pigtronix philosopher king User manual

Pigtronixtm
Philosopher King
User’s Guide
All contents © Absara Audio LLC 2010

Index:
Welcome……………………………………………………..…
Anatomy of the Philosopher King….……………….………
Getting Started…..……..….…………………………………..
Guided Tour…………..…………………………………………
Notes………..……….……………………………………………
Limited Warranty….……………………………………….……
Safety Precautions………….…………..………………….…..

Welcome!
Thank you for entering the realm of Pigtronix. Your Philosopher King pedal
is a compressor, distortion and envelope generator. Big brother to the
Philosopher’s Tone and descendant of our Attack Sustain pedal, the
Philosopher King was designed to give your guitar a HUGE sound and then
change the shape of that sound’s amplitude over time. In other words,
this is an ADSR for guitar coupled to an incredible sustainer. The
compression section of the Philosopher King can be set for transparent,
ultra-clean optical limiting or it can unleash relentless sustain and howling
distortion as you turn the knobs clockwise. The compressor output is then
fed into an amplitude modulation section that can morph a standard
plucked note into a volume swell, stuttering tremolo or even a
psychedelic backwards tape emulation.
With the SWELL and FADE footswitches turned off, the Philosopher King
operates as a Compressor / Sustainer / Distortion only. The amplitude
modulation is introduced by turning on the SWELL and FADE footswitches
and can be manipulated by external expression pedals or CV input.
The Philosopher King will accept instrument or line level signals, making it a
suitable effect for any electronic source.
In keeping with Pigtronix tradition, the controls on the Philosopher King
have been tuned to provide the fattest possible tone and the widest
range of musical possibilities. The Philosopher King was born out of a
passion for versatile, expressive musical effects; it is built to last and
designed to inspire.
We hope that the Philosopher King will provide you with years of creative
satisfaction.
Pigtronix

Anatomy of the Philosopher King:
The Interface:
Jacks:
1. IN – Plug in your instrument here.
2. TRIGGER – This is a side-chain input for the envelope detector within
the Philosopher King. The trigger feature allows you to connect an
external source to control the timing of the SWELL and/or FADE cycle.
3. OUTPUT – Effect output – Plug in your amp, mixer, DI box, etc. here.
4. DC POWER 18-VOLTS – Use only the 18-Volt, 300mA, negative tip
power supply that came with your Pigtronix Philosopher King. Using
the wrong power supply could result in a damaged pedal.
5. CV in – Insert CV control signal or a TRS expression pedal for remote
control of the amplitude modulation.
6. CV out – The internal control voltage that sets the amplitude at any
given moment is available from this jack. The range is approx. 2VDC
12VDC.
7. SWELL EXP – Insert a high impedance (250K - 500K) expression pedal
here to control the SWELL TIME.
8. FADE EXP - Insert a high impedance (250K - 500K) expression pedal
here to control the FADE TIME

Footswitches:
9. SWELL – This footswitch turns the SWELL function on and off. When the
SWELL feature is in use, notes will have a slow attack, becoming
louder at the rate set by the SWELL dial.
10. ENGAGE – This footswitch turns the entire effect on and off. When only
the Engage light is turned on, the pedal acts as a compressor /
sustainer / distortion. When the engage light is turned off, the
Philosopher King is bypassed.
11. FADE – This footswitch turns the FADE function on and off. When the
FADE feature is in use, notes will become quieter at a rate set by the
FADE dial.
Compressor Controls:
12. VOLUME – This dial sets the master output volume of the pedal when
engaged.
13. COMPRESSION – This dial determines the balance of clean and
compressed / distorted signal. When turned fully counter-clockwise,
you will hear only the pure input signal. When turned fully clockwise
you will hear only the effect signal. note: The SWELL and FADE functions
will modulate the un-compressed, clean signal if the COMPRESSION
knob is set counter-clockwise.
14. GRIT – This dial mixes a layer of grinding distortion into the effect
sound.
15. SUSTAIN – This dial sets the threshold of the compressor, increasing
sustain as this knob is turned clockwise.
16. TREBLE – This dial provides 2Khz boost or cut.
Envelope Generator Controls:
17. SWELL – This dial determines the duration of time it takes for a note to
swell in from silent to full volume.
18. FADE – This dial determines the duration of time it takes for a note to
fade out from full volume to silent.
19. HOLD – This dial mixes the post-compressor audio with the modulated
audio. When HOLD is counter clockwise, the FADE cycle will bring the
output all the way down to infinite attenuation. As you turn the HOLD
knob clockwise, the audio will lose less volume during the fade cycle.
Use the HOLD knob to blend pure compression signal into the mix.

20. RELEASE – This LED tells the musician when the pedal is armed and
ready to begin the SWELL and/or FADE cycle. When a note is played,
the Release light will turn off and the SWELL and/or FADE cycle will
begin.
21. SENSITIVITY – This dial determines how much input signal is needed to
reset the SWELL and/or FADE cycle. Use this knob to set the cutoff
point below which the pedal needs additional signal to re-trigger the
cycle. Leave the SENSITIVITY dial clockwise most of the time.
Toggles:
22. ONE SHOT – When it is on, the ONE SHOT switch causes the SWELL
and/or FADE functions to ignore any input from instrument once the
cycle starts. This allows you to play whatever you want, without re-
triggering the modulation cycle. When ONE SHOT is off, swell and fade
cycle can be interrupted at any point, by muting your instrument.
23. SPEED RANGE – The SLOW setting gives you a wider range of available
SWELL and FADE times. The FAST mode gives you fine tune control of
the shorter SWELL and FADE times.
24. AUTO RESET - The auto-reset feature allows for a wide range of
variable tremolo effects. If there is any input signal present when the
end of the FADE cycle, auto reset causes the modulation cycle to
begin again. When AUTO RESET is off, you must mute your instrument
to set the cycle up for re-trigger. Leave AUTO RESET on most of the
time.
Getting Started:
Basic Hook Up
1. Unpack your Philosopher King and place it on a flat, stable surface.
2. Make sure you are using the 18-Volt DC (negative center) power
supply that came with your Pigtronix Philosopher King.
3. Plug the power cord into the 18VDC jack on the back of the
Philosopher King and then plug the power adaptor into an electrical
socket. The Philosopher King is now powered up. To turn the device
off, unplug it from the wall or turn off the power going to the socket
that the power supply is plugged into.
We recommend that you do not leave your Philosopher King
powered up for long periods of time when it is not in use.
4. Plug your instrument into the “IN” jack and plug your Amplifier into the
“OUT” jack.

Guided Tour:
The following steps guide you through the sonic palette of Philosopher
King and show you how to get at the range of tones that it has to offer.
Compression Controls
1. Set all of the controls fully counter-clockwise and set the toggles to
the right. The Release light should be lit, but the other LEDs should be
off. The Philosopher King is in bypass mode. Play your instrument and
make sure a clean sound is passing through the pedal.
2. Turn up the SENSITIVITY to 3:00.
3. Turn the Volume control up to 12:00. Click the Engage footswitch to
turn the Philosopher King on. Play your instrument. You should hear the
same sound as in bypass. Turn the COMPRESSION control up all the
way and play your instrument. You will now hear the
compressor/sustain effect.
4. Turn up the SUSTAIN
5. Turn up the GRIT
6. Turn up the TREBLE
SWELL and FADE
7. Turn on the ATTACK footswitch and bring the ATTACK dial up to 12:00.
Play a chord and notice how it swells in from silence up to full volume.
Note: Once the attack cycle has been triggered, the musician must
mute their instrument in order to reset the attack cycle. When the
instrument is muted, the RELEASE light comes on, letting the musician
know that the SWELL function is armed. The touch sensitive nature of
the SWELL function lets the player control the threshold between the
volume swell effect and a pure compression sound with playing
dynamics and muting technique.
Note: Lower SENSITIVITY settings will require less muting, however the
SWELL function can reset prematurely if the SENSITIVITY is set too low.
8. Explore the range of the SWELL control and then turn off the SWELL
footswitch.
9. Turn on the DECAY footswitch and bring the DECAY dial up to 12:00.
Play a chord and notice how it fades out from full volume to silence.
Explore the range of the DECAY control.

10. Turn up the HOLD to 12:00, notice how the decay does not go fully to
silent now. Explore the range of the HOLD control.
The Decay function in this pedal is equipped with an automatic reset
feature that re-arms the pedal each time the decay cycle is finished.
Be sure to check out the shortest Decay settings for square wave
tremolo and rapid stutter sounds.
11. Turn on the ATTACK footswitch. Now all three footswitch lights should
be lit up. Start off with both the ATTACK and DECAY dials set at 9:00
and then change them one at a time to create different tremolo
shapes.
12. Turn off the Auto Reset and notice how you must mute to retrigger the
modulation cycle at the end of the FADE.
13. Set SWELL to 11:00 and the FADE to 8:00. This medium-long attack and
fast decay setting provides a tape reverse emulation for plucked
string instruments.
14. Turn on the ONE SHOT and choose long SWELL and FADE settings.
Notice how you can mute while the cycle is going and without
resetting
Notes:
LIVE PERFORMANCE - The Philosopher King provides four preset sounds on
stage depending which footswitches are selected:
1– Sustainer = ENGAGE only
2 – Volume Swell = ENGAGE and SWELL
3 – Stutter = ENGAGE and FADE
4 – Tape Reverse / Tremolo = ENGAGE and SWELL and FADE
SIGNAL FLOW – For optimum performance, place the Philosopher King
after your synth and pitch tracking pedals, but before distortion,
modulation and delay pedals.
SIDECHAIN – The trigger jack can be useful for creating interactive effects
between members of band where the signal from one musician triggers
the swell and fade cycle of another musician’s Philosopher King.
FOR SAMPLE SETTINGS, please visit the Philosopher King product page on
our website: www.pigtronix.com

Limited Warranty:
Your Pigtronix effect pedal comes with a 1 year limited warranty on parts
and workmanship. During the warranty period we will repair or replace, at
our option, defective parts or pedals free of charge, and return them to
the owner. Warranty service does not include damaged, modified, or
misused pedals and such pedals will be subject to a standard repair
charge.
Contact us directly via email and describe the problem to us. If the
problem cannot be resolved we will have you send your pedal directly to
us for servicing.
How to contact us for warranty service:
Email: [e-mail]
Warranty Limitations: This warranty does not cover defects resulting from
improper or unreasonable use, accident, unauthorized tampering or
modifications; and, warranty shall be considered void if Philosopher King
chassis has been opened. Please consult the instructions and warnings in
this manual for proper use. Warranty is only valid if your Philosopher King
has been properly registered within 30 days of original purchase date,
and upon warranty registration, will be valid for 12 months from original
purchase.
To validate your 1-year, limited
warranty, please register your
PHILOSOPHER KING, within 30 days of
purchase, on the web at:
www.pigtronix.com/warranty

Safety Precautions:
Please be sure to observe these precautions. The safety precautions listed
below are intended to ensure your safety whenever you use the
equipment.
NEVER OPEN THE CASE – Never try to separate the two pieces of the
chassis from one another and/or modify the equipment. Opening this
device will effectively void the warranty.
STOP USE IN CASE OF PROBLEM – Stop using the equipment if ever you
should notice smoke or a strange odor coming from it. Contact your
original dealer or nearest authorized service provider for service.
AVOID HIGH TEMPERATURES & HEAT BUILD UP – Never cover the power
supply with cloth or other objects. Built up heat creates a danger of
equipment deformation and fire. Do not expose the Philosopher King to
direct sunlight, heating devices, or other extreme temperatures.
USE SPECIFIED POWER ADAPTOR ONLY – Be sure to use only the 18-Volt DC
300mA Adapter that came with your Pigtronix Philosopher King and is
specified in this user’s guide.
DO NOT EXPOSE TO WATER/BEER – To reduce the risk of fire or electric
shock, do not expose your Philosopher King to rain or moisture. If water
gets inside the unit, turn off the power supply and consult your dealer or
nearest authorized service provider.
Final Notes
Years of work have gone into making the Philosopher King Pedal possible.
We would like to thank the following people for their help along the way:
Howard Davis, Lisa Rickmers, the Bethke and Koltai families, Craig
Brodhead, Matt Smith, Soulive, Aaron Reed, Dan Pavone, Kevin Tobler, Fitz
and B-Dawg.
Howard “Mick” Davis and David Koltai designed the Pigtronix Philosopher
King during 2009 in Brooklyn, Yonkers and Port Jefferson, NY.
We hope you enjoy your new Philosopher King pedal! Please check our
website, www.pigtronix.com or contact us at [phone] for the latest
information on new Pigtronix gear.
Dave Koltai & Brian Bethke
Pigtronix