EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker vs JHS Morning Glory
The EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker and the JHS Morning Glory are both pedals sharing medium gain, saturated, gritty. The EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker leans sustaining. Current prices: $99 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.35% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- medium gain
- saturated
- gritty
- transparent
- bright
- dynamic
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$99via Reverb
$179via Reverb
The EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker is a warm, ultra-touch-responsive medium-gain overdrive built as the successor to the discontinued Speaker Cranker, adding more controls and a diode selector switch to that pedal's spongy, dynamic character. It responds like adding another tube to an amp's preamp stage, keeping the core guitar tone intact while adding articulate, controlled snarl and sustain. A Germanium setting delivers a softer, more rounded response with tamed highs and lower output, while a Silicon setting is brighter and more modern, with higher output, a fatter low-mid bloom, and chords that stay distinct without turning muddy. It suits players wanting a reliable, touch-sensitive overdrive that behaves like an extra tube gain stage, with real tonal choice between soft germanium warmth and bright silicon punch.
The JHS Morning Glory is one of the most popular transparent overdrives ever made, inspired by the Marshall Bluesbreaker but with extra headroom and available gain. It adds dirt to a guitar tone without changing its fundamental character, giving back the responsive nuance an amp may be missing while leaving the existing tone intact. Unlike a Tube Screamer it adds no midrange peak and stays largely uncompressed, making it an easy-to-use, open, and dynamic low to medium gain drive. The V4 version doubles the headroom of earlier generations and adds a gain toggle for more saturation. Used widely across blues, indie, country, and rock, it works as an always-on transparent boost, an edge-of-breakup drive, or a stacking pedal, prized for clarity, dynamics, and the way it flatters the underlying amp and guitar voice.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Alternative Rock
- Classic Rock
- Blues
- Indie
- Country
- Rock
- sustaining