HQ Buffer / Compressor
The Steeltronics HQ is a unique preamp / compressor designed to optimize your tone prior to other pedals and your amplifier, and also provides convenient patching to your volume pedal and a pedal board. Its intended to function as the center or the headquarters of a full pedalboard hence the name HQ.
The preamp section includes variable resistive loading to control the highs produced by your pickup and uses a high quality opamp to cleanly buffer your signal and properly drive the rest of your signal chain.
An optical compressor stage, which is specifically tuned for steel guitar, can be coupled to the buffer stage to provide a wide range of transparent studio grade dynamic control.
After the compressor, the signal is then routed to volume pedal jacks placed for easy connection, and forward to the post volume pedal output jack located on rear of the pedal for easy interface on a pedalboard.
The Steeltronics HQ is built to last with premium through hole components, no electrolytic capacitors in the signal path, socketed opamps, and premium footswitch and jacks that are enclosure (not PCB) mounted.
Buffer Section
Audio from the steel input is routed directly to the buffer, which uses a high quality opamp and poly capacitors for the best possible tone. The tone knob allows for variable parallel resistance across the pickup which in turn shapes the resonant peak of your pickup, and gives smooth control of the high treble amount leaving the pickup. The output of the buffer can be selected to go directly to the volume pedal input and output jacks or forward to the compressor section via the Comp Bypass switch.
Compressor Section
The compressor is designed to be extremely transparent at all settings, but it excels when set up with a threshold setting where only the peaks are being compressed, since from there the signal goes forward to the volume pedal controlled by the player. The peak control helps the steel tone sit in the mix better and makes smooth control with the volume pedal easier. This is similar to the way compressors are commonly used for mixing vocals on a studio recording, the compression is not heard as an effect but the mix sounds much better with the compression in place.
The compressor in the HQ sounds very different than most guitar compressors such as the MXR Dynacomp and other similar units. Guitar compressors purposely have s very noticeable effect on the tone, for example the common chicken picking Telecaster lead tone.
The compressor has only three easy to use controls – Volume, Threshold, and Ratio.
Volume – This control sets the output volume of the compressed signal to allow for matching the volume to the level when the compressor is bypassed or to use the compressor as a boost.
Threshold – This controls set the signal level where the compression action starts to act on the signal. It can be set to compress when any signal is present or to compress only the loudest notes. Typically for steel guitar it works best to set this control where only the loudest peaks are compressed, and then the longer term sustain is done with the volume pedal. This approach allows leveling of the peaks that are too fast to catch with the volume pedal, and the compressor and volume pedal work together for smooth dynamic control.
Ratio – This control adjusts the amount of compression when the signal is above the threshold. As the ratio is increased the compression action is more pronounced and sustain is increased. A typical setting for peak control would be around 10 o clock on the knob. For steel guitar where a volume pedal is present after the compressor, you will want to experiment and find the ratio that works with your volume pedal technique, since additional ratio adds sustain but so does the volume pedal.
A bright Compression indicator is provided and gives useful feedback on how the compression is operating. The LED will turn on whenever compression is occurring, so setting of the Threshold knob can be done by playing at different volumes and watching when the LED lights. The action of the LED will also show the action of the Ratio control, at lower ratio settings the LED will turn off sooner and at high Ratio setting the LED will be lit longer showing the additional sustain the compressor is providing. At the lowest settings on the Threshold control the LED will stay on, this is done on purpose so the user can see exactly where the zero point of the Threshold knob is. The point where the LED turns off as the Threshold knob is turned up with no signal present is the exact point where the smallest input signal will cause compression.
The post compressor signal is routed to the volume pedal in and out jacks when the compressor is engaged.
Power Requirements
The pedal can be powered by any industry standard 2.1 mm X 5.5 mm center negative pedal power supply that can provide 18 volt DC center negative output, including common models such as Voodoo Lab Pedal Power, Truetone CS6 CS7, or CS12, Cioks DC7, and similar. If there is not a specific 18V output on your power supply and the supply is an isolated type, a voltage doubler cable sourced from two 9V outputs can be used to provide the needed 18 VDC, consult the manual for your power supply to see if this is possible with your power supply. Current consumption of the pedal is 60 milliamps.
For non pedal board setups the HQ can be powered by an individual 18 VDC center negative power adapter such as the widely available Jim Dunlop ECB004. Steeltronics can also supply the ECB004 adapter upon request.
The standard configuration is designed for pedal board mounting, however for an additional charge the Steeltronics HQ can be ordered with a steel guitar leg mount.
