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The highly awarded EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive is now followed by a Deluxe model. It is a complete analog design with exceptional features to turn it into your own ‘signature’ drive.
Billy Sheehan demonstrated his new drive pedal at NAMM 2016. The new stompbox builds on the original Billy Sheehan drive pedal, the second best selling pedal in EBS history, that was released in 2013. This is a fantastic pedal optimized for bass guitar that works great right out of the box and can be customized by “chip rolling” (similar to tube rolling).
More gain
The new Billy Sheehan Drive Deluxe offers significant more gain than the original version. It is also equipped with a ‘Boost’ footswitch for the Drive to really push the gain to the extreme when needed. The level of boost can be adjusted internally by a trim pot.
Phase inverter switch
This new feature changes the character of the sound a lot. By activating the inverted phase you will notice significant more low-end when using the drive compared to the original pedal.
Swappable op-amp
There are a lot of drive pedals that are considered to be classics. Many of them use some variation of a standard type of op-amp circuit design called an ‘8-pin dual inline op-amp’. The new EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive Deluxe offer the user the ability to change this ‘chip’ to one that offers different characteristics to the Drive effect. A list of suitable chips will be listed on the EBS website, and there might be a few different EBS branded chips coming later as well. The chip is accessed easily by removing the bottom plate of the pedal. It’s attached to the board by an IC-standard socket, and does not require any soldering to be swapped.
All the features from the original version are still there!
The loops. You can still benefit from the super cool Drive and Clean Loop features. Use the Clean Loop to send a clean signal to an octave pedal and obtain optimized tracking while the Drive channel is still in use. Or put an Equalizer in the Drive Loop to fine tune your distortion character. There are countless options to use these loops in creative ways; these are only two examples to get your mind spinning.
The built-in compressor. The Billy Sheehan Signature pedals comes with a built-in compressor that you can leave off, in Mid or High position. The compressor helps to maintain definition of tone while you’re using heavy distortion. It also helps to blend together the distortion and clean tone better. There are two internal trim pot’s that let you change the Threshold value and adjust the level of compression in the MID position.
The controls. Both pedals include four distinct controls. Drive sets how hard the distortion ‘engine’ will work. TONE changes the character of the drive sound; LEVEL sets the level of the drive sound, and CLEAN sets the level of your clean tone.
Price and availability
The Deluxe version will be introduced at $259.95. Estimated to start shipping in USA this spring (in production now). Both versions will be continued until further notice.
FEATURES
- Boost Drive Footswitch. NEW!
- Phase Inverter Switch. NEW!
- Drive, Tone, Level and Clean controls.
- Three Compressor Modes – High, Mid, Off
- Clean Loop and Drive Loop
- (use an insert cable, such as the EBS ICY-30
- to separate send and return).
- Low Noise Relay Type Footswitches. NEW!
Advanced Features Inside
- Replaceable Drive Circuit. NEW!*
- Fine tuning trimmers to adjust Threshold level of compressor (THR.) and the level of Compression when mode switch is set to MID (COMP).
- You can also trim the new BOOST switch level inside.
* 8-pin Dual Inline Op-Amp Controlling Drive Circuit
Power options
9V DC battery or EBS AD-9+ Power Supply (not included)
Price
$259.95
The EBS Billy Sheehan Signature Drive and Signature Deluxe Drive are designed and developed by EBS and Billy Sheehan himself. Made for Billy Sheehan’s personal needs with features optimized to benefit all bass players in need of distortion/overdrive.
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