Rotosound The Leveller review

60s-style EQ designed by ex-Vox man

  • £189
  • $300
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Like all of Rotosound's pedals, the Leveller is hand-built at the firm's Kent facility

MusicRadar Verdict

Musical EQ to enhance your tonal options.

Pros

  • +

    Well suited to guitar tones. John Oram design. Simple, spacious layout. Hand-wired assembly.

Cons

  • -

    Price. Considerably larger than most modern pedals.

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John Oram has been called 'the father of British EQ', so he knows his stuff when designing a pedal such as The Leveller, a three-band EQ, with each band offering a boost or cut of up to 18dB.

"The Leveller will give you some EQ options that work exceptionally well with guitar"

The 12 o'clock position of each knob offers a flat EQ, although there's no notched centre position - you have to use your eyes and ears. The boom knob covers the bottom end, and can add a nice warmth and body.

Honk is aptly named if you turn it up - it tweaks the midrange with a centre frequency of around 500Hz, but is also useful for scooping out the mids. Fizz covers the top end and the high midrange, for clarity and bite.

If you are looking to save on pedalboard space, there's a strong chance you won't be interested in any of the pedals that Rotosound has to offer - but if you don't have a problem with something that's the size of a wah pedal, The Leveller will give you some EQ options that work exceptionally well with guitar.

Trevor Curwen

Trevor Curwen has played guitar for several decades – he's also mimed it on the UK's Top of the Pops. Much of his working life, though, has been spent behind the mixing desk, during which time he has built up a solid collection of the guitars, amps and pedals needed to cover just about any studio session. He writes pedal reviews for Guitarist and has contributed to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and Future Music among others.