Earthbound Audio Throat Locust

The Earthbound Audio Throat Locust is a heavy distortion pedal based on the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, the long out-of-production pedal whose chainsaw-style grind became a staple of extreme metal. Pedal of the Day's review describes it as "a wicked heavy distortion pedal based on the legendary, out of production HM-2 Heavy Metal from Boss"¹. It sits in the distortion family, alongside fuzz and overdrive circuits that players use for heavier sounds.

What it does

The Throat Locust takes the HM-2 approach and adds a two-way clipping choice. An A/B toggle switch selects between Mode A and Mode B. Mode A uses standard silicon clipping diodes, which the review describes as giving "a saturated, rich distortion". Mode B mixes silicon and LED clipping, a combination that changes how the pedal compresses and clips the signal¹.

The Level and Distortion knobs do what their names suggest, and the review notes there is "a heap of both for you to enjoy at all kinds of unr"¹, meaning generous amounts of volume and gain on tap.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day's 2019 review came away favorably, finding that the pedal keeps the character of the pedal it is modeled on while adding range¹:

In other words, the reviewer found it delivers the gnarly distortion tones the HM-2 is known for while expanding the tonal possibilities of the circuit overall¹.

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