Sunn O))) Life Pedal V3

The Sunn O))) Life Pedal V3 is a distortion pedal with a blendable analog octave up and a booster in one package, built by EarthQuaker Devices in collaboration with the doom metal band Sunn O))). It is the third incarnation of the Life Pedal, and unlike the two limited runs before it, this version is in permanent production¹².

The circuit follows the chain the band used on its 2019 album Life Metal, which also gives the pedal its name³⁴. An octave fuzz inspired by the Shin-Ei FY2 and FY6 units feeds a distortion modeled after the classic "White Face" rodent-style big box unit, followed by a clean MOSFET boost. The signal path runs Octave, then Distortion, then Boost¹. With a low-tuned guitar, guitar.com's reviewer found the pedal takes you straight to the territory of Life Metal and Pyroclasts⁵.

Octave fuzz, distortion and boost in one pedal

The pedal has three sections, each with its own footswitch. The octave distortion and the booster can be used independently; the octave cannot, and more on that below³.

• Octave: an all-discrete, analog full-wave rectifier based on a classic vintage design. It is monophonic and works best playing single notes above the twelfth fret with the neck pickup. EarthQuaker says going full Octave transforms the pedal from a simple distortion device into a swelling, raging fuzz similar to the classic Super Fuzz¹.
• Distortion (Amplitude): modeled after the classic "White Face" distortion unit with modern components, offering about +60dB of gain¹.
• Boost (Magnitude): a simple all-discrete MOSFET booster designed, in EarthQuaker's words, to blast your preamp tubes and drive them wild¹.

The clipping section gives you a choice of voicings. The traditional circuit uses a single pair of silicon diodes for a tight, compressed crunch, and the Life Pedal adds two more options to adapt to different rigs: Symmetrical Silicon, Asymmetrical Silicon and LED, plus an OpAmp position with no diodes at all for what EarthQuaker calls full, grinding OpAmp assault at maximum volume¹².

The controls

There is also an Octave EXP jack: connect any expression pedal to control the analog octave blend in real time¹⁴. Guitar World's reviewer found the Octave and Magnitude controls self-evident in use⁶.

Footswitches and Flexi-Switch

The V3's headline change is a third footswitch for the octave, using EarthQuaker's Flexi-Switch Technology, so the octave can be toggled on and off quickly instead of blended in by hand¹⁸. Premier Guitar's review notes the octave now has its own dedicated soft-relay footswitch⁹.

All three footswitches use relay-based Flexi-Switching, which supports both momentary and latching operation: hold the switch for momentary bursts, tap for standard on/off¹. Guitar.com's reviewer noted all three portions of the pedal feature relay-based momentary switching⁵.

Power and connections

The Life Pedal V3 takes a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel¹. Guitar World lists the current draw at 15 mA⁶, light enough for any isolated supply. Input impedance is 1 MΩ on the octave distortion input and 500 kΩ on the booster input, with output impedance under 1 kΩ¹. Switching is true bypass¹⁰.

From the Life Metal sessions to Version 3

The Life Pedal is named after Sunn O)))'s 2019 album Life Metal, and it is designed to represent the core front-end chain used in those sessions with engineer Steve Albini, driving the tubes of the band's multiple vintage Sunn Model T amplifiers into overload³⁴⁸. The pedal was devised and honed in close collaboration with the band¹¹, and the octave update was something the band itself wanted².

The version history:

• Naming: The pedal takes its name from Sunn O)))'s 2019 album Life Metal⁴.
• Circuit origin: It is designed to represent the core front end chain used in the Life Metal sessions, to drive the tubes of the band's multiple vintage Sunn O))) Model T amplifiers into overload³⁸, with a thorough circuit tweak designed to capture the band's front-end saturation felt throughout 2019's Life Metal, recorded with engineer Steve Albini³⁸.
• V3 changes: A newly designed enclosure⁴¹, and an octave section fine tuned to make it more pronounced without losing the bottom end¹.
• Availability: Version 3 is the most recent and is still currently available in the large format⁷.

Guitar.com's reviewer felt the new enclosure makes the pedal more of an event than any other EarthQuaker pedal, while staying easier to fit on a pedalboard than V1's slanted enclosure with top-mounted knobs⁵.

What reviewers said

Guitar.com rated the V3 9 out of 10, calling it a surprisingly versatile distortion pedal whose third iteration refines the formula. The reviewer found the bass response huge, as is the output, even before touching the clean boost⁵.

GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter called it an extremely powerful and controllable distortion, fuzz and booster in a single package¹⁰, and Guitar World's review praised the quality build and all-analog signal path⁶. On the critical side, guitar.com's buying guide noted the voicing can get surprisingly bright for such a doom-inspired pedal¹², and Gearnews observed the price point is not exactly cheap, but for a boutique pedal it is probably about right².

Premier Guitar's demo video walks through the pedal's origins and the V3's changes, including the circuit tweak aimed at capturing the front-end saturation of Life Metal and the new octave footswitch⁸¹³⁹:

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