The Death by Audio Kill Kill Filter is a dual filter pedal, described by the Guitar FX Layouts community as having "a semi-truck of attitude". Its core idea is two identical EQ sections that "can be switched back and forth on the fly for an endless seeming changing sounds as you play", so you can jump between two filter settings mid-phrase without touching a knob.1
It belongs to the wider family of filter pedals, a category Death by Audio has returned to more than once, alongside pedals like the Death by Audio Evil Fuzz/Filter and the Death By Audio Deep Animation.
What it does and how it is controlled
The pedal carries two footswitches, each with a distinct job:
- Main stomp switch: bypasses the effect completely.
- Filter switch: selects which filter is in circuit, and which of the two LEDs is illuminated, so you can see which setting is active.1
Because the two filters are identical, the Filter switch is the heart of the pedal: rather than sweeping one filter, you set up two different filter tones and alternate between them as you play.
Sound and where it sits on a board
The sound is described as "mean and evil and sounds absolutely amazing after a fuzz pedal creating some of the most seething intense tones eve".1 That placement matters: builders who put the circuit together found it unremarkable on its own but worthwhile in combination with fuzz. One builder who verified the layout put it plainly:
"It is nothing great on its own but can sound neat when mixed with fuzz."
Guitar FX Layouts, 2 July 20141
If you run it after a fuzz pedal, the filter shapes the fuzz's harmonics rather than working on a clean guitar signal, which is where the pedal's character comes from.
Circuit notes for builders
The Kill Kill Filter has been a popular project on the DIY circuit-tracing community Guitar FX Layouts, and the build notes there carry a few details worth knowing:
- The circuit "seems it's a mirror of one tone", in one builder's reading: one tone circuit with two settings on the same filter, rather than two fully independent filters.1
- The volume pot is wired with lugs 2 and 3 swapped, which the site notes is DBA's unusual pot wiring; wiring it the conventional way would leave the pedal silent in the full clockwise position.1
- The LED wiring in the original diagram was wrong: the cathodes of the LEDs connect to the filter switch, and both anodes connect directly to the supply. The published layout was altered to match.1
- A builder reported the best results with linear pots for both filters, "as logs bunched everything up at the end", and managed to fit the build in a 1590B enclosure with top-mount jacks.1
The Kill Kill Filter is an older Death by Audio design, and the documented build information comes from the DIY community rather than the maker. Anyone building one should note the corrected LED wiring and the swapped volume pot lugs described above.
Videos
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Questions
What does the Kill Kill Filter's Filter switch do?
The Filter switch selects which of the pedal's two identical filter sections is in circuit, and it also controls which of the two LEDs is illuminated, so you can see at a glance which setting you are on. The main stomp switch bypasses the effect completely. That gives you two filter sounds you can flip between on the fly while playing.
Where does the Kill Kill Filter work best in a signal chain?
The pedal is described as mean and evil, and it is said to sound amazing after a fuzz pedal, creating seething, intense tones. Builders who verified the circuit found it unremarkable on its own but neat when mixed with fuzz, so placing it after a fuzz stage is the most commonly recommended way to use it.
Sources (1)
- Guitar FX Layouts: Death by Audio Kill Kill Filter, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2014-06-17
