Electro-Harmonix: Battalion review

[Raman]

About 1 year ago, I decided to streamline my pedal chain to a few essential units. The result is shown in the picture below. (The only other pedal that I'd like to add at this point is a looping unit, even though the Empress Echo System in my chain has a looping feature.)

One radical change that I made in crafting this chain was to sell my faithful Tech21 SansAmp DI/Preamp unit, which I'd used steadily since forever. That pedal was the only one which I carried constantly everywhere, every time. Yet I sold it after 30 years of fantastic service. The reason is I never could made any use of the «drive» feature on it. It was at 1/4 forever.

The reason I sold my SansAmp DI, was because I acquired an Electro-Harmonix Battalion: A DI and preamp that doubles as a full-featured 4-band overdrive, completed with a limiter and compression. The pedal not only offers you all the flexibility to connect for studio or for live, it allows you a fully customizable overdriven sound, which can then be switched to match the preamp tone any way you desire: OD before EQ; EQ before OD; or OD and EQ in parallel.

These last few days, I was kind of shopping around for a drive pedal. Maybe a Darkglass, maybe a TS9B... Then I remembered that I purchased that super potent EH DI/preamp. And low and behold: It does the Darkglass and TS9B without losing a breath! It's a killer overdrive unit, on top of accomplishing what the SansAmp did.

I recommend it.

 

[Nunovsky]

View attachment 4042126

Nice board!

 

[Goteky45]

How does it sound direct with the Battalion distortion and with other distortion pedals? Is an external cab sim needed or is it good enough on its own?

 

[Raman]

How does it sound direct with the Battalion distortion and with other distortion pedals? Is an external cab sim needed or is it good enough on its own?

I wouldn't be able to talk with any authority about cab sims as I've never had one, unless you count the SansAmp. And the Battalion can certainly do that and then some.

As you can see on my board, I also have a dedicated unit for dist: the Empress Multidrive, which features 3 parallel channels: fuzz, od and distortion. I have thought of selling the Multidrive ever since I got the Battalion because I use it very rarely now. The only reason I kept it so far are you can get crazier feedback-y type dist with the Multidrive, plus I like having that unit in front of (feeding into) my reverb/flanger (the Empress Nebulus) to go even crazier.

As for the Battalion on its own...
You get a 4-band EQ (bass. lo-mid, hi-mid, treble), then you get an od much like, say, an Ibanez TS9B (level, blend, drive, tone), and finally you get a 3-way switch (eq before od; od before eq; dry eq). The tone shaping possibilities are almost infinite and I can go from the warmest, subtlest amp od to crazy metal, and to everything in the middle.

What I was looking for when I bought it was a Swiss knife od unit. It definitely is.

 

[Yools]

Are you running that into a power amp or a bass amp with a preamp stage? I am looking for a preamp/DI pedal that I can run into a Ganz Straight-Ahead power amp; I have a Tech 21 but really don't like it and I'm intrigued about these Battalion pedals.

-Y

 

[Raman]

Are you running that into a power amp or a bass amp with a preamp stage? I am looking for a preamp/DI pedal that I can run into a Ganz Straight-Ahead power amp; I have a Tech 21 but really don't like it and I'm intrigued about these Battalion pedals.

-Y

Playing either through a power amp or through a mixer. It does what the SansAmp does.

 

[Yools]

Playing either through a power amp or through a mixer. It does what the SansAmp does.

That's what I thought. Thanks for the response and for the info - I'm probably gonna pull the trigger on one of these pretty soon.

-Y

 

[Al Kraft]

I recommend it.

Thanks for that review. Given the quality of the other pedals on your board it certainly speaks well for the Battalion that it holds it own in that group.

 

[peteygrizz]

I also enjoy the Battalion myself. Unfortunately the noise gate doesn't close fast enough for my taste and makes a slight glitch noise if you allow a note to decay. I also used the SansAmp Bass Driver for years exactly as it was intended, I stopped bothering with amps on stage when it became where they only served as my monitor. Moving an 8x10 around to have to turn down and be the only one hearing it is a waste.

Anyway I lost my BDDI in an car accident, and ordered a replacement from Reverb. I received the Para Driver DI instead. I was going to exchange it, but after trying it and it's sweepable mids, I decided it is better than the BDDI for me. Now I dont use that or the Battalion. I use both.

My bass hits a Darkglass Hyperluminal compressor, into the PDDI. From that I take the dry out from the PDDI into the Battalion with a moderately heavy distortion set pre-eq. This runs into a Rumble 40 amp. I take the wet output of the PDDI set with subtle distortion to a Peavey Max 208. With this biamp setup my tone is absolutely MASSIVE. I get to have a separate EQ for the clean full range signal to provide clarity and EQ the distorted signal completely independently.

Assuming I ever get to play live again I will be using this setup but just sending each units DI to FOH, sans amp. The Battalion really does have an amazing range of distortion and although SansAmp is great the Battalion's distortion is stronger and more versatile.

Nice to see someone else give the EHX Battalion some love. I think it gets overlooked.

 

[Raman]

I also enjoy the Battalion myself. Unfortunately the noise gate doesn't close fast enough for my taste and makes a slight glitch noise if you allow a note to decay. I also used the SansAmp Bass Driver for years exactly as it was intended, I stopped bothering with amps on stage when it became where they only served as my monitor. Moving an 8x10 around to have to turn down and be the only one hearing it is a waste.

Anyway I lost my BDDI in an car accident, and ordered a replacement from Reverb. I received the Para Driver DI instead. I was going to exchange it, but after trying it and it's sweepable mids, I decided it is better than the BDDI for me. Now I dont use that or the Battalion. I use both.

My bass hits a Darkglass Hyperluminal compressor, into the PDDI. From that I take the dry out from the PDDI into the Battalion with a moderately heavy distortion set pre-eq. This runs into a Rumble 40 amp. I take the wet output of the PDDI set with subtle distortion to a Peavey Max 208. With this biamp setup my tone is absolutely MASSIVE. I get to have a separate EQ for the clean full range signal to provide clarity and EQ the distorted signal completely independently.

Assuming I ever get to play live again I will be using this setup but just sending each units DI to FOH, sans amp. The Battalion really does have an amazing range of distortion and although SansAmp is great the Battalion's distortion is stronger and more versatile.

Nice to see someone else give the EHX Battalion some love. I think it gets overlooked.

Excellent contribution. Thanks!
I don't actually use the limiter so its shortcomings hadn't really bothered me.

One thing I'd add to my original post, is I din't intend to dismiss the SansAmp DI in any way. After all, I did use it for decades before and it's top quality: in a category of its own. The only thing for me is I wanted something more versatile on the EQ and OD fronts, and the Battalion provides that.

 

[SunnBass]

Link Removed

 

[Raman]

Link Removed

My mistake was calling this a review. It's more of an "appreciation thread" if you prefer.

 

[SunnBass]

My mistake was calling this a review. It's more of an "appreciation thread" if you prefer.

Hahaha. Fair enough. I was just teasing you anyways, carry on.

 

[Raman]

Hahaha. Fair enough. I was just teasing you anyways, carry on.

Well, your comment did sound like a slightly sublte way of saying: "Hey, your review sucks!"
I've been in the field of professional writing and editing, so I completely agree that different types of texts need standards.
But again, I wrote this not as an actual review, which would have required actual work. It was really just a spur of the moment thing when I was playing with the pedal and thought to myself: "Why doesn't it receive more love in the community?"

 

[Raman]

Soooo... A colleague at work just offered to lend me his Microtubes B7K for a couple days to try out! He handed it to me today.

I've barely plugged it in and played some bass through it, side by side with the Battalion (through headphones: the kids and the wife being asleep)...
This is not a review. Just impressions.

The B7K is one hell of a pedal! Just about anyhow that you set it, it sounds great and never buries your bottom-end.
Compared to it, I found that the Battalion can just about copy all of the B7K's tones so far. Though the difference is you have to work harder at dialing them. Plus the Battalion definitely allows you to kill your tone.

The B7K seems to me more of a jack of all trades tube distortion emulator: it sounds heavy and warm almost whichever way you dial it.
Whereas the Battalion provides more of an open circuit board that you can fine-tailor to your liking, allowing a vaster array of tones, but at the risk of screwing it.

 

[allintime]

Soooo... A colleague at work just offered to lend me his Microtubes B7K for a couple days to try out! He handed it to me today.

I've barely plugged it in and played some bass through it, side by side with the Battalion (through headphones: the kids and the wife being asleep)...
This is not a review. Just impressions.

The B7K is one hell of a pedal! Just about anyhow that you set it, it sounds great and never buries your bottom-end.
Compared to it, I found that the Battalion can just about copy all of the B7K's tones so far. Though the difference is you have to work harder at dialing them. Plus the Battalion definitely allows you to kill your tone.

The B7K seems to me more of a jack of all trades tube distortion emulator: it sounds heavy and warm almost whichever way you dial it.
Whereas the Battalion provides more of an open circuit board that you can fine-tailor to your liking, allowing a vaster array of tones, but at the risk of screwing it.

View attachment 4081330

Thanks for the comparison! I had been wondering how the Battalion stacks up against some DG. I do agree that the Battalion can be hard to dial in, but I just assumed it was me being inexperienced with dirt pedals. You can get some great sounds, but also some not so great. Any favorite settings, or a default you keep on there as a consistent starting point?

 

[Raman]

Thanks for the comparison! I had been wondering how the Battalion stacks up against some DG. I do agree that the Battalion can be hard to dial in, but I just assumed it was me being inexperienced with dirt pedals. You can get some great sounds, but also some not so great. Any favorite settings, or a default you keep on there as a consistent starting point?

I'm most often in pre-eq mode, with plenty of bass equeuing on both the preamp and the od channels. Then I toggle the level and blend controls to fine-adjust.

 

[jaibeau]

Can this be powered with 48v phantom

 

[Al Kraft]

Can this be powered with 48v phantom

I did not see it mentioned in the EHX video or the owner's manual. I would suspect that if it could be phantom powered they would highlight that as a feature...maybe I just missed it.

 

[jaibeau]

I did not see it mentioned in the EHX video or the owner's manual. I would suspect that if it could be phantom powered they would highlight that as a feature...maybe I just missed it.

It seems like it would but I can’t find anything in video reviews or product description- just wanted to make sure before buying.