New Electro-Harmonix Battalion Bass Preamp and DI

[PNC7]

Hey guys, so I think I ended up solving my buzzing problem from before. I ended up playing a gig this weekend with the Battalion as part of my pedalboard and people were complimenting my tone and asking about it!

The downside is my DI-out problems have not gone away. The sound guy at the gig mentioned that he was getting a bunch of hissing from it and he threw on the low pass filter which helped a bit. Tonight I got a chance to test it out and am getting the same hissing / white noise. Kind of sounds like the ocean or wind or something, and is kinda loud (you can still kinda hear it behind my bass playing, but the rest of the band drowns it out). I think this was happening before, but the buzzing was what was really catching my ear (and that ended up being a power supply issue). I'd attach a recording but doesn't look like the filetype is supported on this site. Anyway, any ideas on what could be causing this? The 1/4 output seems fine. Thanks!

 

[mannysilvers]

Hey guys, so I think I ended up solving my buzzing problem from before. I ended up playing a gig this weekend with the Battalion as part of my pedalboard and people were complimenting my tone and asking about it!

The downside is my DI-out problems have not gone away. The sound guy at the gig mentioned that he was getting a bunch of hissing from it and he threw on the low pass filter which helped a bit. Tonight I got a chance to test it out and am getting the same hissing / white noise. Kind of sounds like the ocean or wind or something, and is kinda loud (you can still kinda hear it behind my bass playing, but the rest of the band drowns it out). I think this was happening before, but the buzzing was what was really catching my ear (and that ended up being a power supply issue). I'd attach a recording but doesn't look like the filetype is supported on this site. Anyway, any ideas on what could be causing this? The 1/4 output seems fine. Thanks!

Man I'm sorry you've had so many issues with this. One thing you can try, if you unscrew the back and open the unit up you'll see there's a ribbon cable that connects the DI output stuff to the rest of the pedal. It's possible that cable came a little loose and that's causing your issues. If not, you can contact us at info[at]ehx.com to potentially send it in to get looked at. Again, very sorry you're experiencing these issues. Glad you like the pedal otherwise.

 

[DDXdesign]

So just before my Green Russian showed up I tried out a Battalion - and turns out I love almost everything about the Battalion, including the dirt!

However, what is up with the compressor on it? I mean, anything past 9:00 on the comp knob and it was actively killing my signal; like, "throwing a pillow between the strings and pickup and cutting the volume in half" killing it. And I'm wielding a passive Jazz type bass here - it went from a "J" sound to a "50-year-old P with original strings and sunken pickups" sound on clean, and turned the distortion into barely-there OD. Less like a comp and more like a brickwall limiter with the threshold set to "mouse fart."

What the poopie?

EDIT: I see @IPYF had the same issue with the compressor. Nuts.

 

[Schopes]

So just before my Green Russian showed up I tried out a Battalion - and turns out I love almost everything about the Battalion, including the dirt!

However, what is up with the compressor on it? I mean, anything past 9:00 on the comp knob and it was actively killing my signal; like, "throwing a pillow between the strings and pickup and cutting the volume in half" killing it. And I'm wielding a passive Jazz type bass here - it went from a "J" sound to a "50-year-old P with original strings and sunken pickups" sound on clean, and turned the distortion into barely-there OD. Less like a comp and more like a brickwall limiter with the threshold set to "mouse fart."

What the poopie?

EDIT: I see @IPYF had the same issue with the compressor. Nuts.

I had a similar feeling initially since the "compressor effect" caused volume reduction when I turned the knob clockwise. So, I started using the volume knob to make it come back to normal.

Then I started to feel kinda silly....

What I came to realize/remember is that, on most compressor pedals there is usually a control for the outgoing volume.

A related example would be the EHX bass compressor pedal. Bass Preacher, has only those two knobs on it (in addition to an attack switch).

So, in my view, when compressor effect is being used then the volume knob becomes part of that effect.

Just so you know, it took me like a week to view it this way....

 

[ChubbyJerk]

I love the pedal, but was unable to find a setting on the compressor that worked for me. Same with the gate. Even without those it's a great pedal though.

 

[DDXdesign]

I had a similar feeling initially since the "compressor effect" caused volume reduction when I turned the knob clockwise. So, I started using the volume knob to make it come back to normal.

Then I started to feel kinda silly....

What I came to realize/remember is that, on most compressor pedals there is usually a control for the outgoing volume.

A related example would be the EHX bass compressor pedal. Bass Preacher, has only those two knobs on it (in addition to an attack switch).

So, in my view, when compressor effect is being used then the volume knob becomes part of that effect.

Just so you know, it took me like a week to view it this way....

Oh I know about using the volume knob for makeup gain. But in most compressors, you get some boost out of it; you don't have to max it out to get to unity volume!

 

[Schopes]

Gotcha jammadave,

I get just enough compression to give a little bit of a fuller "warmer" sound with the compressor on. Like you mentioned, I only go as far as 9 o'clock. Anything beyond there doesn't sound right for me.

And yeah, ChubbyJerk, I love the pedal. The distortion, the EQ, and DI make it awesome for me.

 

[DDXdesign]

Gotcha jammadave,

I get just enough compression to give a little bit of a fuller "warmer" sound with the compressor on. Like you mentioned, I only go as far as 9 o'clock. Anything beyond there doesn't sound right for me.

I guess it would help if we knew the ratio and threshold and all that. Like on the tasty Accountant, I go both switches up, so that's a 6:1 ratio with no input pad. That's probably more compression than the 9:00 on the Battalion yields, so I turn it up, and pbblllttttt it's dead.

 

[Schopes]

I guess it would help if we knew the ratio and threshold and all that. Like on the tasty Accountant, I go both switches up, so that's a 6:1 ratio with no input pad. That's probably more compression than the 9:00 on the Battalion yields, so I turn it up, and pbblllttttt it's dead.

Sooooo......
I just went and tried out my MXR compression pedal. I like that one way better. I think I was just "settling" for the less space taking option. The Battalion itself definitely gets to stay on the pedalboard for its other awesome benefits though!

 

[DDXdesign]

hey @mannysilvers - can we get the scoop on how the compression goes? actual numbers for the ratio and all that? and is there anything we can do to compress more without murdering the signal?

 

[mannysilvers]

hey @mannysilvers - can we get the scoop on how the compression goes? actual numbers for the ratio and all that? and is there anything we can do to compress more without murdering the signal?

The compressor is based on the Bass Preacher, and the way the Preachers work the "Sustain" knob simultaneously affects the threshold and ratio in a sort of non-linear way, it's hard to give a firm number.

As far as your second question, if you open up the back of the unit there is a tiny trim-pot on the top left that affects the gain and response of the compression. You can adjust with a small flat-head screw driver. Rotating it clockwise should give a bit more gain.

 

[DDXdesign]

The compressor is based on the Bass Preacher, and the way the Preachers work the "Sustain" knob simultaneously affects the threshold and ratio in a sort of non-linear way, it's hard to give a firm number.

As far as your second question, if you open up the back of the unit there is a tiny trim-pot on the top left that affects the gain and response of the compression. You can adjust with a small flat-head screw driver. Rotating it clockwise should give a bit more gain.

Thanks, Manny - that added gain from the trim inside - is that makeup gain after the comp, or gain into the comp's input? (which would make it clamp harder and necessitate a lower setting on the external knob, I'd think). It sounds to me like what it's doing is quickly (i mean damn quick, like noon or so on the dial) going into a very pumpy dippy place at way too low of a threshold.

I never know exactly what settings I want out of a compressor ahead of time; I just know what I like when I hear it, but I do want it to do some peak limiting without too obvious dip-and-swell if I bang directly into a hard note, and I want the sound to feel more powerful than when it went in. Thus far I've liked the Accountant and (inexplicably) the new Zoom OrangeLim model the best, so hey, simple controls are good!

 

[Stranger Danger]

This is pretty close to an MXR M80

 

[Uche_bass]

ordered signed sealed delivered. and very pleased with it. so much you can do with it. my big muff has much more full on grind and than this, but that's not what its for. I have the distortion level set at 1am blend at 11 and the drive at around 10am. this gives a great subtle distortion but keeps the bass dry mix at the forefront. effect set at pre eq. eq set at 2am bass treble at 1 the mids at centre 12. overall volume at around 2am. compressor on but on at low level as i just like a bit of compression. plenty to play around with but for this price cant go wrong.

I was struggling to find a setting that would sound nice but this pretty much nails it. Do you have any more settings that you like?

 

[mexicanyella]

Can anyone comment on whether the Battalion's "wet" 1/4" output has enough thrust to drive a power amp directly? I'm interested in this as an all-in-one compressor/gate/tone-shaper, and I use an old Peavey SS power amp that wants to see about 1V on the input.

Thanks in advance!

 

[StayLow]

Tried a Battalion. Not sure if it was working properly, so seeking input please.

Treble EQ seems to do little or arguably nothing when at unity gain. It seemed to have some effect if output was boosted, but not as much as I'd expect. The other EQ bands had a very obvious effect. No other mitigating factors such as an input signal without much treble content, compressor engaged, etc.

Speaking of the compressor though, it greatly diminishes the high end when engaged, and overall volume, even when it's completely rolled down. Sounds like the proverbial "heavy blanket over the speaker" and since the Treble seems to do little or nothing, the high end content can't be restored that way. If the compressor is cranked the sound approaches normal high end content but then there's resultant noise from a cranked compressor of course and a very squashed signal.

 

[StayLow]

Anyone? ^

@mannysilvers ?

 

[mannysilvers]

Anyone? ^

@mannysilvers ?

The treble control can be pretty subtle depending on your setup and playing style (pick and slap it will be more noticeable), in part because it's designed to work hand in hand with the distortion, which can add a lot more high-frequency content when engaged. If your playing clean bass finger style usually the high-mid control can cover much of the higher end of the bass spectrum.

As for the compressor we unfortunately had some issues with calibration with the first batch of units shipped, which can be fixed by tweaking an internal trim-pot, but we've since resolved the issue on newer units shipped out.

 

[StayLow]

The treble control can be pretty subtle depending on your setup and playing style (pick and slap it will be more noticeable), in part because it's designed to work hand in hand with the distortion, which can add a lot more high-frequency content when engaged. If your playing clean bass finger style usually the high-mid control can cover much of the higher end of the bass spectrum.

As for the compressor we unfortunately had some issues with calibration with the first batch of units shipped, which can be fixed by tweaking an internal trim-pot, but we've since resolved the issue on newer units shipped out.

Thanks so much. Revisited the pedal. The trim seems to be gain for the compressor. Big change with small adjustments. Sounds good now.

Can you state here how much gain or cut there is for each band of EQ? The Q values? The ratio range of the compressor?

 

[mannysilvers]

Thanks so much. Revisited the pedal. The trim seems to be gain for the compressor. Big change with small adjustments. Sounds good now.

Can you state here how much gain or cut there is for each band of EQ? The Q values? The ratio range of the compressor?

The compressor, as stated in an earlier reply, is based on the Bass Preacher which is based on the Soul Preacher which I believe was originally designed before I was alive...it has a weird way of compressing that simultaneously affects the threshold and ratio in a sort of non-linear way that's hard to quantify with firm numbers.

As for the EQ, the bass control is a low shelf that starts boosting/cutting around 200Hz and boosts/cuts frequencies below that up to around +/-11dB. Treble is a high shelf that starts boosting/cutting around 2kHz and boosts/cuts frequencies above that up to around +/-11dB. The mid controls boost/cut by +/-11dB at 280Hz and 750Hz.