La Grotte history
To all guitar speleologists
Welcome to the depths of La Grotte, the “all-in-one” spring reverb designed by Anasounds in close collaboration with Third Man Hardware and thus, Jack White.
We hope this pedal inspires you as much as we enjoyed dreaming and developing it, for Jack White and for you.
To all guitar speleologists
Welcome to the depths of La Grotte, the “all-in-one” spring reverb designed by Anasounds in close collaboration with Third Man Hardware and thus, Jack White. We hope this pedal inspires you as much as we enjoyed dreaming and developing it, for Jack White and for you.
The love story of the Element and Jack White
It all began in 2019 with the release of the Element: the French spring reverb.
But it was only two years later that Jack White bought our analog spring reverb,
and as you can imagine, that made us very grateful.
Knowing that a world-famous guitarist had our creation, then in his studio and now on his pedalboard,
while we were a French company on a human scale, was a real consecration.
The Element and Jack White
It all began in 2019 with the release of the Element: the French spring reverb. But it was only two years later that Jack White bought our analog spring reverb, and as you can imagine, that made us very grateful.
Knowing that a world-famous guitarist had our creation, then in his studio and now on his pedalboard, while we were a French company on a human scale, was a real consecration.
How we met Third Man Hardware
Fascinated by the Element’s sound, he approached us with the idea of a collaboration
between Anasounds and Third Man Hardware, his brand of gear, merch and other goodies.
It wasn’t long before we received the first sketches and La Grotte’s project began to take life.
From then on, there were many exchanges with the Third Man team,
represented by Dan Mancini, Jack White’s guitar tech, who looked after the technical side of things,
and Christina Inman, who ran operations.
Call after call, ideas flowed.
How we met Third Man Hardware
Fascinated by the Element’s sound, he approached us with the idea of a collaboration between Anasounds and Third Man Hardware, his brand of gear, merch and other goodies. It wasn’t long before we received the first sketches and La Grotte’s project began to take life.
From then on, there were many exchanges with the Third Man team, represented by Dan Mancini, Jack White’s guitar tech, who looked after the technical side of things, and Christina Inman, who ran operations. Call after call, ideas flowed.
Get your harness!
Get your harness!
Surroundings of La Grotte
Jack White’s vision was clear:
he wanted an Element reverb whose spring would be integrated directly into the main pedal body, with slightly different settings.
And to be consistent with his brand, La Grotte had to respect his black and yellow graphic charter.
As we were used to working with wood, this was a real challenge for the team.
The first prototypes were made, and Anasounds not only had to design the circuit,
but also make it suitable for mass production, and find a housing for the spring.
Surroundings of La Grotte
Jack White’s vision was clear: he wanted an Element reverb whose spring would be integrated directly into the main pedal body, with slightly different settings. And to be consistent with his brand, La Grotte had to respect his black and yellow graphic charter. As we were used to working with wood, this was a real challenge for the team.
The first prototypes were made, and Anasounds not only had to design the circuit, but also make it suitable for mass production, and find a housing for the spring.
In the heart of La Grotte
Rodolphe, from French brand Tampco, was very helpful at this stage, bringing his development expertise to the table.
He starts with his Tone Oven for the on-board preamp, which adds a warm character and a slight saturation.
We also decided to rework the settings: instead of one Mix we have two independent Dry and Wet volumes,
and instead of one Tone we have two recalibrated EQ bands for better control.
We had to wait until NAMM, in 2024, to finally meet up and let the Third Man team test our most advanced prototypes.
We were able to show them several innovations, such as the one implemented to avoid spring noise when the pedal is switched on.
In the heart of La Grotte
Rodolphe, from French brand Tampco, was very helpful at this stage, bringing his development expertise to the table. He starts with his Tone Oven for the on-board preamp, which adds a warm character and a slight saturation.
We also decided to rework the settings: instead of one Mix we have two independent Dry and Wet volumes, and instead of one Tone we have two recalibrated EQ bands for better control.
We had to wait until NAMM, in 2024, to finally meet up and let the Third Man team test our most advanced prototypes. We were able to show them several innovations, such as the one implemented to avoid spring noise when the pedal is switched on.
A new horizon for Anasounds
After a few adjustments, La Grotte is finally ready, approved by Jack White himself and the whole Third Man Hardware team.
But that’s only the beginning of the process, as we now have to deliver the first thousand pedals of absolutely irreproachable quality.
So, let’s get started!
La Grotte features the most complex enclosure we’ve had to manufacture to date.
And that’s why we had to create a multitude of processes for its large-scale manufacture! It took a lot of time.
The engraving of the common signature on the bottom of the enclosure, the engraving of the Plexiglas plate in yellow and black,
black enclosures to be sandblasted to create electrical contact on all the conductive elements of the enclosure,
the tailor-made protective film for the spring glass, meticulous quality control…
All this required a huge amount of investment, both in new machines to optimize production, and in time.
A new horizon for Anasounds
After a few adjustments, La Grotte is finally ready, approved by Jack White himself and the whole Third Man Hardware team. But that’s only the beginning of the process, as we now have to deliver the first thousand pedals of absolutely irreproachable quality.
So, let’s get started!
La Grotte features the most complex enclosure we’ve had to manufacture to date. And that’s why we had to create a multitude of processes for its large-scale manufacture! It took a lot of time.
The engraving of the common signature on the bottom of the enclosure, the engraving of the Plexiglas plate in yellow and black, black enclosures to be sandblasted to create electrical contact on all the conductive elements of the enclosure, the tailor-made protective film for the spring glass, meticulous quality control… All this required a huge amount of investment, both in new machines to optimize production, and in time.
The light at the end of the tunnel
After several months of development, doubts, sweat and discussions, the project was finally launched.
La Grotte is a record-breaking project for Anasounds:
no less than 400 hours of development, some 9500 hours of production for the first thousand pedals, and +200 components needed to build it.
Thank you for taking part in this adventure, and we hope the result will inspire you. It’s time for you to explore La Grotte and to meet us there.
The light at the end of the tunnel
After several months of development, doubts, sweat and discussions, the project was finally launched.
La Grotte is a record-breaking project for Anasounds: no less than 400 hours of development, some 9500 hours of production for the first thousand pedals, and +200 components needed to build it.
Thank you for taking part in this adventure, and we hope the result will inspire you. It’s time for you to explore La Grotte and to meet us there.
