EBS BassIQ? Thoughts?

[Mr. Moustache]

I've searched the forum and haven't found much feedback about it, I was just wondering what everyone thinks of it. I've been thinking about buying one for a long while and never had the money, now that I have the money I just wanna make sure it's worth the $200.

From most of what I've heard it's great, but are they any downsides to this particular filter

[TheMutt]

Some people say that the filter is very difficult to trigger with passive basses. I personally have used an active bass (EBMM SR5) with mine, and it has worked fine. I am actually selling mine on here, and the only reason that I am doing that is to make room for a Barge Concepts The Grinder on my board instead of the Boomstick Bottom Feeder, and BassIq. I'm just a parameter junkie I guess. There are definitely other envelope filters to drool over, and I'd suggest taking a look (and listen!) to all of them before making your final decision. (I want to make sure you don't think I'm simply trying to sell you my pedal!) Also, you should take some time with the envelope filter, it's almost an instrument in itself, and takes a while to get used to opening and closing the filter. That being said, I wish you luck on your envelope filter quest!

[Mark Olson]

I owned the BassIQ, and it was one of my more favorite envelope filters out of all the ones I've owned. Myself, I did not have problems triggering it with my passive basses, but I also have a very heavy touch. The downside of the EBS to me was that in the funkiest Bootsy-esque "Hi-Q" mode it doesn't quite retain all your bottom, but it's still a great sounding setting, probably my favorite on the EBS. Other than that there's the much more dry sounding up mode, which retains the bass very well and gives you a more subtle, but still great sounding effect. The down mode is also really cool, and definitely a little more funky than the up mode to my ears. So really, even with only a few controls I was able to dial in a lot of classic enveloped tones with the EBS, and personally I would say it's an effect worth every penny.

Hope that helps.

[JTE]

I went through quite a few envelope filters. I tried everything I could get my hands on, and I bought an EH Q-Tron, a DOD FX whatever (25?) like Bill Laswell's, a Boss Auto-Wha, and the EBS. I got rid of all of them when I got the EBS years ago. The EBS triggers predictably, it's rugged, quite, and quite musical.

The Q-Tron was very tweaky- it's sensitivity would change between when I set up for a gig and when I used it, or even between sets. Plus it took up a LOT of real estate on stage and needed a special wall-wart (it's not 9VDC). The DOD was really nice, except the closed side of the envelope was so low that it was pretty much useless for me. The Boss was noisey, didn't pass lows, noisey, hard to control, and noisey. Did I mention that it had a lot of stray electnoic noise in it?

I've never had any trouble with the EBS tracking nor triggering with any of my basses (Fender VS Precision, Fender CA series P Bass Special, Hammer Cruise Basses, Fender Geddy Lee Jazz, Lakland 494s, and pre EB MM StingRay).

jte