Today I’m checking out the EarthQuaker Devices x Dr. Z collab pedal with the Z on it… the ZEQD-Pre (or the “ZQD Pre” if you want to say it like we did). EQD Australia loaned it to us (not sponsored), and the whole idea is: stick it at the end of your board and you’ve got a proper “amp-ish” hub—XLR direct out with analogue cab sim + ground lift, headphone out for silent practice, or run it into the front of an amp like a normal pedal. And yep: it’s all analogue. The cab sim is analogue. Everything is analogue. We start going direct into Logic via XLR and I run through the controls: level, a passive 3‑band EQ, and a boost that’s full-range and bypasses the EQ. Clean-wise, it’s properly clean going direct—very punchy and dry, and it doesn’t really break up even when you crank it. The EQ is super usable (you can’t really “break it”), and the mids sit in a nice spot. Then we throw humbuckers at it, and I run a drive pedal into it for that mid-forward, punchy, aggressive “Queens of Stone Age” kind of vibe. After that we run it into an amp (Ceriatone Creme Brulee) and honestly… I was pleasantly surprised how good it sounded into the front end, especially as a boost/drive into a lower-headroom amp. Finally, we bypass the internal cab sim and use it as a preamp into a Two Notes Opus for more cab/power amp flavor options. Lots of uses, lots of tones—stick around for the timestamps and have a listen.