It's taken 2 years to create, tweak and perfect. Now, Paranormal parametric EQ with an overdrive circuit has landed and Beelzebub is proud.
Gary Knew Exactly What Pedal He Wants
Since the early days of Exodus, he created his signature tone by combining an overdrive pedal with a customized studio parametric EQ placed before his amps.
The complexity of this setup was a serious challenge for our head engineer, Antonin Salva. Essentially, it meant that he would have to fit a piece of high-end studio gear into a single pedal.
Parametric EQ + Overdrive = Paranormal
For Gary, this solution is an integral part of his tone wherever he plays, from Exodus shows to the final Slayer tour.
Paranormal prototype
Antonin created the Paranormal as a pedal with two parts: one is a full parametric EQ, the other an overdrive.
The parametric part is what gave the pedal it's name.
The design was made by dan kurz, inspired by gary’s love for cats and their connection to the underworld.
When the Eyes Glow, You Know that Mephistopheles is Listening
To make the look of the Paranormal absolutely outrageous, we decided to make the upside-down crucifixes glow; another engineering hurdle we had to jump to fit it all in the enclosure.
Paranormal prototyping
On top of it, the pedal had to be insanely sturdy to withstand the brutality of Exodus and Slayer tours.
I met up with Gary multiple times in the US and Europe to tweak Paranormal and make it road-worthy.
I knew we had done a good job when I got a text from Gary one morning:
"It's savage! EQ works great, so does the internal gain knob, which at home for my high gain amp I had really low, for the stock marshalls I cranked it up...Simply crushing, and on an amp with no gain of its own. Perfect...Dude, this pedal is a monster unleashed."
250 Pieces in Existence Only
We wanted to keep this design ultra special and decided to roll out a limited edition only. Eech pedal is hand built in our custom shop in Prague, silkscreened and triple-tested (from components to final product).
Check out this infernal machine on Reverb.com
Gary's settings on the Paranormal
