Bass Synth / Envelope Filter

[Machines]

Ok - firstly I know sod all about effects.

Am looking for a decent sounding synth & filter, for a reasonable price (<£60). I've got a Behringer V-Amp which does both, but not that well. The synth tracking is quite frankly awful. I tried a Boss Synth pedal the other day which sounded pretty good, tracking was an issue but not as bad as the V-Amp. And the autowah removes that much fundamental it sounds like a guitar... have tried a DOD FX25B and have same problem.

I'm aware I probably need 2 pedals, 1 for each function.. what's out there that isn't crap ?

[Kev]

the bass synth wah isnt [i]that[/i] bad, it will certainly give you better synth than the v amp and, imo, the boss

[Machines]

What's that, Digitech ?

EDIT: Just looked it up, looks pretty good.. will have to try one out.

[gilmour]

I had the didgitech one - it was good for 1 band practice, at the second I stupidly plugged the wrong power supply in and killed it, it produced a very unpleasant smell so I assume I melted something important. In no way was this the fault of the pedal, and I've often considered getting a second one.

[Machines]

I might start building a pedal board.. save messing about with this V-Amp which is a nightmare to use live.

I can see the GAS coming already... sigh.

[gilmour]

[quote name='Machines' post='250196' date='Jul 29 2008, 09:27 AM']I might start building a pedal board..[/quote]

I often think that, as I have a whole load of pedals that I've bought over time just lying around, but I wind up just taking the ones I need for each gig. I think I have EQ, Octaver, 2 Envelopes, Synth (fried), several distortions, chorus, flange, Bass Murf, Loopstation, A/B thingy, tuner, the list goes on I think so far this year I have only used the tuner and one evnvelope. I also use the EQ to get rid of feedback on upright.

[Machines]

I know I wouldn't have that much in it... a tuner, synth, distortion... erm.. ok i've run out now. No interest in delay of any kind.. don't like octavers, chorus, phase/flangers. EQ i've got on my ABM.

[gilmour]

[quote name='Machines' post='250208' date='Jul 29 2008, 09:44 AM']I know I wouldn't have that much in it... a tuner, synth, distortion... erm.. ok i've run out now.[/quote]

Exactly how I feel, I love the sound of all this kit in the shops, but when I'm on a gig there's little call for it. And a board for just a couple of pedals doesn;t seem wirth it when you see some of the beasts on here.

[Kev]

a tiny touch of reverb you will like

[BassMunkee]

I've got a Boss Synth pedal and I have to say I've had no problems with it - very happy...

[Machines]

[quote name='BassManKev' post='250211' date='Jul 29 2008, 09:47 AM']a tiny touch of reverb you will like [/quote]

Most of the rooms i've played in provide their own .

[cheddatom]

Heh, yeh, rooms do tend to provide reverb!

I know this will sound a bit silly, but the best, most squelchy funky auto wah sound I have is in an Aria auto wah. I tried it in the shop before I bought it because I assumed it would kill all of the bass tone - because it's a guitar pedal - but nope! Very funky sound.

I don't know about synth sounds. I really want a synth pedal - the boss one looked cool, but I don't have the cash. The "synth" sounds on the B2.1U are either sh*t or I can't figure out how to work them.

[Kev]

b2 synths are weird in a good way if you play real slow, speed up at all though and it just laughs at you basically

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I've always been a bit disappointed with the autowahs I've tried previously. The wah in my boss gt6b is OK, but nothing special and they synth sounds are good, but I've not been able to get it to track well.

I recently bought a Yamaha Magicstomp and the wah in that is very funky and usable - it doesn't do synth sounds though.

[cheddatom]

Kev - Deffinitely, I managed to get some cool sweeps out of it, but anything fast just sounded stupid. Put it in a feedback loop and..... Oh dear.

I have a boss AW-3. It does do some cool sounds, some funky, but it's a bit useless for me without the expression pedal - which is not something you want in an auto-wah/follower.

[BassMunkee]

One thing I have really found with using Synth Pedals is that you do have to spend some time twiddling with them in order to get worthwhile output - which is no bad thing.
They aren't as "plug and play" as some other pedals maybe are, but having saod that, it does mean that you have to have a bit more consideration for what you're attempting to achieve, as opposed to just (for example) whacking your Kruncherizor on maximum gain and blowing out your cones...

[Machines]

I'm quite happy to spend time getting the right sound(s) out of it and memorising them for mid set knob twiddling (!). It'd be used fairly infrequently anyway.. maybe 1 or 2 songs in a set.

[thisnameistaken]

IMO the cheapest way to get a really good synth sound is the EHX Bass Micro Synth. You can pick them up used for about £100 if you can find one. I don't think you'll get much for £60.

[Machines]

I'm just not willing to spend much on something that would not see much use. 95% of what I do will be nice clean bass. For the occasional cover I would like a little authenticity, I suppose the envelope is more important than the synth.

Anyone tried the Ashdown one !?

[cheddatom]

I think MB1 has the ashdown one.

What filters/followers have you tried?

I think that a lot of these funk type pedals need a bit of overdrive or sometimes fuzz to get the most out of them, so to avoid needing another pedal you really have to try everything.

[Stewart]

I have 3 filters - an EBS BassIQ, a Boss AW-3 and a Tonefactor 442B (now a BottomFeeder?)

The AW-3 is only really good with an expression pedal, as suggested, the follower is a bit lame.

The EBS is nice, but a bit fiddly (sensitive) to setup. It's main advantage is that it does 'reverse' filtering (Aaaww instead of Wwaah) which is very nice in combination with...

The 442B, which is absolutely gorgeous, super-flexible, easy to set up, and unbelievably funky (even with me playing).

[Kev]

im not a fan of the ashdown envelope filter at all, but then again i dont like any of the ashdown pedals, so you might love it!

[Machines]

Meh, The Ashdown one is a bit oversized really - wouldn't want more than one of them..

Do EHX do anything suitable ?

[Muse_Cubed]

I've got an EMMA Discombobulator (spelt DiscumBOBulator. Crazy Danes)

I was initially disappointed but after half an hour of playing with it I dialled some really good tones. It's easy to work with (sensitivity knob is key - that was the source of my initial disappointment as I hadn't set it right) and it sounds very natural if that's what you're looking for. Plus it's built like a tank. It tracks fantastically and it's fully polyphonic as well which is always a bonus (I guess those are the result of it being an analogue filter).

Just want to point out that the stronger your instrument output, the better. I can get a much wider range of sounds with my Warwick than with my Pedulla (getting a Catalinbread Serrano soon though which should hopefully end such discrepancies) so if you haven't got a particularly hot output it may not be the best pedal for you unless you've got a booster.

[cheddatom]

Surely the point of the sensitivity knob is to set the pedal to the level of your bass, so you should get similar sounds with whatever input level, as long as you set the sensitivity control?