CIQ‐5 COMPIQ PRO STELLA COMPRESSOR PEDAL
FOR GUITAR & BASS
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MANUAL
Last modified: September 24, 2021
www.becosfx.com
DC POWER CONNECTOR
‐ Use only good isolated, filtered, and
regulated power supplies
with a voltage of 9‐18 VDC, center
negative, with a DC power plug
COMPRESSION DISPLAY
‐ An
8‐LED display
takes information from
the RMS‐level sensor and compiles visual feedback for the amount of
compression applied to the input signal.
The display is calibrated for
‐20dBu (77.5mV) reference input level, proper for electric
instrument pickups.
The display response is dynamic by nature and
fluctuates from calibrated reference. Even at low to mid Ratios, with
high input leveler, it can peak Yellow or Red color.
The Red color
does not mean anything wrong!
This may occur regularly with high
input signal levels, lower Threshold, and higher Ratio.
Use only your
ear to achieve the desired compression effect!
An optional DI board is available
for Stella’s built after September
2021. The DITOS board comes pre‐installed if ordered along with the
CompIQ Stella. If ordered separately, you must drill the enclosure
yourself for the 1/4″ TRS output connector (placed on the left side of
the enclosure). The board takes the space usually used for the 9V
battery. The DITOS DI provides a transformer‐coupled balanced
output in 1/4″ TRS format that is suitable for direct recording or for
sending the signal to a mixing console (equivalence to XLR: Tip = Pin
2, Ring = Pin 3, Sleeve = Pin 1). The transformer voicing works
exquisitely well to complement the Burr‐Brown signal conditioning in
the main circuit. The tone is filled with natural warmth, rendering
tight and punchy lows, enhanced low‐mids, and warm‐ringing highs.
MAIN OUTPUT
‐ From here you will send the compressed signal to
the next effect pedal, or an amplifier's input, or to the RETURN FX‐
loop of an amplifier. The output signal can also be recorded directly
into a Hi‐Z interface input.
LEVEL
‐ Use this control to
compensate for the reduction in volume
that happens
when increasing the Tape Saturation
effect. With a
minimum saturation set, this control acts as a volume boost for the
Dry Line.
GND Lift Jumpers ‐
Ground
&
Chassis Lift Jumpers
are available
internally for dealing with potential ground loop noise issues. The
Ground Lift Jumper
placed on the Stella’s main board is set ON
(closed) by default and is meant to put the Chassis in contact with
Stella’s circuit power Ground. The
Chassis Lift Jumper
placed on the
DITOS board is set ON (closed) by default and it puts the Sleeve in
the DITOS output connector in contact with Stella’s Chassis.
INPUT ‐
Here you will connect either an instrument directly or the
output of another pedal or a signal taken from the amplifier's SEND
FX‐loop.
DITOS • Transformer‐Coupled Balanced Output DI Board
TAPE SATURATION
‐
SAT
control acts on
Dry Line
only and emulates
vintage studio tape saturation compression effect of the '60s ‐ which
is basically a musical sort of distortion happening when high
amplitude audio signals are recorded on magnetic tape. It acts from
clean (counterclockwise) and up to full saturation distortion (fully
clockwise), where it resembles a very warm sounding mild overdrive
effect. In between, you have an entire palette of colorful and musical
distortions. The intent of this analog circuit is to saturate the
Dry
Line
and then mix it with the
Compressed Line,
to fatten up the
compressed sound with harmonic distortions, which will
complement very well guitar and bass sound. Two
additional
Internal Jumpers
perform
Low Cut
and
High Cut
filters on Dry Line,
to perfectly trim
the Tape Saturation
effect. If filters are not used
(Jumpers On), the saturation is applied to the whole audio spectrum,
but it will first happen to higher amplitude low frequencies. If
Saturation
control is increased, all frequency spectrum will
eventually clip in distortion and a drop in volume will happen. Use
Level
control to compensate. The
Low & High Cut Filters
are useful
when lows seem too saturated (for bass instrument and humbucker
guitar pickups) and may result in a fuzzy sound, or when too many
highs in audio content may seem too brittle. If both Low & High Cut
Filters are enabled (Jumpers Off), only the mids & high‐mids are
affected and at maximum saturation, the sound will resemble a tube
screamer overdrive.
compression effect. When Soft Knee is used with higher thresholds,
it adds more transparency to the sound, diluting compression feel.
SCF SWITCH
‐
Side Chain Filter
switch has three positions:
Normal
(N),
Low
(L) and
Deep
(D). In
Normal
position, the Side Chain Filter is
set to accommodate a large range of audio signals and instruments.
By design, it has an attenuation of lower frequencies below 1 kHz,
which allows the lower frequencies pass through without triggering
the compression right away. This setting renders a natural response
that is suitable for most cases. In
Low
(L) position, more of the lower
end frequency (an additional ‐12dB@90Hz) is freed up to prevent
triggering the compressor. This is an intermediary position, and it
lets more of the low end pass through at the output, while also
lowering the amount of compression. In the
Deep
(D) position, even
more of the frequency spectrum is freed up (‐12dB@200Hz).
DRY/WET MIX
‐ This control acts like an audio mixer, where you can
blend input clean signal with output compressed signals. This helps
restore transients or squished frequencies which are less perceived
by ear when reduced to a lower level by compression. In the middle,
the mix is 50‐50. Such a setting washes out a lot of compression feel.
The dry signal is a replication of the input signal. When set to 100%
dry, CompIQ PRO acts like a buffer. An analog Tape Saturation effect
can be applied to Dry Line.
