Eden WTDI Gear Review by Eric Parsons

Eden WTDI

Immediate Impression

The Eden WTDI, World Tour Preamp Pedal and DI, shares cosmetic and design similarities with the Eden WTX series.  They both sport the stylish black metal dome control knobs and brass colored faceplate with the familiar Eden trademark logo.  With a quick turn of one of the potentiometers I was immediately aware of the quality and craftsmanship that went into this product.  All of the pots are noiseless and silky smooth, with just enough resistance to allow for quick and precise adjustments.

Overall Layout

Speaking of potentiometers, the WTDI has quite of few of them.  The unit sports three bands of equalization:  bass, mid and treble controls – all of which are +/- 15dB with a center detent for a flat setting.  The mid control has a shift button that will center at either 550 HZ or 2200 Hz.  The remaining four potentiometers adjust the gain, volume, compression and Eden’s enhance control.  There is also a bass boost button to accommodate for low volume playing. (Google “Fletcher – Munson Curve” if you want to know more about the reason for a bass boost or loudness control).   There are  ¼ ”  input and output jacks, as well as a balanced XLR output with a ground lift.

First Things First

When using the WTDI, the first order of business is to set the gain control.  While there is no indicator light to tell you when you have the proper gain setting, it is relatively easy to dial this in.  The goal is to set the gain control at the point where you get maximum signal without distortion.  As expected, I found this setting to be much more critical for my active bass due to the high output levels.  My optimal setting for the gain was at  ~9:00 (2 out of 10).  My passive bass has considerably less signal and the best gain setting was at ~2:00 (7 out of 10).  Note:  your results may vary from mine so make sure you take the time to dial this in for your particular bass.

Testing Procedure

Using both passive and active basses, I tested the WTDI in the following configurations:

1.  – As a stomp box feeding directly into the preamp input of a bass amplifier.
2.  – As a preamp feeding directly into the input of a power amplifier.
3.  – As a DI feeding directly into a sound system.
4.  – As a DI feeding directly into a multi-track digital audio workstation.

Results

The WTDI performed superbly in all four configurations.  I was particularly impressed with how well the WTDI performed when plugged right into the input of a power amp. The unit supplied sufficient signal to the power amp to provide a considerable amount of overall volume.  The three bands of EQ are useful and musical.  I particularly enjoyed boosting the midrange at 2.2k HZ  (using the mid shift button) to emphasize the “click of the pick” while palm muting the strings at the bridge.   I must admit that my personal favorite setting is to leave the EQ settings flat and to dial in the enhance knob to where it just starts being noticeable  ~9:00 ( 2 out of 10) which takes some of the boxiness out of the midrange and gives a little kick to both the lows and the highs.  I like to think of the enhance knob as a spice where a little can go a long way and too much may spoil the dish.  This adjustable compressor is extremely useful for taming those transients that may occur when slapping and popping.  Note: The compressor performance is very reliant on receiving an adequate signal – so again, make sure and take time to dial in the gain properly!  The balanced output supplies the same signal to the soundman or recording engineer, making their jobs just that much easier and insuring that you get the sound you want out front or to the recording.

Sound Files

I have included four sound files with this review:

Clip A Active – flat then enhanced

Clip B Active w pick – flat then enhanced

Clip C Passive – enhance then bass boost

Clip D Passive Slap – flat then enhanced

All four sound files were recorded from the unbalanced line out directly into the DAW.

Bottom Line

The WTDI is true to its name:  It really is a World Tour Preamp and DI that Eden has somehow managed to stuff into a tiny stomp box.  This is the perfect insurance policy for the touring bass player who is wary of arriving at the show to find out that the provided backline bass amp is less than stellar.  Plug into the WTDI and send a sound that you know you can trust to the soundman.  All for a street price that is slightly under $ 150.00.

Visit online at www.eden-electronics.com