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EBS Billy Sheehan Ultimate Signature Drive

#41
Allegrus said:
Anyone try to run their preferred dirt on the Drive loop? Is gain at zero when the Drive knob is all the way down?
Click to expand...

I had never thought of this approach but technically it could work. Yes - with the gain at zero it doesn't saturate the signal at all but the one thing to consider is the Tone setting is always on. The Tone knob isn't a typical treble roll off. I did ask EBS once what it does and I think their response is that it is a boosting filter. The sweep of the knob selects a specific midrange frequency to boost with a widish Q.
 
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#43
Peyotor said:
Hello,
I owned an ultimate for a couple of years, but i am curious of the settings of others..
Anyone to share their best setup?
Tx
Click to expand...

I use mine sparingly and it's first in line after my tuner on my pedalboard.
Phase - inverted
Comp - Hi
Freq - Low
Drive - between 10 and 12 o'clock
Tone - 12 o'clock
Level - about 8 o'clock
Clean - 12 o'clock

Tone I go for is P Bass, low mid bumped, treble rolled off to about 70% with roundwound nickel strings. Gives me a nice thibk, mildy overdriven P bass tone with some nice growl that cuts through but doesn't have an real saturation "fizz"
 
#45
Zbysek said:
Does anybody know whether the boost is before the drive circuitry or after it? From the manual, it seems to be after it... THX!
Click to expand...

I think I have the schematic from EBS stashed somewhere on my work PC - I'll try to check tomorrow.

However I'm thinking the boost is pre drive as when it is engaged, the saturation increases but not really the overall volume. It's a feature of the pedal I really like.
 
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#46
jcburn said:
However I'm thinking the boost is pre drive as when it is engaged, the saturation increases but not really the overall volume. It's a feature of the pedal I really like.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would make (more) sense to me...and that's what I hear from the video presentations of this pedal...

What confuses me is that from the Block diagram in the manual, boost appears to be placed after drive...:unsure:

Invalid Link Removed
 
#47
There is a great deal on this pedal at Thomann, so I plan to get it. I have the following questions:

- what is the factory settings for the boost trim pot? Is it 3 db or 10db, or anything in between?
- what is the ratio of the compressor with the switch at the "mid" position in the factory settings? Is it 2:1 or 3:1?
- what is the range of the "Tone" control with the Freq control in the "Lo" position? Is it 175Hz-4500Hz?
- what frequency is the noon position of the "Tone" control with the Freq control in the "Lo" position?

Does anybody know the answers? Thank you.
 
#48
Zbysek said:
There is a great deal on this pedal at Thomann, so I plan to get it. I have the following questions:

- what is the factory settings for the boost trim pot? Is it 3 db or 10db, or anything in between?
- what is the ratio of the compressor with the switch at the "mid" position in the factory settings? Is it 2:1 or 3:1?
- what is the range of the "Tone" control with the Freq control in the "Lo" position? Is it 175Hz-4500Hz?
- what frequency is the noon position of the "Tone" control with the Freq control in the "Lo" position?

Does anybody know the answers? Thank you.
Click to expand...
At one stage I owned both the Deluxe and Ultimate, but my answers here are based off memory as I kept the Deluxe and sold the Ultimate a few years ago.

I'm not sure of the default Boost setting but it's certainly not maximum (+10db). I would guess it's probably set somewhere low, but I like the boost set to maximum. When engaged it raises saturation with barely any boost in volume. I really like this about the Deluxe\Ultimate.

I'm not sure if they adjusted the range of the Tone for the Ultimate, but based on the fact the range of both the original and deluxe was 175-4500hz you could be right.

From memory, from the factory the Mid comp internal trimmer is set in the middle (meaning as you suggest 2/3:1).

I emailed Billy Sheehan once asking about the Tone knob setting at 12 o'clock and he thought it would be roughly 800hz. That kinda sound right to me, and that is where I like it set.

Not much help, but they are my best guesstimates being a lover of this pedal.
 
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#49
jcburn said:
At one stage I owned both the Deluxe and Ultimate, but my answers here are based off memory as I kept the Deluxe and sold the Ultimate a few years ago.

I'm not sure of the default Boost setting but it's certainly not maximum (+10db). I would guess it's probably set somewhere low, but I like the boost set to maximum. When engaged it raises saturation with barely any boost in volume. I really like this about the Deluxe\Ultimate.

I'm not sure if they adjusted the range of the Tone for the Ultimate, but based on the fact the range of both the original and deluxe was 175-4500hz you could be right.

From memory, from the factory the Mid comp internal trimmer is set in the middle (meaning as you suggest 2/3:1).

I emailed Billy Sheehan once asking about the Tone knob setting at 12 o'clock and he thought it would be roughly 800hz. That kinda sound right to me, and that is where I like it set.

Not much help, but they are my best guesstimates being a lover of this pedal.
Click to expand...
THX for your reply. I appreciate it!

Why did you choose the Deluxe version over the Ultimate?
 
#50
Zbysek said:
THX for your reply. I appreciate it!

Why did you choose the Deluxe version over the Ultimate?
Click to expand...
In all honesty the reason I sold the Ultimate was quite conceited - both sounded the same to me other than the fact the Ultimate had the 2 frequency ranges (I never used the high range), and you could run the Ultimate at 18 volts for higher headroom. At the time I sold the Ultimate because I could get a few more $ for it!
 
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#51
jcburn said:
In all honesty the reason I sold the Ultimate was quite conceited - both sounded the same to me other than the fact the Ultimate had the 2 frequency ranges (I never used the high range), and you could run the Ultimate at 18 volts for higher headroom. At the time I sold the Ultimate because I could get a few more $ for it!
Click to expand...
THX for the explanation. I consider your reason to sell the newer unit to be rational and legitimate, btw.

Edit: do you still use the Deluxe pedal?
 
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#52
Zbysek said:
THX for the explanation. I consider your reason to sell the newer unit to be rational and legitimate, btw.

Edit: do you still use the Deluxe pedal?
Click to expand...
I do.
My clean tone is an EBS Multicomp into an Aguilar THDI with AGS on for just a hint of drive.

I then use the Billy Deluxe for a medium drive setting and a heavy drive setting when using the boost.

Billy Deluxe setting;
Drive - between 9 and 11 o'clock
Tone - 12 o'clock
Level - 8 o'clock
Clean - 1 o'clock
Phase - normal
Comp - mid (default internal trimpot settings)

I also run an MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe in the drive loop. This way the chorus\phaser doesn't affect the clean signal but adds just enough to hear in a mix.
 
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#54
Zbysek said:
Is it possible to use the Clean an Level rotary controls to set the action of the compressor?

According to the manual, the Compressor is placed after those controls….

Thx
Click to expand...
Interesting - I've never really tested this. It probably would have an effect as in raising or lowering the threshold.

I've mostly set the clean volume to the same (around 12 - 1 o'clock) and not varied much and run the drive level quite low so I haven't experimented much.

I find the compressor does 3 things nicely - it does some levelling, it adds punch to each note and it glues the drive and clean signal together nicely.
 
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#55
jcburn said:
Interesting - I've never really tested this. It probably would have an effect as in raising or lowering the threshold.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

A I am awaiting delivery of the pedal, I am planning how am I going to use it.

Using the Clean and Level controls to set the action of the compressor seems a reasonable workaround to opening the device and changing settings of the internal threshold trimmer...based on reading the manual.
 
#56
It has arrived...

EBS.jpeg
 
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#58
jcburn said:
Im keen to know your thoughts. It can take some fiddling to get the clean and drive levels set - especially if you want really low gain as it's touchy but out of all the drive pedals Ive tried over the last 10 years (probably 20+) this one still delivers. I should grab a second one to be honest, just in case the one I have dies!
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Yesterday evening, I spent two hours with the pedal.

I like it.

For fingerstyle playing, I plan to use it as bigsnack described in post No. 2 in the following thread:

N

Thread 'YYZ or Billy Sheehan pedal'

I'm looking at buying the Tech21 YYZ Geddy or the EBS Billy Sheehan Ultimate Signature Drive. Anyone ever compare the two pedals? I'm not set on trying to exactly copy the Geddy or Billy tone. Just looking for a good pedal along the lines of what these pedals do. Thank you.

Clean at unity level, mid position of the comp switch, Drive CCW, boost engaged, Tone between 11 and 1 o'clock, Freq switch at Lo

I scoop some mids around 800Hz on the clean channel via Broughton RFE inserted in the clean FX loop

It works perfectly

For pick playing, I plan to cut highs and highs mids on the clean channel via LPF of the RFE (set at approx. 500Hz). Drive between 9 and noon, Tone between noon and 3 oclock, Freq Lo. I will use either Hi or Mid position of the compressor switch - depending of the intensity of the Drive...
 
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