Hartke Bass Attack

[keefbaker]

I've not seen a review for one of these so I think it's about time.

[b]So what is it?[/b]
The Bass attack pedal is in essence a DI, preamp, saturator and EQ. Something that on paper sounds boring but in practise will pretty much rock your socks off

I got one of these when I bought my NXT5 EUB because it needed a hi-z input or it lost all the bass, I also wanted something to grit up the tone/ do a bit of mild compression. Of course the bass attack does a lot more than this.

[b]Range of sounds/versatility[/b]
One of the big things the bass attack brings is an exceptionally variable harmonic distortion, it can be enough to just warm the sound slightly or it can go all the way up to filth. If you're looking for a hard-as-nails distortion, this probably isn't what you need but it can go pretty damn far in that direction.

I've used it on EUB to make it sound more like a DB, on a P with flats for a more 60s warmed up sound and on a Stingray clone with rounds for hard punk. The Bass attack delivers, no worries.

The EQ is fairly simple. There's a really nice bass, a treble and presence which go way higher that you'd ever really need (unless you want your muddy bass with a broken tone and 20 year old strings to sound fizzier than an alka-seltzer) and also there's a "shape" function you can turn on or off.

From my experience with it, the shape works similar to a band-reject filter but seems to have a much more pronounced effect on the sound than any band reject I've used before. It could be because it's put before the saturator in the signal path, so it also alters all the harmonics afterwards

[b]Build quality[/b]
Mostly metal and rubber it's took a beating while I've owned it and looks no worse for it. It'll survive being hammered on stage and the footswitches feel nice. The pots have a nice feel, although mine are now a bit sticky due to a guitarists pint (hardly hartke's fault)

[b]What don't I like?[/b]
Well, I'd like more EQ options as I tend to use this as my amp-replacement straight into the PA, but it's not designed to be an ultra-parametric EQ so there you go. A sweepable boostable mid would have been nice though and maybe a higher headroom on the drive so it can go nuts. Also, it has no built in noise gate so if your pickups are noisy, the saturation will make them more so, but that really is nitpicking.

[b]Conclusion and price[/b]
The Bass attack isn't a cheap pedal, but it is definitely cheaper than it sounds. You can pick it up for about £70 and its tonal shaping possibilities, while not endless, are more than enough for me to recommend it to anyone, especially if you DI to P.A. but want a bit more control over your sound.

[uk_lefty]

good review - bought one of these a while back myself just to have a DI but I'm finding its great for boosting the EQ signal going to the amp and good for changing between basses with completely different character so long as you remember your favourite settings (P Bass to fretless five)