The Death By Audio Absolute Destruction is not a subtle pedal. It is a fuzz circuit pushed to extremes!
Designed to behave in ways that most fuzz pedals deliberately avoid, at lower gain it is very useable, even sweet sounding fuzz.
As you push up the Gain and Overload sliders, it moves to thick saturation into octaves nastiness, self-destruction. At full tilt, the signal ducks down before slamming back into life.
It is driven by power amp ICs – the kind of circuit usually designed to drive speakers rather signal processors.
Running one as a fuzz stage produces results you won’t get from transistor or op-amp circuits. Coherent at lower settings, increasingly destructive as you push it, and genuinely unpredictable at the extremes.
The Overload slider is the key control. At maximum the pedal runs without overload where it behaves as a conventional fuzz. As you bring it left, it starves the circuit causing the signal to eat itself.
The interaction between Gain and Overload is where the all of the unique fun is.
Controls
- Gain: Adjusts the level of gain and distortion. At lower settings the guitar maintains its character. As you increase it the sound thickens and saturates.
- Overload: Sets the threshold at which the pedal enters overload territory. Fully right keeps the pedal free from overload. As you bring it left it progressively starves the circuit and destroys the signal.
- Volume: Controls the master output volume.
Key Features
- Power amp IC fuzz circuit
- Gain and Overload sliders — interactive and complementary
- Wide range from sweet fuzz to complete signal destruction
- Recessed horizontal sliders — protected against accidental adjustment
- Works on guitar and bass
- True bypass
- Lifetime warranty
- Handmade in New York, USA
Power
9V DC centre-negative at 5mA. Battery operation supported.
Watch The Death By Audio Absolute Destruction In Action
FAQs
It sets the threshold at which the pedal enters overload territory. At maximum (fully right) the circuit runs without overload — it behaves as a conventional fuzz. As you bring it left it progressively starves the circuit, causing the signal to collapse and then surge back. The interaction between Gain and Overload is where most of the interesting territory lies.
Yes — at lower Gain settings with Overload to the right, the Absolute Destruction is a genuinely characterful fuzz. The circuit’s power amp IC heritage gives it a distinctive quality even before the extremes are reached.
Yes — battery operation is supported.
Yes — true bypass throughout.
9V DC centre-negative, 2.1mm barrel, 5mA.
Lifetime warranty. Contact Death By Audio at repairs@deathbyaudio.com for any issues.
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