EarthQuaker Devices Dunes Mini Mega Ultimate Overdrive Pedal Effects Pedals

Way back in 2014, EarthQuaker did something they said they would never do. They made a Tubes Creamer. But they didn’t make just any old TS-808 clone – they made the Palisades, the end-all, be-all of transparent mid-boosting overdrives. A Mega Ultimate Overdrive, if you will.

Lurking inside that massive bedazzled enclosure was every conceivable 808 mod under the sun. And a second gain channel. And a clean boost. EarthQuaker did their rightful duty to you, the musician, by offering you true Freedom of Choice to mix and match clipping diodes and capacitors as you see fit in order to develop your own unique overdriven voice. And you did. All except for those few spuds in the back who said, “But EarthQuaker Devices, we want Freedom from Choice!” And so EarthQuaker listened. They made a Mini Mega Ultimate Overdrive.

The Dunes is a condensed take on the highly popular Palisades “808-style” overdrive. EarthQuaker has stripped away all the glitz and glamour of the original Palisades, leaving only the bare essentials required for a rippin’ mid-boosting transparent overdrive. It has all the great tone of the grown-up Palisades but with a simplified interface and a smaller footprint!

The Dunes features the same Gain, Tone and Level controls as the Palisades, along with our favorite voice and bandwidth settings, as well as the “Normal/Bright” toggle.

The selectable clipping Voices are: “MOSFET” for a tight, crunchy sound (Palisades’ Setting 3); “Silicon” Asymmetrical clipping for tighter light gain OD closest to the classic 808 sound (Palisades’ Setting 4); and “None,” which goes from clean boost to gritty, pure op-amp distortion with a massive volume boost (Palisades’ Setting 1).

The two Bandwidth settings are “stock” for the classic tone (Palisades’ Setting 3) and “full range” for more low end (Palisades’ Setting 5).

Each and every Dunes is true-bypass, uses silent relay-based switching, and is built one-at-a-time in sandy Akron, Ohio, USA.

Controls

• Gain: Adjusts the drive, dirtier clockwise, cleaner counter-clockwise
• Tone: Brighter clockwise, warmer counter-clockwise
• Level: Sets the output level
• Normal/Bright: Normal is a warm full tone, Bright is a livelier tone with more chime
• Bandwidth: Left is brighter with more emphasis on the mids, Right is full range for more low end
• Voice: MF- MOSFET diode clipping, N- No diode clipping, Si- Silicon diode clipping

Measures
4.75″ x 2.50″ x 2.25″ with knobs

Power
The Dunes should be powered by a standard 9-volt DC power supply with a 2.1mm negative center barrel. It’s recommended to use pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supples or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. Do not run at higher voltages!

Current Draw: 30mA

Input Impedance: 500K

Output Impedance: 1K

Switching:
This device is true bypass and uses electronic relay based switching. Audio will not pass without power.