The Empress Drive is an analog overdrive built around one idea: shape the mids before the clipping stage, not after it. The Midrange control and its sweepable frequency sit ahead of the overdrive, so they change which part of your signal drives the circuit into breakup. Push the low mids and it gets thicker and looser, push the upper mids and it bites, pull them back and it tightens up.
From there you get a Mix control that blends your clean signal back in, active Bass and Treble shelving after the mix, and up to 30dB of footswitchable boost you can put before the overdrive for more saturation or after it for more level. An adaptive noise gate follows your playing and stays out of the way of sustained notes. The meter on the front is a working analog VU meter that shows how hard you're hitting the overdrive stage, with a selectable LED colour.
It moves from tweed-style warmth to tighter British crunch, so it works as a second channel for a clean amp or as an always-on tone on the board. Built in Ottawa.
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECS
Controls: Gain, Mix, Output, Bass, Midrange, Treble, Boost, Mid Freq, Gate
Bass / Midrange / Treble: -15dB to +15dB
Mid Freq: 200Hz - 2.5kHz
Boost: 0dB - 30dB, pre- or post-overdrive
Gate: adaptive, Off to Max
Footswitches: Boost, Bypass
Meter: analog clipping meter, selectable LED colour
Input Impedance: 1MΩ
Output Impedance: 100Ω
Frequency Response (-3dB): 20Hz - 22kHz
THD+N (buffer bypassed)(20Hz - 20kHz, 1Vrms): < 0.1%
Input Voltage: 9V DC (Centre-Negative)
Required Current: 250mA
Power Input Connector: 2.1mm Barrel Connector
Height: 2.5"
Length: 4.8"
Width: 2.6"
Weight: 1lb
