MI AUDIO PTY. LTD. P.O. Box 6426, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia http://www.mieffects.com
INTRODUCTION
G’Day! Congratulations on purchasing version one of the
new MI Effects Megalith Delta High Gain Distortion pedal. As
you may know, the Megalith Delta is part of the high gain MI
Audio voyage that all began with the MI Amplification
Megalith Beta 180W monster. It took some time for me to
really understand the variables behind great high gain tones,
but by designing the Megalith Beta from the ground up, I was
able to really grasp how to make a complex, sophisticated
high gain sound that kept all the nuances, huge bottom end
and the clarity and character of the top end. All of these
tricks and secrets have now passed onto pedal form, the
Megalith Delta.
The Megalith Delta pedal is a solid state 'model' of the Beta
preamp, using JFETs to simulate the gain stages of the
preamp valves. The transfer characteristics of FETs are very
tube-like, so it seemed that this was a great place to start.
However, making a FET stage behave like a
particular
tube
stage is a very complex affair. Often, it's just the exact same
circuit as the 'simulated' amp, but with FETs instead of tubes,
adjusted source or drain resistances, and 9V operation. Little
or no thought is often given to the operating points, dynamic
range, scaling of clipping thresholds, output impedances,
and intrinsic capacitances due to things like the miller effect
etc.
In a nutshell, I was able to feed all these parameters into the
Megalith Delta design, and come up with something which is
as close as humanly possible to the original. Because of this
attention to detail, I really feel the Delta will deliver all of the
brutal, articulate and sophisticated tones the Megalith name
has become synonymous with.
FEATURES
GAIN CONTROL
The Megalith Delta starts in mid-gain territory. THIS IS A
HIGH GAIN PEDAL! BACK AWAY NOW IF YOU ARE
SEARCHING FOR THE VINTAGE BLUES TONES! The
GAIN control offers a wide sweep in gain, from solid rock
tones, to serious crunch, to every dark shade of brutal
imaginable.
The stock, un-boosted tone is very fat in the low mids and is
the Megalith’s thickest tone. This is a great mode for getting
the punchiest rhythm sounds.
The GAIN control has a responsive interaction with each of
the three EQ options (EQ SWITCH, CONTOUR, and THREE
BAND EQ), allowing you to dial in, for example a slightly
woolly tone at minimum gain, and with flat-out brutality at
maximum.
GAIN BOOST
The second footswitch of the pedal, BOOST, takes the pedal
from a mid-gain base to its highest gain. This footswitch is
equivalent to flicking over to the HIGH GAIN setting on the
Megalith Beta amplifier. This BOOST mode not only adds
more gain, but also tightens the response up considerably,
with more of an upper mid emphasis.
I thought by adding this gain boost as a foot switch, it gives
you the option to really step up the crazy. I also figured that
mid to high switching was a lot more useful than low to high,
as there are already plenty of great options out there for the
lower gain sounds. Let
’s face it, someone interested in the
Megalith Delta isn't going to be too stressed about missing
the low gain mode!
TIP: I recommend dialling in a mid-gain tone with gain
between 11 and 3 o
’clock to get the most out of the BOOST
mode. This allows you to set up a rhythm/lead sound with the
added upper mids and tightness giving you extra harmonics
and saturation.
CONTOUR
The contour control is another unique feature of the Megalith
design .In the Megalith Beta amplifier; it affects the frequency
response of the phase inverter in the power amp. I went to a
lot of effort to recreate the CONTOUR control in the Megalith
Delta pedal to mimic this response by designing a phase-
inverter like stage, and integrating the CONTOUR control
into it.
Fully clock-
wise, it’s fat and midrangy, with a slightly rolled
off top end. As the CONTOUR control is turned down, the
mids start to scoop out, and the sub-bass frequencies tighten
up. This is a great control for further refinement of the overall
high gain tone. You can also think of this as an alternate
midrange control. Try running the MID EQ control high and
the CONTOUR low (also adjusting the EQ shift), and visa
versa for a huge range of tones.
BASS, MIDDLE, TREBLE AND
EQ SHIFT SWITCH
The combinations of the EQ section will give an impressive
number of high gain sounds, just like the Megalith Beta
amplifier.