About This Item
Description
Knife Drop blends your guitar with a monophonic synth voice and footswitchable octaves, crushes the result with an aggressive distortion and sweeps a resonant lowpass filter across it with an envelope that follows your playing.
Knife Drop is an octave fuzz and synth pedal built by Eventide together with Third Man Hardware, with five onboard presets created by Jack White. The instrument signal is mixed with an internal monophonic synth engine and the selected octaves, then sent into the fuzz stage, and the resonant lowpass filter can sit before or after the distortion.
Why guitarists choose the Knife Drop
- The Synth knob blends from dry guitar toward the synth voice, so you decide how much guitar survives; turned down, it gives a filtered fuzz.
- Upper octave, or upper and sub octave together, come in from a dedicated footswitch, so a riff can drop an octave mid-phrase without touching a knob.
- The filter can be placed before or after the distortion, which is the difference between a smooth synth sweep and a raw, screaming one.
- An envelope triggered by your playing sweeps the filter cutoff, with attack from 0 to 1000 ms; at 0 ms the cutoff can be swept by hand.
- Drive past about 2 o'clock adds voltage sag for extra grit.
- A stereo-capable input, two outputs and a Guitar/Line switch let it work with guitar, bass, synths, effects loops and audio interfaces.
Controls
- Synth Blends the dry instrument with the monophonic synth voice.
- Drive Sets the amount of distortion.
- Level Output level from -12 to +9 dB, with 0 dB at noon.
- Secondary functions Press and hold the LED button to the right of the knobs for Attack (0-1000 ms), Resonance and Cutoff.
- Octaves LED button Selects the upper octave or the upper and sub octaves together.
- Filter position LED button Green places the filter before the distortion, red after it.
- Active footswitch Turns the effect on and off.
- Octave footswitch Engages and disengages the octaves.
- Mono/Stereo and Guitar/Line switches Set how the TRS input is read and match the internal gain structure to the source.
Presets & MIDI
- Five onboard presets voiced by Jack White; save your own by holding both footswitches. Recalling presets from the pedal needs an aux switch on the EXP jack or MIDI.
- Up to 128 preset slots are reachable over MIDI, and every parameter can be controlled by MIDI or an expression pedal.
- Eventide Control (H90 Control) on Mac and PC handles software updates, system settings and preset management.
Connections & Power
- Input 1/4" TRS: mono on the tip, stereo on tip and ring.
- Out 1 / Out 2 1/4" TS; Out 1 mono, Out 2 mono or the second stereo channel.
- EXP 1/4" TRS for an expression pedal, an aux switch or MIDI I/O.
- Mini USB Software updates and MIDI I/O.
- Power 9V DC center-negative, 300 mA, 5.5 mm / 2.1 mm barrel. Use an isolated output rated 300 mA or more.
In the Box
- Knife Drop pedal
- Universal power supply with US, EU, UK, JP and AU adapters
- Preset overlay cards
| Type | Octave fuzz and monophonic synth pedal (digital) |
|---|---|
| Collaboration | Eventide and Third Man Hardware, presets by Jack White |
| Presets | 5 onboard, up to 128 via MIDI |
| Audio I/O | 1/4" TRS input (mono or stereo); 2 x 1/4" TS outputs |
| Control I/O | EXP 1/4" TRS (expression, aux switch, MIDI); Mini USB |
| Input impedance | 700 kOhm (mono), 990 kOhm (stereo) |
| Output impedance | 220 Ohm |
| Recommended load | 10 kOhm |
| Maximum input level | +8 dBu (Guitar), +14 dBu (Line) |
| Power | 9V DC center-negative, 5.5 mm / 2.1 mm barrel |
| Current draw | 300 mA |
| Dimensions | 4 x 4.25 x 1.68 in (102 x 108 x 43 mm), W x D x H |
| Weight | 1.06 lb (0.48 kg) |
FAQ
Is Knife Drop polyphonic? No. The synth voice is monophonic, so it is designed for single-note lines.
Can I switch the octaves on mid-song? Yes. The Octave footswitch engages and disengages the octaves, and the Octaves LED button selects the upper octave or the upper and sub octaves together.
What does moving the filter before or after the distortion change? Placing the filter before the distortion (green LED) gives a smoother, more synth-like sweep; placing it after the distortion (red LED) sweeps the finished fuzz for a rawer, screaming sound.
Can I change presets from the pedal itself? Knife Drop holds five onboard presets voiced by Jack White, and you can save your own by holding both footswitches. Recalling presets from the pedal needs an aux switch on the EXP jack or MIDI, and up to 128 preset slots are reachable over MIDI.
Does it work with bass and synths? Yes. The stereo-capable TRS input, two outputs and the Guitar/Line switch let it work with guitar, bass, synths, effects loops and audio interfaces.
Will a daisy chain power it? Not reliably. It draws 300 mA at 9V DC center-negative, so use an isolated output rated 300 mA or more.