EarthQuaker Devices Sunn O))) Life Pedal

The EarthQuaker Devices Sunn O))) Life Pedal is a collaboration between EarthQuaker Devices and the drone metal band Sunn O))), and it takes its name from the band's 2019 album Life Metal¹². It is a distortion pedal with a blendable analog octave-up fuzz in front of it and a clean boost after it, all in one box³. The signal path runs Octave > Distortion > Boost, and the octave distortion and booster can be used independently with their own footswitches⁴³.

The design goes back to the band's recording sessions: the pedal is built to represent the core front-end chain used on the Life Metal sessions, driving the tubes of the band's multiple vintage Sunn O))) Model T amplifiers into overload⁴³. The original run sold out quickly and spent years as a sought-after used-market item, until the V3 returned the circuit to permanent production in late 2022³⁵.

What the Life Pedal does: octave fuzz, distortion and boost

The circuit has three stages. First is an octave fuzz inspired by the Shin-Ei FY2 Companion and FY6 Super Fuzz units, an all-discrete analog full-wave rectifier based on a classic vintage design⁴⁶. Second is a distortion faithfully modeled after the classic "White Face" Pro Co Rat, right down to the LM308 IC and tantalum capacitors⁴. Third is the Magnitude section, a 100% clean, all-discrete MOSFET booster that adds very little color and does not add distortion on its own, designed to push your preamp tubes further³².

Delicious Audio describes how the stages interact: with the Octave control turned up fully, the pedal stops being a simple distortion device³.

Two things worth knowing as a player:

• The octave effect is monophonic and works best playing single notes above the twelfth fret with the neck pickup³².
• The Magnitude booster reaches unity gain at 12 o'clock, so anything past that is pure level pushing your amp².

The controls and footswitches

The V3 carries five knobs, a three-way clipping selector, an expression jack and three footswitches³⁶. Guitar World's reviewer noted that Amplitude, Filter and Distortion "will seem familiar to Rat enthusiasts," while Octave and Magnitude are self-evident⁶.

The footswitches on the V3 are the Amplitude switch (distortion activator), the Magnitude switch (boost activator) and a third, dedicated soft-relay footswitch for the octave, added on the V3 using Flexi-Switch Technology so the octave can be toggled quickly³⁷⁸. The enclosure marks the Amplitude portion with a Petrine Cross graphic and the Magnitude section with a Christian Cross graphic⁶. Flexi-Switch relay-based true bypass allows both momentary and latching switching⁴⁶.

The three clipping modes

The clipping switch shapes how the distortion stage clips the signal, and the same three positions have carried through from the original 2019 run to the V3⁴⁹.

Guitar.com's buying guide frames the choice plainly: either no clipping at all other than the op-amp distortion, asymmetrical LED/silicon clipping, or the classic silicon diode pair¹⁰.

History: the limited runs, V2 and V3

The Life Pedal arrived in June 2019 as EarthQuaker's first artist-focused pedal, a limited, hand-numbered run sold exclusively through the Official Sunn O))) Reverb Shop on Reverb.com at $249⁷⁹. One reason the originals were limited was that EarthQuaker built them with NOS (new old stock) components¹¹. A silver-enclosure reissue followed in December 2019, limited to 250 pedals and listed at $429.61¹².

The V2, announced around NAMM 2020 as the fourth limited edition of the pedal, was the same circuit in a more pedalboard-friendly layout with knobs on top, limited to 2,500 units worldwide and adding expression pedal control over the octave blend⁴¹³¹⁴. It is no longer in production⁴. The V3, unveiled in November 2022, refined the circuit in collaboration with the band, fine tuned the octave section to be more pronounced without losing the bottom end, added the third octave footswitch and the expression jack, and put the pedal into permanent production for the first time³⁸⁵¹⁵.

What reviewers said

Guitar World's Paul Riario reviewed the V3 and called it "a thunderously loud octave fuzz pedal tailor-made for avant-garde noise architects," finding its sludgy distortion tighter and more defined than the Pro Co pedal it tips its hat to⁶. Gearnews felt the price was fair for a boutique pedal: "The price point is not exactly cheap, but for a boutique pedal, it is probably about right"⁵. Guitar.com's reviewer called EarthQuaker Devices "one of the coolest pedal brands"¹⁵. Not every take was glowing on every point: Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson found the V1 and V3 "somewhat overly large for my preferences"¹⁶. The V2 was also "right at the top of Reverb.com new pedals bestseller list"¹⁴.

Premier Guitar published a first-look demo of the V3, walking through the circuit's lineage, the octave-into-distortion-into-booster order and the design intent behind the Life Metal sessions¹⁷⁸.

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Who uses it

The pedal was designed with and for Sunn O))), recreating O'Malley and Anderson's front-end signal chain when they tracked Life Metal with Steve Albini⁷¹¹. Beyond the band, MusicRadar reported that musicians were using it on bass guitar and with synthesizers, and that it became a staple in studios¹¹. EarthQuaker describes the V3 as usable for guitar or bass guitar².

The compact alternative: the HalfLife

For players who want the Life Pedal's combination in a smaller footprint, EarthQuaker offers the Sunn O))) HalfLife. The V3 itself is a distortion with a blendable analog octave up and a booster combined in one compact package³, and it is back in permanent production³. Its clipping switch gives three modes: OpAmp, with no diodes for full, grinding distortion at maximum volume, and Asymm, with two silicon diodes and one LED in an asymmetrical clipping configuration for a slightly compressed and smooth amp-like crunch³. An Octave EXP input lets any expression pedal control the analog octave blend, inserted only while the pedal is powered off³⁴.

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