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post your Empress Compressor settings!

#41
haha there ya go!

Love my Empress.

OK, so how bout this: Empress owners, how has reliability been? I've had to send back 2 out 3 Empress pedals I've owned for small but necessary repairs. Good news is that they're always done a mighty solid on each one. But still.
 
#42
J.Wolf said:
haha there ya go!

Love my Empress.

OK, so how bout this: Empress owners, how has reliability been? I've had to send back 2 out 3 Empress pedals I've owned for small but necessary repairs. Good news is that they're always done a mighty solid on each one. But still.
Click to expand...

I own three Empress pedals (two new, one used), never had an issue.
 
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#43
Adamixoye said:
I own three Empress pedals (two new, one used), never had an issue.
Click to expand...

the Multidrive has one of my favorite ever low drive/creamy saturation tones ever, but reliability concerns have been whats held me back from repurchasing one. Hoping your sentiment is echoed by others so I will feel more confident about scooping up another.
 
#44
J.Wolf said:
the Multidrive has one of my favorite ever low drive/creamy saturation tones ever, but reliability concerns have been whats held me back from repurchasing one. Hoping your sentiment is echoed by others so I will feel more confident about scooping up another.
Click to expand...

The used one is a first-gen Multidrive. Never had an issue although the PCB is wrong! The dipswitches are mislabeled.
 
#45
is it yours?

I've always been if-y on that pedal. I love what it does and would only ever use about 15% of its features, which has kept me from sinking into another one. Been eyeing a VMT deluxe and wondering if it can do the creamy touch sensitive overdrive that the multi drive does
 
#46
I use it mostly for guitar but I love it. I just wish the dang dipswitches were on the outside!
 
#48
J.Wolf said:
I cant remember exactly, but I believe the dip switches just configure which (OD/dist/fuzz) are selectable with the second footswitch?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are six dipswitches, three for each state. So state A can be any combination of the three, and state B can be any combination of the three. But with the internal dipswitches you're kind of locked into one thing all the time (for me, it's distortion in one state and OD/fuzz combined in the other).
 
#49
J.Wolf said:
I've had to send back 2 out 3 Empress pedals I've owned for small but necessary repairs.
Click to expand...

Two questions... first, anything in particular, or just random stuff? Second, were they new or used? I've bought a couple of used pedals (not just Empress) and they came in not great shape. I always worry about used pedals, since it seems like it can be hard to tell how they've been treated. Let's face it, they are designed to be put on the floor and stepped on...

I buy my pedals new now.
 
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#50
Zooberwerx,
Over the years I have noticed we have similar sonic goals.
Plus, you seem to be a great guy and not a jerk off!
So here are my questions to you (and others).

*If you don't use a lot of effects, you've probably gone to great time and expense to find the "best" bass and amp to give you the tone you hear in your head.
If I already have a great sound, do I want to try and make it "more better" with a Diamond??

As a former recording engineer, I do admit that different models or brands of pro equipment can sound very differently.
An MCI mic pre sounds much different than an API yet the specs are very close and they are both great in different ways.
Same with studio mics, 2" tape decks, and of course compressors.

I want the Cali but am not ready to drop $329 on a comp.
My top 4 are Empress, Diamond, Bassist, Duncan
Preferences are the ability to use a battery for power and have some LED gain reduction monitoring
In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to control the ratio too.
I'm really interested to hear about how these units for you guys and which get kept and why.

So no battery with Empress and no LED's with the Duncan
For me, the other two barely have enough metering

For the record, P bass, compressor, either SVP-CL/Power amp, Fender 800 Pro, or new to me Ashdown ABM500
Would like to go used but that eliminates returns
Advice appreciated
 
#51
esoxhntr said:
Two questions... first, anything in particular, or just random stuff? Second, were they new or used? I've bought a couple of used pedals (not just Empress) and they came in not great shape. I always worry about used pedals, since it seems like it can be hard to tell how they've been treated. Let's face it, they are designed to be put on the floor and stepped on...

I buy my pedals new now.
Click to expand...

I buy almost all my pedals used. If they are at all beat up looking I pass. I buy and sell a lot of them. I can’t remember what was wrong with either of the empress repairs but my takeaway was that they went above and beyond to fix pedals for me that I was not the original purchaser of, which speaks volumes. That was a stronger takeaway than the need for the repair. I’m a loyal empress user.
 
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#52
J.Wolf said:
I buy almost all my pedals used. If they are at all beat up looking I pass. I buy and sell a lot of them. I can’t remember what was wrong with either of the empress repairs but my takeaway was that they went above and beyond to fix pedals for me that I was not the original purchaser of, which speaks volumes. That was a stronger takeaway than the need for the repair. I’m a loyal empress user.
Click to expand...

Understood - I don't buy many, and the last two have been less than stellar experiences. The guys I bought them from seemed okay, and the pedals looked clean, but alas... it says a lot about Empress that they were willing to help out.

Not wanting to de-rail, but do you have any experience with the Empress Para EQ? I always thought that with your Sonic Farms pre and that RAD amp it would be a pretty good addition.
 
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#53
I have one and love it! I don’t seem to need it much these days, since I moved to berg cabs, but in the past used it a lot to notch out weird frequencies or to deal with feedback on semi acoustic Basses. It’s like an ace in the hole, always good to have on hand for fixing just about anything. If I were an upright player I would just epoxy the damn thing to my upright. With the limited eq on the sonic farm it’s real nice to have around just in case.
 
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#54
Jim C said:
Zooberwerx,
Over the years I have noticed we have similar sonic goals.
Plus, you seem to be a great guy and not a jerk off!
So here are my questions to you (and others).

*If you don't use a lot of effects, you've probably gone to great time and expense to find the "best" bass and amp to give you the tone you hear in your head.
If I already have a great sound, do I want to try and make it "more better" with a Diamond??

As a former recording engineer, I do admit that different models or brands of pro equipment can sound very differently.
An MCI mic pre sounds much different than an API yet the specs are very close and they are both great in different ways.
Same with studio mics, 2" tape decks, and of course compressors.

I want the Cali but am not ready to drop $329 on a comp.
My top 4 are Empress, Diamond, Bassist, Duncan
Preferences are the ability to use a battery for power and have some LED gain reduction monitoring
In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to control the ratio too.
I'm really interested to hear about how these units for you guys and which get kept and why.

So no battery with Empress and no LED's with the Duncan
For me, the other two barely have enough metering

For the record, P bass, compressor, either SVP-CL/Power amp, Fender 800 Pro, or new to me Ashdown ABM500
Would like to go used but that eliminates returns
Advice appreciated
Click to expand...

What a dilemma! I'd be hard-pressed to chose among the 4 nominees and I've owned 3 of 'em (...not the Bassist)! Here's my take on the situation:

*Should have kept the SD DoubleBack but I really don't need 3 comps on my board. The "doubleback" is simply a blend which allows you to re-introduce the original signal back into the mix...it's a sideways version of the Empress blend. The updated SD Studio Bass gets good reviews but I honestly don't see where it has any truly noteworthy refinements. Either would be my first choice for someone on a budget...used, of course.

*The Diamond is a strange agent and can't decide whether it wants to be a comp or character pedal...it does both well. Problem with the Diamond is the marketing: they shouldn't publish the specs. If I threw a Diamond in front of you for 2 weeks, your response would probably be "wow". You would never guess the top-end ratio is not even 3:1. The Diamond is also an OCD / compulsive knob-tweaker's delight as you have only two knobs to worry about: comp level and EQ (if desired).

*The Empress is the newest addition to the board and has the steeper learning curve...not for the faint of heart. For the tweakers, this thing is hog-heaven. Two usable ratios (4:1, 10:1), threshold, attack, release, blend, & make-up level. The blend's sweet-spot is 1-2:00 to my ears, anyway, in a 4:1 setting. Kick it into 10:1, back the blend off and it takes on a whole different character. Very transparent unlike the Diamond but I also have either Ampeg SCR-DI or BDDI downstream so it all washes.

If you'd like to trial either the Empress or Diamond, I can ship you one for a test drive...just mail it back when done.

Riis
 
#60
I picked up the Empress a few years ago and have used it for all gigs and most rehearsals since, set up like so:

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With those settings and the fact it doesn't color the tone, it's pretty transparent and subtle. I still have lots of dynamics to work with, but it evens things out so my overall volume can be a bit higher than if it's off.
 
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