ORIGIN EFFECTS RevivalDrive Compact Owner's Manual

A: The device is designed as an effects pedal for sound processing of signals from musical instruments with electromagnetic pickups. Any other use is considered improper.

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ORIGIN EFFECTS is a trademark of Origin Effects Limited and is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom, China and the EU.

The ORIGIN EFFECTS Totem Device is a trade mark of Origin Effects Limited and is a registered trademark in the United States, China and United Kingdom.
MARSHALL® is a registered trademark of Marshall Ampliﬁcation PLC.

Origin Effects has no affiliation with Marshall Ampliﬁcation PLC.
FENDER® is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

PRINCETON® is a registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
Origin Effects has no affiliation with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

VOX® is a registered trademark of Vox Ampliﬁcation Limited.
Origin Effects has no affiliation with Vox Ampliﬁcation Limited.

MESA/BOOGIE® is a registered trademark of Mesa/Boogie Limited.
Origin Effects has no affiliation with Mesa/Boogie Limited.

All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether mechanical or electronic, without the written permission of Origin Effects Limited.

Origin Effects Limited reserves the right to change the features and speciﬁcations described herein without notice or obligation. Origin Effects Limited cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from any error or omission in this manual.

Safety Notices

General Information:
This document contains important information for the safe operation of the product. Read and follow the safety instructions and all other guidance. Our products and documentation are subject to a process of continuous development. They are therefore subject to change. Please refer to the latest version of the documentation, which is available on our website https://origineffects.com/manuals/ Keep these instructions and heed all warnings. Do not use this apparatus near water. Clean only with a dry cloth. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, stoves or other apparatus (including ampliﬁers) that produce heat. Refer all servicing to qualiﬁed service personnel.

NOTICE!
Damage may be caused to the device should it be tampered with!
No user-serviceable parts inside. In the event of damage to the unit, service or repair must be done by qualiﬁed service personnel only.

Symbols and signal words:

Signal Word	Meaning
DANGER!	This combination of symbol and signal word indicates a dangerous situation that could result in serious injury or even death if it is not avoided.
WARNING!	This combination of symbol and signal word indicates a potentially dangerous situation that could result in serious injury or even death if it is not avoided.
NOTICE!	This combination of symbol and signal word indicates a potentially dangerous situation that could result in material and/or environmental damage if it is not avoided.

Warning Symbol Meaning

ORIGIN-EFFECTS-RevivalDrive-Compact-fig-10

Warning – dangerous situation

Safety Instructions

Intended use:
This device is intended for use as eects pedal for sound processing of signals from musical instruments with electromagnetic pickups. Any other use or use under other operating conditions is considered to be improper and may result in personal injury or property damage. No liability will be assumed for damages resulting from improper use.

Safety

DANGER!
Risk of injury and choking hazard for children!
Children can suffocate on packaging material and small parts. Never allow children to play with packaging material or the device. Always store packaging material out of the reach of babies and small children. Al-ways dispose of packaging material properly when it is not in use. Never allow children to use the device without supervision. Keep small parts away from children and make sure that the device does not shed any small parts (such as knobs, rubber feet) that children could play with.

WARNING!
Possible hearing damage due to high volumes on speakers, headphones, bass & guitar ampliﬁers!
With loudspeakers or headphones connected, the device can produce volume levels that may cause tem-porary or permanent hearing impairment. Over an extended period of time, even levels that seem to be uncritical can cause hearing damage. Do not operate the device permanently at a high volume level. Decrease the volume level immediately if you experience ringing in your ears or hearing impairment and seek medical advice.
NOTICE!
Damage to device if powered incorrectly!
This product is designed to be powered from a 9VDC, >100mA power supply with 2.1mm centre-negative barrel connector. Use of an incorrectly rated power supply could result in damage to the pedal and the power supply.
NOTICE!
Possible staining due from rubber feet!
The plasticiser used in the manufacture of the rubber feet on this product may react with ﬂoor coatings and result in permanent dark stains after some time. If necessary, use a suitable mat to prevent direct contact between the device’s rubber feet and the ﬂoor.

Introducing the REVIVALDRIVE COMPACT

The RevivalDRIVE Compact takes the groundbreaking circuit design found in the original RevivalDRIVE and condenses it into a smaller, more pedalboard-friendly package.
Housing a complete valve amp-style signal path recreated in analogue electronics, the RevivalDRIVE Compact accurately reproduces a wide range of classic British and American non-master-volume valve amp tones. A streamlined set of controls makes dialling in your ideal sound easier and more intuitive than ever before, while the powerful Post-Drive EQ lets you adjust the RevivalDRIVE Compact to suit your preferred amp and settings, not the other way around.
With the ability to directly shape key amp properties like preamp voicing, break-up characteristics and low-frequency distortion, plus a built-in Blend control to mix in your dry signal, the RevivalDRIVE Compact allows you to quickly dial in a range of legendary amp tones or mix and match different ﬂavours to create your own unique sound.

Key Features

Unabridged valve amp-style signal path recreated in all-analogue electronics, including:

Class-A preamp stage with realistic amp gain-staging
Phase inverter and push-pull power amp stages
Variable negative feedback in the output stage
Power section designed to emulate rectiﬁer and mains transformer sag
Reactive load to simulate interaction between amp and speaker

Flexible, intuitive controls:

Wide gain range, from clean to fully cranked
Full control of tone, dynamic response and distortion characteristics
Blend knob to mix in your dry signal
Powerful tone-shaping Post-Drive EQ

Peerless build quality:

High-current, low-noise electronics

Ultra-high input impedance
Silent switching
High-quality buffered bypass

Advanced power supply ﬁltering and protection
Premium components throughout
Designed and built in England

About the RevivalDrive Compact

With the original RevivalDRIVE, our goal was to design the best-sounding, most ﬂexible overdrive pedal we could. Because our favourite guitar tones of all time come from plugging straight into a vintage, non-master-volume valve amp, turned up loud, we made that our starting point.
By recreating every stage of a valve amp’s signal path using all-analogue components, with discrete transistor-based circuitry standing in for the valves themselves, we succeeded in capturing the sound and circuit behaviour of a wide spectrum of classic amps.
That’s just one side of the RevivalDRIVE’s ﬂexibility. While most overdrives tend to work well with one style of amp and less well with others, we wanted our pedal to sound great into lots of different amps, so we added a number of controls that would tailor the tone leaving the pedal to suit its eventual destination.

With the RevialDRIVE Compact, we wanted to take everything players loved about the RevivalDRIVE and distil it into a slimmeddown pedal with a simpler set of controls, making it much easier to dial in a great sound. To this end, the RevivalDRIVE Compact features exactly the same valve amp-style circuit topology but in single-channel format and with newly designed rectiﬁer circuitry voiced midway between a solid-state rectiﬁer and a GZ34 rectiﬁer valve.
Another unique feature is the Highs control, which takes the original pedal’s three distinct preamp voicing modes and maps them onto a single, continuous knob that offers a wealth of new in-between settings. We also redesigned the Blend control to simultaneously back off the gain as you mix in your clean tone, ensuring pleasing, musical results throughout the control’s travel.
Finally, we designed an ingenious new Post-Drive EQ ﬁlter that, together with a three-way mode switch, makes the process of adjusting the pedal to suit your amp much more intuitive.

Connecting the RevivalDrive Compact

INSTR: Connect to your guitar, bass or other instrument.
AMP: Connect to your amp, power amp, mixer or recording interface. If you’re playing through something other than a guitar speaker (e.g. PA speakers, studio monitors, headphones or direct recording), we strongly recommend using a speaker simulator after the RevivalDrive Compact.

9VDC: Connect a 9VDC 2.1mm centre-negative mains power adaptor (minimum 100mA).

NOTICE!
Damage to device if powered incorrectly!
This product is designed to be powered from a 9VDC, >100mA power supply with 2.1mm centre-negative barrel connector. Use of an incorrectly rated power supply could result in damage to the pedal and the power supply.

Controls

OUTPUT: The output control sets the pedal’s overall output level. As it isn’t part of the RevivalDrive Compact’s emulated amp circuitry, the OUTPUT control won’t alter the pedal’s overdrive character. It simply lets you make it louder or quieter.

GAIN: The GAIN control functions exactly like the volume knob on a non-master-volume valve amp. Turn it clockwise for more gain, sustain, drive and distortion. Turn counterclockwise to clean things up.
BLEND: This control lets you adjust the mix between the dry input signal (DRY) and the overdriven signal created by the RevivalDrive Compact. As mixing clean and very heavily overdriven signals tends to produce undesirable results, we’ve designed the
BLEND knob to gently back off the gain as you mix in more dry signal.
Set the control fully clockwise (100% O.D.) then turn it counterclockwise to progressively mix your original clean signal back in, delivering a rounder, fuller and more natural tone.
HIGHS: The HIGHS knob progressively increases mids and highs as you turn it clockwise, delivering a brighter, more incisive tone while keeping the low end tight and controlled so that high-gain settings don’t turn to mush.

Main controls (continued)

Based on the original RevivalDRIVE’s Preamp mode switch, the HIGHs knob provides a continuous range of useful preamp voicings. This ranges from a Marshall-style amp with its tone controls centred (fully counterclockwise, ’0’ mode) to a cranked Plexi Marshall (12 o’clock, ‘GB’ mode) to a cranked Blackface Twin (fully clockwise, ‘US’ mode).

LOWS: The LOWS control allows you to adjust the amount of bass pushing the drive circuitry. Increasing the amount of low end (turning clockwise) results in a thick and raspy distorted sound. Conversely, pulling the lows out of the drive path (turning counter-clockwise) will reduce the amount of low-frequency distortion, resulting in a tighter, more deﬁned overdrive.
Fully clockwise, the LOWS control imitates the response of a Tweed-era Fender amp or a Marshall JTM45 with
the bass turned up. Fully counter-clockwise, it replicates the tight lows of a Marshall Super Lead or the Vox AC30’s “Brilliant” channel. In between these two extremes, the LOWS knob produces the characteristic low-end response of a Blackface-era Fender amp.
MORE/PRES: This control combines two parameters, both related to the effects of negative feedback in the power amp stage. Turned clockwise from the centre position (PRES), this control releases the higher frequencies from the effects of negative feedback, progressively boosting highs just like the classic “Presence” knob on vintage Marshall and Brownface Fender amps.
Turned counterclockwise from the centre position (MORE), this control progressively reduces negative feedback in the pedal’s pushpull output stage, increasing gain at all frequencies and also varying playing feel by modifying the break-up characteristics.
With the control centred at 12 o’clock, there is a deﬁnite threshold to this transition, with an abrupt switch from clean to overdriven once you pick hard enough. Turned fully counterclockwise, there’s a smooth, gradual transition from clean to fully overdriven with an earlier onset of distortion. At 12 o’clock, the response is akin to a Marshall with the “Presence” knob at zero. Fully counterclockwise, the pedal behaves like a Vox AC30, with no negative feedback whatsoever. In between, you’ll ﬁnd Fender Blackface territory.

POST-DRIVE EQ controls

The POST-DRIVE EQ ensures compatibility with a wide range of ampliﬁers. Instead of altering your amp or its tone controls to suit the RevivalDrive Compact, set your amp for the desired clean sound then use the EQ controls to adjust the pedal’s output accordingly (see tables on opposite page).
POST-DRIVE EQ switch: This switch offers a choice of three different output ﬁlters.

P/AMP: Use this setting when plugging into a ﬂat-response power amp, FX return, mixer or recording interface. Selecting the P/AMP setting disengages the ADJ variable ﬁlter control (see below).
EQ1: Designed to suit the response of a Blackface Fender®-style amp, EQ1 applies a low-pass ﬁlter to roll off excessive highs. Use this setting when plugging into a bright-voiced guitar amp.

EQ2: Voiced for connecting to a Marshall®-style amp, EQ2 applies a high shelf cut to gently rein in high frequencies. Use this setting when plugging into a fuller-sounding, mid-rich amp.

ADJ: When EQ1 or EQ2 is selected, the ADJ knob lets you ﬁne-tune the pedal’s output to suit the individual response of your amp and the way its controls are set. As you turn the ADJ knob counterclockwise, this proprietary ﬁlter design gradually rolls off bass and adjusts the high shelf response. The end result is a very powerful and intuitive control.
If your amp sounds too bright or thin with the RevivalDrive Compact engaged, turn the ADJ control clockwise. If it sounds too dark and woolly, turn the ADJ control counterclockwise.

POST-DRIVE EQ controls (continued)
Use the tables below to help you set up the RevivalDrive Compact for the ﬁrst time with a new guitar ampliﬁer or ﬂat-response device. Working through Steps 1 and 2 allows you to “set-and-forget” the POST-DRIVE EQ controls and move on to having fun dialling in your ideal tone with the main controls.

Step 1: Set POST-DRIVE EQ switch for the connected amp or device

AMPLIFIER OR CONNECTED DEVICE	POST-DRIVE EQ SWITCH POSITION
Power amp/FX return & guitar speaker Mixing desk & cabinet simulation Recording interface & cabinet simulation	P/AMP
Bright, mid-scooped guitar amplifier	EQ1
Dark or Mid-rich guitar amplifier	EQ2

Step 2: Fine-tune the POST-DRIVE EQ with the ADJ control*

HOW IS THE PEDAL’S TONE?	TURN THE ADJ CONTROL…
Too bright or thin	Clockwise
Too dark or woolly	Counterclockwise
Just right!	Leave in this position and enjoy using the pedal!

*Please note: the ADJ control is not active when the POST-DRIVE EQ switch is in the P/AMP position.

Sample settings

PUSHED PLEXI
The quintessential sound of rock! Modelled on an original JMP Super Lead, get ready for cutting attack from the cranked presence control and a characteristic tight low-end – perfect for big riffs. Try setting the MORE|PRES control to noon for Hendrix-style dynamic chords.
TWEED TWIN
Oozing with character, Fender’s Tweed amps are known for their raw, snarling drive with a satisfying low-end growl. Turn down the LOWS control to noon for more of a Blackface Twin sound that can deliver sparkly, edge-of-breakup tones by rolling down the GAIN control.
PARALLEL PATH
A great way to spice up your amp’s tone without remov-ing its essence. Here we have a 50/50 mix of a Vox-type sound and the user’s amp sound. Want more of the amp’s sound? No problem – just turn down the BLEND control and the pedal’s gain will adjust itself accordingly

Speciﬁcation

Appendix A: Physical speciﬁcation

Measurement	Unboxed	Boxed
Weight	620g (21.8oz)	700g (24.6oz)
Length	143mm (5.62”)	170mm (6.6”)
Depth	66mm (2.6”)	100mm (3.9”)
Height	65mm (2.56”)	75mm (2.9”)

Appendix B: Performance speciﬁcation

Measurement	Value
Input impedance	1MΩ
Output impedance	1kΩ
Current draw	100mA
Power supply requirements	9VDC 2.1mm centre negative connector

Appendix C: Connector pinouts
Instrument & Ampliﬁer 1/4” TS sockets:

Pin Description

Tip Signal

Sleeve Ground

Appendix D: Environmental Information

The crossed out wheely bin symbol indicates this product is classiﬁed as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in the European Union and should not be discarded with household waste. Other territories may vary. Contact your local authority or Origin Effects for more information.

The packing materials for this product are recyclable. Do not dispose of these materials with your normal household waste. Please refer to the symbols on the packaging for recycling information. Contact your local authority for further guidance on recycle in your region.

Appendix E: Directives & Regulations

This product complies with Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) directive 2014/30/EU.

Origin Effects Ltd has conformed where applicable to European Union’s Directive 2011/65/EU on Restrictions of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) as well as the following sections of California law which refer to RoHS, namely sections 25214.10, 25214.10.2, and 58012, Health and Safety Code; Section 42475.2, Public Resources Code.
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
- Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
- Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
- Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
- Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

Appendix F: Warranty

This product is covered by a 2-year manufacturer’s warranty from the date of purchase. This applies only to original purchasers who have bought their product from an authorised Origin Effects dealer or directly from Origin Effects.
All returns or servicing should be arranged through the original dealer. Proof of original ownership may be required in the form of a purchase receipt.
For full warranty details visit www.origineffects.com/warranty.

Documents / Resources

ORIGIN EFFECTS RevivalDrive Compact [pdf] Owner's Manual
RevivalDrive Compact, RevivalDrive, Compact

References

User Manual

ORIGIN EFFECTS RevivalDrive Compact

Product Information

FAQ

Q: What is the intended use of the RevivalDrive Compact?