Congratulations on your purchase of the Electro-Harmonix Soul Preacher. The Soul Preacher is a compact compressor/sustainer effect with variable parameters allowing extreme or subtle adjustments of the dynamic qualities of YOUR playing. Two knobs and one 3 way toggle switch control the output volume, the depth of the effect and the attack/decay characteristics of the effect.

The input sensitivity is 50mV to 2 volts, making it a perfect fit to most magnetic guitar pickups and active/buffered pickups. The preamp does add some distortion and the amount is level dependent… humbuckers and high output single coil pickups will distort much more than normal single coil guitar pickups. This distortion can be controlled somewhat from the guitar’s volume level ahead of the compressor.

The Soul Preacher has a maximum gain reduction of 40dB and a maximum gain of 46 dB. This allows for maximum sustain with an acceptable noise floor. All compressors have a lot of make-up gain and will amplify noise. The Soul Preacher has less thanks to a novel circuit.

The standard features allow the Soul Preacher to control the amount of sustain and the matching volume level, as well as the attack/decay characteristic.

Using Your Soul Preacher

Engaging the footswitch inserts the effect. A red status LED illuminates. Adjust the “SUSTAIN” knob for the desired amount of the effect. Adjust the “VOL” knob to cut, match, or boost the outgoing signal to the incoming signal. Selecting “fast”, “med”, or “slow” with the “ATTACK” toggle switch changes the timing of the onset of compression.

The “fast” setting of the “ATTACK” switch, will squash the entire signal. This setting will also add a little more distortion. This setting is nice with the “SUSTAIN” cranked all the way, but there are many useful variations in between. “med” will not catch the leading edge of the transient so the result will be a brighter more percussive attack. the transition has a soft “bump” in it, that is super groovy. This is the most versatile setting. “slow” misses the edge completely, and then squashes down with a bumpy funky squeeze. Perfect for funk chord comp or chunky rhythm playing… try reducing the “sustain” to half, at first, for this effect. Adjust the volume level to match the incoming signal level.

Controls

Status LED - When the effect is engaged this red LED will illuminate. While the Soul Preacher is in True Bypass, the Status LED will be off. Press the footswitch to toggle between effect and true bypass mode. When the correct 9Volt /500 mA DC power is applied, the Status LED should glow brightly signaling all operational voltages are satisfactory.

VOL - use to adjust the amount of make-up gain.

SUSTAIN - use to set the amount of compression

ATTACK- sets the timing of the attack / decay

Please make sure to use Alkaline or Lithium “high energy” Batteries with this pedal.