Eventide / Third Man Drop Knife Guitar Pedal Review

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Drop Knife, a collaboration between Eventide and Jack White’s Third Man Hardware, is one of the most menacing guitar pedals emerge in the last few years. Everything about the Drop Knife screams delightfully rancid, culminating in a tongue-in-cheek – “Where It’s Aye For An Eye!” – packaging scheme. We’re not sure what that actually means, but if you’re looking to create instantly classic riffs, such as White’s “Seven Nation Army,” Knife Drop is a great place to start.

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Guitar pedals, as opposed to most electronic instruments and effects, have a unique aesthetic proposition in that they can have almost infinite fun in the graphic design and user interface. Eventide and Third Man really go the distance with Knife Drop, modeling the bizarre world of some obscure Italian B- or maybe even a D- horror movie based on the “Slippery Mitts Sally” story. Again, we’re not sure where or how or why Sally got those slippery mitts, but it appears they may have something to do with a medical procedure gone horribly wrong.

“Where It’s Aye For An Eye!”

The Knife Drop comes in two colorways, a black, Standard Version, and a yellow, Limited Edition. Aside from the colors, the innards and functionality are the same. Drop Knife combines fuzz, a monosynth and a filter stage, which can be set pre or post fuzz. The pedals features three knobs, three LED back micro buttons and two foot switches. The top three knobs control Synth, Drive and Level and pressing the small switch on the right activates the secondary functions of the three knobs, Attack, Resonance and Cutoff.

There are five presents, crafted by Jack White himself, but you can bake in your own via Eventide’s H90 Control software interface. White’s presets are all glorious, turning Knife Drop into a big riff dream machine, but you can use each one as a starting point for your own variations. It would have been sweet if the small Shift button could have doubled the amount of saved presets, especially for keyboard players, but maybe that can be achieved via a future firmware update.

From left to right, the secondary functions include the filter envelope Attack time, ranging from 0 to 1000ms. We found this to provide a ton of possibilities to allow the overdriven and synth’d signal to evolve over time in fantastic ways. The filter’s Resonance is next and while it can certainly get tweaky, it does possess a softer demeanor than you’d expect, which actually works quite well with the filter’s character for nuanced expression with longer attack times. Finally we come to the Filter control which sweeps smoothly with no stepping or artifacts. For a pedal of this nature, you might assume that the filter would take second place to the overdrive, but that’s not the case, and you’ll see why in a moment.

At the bottom of the pedal just above the footswitches are the Knife Drop’s two Jedi Powers, Active, which allows you to swap the Filter and Fuzz circuits in the signal path and Octave, which can add an octave above the incoming signal or a sub octave underneath. The footswitch below turns the Octave feature on and off.

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If anyone has a time machine, take a Knife Drop back to May 12, 1965 and sneak it to Keith Richards at the Chess Recording Studios in Chicago — Don’t worry, we can keep a secret…

Let’s start with the Octave feature. Adding the upper octave is perfect for scorching leads or rhythm parts that require just a little more juice to cut through the mix. The Sub Octave adds a beefy undercurrent that when coupled with the overdrive can deliver huge and dense tone.

The Knife Drop fuzz/filter pedal is a collaboration between Jack White’s Third Man Hardware and Eventide

For some reason, the Active feature hasn’t gotten the air time it deserves. This simple function completely changes the complexion of the Knife Drop from an angry convict looking to make a name for himself in the yard to a uniformed, Catholic school sweetheart with a very dark secret. Think Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks, or Britney Spears uttering “I’m not so innocent” or…insert your favorite Femme Fatale Here. You can dial in the most putrid tone and then flip it on its head, or visa-versa. For sound designers, synth wizards and anyone else who is looking to explore uncharted sonic territory, this is worth the price of admission alone.

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Knife Drop Features:

• Filter Envelope Attack Time: Adjust the attack from 0 to 1000 ms, allowing for instantaneous or gradual filter onset. At 0 ms, manually sweep the cutoff for custom tonal shaping.
• Output Level: Volume control ranging from -12 to +9 dB. Set to 0 dB at noon for the optimal performance.
• Filter Resonance: Fine-tune filter depth for unique, attention-grabbing tones.
• Cutoff Frequency: Choose where your envelope sweep begins, offering precise tonal control.
• Secondary LED Button: Press and hold to access additional parameters for deeper sonic customization.
• Switchable Octave Functionality: Activate the upper and sub octaves with the Octaves LED Button. Or disengage them entirely with the secondary octaves footswitch.
• Compatible with H90 Control: Perform software updates, access system settings and create/save presets in real-time.

Specifications:

• 1/4″ Input – 1/4″ TRS / Mono = Tip, Stereo = Tip & Ring
• 1/4″ Out 1 – 1/4″ TS Mono / Mono Output
• 1/4″ Out 2 – 1/4″ TS Mono / Stereo Output
• 1/4″ EXP – 1/4″ TRS / Expression pedal, Aux Switch or MIDI I/O
• Mono/Stereo Dip Switch – Sets Input to Mono (Tip) or Stereo (Tip + Ring)
• Guitar/Line Level Dip Switch – Optimizes internal gain structure
• Mini USB – For Preset Upload Firmware Updates Only
• DC Input Jack – 5.5mm / 2.1mm plug / Center Negative (-)
• Power: 9V DC @ 300mA / Center Negative (-). Includes universal power supply with US, EU, UK, JP, and AU adapters.
• Dimensions: 4″ W x 4.25″ D x 1.68″ H
• Weight: 1.06 lb

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Conclusion

The mind-meld between Jack White and Eventide has delivered a brilliant effects pedal that has possibilities way beyond its simple three knob design. For guitarists who want to create memorable riffs, but may be intimidated by the more complex stomp boxes of today, the Drop Knife is your ticket to ride. For the more adventurous, who want to create a memorable sound and don’t mind spending a little extra time getting there, the Knife Drop will certainly reward you for your efforts. Highly Recommended.

Eventide x Third Man Hardware Knife Drop Rating 94%

The Future: We weren’t thrilled about the size of the Secondary LED Button for accessing the Attack, Resonance and Cutoff. And it would have been nice to have the ability to Latch the button with a long-press, so you wouldn’t have to keep holding it down while performing a filter sweep or making adjustments. As stated above, maybe consider using this same Secondary button to double the amount of presets available. That said…Kudos to Eventide for providing a sanctioned power supply!