Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a Carl Martin Quattro so as this unit seems to be quite rare, certainly here in the UK, I thought I’d write a bit of a review. As usual with me, I expect it to be a long one so here goes:
What is it?
The Quattro is commonly referred to as a ‘multi-fx’ system but I think that this term can be a little misleading. When I think of a multi-fx unit, I think of things like Boss GT-100, Digitech RP1000 and Vox Tonelab etc.; that is to say, I think of a digital unit that models a vast array of effects and amps. The choice is huge and the quality of the tones within these units can range from excellent to pretty dire. The Quattro is NOT such a unit. This can only be termed a ‘multi-fx’ system because it contains more than one effect and that is where any similarity ends. There are only four effects on the Quattro (hence the name), none of them are digital in any way, there is no way of storing presets and there are very few parameters to adjust. This is a multi-fx, but not as we know it. It would actually be more accurate to say that it is four very high quality analog stompboxes held within one casing and in actual fact, it’s an ingenious idea that I’m surprised more people haven’t copied.
General
The four effects in the Quattro are Compressor, Overdrive, Chorus and Echo but more of that later. The unit is very compact, measuring just approximately 41cm X 16cm and it’s not even very thick, at only 5cm in depth. Unusually for effects, it runs from a 12v 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 an astonishing amount of headroom. The layout of the unit is also intuitive so you 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. What’s even better is that 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 as I am doing. The entire system is fully buffered at every stage, as you might expect from a quality manufacturer like Carl Martin. It states clearly on the box that this is handmade in Denmark and it certainly has the feel of a very well built unit indeed. I couldn’t fault it at all in that regard.
Compressor
This is where the Quattro really can make a good case for its £400 price tag as the Compressor used on the Quattro is the same circuit they use on the well respected Carl Martin Compressor/Limiter stompbox, which retails at £183 at a cheap online retailer. There’s nearly half of the £400 price tag already. 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. To my mind, it loses nothing at all by doing this; it simply makes the unit easier to operate. I stress, it is exactly the same circuit they use on the individual pedal and works just as effectively. It’s a subtle compressor as it doesn’t swamp your tone but instead allows your own tone to shine through. Clean tones get that extra bit of liveliness that you want and distorted tones get a bit of extra thickness, beautifully levelled out volume and endless sustain. I can feel like Gary Moore holding a note on this thing! I LOVE this effect and find I’m using it far more than I used to use compression. The real icing on the cake is that unlike every other compressor I’ve ever used, this one is as near to silent in its operation as makes no odds. It will pick up a bit of noise if you really dial up the compression and level but in all honesty, it’s still not excessive in any way and besides, it’s pointless as it works so well at lower settings. I cannot overstate how incredible this Compressor actually is. I used to use an MXR Super Compressor and I’ve also tried a Dyna Comp and they’re both embarrassingly poor compared to this one.
Overdrive
This one confused me at first as there’s a bit of misinformation about the way it operates. If you investigate this unit you’ll find people refer to its ‘crunch’ and ‘high gain’ settings, which suggests it’s actually an Overdrive and a Distortion pedal in one but it isn’t. There is only 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. The first thing I’d say about this Overdrive unit is that it has a much bigger range of gain than any other overdrive I’ve ever used so it will, effectively, run from a mild crunch all the way up to 80’s Metal and perhaps a bit beyond, depending on how you use your amp. I also get the impression that the gain on OD2 goes that bit further than on OD1 so I’m guessing that the two gain controls have a large crossover area in the gain. It really is a very useful setup. I should point out that, unlike the Compressor, the Overdrives circuit used on the Quattro is not used on any other Carl Martin pedal. 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.
When I started using this unit, I had my clean channel and a dirty channel with amp gain set to 6/7 and the results were very different on both. When used on the clean channel the distortion was thick, dark and organic so I was curious how it would react to my dirty channel, which has quite a fairly modern, aggressive and bright distortion. Surprisingly, it was far more subtle than I anticipated. Rather than making everything thick and dark, my amp retained its core sound beautifully. I had OD1 set like a Tube Screamer so the level was maxed out while the gain was on zero and it behaved very like a Tube Screamer; tightening things up very nicely. Even with quite a bit of additional gain dialled in on OD2, it never turned into a mess and retained the core tone of my amp, though it did lose some of the organic qualities. Soren at Carl Martin told me that their overdrives work best when amps are either at the point of being cranked or just cranked, which suggested that playing them through a clean channel or through a dirty channel with a lot of gain isn’t going to show them off at their best. Backing down the gain on the amp and increasing the gain on the Quattro produced some really impressive results and I was impressed anyway. I can understand why some people say the Overdrive is the weakest part of the Quattro but I’d equally point out that with the other effects available here, it’s up against some pretty stiff competition and you really do need to experiment with your settings to get the best out of it. As there isn’t a directly comparable Overdrive stompbox from Carl Martin, it’s difficult to say just how much this effect is worth but it seems to me that if you wanted to buy a top quality Overdrive with two levels of footswitchable gain and a lot of gain on tap, you’re certainly not getting any change from £100 and possibly rather more than that.
Chorus
I’m not sure where this Chorus circuit comes from but as they describe it as ‘Vintage Chorus’, I imagine it’s largely from their Classic Chorus pedal, which retails online for £84. As with the Compressor, on the Quattro they’ve saved space by reducing the number of controls. On the individual pedal you can adjust rate, level, depth and speed but on the Quattro, you only get speed and depth, however, like the Compressor, it’s no worse for this and actually, I love the simplicity of the whole thing. It’s child’s play to quickly find a beautiful sound and would be very easy to adjust quickly on stage. This is a beautiful analog Chorus that is rich and lush. I’ve never been too fussy about my Chorus effects previously but this is just beautiful and warm in a way I’ve never really experienced before. It’s a hell of a lot more organic than I had on my old Hardwire Chorus pedal. I wouldn’t change a thing about this effect – it’s perfect.
Echo
Carl Martin do a couple of Delay pedals, the Delayla and the Red Repeat, both of which use the same basic circuit from the Delayla pedal so I imagine the Quattro is no different. As usual with the Quattro, 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. This presents the only thing I’d really want to change on the Quattro as there’s no way to adjust the speed of the delay other than using the tap tempo and I’d rather also have the option of also adjusting speed with a knob. When you turn the unit on, it defaults to 300ms, which is a very useable rate for me so it’s not a huge issue but it’s still a shame on what is a superb unit otherwise. The delay you get on the Quattro is, however, very good indeed. It’s a warm, analog delay so don’t expect digital crispness, though I found that turning up the tone control will get you closer to a digital feel. Delay time runs up to 1 second, which I find is ample for almost any situation and the quality of the effect is stunningly good. Value as an individual pedal? You’re going to struggle to buy a Delay pedal with tap tempo for under £100 and with the quality on display here, you’re probably talking closer to £150.
Overall
Trying to price the effects available here as individual stompboxes is difficult but I’d guess you’re looking at about £500 so the £400 price tag for the Quattro is actually very good value for the quality you are purchasing. What’s more, there is no need to buy a power supply or patch cables or even buy a pedalboard when you use a Quattro so there’s probably an additional £100 saving there at least. What’s more, there’s no need to worry about individual pedals not working together as everything here works seamlessly with everything else.
What’s on offer here is the core effects that any guitarist might want to use and certainly covers most of my needs. I will add a Wah to my effects as I do use that quite a lot and I’ll need to add a stage tuner but that’s all. Other than adding a knob to control the time of the Delay, the only thing I’d like to see added to this unit is a tuner but as I can pick up a Pitchblack for £40, it’s not the end of the world. If you want top quality analog effects that are easy to use and in a very compact package, I doubt you can do better.
