Empty Head Effects sets out a really singular minimalist, textured, and distinct aesthetic to match its slightly quirky functional aspect

I’ve seen these Empty Head pedals doing the rounds quite bit of late - and it was these pedals’ style of knobs - in particular on the ’Big Talker’ - which first drew my attention. Empty Head Effects’ Nik would seem to be a Brit abroad, being based in Mainz, Germany - he certainly sounds like a Brit!

He’s carved out a very unique slightly quirky brand identity which would seem to occupy a philosophically adjacent plane to David Rainger’s Rainger FX. Mixing up a unique aesthetic with very individual and stylised effects. Also with a little bit of Planks Elektrisk thrown into the DNA mix!

Both my friends Phil and Nick have expirenced most of these - so I feel a little left out! My dance card as such is fairly booked up most weeks - while I was always intending to cover Empty Head - I just have a lot of other existing priorities and obligations, I already ’juggle’ over 400 brands, and adding a new one into the mix is therefore a bigger step than for most. I am after all just one man.

While I really like everything I’ve seen of this brand to-date - of course including the knobs and the highly texturised finish on those enclosures. It’a an unusual mix of Lo-Fi and Minimalist!

I picked out this quartet in part for its aesthetic impact - with a view to creating the best visual for this brand - where these also happen to be the 4 most interesting effects on the roster for me.

We have a Dual-Series Tremolo with somewhat Lo-Fi and Warbly Output, we have a very unique Dual-Voiced Modulaiton Effect, A ’Falling’ Shepard Tone Barber-Pole Effect PT2399 Modulated Delay, and a somewhat unusual 2-Stage Discrete Transistor Overdrive (which I would probably orientated vertically). All of these are of interest to me - as they each have very unique sounding outputs. As I said - part Rainger FX and part Champion Leecy - while entirely their own thing. They’re made in small batches - which sell out somewhat rapidly. It will be interesting to see what the jumping-off point / gateway pedal is the one I select here!

Here is my formidable quartet :

• Big Talker Double Warbly Lo-Fi Tremolo (in series) - €235 / $275 / £200
• The External / Internal Self-Modulating LFO & LDR Modulator - €235 / $275 / £200
• Falling Man Envelope-Follower Modulated PT2399 ’Gravity’ Delay - €235 / $275 / £200
• The Lover Two Stage Discrete Transistor Overdrive - €215 / $252 / £183

As you can see they’re mostly at the same price point - except the The Lover which is slightly more affordable.

Currently there seem to be plenty of External / Internal in stock, just 3 of the Big Talker available, while we’re waiting on new batches for Falling Man and The Lover! All available on the Empty Head Webstore when in stock!

The pedals are somewhat quirkily labelled, and since there’s scant documentation on the website - hopefully there is some sort of manual / guide included with the pedal. Or perhaps it’s to encourage people to be adventurous - and be guided by their ears alone!