Manufacturer's description
Reminisce about the time you got your shoulder caught in the reciprocating saw while this unit destroys your slick jazz lines.
The fruit of an oddball circuit, hanging there awkwardly by some parasitic effect. Tweaked, bended and shoe-horned to optimize it’s stench, it’s unpleasance. The time has come to turn all dynamics to shit. Strangely, it feels very natural.
As The Unpleasant Surprise turns your playing style upside down, you’ll be thankful for its ability to push you outside the box, outside your comfort zone, all the while retaining the essence of what is played. The artifacts created by this pedal are strange, harsh and unusual but never seem misplaced or out of context.
PHYSICALS
- true true bypass
- 1/4" mono input/output jacks
- 2.1mm barrel DC connector
- 2.5" x 4.4" enclosure dimensions
USING THE UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
The VOLUME control is self-explanatory. Unity gain is around noon but who cares. Use it to slam your amp or the next pedals in line. Turn it down if the anguish is overwhelming.
The ONSET control affects interstage gain, which happens to mimic an inverse gate threshold. Turn it up for more saturation, longer sustain. Down for sputtery ad-lib farts.
- T Simple output treble cut.
- G Affects amplifier bias. Open or Saturated. Allows variations in distortion grain. Note: the difference becomes less noticeable as the ONSET is turned up.
- C Feedforward. Crushes your signal to shit. ONSET controls the amount of compression.
NOTES ON POWERING
The Unpleasant Surprise was designed to operate and sound good using your typical center negative, regulated 9–9.6 VDC power supply. Running it at higher voltages is not desirable nor recommended. There is no battery connection inside the pedal. Always check your power supply for proper voltage and polarity before connecting.
- Input impedance 1 MΩ
- Output impedance 1 kΩ
- Power supply 9 to 9.6 VDC
- Current draw 15 mA
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK, 'next working day' shipping is free if the order value is over £150, and £5 otherwise. We can also ship on a 'next working day before 12pm' service, which costs £6 for orders over £150 and £7.50 for orders under £150.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of DPD and Royal Mail for the UK, and for international orders it's either DPD, DHL, FedEx, UPS or Royal Mail depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 16:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes the couriers may come to collect a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Saturday/Sunday delivery
If you're in the UK and you order before 16:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday or Sunday delivery with DPD. This is FREE for order values over £350, £5 for order values between £75 and £250, and £7 for order values under £75. (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). Please note that any orders placed after 16:00 on a Friday will ship on the Monday.
International shipping times
Most orders are delivered within 3 to 5 working days if sent on a courier service. Royal Mail services can take a lot longer and are often less secure.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
Product Overview
Manufacturer's description
Reminisce about the time you got your shoulder caught in the reciprocating saw while this unit destroys your slick jazz lines.
The fruit of an oddball circuit, hanging there awkwardly by some parasitic effect. Tweaked, bended and shoe-horned to optimize it’s stench, it’s unpleasance. The time has come to turn all dynamics to shit. Strangely, it feels very natural.
As The Unpleasant Surprise turns your playing style upside down, you’ll be thankful for its ability to push you outside the box, outside your comfort zone, all the while retaining the essence of what is played. The artifacts created by this pedal are strange, harsh and unusual but never seem misplaced or out of context.
PHYSICALS
- true true bypass
- 1/4" mono input/output jacks
- 2.1mm barrel DC connector
- 2.5" x 4.4" enclosure dimensions
USING THE UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
The VOLUME control is self-explanatory. Unity gain is around noon but who cares. Use it to slam your amp or the next pedals in line. Turn it down if the anguish is overwhelming.
The ONSET control affects interstage gain, which happens to mimic an inverse gate threshold. Turn it up for more saturation, longer sustain. Down for sputtery ad-lib farts.
- T Simple output treble cut.
- G Affects amplifier bias. Open or Saturated. Allows variations in distortion grain. Note: the difference becomes less noticeable as the ONSET is turned up.
- C Feedforward. Crushes your signal to shit. ONSET controls the amount of compression.
NOTES ON POWERING
The Unpleasant Surprise was designed to operate and sound good using your typical center negative, regulated 9–9.6 VDC power supply. Running it at higher voltages is not desirable nor recommended. There is no battery connection inside the pedal. Always check your power supply for proper voltage and polarity before connecting.
Technical Specs
Shipping Details
How much is my shipping?
Shipping is automatically calculated before you submit your payment information. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll be offered shipping options and their prices. In the UK, 'next working day' shipping is free if the order value is over £150, and £5 otherwise. We can also ship on a 'next working day before 12pm' service, which costs £6 for orders over £150 and £7.50 for orders under £150.
Do you ship to my country?
Almost certainly - the site will give you an estimate of shipping costs if you add an item to the cart and then enter your country and postcode. If you have specific requirements (such as if you prefer UPS over FedEx, for example) then let us know in advance and we'll try to work something out for you.
Shipping methods
We use a combination of DPD and Royal Mail for the UK, and for international orders it's either DPD, DHL, FedEx, UPS or Royal Mail depending on where you are in the world. If you have a particular preference then try to let us know BEFORE you order so we can look into it for you. Please note that there may occasionally be additional shipping charges if you live in a remote area, depending on what surcharges are applied by the shipper. We'll get in touch to discuss this with you in such cases.
Dispatch times
For UK orders, we normally dispatch the same working day if we get the order before 16:00. If you have a really urgent situation then of course drop us an email before ordering and we'll always do our absolute best to accommodate you.
For international orders, we normally dispatch the same day if we get the order before 13:00 but again, occasionally it might be the next day before we can send it out, and sometimes the couriers may come to collect a little earlier than scheduled which would also push an order into the next day.
Saturday/Sunday delivery
If you're in the UK and you order before 16:00 on a Friday then we can send something for a Saturday or Sunday delivery with DPD. This is FREE for order values over £350, £5 for order values between £75 and £250, and £7 for order values under £75. (NB: this applies to UK mainland addresses only). Please note that any orders placed after 16:00 on a Friday will ship on the Monday.
International shipping times
Most orders are delivered within 3 to 5 working days if sent on a courier service. Royal Mail services can take a lot longer and are often less secure.
Pre-orders
If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.
If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch if you have questions.
