With all the fervor around creating improved reissues of classic effects, such as Catalinbread Echorec, there haven't been many effects pedals lately that genuinely do something original. The EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath has caused a stir because it is undeniably original, bringing us back to the early days of effects when new sounds were being discovered that we weren't sure what do with yet. Technically a reverb pedal, it achieves the effect by cascading what sounds like thousands of micro-delays that can be stretched, dragged and dampened to create various atmospheric textures.

The result is an incredibly deep, organic sounding reverb with trailing oscillation that sounds as if a group of drummers were using mallets to roll on a metal pipe or glass bottle tuned to your note. On paper this sounds more like a distraction, unwanted artifacts tagged onto an otherwise pure reverb sound. But once you hear it, you instantly realize there is potential. Once you play it, you will become obsessed with finding the edges of the Afterneath's sound, playing your old standby phrases first and then reaching deeper and deeper as the pedal encourages you to create.

A Six-Knob Reverb

Yes, there's a lot going on here, so you need a knob for each parameter. Let's take a look at what each knob does: