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Parametric Equalizer

The Empress ParaEq MKII is designed to be a tool for sweetening the tone of any instrument. We’ve designed the ParaEq MKII to give musicians a powerful, musical, high quality Eq in a conveniently small package. The signal path is comprised of the highest quality components chosen for their transparency, powerful tone shaping capabilities, and low operating noise. We’ve increased the headroom to 27V, similar to rack-mount equipment, to ensure clarity of sound no matter how hot the signal. Oh, and the whole package is now half the size. Who doesn’t love a small package?! With the Empress ParaEq MKII, your instrument will still sound like your instrument, only better.

General Sweetening: Perhaps you really like the tone of your guitar but find it could be a little brighter with more high end detail. With the ParaEq MKII, adding a small boost in the range of 3 kHz to 5 kHz with a wide Q will add a bit more detail, while still retaining the sound of your instrument. In a similar manner, adding a wide Q boost to the low frequency range will warm up your instrument’s sound.

Tone Correction: Say you’ve set your amp up in a venue and find that the acoustics of the stage are making it sound too boomy. By cutting some of the frequencies in the low mids (200Hz– 600Hz) with a medium width Q, you can minimize the negative effects of the room acoustics on your sound. If you find your guitar isn’t cutting through the rest of the band, you can boost the upper mid frequency range (1kHz–4 kHz) instead of simply turning up the volume of your amplifier, which could lead to you just drowning out the rest of the band.

Feedback Zapping: With a DI’ed acoustic instrument, playing live at stage volumes can sometimes be a nightmare. Feedback through monitors can quickly ruin a great performance. By using the ParaEq MKII’s mid and hi frequency bands and narrow width Q settings you’ll be able to cut the frequencies causing the feedback while retaining much of your instruments sonic signature. The narrow width Q setting ensures the range of frequencies being reduced is very small, preventing your instrument from sounding dull or muddy.

Distortion Enhancement: Having the ParaEq MKII before your amplifier lets you use it to shape your distortion sounds in radical ways. For example, if you want the treble of your signal to distort a little more you can boost the high frequency band before it reaches your amplifier. This lets you add a little sonic slicing capability to your sound without muddying up your bottom end. The boost control on the ParaEq MKII is a great way to push an already cooking tube amplifier into musical overdrive.

 Supernatural Random Flux Filter

This supernatural filter has a mind of its own. With its rhythmic paranormal activity, you may think there’s a ghost at the helm. The haunted randomization makes you feel like you’ve entered the Twilight Zone. Plug into this pedal for endless inspiration that challenges you to compete against an otherworldly spirit!

The Sample and Hold mode allows ability to add rhythmic patterns, achieve complex tremolo, cadenced filters, and hard, glitched-out sounds. The Voltage Controlled Filter mode is an incredibly smooth, classic low-pass, conducted by the dynamics of the input. Controls allow manipulation of filter frequency, as well as resolution, attack and decay. 

The Phantom Operator includes mode-changing via foot switch, with status and speed indicators. It’s 100 percent analog, true bypass, and hand-wired with quality, through-hole components. Powered by a standard 9vdc negative-tip power supply. Made in Seattle, Washington.

• Speed controls sample/hold speed. It only functions in sample/hold mode.
  
  
• Res controls the amount of filter resonance.
  
  
• Attack controls the attack of the filter. Turning clockwise will initiate a faster response.
  
  
• Filter controls the frequency of the filter. Turning clockwise produces a higher filter frequency.
  
  
• Decay controls the speed of the filter decay. Turning clockwise will increase the decay time.
  
  
• Mode toggles between VCF and sample/ hold modes.
  
  
• Bypass turns effect on and off

The development of the Geckoplex took many years. Throughout this process was a constant drive to create a pedal that accurately maintained the sound and feel of a vintage tape delay machine, while also providing all the benefits of more modern equipment. 

The monochrome artwork nods at the aesthetics of decades past, while nothing exemplifies the strive to preserve a vintage tape experience more than the delay slider. Several 1960's-1970's era machines set the delay time with a linear slide control that physically moved a tape head along a length of moving tape. The Geckoplex now brings back that same slide control format to a modern device. 

As far as the sound, everything possible was done to accurately simulate the unique sonic characteristics of analog tape machines. The echoes are nicely compressed, just as they would be due to the effects of tape saturation. The warp control allows adding in varying amounts of tape elements, giving control over how much the echoes will degrade and “bloom” as they would from a more worn-in tape machine. 

On top of the vintage sound and feel, the Geckoplex then adds on a number of modern conveniences. To start, unlike real tape machines, it is completely maintenance free! It is also fully MIDI controllable, has a tap tempo with selectable subdivisions, programmable presets, expression pedal support, Sound on Sound looping, and separate wet and dry outputs, all packed in behind a simple and easy to use interface. 

To ensure the highest quality, each Geckoplex is manufactured, tested, and individually numbered by hand in Eugene, Oregon, USA. This commitment to quality additionally extends to the user experience. We truly hope you enjoy your Geckoplex as much as we did creating it, and that it serves you well for years to come. However, if for any reason you aren't completely happy with it, we want to hear about it. If you totally love it, we don't mind hearing that either. 

GAIN controls the analog input preamp gain. The preamp is always on even when the ON switch is toggled off in order to maintain a constant signal level. The setting can affect the echo saturation somewhat, but for the most part this control has little influence on the effects. The 1:1 gain position is with the knob around 10:00 to 11:00, or roughly pointing just before the G in GAIN. Above this point the signal will be amplified up to a maximum of +11dB. The gain should be lowered if other pedals in the chain don't function properly with a boosted signal, or if the red “peak” light on the level meter is being reached. 

VOLUME controls the output volume of the echoes. With the knob turned all the way to the left, echoes will be silenced. With the knob turned all the way to the right, the initial echo volume will be louder than the input volume. NOTE: This does not affect the Reverb output volume. Reverb is controlled independently with its own dedicated knob. 

REPEATS controls how much echoes will continue to repeat, fading more quickly the more the knob is turned to the left. The marker at about 2 O'Clock indicates the runaway feedback point, or “self-oscillation point”. With the knob turned clockwise past this marker, the repeating echoes will grow in volume rather than fade. 

TONE controls the Bass/Treble tone of the echoes. The marker indicates the center neutral point. With the knob pointing straight up, the echo sound will be unchanged. With the knob to the left of center, the echoes will sound warmer, with more bass and less treble. With the knob to the right of center, the echoes will sound brighter, with more treble and less bass. 

REVERB adds a reverberation effect, making the output sound like the instrument is being played inside of an echoing chamber or large hall. This effect is controlled separately from the echoes, and a reverb-only effect is possible by turning up the REVERB while turning the VOLUME knob all the way down. 

WARP controls how tape-like the sonic qualities of the echoes are. With the knob turned all the way down to the left, echoes will sound clean and pristine, able to repeat nearly endlessly without changing much. With the knob between 9:00 and the midpoint, echoes will have the sonic qualities of those produced by a well-tuned tape machine, with each new echo blooming into a more “washed-out” sound. With the knob up past the midpoint, the echoes will begin sounding as they would sound coming from a tape machine in need of a tune-up, being more wavering, fluttering, and gritty. 

SHIFT controls how much delay “shift” is applied when a note is played. This unique effect mimics the user shifting the delay slider back and forth at the same time that a note is played, causing the echoes to “shift” in pitch down and back up, or up and back down, depending on the knob direction. The marker indicates the center neutral point where no shift occurs. How far the knob is moved away from center determines how much the delay is shifted left or right when a note is played.

The Geckoplex includes a Sound on Sound (SOS) mode that allows looping playback of up to 40 seconds of recorded audio.

• Full MIDI control, with up to 64 MIDI accessible presets, clock sync, and clock master mode.
• Can be fully bypassed.  The off-state output modes are user selectable(buffered with preamp active, or fully bypassed).
• User selectable max delay time (650ms, 1sec, 2sec).
• User selectable expression pedal functions in the Sound on Sound looper mode (playback volume, playback speed, or loop degradation).
• Independent control of reverb parameters via MIDI (mix, decay time, tone).
• Over 2X higher headroom before clipping.
• Even lower overall noise floor.

• Analog FET input preamp gain stage, with level adjustable from zero up to +11dB by the GAIN knob.
• Super high quality 24bit/96kHz audio digital audio in the effects path.
• Up to 2 seconds max delay time.
• Sound on Sound (SOS) looper mode, with loops of up to 40 seconds.
• Toggle switches change the SOS loop playback speed and direction (1/2, normal, 2X speeds, and backward or forward playback).
• Separate WET/DRY outputs for use with dual amp setups or other non-conventional signal routing.
• The dry signal can be switched off on the wet output for pure WET/DRY outputs (internal switch).
• 3 (or up to 64 accessible by MIDI) Fully programmable presets, with seamless switching between them.
• Expression pedal support, allowing full control of any set of controls over any desired range on each preset.
• Tap tempo with selectable subdivisions (eighth note, quarter note, and dotted eighth note subdivisions).
• Tap tempo hold function ramps up into temporary self-oscillation.
• TRAILS toggle switch to control whether trailing effects are heard after the unit is switched off.
• Buffered outputs, capable of easily driving amps with clarity, even through long cables or into Lo-Z inputs.
• Motorized delay slide control to set the delay time, similar to a tape write head position lever found on some vintage tape delay units.
• 6 effect control knobs: echo VOLUME, REPEATS, TONE, WARP, REVERB, and a Gecko Pedals original effect: SHIFT.
• LED level meter bar with peak indicator (6 LEDs).

• A preposterously powerful ARM Cortex M7 core handles the DSP heavy lifting.
• The enclosure is powder coated and artwork is printed with epoxy ink for ultimate finish durability.
• Gold-plated contacts on the circuit board (ENIG finish).
• Real genuine Davies Molding knobs, made in Chicago, USA
• Real genuine Hammond Manufacturing all metal enclosure.
• Only polyester film and ceramic capacitors are used throughout.  No electrolytic or tantalum capacitors to worry about drying up or otherwise failing.
• Polyester film capacitors are used exclusively in the audio signal path.
• Silicone wire cable assemblies are used for all peripheral circuit board connections.

The Effectrode LA-1A Leveling Amplifier was designed with one purpose in mind: to enable artists and engineers to extract every last nuance from a musical performance… without compromise. Tubes are unmatched tone enhancers, adding warmth, depth and clarity to recorded and live instruments and Effectrode wanted to push their sonic performance even further and beyond expectation. To that end we based our Leveling Amplifier on a parallel tube plate design—the type of tube circuitry only found in audiophile tube phono-stage preamps for high-end turntables. Parallel tube design reduces the LA-1A’s noise floor to vanishing point. In practical terms this means the best possible signal to noise ratio for your guitar. It’s an expensive way of doing things—as four identical tube input stages are used in its circuitry—but it does yield stellar sound quality, without the compromise of noise gates or ‘cutting’ certain frequencies using equalization. The parallel tube design has never been built into a stompbox or even a professional studio leveling amplifier/compressor before, making the LA-1A a truly special compressor.

Peak Reduction knob sets both the threshold and the amount of signal compression. When adjusting the compression or sustain a good starting point is the 9 o’clock position where subtle leveling enhances note detail, creating a fuller, warmer tone. As the knob is rotated clockwise the volume level of loud notes is reduced relative to quieter ones, squashing playing dynamics—the definitive sound of many country and funk-style guitar riffs.

Gain knob adjusts the ‘make-up’ gain and is used to match the relative levels of bypassed and effected signal. It can also provide +15dBu of tube boost when the ‘Peak Reduction’ knob is fully counterclockwise (zero compression).

Boost knob gives an additional +6dB of gain (on top of the make up gain)—useful when soloing on guitar or bass and can push the input stage of a tube amp into overdrive very nicely too. The ‘Boost’ footswitch engages (red LED lit) and bypasses (green LED lit) the boost.

Attack and Knee knobs allow the compression character to be tailored perfectly to suit instruments that are challenging to amplify or record. For example, active 5-string bass guitars, nylon and steel string acoustic guitars fitted with piezo pickups and even especially ‘difficult’ stringed instruments such as hammered dulcimer, harpsichord or tar. Rotating the ‘Attack’ knob clockwise increases how fast the side-chain reacts, i.e. the speed at which compression kicks in. The ‘Knee’ knob alters the input/output curve, i.e. how the LA-1A transitions into compression—rotate clockwise and the LA-1A becomes a limiter and counter-clockwise for compression.

When the Dynamic EQ toggle switch is in the ‘down’ position the LA-1A dynamically boosts high frequency material. With the ‘Peak Reduction’ knob fully counter-clockwise (zero compression) dynamic eq is inactive, however as the knob is rotated clockwise, and the pedal begins compressing, the effect becomes increasingly pronounced. Fabulous for jangly 12-string Rickenbacker® guitar sounds.

Bypass Footswitch utilizes quiet true bypass switching to minimize ‘pops’ or ‘thump’ when engaging the pedal and ensure there is no loss of guitar tone when the pedal is bypassed.

Balanced Direct Out ¼” TRS (stereo) jack socket allows connection of the LA-1A to the mixing desk, computer sound-card or external audio capture device. This output is fully balanced and transformer isolated, eliminating earth loops and reducing hum to an absolute minimum and features a gain pad (+6dB, +12dB and +18dB) to facilitate matching with any line or instrument level gear. The Triad Magnetics audio transformer also imparts its own character to enhance and sweeten the direct sound.

External Select ¼” TRS (stereo) jack socket. This enables an external footswitch, such as the Fender® ‘Twin Reverb’ Amp tremolo/reverb dual latching footswitch), to be utilized for remote bypass switching and activating the tube boost.

 Includes 12V Wall-wart Power Supply: High quality low-noise switched mode 12VDC at 1.5A wall-wart compatible with all our pedals.

Solid State Tremolo

The Parabola is a solid state, transistor generated waveform tremolo. The oscillator is strongly influenced by the vintage Schaller TR-68/TR-316 “West Germany” tremolo pedals that I fell in love with in the 1990s. They have a gorgeous analog waveform that actually changes shape with the depth control.

Beyond a faithful approach to the transistor LFO, there are a host of improvements we’ve made. The Parabola’s volume control has more than enough output to compensate for any perceived volume loss of the tremolo effect – in fact, it’s up to +12db of clean gain – AND there is a gorgeous preamplifier drive stage based on the “invader” preamp of our Kilobyte and Météore pedals, so you can crank the gain and generate drive at any volume. You can think of the Parabola as an additional “tremolo channel” for your setup.

The AM mode is the classic Schaller amplitude modulation, gorgeous and wobbly, like sloshing through deep puddles with your rain boots on. The “FM” mode is a frequency dependent ‘filtered’ mode based on the depth control that manages to create a shimmering effect that gets out of the way of your playing. The Speed, Fast/Slow, and Depth ranges have been improved both from the (often incorrect) Schaller schematics people post online and the real deal vintage TR-68s we traced, and the Depth can be easily zero’d out to allow you to just use the gorgeous preamp and booster. And the Havoc “inverts” whichever speed range you’ve chosen and opens up the depth control, so you can momentarily “juice” or “drag” the effect on demand.