Back to navigation


A New Realm of Massive Overdrive





This article was


Written By





Our Product Research Team





Get to know them!





Whether you’re looking for a serious low-end bass crunch or some high-end '80s-inspired squeals, the Empress Heavy pedal from Sweetwater has you covered. The Heavy’s true-bypass dual-channel build offers complete freedom over every aspect of your gain, including a newly featured weight control. You’ll be able to adjust the sensitivity of your low- and mid-end overdrive, essentially enabling you to build an EQ platform for any tone you want. Plus, the Heavy’s boasted noise gate works wonders on two different modes, providing a natural, less sensitive cut that won’t chomp on your high-end frequencies, even at the highest gain level.





Related Videos: Heavy Overdrive Pedal





NOW PLAYING:


Empress Heavy Overdrive Pedal Demo





How to Tighten Up Your Guitar’s Low End





Pete Dankelson and Nick Bowcott Talk 4 Desert Island Pedals


Exclusive weight and EQ control





Empress' Heavy pedal offers a great solution to overbearing ? or lack of ? low-end overdrive tones. With a newly added weight control, you have complete freedom of your bottom-end overdrive sensitivity, allowing you to tune your gain from a deep, biting growl to a high-end squeal, and nearly everything in between. Similarly, the Heavy’s 3-band EQ offers access to mid-frequency gain control that ? when paired with the weight control ? offers an endless amount of tonal possibilities, all while producing an attractive overdrive output.





Superb noise-gate processing





A high-quality noise-gate is essential to creating clear and professional sound on overdrive, and the Heavy has an astonishing one built right in. You’ll have access to two noise gates: natural and aggressive. With high gain, the natural gate is extremely fluid and never cuts off your sound, even on long, drawn out notes. On an aggressive setting, you’ll find that quintessential high-gain cut effect that brings out the best in heavy bass notes and bar chords. Topped off with a gate adjustment knob on the side of the unit, you’ll be able to tune in your gate’s sensitivity, a definitive feature for high-output instruments.





Empress Heavy Overdrive Pedal Features:


High gain takes on a wide range of tones from classic '80s sounds to modern explosive sonics


All analog signal path boasts non-digital processing and true bypass mechanics


New weight control from Empress adjusts your low-end’s sensitivity to your gain


3-band EQ allows control of mid-frequency curves


“Heavy” and “Heavier” dual channel build provides room for two separate tonal options that can easily be switched


Intelligent noise gate provides a natural-sounding solution to high-gain buzz, even at extreme levels of overdrive


Dimensions: 2 inches x 4.5 inches x 3.5 inches


1-pound weight makes travel and storage a cinch