Pigtronix Space Rip Review (tested in-hand)

Rock and metal have gone through some changes, moving from the blues-driven styles of the past to more synth/electronic sounds and a heavier presence of ethereal effects. We still have heavy distortion, but it's in stark contrast to the electronic lean of many new groups. 

The Pigtronix Space Rip is a synth pedal designed to give you that sound. It does so by utilizing the following effects and combinations:

1. Pitch shifting
2. Octaves
3. Fuzz
4. Filters
5. Modulation

Synth-style pedals are usually some combination of these effects, particularly pitch shifting, octaves, and fuzz. If you're into modern rock and metal, or modern pop styles, the Space Rip gives you a lot of tools to work with in one small box. 

This is our full Pigtronix Space Rip review.

Compare the Space Rip to Similar Pedals

In this section we've put together a comparison table for the Space Rip that allows you to see how it stacks up against similar pedals. This includes price (which is updated live) and some simple specs.

Price Tools for the Space Rip

Pricing accurate as of Wed, June 07th, 2023.

Sweetwater Pricing

Price Alert

Tone Quality of the Space Rip

The Space Rip sounds chaotic at first, but once you figure out how to harness the sawtooth and square waves you'll get some awesome sounds out of this pedal. 

These shapes give you the distinct fuzz-like tone, which is then layered with octaves. This combination ends up giving you a really deep fuzz tone with an electronic bend. If you want something a little less heavy, the Square wave mode takes some of the thickness and bass out of the EQ. 

Out of the box, the octaves and fuzz are chainsaw-esque, and extremely heavy.

A good way to describe the tone is that it's simply unique. Having the combination of ethereal and heavy gain gives new life to notes and patterns that would otherwise feel pretty mundane.

It's definitely aggressive, even at the most basic settings. 

Our favorite demo handler - Bonedo - does a great job of showcasing the tones:

You'll hear in the demo that you can move the waveform with modulation, producing a chorus and/or fluttering effect. This along with pitch shifting produce some really bizarre sounds that I found difficult to place.

De-tuning and pitch bends are something I've always struggled to use and know what to do with. 

One thing that I really liked was the mix knob which let me pull back in a little bit of my dry signal. This was really helpful because, again, I felt overwhelmed by the pedal at certain settings, so I was able to come back down to earth with the mix knob under 50 percent.

I maintain: Every single guitar pedal should have a mix knob.

Control Scheme

The tune and rate knobs on top control pitch and modulation. As I mentioned, these are the two that I struggled most to implement. But in the right context, they add a significant amount of flexibility and a lot of unique sounds.

Mix and sub are on the bottom and are pretty self explanatory. You control the octaves with the sub knob, and we've already talked about the mix.

There are two buttons which control the following:

• Shape selection button (Sawtooth or square wave)
• Octave selection button (drops an additional octave)

There's a lot of flexibility here. While I didn't find it all usable, there were plenty of settings that I found to be very engaging. 

Features

I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to guitar pedal electronics, but I would think that making a pedal like this analog would be really tricky. Nevertheless, that's what Pigtronix claims and I have no problem believing them (they're a good company).

And it makes sense, because the pedal definitely has a warmth to it, in addition to plenty of grittiness in the fuzz.

The i/o is just the expected 1/4 in and out with true bypass.

Overall Value (price)

This pedal has the functionality of a much larger stompbox, but it's a small-form pedal, which makes the near-$200 price tag a bit disheartening. 

At the same time, I can't fault Pigtronix totally, because keeping the size of the pedal down has almost certainly saved Space Rip buyers some money. Larger pedals cost more to produce and the cost is passed onto the consumer.

So while you have to hold your nose a bit to pay this much for such a small pedal, we'd argue you still get your money's worth. 

Ideal Fit and Context

This is a very modern effects pedal. We'd recommend it for pop, rock, or metal guitar/bass players that are trying to take their pedalboard into a more electronic direction. Intermediate to advanced players will likely be best positioned to make good use out of the Space Rip.

Review Conclusion

It's the uniqueness of the Space Rip that I think won me over. Once you figure out how to work with the tones, it's just a ton of fun to play. If you grab one, start with some really simple single-note lines and just get a feel for the effects. It's aggressive, heavy, and seems to have been made with a lot of forethought and intentional combining of certain effects.

I enjoyed testing this one a lot.

If you have questions about our Pigtronix Space Rip review, the pedal itself, or something about our review process, let me know in the comments section below.

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