My dream analog dirt pedal

[Smooth_bass88]

I have several gigs with the EBS Sheehan pedal-centered pedalboard under my belt, and I am happy to report that it serves my needs very well.

I cut high mids and highs on the clean channel with LPF (both the EBS octabass and the Broughton RFE are inserted in the clean FX loop).

That way, I have clean lows and driven mids and highs in my signal. I am using the comp switch in the Mid position to glue the two signals together.

I switch between two levels of overdrive with the Boost footswitch.

One specific application is worth mentioning: in a power trio, when the guitarist takes solo, I switch on the octaver and the Boost and play one octave higher. It works great. That way, I substitute for the missing rhythm guitar with the drive channel (the notes I play are within the guitar range) while there is still clean bass one octave lower. It sound amazing!

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this is brilliant. I have yet to delve into the loop feature of the Sheehan pedal.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

JohnK is another builder who came close to my dream pedal with his XOII design…

It's worth contacting SaturnWorks.

 

[Zbysek]

I have yet to delve into the loop feature of the Sheehan pedal.

You should-I highly recommend it. IMO, the possibility to insert pedals in one channel without affecting the other channel is one of the key features which make this pedal stand out.

 

[silky smoove]

Why the reluctance towards digital?

 

[Zbysek]

Why the reluctance towards digital?

It’s not my thing.

I simply don’t enjoy using digital pedals.

 

[Zbysek]

This is the latest version of my large pedalboard. It is centered around the Tyler frequency crossover.

The following pedals are doing what my dream dirt pedal should do:

• KMA Tyler frequency splitter
• Becos Twain compressor
• Widara Volbox attenuator
• Nobels ODR overdrive

 

[Zbysek]

this is brilliant. I have yet to delve into the loop feature of the Sheehan pedal.

Have you...? What's been your experience?

 

[Zbysek]

I have been day-dreaming lately...

I came up with a list of features which my dream drive pedal needs to have:

• two levels of overdrive on the dirt channel (footswitcheable, with separate volume controls)
• variable HPF on the dirt channel (going up to 500Hz at least)
• clean blend
• LPF on the clean channel (going down to 150Hz at least)
• compressor/limiter on the clean channel
• It would need to be analog.

At the moment, I need 3-4 pedals in order to achieve all the above-listed functionality (crossover looper/blender, compressor, drive pedal, booster/attenuator).

It would be great to be able to get it all from a single device. Anybody feels the same?

There have been some pedals recently which came close:

Another pedal which came close is the Drive from Empress.

 

[mouthmw]

Another pedal which came close is the Drive from Empress.

Are you getting one?

 

[Zbysek]

Are you getting one?

I am considering it...but probably not...-for reasons I have stated in post No. 23 of the following thread, EBS Sheehan pedal is more useful for me than the new one from Empress...

Thread 'Empress 'The Drive''

May 5, 2026

This looks incredibly cool. Super flexible EQ, configurable pre/post boost, VU meter?!

Product page

Drive

Most overdrives are built around one particular character. The Empress Drive gives you the tools to shape your own. Instead of locking you into a single flavour of overdrive, it lets you shape the harmonic structure that determines how a drive sounds and responds.With pre-overdrive mid shaping...

empresseffects.com

Bass The World demo

• tidbits
• Replies: 42
• Forum: Effects [BG]

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[Zbysek]

...however I might change my mind in case Empress decides to implement low pass on the clean channel!

 

[jcburn]

I still love and use the EBS Billy Sheehan (currently the Ultimate) as the centrepiece of my pedal board. I run it first up after my tuner. The only limiting factor is the tonality of the drive which I really like, but it is definitely like the Pearce preamp it is replicating - it's bright and cutting. When I want a warmer drive I run a volume pedal set to zero in the drive channel and run the other drive through the clean channel. It lets me run the Billy on all the time (including the compressor), but lets me have different tones of drive.

It also gives me the option of a comppletely clean sound while still making use of the compressor, which for me does everything I want a comp to do.

 

[Zbysek]

I still love and use the EBS Billy Sheehan (currently the Ultimate) as the centrepiece of my pedal board. I run it first up after my tuner. The only limiting factor is the tonality of the drive which I really like, but it is definitely like the Pearce preamp it is replicating - it's bright and cutting. When I want a warmer drive I run a volume pedal set to zero in the drive channel and run the other drive through the clean channel. It lets me run the Billy on all the time (including the compressor), but lets me have different tones of drive.

It also gives me the option of a comppletely clean sound while still making use of the compressor, which for me does everything I want a comp to do.

Same here. The Sheehan EBS pedal is centrepiece of my compact pedalboard. MBD and RFE are placed in the clean FX loop.

I don't feel the need to mute the drive channel completely. For my purposes, using the Boost footswitch is enough as I tend to set the Level control quite low...

 

[Zbysek]

This is the latest version of my large pedalboard. It is centered around the Tyler frequency crossover.

The following pedals are doing what my dream dirt pedal should do:

• KMA Tyler frequency splitter
• Becos Twain compressor
• Widara Volbox attenuator
• Nobels ODR overdrive

I replaced the Nobels drive and Widara attenuator with Tech 21 English Muffy dual overdrive. I added Ibanez chorus too...

 

[Zbysek]

When I want a warmer drive I run a volume pedal set to zero in the drive channel and run the other drive through the clean channel. It lets me run the Billy on all the time (including the compressor), but lets me have different tones of drive.

It also gives me the option of a comppletely clean sound while still making use of the compressor, which for me does everything I want a comp to do.

I have given some thoughts to your setup…and it seems to me that your warmer drive could be placed in front of the EBS pedal …and the result would be identical…correct? Am I missing something?

 

[Ritter667]

Mine is a 3 band drive, with crossovers to define respectively upper and lower band, and thereby mid band as well.

Eventual with a master HPF and LPF as well.

Add a 3 way clipping option switch to each of the 3 band's drive sections respectively as well, now that we are at it.

 

[Zbysek]

Why the reluctance towards digital?

Let me come back to your question.

The guitar player in one of my bands uses Kemper profiler. I hate it when he has to reboot it on stage during a gig. Recently, this has happened repeatedly (at multiple gigs). We are looking like clowns waiting two minutes for the Kemper to restart.

On the other hand, my analog pedalboard works flawlessly gig after gig...(knock on the wood)