SURREAL AUDIO
ABOUT
Welcome to Surreal Audio.
I’m Steven Morkert, the one-person show behind this little operation based in Sacramento, CA. It’s just me, a bunch of pedals, and a passion for creating gear that inspires musicians and artists alike. Every pedal you see here is hand-built, right in my workshop.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out what Surreal Audio has to offer. Now go make some noise.
HISTORY
It all starts when you unscrew the backplate of your favorite BOSS pedal. You gaze at the circuit and wonder, “Can I modify this?” You google the name of the pedal with the word “schematic” after it. Lo and behold, a handful of links to brazen gear forums appear and suddenly you’re wading through a decade’s worth of conversations about all-things guitar pedals. Eventually you find a few screenshots of the schematic you we’re looking for. You think it’s correct. There are components crossed out in red and notes in the bottom corner detailing modifications you could try. You realize you have no idea how the circuit works. The legality of what your about to do crosses your mind, but curiosity gets the best of you. You reach for your budget soldering iron and the bundle of random components you bought last week at RadioShack and get to work.
A couple of frustrating hours later, thinking about if the solder fumes you accidentally inhaled are bad for you (they were), you find yourself tightening screws on the backplate, chomping at the bit to plug this pedal in and start playing. It sounds different. Is it better? It’s darker. Wait. No, it sounds thicker. Cool. Confirmation bias tells you it’s better. Better tone…better toan. A wave of accomplishment and pride takes over. You bask in the glory of your completely unique, one-of-a-kind pedal. Or so you tell yourself.
Sound familiar?
Like many of the pedal builders before me, that’s how it started. With my first mod. It was a BOSS OS-2. Maybe you modified a Tube Screamer first. Maybe you cloned a Fuzz Face or a Tone Bender. Whatever your gateway drug was, we all ended up down the same rabbit hole. I spent the next few years pouring over effects schematics and electronics books. I even suffered through an electrical engineering degree. My undergrad didn’t offer courses on pedal building, but I did manage to learn a thing or two that would help along the way.
Fast forward to the present. I’m still trying to avoid inhaling solder fumes. Strange effects circuits frequently enter my mind but now I have the means to bring them to life. I start building, improving upon each iteration until it’s just right. I make them the best I can. I start building small batches for friends and can’t wait to build more. So, I decide to make this little operation official.
Enter Surreal Audio.
If you’re reading this, first and foremost, thank you. Thank you for the interest and support. Thank you to the pedal community for being a vast source of knowledge and collaboration. Somehow Surreal Audio got on your radar and that means the world to me. I hope some of this gear ends up on your pedal board. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I do. I hope you make awesome sounds and push them to their limits.
Cheers,
Steven