Electro-Harmonix goes old school with the Ripped Speaker fuzz pedal

The notion that things were better in the old days rings especially loud in guitar circles – but what about distortion pedals? After all, the trailblazers such as Link Wray and The Kinks' Dave Davies literally ripped their speaker cones to get the sound. And that's the inspiration for Electro-Harmonix's new distortion / fuzz pedal… yep you guessed it, the Ripped Speaker.

Electro-Harmonix

(Image credit: Electro-Harmonix)

It even has its own Rip knob – a bias control that sets the amount of clipping to the top and bottom of your signal's wave form. Set at noon, the fuzz is fat with just enough bite. Turn it clockwise and E-HX says it produces a "hard grating effect" – things get spluttery. Turn the Rip control the other way and its a smoother affair with the signal fading out quickly.

Electro-Harmonix

(Image credit: Electro-Harmonix)

The pedal's active Tone control delivers a tilt-shift EQ. Clockwise from noon, its gets brighter and counter-clockwise is get darker with more low end. 

Sounds like fun – with plenty of modern applications for an old school inspiration. 

The Ripped Speaker is priced at $99. More info at Electro-Harmonix

Rob Laing
Reviews Editor, GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars

Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.