Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

MYSTERIOUS: Death by audio - What They Never Told You

“His effects are bonkers in the best way possible”: The pedal with the onboard amp, speaker and microphone, Gibson baritones, the Fender Custom Shop George Harrison Bass VI and more – this is MusicRadar's guitar gear roundup, the August 2026 edit

We take a look back at the gear highlights from August, featuring new signature models from Epiphone and PRS, Death By Audio and Grainger FX's wild collab and more

MusicRadar

My pick of the best guitar gear launched this week – including an all-new species of pedal

All the big new drops from Epiphone, Death By Audio, Gretsch, Charvel, and much more

Guitar World

“People were like, ‘Lou Reed told me to get this!’ And I was like, ‘That’s nuts!’ I should definitely have that on the box”: Oliver Ackermann on the break-stuff philosophy that makes Death By Audio the world's most radical stompbox brand

Frontman/guitarist of NYC's A Place To Bury Strangers, pedal designer, noise enthusiast, renaissance man... Ackermann explains why all bets are off in his search for new sounds and tones

MusicRadar

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

“I was like, ‘Damn it! That was just exactly the money that he gave me for the pedal’”: Death By Audio’s Oliver Ackermann on the time he sold a pedal to Richard Fortus and disaster struck

Oliver Ackermann is great at making guitar effects – less so at parking

MusicRadar

“It’s official. The age of touchscreen guitar amps is here”: This is all the new guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – and we might have a winner for the best new sub-$1k electric guitar of 2025

From next-gen desktop amps to a signature bass that celebrates a low-end legend, here are the essential gear launches you might have missed

Guitar World

How ‘the loudest band in New York’ built an album out of a DIY synth (literally)

A Place To Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackermann on recording Synthesizer and his Death By Audio pedal brand

MusicRadar

“Incredible… will significantly expand your mind and your sonic palette”: Death By Audio/EarthQuaker Devices Time Shadows II review

EQD’s Jamie Stillman and DBA's Ollie Ackermann put their heads together and design a pedal that will blow your mind

Guitar World

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

A Place To Bury Strangers release vinyl album with packaging that you can build a synthesizer with

The noise-rock trio's seventh album is fittingly titled Synthesizer

MusicRadar

“An insane synth buzz bazooka sound on the EarthQuaker side and a remorphinator of cosmic waves on the Death By Audio side”: EQD and Death By Audio revive their cult collaboration pedal, Time Shadows

The two firms’ original collaboration sold-out almost immediately in 2020, now it’s back as a full production run

Guitar World

“I send two delays out to an amp each and pan them. You get this glorious wash that makes you feel like you’re on drugs”: With Oceansize, Mike Vennart influenced a generation of progressive guitarists – and he’s not ruling out a reunion

The Empire State Bastard riff-meister and Biffy Clyro guitarist has produced some of his best work with his latest solo album, Forgiveness & The Grain. He breaks down his otherworldly tone secrets, and explains what made The Verve’s Nick McCabe a guitar Jedi – and why the Pro Co Rat…

Guitar World

Death By Audio resurrects the Octave Clang, with the new and improved V2 offering “discordant ringing drones, visceral octave scrapes, and ground-shaking distortion”

The gnarly octave fuzz that's found its way onto the pedalboards of Kevin Shields and Joanne Shaw Taylor now comes a footswitchable octave and a “supercharged” circuit…

MusicRadar

“A ferocious, thunderous and now tame-able circuit triumphantly returns”: Death By Audio has rebooted its gnarly Octave Clang – and it’s bigger, bolder and more versatile than ever

Rebuilt with extended controls and a footswitchable octave effect, the firm’s pseudo-ring/noise/octave circuit returns in style

Guitar World

“A lot of the pedals I use are to make guitars sound less like guitars”: Travis Johnson reveals the PS-3 secrets behind Activity’s sound, and what’s next for Trap Door Electronics

An alumni of Death By Audio, Travis Johnson is taking guitar sounds into uncharted territory with his band and his boutique pedal firm, Trap Door

Guitar World

Create “strange worlds of modulation frozen in time” with Death By Audio’s Disturbance – a pedal that gets extreme with filter, flanger and phaser

The Disturbance is a lockable LFO modulator designed for creating wild, psychedelic sounds, and has a Trip footswitch for stopping the LFO sweep in its tracks

MusicRadar

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.