Jack White’s Third Man Hardware has announced its latest collaboration, a deluxe reverb pedal designed in collaboration with Anasounds that packs an incredible three springs into its enclosure for super-authentic spring reverb with an extra-long decay.
This unorthodox and fascinating guitar effects pedal is quintessential Jack White; applying retro audio-electrical technology in an all-new way, or at least no one has taken this idea quite as far as this Third Man x Anasound collaboration.
Anasound, however, took the first step, with its Element reverb, launched in March 2019 and, according to the French stompbox specialist, becoming a minor pedalboard hit in the US.
White was among the players to be taken by its design – a genuine spring reverb tank in a compact pedal format – and bought one in 2021. That planted the seed of this collaboration, with the first prototype finished in 2023. Working with Third Man’s, Dan Mancini, Anasound set about fine-tuning the design to nail White’s specifications to a tee.
What they came up with had three mechanical springs, an onboard preamp inspired by Tampco’s Tone Oven, with two-band EQ and plenty of headroom, and independent volume settings for wet and dry signals. In other words, Jack White’s ultimate reverb.
“It’s been a lifetime of searching for a small spring reverb effect unit that could be used as a stompbox onstage or in the studio,” says White. “The hang-up is that you normally have to use really long springs to get a good sound, making the unit too large.
“With the La Grotte pedal, it was the addition of the third spring that really brought this sound alive and gave us the ability to have that long decay in a small box.”
La Grotte can be used with electric guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboards. or as a studio tool. White says the preamp really helps you dial in the sound you need. Adjusting the Dry knob can yield dramatic results.
“The built-in drive/boost feature you get from the Dry knob is very impressive in how it elevates the signal you are sending to the springs.”
Making this deluxe signature reverb pedal for – and with – an artist with White was no easy task. Anasounds says it took a crazy amount of time, 400 hours of development and some 9,500 hours of production to create the first thousand pedals. More than 200 components are needed to build these wonderful devices.
It’s no surprise that these are no cheap date. €349 is the asking price. But this is quite the spring reverb. As Anasounds says, it’s is not just for applying some ambient drip to blazing White fuzz riffs – “soul, post-rock, reggae, blues and even pop that will greatly benefit from the added soul of an analogue spring”. And you can add surf rock to that list for sure.
For more details, head over to Anasounds. The La Grotte pedal is the latest in a string of collaborations between Third Man Hardware and other like-minded gear companies in recent times. This year alone we have seen Third Man team up with Donner for the $75 Fuzz-a-tron DIY kit, while just last month we saw a Fifth Anniversary edition of the Third Man x Gamechanger Audio Plasma Coil.
