Walrus Audio DEFCON4 Preamp EQ Boost

Collaborations between pedal companies and artists/players are always a good time, especially when said guitarist is one of your favorite songwriters around. Walrus Audio has teamed up with Mr. Ryan Adams for a special tone-shaping pedal, designed to work quickly and easily with both single coil and humbucking pickups, perfect for when your set requires multiple guitar changes and you don’t want to have to re-adjust your tone each time. Retro graphics and an 80’s-themed War Games-esque name, the DEFCON4 is a preamp, EQ and boost all wrapped into one futuristic but somehow nostalgic enclosure….and the tones it puts out aren’t too shabby, either.

The 3-band EQ section is controlled by individual parameter knobs, allowing you to set the dial to one of five selections in the rotation, from low to high. IV controls the Low Band frequency, able to boost lower output pickups or bring clarity to humbuckers that may be a bit muddy. III sets the mid-range, which is fully parametric, and can be further set by three internal trimpots, allowing for precise dialing in of center frequency and bandwidth of this filter. II lets you set your higher Treble frequencies, adding a bright sparkle to your sound, or cutting the high end of more powerful, harsher pickups with ease.

Each of these parameters may be engaged or disengaged via their own individual toggle switches, opening up the door for a ton of combinations to use with any type of guitar and amp setup. There’s a Launch switch as well, which provides an instant +10dB of MOSFET boost, perfect for going into a solo section or beefing up some rhythmic chords. This also adds a touch of color to your sound, giving it a full, round and rich tone overall, as it works in correlation with the aforementioned EQ section.

Now, while an EQ/Boost pedal isn’t as fancy or exciting, perhaps, as a delay or crazy modulation machine, they have their place in the tonal structure of many, many rigs out there, and can be just as, if not more, important to your sound. The DEFCON4 was designed to Ryan‘s exacting specifications, both look and sound, to help keep his musical structure intact throughout the course of any show he puts on – it might just be able to do the same for you. Cheers to Colt and the Walrus crew for an aesthetically-pleasing, excellent sounding tone shaping beast of a pedal – for some examples of what you’ll get with this guy, don’t forget to check out the demo video below.