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Empress Multidrive

Spent

Spent

May 15, 2011
2,164
2,982
Upstate NY
waywardminds.band
#1
I just made my first purchase from reverb.com, an Empress Multidrive. The experience was great, I think I found an alternative to eBay. I'm a big fan of Empress, having previously bought a para eq, their stuff is top notch. I'm not a distortion, fuzz, overdrive guy, I like a pure sound. That being said, I love this effect. With the ability to blend all three distrorions and select two different settings, it is just simply amazing. Played it for a couple hours last night. This may become one of my always on pedals.
 
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#7
Granny1089 said:
Agreed, the Fuzz sounds great on Hi-pass
Click to expand...

For a nice bass fuzz sound, I kind of like the fuzz with no filter, and then OD on low-pass.

On guitar, I like fuzz and OD with opposite filters. Both fuzz-LP/OD-HP and fuzz-HP/OD-LP are interesting sounds.
 
#10
I just discovered and bought this pedal myself, but primarily for guitar. I'm very happy to hear how much bass players are liking this too though. I'll have to get my bass out tonight and give it a spin. This pedal is not getting nearly enough love in the guitar community. It definitely isn't cheap and requires a tweaker's ear to get the best out of it, so that could be working against it. It's definitely not the kind of box you just plug in and can judge immediately.

It's hard to wrap your head around his much variation you can get out of this thing. On guitar I particularly like mixing distortion and OD for rhythm and adding the fuzz in at a healthy level for leads. I tend to leave the filters all flat but I need to do some more experimenting.
 
#12
N. Kentucky Bass said:
Had one and it was ok. Flexible tweakability is a highlight but also a lowlight. Sometimes on the gig you need something quick and simple because there's no time for tweaking knobs and levels. That's why I usually prefer a dedicated effect.
Click to expand...
I fully understand that argument. It's definitely a trade-off. I like to keep my pedalboard wired and ready to go and I require rock tones from surf to classic metal tones, and the Multidrive is such a huge space saver. The more I get to know the pedal the better I'm getting at dialing it in quickly. I frequently switch between an SG, a Strat, and a Tele, so the versatility of the Multidrive is a godsend.

The EQ section is one of my favorite features. Never seen a console quality/style EQ on a pedal that worked so well and predictably.
 
#14
I just took the plunge...should be here mid-to-late week. It will be running into a Tone Hammer, and will have one channel of my Wounded Paw blender to itself.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this plays with my L2K (as if that wasn't enough knobs and switches on its own).
 
#15
Feral Feline said:
Is there any way of breaking the internal dipswitches out and having mini-toggles mounted to the outside of the box? So many have expressed desire for this, so is there a pedal tweaker such as Keeley who could mod it to external dip switches?
Click to expand...

If anyone finds someone who will do this you HAVE to let us know. It would perfect an already amazing pedal.
 
#16
I've had a chance to play around with it for an hour now, L2K with the Multidrive in one blender channel, into the Tone Hammer. I fell in love within a few seconds. I didn't take me more than a minute to find the grindy overdrive/distortion tone that I couldn't quite coax out of the Agro. And I love the nasty yet well defined tone from combining fuzz (hpf) with OD.

I've actually found the operation of the pedal to be fairly intuitive...you just need to get a sense of how to navigate in that space.

My only two (minor) complaints are: the fuzz isn't great when solo'd, although I'm not a major fuzz user (the Pickle Pie B may stay for the time being). The other is the accessibility of the dip switches. If I'm still this much in love with the pedal in a week, I might dremel out an access slot in the back cover.
 
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#17
Well bah-bump!

This thread came back on my radar...


As a little update, the breakout mod for the dip-switches was discussed a bit more in the Breeder thread. The conclusion I came to is that exclusion (or rather extrusion) of the dippy infernal switches is outrageously warranty-shattering do-able. A totatl PITA, but where there's a William, there's a bill to pay, I'll wager:

Feral Feline said:
...
:: Peeking inside my MultiDrive, the Dip Switch uhm "array" is a 12-pinner that's been soldered, not socketed to the board. It sits, as I'm sure you know, between the two stompers. Been a while since I opened my MD, too many sounds to explore without messing with dipswitches.

Nonetheless, We like Options, Kawalski!

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Everything but the 3PDT switches are mounted to the board, so that means unscrewing 19 (nineteen) nuts just to get the board out to access the back of the board. Heating up the solder on the 12-pin dip-switch might dislodge some of the surrounding SMDs, of which there are plenty. Risk is the same for when you (or your tech) solders in the 12-pin computer ribbon connector to the board.

Once that is done, then the sensible options for placing the dip-switch set is either on top between the footswitches or on the front face.

I'm thinking the front face, because on top it'll collect more dirt and crappacola than if it's mounted on the front face AND you don't have to run the ribbon wire under the board nor deface the Empress Logo. Basically like tilting it on its side, cut a hole in the enclosure just big enough to expose the dips and glue the dip-switch casing to the inner wall then reinforce that with a bracket and some screws.

Doable, I say. Not necessarily by me, though. I lack that Hendrix thing...
Click to expand...


Another option is to drill holes in the case and shove a crochet hook in there to prod or pull the dipples to your ears' content...
 
#18
Feral Feline said:
Well bah-bump!

This thread came back on my radar...


As a little update, the breakout mod for the dip-switches was discussed a bit more in the Breeder thread. The conclusion I came to is that exclusion (or rather extrusion) of the dippy infernal switches is outrageously warranty-shattering do-able. A totatl PITA, but where there's a William, there's a bill to pay, I'll wager:




Another option is to drill holes in the case and shove a crochet hook in there to prod or pull the dipples to your ears' content...
Click to expand...

Something like your second option had occurred to me as well. Still not sure how to implement it though.
 
#20
N. Kentucky Bass said:
Had one and it was ok. Flexible tweakability is a highlight but also a lowlight. Sometimes on the gig you need something quick and simple because there's no time for tweaking knobs and levels. That's why I usually prefer a dedicated effect.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the versatility/complexity is one reason why I don't gig mine more (the other is that I'm on a Darkglass B7KU kick right now -- it's also complex, but in a focused way). That said, the Multidrive is an absolute keeper for me. Love the MD's filters: same as others, I use highpassed high gain tone combined with gentle overdrive (lowpassed or full range).
 

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