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pulvonium
Published on 07/15/07 at 03:26
Transistor analog compressor for bass.
Foot small size, but very solid and quite heavy, so stable. The metal case is at least bullet-proof! It is the size of a large pack of cigarettes, and weighs over 500g ...
It offers three modes:
1) Normal (single-band compressor transistor)
2) MB (Multiband, a compressor for bass and one for the treble. Adjustments are made by trimmers accessible by removing the bottom of the pedal)
3) Tubesim (simulates a tube compressor)
A generous footswitch controls the activation of the effect (shown by an LED)
An international three positions select the type of effect.
A mini-switch to choose between an entry for low-active or passive.
A knob for compression, another to gain.
Connections:
Input and output jack, made of excellent quality.
9V transformer for an input (I recommend using a smoothed voltage transformer and regulated, otherwise it hums, and the warranty does not cover anything if a surge of more than 9.3V is applied to Multicomp. EBS manufactures its own adapter, AD -9, available for thirty euros) It consumes very little power (10mA) so I'm surprised the previous opinion on the low battery life.
The big downside to this pedal is in my access to the battery.
Indeed, to change the battery (or set the internal trim), it is necessary to remove 4 Phillips screws and remove the bottom of the pedal, highly risky operation in case of battery failure on stage ... In addition, the battery is connected to a printed circuit connector fragile son. The welds are ridiculously small! In my opinion, even with great care, we can heat the soldering iron before the 10th battery change ...
Note that the engineers who designed the power supply bad battery have thought of a way "phantom" very original: For a happy possessseurs EBS amp is the amp that sends juice to the pedal ( provided using a TRS Jack), so no more son everywhere ...
I do not have an amp EBS ... For this reason, I chose AC power, but given the price, I only give 7 because of the deplorable access to the battery, unusual in this price range.
UTILIZATION
The advantage of MULTICOMP is precisely to be built for low: Its frequency bands and its settings are pre-calibrated for that use. So: Two knobs only, quickly found her with it (for me: Tubesim mode, which in addition to efficient compression brings a certain warmth to the sound).
It provides the solution I was looking for: A good compression, no breath, no pumping ... and a bit of heat as a bonus! It allows me to give some heartfelt slap shots, as I had never ventured into this technique because it sounded so far not on my previous material ...
I feel that boosts the sound a lot: Even with very low gain levels, I have more dynamic than bypass ... And I think this pedal gives the best of herself with a gain at least a third. So never mind, I lower the volume of the amp!
Note that the LED shines stronger or weaker in proportion to the amount of compression applied by the pedal.
The manual gives some good ideas, it is neither too long nor too short.
Regret that the most demanding for the multiband mode, he almost opened the pedal and adjust it to the screwdriver (yes 2 more knobs on top of the pedal, it would have multiplied the possibilities for cheap ...) I have not tested these famous trimmers, I reserve the right to edit my opinion on that!
SOUND QUALITY
My rig is simple: Low / HF / Tuner / Comp / Amp.
The compressor is on all the time.
Indeed very suitable for what I wanted.
The "normal" seems very interesting.
Mode "multi-band" can chop more sound but more probably intended to prowess slap / bass solo in my type of game (but I'll try ...)
Mode "tubesim" suits me better (I play Rock, I'm not sick lines, I just want a lot of attacks and this well)
For the record, I bought it because I was using previously compressor for guitar. Compression is a bit better in terms of attacks, but not that much. In contrast, in low frequencies, there's no picture! My micro PB gives anything else now ...
OVERALL OPINION
I acquired this pedal in September 2005 and it ages well.
The characteristic I like most is the sound that comes out! And it is good because that's what we asked (Lapalisse inside ...)
This pedal is a sure investment (I paid € 183 anyway ...) but I think the keep for a decade or two at least! It is still very expensive in my opinion for a pedal, but it has little competition.
Therefore, in this price range and pedal format, I would do this choice. Note however that the market for compressors dedicated to the bass is extremely reduced. He has not been possible, for example, to try before buying (I had to go through a shop who ordered for me) so I can not pretend to compare to other models .
But in conclusion: I wanted a good compressor pedal for my bass. It's expensive, I have not had much choice, but in the end, I have what I wanted!
Foot small size, but very solid and quite heavy, so stable. The metal case is at least bullet-proof! It is the size of a large pack of cigarettes, and weighs over 500g ...
It offers three modes:
1) Normal (single-band compressor transistor)
2) MB (Multiband, a compressor for bass and one for the treble. Adjustments are made by trimmers accessible by removing the bottom of the pedal)
3) Tubesim (simulates a tube compressor)
A generous footswitch controls the activation of the effect (shown by an LED)
An international three positions select the type of effect.
A mini-switch to choose between an entry for low-active or passive.
A knob for compression, another to gain.
Connections:
Input and output jack, made of excellent quality.
9V transformer for an input (I recommend using a smoothed voltage transformer and regulated, otherwise it hums, and the warranty does not cover anything if a surge of more than 9.3V is applied to Multicomp. EBS manufactures its own adapter, AD -9, available for thirty euros) It consumes very little power (10mA) so I'm surprised the previous opinion on the low battery life.
The big downside to this pedal is in my access to the battery.
Indeed, to change the battery (or set the internal trim), it is necessary to remove 4 Phillips screws and remove the bottom of the pedal, highly risky operation in case of battery failure on stage ... In addition, the battery is connected to a printed circuit connector fragile son. The welds are ridiculously small! In my opinion, even with great care, we can heat the soldering iron before the 10th battery change ...
Note that the engineers who designed the power supply bad battery have thought of a way "phantom" very original: For a happy possessseurs EBS amp is the amp that sends juice to the pedal ( provided using a TRS Jack), so no more son everywhere ...
I do not have an amp EBS ... For this reason, I chose AC power, but given the price, I only give 7 because of the deplorable access to the battery, unusual in this price range.
UTILIZATION
The advantage of MULTICOMP is precisely to be built for low: Its frequency bands and its settings are pre-calibrated for that use. So: Two knobs only, quickly found her with it (for me: Tubesim mode, which in addition to efficient compression brings a certain warmth to the sound).
It provides the solution I was looking for: A good compression, no breath, no pumping ... and a bit of heat as a bonus! It allows me to give some heartfelt slap shots, as I had never ventured into this technique because it sounded so far not on my previous material ...
I feel that boosts the sound a lot: Even with very low gain levels, I have more dynamic than bypass ... And I think this pedal gives the best of herself with a gain at least a third. So never mind, I lower the volume of the amp!
Note that the LED shines stronger or weaker in proportion to the amount of compression applied by the pedal.
The manual gives some good ideas, it is neither too long nor too short.
Regret that the most demanding for the multiband mode, he almost opened the pedal and adjust it to the screwdriver (yes 2 more knobs on top of the pedal, it would have multiplied the possibilities for cheap ...) I have not tested these famous trimmers, I reserve the right to edit my opinion on that!
SOUND QUALITY
My rig is simple: Low / HF / Tuner / Comp / Amp.
The compressor is on all the time.
Indeed very suitable for what I wanted.
The "normal" seems very interesting.
Mode "multi-band" can chop more sound but more probably intended to prowess slap / bass solo in my type of game (but I'll try ...)
Mode "tubesim" suits me better (I play Rock, I'm not sick lines, I just want a lot of attacks and this well)
For the record, I bought it because I was using previously compressor for guitar. Compression is a bit better in terms of attacks, but not that much. In contrast, in low frequencies, there's no picture! My micro PB gives anything else now ...
OVERALL OPINION
I acquired this pedal in September 2005 and it ages well.
The characteristic I like most is the sound that comes out! And it is good because that's what we asked (Lapalisse inside ...)
This pedal is a sure investment (I paid € 183 anyway ...) but I think the keep for a decade or two at least! It is still very expensive in my opinion for a pedal, but it has little competition.
Therefore, in this price range and pedal format, I would do this choice. Note however that the market for compressors dedicated to the bass is extremely reduced. He has not been possible, for example, to try before buying (I had to go through a shop who ordered for me) so I can not pretend to compare to other models .
But in conclusion: I wanted a good compressor pedal for my bass. It's expensive, I have not had much choice, but in the end, I have what I wanted!