Eventide Eclipse - Your favorite settings and usage tips

[Jakem]

Hi all,

Got a deal on a mint last Year of production Eclipse so I was wondering if any other forumites are using one? What are Your favorite presets or own settings? Tips for setup? Thanks!

 

[Code001]

Needs a mixer for sure, so make sure you got that setup. It's such a powerful device that you can really setup anything you'd ever want, to be honest. Are there particular sounds you're looking for? Leon Todd has great videos showcasing some of them

 

[Jakem]

Needs a mixer for sure, so make sure you got that setup. It's such a powerful device that you can really setup anything you'd ever want, to be honest. Are there particular sounds you're looking for? Leon Todd has great videos showcasing some of them

Thanks, mixer is on the list. Leon Todd made really nice vids of the sounds and how to use the Eclipse. I am searching for nice delays, reverbs and also 80s LA studio sounds.

 

[Jakem]

I will be using it with Marshall 1959HW/1987X/JVM1H, Bogner XTC101B and Mesa Mark IIC+ reissue. Most of the time I am running the heads into a Suhr Reactive Load IR so maybe the Eclipse could be run after it before Genelec monitors?

 

[Solarflares]

Congrats. Nice unit.
I had the poor man’s version - which was two Digitech IPS33-B’s, into two Digitech TSR24’s.

 

[Code001]

You can indeed run the Eclipse after the RLIR.

Guitar -> Amp Input -> Speaker Out -> RLIR Input (says From Amp) -> DI / Line Out (Pick if you want the IR as part of it or not) -> Eclipse Input -> Eclipse Outputs 1 and 2 -> Left and Right powered speakers (or this would go to a power amp and guitar speakers if you wanted)

That should actually give you stereo with the Eclipse being the stereo split in the signal chain for you.

Honestly, just go through this preset list first and see what you like. So many good sounds: https://www.johnmcculloch.net/docs/Eclipse_Presets.pdf

 

[Rackman]

I don't think the Eclipse needs a mixer. The digital dry path works fine. And some effects, like compressors, you may want to be 100% wet.

You can form your own opinion by loading the empty patch and turning on/off hardwire bypass. There is some latency, but it's a couple ms which isn't a problem IMO (it's the same as moving a couple feet closer/farther from your monitor speaker).

If you're not doing a mixer, I would definitely map a MIDI expression pedal to either the digital or analog output volume. Super nice.

Even though it's a TimeFactor derived patch, I like "Vintage Delay" at 300ms. I have it on low all the time in one slot. You can really tune the distortion texture by changing the EQ settings on the delay. Alternately if you plan to use reverb (I generally just use delay live) you can put the "moddelays + verb8" patch in one slot, and whatever other effect you need in the other. So for example my country clean patch is set up with the two FX blocks in series, and "dual compressors" (even though I only use mono) in block 1 and "vintage delay" in block 2. If I wanted it to have reverb I'd switch "vintage delay" for "moddelays + verb8".

I don't find cross-fade necessary. It basically eats half your processing since both patches have to be capable of running at once. None of the effects I use the abrupt shift is a problem. If you do need crossfade, the Eclipse is a lot more limited and you're probably in H8000/H9000 territory.

It's nice having MIDI phantom power on the Eclipse, but the jack barrel is a funny size. I had to get one of those universal power supplies to find one. Still, it's nice because my snake is only MIDI with the extra power pin + the control line for my rack wah. Everything else is handled by MIDI/the Eclipse.

 

[Rackman]

I will be using it with Marshall 1959HW/1987X/JVM1H, Bogner XTC101B and Mesa Mark IIC+ reissue. Most of the time I am running the heads into a Suhr Reactive Load IR so maybe the Eclipse could be run after it before Genelec monitors?

Yes, you can run it that way and if using a loadbox/IR I would do so. My description was moreso for live use with an amp with a good loop, or between a preamp/poweramp in a rack setup.

 

[Solarflares]

Preserve dry signal path at all costs, if you really care.

IR’s and speaker simulated signals are best blended with the original analogue capture - in any situation.
A Lehle P-split and a Rane SM26-S is bare minimum. But a programmable midi-mixer would make sense for you..

 

[Rackman]

Preserve dry signal path at all costs, if you really care.

What matters is not how much you care, but how it sounds. The advantage of digital mixing is that there is no distortion at all. Now, you can argue whether the Eclipse analog blocks color the signal, but there's no point in arguing when you have a relay-based bypass and can just listen. Since you are going to need to change the mix from patch to patch (a compressor patch does not want the same mix as a delay patch) it's questionable what MIDI controlled mixer would be appropriate anyways.

Not all advice from the 70s is still correct.

 

[Solarflares]

Not all advice from the 70s is still correct.

But then, I didn’t live in a cave since the 70’s either.
I grew with the gear. But the old premises are sound. I learned this from my dealings with Pete Cornish. You can either do it right or fuck off somewhere else and piss about. That’s lesson one.
There was a distinct shift in 1994 of analogue signal being compromised by its path through any rack you could buy.
The original Intellifex and Quadraverb 2 being the last honest units.
Culminating in the Helix HX fx, which colours dreadfully. 30 years of that shit.

 

[Code001]

The Eclipse is also slow at changing patches, especially as you start adding more and more blocks to the party. One of the other benefits not mentioned is that you won't get drop outs if you use a mixer as your dry path is preserved the entire time. As long as your levels are normalized, it'll appear naturally without that annoying lag. Honestly that alone is reason enough for me to want to run a mixer, especially with how cheap some of them are these days.

For volume pedal routing, I like keeping them around the initial serial chain before it goes to the parallel path.

 

[Rackman]

The Eclipse is also slow at changing patches, especially as you start adding more and more blocks to the party. One of the other benefits not mentioned is that you won't get drop outs if you use a mixer as your dry path is preserved the entire time. As long as your levels are normalized, it'll appear naturally without that annoying lag. Honestly that alone is reason enough for me to want to run a mixer, especially with how cheap some of them are these days.

For volume pedal routing, I like keeping them around the initial serial chain before it goes to the parallel path.

The eclipse doesn't drop out the clean path when changing patches even when cross-fade is off, unless you tell it you want it to. That's one of the config parameters.

 

[Jakem]

Awesome info, thank You all! I am eagerly waiting for Friedman to release the IR load with stereo fx loop and stereo poweramp. I will then sell the Suhr RLIR and buy the Friedman and a 2nd Mesa 1x12 (the deeper one).

 

[Jakem]

As far as mixers go I will probably go for one of these two:
https://mlcamps.com/en/guitar-systems/39-dual-stereo-line-mixer-mkii.html

https://redseven-amplification.com/...pKKMbXOPTHcBL3I1Q6XwVCUulz6wx94H0OdsEBNoFdQ77

As soon as I find minty PCM81/SPX90 and maybe a 2299 I will most likely buy these all, me thinks. Let’s see how I like the Eclipse and if it has everything I want.

 

[Rackman]

But then, I didn’t live in a cave since the 70’s either.
I grew with the gear. But the old premises are sound. I learned this from my dealings with Pete Cornish. You can either do it right or fuck off somewhere else and piss about. That’s lesson one.
There was a distinct shift in 1994 of analogue signal being compromised by its path through any rack you could buy.
The original Intellifex and Quadraverb 2 being the last honest units.
Culminating in the Helix HX fx, which colours dreadfully. 30 years of that shit.

I bet if I give you 8 clips through the Eclipse, all played through either an empty patch or the hardwire bypass, you can't tell me which are which

 

[Rackman]

As far as mixers go I will probably go for one of these two:
https://mlcamps.com/en/guitar-systems/39-dual-stereo-line-mixer-mkii.html

https://redseven-amplification.com/...pKKMbXOPTHcBL3I1Q6XwVCUulz6wx94H0OdsEBNoFdQ77

As soon as I find minty PCM81/SPX90 and maybe a 2299 I will most likely buy these all, me thinks. Let’s see how I like the Eclipse and if it has everything I want.

I don't think either of those would be effective for the way I use the Eclipse. I'd need to be able to move between 100% wet (for compression) and various mix levels for modulation, delay and reverb. I don't use pitch shift but if I did it has its own requirements.

 

[Code001]

As far as mixers go I will probably go for one of these two:
https://mlcamps.com/en/guitar-systems/39-dual-stereo-line-mixer-mkii.html

https://redseven-amplification.com/...pKKMbXOPTHcBL3I1Q6XwVCUulz6wx94H0OdsEBNoFdQ77

As soon as I find minty PCM81/SPX90 and maybe a 2299 I will most likely buy these all, me thinks. Let’s see how I like the Eclipse and if it has everything I want.

I love my MSLM. Makes routing way easier and more straight forward than the old school two channel stereo mixers design. However, you're definitely paying for convenience. Gotta decide if it's worth it.

 

[Shask]

What matters is not how much you care, but how it sounds. The advantage of digital mixing is that there is no distortion at all. Now, you can argue whether the Eclipse analog blocks color the signal, but there's no point in arguing when you have a relay-based bypass and can just listen. Since you are going to need to change the mix from patch to patch (a compressor patch does not want the same mix as a delay patch) it's questionable what MIDI controlled mixer would be appropriate anyways.

Not all advice from the 70s is still correct.

I am a big analog parallel mixer guy, but just bought a Fractal VP4 to try, as it seems like one of the most transparent devices available.

 

[Rackman]

As far as mixers go I will probably go for one of these two:
https://mlcamps.com/en/guitar-systems/39-dual-stereo-line-mixer-mkii.html

https://redseven-amplification.com/...pKKMbXOPTHcBL3I1Q6XwVCUulz6wx94H0OdsEBNoFdQ77

As soon as I find minty PCM81/SPX90 and maybe a 2299 I will most likely buy these all, me thinks. Let’s see how I like the Eclipse and if it has everything I want.

Minty 2290 is not a thing sadly IF you want to guarantee you keep one running you have to buy two and swap them to service them.

They are the most clever thing that can be done with a single delay line and 80s DSP though.