Each key adds one of the pedal's three functions the moment you push it down⁴.

The middle key has two modes of its own⁷:

• KILL mode: the middle key acts as a momentary killswitch, muting your dry signal for a fully isolated, fully wet octave up and/or octave down sound¹⁵. Because both octave keys stay live, you can stack octave down and octave up together with no dry guitar underneath.
• AUXILIARY mode: you connect one or more of your favorite effects in parallel with the octaves through the send/return jacks, then trigger them in momentary bursts alongside the octaves¹³.

Each octave can be triggered in momentary or latching modes using the pedal's "Loctave" toggle switches, so a key can either add its octave only while held, or lock it on until you press again⁶. In momentary mode, the keys let you trigger effects much faster with your hand or foot than a conventional stomp switch⁸.

Power and connections

The Triplegraph is a 9V-only pedal with a substantial draw for its size: 250mA at 9V, on a standard 2.1 x 5.5mm center negative connector¹.

Signal connections are 1/4" instrument jacks for in and out, plus a send and return pair for the auxiliary loop¹³.

From Jack White's Telegraph Stutter to the Triplegraph

The Triplegraph grew out of an earlier CopperSound design, the Telegraph Stutter, a momentary killswitch pedal with a single telegraph key. The collaboration was born after CopperSound optimistically dropped off a custom, one-of-a-kind Telegraph Stutter for Jack White at Third Man Records headquarters in 2016². The original Telegraph has since been discontinued, though elements of it were retained in the later Telegraph V2⁹.

The finished pedal was announced on September 28, 2020, over four years after the development process began²⁸.

Standard, Limited Edition and Anniversary White

At launch there were two editions²³:

Both editions include the custom designed 130+ page book, designed and photographed by CopperSound, documenting the entire process³. A later Limited Edition Anniversary White version has also been issued, with the same digital octave design, Blackfin processor and 9V, 250mA power specification⁵.

What reviewers said

One published review highlighted how directly the three keys put the effects under a player's hands and feet, noting that you can quickly and effectively add any of the three effects by pushing down on one of the three morse-code telegraph-style keys⁴.

Guitar Player, surveying Jack White's pedalboard, described the pedal's three proprietary, foot-sized telegraph keys and integrated effects loop as part of a rig built around the collaboration¹². MusicRadar called the pedal "a retro-futurist's dream" at launch¹¹.

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