For Empress Heavy and Multidrive Owners

[TOOL460002]

Hello! Im looking at the Empress Heavy and Multidrive pedals. I want them to replace a couple of pedals, so any comparisons would be appreciated.

I have a Malekko B:Assmaster. Can either of those cop the full, generic, standard fuzz tone? The Iron Ether Oxide does that sound well too. That is toward the heavy to midrange end of the distortion spectrum to me.

The most intense distortion i can think of are the ZVex Machine or Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz. That's just screaming fuzziness to me (especially the Machine).

If any of you have used the Empress units, can you please compare them to other fuzz pedals, or distortion? I have also owned or still own a couple Catalinbread Teaser Stallions, a Polish Love, Sansamp BDDI, and the fuzz in the Chunk System OS, so essentially the Brown Dog fuzz sound.

Thanks in advance. Im buying one of those two pedals. Which would you recommend and why? Again, comparisons help a lot.

 

[ItsMattIThink]

Hey tool,
I'm glad I saw this thread as I just picked up a multidrive about a week ago and just sold my b:assmaster a few weeks back.

The B:assmaster definitely has way more character and a distinct sound in comparison to the multidrive and honestly if you have the board space / money it might be worth having both. Really loved the B:assmaster but it was a bit too gnarly in the context of the band I'm in. It's still a great pedal though.

Currently have the multidrive and don't plan on getting rid of it too soon as it's a beautiful pedal especially when used in a studio setting, and still it's laid out very well for live use too. The actually fuzz circuit is a little more mild and only because I can't think of a better word at the moment I'll describe it as generic, but it's very usable. Still in the honey moon phase of having this pedal but I love it's versatility and the board I've got it on I'm also using for guitar, which it plays with dare I say 1000x nice than the b:assmaster. Also love that now any time anyone sees my board all I hear is "sweet Jesus that's a lot of knobs! " It's highly tweakable and yet laid out in such a way it's easy to use.

In short though, they're two completely different sounding pedals so I'd encourage keeping both if you can. Hope this helps!

 

[ItsMattIThink]

Oh and I've had many of the other pedals you listed.

Compared to the teaser stallion the multidrive is much cleaner and far less noisy. Huge upgrade in my opinion as I wasn't all that crazy about the teaser stallion when I had it

It definitely gets dirtier than the drive on the sansamp but i wouldn't describe it as giving you the SVT-esque tones like the sansamp does.

Currently running the octavius squeezer for my "balls-to-the-wall" fuzz sound and I definitely prefer it over the fuzz circuit on the empress, at least for bass. Having the ability to engage the gate is super nice. If I can have you take anything away from my posts it's to sit down with your Squeezer to maximize all of its potential, especially the fuzz circuit, as it's just an amazing pedal one you grow accustomed to the terrible user interface. I'm using the multidrive as just a slight dirty boost and distortion though and letting the Squeezer do the rest. Between the two I can't see what ground isn't covered....and then I've still got the dr scientist the elements just in case I'm wrong ha.

So I guess in summary the multidrive is great largely due to its versatility and so I'd pair it with something that's a little less traditional to cover your "weird fuzz" bases.

 

[GMC]

Some great guitar dirt doesn't sound too good on bass and vice-versa. It's a different instrument, a different range and it performs a different role in a mix. So I wouldn't assume that if it sounds great on a guitar it's gonna work well on a bass. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but it's a good generalization. The great thing about the Multidrive is that it's three pedals combined into one box. But if you don't like any of them then you are stuck with them. Not everyone has the same dirt tastes, one man's dirt is another man's dirt bag.

 

[Granny1089]

I have the MultiDrive and absolutely love it.

I'd use the word 'organic' to describe the sound. The fuzz, distortion and OD sound really natural to me. Not digital at all. The blending and filtering options are endless and the EQ section is clutch for keeping the big bass booty in the mix.

I haven't much experience with the pedals you described, so I'm not much help there. In reality though, if you get the Multidrive and don't like it, you probably won't have a hard time selling it in the Classifieds.