Sunn O))) and EarthQuaker Devices are pleased to bring you the most compact, pedalboard-friendly version of the Life Pedal distortion circuit to date – the Sunn O))) HalfLife Octave Distortion + Booster. Half the size, just as heavy.
In the writing sessions for Life Metal, Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson worked extensively shearing their tones toward a broader energy spectrum over high-powered saturation and across planes of sonic character with the ambition to take full advantage of Steve Albini’s (the recording engineer of the Life Metal album) exacting capture skills.
The results are astounding. There is breadth and luminosity of color, vast sonic cosmoses, and flashes of abstract color (synthetic and objective) through resulting themes which emerged from the mastered depths of saturation and circuits between the two players and their mountains of gear.
Like the Life Pedal, HalfLife is designed to represent the core front end chain used in those sessions to drive the tubes of the band’s multiple vintage Sunn O))) Model T amplifiers (or take your fancy) into overload ecstasy. This is a 100W tube amp full stack’s holy dream or its apostate nightmare.
An octave fuzz inspired by the Shin-Ei FY2 & FY6 units leads the circuit into a brutal big-box rodent-inspired distortion recreated with the best components and including a three-way clipping switch (OpAmp, Asymmetric & Symmetric). The second stage is a purely clean boost to further overdrive the preamp tubes of your vintage system into scaped harmonics and feedback overtone bliss.
HalfLife is the mass production successor to the Sunn O))) HalfLife Fer MMXXV – a limited edition run housed in a cast iron enclosure made using a centuries-old technique known as Nanbu-tekki (南部鉄器).
Chasms are cleared, mountains sheared, glaciers calved, novæ birthed. Vintage valve amplifiers recommended. We hope you transcend.