Darkglass announces Luminal Booster Ultra bass compressor and EQ pedal

September 27, 2024 · 3 sources

Darkglass introduced the Luminal Booster Ultra for bass guitar, a pedal that combines the company's Harmonic Booster with adjustable-frequency parallel compression, a 6-band EQ, a gain reduction meter and the ability to load seven custom impulse responses via USB¹². The announcement was reported on September 27, 2024¹.

Across the top of the pedal, from left to right, are a FILTER knob for an adjustable lowpass on the compressed signal, a COMP knob for the amount of compression, a BLEND knob between the clean and compressed signals, and a LEVEL knob for the compressor's level after the blend control¹². Added controls include a BOOST of +/- 20dB, a CHARACTER control for selecting among the seven impulse responses, a MID GAIN of +/- 20dB and a MID FREQUENCY range from 250Hz to 2.5kHz¹².

The 6-band EQ uses faders. The bass is a low shelf of +/- 13dB at 80Hz, the mid bands are +/- 13dB at 250Hz, 500Hz, 1.5kHz and 3kHz, and the treble is a high shelf of +/- 13dB at 5kHz. A MASTER fader of +/- 12dB sets the unit's overall volume¹².

Connections include 1/4-inch input and outputs, a 3.5mm AUX input, a stereo headphone out, a balanced XLR direct out, USB C for the desktop version of the Darkglass Suite and a 9V DC adapter input, plus a ground lift and cab sim¹². Gearnews listed the same $499 figure alongside UK and European prices³.

Gearnews described the pedal as a straightforward boost that won't distort the overall tone, and called the price "pretty steep"³.