This Heavy Earth Flesh Rot v2

Brutal pedals are fun, and if so brutal that they necessitate a clean amp, then all the better! I contacted Shea over at This Heavy Earth, about his most brutal, and FLESH ROT v2 was the recommendation. I would compare this pedal to the Diezel Herbert Preamp pedal, although a different flavor. The FLESH ROT is not as sterile and automatically punchy, in that there are more audible picking dynamics with FLESH ROT and you can make it sound punchy or not. But it is as brutal, and with a wider range of characteristics as Gain increases. I ran it through various amps, and I do prefer solid state over tube, mainly because it cuts better. Someone wanting a thicker, warmer sound would likely prefer tubes. Regardless, this pedal sounds amazing. And I should point out that I did go with some darker tones in the demo, whereas FLESH ROT has a lot of slice and dice, which I’ll get into.



FLESH ROT is pure Death Metal, with the Ampeg VH140c chip at its foundation. However, this is where comparisons to other pedals using this chip ends, and FLESH ROT emerges with some nice tweaking. Shea added a Shift (filtering) knob to hone in on the right frequencies for your mix, and when combined with the Presence, Tight, and the three EQ knobs, it’s easy to dial in where you need it. The relationship among all the controls is what really sets this pedal apart.



The Treble/Midrange/Bass EQ knobs have a perfect range. You know how some pedals can be… you never go near the upper or lower end of the frequencies because they’re not usable. FLESH ROT’s EQ range is all usable, without any of it sounding extreme. This makes it easy to dial into a good sounding tone, then finalizing it with the Shift knob. Not tight enough, then increase the Tight knob, or maybe it’s plenty tight and you need more lower-end midrange via the Shift. FLESH ROT already is pretty tight (and very quiet!), in that with the Tight all the way down, it still sounds pretty tight. I am impressed with the quality of the Presence; it doesn’t bite too hard and it makes the tone sound glassy and slightly larger, as though it’s an enhancer. I would say it makes things clearer and somewhat brighter, without it sounding bright (in the harsh or high-treble sense of the word).

Overall, there are a lot of great sounding tones, ranging from classic scooped to bold and modern punchy. Even the grain quality varies as you crank up the Gain. On low gain, it has a thick crunch quality, then as you approach 12-noon, it’s more of a snarl that growls and rips. Saturation increases past 12-noon, so that it sounds massive, thick, yet smooth and velvety… almost like a big fuzz, yet retaining its distortion quality.

Something else that gives FLESH ROT such a big sound is that it contains internal circuitry that increases the 9VDC supply to higher voltages for additional headroom; and it only requires 52mA of power. I never had the pedal’s volume past 10-o’clock, and so, it has plenty of gas. And for those who had an older version of FLESH ROT, which produced a high gain oscillation with some passive pickups and when the Gain was cranked, that issue has been rectified.

Overall, FLESH ROT v2 is a people pleaser. Once you hit your first power chord you can feel that big grin across your face. Those massive, aggressive tones make guitar playing fun and riff writing inspirational, and that’s how it should be.