Finally getting somewhere with envelope filter!

My struggles with envelope filter have been a long road, and my successes have been few and far between. Quite honestly, the only envelope filter I've used that I ever truly liked was the original EHX Zipper from the 70's. I have seen people call it a Mu-Tron III clone on the internet, but as a kid, I sat for an hour in the music store with both and heard no similarities at all. I greatly preferred the Zipper, and to this day I still don't care for the Mu-Tron.

But it got stolen in 1979, and since it was gigantic, I tried to find smaller pedals to replace it. Tried a whole bunch over the years. Certainly haven't tried them all, but I tried out quite a few and have owned and rejected a few, too. Either they cost more than I was willing to pay, or they sucked. It seemed that either I'd get duck quack, wobbly aluminum sheet sound, or such a faint envelope that you couldn't hear it in the mix.

And yet, I still wanted to have one on my board. Even contemplated another Zipper from Ebay, but the ridonkulous prices, giant size, and lack of any bypass at all in those old pedals finally discouraged me, and I gave up on the idea.

Then a few years ago, I bought a Boss SYB-3 and a Digitech Bass Synth Wah on the cheap just to see what they were all about. And wouldn't you know it? They both had envelope filters as a preset! So once a year, I'd bust them out at home, try to find a good sound on one, and when I'd think I nailed it, I'd take it to the gig and it sucked. For at least the past 5 years, I've tried to make it work once a year, and I'd always give up after a few gigs.

But I still wanted one on the board. Didn't want to devote much board space to it, though, so a couple months ago, after much research, I picked up one of those little Mooer Envelope pedals for like $55 hoping I'd luck out. Nope, it sucked worse than any of them. Contemplated forgetting about envelope and just getting a wah wah pedal, too.

Then one night at home, I picked up the Bass Synth Wah again and plugged it in and tried the envelope with the knobs as they were set when I last left it...all the knobs were at 9:00 or close to it. Don't think I ever tried that setting with envelope. I used those settings for a synth patch I was trying to write a song around for my instrumental prog-jam band, but I got a better song idea the next day and postponed working on that one. And son of a gun, it wasn't bad at all. It gave me this kind of guttural "roar" sound that I hadn't been able to dial in before. Noticeable but not quacky or wobbly. So I took it to a gig with my regular band doing 50's, 60's and 70's oldies and tried it, and what do you know? It killed! It especially killed when I added dirt to it. Really upped the roar factor when I kicked in the MXR Bass Distortion. That's my new sound for when I do my one and only solo in "Dance To The Music"

So now that I've found that sound, it seems I am finally done looking for an envelope filter that doesn't suck. That's all I ever wanted...that roar sound. Was hoping the Mooer worked out just because of its small size, but not like the BSW is gigantic, I guess. And it was a pedal I've had for a few years that only cost me like $45, so that makes me extremely happy! Only took me 38 years to find that sound again after getting my Zipper stolen. Not bad.

EDIT: Now with a sound clip! Bass is my Hammersmith PJ4 with EMG Geezer Butler PJ's both on full and Dunlop Super Bright Nickels that are pretty dead. Signal chain is Bass > Boss OC-2 > Bass Synth Wah > MXR Bass Distortion > Ampeg Scrambler > Broughton Low and High Pass Filters set to simulate the frequency response of an SVT 810e > A-Designs REDDI > Fast Track interface. Exact settings on the BSW are Sens 8:30, Control and Range both 9:15, Sound type 1. First I play clean, then add the BSW, then the Scrambler (a freaking amazing pedal, BTW ), then the MXR Bass D, and last but not least the OC-2. HPF and LPF were on the whole time.

 

Everything at 9:00 or close to it.

Got no idea if it works, got no idea about the expression pedal. But if a pedal doesn't work for you, that's cool.

 

Anything is possible. But I don't know of any way of figuring out how to work a pedal other than reading the manual and turning knobs until you get a sound that's pleasing to the ears. If you know some amazing great secret to working a pedal that I don't after about 40 years of being a pro musician, I am all ears.

 

I think the envelope filter setting is 1. Will try to get a soundclip sometime in the near future, but I have my grandson over and have to work tonight and tomorrow.