Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal
With so many fuzzes available, why bother making another? We wouldn’t if this was just another fuzz. The first thing your signal sees when it enters the Spidola is a high-impedance booster circuit that ramps up the signal level according to how the ‘Gain’ knob is set and then splits it off into two paths, slamming two frequency-selective fuzz/drive circuits in tandem:
- A vintage high-gain germanium transistor in a configuration that scoops out everything below the high mids.
- A silicon diode-based overdrive circuit that muffles everything above the low mids and makes the rest sound phenomenal.
Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal Review
This frequency separation prevents the tonal imbalance and muddiness that can result from clipping all the frequencies together as if they were a monolithic slab. The result when the two are recombined is a surprisingly crisp & articulate sound, even when completely fuzzed out.
Each of these paths has a control to help finesse the sound to suit your setup and your taste. The Fuzz/Treble side lets you roll off high end, while the Bass/Drive side has its own level control, allowing you to entirely dial it to zero if you just want that sweet overdriven treble booster sound. The two paths meet and are recombined, and a final passive volume control lets you decide how much you want to tame the output level (this thing has some serious pipes).
An added benefit of this design is that, as the germanium stage isn’t responsible for boosting your signal, its temperature sensitivity is irrelevant and doesn’t affect how the circuit sounds.
Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal Controls
- Gain: Adjust the amount of boost applied by a premium op amp to the input of both the bass and treble channels.
- Bass: Adjust the output level of the bass overdrive section. Increase to fill out bottom end and get a meaty, thick tone. Decrease to allow the Treble Boosting Fuzz side to dominate the output.
- Level: Adjust the overall output volume of the device after the bass and treble channels have been recombined.
- Treble: Vary the cutoff of a Low Pass Filter applied to the output of the Treble boosting fuzz side. Set fully clockwise to let the maximum amount of treble through; turn a bit counter-clockwise to tame the high end, turn fully counter-clockwise to darken your signal significantly.
Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal Features
While the true selling point is the sound design & engineering, that doesn’t mean any details are being skimped on. The Spidola is made entirely by hand using parts of much higher quality than the industry standard:
- Hand-measured and selected germanium transistor, straight from a sealed box that was fabricated and packaged in the 1970s-80s.
- 1/4W Carbon Composition Resistors
- WIMA/Panasonic Film Capacitors
- Nichicon Fine Gold Audio-grade Electrolytic Capacitors
- Switchcraft Jacks
Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal Specs
- 125B Size: 4.7”x2.5” (Stamped versions available in smaller 1590B case with side-mounted jacks)
- Current Draw: 60mA @ 9VDC (No Battery compartment)
- Input Impedance: ~500kOhm
- True Bypass
- All Analog Design
- Immune to buffers (happy anywhere in your chain)
- Top Mounted Jacks
- Hand-made in Canada
What's in the box of our Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal?
- Spidola Pedal
- Demedash Effects Branded Pedal Box
- Cloth Bag
- Demedash Effects and DeathCloud Stickers
- Demedash Effects Guitar Picks
- Rubber Feet
- Demedash Effects Artsy Manual
- Candy
Demedash Effects Spidola Pedal Manual
Originally released November 2020
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