Ashdown Envelope Filter Bass Pedal

[JHBASS]

Hello fellow four-stringers!
Just thought I'd give a quick review of the Ashdown Envelope Filter Bass Pedal, which I have absolutely fallen I love with!

So, here we go......

Price paid: £49 at Bonners

First Impressions: Nice packaging. Opened the box, and found a nicely packed pedal, with an informative manual (which doubles as advertising...it features all the pedals on the sheet). I quickly got the pedal out, and plugged her in!

Ease of Use: I'm no pedal freak, so alot of the phrases used in manuals meen nothing to me! I have to just try and experiment. Even with my lack of experience it took me a mere 15 minutes to find something I liked, Ive been tweaking ever since, and found some great sounds. There a 5 pots, and a standard on/off stomp switch. The five pots are labled as: Input, Peak, UP/DOWN, BP/LP, Output. The first and last pot, allow you to make sure you don't loose any volume when the pedal is engaged. The peak, well as I said, I dont have a great knowledge about technical stuff, but it seems to limit the sweep. The up down pot selects whether the sweep goes up the frequency or down. For example, full anit-clockwise is a full sweep up, and the same fully clockwise for down. Bang on 12 o'clock means little or now sweep. BP/LP stands for what i believe Band Pass and Low Bass, Low Bass seems to keep all your bass in, while Band Pass takes it out. The VU meter (which nicely glows, with a white light, just like the amps) helps you set the input level. A small red L.E.D. states whether the effect is engaged or not. On the back of the unit, there is a jack in (from guitar) and jack out to amp. Nice and simple. There is also a 9V input, for an adaptor, or there is a battery compartment (under the unit secured with a single screw). Not to easy for battery changes, but it doesnt matter too much. Rating: 9.5

Sound: So far I've only put this pedal through my Squier P-Bass and my small Fender Rumble 15. I do have higer end gear, but havent got it out yet. The one problem is my Rumble 15 has only an 8" inch speaker, so it cant handle some of the output of the pedal. None the less, there are some great sounds on offer, making some really funky and cool tones. You can go from sutle squelch to full on sweep. Whatever takes your fancy. The up and down pot also enables more control over you sound. To fully explain this, id have to type some wierd noises! I will suggest a peek on the Ashdown website, where you can hear sound clips of this (and the other) pedals. Rating: 9 (only because of my poor equipment organisation!)

Reliability & Durability This pedal is built like a tank, as is any other Ashdown product. Its heavy and bigger than most stomp boxes, but this gives a feeling of never falling apart. The VU display has its own 'roll cage' so you cant stamp on it, and the pots are all secured, and are in their own 'trench' so you don't accidentaly change your settings. The stomp switch feels nice and secure and feels like it could withstand many a gig being stomped on. On a side note, I had a quiery about buying a power adaptor, seeing as a current isnt specified in the manual. I sent an email off to Ashdown relatively late one evening, went to bed, and work up to find my question answered in a really clear and friendly way. Customer service was second to none! Rating: 10

Final Impressions: I play mostly self penned stuff with my band, and there are alot of middle eights to fill. This allows me to bring a bit of interest to the bass sound. Im still an unexperienced at effects, so this has been a lovely pedal to start with. Reliable, sounds great, and looks amazing. If this was stolen, I'd repalce it instantly, especially at it's price point! I think I'm smitten! Long Live the Ashdown Bass Pedals! Overall Rating: 9.5


Cheers, hope this has helped some people.

Josh