Electro-Harmonix Battalion User Manual

BATTALION

BASS PREAMP + DI

Congratulations on your purchase of the Electro-Harmonix Battalion. The all­analog circuitry of the Battalion provides you with an amazing amount of
features in a sturdy and compact pedal. Basic functions include a four-band
equalizer, a compressor, and a noise gate. The Battalion also packs a full­featured MOSFET distortion section, including a three-way toggle switch to
change where the distortion section is placed in the signal path, thereby
expanding the tonal versatility of the preamp.

In addition, the Battalion includes a balanced, XLR output for use as a DI, as
well as separate level and bypass controls for the XLR out. The ¼” output
jack is headphone ready and perfect for quiet practicing. So, are you ready
to head into the trenches? Road warriors and studio musicians alike will
appreciate the stunning quality and multiple features at their disposal.

- USING THE BATTALION -

Plug the 9VDC adapter into the jack on the top of the Battalion. The unit
must be powered to pass a signal. Connect an instrument cable from your
bass into the INPUT jack. Insert an instrument cable between the OUTPUT
jack and a suitable amplifier, or insert an XLR cable between the DI

OUTPUT jack and a suitable mixing console or recording interface. Click the
BYPASS footswitch to engage the Battalion. The green LED lights to indicate

that the unit is active, and the equalizer and gate will be in effect. Push in
the COMPRESSION button to engage the compressor. The blue LED will
illuminate to show that the compressor is active. Press the DISTORTION
footswitch to activate distortion. The red LED will light indicating the
distortion is active.

- CONTROLS -

BYPASS Footswitch & Green LED – The right LED illuminates when the

effect is engaged. The LED will not light if the Battalion is bypassed. Press
the footswitch to toggle between effect on and buffered bypass mode.

VOL Knob – Sets master output level of the pedal.

GATE Knob – Sets the threshold for the noise gate. Turn this up to cut

signal when no/little bass signal is coming through.

-10dB Pad Button – Press to cut the input signal by 10dB, good for active
basses or other basses with very strong output signals.

EQ CONTROLS:

BASS Knob – Boost or cut low end. No effect when the knob is at 50%.

Boosts/cuts frequencies below 200Hz.

LO MID Knob – Boost or cut low midrange frequencies. No effect when the
knob is at 50%. Boost/cut at 280Hz.

HI MID Knob – Boost or cut high midrange frequencies. No effect when
the knob is at 50%. Boost/cut at 750Hz.

TREBLE Knob – Boost or cut high end. No effect when the knob is at 50%.
Boosts/cuts frequencies above 2kHz.

COMPRESSOR CONTROLS:

COMPRESSOR Button & Blue LED – Use this switch to engage or bypass

the compressor circuit. The blue LED will illuminate when the compressor is
active. If active, the blue LED will stay lit even when the entire pedal is
bypassed, indicating compression will be active upon activating the pedal.

COMPRESSOR Knob – Determines the intensity of the compression. Turn
up to increase the compression ratio.

DISTORTION CONTROLS:

DRIVE (distortion) Footswitch & Red LED – Use this footswitch to

engage or bypass the distortion circuit. The Left LED will illuminate when the
distortion is active. If active, the LED will stay lit even when the entire pedal
is bypassed, indicating distortion will be active upon activating the pedal.

LEVEL Knob – Sets the output level of the distortion section.

BLEND Knob – Controls mix between dry and distorted signal. Add more

distortion by turning the knob up.

DRIVE Knob – Affects the intensity of the distortion

TONE Knob – Cuts the high end from the distortion signal as you turn the

knob down.

DISTORTION PRE/POST/DRY EQ Switch – Determines where the
distortion circuit falls in the pedal’s signal path. The Battalion has three
signal flow options when distortion is active:

PRE EQ – In this mode the distortion section comes right after the
compressor (if active) and before the EQ. The dry signal blended in with the
BLEND knob is the same signal that is fed into the beginning of the distortion
section. In this mode the EQ can heavily affect the tonal character of the
distorted signal.

POST EQ – In this mode the EQ comes right after compressor (if active) and
before the distortion. The dry signal blended in with the BLEND knob is the
same signal fed into the beginning of the distortion section, which is the
output of the EQ section. The EQ’s effect on the distorted signal’s tonal
character is less noticeable in this mode, but boosting certain frequency
areas can drive the distortion section, affecting the amount of distortion.

DRY EQ – In this mode, the distortion section comes right after the
compressor (if active), but only the dry signal that is blended in with the
BLEND knob is affected by the EQ. The distorted part of the signal is not
affected by the EQ at all. In this mode you can heavily EQ the dry signal
while leaving the distorted signal untouched, giving the option to simulate
dual-amp or dual-channel bass setups. Either use the BLEND knob to mix
between two distinct bass tones, or leave BLEND at max and use the
DISTORTION footswitch as a pseudo channel switcher.

DISTORTION MODES (SIGNAL FLOW):

The following signal flow charts illustrate the three distortion modes. These
charts assume that the compressor is active – if it is inactive that block is
simply bypassed (replaced by your dry bass signal). In all modes, the gate’s
detector comes before the compressor, right at the input to ensure the gate
opens responsively, while the gate itself comes after all other processing, to
mute any possible noise picked up through the signal chain. The main VOL
knob is a master volume, also coming at the end of the signal chain.

Pre-EQ