EHX Battalion

[indiegrungesound]

Evening all!

 

I recently had a jam with some buddies, using just my pedalboard D.I.s, which go both guitar and bass. The jam was good fun! Unfortunately, I had an issue with the D.I. element gave me issues, which happened to be on the bass end my signal chain!

 

The offending Bass D.I. was a Sonicake Boom Avenue. It's had a load of decent YouTube appraisals, whilst it did sound great when I've actually played it. The trouble was the Amp Emulator kept cutting out during the jam.

 

Now, because the jam might lead to a new band, with gigs and demo recording, I've took the plunge on upgrading to an EHX Battalion pedal. Can any of you fine folks give me any feedback this product?

[Osiris]

My thoughts of it are in this thread. In short, I thought it was hilariously 💩.

 

 

[uk_lefty]

I had one for a brief while. In summary: good for passive P bass, not good for active jazz bass. As with all of these things, you really need to try it with your kit and your playing, because what sounds great for me may be awful for you and vice versa. Sorry I can't be more helpful, but generally I want to love EHX stuff but always end up disappointed, apart from the Micro Q Tron.

[indiegrungesound]

Thanks lads! I'll just have to see how it works out!

[indiegrungesound]

I've had the pedal for a couple of weeks now. However, I've only just got around to trying it out. 

I've initially plugged the Battalion into a Yamaha BBT 500H amp, using the amp's headphone output. I used my Steinberger, which is a passive bass. I did also try using my Ampeg PortaFlex PF350 Head, which also has a headphones output, but I now think that head is R.I.P.!☹️

 

With the amplifier that did work, I was very pleased with the initially results. The Thru/Dry signal worked fine. The Pedal sounded decent when turned on/EQ engaged. The Noise Gate is, to my liking, too effective. As the signal completely cuts out, after 5-6 seconds, just engaged at '6 O'clock', so I don't think I'll be using it, as I have a load of tuners in my normal signal chain to use as killswitches. The Compressor gives me a decent amount of boost for my ears. The Distortion circuit, although it's not something I'm likely to use that often, sounded pretty good, with a versatile EQ switch!

 

I think I might well enjoy using this bad boy! 😎🤞🤟

Edited February 25 by indiegrungesound

[indiegrungesound]

Here's an update, in case anyone might be interested!

 

I've now popped my Battalion on my pedalboard & taken it to a rehearsal room for a hit out.

 

As you can see on the picture, it sits nicely on my board! Soundwise, I ran it through my Yamaha amp head, going into a 4x10" & the room's PA. You might've also guessed that I have a signal chain going into a guitar preamp/D.I. & combo amp, via an Octave pedal.

 

After a playthrough, the D.I. worked perfectly fine with the Battalion on with Compression; on with Drive & Compression; as well modulated delay going into the pedal on & with compression(It even "worked" with delay/compression/drive all on at once-though I don't think I'll need to use all 3 effects in 1 go, at all!).

 

The real test will come when I next rehearse, using it against a drummer and guitarist!🤞

[PinkMohawk]

10 minutes ago, indiegrungesound said:

Here's an update, in case anyone might be interested!

 

I've now popped my Battalion on my pedalboard & taken it to a rehearsal room for a hit out.

 

As you can see on the picture, it sits nicely on my board! Soundwise, I ran it through my Yamaha amp head, going into a 4x10" & the room's PA. You might've also guessed that I have a signal chain going into a guitar preamp/D.I. & combo amp, via an Octave pedal.

 

After a playthrough, the D.I. worked perfectly fine with the Battalion on with Compression; on with Drive & Compression; as well modulated delay going into the pedal on & with compression(It even "worked" with delay/compression/drive all on at once-though I don't think I'll need to use all 3 effects in 1 go, at all!).

 

The real test will come when I next rehearse, using it against a drummer and guitarist!🤞

Good lord, is this board intended to make us uncomfortable? How is it that *everything* is sitting at random angles? 

[indiegrungesound]

2 hours ago, PinkMohawk said:

Good lord, is this board intended to make us uncomfortable? How is it that *everything* is sitting at random angles? 

Rest assured ...Mohawk! No one should be made to feel uncomfortable by my board(Carrying it can be, but that's another story entirely! 😁😉)!

 

As for the "Random angles", I just need to do a better job with the application of the Velcro to the board!😖😉

Edited February 25 by indiegrungesound

[PinkMohawk]

1 minute ago, indiegrungesound said:

Rest assuredly ...Mohawk! No one should be made to feel uncomfortable by my board(Carrying it can be, but that's another story entirely! 😁😉)!

 

As for the "Random angles", I just need to do a better job with the application of the Velcro to the board!😖😉

Yeah, I think that board is about the same size as my old bands guitarists board, hated having to drag that thing out of the van and into the venue. For what it's worth, if you're finding velcro to keep failing to hold everything in place, have a look at switching to dual lock instead. It's a little more expensive, but the hold is so strong that you can get away with using a lot less. Or, in my case, use the same amount and need a pry bar to get pedals off of your board. 

[lidl e]

49 minutes ago, indiegrungesound said:

Here's an update, in case anyone might be interested!

 

I've now popped my Battalion on my pedalboard & taken it to a rehearsal room for a hit out.

 

As you can see on the picture, it sits nicely on my board! Soundwise, I ran it through my Yamaha amp head, going into a 4x10" & the room's PA. You might've also guessed that I have a signal chain going into a guitar preamp/D.I. & combo amp, via an Octave pedal.

 

After a playthrough, the D.I. worked perfectly fine with the Battalion on with Compression; on with Drive & Compression; as well modulated delay going into the pedal on & with compression(It even "worked" with delay/compression/drive all on at once-though I don't think I'll need to use all 3 effects in 1 go, at all!).

 

The real test will come when I next rehearse, using it against a drummer and guitarist!🤞

Why are you daisy chaining so many pedals if you have a power supply in the middle there?

[lidl e]

39 minutes ago, PinkMohawk said:

Good lord, is this board intended to make us uncomfortable? How is it that *everything* is sitting at random angles? 

The switchblade pro looks confused. 

[indiegrungesound]

1 hour ago, lidl e said:

Why are you daisy chaining so many pedals if you have a power supply in the middle there?

Not all the pedals are daisy chained. The ones that draw over 100mA tend to be separate/on their own. However, most of them are well under that, especially the drive pedals, so I assumed it was fairly safe do so in that case! 

 

I'm going to re velcro this board and the pedals in the near future though, so I'll probably rearrange the powerlines anyway!🙂

Edited February 25 by indiegrungesound

[indiegrungesound]

2 hours ago, PinkMohawk said:

Yeah, I think that board is about the same size as my old bands guitarists board, hated having to drag that thing out of the van and into the venue. For what it's worth, if you're finding velcro to keep failing to hold everything in place, have a look at switching to dual lock instead. It's a little more expensive, but the hold is so strong that you can get away with using a lot less. Or, in my case, use the same amount and need a pry bar to get pedals off of your board. 

Well, the board's purpose for me to be bass player and guitarist, so that explains the size, whilst the D.I. boxes are meant to minimise bringing with me, unless necessity/ego(😉) dictates!

 

I might well consider Dual Lock in the future, as the board does need the current velcro taking off. However, I have seen a couple of useful looking "hacks", including one from a Josh Scott JHS YouTube video, that might come in handy! Thanks for the tip though! 🙂

[indiegrungesound]

On 25/02/2024 at 20:38, indiegrungesound said:

Here's an update, in case anyone might be interested!

 

I've now popped my Battalion on my pedalboard & taken it to a rehearsal room for a hit out.

 

As you can see on the picture, it sits nicely on my board! Soundwise, I ran it through my Yamaha amp head, going into a 4x10" & the room's PA. You might've also guessed that I have a signal chain going into a guitar preamp/D.I. & combo amp, via an Octave pedal.

 

After a playthrough, the D.I. worked perfectly fine with the Battalion on with Compression; on with Drive & Compression; as well modulated delay going into the pedal on & with compression(It even "worked" with delay/compression/drive all on at once-though I don't think I'll need to use all 3 effects in 1 go, at all!).

 

The real test will come when I next rehearse, using it against a drummer and guitarist!🤞

As promised, I can give an update on how the Battalion is working.

 

Used it in a jam with my guitarist and drummer buddies. The D.I. was engaged with the XLR & Ground Lift switches on, whilst the pedal also went through my Yamaha amplifier and a 4x10". It kept it's volume nicely, whilst the guitarist complement the tone too!

 

I think I can say this purchase is working out well so far!😎