Carl Martin Quattro
The Quattro is an analogue all in one multi-fx system. It would actually be more accurate to say that it is four very high quality analog stompboxes held within one casing.
General
The four effects in the Quattro are Compressor, Overdrive, Chorus and Echo. The unit is very compact, measuring just approximately 41cm X 16cm and only 5cm in depth.
It runs from a mains lead that is hardwired into the unit rather than the usual 9v adaptor. This had the advantage of not having to mess around with a power supply and also means that the effects have a large amount of headroom. The layout of the unit is intuitive, plug your guitar into the socket on the right and then it arranges the effects in the conventionally accepted order of Compressor, Overdrive, Chorus and finally Echo before you come to dual mono outputs.
Between the Overdrive and Chorus, they have positioned an effects loop, which means you can either slot your own additional effects into the system or hook it up to your amp using the 4 cable method. The entire system is fully buffered at every stage, as you might expect from a quality manufacturer like Carl Martin.
It is handmade in Denmark and it is certainly a very well built unit.
Compressor
The Compressor used on the Quattro is the same circuit they use on the well respected Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter stompbox. On the individual stompbox you get controls for threshold, compression, response and gain but on the Quattro this is reduced to just two knobs for compression and level to save space. But without any compromise on tone
Overdrive
There is one Overdrive in the Quattro but you do get two gain controls so you can switch between two different settings. There is also a level and tone control that applies to both gain settings. It has a much bigger range of gain than most overdrives. It’ll run from a mild crunch all the way up to high gain. This one was deliberately developed to be used on a wide range of amps, for a wide range of music and as a result, is very flexible.
Chorus
TCE describe it as Vintage Chorus, I imagine its largely from their Classic Chorus pedal. As with the Compressor, on the Quattro they’ve saved space by reducing the number of controls.
This is a beautiful analog Chorus that is rich and lush.
Echo
Again, space has been saved by reducing the number of controls so here you get echo, repeat and tone knobs with foot switches for on/off and tap tempo.
The delay you get on the Quattro is very good. Its a warm, analog delay, though turning up the tone control will get you closer to a digital feel.
Delay time runs up to 1 second, which is ample for almost any situation and the quality of the effect is very good.
Overall
It’s a grab and go effects board without compromise. Each of the effects in isolation sound great. There is no need to buy a (noisy) power supply or fiddle with a multitude of patch cables, or even buy a pedalboard when you use a Quattro. Plug it in and put it straight on the floor. You are good to go. Whats more, theres no need to worry about individual pedals not working well together as everything here was designed to work seamlessly with everything else.
For those don’t like digital sound and want analogue all the way….this is the way to go
Any questions please message or call me on 0415 389 300