User Manual

WELL WELL WELL.
You’re here again. We’re there again. We all thought it was
excessive enough in 2017, yet here we are in 2022, adding more
switches. We’re thinking about circuits from the 80s, 90s, now, and a
little bit before now. We’re living in the whatever, and it’s as whenever
as ever. Thanks for joining us here. It means a lot that you’re still into
it.
Excess is two effects in one: a distortion and a modulation.
The way you route and engage them makes all the difference. Each
mode has its own footswitch to engage or disengage the sound. The
controls are simple, but the sounds, perhaps, aren’t.
The DIST footswitch turns the distortion section on or off.
The MOD footswitch turns the modulation section on or off, and can be
either momentary or latching. Tap the footswitch to latch the effect
on or off, or hold the footswitch to momentarily engage/disengage the
effect then let go to return to the latched position.
The Distortion section has three knobs:
Dist Vol controls the volume of the distortion, from zero to loud.
Tone controls the high end of the distortion, from dark to bright.
Gain controls the gain of the distortion, from bright and almost clean
to heavily distorted.
The Modulation section has three knobs:
Mod Vol controls the volume of the modulation, from zero to loud.
Time controls the rate or time of modulation (either the speed of the
chorus LFO or the delay time of the delay)
Depth controls the depth or feedback of modulation (either the width
of the chorus LFO or the number of repeats of the delay)
There are three modes of modulation:
Fifth is a harmonized delay based on a hidden mode in Excess V1. It
harmonizes the delay repeat up to a perfect fifth. When depth is
turned up (adding delay repeats), those repeats continue to
harmonize upward, creating rising fifths and octaves from your
original note.
Chorus is a classic chorus, modulating the delay line to create
swirling sounds.
Delay is a short delay (up to 125ms) focused on comb filter, doubling,
and slapback sounds.
There are three ways of routing the effects:
Mod 1st runs modulation into distortion, creating harmonically rich
and sometimes almost out of control textures. Because the effects are
in series, if either volume control is all the way down, you will get no
signal.
Parallel runs modulation and distortion side by side. This allows for
clean modulated signal alongside distorted signal. This mode has a
natural volume boost due to the signals being added together. Blend to
taste with the volume knobs and find some unfamiliar wet-dry
textures.
Dist 1st runs distortion into modulation, which is a classic way of
routing these two effects, allowing for crisp repeats and modulations
of your distorted sound. Because the effects are in series, if either
volume control is all the way down, you will get no signal.
The Expression jack can be used to externally control the Rate and
Depth knobs.
To use it, plug an expression device in using a TRS cable (we
recommend our Expression Slider or Expression Ramper, or other
expression device wired as TRS with tip as the voltage output). To
choose how it affects the Time and Depth knob, do the following: Hold
both footswitches until the LEDs begin blinking. This indicates you
are choosing the heel (expression down) position. Set the Time and
Depth knobs to whatever setting you want with expression at
minimum. Hold both footswitches again until the LEDs begin blinking
faster. This indicates you are choosing the toe (expression up)
position. Set the Time and Depth knobs to whatever setting you want
with expression at maximum. Note: if either knob is in the same
position for both heel and toe, expression control of that knob will be
deactivated. Use this if you only want to control Time or Depth, not
both. To lock in your choice, hold the footswitches until the LEDs stop
blinking. You can now use the expression control to blend between the
two settings. This calibration will be stored when Excess is powered
off. Note: to return to the default setting (Time and Depth both move
from 0 to 100% when Expression is used), simply hold the
footswitches three times in a row and don’t move any knobs.
There is an internal trimpot located above the expression jack that
sets the mix of the modulation section.
By default, it is set for a 50-50 mix of dry and wet, allowing for
classic chorus and unity volume delay repeats. To increase the mix,
turn to the right: this can go 100% wet (affected signal) for true pitch
vibrato and strange delay textures. To decrease the mix for more
subtle modulation, turn to the left: this can go 100% dry (unaffected)
leaving only clean signal on the modulation side.
PERPETUITY REPEATS
This setting pushes the delay to the edge of
self-oscillation. Effervescent distortion before the
modulation spices up the rhythm melody and roughens the
edge of the sustain.
NOTES
EXCESS V2
PLEADING WITH THE FIFTH
Longer delay times with short feedback (depth) makes
for a fun call-and-response experience with Excess V2’s
Fifth mode.
HEAV Y TEPID
Slow-churning chorus before a luxuriant distortion in the
signal path makes for some hawkish and raucous sounds.
DIST VOL GAINTONE
TIMEMOD VOL DEPTH
PARALLEL
DIST 1ST
MOD 1ST
CHORUS
DELAY
FIFTH
DIST VOL GAINTONE
TIMEMOD VOL DEPTH
PARALLEL
DIST 1ST
MOD 1ST
CHORUS
DELAY
FIFTH
DIST VOL GAINTONE
TIMEMOD VOL DEPTH
PARALLEL
DIST 1ST
MOD 1ST
CHORUS
DELAY
FIFTH