Having Trouble with FX25b

[benayrsty]

Hello, I just recently bought the fx25b envelope filter and noticed it has not been working the way I thought it would. I also did some research on knob presets and it still doesn't work quite right.

First of all, the sensitivity knob has the be all the way cranked up in order to get any kind of wah sound whatsoever. Any lower will result in a clean sound.

Second, it takes a great ammount of volume away from my normal sound.

Third, it seems like I have to play my bass as hard as possible to get it to pick up sound. Also sometimes it will be extremely low sounding, then jump to extremely high.

***For the record I wanted a sort of sound that was like each individual note wahs, and the notes will be played quickly.

Any help is appreciated!

[bassteban]

I have to have my sensitivity up pretty high to get much *opening up* of the filter; I have heard of volume drop but haven't noticed it w/mine- perhaps you got a bad one. I'll also state the obvious, just in case you're as thick as I sometimes am: Battery?

[bongomania]

Sounds like the level of your bass signal is not sufficient to trigger it. Try boosting your signal a bit before it goes into the FX25. Also, he's right--battery?

[benayrsty]

Well I'm running it with a 9v adapter at the moment, so power is good haha. I'm wondering if it has something to do with my bass. (Musicman Stingray) It's active and I'm wondering if its coming through to hot for the pedal or something. Not sure.

Whoops, you beat me to it. So you're thinking my level is not high enough? I could try that out and see. Thanks.

[RTL]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Sounds like the level of your bass signal is not sufficient to trigger it. Try boosting your signal a bit before it goes into the FX25. Also, he's right--battery?

My neighbor got arrested for battery once. He was drunk and tried to punch a cop.

[benayrsty]

So punch a cop and my pedal will work?? Seems easy enough.

[RTL]

Originally Posted by benayrsty

So punch a cop and my pedal will work?? Seems easy enough.

Exactly. The pedal might even visit you in prison

[bassteban]

Yeah, punch a cop- I guarantee that will work; just make sure you're playin' super funky.
Do turn the bass' level up, too.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by benayrsty

I'm wondering if it has something to do with my bass. (Musicman Stingray) It's active and I'm wondering if its coming through to hot for the pedal or something. ... So you're thinking my level is not high enough?

I'd be surprised if the Ray output was not hot enough. A Ray is pretty hot, which leads me to think maybe the filter is pegged open all the time, which would lead to a drop in overall levels since your lows would be all gutted.

Try turning the bass volume down, and rolling back its EQ knobs. Let us know what happens.

[OilcanRacer]

playing my stingray into fx25B and no problem with opening the filter with the sensitivity knob set at eleven and range full on.

no problem with other pedals in front that increase output or take it down.

its not my favorite as a filter, but more for a dub sound. it can eat a lot of headroom volume going into it and bring it all down to a phat sound.