funkydoug Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 hi folks, I thought I'd share my experience with the EHX bass battalion with you. I haven't seen many reviews of it online at all and it seems to exist below the radar of many folks looking for their preamp-DI-drive-comp-box, so here goes... First things first, as the title suggests, I love it. There a few reasons: 1) It is solid and sturdily made - as one would expect for one of these things. Easily in the same ball park as the rest, despite being quite a bit more affordable 2) It clean section simply sounds great. The main things to notice about it are that the 4 band EQ has a shelving bass that kicks in at 200Hz on the bass end. This is different to most (all?) others in this category both in that it is a shelf not a notch / peaking EQ and the frequency; 200hz is way higher than most other bass knobs! the closest I've seen is the VT bass @ about 120hz, while most are at or below 100hz. That's a significant difference. The mids are low-mid @280hz and high-mid @750hz but they miss out the zone of honk (at about 500hz) meaning, in my experience, you can add some heft in the low mids and / or some bite in the high mids without the honk-factor. The treble end is smooth, glassy and ... erm ... nice! 3) the drive section is also really flexible, and can go from barely there bite / sizzle to full on distortion. It is way more flexible, and subtle, than the branding would lead you to believe. I sold a lovely vintage drive pedal because this does everything I want in one box in that regard. I was pleasantly surprised by this, didn't really expect to like the drive section much at all (I bought it mainly for the clean+comp) now .. I didn't say it's perfect... The compression end of things is fine for me, and does what I want from a comp, in fact it does subtle comp as good as my ears can hear, but that's about all. If you want something more technical / more demanding from your comp, then I would not expect to get it from a one-knob job like this, and that does seem to be the case here. Keep it subtle though (in an always-on kind of way) and the comp does a really nice job. For the compression anoraks ... the comp comes before the drive and EQ, so if your forensic analysis shows a roll off of anything you are only the twist of a knob away from addressing that ... but I can't hear anything missing from the tone. The noise gate... bit of a novelty as the pedal itself is quiet and the gate seems to be ... basic... but I just do't use it. Bells and whistles: It drives headphones really well so makes practicing with 'your tone' very do-able. All in all, I think it is highly under rated. The paint job and the price might lead you to think its a bit of a toy, or that its a bit 'rock', but I have been very pleasantly surprised. Hope someone finds this useful! Doug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The59Sound Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Would you say the OD section compares to another EHX overdrive pedal? Or is it more Muff like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 [quote name='funkydoug' timestamp='1507750950' post='3387787'] hi folks, I thought I'd share my experience with the EHX bass battalion with you. I haven't seen many reviews of it online at all and it seems to exist below the radar of many folks looking for their preamp-DI-drive-comp-box, so here goes... First things first, as the title suggests, I love it. There a few reasons: 1) It is solid and sturdily made - as one would expect for one of these things. Easily in the same ball park as the rest, despite being quite a bit more affordable 2) It clean section simply sounds great. The main things to notice about it are that the 4 band EQ has a shelving bass that kicks in at 200Hz on the bass end. This is different to most (all?) others in this category both in that it is a shelf not a notch / peaking EQ and the frequency; 200hz is way higher than most other bass knobs! the closest I've seen is the VT bass @ about 120hz, while most are at or below 100hz. That's a significant difference. The mids are low-mid @280hz and high-mid @750hz but they miss out the zone of honk (at about 500hz) meaning, in my experience, you can add some heft in the low mids and / or some bite in the high mids without the honk-factor. The treble end is smooth, glassy and ... erm ... nice! 3) the drive section is also really flexible, and can go from barely there bite / sizzle to full on distortion. It is way more flexible, and subtle, than the branding would lead you to believe. I sold a lovely vintage drive pedal because this does everything I want in one box in that regard. I was pleasantly surprised by this, didn't really expect to like the drive section much at all (I bought it mainly for the clean+comp) now .. I didn't say it's perfect... The compression end of things is fine for me, and does what I want from a comp, in fact it does subtle comp as good as my ears can hear, but that's about all. If you want something more technical / more demanding from your comp, then I would not expect to get it from a one-knob job like this, and that does seem to be the case here. Keep it subtle though (in an always-on kind of way) and the comp does a really nice job. For the compression anoraks ... the comp comes before the drive and EQ, so if your forensic analysis shows a roll off of anything you are only the twist of a knob away from addressing that ... but I can't hear anything missing from the tone. The noise gate... bit of a novelty as the pedal itself is quiet and the gate seems to be ... basic... but I just do't use it. Bells and whistles: It drives headphones really well so makes practicing with 'your tone' very do-able. All in all, I think it is highly under rated. The paint job and the price might lead you to think its a bit of a toy, or that its a bit 'rock', but I have been very pleasantly surprised. Hope someone finds this useful! Doug. [/quote] Cool review! I'd love to try one. [quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1507792556' post='3387916'] Would you say the OD section compares to another EHX overdrive pedal? Or is it more Muff like? [/quote] I think I read somewhere that it uses the same circuit as the EHX Glove, which is excellent news if true - I used to own a Glove and it sounded wonderful. I only sold it as the lack of clean blend meant I could only use it at low gain settings before losing some low end. That shouldn't be a problem with the Battalion though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkydoug Posted October 12, 2017 Author Share Posted October 12, 2017 Yep that's what I've read too, and it sounds more drive than muff. Blend control is really effective too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 [quote name='funkydoug' timestamp='1507750950' post='3387787'] ... The mids are low-mid @280hz and high-mid @750hz but they miss out the zone of honk (at about 500hz) ... [/quote] 'The zone of honk' - my nomination for quote of the year! Nice review, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 £136 on GAK, not a bad price for what it can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The59Sound Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 [quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1507813224' post='3388139'] Cool review! I'd love to try one. I think I read somewhere that it uses the same circuit as the EHX Glove, which is excellent news if true - I used to own a Glove and it sounded wonderful. I only sold it as the lack of clean blend meant I could only use it at low gain settings before losing some low end. That shouldn't be a problem with the Battalion though! [/quote] Same! My experience with the Glove was very similar and I wanted to keep it so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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