Darkglass Electronics Microtubes X7

Absolute Control

Developing bass distortion involves fighting a contradiction: maintaining a punchy, aggressive sound while maintaining sound pressure. If you want a tighter sound, you need to suppress the bass to prevent it from saturating, which often results in a lighter tone. However, boosting the low frequencies too much can lead to sound saturation. To solve this problem, recording engineers have long used a technique called multi-band distortion.

The Microtubes X7 also solves these problems in a compact and flexible way. First, the input signal is split into two signals by a user-configurable low-pass filter and high-pass filter. The signal that passes through the high-pass filter (sound containing only the mid- to high-frequency range) is distorted using a CMOS circuit, just like other Microtubes pedals. The signal that passes through the low-pass filter (sound containing only the low-frequency range) remains clean but passes through a user-controllable compressor. By mixing the distorted high-frequency sound with rich harmonics and the compressed clean low-frequency range, you can create an aggressive distortion sound while maintaining a thick low range.

Even if your strings are in poor condition or your instrument has a light or boomy tone, the Microtubes X7 offers powerful tone control. The Microtubes X7 also features a 4-band graphic equalizer, allowing for tremendous tone control.

・High-pass frequency: Sets the high-frequency range (cutoff frequency) to be distorted. You can set it anywhere from 100Hz (fuzz-like saturated sound) to 1kHz (sharp sound).
・High Drive: Controls the amount of distortion of the signal that passes through the high-pass filter. ・High Level: Controls the overall volume. ・Low-pass frequency: Sets the range (cutoff frequency) of clean low frequencies to mix with the distorted high-frequency sound.
High Level: Controls the overall volume. High Drive: Controls the amount of distortion of the signal that has passed through the high-pass filter. Low Comp: Controls the amount of compression of the signal that has passed through the low-pass filter. Low Level: Controls the volume of the signal that has passed through the low-pass filter. Master: Controls the overall volume.

Low shelf: +/-12dB @80Hz
500 Hz: +/-12dB
1 kHz: +/-12dB
High shelf: +/-12dB @5kHz
Input: Phone jack input
Input impedance: 1MΩ
Parallel Output: Outputs the signal input to the input
Output: Phone jack output
Direct Output: Balanced output on XLR terminal
Output impedance: 1kΩ
9VDC: Connector for connecting adapters and power supplies (center negative, 9V only)
Current consumption: 70mA
Size: 94mm x 120mm x 46mm
Weight: 0.32Kg