MXR Blowtorch Video Review Up On YouTube

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I just posted a 13 minute review of the MXR Blowtorch on YouTube for anyone interested in seeing it. There's a quick shout-out to MysticBoo in there

Here are the links:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1jNIAapaE0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wjSUOWnhSk

[OptimusPrime]

Cool. I'll have to watch it when I get home this afternoon. No time now.

[Andy V.]

Nice!
Thanks for the review!
It's always better with a video!

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime

Cool. I'll have to watch it when I get home this afternoon. No time now.

I try out your overdrive/Bass-drive type setting in the vid as well.

[JanusZarate]

Ha ha, very funny.

9:00 on the gain, BTW? That's low. I don't set mine that way.

Wait... what'd I write in the thread??!

Don't tell me I'm getting the o'clocks backwards again...

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Looks like you need digital clock knobs as well

At least you now have a good reason to change your user title to "Menacing"

[JanusZarate]

I'm apparently dyslexic with clocks every once in a while.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Thanks for putting up the edit on the Youtube vid too- saved me the work

[Darkstrike]

Great review, covers all kinds of settings.

[OptimusPrime]

Very cool video. I like your playing.

EDIT: Any chance you could throw up a video of the Blowtorch, a flanger and that envelope filter? I don't want to spend almost $300 on the EH Bass Synth pedal. I want to know if I can get close enough with just adding a envelope filter to my MXR Blowtorch and MXR flanger combo.

[JanusZarate]

Short answer: You really can't. Unless you're after a very specific sound which the Blowtorch is approaching (sans filter), you'll only "cover" a fraction of BMS territory.

The BMS is a very different beast, and the only common ground they have is rather narrow. Part of it is due to the octave section of the BMS, but more importantly, there's the volume swell feature (which, I'm guessing, you don't really need) and the odd filter section (a uni-directional sweep filter which is nothing like the Q-Tron).

Not to mention, the fuzz on the BMS is like a cranked, bright, bassy Big Muff with no gain adjustment (but it's blendable). It's nothing like the Blowtorch on its own.

The BMS doesn't even produce anything that's remotely flanger-like, BTW.

[OptimusPrime]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Short answer: You really can't. Unless you're after a very specific sound which the Blowtorch is approaching (sans filter), you'll only "cover" a fraction of BMS territory.

The BMS is a very different beast, and the only common ground they have is rather narrow. Part of it is due to the octave section of the BMS, but more importantly, there's the volume swell feature (which, I'm guessing, you don't really need) and the odd filter section (a uni-directional sweep filter which is nothing like the Q-Tron).

Not to mention, the fuzz on the BMS is like a cranked, bright, bassy Big Muff with no gain adjustment (but it's blendable). It's nothing like the Blowtorch on its own.

The BMS doesn't even produce anything that's remotely flanger-like, BTW.

I don't know what I want. There was a lot of synth bass in rap songs in the 90s. I don't know how it happened, but I guess I am now playing bass in a rap project for a friend of a friend. The sound my Blowtorch and flanger make is very similar to the sound I hear in that older rap music. I think adding an envelope filter would get it a little closer. Plus I could use it for more funky stuff separately. The Micro Synth would be a very much 1 use pedal. Plus I'm poor, a used envelope filter is cheaper than a BMS.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I could try if you'd like, but as a fan of a lot of early 90s rap, I don't recall much use of a flanging sound with the basslines. Can you give a specific example or two of some songs that you'd like to replicate the sound of?

[JanusZarate]

I'm pretty sure what he's describing may just be a very slow resonant filter.

[OptimusPrime]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

I could try if you'd like, but as a fan of a lot of early 90s rap, I don't recall much use of a flanging sound with the basslines. Can you give a specific example or two of some songs that you'd like to replicate the sound of?

Shake Your Rump - Beastie Boys (0:39 - 0:57, 1:36 - 1:52, 2:41 - 3:01).
G Funk - Snoop Dogg

I know I have more. But those are the one's I immediately think of.

EDIT: Has anyone ever heard the song 8 Ball by N.W.A? I'd like to try and replicate that bass thing they've got going on too. Any ideas? Or is that another instrument?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Ah, that would make sense. As it is, when I run the Blowtorch/Qtron combo into my flanger, the word "rap" certainly isn't the first thing on my mind It's quite the opposite- the flanging pulls the envelope sound further and everything sounds spacey, like something from a Steve Miller Band throwaway track.

[Mark Olson]

Sounds great! I really like the Blowtorch. It just doesn't quite have the right vibe to use in my band though. Oh well.

[OptimusPrime]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

Ah, that would make sense. As it is, when I run the Blowtorch/Qtron combo into my flanger, the word "rap" certainly isn't the first thing on my mind It's quite the opposite- the flanging pulls the envelope sound further and everything sounds spacey, like something from a Steve Miller Band throwaway track.

But you know the sound I'm thinking of, right?

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime

Shake Your Rump - Beastie Boys (0:39 - 0:57, 1:36 - 1:52, 2:41 - 3:01).
G Funk - Snoop Dogg

I know I have more. But those are the one's I immediately think of.

EDIT: Has anyone ever heard the song 8 Ball by N.W.A? I'd like to try and replicate that bass thing they've got going on too. Any ideas? Or is that another instrument?

The cut off of Paul's Botique (one of my favorite albums) is definitely a filter sound, not a flanger. I'm not sure what album G Funk is on- can you tell me? That NWA song if I recall sounds like you can get most of it with an octaver. Maybe a touch of chorus. It's a really cheap Casio-type sound

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime

But you know the sound I'm thinking of, right?

I actually thought you were thinking of a more true synth bass tone, like the bassline in Snoop's "Who Am I? (What's My Name)" and a lot of other west coast albums around that time. I know several of us are hoping for that sound or similar to in with the upcoming Chunk synth.