Operations Manual
Spoiled by the various tube driven echo units we have around the shop, we wanted the Montavillian
Echo to sound and feel just as BIG! So we went all out on the audiopath on this thing... We took painstak-
ing efforts to make the dry sound and feel better when on than with the pedal bypassed. We decided
that the corksniffer OPA2134 Burr Brown opamp was the best sounding option to achieve this.
It is a "companderless" echo... This is a critically important part of the Montavillian Echo's character. So
many companded echos have unattractive repeats, they sorta bubble, chirp, and become messy as the
repeats get quieter... The effect ruins the illusion of SPACE and ambience. The Montavillian has no com-
panding therefore the echos trail off almost forever over the horizon. The resulting echos function to
provide a sonic soup, a bed of ambience to play over. The illusion of space and size that the Montavillian
provides, makes it one of the few stompboxes I have that comes close to my big old tube echos.
Headroom and stacking abilities, often short comings of echos. We've run the Montavillian into all of our
amps clean and cranked (Hiwatt, AC30, 5E3, Super Reverb, Blues Jr. etc.) we've also stacked it before our
dirt pedals. We've even slammed it with numerous fuzzes and overdrives. The Montavillian handles it all
with no effort. Should you need even more headroom the Montavillian can be run at 18V.
