Darkglass Microtubes X

Distorting bass has always been a very challenging engineering endeavour. In order to achieve a punchy and aggressive distortion, that is also full and fat-sounding, you really need to reconcile two contradicting conditions.

The tightness comes from attenuating bass frequencies before saturation, which will also result in a very thin signal, however boosting the lows can also result in additional, unwanted fuzz. To solve this paradox, audio engineers have been using multiband distortions in the studio for a few decades now.

The Microtubes X is our solution to this issue, but in a very compact form and just right for your pedalboard.

The audio is split by two variable low-pass and high-pass filters at the very start of the signal chain. The high-pass signal (mostly the mid and treble tones) is distorted using CMOS circuitry, just like our other Microtubes pedal circuits.

The low pass-signal (all bass) is left untouched. This lets the high frequencies be all crunch, attack and full of rich harmonics, all while mixing back in the undistorted lows to add gargantuan size to the overall mix.

The result is virtually unlimited fullness, size, aggression and definition, regardless of how old the strings are or even if your instrument is just boomy or thin sounding.

The Microtubes X offers all of this in a compact form with very few controls to tweak, making it almost impossible to dial in a wrong tone.

Main Controls

• High-pass frequency: 
controls the cutoff frequency to be distorted, ranging from 100Hz (for thicker, fuzzier saturation) or 1kHz for ultra-sharp definition
• Low-pass frequency: 
controls the cutoff frequency to be mixed back to the high-pass side Ranging from 50Hz (for only sub-bass) and 500Hz to preserve some clean mids
• Level: 
Sets the overall output volume of the unit
• Drive: 
Sets the amount of distortion for the high pass side
• Mix: 
Sets the blend between low-pass and high-pass signals
• Mids: 
Active mid control placed after the Mix control (+-12dB @ 500Hz)

Specs
• I/O: 6.5mm / ¼” Jack
• Input impedance: 1M Ohm
• Output impedance: 1k Ohm
• Powered by optional 9V PSU 
(9V DC, centre -, 2.1mm, ~30mA current draw)