The Stacks FX Crazy 8 is a tremolo pedal from Stacks FX. Tremolo pedals vary the volume of your signal at a set rate and depth, giving the pulsing, surf-ready swell heard on countless records. What sets the Crazy 8 apart is the range of shapes it can pulse in: rather than a single fixed waveform, it offers Ramp Up, Ramp Down, Square, Triangle, Sine, Sweep, Lump and Random waveforms, all selectable from the front panel1.
Pedal of the Day reviewed it in December 2016 and came away impressed, calling it "One of the funnest, most useful and option-filled tremolo pedals we've ever come across"1.
What it does
The Crazy 8 works by pairing "a clean analog path with a digital LFO"1. In practical terms, your guitar's signal stays analog as it passes through the pedal, while a digital circuit generates the pulsing pattern that shapes it. This arrangement lets the pedal offer a wider variety of waveforms than a purely analog design typically would, without putting your guitar signal itself through digital processing.
The heart of the pedal is its Speed knob, which sets the rate of the tremolo's LFO, the oscillator that drives the volume pulsing1. Around that, the Crazy 8 offers eight selectable waveforms1:
| Waveform | Character of the pulse |
|---|---|
| Sine | Smooth, even swell |
| Triangle | Smooth swell with a slightly different curve |
| Square | Harder, more abrupt chop |
| Ramp Up | Swell leaning in one direction |
| Ramp Down | Swell leaning in the other direction |
| Sweep | Moving sweep pattern |
| Lump | Uneven, lumpy pulse |
| Random | Unpredictable movement |
Controls and playing it live
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Speed | Sets the rate of the tremolo's LFO1 |
| Waveform selector | Chooses among the eight waveforms1 |
| Multipliers | Switch between multiples of the tapped speed on the fly1 |
| Bypass footswitch | Turns the effect on and off1 |
| Tap footswitch | Taps in the tremolo speed1 |
For live use, the Crazy 8 includes a second footswitch dedicated to tapping in tempo. As Pedal of the Day put it, "A additional Tap footswitch lets you adjust the speed here, using the multipliers to switch things up on the fly"1. That means you can tap a quarter-note pulse in time with the band and use the multiplier knob to jump to half or double that rate mid-song without retapping.
The multipliers work off the tapped tempo, so the tap footswitch and the multiplier control are meant to be used together: tap the base pulse, then use the multipliers to change speed on the fly1.
Who it suits
Stacks FX designed the Crazy 8 to "work well with a number of instruments, too, including guitar, bass and synth"1. Players running bass or keyboard rigs alongside guitar can share one tremolo across setups, and the tap footswitch is useful anywhere a locked tempo matters.
What reviewers said
The Pedal of the Day review, published 23 December 2016, was positive throughout. The reviewer opened with "The kids at Stacks FX have done it again"1 and closed by ranking the Crazy 8 among the most capable tremolos they had encountered, singling out the breadth of waveform choices as the standout feature. The pedal's purple enclosure drew a mention too, described as "this purple beauty"1.
Videos
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Sources (1)
- Stacks FX Crazy 8 Tremolo, Pedal of the Day, 2016-12-23