Darkglass Electronics Microtubes X7 Distortion Bass Effects Pedal
Distorting bass has always been a very challenging engineering endeavor: in order to achieve a punchy, and aggressive distortion that is also full and fat-sounding you need to reconcile two contradicting conditions: The tightness that comes from attenuating bass frequencies before saturation (which will also result in a very thin signal). and the unwanted fuzz that results from boosting the low.
To solve this paradox, audio engineers have been using multiband distortions in the studio for a few decades now. The Microtubes X7 is our solution to that problem in a very compact, yet flexible form: The signal is split by two variable low pass and high pass filters at the very very beginning. The high pass signal (mostly mids and treble) is distorted with a CMOS chip, just like our older Microtubes pedals. The low-pass signal (all bass) is left clean and then compressed.
Allowing the high end be all crunch, attack, and rich harmonics while mixing back the compressed lows adds gargantuan size to the overall mix. The result is some remarkable, almost unlimited fullness, size, aggression, and definition, regardless of how old the strings, and boomy or thin instruments. The Microtubes X7 offers all of this plus a 4-band graphic equalizer with perfectly tailored mid controls for maximum flexibility, with unbalanced parallel, affected and direct outputs.
