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DarkAxel wrote:I had numerous discussions about Empress with my friend (who's big time into pedals, knows a ton of builders, is on Haunted Mids etc.)

Don't you guys think that Empress is being held back by the low amount of available presets, no MIDI (those were the comments about Superdelay, I see the Reverb has it now, yeah?) and lack of display (still prevalent in the Reverb too)? I mean - in comparison with Eventides and Strymons...

For the price, it's a bit old school "lacking" is what I'm saying

Inconuucl wrote:What do ghost and beer reverb sound like?

doommeow wrote:

DarkAxel wrote:I had numerous discussions about Empress with my friend (who's big time into pedals, knows a ton of builders, is on Haunted Mids etc.)

Don't you guys think that Empress is being held back by the low amount of available presets, no MIDI (those were the comments about Superdelay, I see the Reverb has it now, yeah?) and lack of display (still prevalent in the Reverb too)? I mean - in comparison with Eventides and Strymons...

For the price, it's a bit old school "lacking" is what I'm saying

Dunno. There's plenty of characters that complain about things like presets, displays, programmable controls, etc. This is perfect for that section of the market. And really, what percentage of the gear buying public is really using MIDI, whether on their board or at all? More and more everyday, yes, but it's a minority.

echorec wrote:

Bartimaeus wrote:I can't believe how blatantly they copied the Strymon layout, but this thing looks killer! I'm way more interested than I was in the BlueSky.

I guess that's open to interpretation, but I'm inclined to disagree. I don't think the Empress is anymore similar to the BigSky, than the BigSky is to the Space in terms of orientation or general parameters.

modes / 3 foot switches / 2 horizontal rows of knobs / MIDI / LED menu screen / surface knobs for live adjustments or intensity (*excluding menu pots)

Eventide (2007) 12, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, 10
Strymon (2013) 12, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, 8
Empress (2016) 12, Yes, Yes, Yes, No, 7

They were certainly aware of the BigSky/Space and their features, and I wouldn't dispute that there are conceptual similarities, but much of that boils down to practicality and culture. In the English-speaking world, people read left-to-right, and with a horizontal layout, there's really nowhere else to put those potentiometers. If the enclosure was vertical or had a right-to-left orientation that wouldn't have made any practical sense.

Another way to create dissimilarities would have been to exclude multiple control parameters. Of course by omitting these features, that certainly wouldn't have made sense from a competitive standpoint. I would say that they were attempting to mirror the Space/Sky's respective depth and range, rather than trying to borrow from them. I certainly don't think the engineering team at Empress is running short on creativity, but like I said it's a horizontal layout produced in a left-to-right orientation. It was going to be unavoidable to create a big budget verb without overlapping in multiple aspects.

Bartimaeus wrote:You're quite right. In terms of features, I wouldn't say that it copies any particular previous unit more so than any other. I'm interested in this unit because I know it will have a sound unique from the Pristine Praise and Worship BlueSky.

I should have been clearer: I only really meant in terms of knob placement. The Mode Select knob dominating the left side of the pedal, the two rows of pots on the right, and the fact that the bottom row is two timbre-related knobs followed by two parameter knobs. I couldn't help but compare it to my Timeline.

DarkAxel wrote:I actually like that old school thang it has going on - not for that price though

vidret wrote:i personally dont like menu diving so i'd prefer the empress stuff when comparing to strymons bigger boxes (love the el cap and whatnot).

definitely a market for people like me and i think they fill that "niche", if you will, just fine.

echorec wrote:Premier Guitar has some more to share on the Empress Reverb.

[There probably aren't many reverb sounds Empress Effects' new stereo midi-compatible won't make when it hits in early summer. The crazily tweakable unit starts with very nice hall, plate, spring, and room emulations--then the real fun begins. Modulation, octave effects, programmable expression pedal parameters--you could get lost for a long time in this thing. Expect a street price of around $449.]

Bartimaeus wrote:I should have been clearer: I only really meant in terms of knob placement. The Mode Select knob dominating the left side of the pedal, the two rows of pots on the right, and the fact that the bottom row is two timbre-related knobs followed by two parameter knobs. I couldn't help but compare it to my Timeline.