Walrus Audio Eras

The Walrus Audio Eras is a five-state high-gain distortion pedal, released in 2021 by Walrus Audio. Walrus positions it as a "no apologies, high-gain distortion that's ready to chug, shred, and palm mute with tight response and multiple clipping options"¹², and says it "covers all eras of high-gain from classic rock sounds to modern metal"¹³⁴. It is a fully analog pedal built on the same form factor as the Walrus Audio Ages overdrive, its sister pedal⁵.

What sets the Eras apart from many high-gain distortions is its Blend knob, which mixes between your fully clean and fully distorted signal. Walrus also suggests using it to blend in other drive pedals placed before the Eras in your chain, which makes it a stacking tool as well as a distortion⁶. Delicious Audio found this useful for reintroducing clean signal "for extra dynamics and clarity"⁵.

What it does: high-gain distortion with a clean blend

The Eras is aimed squarely at high-gain playing: palm muting, riffing and soloing at gain levels from classic rock through modern metal¹⁶. The core of the pedal is a five-position mode switch that selects different hard-clipping circuits, and a Blend knob that sits alongside the usual volume, gain and tone controls.

The Blend knob is the pedal's most distinctive control. At maximum you get the full distortion signal; rolled back, clean signal comes back into the mix. Walrus describes it as holding "a lot of tone shaping power," and suggests running other dirt pedals into the Eras and using Blend to mix them together⁶. Delicious Audio highlighted this as a way to stack and mix other dirt pedals placed in front of the Eras⁵.

In practice, the blend is powerful but has limits. guitar.com's reviewer found that with more dry than wet signal, "the distortion can start to sound like little more than a grubby background fizz"², so the sweet spot tends to sit closer to the wet end than a 50/50 mix.

The controls

The control set is straightforward: Volume, Gain, Bass, Treble, Blend, and the five-position mode switch⁴².

The Bass and Treble controls are active, offering the ability to both boost and cut frequencies¹⁰. Delicious Audio found they "allow for a fair amount of tone-sculpting and amp-tailoring," and noted that the Bass control can reportedly add a massive amount of low frequencies, which fits the pedal's appeal to metal players⁵.

The five clipping modes

The mode switch offers five hard-clipping options, built from combinations of LED and silicon clipping⁸. Walrus groups them as three Tight modes and two Rhythm modes¹¹. The maker's descriptions of each position:

Premier Guitar summarized the range as running "from scooped and tight to compressed and smooth via combinations of LED and silicon clipping"⁸. Modes four and five are recommended for rhythm playing, with a more pronounced mid-scoop and a choice between LED and silicon clipping².

In use, the differences are not all dramatic. guitar.com's reviewer found that "the differences between the first three modes are surprisingly subtle, thickening things up as we go around rather than radically transforming the distortion," while the scooped settings "make solos sit in a very different space," though the midrange cut is not exaggerated².

History: the sister pedal to the Ages

Walrus Audio released the Eras in 2021⁷. It is a sister pedal to the Walrus Audio Ages overdrive, sharing the same form factor and a similar control array, including the dry blend and five-way mode switch¹¹². Where the Ages covers overdrive territory, the Eras covers high-gain distortion; MusicRadar put it as doing "for high-gain distortion what the Ages does for overdrive, presenting up a huge range of practical and inspirational tones"⁴.

The pedal ships in a compact red enclosure with an angry-looking winged bull emblazoned across the front¹². It was available from launch at $199¹³.

There is also a limited-run version, the ERAS National Park Limited Edition, listed by RockBoard's PedalPedia as an analog distortion carrying the same circuit, with a 100mA current draw⁹.

What reviewers said

Reviews of the Eras were broadly positive, with reviewers praising its range and blend flexibility.

• guitar.com rated it 8 out of 10, calling it "a quality noise-bringer with plenty of gain on tap and some interesting tone-tweaking options." The reviewer found mode one with the blend fully open produced "a raw and raspy distortion that's well suited to palm-muting chuggathons," and that with the gain maxed out it strays "into extreme fuzz territory, complete with near-endless sustain on single high notes." The review also recommended pairing it with a high-wattage amplifier with headroom to spare².
• MusicRadar found the Eras covers a huge range of practical and inspirational tones across its five modes, and that the blending makes it "play nice with others"⁴.
• Delicious Audio noted the pedal "sounds great on bass, by the way," making it an option for bass players as well as guitarists⁵.
• Premier Guitar listed the street price at $199⁸.

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