The EarthQuaker Devices Ledges, sold in full as the Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine, is a compact reverb pedal with three modes: Room, Hall and Plate1. Where many EarthQuaker reverbs lean toward experimental textures, Ledges keeps things practical: three familiar reverb types, three knobs, six saveable presets and an expression jack, in a standard-size enclosure built by hand in Akron, Ohio1. It launched in August 2023 at a street price of $1992.
What the Ledges does: room, hall and plate reverb
A three-position toggle on the face of the pedal selects the reverb type5. EarthQuaker describes the three modes as distinct, rich reverbs that "cover all your bases"1.
- Room (R): EarthQuaker says this is the darkest-toned of the three. At its shortest length setting it behaves like a small, boxy room reminiscent of 1980s reverb; at higher length settings it becomes distant and brighter, like a large tile room, and harder playing can push it toward an almost spring reverb character1.
- Hall (H): Premier Guitar's reviewer found Hall offers a sense of just-right size and body, and pretty alternatives to amplifier spring reverbs with similar overtones but without the splashy clang of a spring5.
- Plate (P): A plate-style voice. Premier Guitar noted that without the Damping control, many of the long plate reverberations might sound cloying in the top end5.
Guitar.com's reviewer saw the whole package as aimed at a particular player: one who has spent time with a do-it-all multi-mode reverb and found drippy spring and sparkly shimmer beyond their needs, and now wants to shape hall, room or plate sounds themselves6.
The controls: Length, Damping, Mix and the preset knob
The control surface is deliberately small: three knobs, a three-way mode toggle, a six-way preset knob, one footswitch and a Preset button7.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Length | Sets the length, or decay time, of the reverb, from small to large room189 |
| Damping | A sort of treble control for the reverb tones themselves8 |
| Mix | The wet/dry blend8 |
| Mode toggle | Three-position switch selecting Room, Hall or Plate5 |
| Preset knob | Six-position rotary switch acting as a preset bank63 |
| Footswitch | Silent relay-based switching with Flexi-Switch Technology4 |
| Preset button | Saves presets2 |
EarthQuaker's own reverb shootout walkthrough describes the three knobs plainly: LENGTH is decay time, DAMPING is a treble control for the reverb itself, and MIX is the wet/dry blend8. Guitar.com's reviewer appreciated that the knobs "actually adjust the reverb" rather than hiding parameters behind menus6.
Presets and expression
The preset system is the Ledges' main practical draw. Six user-definable presets live on the rotary knob, saved with the Preset button and recalled on the fly with the footswitch12. You switch between Preset mode and Live mode by holding the stomp switch for a few seconds or tapping the Preset button; a green light means Live mode, red means recording/Preset mode8. In Preset Mode you can ignore the knobs entirely and just recall your sounds10.
"There are no tricky multi-tap-hold-and-twist maneuvers to navigate. It's dead simple and it's beautiful."
The TRS expression jack works with any standard expression pedal and lets you control Length, Damping or Mix on the fly117. The expression assignment can be mapped to any of those three parameters and saved into each preset, so a preset can come up already wired for swell moves3. Guitar Player's reviewer enjoyed mapping expression to Length in Hall mode to create dramatic swells of reverb3, and Premier Guitar found that once you start moving from a very subdued reverb to a preposterously expansive one with a flick of the preset switch, you begin to see the performance potential on offer5.
EarthQuaker has also published recipe-style settings for the pedal, including a slapback-flavored Room setting for Gene Vincent's "Race with the Devil" (Room mode, Length at 5 o'clock, Damping at 10, Mix at noon) and a Plate setting at noon across the board for "James Bond Theme" surf and spaghetti western sounds11.
Power and connections
The Ledges runs on a standard 9V DC supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel, drawing 75 mA14. Because the bypass is buffered, the pedal needs power to pass signal, so it is not a pedal you can leave unpowered in your chain1. Input impedance is 500 kΩ and output impedance is 100 Ω4.
The buffered bypass means the Ledges passes signal only when powered. Plan your power supply accordingly if you like to true-bypass other pedals out of the chain mid-gig.
Where it sits in the EarthQuaker reverb family
Premier Guitar placed the Ledges on the practical side of the EarthQuaker reverb family, alongside the Dispatch Master, the discontinued Levitation and the Ghost Echo5. EarthQuaker's own reverb shootout compared the Ghost Echo, Dispatch Master, Afterneath, Astral Destiny and the then-new Ledges, all at $1998. Where pedals like the Afterneath and Astral Destiny go experimental, Ledges is the one built around the three reverb types players already know. It is a regular part of the line, not a limited edition4.
What reviewers said
Premier Guitar called it "an incredibly practical stage and performance tool that can move between many moods, modes, and identities in a set"5. Delicious Audio, writing at launch, said that from the video demos there was plenty to like about it9.
"EarthQuaker has plenty of experience making great-sounding reverb pedals, and Ledges is no exception."
Videos
Premier Guitar
Sweetwater
EarthQuakerDevices
Questions
Is the EarthQuaker Ledges true bypass?
No. The Ledges uses a buffered bypass with tails, so reverb tails continue after you switch the pedal off. Because the bypass is buffered, power is required for signal to pass through the pedal at all.
How many presets does the Ledges hold?
Six. A six-position rotary preset knob gives you six user-definable presets that you save with the Preset button and recall on the fly with the footswitch. Presets can also store expression pedal assignments.
Does the Ledges have reverb trails?
Yes. The buffered bypass is a tails bypass, so your reverb decays naturally after you switch the pedal off instead of cutting off abruptly.
Is the Ledges stereo?
No. The Ledges is a mono reverb pedal with a single input, a single output and an expression jack, and no stereo connections.
What expression pedal works with the Ledges?
Any standard TRS expression pedal. The expression jack lets you control Length, Damping or Mix on the fly, and the assignment you choose can be saved into each of the six presets.
Sources (11)
- Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine, EarthQuaker Devices
- “Everything you've ever wanted and needed out of a reverb”? EarthQuaker Devices launches the Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine, Guitar World, 2023-08-03
- EarthQuaker Devices Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine Review, GuitarPlayer.com, 2023-08-17
- New EarthQuaker Ledges Reverb Machine Launched, www.premierguitar.com, 2023-08-03
- EarthQuaker Ledges Reverb Review, Premier Guitar, 2023-08-10
- EarthQuaker Devices Ledges Reverberation Machine review, Guitar.com, 2023-11-20
- EarthQuaker Devices Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine, gearnews.com, 2023-08-04
- Testing For Echoes: An EarthQuaker Reverb Pedal Shootout, EarthQuaker Devices, 2023-08-24
- EarthQuaker Devices Ledges Reverb, Delicious Audio, 2023-12-27
- EarthQuaker Devices presents room, hall and plate reverbs in a innovative, compact format with the Ledges Tri-Dimensional Reverberation Machine, MusicRadar, 2023-08-07
- Six Songs You Can Use Ledges to Emulate, EarthQuaker Devices, 2023-09-05
