ELECTRO-HARMONIX
SUPER PULSAR
REVIEW BY ERIC TISCHLER
STREET PRICE $237.55
Electro-Harmonix (EHX)—
creators of the Big Muff and
a bajillion other pedals—is
a company that seems to
live by the credo “go big
or go home,” both literally
and figuratively. EHX’s latest
offering, the Super Pulsar,
is big in all ways, offering a
huge feature set and huge
sound in a pretty big box.
The number of options on
this pedal is staggering;
indeed, I think the only
thing it can’t do is fit on
my crowded pedal board
(more on that later). To
start, it offers stereo in and
out, which is cool in and of
itself, but the Super Pulsar
also offers a Phase knob,
allowing you to adjust the
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GEAR REVIEW
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phase between the two
signals for really cool
effects that accentuate
the real-time Doppler
effect you get from
a two amp set up.
Like many tremolos, the
Super Pulsar is compatible
with an expression pedal
but, unlike most (any?)
you can assign Rate, Depth,
Shape, Volume and Phase
to the expression jack.
You’d only need the latter
if you’re running in stereo,
but that still leaves a wealth
of options, including this
one: with the Stereo Pulsar’s
ability to save eight presets
(despite its analog signal
path), you could save one
setting as a straight clean
Electro-Harmonix Super Pulsar
tone but assign Volume
to the expression and
voila—your expression
pedal is now a volume
pedal, too, and you still
have room for seven
presets.
Even if you think you only
need one or two settings
for your tremolo, you might
change your mind when you
start tweaking the Env Rate
and Env Depth knobs. These
two tiny knobs allow the
player’s dynamics to affect
the tremolo’s response.
Working in conjunction
with the main Rate knob—
which, as you might expect,
controls the overall rate of
the effect—the Env Rate
knob can be adjusted so