Analog Music Company's Ghazala Edition of Evil Pumpkin further refines and extends this ultimate Experimental Circuit-Bending Noise Machine

What is immediately evident with this new edition is how much easier it is to navigate the interface - and the immediate visibility of any changes you implement.

Within the right-hand switches module we now also have a clear demarcation of 'Mission Control' or 3 Switches which can be active when even the pedal is bypassed. This also means that you need to be careful remember to move those switches back into neutral [B] positions when wanting to fully Bypass the pedal. 

This is very much a hands-on pedal, and is best suited to a table-top environment - while because of its improved usability over the original - it can also be pretty successfully deployed from a floor basis too - while table-top really gives you a lot of freedom of movement.

MISSION CONTROL

As mentioned - the top 3 switches can be employed when the pedal is on standby - these essentially control a series of drones, where the following combinations are recommended in particular :

1A + 2C

1A + 2A

1A + 2B

Further to that the THER / LFO switch needs to be assigned to either of those options, and Gain needs to be maxed. Also, plugging in the input jack results in a volume drop - so it's recommended that for Drone functions - you leave the Input Jack Unplugged.

THER (Theramin) / LFO SWITCH

The THER / LFO Switch on the main unit is an essential part of the circuit - and typically needs to be used in combination with the MISSION CONTROL switches.

In the middle [B] position both Theramin and LFO functions are bypassed - moving the switch to the left engages the Photocell / Theramin / Light Sensor function, and to the right activated the LFO / Oscillation / Tremolo.

For either the Theramin or LFO Functions to work you need to engage at least one of the 3 MISSION CONTROL switches.

The following settings are recommended :

1A

1C

2A

2C

1A + 2C

1A + 2B etc,

It is further recommended that Gain should be set to Max.

And as before - if you're purely using the Ghazala as a Sound Generator - then you're best off unplugging the input jack too. This is essentially a sort of life breadboarding pedal - where experimentation / trial & error is the order of the day.

Always have a notepad or preset sheet handy to record any successful combinations you discover.

EDITION COLOUR COMBINATIONS

While my favourite colourway is the Black and Orange combination per my own #025 unit - there should be a preferred colourway edition available to suit most prospective customers.

In the above visual we see 5 fully completed editions which have been sold to date - including the cool Black and Red Darth Pumpkin in the centre.

And in the below visual we see some additional enclosure colourway options.

These typically retail for $320 plus shipping via Analog Music Company's Reverb.com Store (when available).

They are all painstakingly and precisely hand-assembled and modified by Konstantin himself - and considering the work that goes into each unit - they are incredibly good value. Note that the main left-hand housing consists of used Boss DS-1 pedals - which may have some scuffs and sign of wear on them - while the switch housing is entirely new. My own unit has quite a few scuffs - but still looks magnificent - particularly with those MXR-style clear heptagonal knobs.

Batches are released every few months - can be as far as 6 months apart, and they tend to be in relatively small quantities. Usually less than 30 at a time.

SWITCHES / PRESET SETTINGS / PATCH SHEET

The key aspect / nature of this pedal is of course the 11 x 3-way switches on the right-hand unit - which combined yield a suitably impressive 177,147 combinations - while not all of those will be usable settings - and several won't impact any significant changes at all.

This pedal is built for experimentation and exploration - taking out a whole day to discover cool switch combinations - which can for some though be a somewhat frustrating and fruitless pursuit - so of course we give you a starter with some interesting combinations that are already known (as below).

With your pedals you get a Patch Sheet featuring 11 blank outline visuals which you can mark up with your favourite uncovered selections. It is recommended that you make several copies of these - in fact the sheet is available via the bottom of the main Analog Music Ghazala Page also. In any case I always recommend you have a sheet or two handy when deploying the Ghazala!

Note that when exploring Preset Settings - it's very much a case of A-B Testing - well actually A-B-C Testing - where you trial each combination of setting for a particular sound.

So you can randomly arrive at a certain effect - and then it's a matter of whether each switch improves that sound or moves away from the intended target.

You actually get into it really easily. I personally photograph each sweet-spot preset and transcribe it to the below Preset Format.

Note also that when deploy this pedal - a lot of its output can be set in Bypass mode - without the main pedal engaged as such. This means you need to switch back all those settings to neutral territory if you then want to use your pedalboard as normal.

The pedal plays pretty well with others - but it does need a little more output - and I fortunately have several downstream boosts in my signal chain to help with that. The only pedal it clashes with is the Sinvertek N5 MGAT-1 where it somehow chokes that one out very significantly - so with the Ghazal linked into the signal I cannot use the MGAT-1 - even with everything set to [B]s - meaning that I have to isolate it from the rest of the pedals and just unplug it from the chain every now and again.

The Ghazala is best used within a table-top environment - either almost individual or as part of a fully bypassable Looper-Switcher setup. I can actually have fun with it as a floor-based stompbox - it's easy enough to manipulate there - while most will probably enjoy it more within arm's reach.

You can really spend a whole day with it at a time - exploring some of those 177,147 combinations!

Oscillating Grungy Fuzzstortion

0C : 1C : 2A : 3B : 4B : 5B : 6B : 7B : 8B : 9C : 10C : 11B

Works in Bypass

Output Bitcrush Stuttered into Obliteration, some pulsating feedback / interference in background

0B : 1C : 2C : 3B : 4B : 5B : 6A : 7A : 8B : 9B : 10A : 11A

Main pedal is Engaged

An Interference radioactive / radiostatic distortion with Geiger counter sort of pulse in background

0B : 1A : 2B : 3C : 4C : 5B : 6C : 7C : 8C : 9B : 10C : 11C

Works in Bypass

Less Gain = Higher Pitch!

0C : 1B : 2A : 3C : 4A : 5B : 6C : 7B : 8B :9C : 10C :11A

Works in Bypass.