While Fire is the first pedal I’ve released to the public, Earth was actually my first idea for a pedal. The first version of the circuit didn’t land quite in the place I wanted in the distortion spectrum, however. It didn’t clean up well on it’s own, and I found that I actually liked it best when I had one with low gain followed by one with the gain cranked. It definitely wasn’t an overdrive, and I soon found myself working on Fire. Now that Fire is complete, I’m back working on Earth.
I have the sound I’m looking for in my mind, and I’m getting to work on the breadboard, poking around, looking for the right circuit to bring that texture to life. My favorite part about building pedals.
At this point, you may be wondering: does the world really need another overdrive? The answer is, of course. Just like how the world needs more music, paintings, and tools.
There are sounds we have not yet discovered. For me, there’s a particular flavor of overdrive that I can hear so clearly in my mind, and yet seem to have to fiddle with a two different overdrives, a dash of fuzz, and the volume knob on my guitar to get close to that sound for now. There’s got to be a better way.