Soundgarden’s “My Wave” to Dire Straits’
“Money For Nothing.” Having the Low
Pass/None/High Pass filter for each gain
channel is a super-effective way to carve
out a distinctive sonic space for each gain
section. For instance, I engaged the High
Pass filter on the Fuzz channel, left the
Overdrive channel set to None, and the
Distortion channel to Low Pass. The extent
to which the 3rd Power took on the expansiveness of a three-amp setup was remarkable—each pedal channel claimed its own
frequency spectrum without stepping on
the toes of another.
The Verdict
With the fuzz searing on top, I could
mix in just the right amount of bottom-heavy distortion and blast the overdrive to
give body to the guitar’s basic voice. Even
though I’ve used pedalboards with multiple
drive units extensively, the Multidrive made
balanced blends of mixed-gain tones easier
than ever, thanks to its filters alone. The
highly functional tone-shaping with the
master EQ section is icing on the cake.
To say I’m impressed by the Multidrive
would be an understatement. It’s a genuinely
fun pedal that will take your playing in many
directions. Given that it packs exceptional
versions of the three most popular gain
effects and myriad options for combining
them into such a small footprint, it has the
potential to be the only pedal a lot of gigging
guitarists will haul to a show. The dedicated
filters for each channel make tailoring them
to a multi-gain environment easy, and the
master EQ section is a handy tool for shaping the collective output. Powerful, smart,
and compact, the Multidrive will be a serious
contender for the number-one pedal on a lot
of boards in the years to come.
My quibbles with the Multidrive are
very few. The Output knob is situated
Strymon_Lex_PG.pdf 3/2/11 5:25:03 PM
directly above the Bypass switch and given
the easy travel on the knobs, more than
once I bumped it, and either pushed up or
dropped my volume by quite a bit. It would
also be nice to see the DIP switches on the
exterior of the pedal, where they could be
accessed more easily, and a few extra preset
states would be nice.
Buy If...
you want Fuzz, Overdrive, and
Distortion in one pedal, as well as
the ability to combine or switch
between them.
Skip If...
amp overdrive is all you need or you
already have a channel-switching
monster of an amp.
Empress Effects
Street $299
empresseffects.com
or use a mobile device to download
audio clips of the pedal at
CLICKHere…
premierguitar.com/aug2011
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
• Faithful, Meticulous Rotary Speaker Algorithms • Adjustable Fast and Slow Speeds, Acceleration, Drive, Mic Distance, Cab Direction, Horn Level • Rotary Brake, Bi-Amping • Stereo Out • Expression Pedal Input • True Bypass
rotary
®
www.strymon.net
