If your pedalboard is hungry for vast, cinematic textures and unpredictable sonic movement, the wizards in Akron, Ohio have just cooked up your next obsession. EarthQuaker Devices has officially announced the Towers Stereo Reverberant Filter, a mind-bending pedal that fuses an endless cathedral reverb with a highly resonant, multi-stage low-pass filter.
Whether you are crafting shoegaze walls of sound, ambient dreampop, or pushing a synthesizer into deep space, the EQD Towers promises to be a powerful engine for otherworldly exploration. Here is everything you need to know about this new ambient powerhouse.
More Than Just a Cathedral Reverb
At its core, Towers is built around a booming, colossal cathedral-style reverb engine. But EQD didn’t stop at just a big room sound. Your input signal is first fed through a labyrinth of repeating micro-delays before smashing into the reverb tank.
What makes Towers truly unique is its relationship with its resonant low-pass filter. Instead of simply filtering the tail end of the effect, the delays and reverb are sliced and shaped by this filter at multiple points in the signal path. The high resonance creates blooming, shifting harmonics that move continuously throughout the reverb trails, offering a colorful and highly textured soundscape.
Three Ways to Shape Your Space
To tame—or unleash—the resonant filter, Towers features a three-way toggle switch offering distinct modes of operation:
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Manual Mode: Twist the Frequency knob to manually control the filter sweep. In stereo, the left and right channels glide in opposite directions, creating a dizzying, wide spatial movement.
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Envelope Mode: Your playing dynamics take the wheel. The filter acts as an envelope follower, blooming as you pick hard and floating down as you play softly. The Frequency knob adjusts the sensitivity.
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LFO Mode: The pedal’s internal Low-Frequency Oscillator takes over, producing a syrupy, rhythmic sweep across the stereo field. The Frequency knob controls the speed of the oscillation.
Stretch Mode: Enter the Lo-Fi Abyss
For tone adventurers, the secondary Stretch footswitch is where the magic happens. Hitting this switch slows down the pedal’s entire digital brain. The result? Your reverb length instantly doubles, delays pull apart, and the frequency spectrum shifts, creating a beautifully warped, pitch-bent, lo-fi dreamscape.
You can tap the footswitch for a quick, momentary dip into the abyss, or hold it down to watch your entire sound melt into shimmering, broken artifacts.
Pro-Level Connectivity: Presets, Expression, and Stereo I/O
Despite its wild nature, Towers is built for the modern, practical musician:
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8 Onboard Presets: Save and instantly recall your exact knob placements and expression pedal mappings.
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Expression Control: Use any TRS expression pedal to take hands-free command over the Length, Filter, or Mix controls.
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Flexible I/O: Features dual inputs and outputs, allowing for true stereo, mono, or mono-to-stereo operation.
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Switchable Bypass: Choose between true bypass to preserve your analog dry signal, or buffered bypass with “Trails Mode” so your massive reverb tails fade out naturally when the pedal is disengaged.
The Verdict
Is the EarthQuaker Devices Towers worth it?
Absolutely. If you are a fan of self-resonating filters, granular-style delays, or massive reverbs, the EQD Towers is a masterclass in ambient design. It is not just a “set and forget” room reverb; it is a highly interactive instrument in its own right.
While traditionalists looking for a subtle spring or plate reverb might find it overwhelming, experimental guitarists, synth players, and ambient producers will find an endless well of inspiration here. It is a stunning, premium addition to the EarthQuaker lineup.
Price & Availability
Available at Andertons – £329
FAQ: EarthQuaker Devices Towers
Is the EQD Towers true stereo?
Yes, the Towers features dual left and right inputs and outputs, allowing for true stereo processing, as well as mono and mono-to-stereo routing.
Can I save my settings on the Towers?
Yes. The pedal features 8 user-saveable preset slots. These presets save all knob positions and any assigned expression-pedal mappings.
What does the Stretch switch do?
The Stretch footswitch decelerates the pedal’s internal DSP. This doubles the reverb decay time, drops the pitch (by an octave), and introduces a warbly, lo-fi texture. It can be used as a latching switch or a momentary switch.
Where is the EQD Towers made?
Like all EarthQuaker Devices, the Towers is hand-built in Akron, Ohio, USA.
Does it have reverb trails when turned off?
Yes, the Towers features a switchable bypass system. You can run it in true bypass mode, or switch it to a buffered bypass “Trails Mode” so your echoes fade out naturally after you hit the bypass switch.
More Information
#EarthQuaker Devices #TowersÂ
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