Cusack Music Orthrus Distortion vs EarthQuaker Devices Westwood
The Cusack Music Orthrus Distortion and the EarthQuaker Devices Westwood are both pedals sharing bright, harsh. The Cusack Music Orthrus Distortion leans mid-forward and crunchy. The EarthQuaker Devices Westwood leans transparent and dynamic. Current prices: $189 vs $179.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.36% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- bright
- harsh
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$189via Reverb
$179via Reverb
The Cusack Music Orthrus is a US-built high-gain distortion pedal based directly on a true amplifier preamp circuit, with an unconventional three-band EQ where Treble reaches into very high frequencies, Mid works more like a pick-attack and sizzle control centered on the upper midrange, and Bass behaves closer to a cabinet-resonance control than a simple low-end knob. Gain and volume run deep, giving serious headroom for everything from crunchy rhythm to saturated lead distortion, with the reworked EQ voicing doing most of the tonal heavy lifting rather than the gain stage alone. A momentary or latching boost, switchable between 3, 6, and 9dB, adds a warm, saturated push for solos, and a stutter/kill switch chops the signal for rhythmic effects. It suits players chasing trash and metal tones who want an amp-derived EQ with real character rather than a standard three-band voicing.
The EarthQuaker Devices Westwood Translucent Drive Manipulator is a transparent boost and overdrive that pulls harmonically rich drive from an amp while preserving the guitar and amp core tone. With its active EQ set flat it is genuinely transparent and amp-like, with a natural, tubular, almost flute-like quality and strong note clarity, each string cutting through with dynamic sustain. It offers more gain than typical transparent drives, pushing from squeaky clean boost to thick overdrive at the edge of distortion, ideal for soaring leads. An active EQ gives up to 20dB boost or cut around 2kHz treble and 80Hz bass, adding sizzle, beefy low-end thump and woman-tone, or taming shrill single coils, and it stacks seamlessly with other pedals.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Metal
- Blues
- Jazz
- Indie
- Country
- mid-forward
- crunchy
- transparent
- dynamic
- sustaining