Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Death By Audio unleashes killer Destroyer Series with an Expansive Dream Station Echo-Verb, 6-Mode Moonbeam Phaser, and Thee Treble Overloader
What we have here is a killer Trifecta of potent shoegazer-enhanced compact editions - where two of them are fully Stereo capable.
Conventional wisdom would decree the order of : Treble Overload > Moonbeam Phaser > Dream Station.
While for shoegazer optimisation you need to reverse the order and put the reverb at the front of the chain - as several demoers have done below. I quite like Ian Pritchard’s setup too - with the Dream Station in the middle, and Thee Treble Overlaod in front!
I really love everything about this series - and the Phaser in particular - but all are worthy of admission - and I will surely pick them off one-by-one - starting with the Moonbeam. Probably Thee Treble Overload next - but it could be the Dream Station - we will need to see how 2026 pans out.
Every pedal is high quality here - in looks, function and output - and I love how these effects light up in particular. Possibly the price is a little high outside the USA - these are really 249 Credits pedals in the various currencies - to the USA price is spot on - but the UK and EU one - a touch high! Still not too high to put me off - while £259 + £259 + £259 is quite the investment for me - at a total go £777!
If Death By Audio is smart here - they should give you an incentive to buy all 3 together. DBA really need to work their conjoint pricing analysis for this project - or they will miss out!
DBA has been guilty of delivering slightly oversized enclosures in the past - while I have no complaints here - these 3 are pretty much spot on as is!
If this is the new direction for DBA - then I’m all onboard. I quite wanted the recent Infinity Reverb that was just supposed to be a one-off for Black Friday - but it seems to be back in consideration. It has however fallen behind these 3 in the pecking order.
I look forward to starting this journey early next year!
Here follow some of the key demos - before the individual details! :
Dream Station Expansive Echo-Verb - $250 / €299 / £259
This is a really lush Reverb/Delay - where the sweep of that filter is so important to the final texture.
Controls - Wet/Dry Mix, Filter / EQ : Bright / Full / Dark, Reverb Time, Echo Time (>500ms), Echo Feedaback / Repeats.
Ports - TS / TRS In (M/S), 9V DC [-] 95mA, TRS Out.
Key Features
- Stereo Reverb and Delay pedal
- Perfect for both mono and stereo chains, because of the onboard input configuration switch TS/TRS and TS to TRS compatible
- Switch between continuous or muted trails when bypassed with the internal Trails Dip Switch Mode Switch for changing the filter settings for the delay and reverb
- Bright : Low frequencies are filtered out for a splashy, airy “tape” sound
- Full : No filtering; a complete, uncoloured tone for a clean “digital” sound
- Dark : High frequencies are filtered out, creating a warm analogue-style sound
- Controls for Mix, Reverb Time, Echo Time and Echo Feedback
- Top-mounted Jacks
- Hand-made in New York, USA
- Powered by (opt.) 9V DC PSU (centre -, 2.1 mm, ~ 95 mA current draw, not included)
- MAP / RRP : $250 / €299 / £259
Moonbeam 6-Stage, 6-Mode Phaser - $250 / €299 / £259
Amazing sounding phaser - so potent across its 6 Modes - with simple controls for instant satisfaction.
Controls - Frequency, Depth, Mode : RED Sweeping HPF/Trem | YELLOW Sweeping Resonant Notch Filter | GREEN Phaser/Harmonic Trem / CYAN Classic Phaser | BLUE more intense resonance + Treble Focus | PURPLE Full Bassy Chewy Phaser
Ports - TS / TRS In (M/S), 9V DC [-] 72mA, TRS Out
Key Features
- Analog Stereo 6-Stage Phaser pedal
- Perfect for both mono and stereo chains, because of the onboard input configuration switch S/TRS and TS to TRS compatible
- Phase Selector control for switching between the different phasers, indicated by the LED’s colour
- RED – A sweeping high pass filter and tremolo
- YELLOW – A sweeping notch filter with resonant peaks on each side
- GREEN – A cross between a phaser and a harmonic tremolo
- CYAN – the most famous, classic phaser sound you know and love
- BLUE – Adds in more intense resonance and treble focus to the 4-phase sound
- PURPLE – A full, bassy, and chewy-sounding phaser sound
- Wide frequency range from 0,006 Hz to 140 Hz
- Super slow phasing with up to over two minutes of phase sweeps
- Controls for Frequency and Depth
- Top-mounted Jacks
- Hand-made in New York, USA
- Powered by (opt.) 9V DC PSU (centre -, 2.1 mm, ~ 72 mA current draw, not included)
- MAP / RRP : $250 / €299 / £259
Thee Treble Overload - $250 / €299 / £259
More of a Treble Distorter really than a Treble Booster - taken from The Fuzz War Boost - and then overloaded even further!
Controls - Boost, Limit (Level).
Ports - TS/TRS In, 9V DC [-] 23mA, TS/TRS Out.
Key Features
- Reimagined remake of Thee Fuzz War Overload
- +60dB gain Booster Pedal
- Dual Mono for processing stereo chains
- Boost range from +17dB to +52 dB
- Limit control for setting the maximum output volume
- Top-mounted Jacks
- TRS Inputs and Outputs for easy stereo/dual mono chain implementation
- Hand-made in New York, USA
- Powered by (opt.) 9V DC PSU (centre -, 2.1 mm, ~ 23 mA current draw, not included)
