Endangered Audio Research AD4096

The Endangered Audio Research AD4096 is an analog delay pedal built in Asheville, North Carolina, by the same folks who built the Gristleizer, a device inspired by the work of industrial experimentalists Throbbing Gristle¹. Premier Guitar's reviewer called it "a solid and beautiful analog delay" and summed it up as "A simple, great-sounding delay with unique and musical features"¹. Pedal of the Day's Mike B described the delayed signals as "everything you'd expect from an great analog pedal: warm, dark and brooding but beautiful"².

What it does to your sound

At its heart this is a solid analog delay, and the character reviewers describe is the warm, dark side of the analog delay pedals family rather than a clean digital repeat¹². The Time knob adjusts the repeat rate between 40 and 400 ms, which covers everything from a short slap to a long, spacious echo¹.

Controls and footswitches

The front panel carries four knobs and a mode toggle, and there are two footswitches¹.

There are also bypass and expand footswitches. The Expand switch is a momentary switch that throws the delay into self-oscillation when held¹. Pedal of the Day describes it as "a second momentary footswitch on the pedal called Expand, which lets you shift into oscillating mode on-the-fly"².

Infinity mode

A mini-toggle above the knobs switches between normal and infinity modes¹. On infinity, Mike B at Pedal of the Day said the pedal "throws this pedal into an awesome tape delay-inspired loop, adding another sonic layer onto the delay"².

Aux out and routing

The rear panel hosts in and out jacks, plus a mini-toggle that controls the adjoining aux out jack¹. The two toggle positions behave differently:

• Dry: no delayed signal passes through the aux send¹
• Wet: the aux out passes delayed signal only, even when the effect is bypassed, creating possibilities for routing, spillover, and multi-amp setups¹

That wet position is the notable one: because delayed signal keeps flowing when the pedal is bypassed, you can send repeats to a second amp or keep tails spilling while you switch other effects¹.

Power and bypass

The AD4096 is true bypass². It runs on nine volts, and the small footprint means there is no room for a battery¹.

Where it comes from

Endangered Audio Research builds the AD4096 in Asheville, North Carolina. Premier Guitar notes the company's local company, saying "Like pedals by Moog and Blackout Effectors, the AD4096 is made in Asheville"¹. As of Pedal of the Day's 2015 review, it was one of only two pedals then in production from the maker, alongside the Spectravibe tremolo/vibrato².

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar's verdict was short and positive: "A simple, great-sounding delay with unique and musical features"¹.

Pedal of the Day's reviewer praised the Expand switch and infinity mode as ways to push the pedal into oscillating, tape-style territory on the fly, and found the core delayed tone warm, dark and brooding but beautiful².

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