EarthQuaker Device refreshes the Spatial Delivery – a preset-having envelope filter that “allows you to step outside the universe of funk while reinforcing your secret love affair with auto-wah”

EarthQuaker Devices has rolled out a revised and improved version of the Spatial Delivery, equipping v3 of the compact envelope filter pedal with six user-definable preset slots.

This is not an overdrive pedal. This is not reverb. This is not an everyday effect. The Spatial Delivery is not for the basic pedalboard. This, as EQD admits, is an “oddball” guitar effects pedal – “a voltage controlled envelope filter that allows you to step outside the universe of funk while reinforcing your secret love affair with auto-wah,” says the blurb. 

But with presets, three selectable modes, and the capability of stacking nicely with a drive, distortion or fuzz, it might just be the maverick stompbox you need to creating more outré electric guitar sounds. Just press play on any of the demo videos; it will do many things but it won’t do boring, and we are here for that.

There are three modes: Up Sweep, Down Sweep and Sample and Hold. Manipulating these you have a trio of knobs for Range, Resonance and Filter. Modes are selected via a three-way toggle switch. 

Presets are selected via a six-way rotary dial, and saved and recalled by an LED push button in the middle of the enclosure, which illuminates according to the pedal’s operating mode.

In Live mode, what you see is what you get; the pedal responds just as the dials are set. In preset mode, cycle through the rotary dial to select your preset. And you get a lot of control over your presets – you can even save your expression pedal’s setting to a preset, allowing you to assign it to control any of the Range, Resonance or Filter parameters.

As for the sounds, well, the Up and Down Sweeps are where you’ll find those filter sweep sounds. You can go heavy on the Range and Resonance for crazier sounds, with Range adjusting the sensitivity of the envelope, Resonance controlling the filter’s feedback – the further clockwise you go, the more “body and ring” you’ll get in the sound. 

What is particularly interesting about this take on the envelope filter is that the Filter knob acts as a crossfader, taking you from a low-pass to a high-pass filter and all stops in between, giving you a lot of control over the filter. Set it at the centre for a band-pass filter. 

The Spatial Delivery V3 has top-mounted I/O jacks, though the expression pedal input is side-mounted. It takes 9V DC from a pedalboard power supply, and is available now, priced £/$199. As you’d expect from EQD, it uses Flexi-Switch tech so you can alternate between momentary and latching operation. For more details, head over to EarthQuaker Devices.