FAQs

Jump to questions about:

SHIPPING:

Q. I ordered my pedal 2nd day shipping and it hasn't arrived in 2 days. What gives?

A. The rushed shipping you paid for is in regard to the carrier's shipping time, and does not include our handling time, which may vary. We're also closed on weekends. If you need a pedal ASAP we recommend writing us first to make sure we can get it to you by the date you need it or better yet, order through one of our dealers.

Q. Can you mark my international order as a "gift" or lower the declared value for customs?

A. Well, now, that's illegal! So, no.

Q. Will I receive tracking for my shipment?

A. Yes, tracking information is automatically sent to the email address you input on your order. You can also sign up for text message tracking info at checkout.

Q. My package says it was "delivered" but it is not! Help!

A. Sometimes shipping carriers mark packages delivered when they are not and will deliver later in the day or the following day. Please also check with your neighbors. If it still hasn't shown up after a couple days of the said delivery, please contact us.

What is Route and Green Package Protection?

Route's Green Package Protection is a package protection solution that helps cover your order in the event that your order gets lost, stolen, or damaged while in transit while also protecting the planet. We know how frustrating it is to have something happen to your order, so we’ve partnered with Route to offer added assurance that you’re supported, no matter what. Green Package Protection can be added during checkout.

Every time you add Green Package Protection to your order, Route donates to support an
agroforestry initiative that removes CO₂ from the air and promotes a flourishing ecosystem.

You can also utilize the Route App to visually track all of your online orders in one place and easily file a claim with their team. Whether you’re tracking via the Route App or online Route’s real-time shipping updates keep you in the loop throughout every part of your delivery. Haven’t downloaded the app yet? Download here

Purchased Route's Green Package Protection and looking to file a shipping issue online?File here

What is Carbon Neutral Shipping?

Route is covering the cost to neutralize shipping emissions when you add "Green Package Protection" at checkout. "Green Package Protection" Shipping includes package protection at the same cost as before, with the additional benefit that your shipment is carbon neutral. By adding Green Package Protection to your cart, you're automatically taking instant climate action – no donation required.

How does Green Package Protection/Carbon Neutral Shipping Work?

Route has partnered withPatch, a carbon credit marketplace, to facilitate the purchase of carbon credits to neutralize your emissions. Carbon credits represent a certified unit of carbon removal or avoidance delivered by environmental projects that can be purchased to naturally remove carbon from the air. Patch is a high-integrity carbon removal project that is vetted and certified by organizations like Gold Standard, Verra, Climate Action Reserve, and The American Carbon Registry.

Where is My Order?

Once your order has been fulfilled by our team, a shipping confirmation with a tracking number will be emailed. You can download Route’s mobile app for iOS or Android to visually track your package and receive real-time notifications on its estimated delivery.

How Does Route Work?

If your Route-protected order ends up lost, damaged, or stolen, Route’s expert support team helps ensure that your order gets replaced or refunded as preferred. Claims will be reviewed for approval within 1-2 business days from filing.

Need to file a claim? File here

How Does Route Process Refunds or Reorders?

Refunds: When refunding an item, Route covers the subtotal, shipping, and taxes if the merchant has Automatic Issue Resolution enabled.  

In both cases, the Route Premium cost will not be refunded. 

Reorders: Route will reorder the items, depending on in-stock availability. Unavailable items will be refunded. Route will cover the cost of any reorders including shipping, taxes, and Route Shipping Protection.

When Should I File a Claim?

Marked As Delivered  (Stolen)

  • Claims will be reviewed no earlier than 5 calendar days and no later than 15 calendar days from when it was marked delivered. 
  • Please note, some order issues may require a police report to be filed.

Stuck In Transit  (Lost)

  • For domestic orders, claims will be reviewed no earlier than 2 calendar days and no later than 30 calendar days from the last update. The maximum filing time is 365 days from the order date.
  • For international orders, claims will be reviewed no earlier than 20 calendar days and no later than 30 calendar days from the last update. The maximum filing time is 365 days from the order date.

Damaged

  • Claims for damaged items  require  photos of the packaging and item(s) and must be filed no later than 15 calendar days from when it was marked delivered.

All of Route’s policies are listed  here

What if My Order Never Arrives or is Stolen?

Route definitely helps cover these instances! To protect your order against loss or theft, add Green Package Protection at checkout. 

If your order has not arrived, please file a claim with Route   here .  

What if My Order Arrives Damaged?

Route covers damage as well! To protect your order against damage that occurred during shipping, add Route Protect at checkout. 

If your order has arrived to you damaged, please take photos of the item and the packaging it arrived in to include in your claim when filing. 

You can file a claim with Route  here .

If your order has defects or you suspect it was damaged during manufacturing, please reach out to us  and we will be happy to work with you to remedy the situation.

How Do I File a Claim for my Lost, Damaged, or Stolen Order?
If you insured your order with Route at checkout, you will receive a confirmation email from Route with a link to file a shipping issue. 

You can also file a shipping issue on Route’s app or via  the web here . To file a claim, you will need your store order number OR Route ID number and the email address that was attached to the order.

Haven’t downloaded the app yet?   Download here

What are Route’s Terms and Conditions?

Route’s terms and conditions are listed here:  https://route.com/terms-and-conditions/

Is Route a Licensed Insurance Company?
Yes, Route is a licensed insurance company with SEG Insurance Ltd. as its partner.

For more information, please review our Shipping Policy.

CUSTOM + LIMITED EDITION:

Q. Do you do custom work?

A. Unfortunately, we do not at the moment. Our DBA Limited Edition line will be the closest thing to custom work. Check back often for the latest scoop and sign up for the mailing list.

Q. Do you still make pedals that are not currently in your store?

A. No, everything currently in production can be found on our website.

Q. Can I still buy a limited edition pedal that I saw online?

A. It was limited edition so unfortunately it is not available from us anymore. Our stores may have it in stock though!

ARTIST SPONSORSHIPS:

Q. Can my band be sponsored by Death By Audio?

A. If you mean free stuff, probably not. But you can write us and ask about artist pricing at info@deathbyaudio.com.

DBA HQ:

Q. Can I come by and see your shop?

A. Sorry, most likely no. We are always neck deep in wires. Check our store list for the nearest place to check out the pedals. And currently, we are not allowing ANY visitors to the workshop due to COVID-19 precautions.

Q. Are you hiring?

A. Not usually, but please feel free to send us your resume and examples of your work and special skills.

Q. Can I play at your venue?

A. Sadly, no. The beloved venue, Death By Audio, is no longer open due to some changes in the city. Although sharing the same name and warehouse, we never had anything to do with booking it anyway- that was our wonderful friend Edan Wilber.

RETURNS + EXCHANGES:

Q. Do you accept returns?

A. We accept returns or exchanges as long as: they were purchased from this site, your package was delivered in the last 30 days, and it is still in like-new condition. Please email us to arrange the return.
**Please note – We deduct a 10% restocking fee from all returns and you are responsible for covering the shipping cost to return it back to us.

Q. Shit, I just ordered and now I want to cancel my order. May I do that?

A. If your order hasn't shipped yet, you may ask to cancel your order. Please realize that your refund may not reach your bank for several days, depending on your bank.
**Please note – We deduct a 10% restocking fee from all returns or cancellations. This is a recent policy change as a result of banks, Paypal, and other payment methods no longer refunding processing fees as of 2023.

Q. The t-shirt I ordered is too small. Can I exchange it for a larger size?

A. Sure thing. You can exchange items as long as: they are still in like-new condition, package was delivered within the last 30 days, and you purchased directly from us. For clothing, it must be unworn. Please email us to arrange the exchange.
**Please note – We deduct a 10% restocking fee from all returns and you are responsible for covering the shipping cost to return it back to us.

For more information, please review our Refund Policy.

WHOLESALE:

Q. Can we sell your pedals in our store or online store?

A. Most likely, yes! Please email Heather at heather@deathbyaudio.com .

For more information, visit our page on becoming a dealer.

PEDAL FAQ:

General Pedal FAQ

Q. Are your pedals all true bypass?

A. They sure are!

Q. Will this DBA pedal work on bass?

A. Everything (except the Echo Master, which is for vocals) will work on bass. Some will sound more like your desired sound than others. Our personal favorites for bass are the Evil Filter, Fuzz War, Apocalypse, Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe, and Deep Animation.

Q. What power supplies work with your pedals?

A. All pedals we currently produce work with a standard Boss / 1 Spot style 2.1mm barrel, 9V negative tip, positive ring, AC to DC power adaptor.

Absolute Destruction:

Q. The Overload slider doesn't seem to do anything past a certain point. Is that normal?

A. Depending on how maxed out your input signal is and what the impedance of your source instrument is, yes, normal! However, you should get more room with the Overload slider as you turn down your input signal. How much depends on the first thing we mentioned.

Apocalypse:

Q. Channel 4 seems quieter than the others. Is my pedal broken?

A. Not broken! Channel 4 is a little quieter than the others because it sounded best that way, and to change that would've meant involving digital circuitry, which we didn't want to do on the Apocalypse.

Q. What's this trimpot inside my pedal do?

A. That's an overall volume limit - you can turn it down to even out the volumes between the different channels a little. Or crank it and let your Apocalypse rip!

Echo Dream 2:

Q. My pedal makes little chirping sounds when the delay time is up towards the max. Is this normal?

A. Some extent of this is perfectly normal. We pushed the delay circuit past it's comfort zone and leave it up to you. That's the sound you're hearing: the circuit crying. If it's REALLY bad, let us know.

Q. My pedal started behaving very strangely, making strange oscillation sounds. Is it broken?

A. Are you using battery power? If so, it's highly likely that your battery is low on voltage and should be replaced. Try plugging it into an adapter and see if that solves it. If not, let us know.

Echo Master:

Q. How does the FX Loop work?

A. The FX loop on the Echo Master is special because it is before the delay, affecting both your dry signal AND the delay sound. This means that the Echo Master is perfect for making a vocal pedal chain - just plug whatever pedals you want into the loop and go, no adapters needed!

Q. I used my pedal in a country that wasn't America and the pedal was making more noise than normal. What's going on?

A. Sometimes in other countries, the power can have more interference than normal. You can reduce the noise by making it the only pedal on the provided adaptor.

Q. Can I use phantom power (+48v) with the Echo Master?

A. The Echo Master won't pass 48v through its XLR connections, so your phantom power source would need to be adjacent to the microphone in your signal chain - the Echo Master can't be in between them.

Evil Filter:

Q. Do the distortion and filter sections work separately or are they always on together?

A. They work separately. You can turn on just one or both. Filterer's choice.

Q. When I turn on the distortion, the sound ducks down for a bit before coming back. Is this normal?

A. Yep! It's a blooming, compressed distortion that we felt worked wonderfully with the filter, especially when the resonance is turned up.

Exit Index:

Q. My pedal makes a thumping/clicking sound when I turn up the Blood knob. Is this normal?

A. Yes, this is by design. It's the circuit aggressively pushing the shape of the tremolo.

Q. What does the expression jack do?

A. An expression pedal plugged in would control the rate/distortion (Fantasy knob).

Q. My Exit Index seems to make my signal quieter. Is this normal?

A. Depending on what you're playing through it, yes. This is by design. The Exit Index cuts bass a bit and boosts treble a smidge. If you're playing trebly guitar or synth leads, it won't affect the signal volume.

Fuzz War:

Q. What is the difference between the two-knob version and the three-knob version?

A. The three-knob version simply takes the fuzz control that used to be an internal trimpot and puts it on the outside for easier control.

Interstellar Overdriver Deluxe:

Q. My Interstellar Deluxe is making crazy noises even when I'm not playing!?

A. Heck yeah it is! Some of the modes and settings on the Deluxe can introduce oscillations along with your guitar signal. Fuzz it out and make some crazy noises!

Reverberation Machine:

Q. My pedal is making high pitched squealing noises.

A. Are you using battery power? If so, it's highly likely that your battery is low on voltage and should be replaced. Try plugging it into an adapter and see if that solves it. If not, let us know.

Robot:

Q. My Robot isn't working on my pedal board. What gives?

A. Do you have it daisy chained to other pedals for power? If so, that's the problem. The Robot requires its own dedicated power source, whether it's a battery or an external adapter which is plugged into only the Robot.

ROOMS:

Q. I can hear a bit of noise when I turn on my ROOMS - what gives?

A. We designed ROOMS to be able to achieve the massive walls of sound that we always wanted from a reverb - this means that at low volumes, there is a small amount of audible noise. However, cranking the gain on ROOMS does not increase the noise floor so we suggest you set it loud and enjoy!

Soundwave Breakdown:

Q. What's the difference between the current three-knob version and the old two-knob version?

A. The three-knob has volume control, which the original two-knob didn't.

Super Fuzz War:

Q. How is it different from the regular Fuzz War or Thee Fuzz War Overload?

A. Unlike both, it has two sets of internal dipswitches that give you hundreds of options for how you want it to sound, from bassy blowouts to treble boosted insanity.

Supersonic Fuzz Gun:

Q. My Fuzz Gun makes a lot of crazy noises even when I'm not playing - is this normal?

A. Yup! The Supersonic Fuzz Gun is one of our wildest circuits, and will often chirp, scream, hiss, and sputter all on its own. And turning it to 'OSC' mode will bring an oscillation into the fuzz that you can control with your guitar's volume knob!

REPAIRS:

Q. I think there might be something wrong with my pedal?

A. Very often it is a bad cable connected to the pedal OR the battery is dying in your pedal. Please test out your pedal with different cables and a power supply connected to see if the problem persists. If it is not the cable or battery, check the list above for common questions pertaining to your specific pedal. If after checking all of that, you still have an issue, please fill out our Repair Form and our Repairs team will help you from there.