The EarthQuaker Devices Speaker Cranker is a discrete, all-analog distortion enhancement device, which the maker is careful to distinguish from a booster: it is designed to give your signal some extra grit and a slight boost without drastically altering your tone. EarthQuaker describes it as being like sticking an extra preamp tube in your amplifier for more overdrive1. It launched in 2011 to a very positive reception2 and is no longer in production; the design lives on in the expanded Special Cranker.
The whole pedal is built around a single control, and that simplicity is the point. For players who want an overdrive that does one thing well and stays out of the way, it became one of EarthQuaker's top sellers before its retirement321.
What it does to your sound
EarthQuaker Devices positions the Speaker Cranker as a distortion enhancement device rather than a clean boost or a full distortion. The idea is grit and a slight boost with your tone left largely intact, the way an extra preamp tube in an amp would push things toward breakup1. GuitarPlayer's Christopher Scapelliti described the original in the same terms: with just one knob, it could push your speaker to the edge of breakup without dramatically coloring your tone or affecting transparency3.
The circuit itself is a discrete, transistor-based design, and it started life as a personal project. Designer Jamie Stillman originally built it as a preamp to go in front of his then favorite solid state amp2. That origin explains the pedal's character: it is a preamp-style dirt box, not a screamer clone, and it sits apart from EarthQuaker's Tube Screamer-derived Plumes in the company's overdrive lineup.
The More knob
The Speaker Cranker has exactly one control, labeled More. EarthQuaker's own description is blunt: "More: Controls the amount of dirt."1
Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson dug into what the knob actually does in the circuit, describing it as a sort of bias control that increases gain and grit as you turn it clockwise, while the output level remains fairly constant2. That behavior matters for a player: turning More up does not get much louder, it gets dirtier, so you can dial in the amount of breakup without reshaping your stage volume.
The manual also ships with named suggested settings, which give a sense of the range the single knob covers1:
- Dirt Road Dust
- It's Just Better
- Six String Salute1
Power and connections
The pedal runs on either a 9V battery or a standard 9-volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel, and draws only 10 mA1. That is a light enough draw that it shares a daisy chain with most anything, and the standard barrel means it fits typical pedalboard power supplies without an adapter.
The Speaker Cranker is true bypass and uses electronic relay-based switching. EarthQuaker Devices states plainly that audio will not pass without power, so a dead battery or unplugged supply means no signal, unlike a mechanically switched true bypass pedal1.
Input impedance is 2.2 MΩ and output impedance is under 10 kΩ1, figures consistent with placing it anywhere in a chain without loading the guitar or the next pedal down the line.
Where it came from and where it went
The Speaker Cranker launched in 2011 to a very positive reception2. Paul Riario reviewed it for Guitar World in 2012 at a list price of $1055, and the pedal went on to become one of EarthQuaker's top sellers. In 2016 the company updated it along with several other pedals to V2 specs6.
Before the general update, there was a Japan-only limited reissue: 100 units total, 25 in Black Sparkle and 75 in Gold Sparkle, expanded to a premium three-knob edition with a Germanium clipping option2.
The design's final form is the Special Cranker. Guitar World reported that EarthQuaker Devices retooled and expanded the Speaker Cranker design into that new overdrive pedal7, giving the circuit more control while keeping its character.
What reviewers said
Guitar World's Paul Riario, reviewing the design in its Special Cranker form, looked back fondly on the original87:
"I loved the pedal not only for "not coloring your tone dramatically" but for doing exactly as its name implied"
GuitarPlayer's review echoed the same quality, noting the one-knob pedal could push a speaker to the edge of breakup without dramatically coloring tone or affecting transparency3. The consistent thread across reviews is transparency: the pedal adds dirt without imposing an EQ signature of its own.
On bass
Although it is a guitar overdrive, the pedal has documented bass use. EarthQuaker Devices' own artist feature notes that bassist Andrew Rich of The Beyonderers uses the Speaker Cranker for extra harmonics and grit to situate himself in the mix9. Players hunting a bass-specific EarthQuaker overdrive can also look at the company's bass pedals, but the Speaker Cranker itself has a real track record on the low end.
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Questions
Does the Speaker Cranker work without power?
No. The pedal is true bypass with electronic relay-based switching, and EarthQuaker Devices states that audio will not pass without power. It runs on a 9V battery or a standard 9V DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel, drawing about 10 mA.
Is the EarthQuaker Speaker Cranker still made?
No. EarthQuaker Devices lists the Speaker Cranker as no longer in production. It was launched in 2011, received a V2 update in 2016, and was later retooled and expanded into the Special Cranker, which is the current version of the design.
What is the difference between the Speaker Cranker and the Special Cranker?
The Special Cranker is a retooled and expanded version of the Speaker Cranker design. The original had a single More knob, while the Special Cranker adds more control over the sound. A Japan-only limited reissue of the Speaker Cranker, 100 units total, had also expanded the design to a premium three-knob edition with a Germanium clipping option.
Does the Speaker Cranker work on bass?
Players do use it on bass. EarthQuaker Devices features bassist Andrew Rich of The Beyonderers using the Speaker Cranker for extra harmonics and grit to situate himself in the mix, so it can work as a dirt option on the low end.
Sources (9)
- Speaker Cranker Overdrive, EarthQuaker Devices
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2022-04-29
- EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker Review, GuitarPlayer.com, 2022-12-13
- Guitar FX Layouts: EarthQuaker Devices Speaker Cranker, Guitar FX Layouts (tagboardeffects.blogspot.com), 2014-03-22
- Seismic Activity: EarthQuaker Devices Speaker Cranker, Guitar World, 2012-08-28
- EarthQuaker Devices Updates Its Top-Selling Pedals, Guitar World, 2016-12-06
- EarthQuaker Devices promises "an overdrive you can trust" with the Special Cranker, Guitar World, 2022-04-29
- EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker review, Guitar World, 2022-08-29
- EarthQuaker Session: The Beyonderers, EarthQuaker Devices, 2017-12-14
