lobberuno's Amp Rig

Nice and humble pedal, with a lot of features. The sound feels not at all transparent, as it has added a little compression and probably the original signal is added in parallel with the effect to produce this pedal sound, which is really good. If you listen to Kings of Leon, you definitely want this pedal to achieve their sounds.

Using the Blues Driver and the TS Mini in parallel with the Boss LS-2, I can get many sounds from the Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet.

I bought this one after I tested a friend's FD2 with the Vox AC15C1 and finally getting all those sounds from the 'Because of the Times' album from Kings of Leon in 2007.

Probably I'll get rid of my other drives, but not by the moment. I've used the Blues Driver as clean boost before the Fulldrive 2 obtaining good sounds.

The EP Booster pushes well the Fulldrive 2 pedal, as this has headroom just when is pushed with the internal boost in the pedal.

I got this pedal inspired by the equipboard of Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon, but also this site recommends this pedal. After testing the MXR Micro Amp with my pedalboard, I found that this pedal brings a little shine to the tone, so your sound will have a proper clarity. After the 12 o'clock, the MXR Micro Amp begins to bring overdrive to the amp, as the volume climbs up. At full range, you obtain a greatly overdrive increase (depending your amp will raise the volume or the gain). The dynamics in this pedal are awesome, it improves my playing a lot.

MXR Micro Amp into a Vox AC15 (Class A amp)

Very subtle volume push, until you reach closely full pot, but instead adds gain frequencies and overdriving your signal. It is a nice transparent push when you like more of your Class A amp without messing on volumes, or having an overdriven setup and cleaning the signal with the guitar pot.

MXR Micro Amp into a Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb '68 (Class AB amp)

You get volume raising, subtle added frequencies. Still trying to figure how to match this pedal with the amp.

This pedal is everything that you need to make some routing for signals and wet-dry stereo. I've been using it also to have my dry amp, then I add the effects with a nice blend. My most used config is A+B Mix - Bypass, so I put the Delay on A, the modulators on B and I run them on parallel, also I keep my dry signal for a big three-dimensional sound.

This is a humble pedal, and I found out this little red buddy has five functions, and an interesting stacking with the Ibanez TS Mini.

1) First off, this pedal can control the overall gain and volume from your signal, to keep these parameters in the desired level.

2) To add an acoustic flavor. This pedal amplifies the acoustic frequencies in single coils, so your sound might be close to a real acoustic guitar if you tweak the guitar and the pedal.

3) With the TS Mini, occurs an strange effect, as the Dyna Comp pushes the frequencies up from the TS Mini, instead of limiting the volume.

4) To add a retro effect on your signal pedalboard, when it is used at the end of the signal chain.

5) As a booster, when the signal is not compressed.

6) To provide sustain to your tone.

Perhaps the sound of this pedal might not has a studio quality, it does its job pretty well.

This is my first valve amp that I own, however I played many others back before, like the Fender Twin Reverb, the Fender Bassbreaker and Marshall DSL 40C, and the Vox AC15 is what I needed since much time before. In terms of sound, you get the classic chime but also a pretty good overdrive which can bring you in the classic and modern rock position. I don't consider it has much headroom but we can also Mic the amp. Anyway, you can get clean tones even with a high volume. I mostly play in the normal channel but the Top Boost puts a little more gain in it. I suggest to put any tone control at 12* and start there to get tones. Also, the formula for cleans is high master volume>less channel volumen, to get overdriven tones you have to put high the channel volume> less master channel volumen. The FX included are awesome, the reverb reminds me of Kings of Leon - Because of the Times album sounds. Check it out, probably this is your amp.

There are many ways to describe this pedal... Bold and thick sound, but has some drive sparkle that produces a nice and classic overdrive when is all the way turned on. I'm playing with this one since two weeks ago and it helped to refresh my pedalboard signal.

As my only amp is the Vox AC15C1, which is not cleanest at all, I'm using the EP Booster directly from the amp input by using a patch cable, then I plugged a long feet cable to the last pedal in my effects chain (right now the Empress Echosystem), and by this way I'm getting a good sound from the AC15C1, as I'm not having a transparent tone but I'm not feeling losing dynamics as I usually do because the guitar cables that I'm currently using.

Other uses can be put in the last spot in the chain to bring a boosted sound in the general sound (recommended for clean amps and transistor amps) and the common using in the first spot of the signal chain,

I'm just missing trying the Ep Booster into the Ibanez TS Mini, and some tries with the Dyna Comp but I suppose that the EP Booster will bring low frequencies into the TS Mini so it will feel and sound thicker (as I did this with a borrowed Fulltone Full Drive 2 ending in this result).

If you are going to dismiss a thin sounding drive pedal, you might want to try the EP booster along with any drive and listen to the result.

Indeed when everybody likes this amp because it is pedal friendly, saturates the tone early and has some upgrades, you will love the Bassman tone stack for sure. Probably, I'm more used to the Vox AC15C1 grit; however, the Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb '68 can bring a sound contrast to compensate the EQ.

For a full potencial, you have to turn up the volume up to 3-5, getting a clean boost. The amp begins to overdrive until 6-7, and distort on 8-10.

Update Feb 16th, 2023:

What is up with this amp after a time?

It is and splendid amp, the tone feels warm and you can play everything on it. Funny fact is that the ambience near my place is close to the sea and the amp now looks like a real '68, but also the wear affected the tone and sounds better than before.

This is my first dedicated Delay pedal. Before I tried a TC Electronics Flashback 1.0, also the delays from Amplitube and Bias FX.

After I unpacked the Echosystem, I updated the firmware to the latest version (1.07), then I tried every effect with a Vox AC15 in the normal channel, which sounded good. After I ended the quick-tour, I remembered that this pedal can go on stereo by using two amps, so I used the AC15 also a Marshall MG15 which I have for quiet practice. Once I've paired the volume on both amps and I begin to use the Echosystem, the sound was incredible amazing.

There is a certain position for the amps to create the stereophonic sound, you just have to sit down and play in front the amps, these separated by almost 1.2 meters (4 feet), and you're done, you will be ready to the most amazing sounds.

Certainly, most people complains about there is not a screen telling you which effect, parameter or preset is on, and probably the most desirable thing to know is what "thing 1" and "thing 2" mean without a manual, or the exact current delay time on the pedal. However, once you play like two hours with the Echosystem, you get really used to this. Actually, I'm that kind of guitar player who is tweaking the pedals all the time during a solo practice, so I like how easy you can get the sounds.

I was playing the Echosystem directly in front the amp, so I can't tell much about using the pedal through an Amp FX Loops, but I tried a kind-of wet/dry stereo and it sounded awesome, as much as I started playing at 17:00 hrs and after a while I noticed it was 22:30 hrs.

The dual engine posibilities are very handy and I liked the parallel engine, even when before getting this pedal I was caught by the series engine. Still I need to dig a little more into the dual engines to perfectly mix both delays.

I hope in a future Empress Efects release a software so you can create your unique Modes or a Computer based patch manager, that would be very useful. Also, to have an use with the SD card port with more Modes, like a Looper, or more presets.

Update Feb.19.2023

This pedal fits superb for small pedalboards also, where you need to choice just a few pedals. Saying this, the Echosystem can bring you modulated effects also Reverb, that you can get from the delays putting the time to 0 ms, mix 100%.

Also, if you do stereo or wey/dry, you can easily route your signals per side. Just save a preset or presets with the desired setups on left/right machines.

Update Dec/04/2023

I had a problem with the Echosystem due to overload on my pedalboard, and some of the circuit got burnt, so I got in contact with the Empress customer service asking for a repair. Instead they gave me some directions that I was able to do like one year later, this is, now with a proper solder station (I never could be able to do just with a solder pencil). So, I'm glad with them because their reply was very friendly, specific and solved the problem. I would prefered to send the pedal but they said there was no need for that. After all, the Echosystem is back thanks to the Empress Technical Support. I owe them some XX Lagers and Coronas, of course.

By the way, during this time, I had to use a TC Electronics Flashback as the main and unique delay on my setup. Now, I can tell you exactly the difference between both pedals. Taking apart the dual engines and modes that the Echosystem has, this one is a keeper because the quality sound is massive and the texture of the main signal is kept clear and safe, so you can notice every change on the sound, soft and heavy sounds and so.