Ground Control Audio Noodles

The Ground Control Audio Noodles, sold as the Noodles Tone Shaper, is a three-band active EQ and boost pedal from the Montreal-based maker Ground Control Audio. Instead of one boost circuit, it puts three separate boost circuits in one box, each operating on its own frequency band: bass, mids and treble. Each band offers three selectable frequency sets, and with a mix control in play, Ground Control says that adds up to 64 possible tonal combinations¹².

Announced in December 2020 and available from January 2021, the Noodles is aimed at players who want more than a flat clean boost: it can push a whole amp, or reshape just one region of the spectrum at a time³⁴. It sits in the boost pedal family but works more like a switchable three-channel EQ than a single-knob volume lift.

Three boost circuits, 64 combinations

The core idea is that each of the three channels is its own frequency-limited boost, with its own footswitch, so you can engage them one at a time or stack all three at once³⁶. Guitar.com's reviewer described it as "three separate boost circuits in one box, each operating on one of three frequency bands selected by a push-button"².

Each band gives you three cherry-picked frequency sets to cycle through¹. The press coverage gives the options for two of the three bands:

The bass figures are a genuine disagreement between outlets: Pedal of the Day lists the third bass option as 250Hz, while GuitarPlayer reports 280Hz¹⁵. Both are given here as stated.

Because each channel can be on or off, and each has three frequency choices, the combinations multiply quickly. GuitarPlayer counted 64 different filter combinations in all, with each channel footswitch-toggleable⁵. Gearnews' take on what that means in practice: "That really opens up what you can do with a simple amp setup and could make the Noodles Tone Shaper a powerful tool in your rig"⁶.

The controls

The control layout is the same on every channel, which keeps it simple once you know one band⁵⁷³:

• Gain knob per channel: Bass, middle and treble level knobs each set how much gain their channel adds²⁶.
• Frequency selector push-button: A small button below each gain knob cycles through that channel's three frequencies of interest³⁴.
• Footswitch per channel: Each of the three channels has its own footswitch to engage or bypass it³⁶.

You can use each channel one at a time, or engage as many as you like together⁶. That makes the pedal usable as a solo boost on one band, a midrange push for cutting through, or a full-range reshape with all three channels active.

Analog signal, digital routing

The Noodles has a fully analog signal path, but its signal routing is digitally controlled³. Delicious Audio describes the system in more detail: "a digitally-controlled solid state analog signal routing system built around the ARM Cortex-M microcontroller platform"⁴. In practice, your guitar signal stays analog through the boosts; the digital side handles how the three circuits are switched and combined.

The bypass is buffered rather than true bypass, and power comes from a 9-volt mains supply only².

Where the circuit came from

The Noodles is not a fresh design: it is based on the preamp circuitry of two earlier Ground Control Audio pedals, the Amaterasu bright preamp and the Tsukuyomi midrange booster²⁷⁸. Guitar World reported at launch that "the pedal features the same preamp technology found in Ground Control's Amaterasu preamp and Tsukuyomi midrange booster"⁷. Players who know those two pedals can think of the Noodles as that preamp technology expanded into a three-band, footswitchable format.

The pedal is made in Canada and became available in January 2021, sold directly from Ground Control Audio's website and through select retailers²⁴.

What reviewers said

Reviews were positive across the coverage. Pedal of the Day, reviewing it in May 2021, concluded: "Cheers to Ground Control Audio on creating a great pedal that we never even knew we needed"¹.

Guitar.com's Richard Purvis reviewed it in August 2021 and found the frequency choices well judged: "All of the frequency bands have been calibrated to offer powerful and sometimes transformative shifts in tonal colour"². His examples of what the pedal does for a player give a concrete picture of its range: "adding some chime to a beefy Les Paul or filling out the low end of a spiky Tele, or indeed both"².

Gearnews, at announcement, framed the three-channel design as a way to get more out of a simple amp setup, calling it a potentially powerful tool in a rig⁶.

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