FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Our webshop is open to all.

    You can order direct from Empty Head Effects to anywhere across the entire globe. We ship internationally, direct to you. We also have some fantastic international retail partners who might be situated closer to home, listed on our ‘WHERE’ page.

  • All our pedals operate on ‘standard Boss’ supplies. Use a high quality power supply with CENTRE NEGATIVE 9V with a minimum of 100ma and you will do just fine.

    Isolated, filtered power supplies for each unit will decrease the likelihood for ground loops and additional unnecessary noises. Avoid daisy chains where possible.

  • We’ve designed all our pedals to work with anything you put through them. Apart from The External / Internal they all have a full frequency spectrum with almost all settings so some might work ‘better’ than others in different circumstances, but this is all really a matter of taste.

    Instead therefore we return that question to you - Do they work for you on your instrument?

  • We offer directly a 1 year warranty with repair or replacement. Of course we understand that not every purchase is the right one for the customer so there is also a 30 days returns policy if you really don’t get on with the pedal after you’ve received it.

  • The External / Internal, Big Talker, The Lover & King Alex II are all true bypass with momentary soft switches and relays. TE/I uses a classic physical footswitch still, but this may get updated in later versions.

    Falling Man utilises a classic Boss inspired JFET switch as we wanted you to enjoy the trails of the delay ringing out after switching the effect off.

  • If in stock, orders will typically ship and leave our doors within 24 hours. At holidays and weekends this may be increased slightly.

    If you have pre-ordered an item, check your initial order summary for an estimated delivery date, or get in contact via the contact form for a more accurate update.

    Sundays in Germany everything is closed so orders will be generated and posted the following day.

the external / internal

  • A. Yes. It's intentional and we think it makes for a very unique, interesting fuzz sound and overall playing experience.

  • A. I would strongly suggest leaving the LFO BIAS trimpot alone. It affects the max speed of the LFO. The MOD BIAS trimpot however controls the amount of self mod. If you feel like it's always a bit too much or too little then get inside and have a fiddle. Anti clockwise - less. Clockwise - more. Going extreme left means no more self mod. Too far right and your affected signal will collapse and disappear. You can simply turn it further left and it'll come back when it's ready.

  • A. Yes. It will jump in volume as it boosts the first op amp to infinity turning your signal into a squareish wave. It's the Beauty and the Beast, the Jekyll and Hyde, The External vs. The Internal. Which is which is up to you? ;)

falling man

  • A. 2 and a bit seconds. But hear me out, it's not a clean delay at all. As soon as you get to about 340ms you've hit 1% THD and things slowly start to get noisy. When you flick the STUMBLE \\ TRIP switch you skip all the way up to about 1.5 seconds you're looking at perhaps 3-5% THD. But that's kind of the point. If you can embrace the noise, the oddities, the artefacts and the warbles / warps you can use them as part of a piece of the puzzle and I think you'll find it a very interesting creative tool. Sit in that sludgey volcanic pool you just fell into and enjoy the warmth

  • A. Yes

    Falling Man is fundamentally breaking a delay chip and taking it to well beyond it's intended capacity and in doing so introduces lots of noise especially at its most extreme settings. The second you flick that S//T switch down, you are taking it to it's extreme settings, no matter where the other controls are set.

    With S\\T engaged even without you playing it will generate some noise, clicks and pops. Equally, when the pedal is in 'bypass' it can still generate noise, you need to turn the switch up again and pull back the Fall knob as well as Pace to stop it from making noises.

  • A. The pedal is not 'true bypass'. Exactly as per many other delay pedals it uses a 'trails' switching setup meaning that when the pedal is bypassed, trails from the delay will still pass to the output (yes, even when the pedal is in a bypassed state). If the feedback knob is set high enough to self oscillate, or that the Stumble \\ Trip switch is generating noise it will be passing that noise to the output, bypassed or not.

    In order to stop this you must switch the Stumble \\ Trip switch to the up position and / or pull down the Pace and Fall knobs to bring to an end the feedback loop or noisy modulation.

THE Lover

  • A. USER ADJUSTABLE - LOW PASS + HI PASS

    LOW PASS (A VEIL)

    Low Pass creates a reasonably smooth hi end cut and is by default set to max - Fully Clockwise

    HI PASS (LOSS)

    Hi Pass cuts out your low end and can be quite aggressive so much so that your signal will disappear entirely when turned full Counter Clockwise. By default is set to about 2 O'clock providing a significant but not silly amount of Low End cut (Hi Pass).

    NOT USER ADJUSTABLE - DO NOT TOUCH THEM! - 1st BIAS + 2nd BIAS

    1st BIAS

    1st Bias controls the bias of the first transistor stage.

    2nd BIAS

    2nd Bias controls the bias of the second transistor stage.

Close-up of an electronic circuit board with labelled components: LOW PASS filter, 2nd BIAS, 1st BIAS, and HI PASS filter. Blue screw terminals and red wires are visible. The background is a greenish surface.