The Empress Effects Drive offers advanced control over your drive tones, including tube-like overdrive tones, in one compact pedal. Offering a variety of drive tones from subtle breakup to full-on drive!
Empress Effects Drive
The latest Empress Effects Drive pedal is packed with controls to sculpt your drive tone, along with a large VU meter that shows the amount of clipping. With a fully analog signal path and complete control of the gain structure, it promises the ability to dial in the drive just how you like it.
The VU analog clipping meter with selectable LED color makes this pedal easy to read and stand out from the crowd, offering both practical and aesthetic appeal.
Controls
The standard Gain, Mix, and Output controls are situated across the top of the pedal. These are then followed by a more complex EQ section with Bass, Midrange, Treble, and a Mid Freq (between 200 Hertz and 2.5 kHz), all three with up to 15 dB attenuation or boost. control, plus a dedicated Boost (+30dB) and Gate controls.
Boost
The Boost is also footswitchable with its own dedicated footswitch, along with a standard Bypass footswitch. It also has two distinct modes, which can be accessed by holding down both footswitches during powering up. When the VU is lit red, it is in Boost pre-overdrive; when it is lit blue, it is in post-overdrive.
Empress states that the Gate is adaptive, which should mean it will be easy to use and keep unwanted noise to a minimum.
Having a sweepable midrange is a very useful feature, and when paired with the active Bass and Treble shelving filters, it greatly expands the ability to sculpt the drive tone precisely.
Who is it for?
It will appeal to anyone who likes tweaking drive tones to taste. If you like its core tone, then ot certainly has a lot going on to play with. Plus, having a built-in pre/post Boost and a Noise Gate makes it more versatile for many guitarists.
Price & Availability
The Empress Effects Drive is available now at Thomann for €299.
More Information
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