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Good Envelope Filter

#21
There's literally a mountain of pedals to get buried under. Here's some suggestions to get you started though...

DOD FX25 - like everyone else says, it's a pretty cool pedal.

DOD 440 - not as "wet" as the FX25, and takes a little of the low end away. Tonefactor has a third party pedal based off of this circuitry, which is now called the Bottom Feeder Bass Filter.

EHX Dr. Q - subtle like the 440, but you will want to open the sucker up and fiddle with the internal trimpot to custom tailor the filter. Makes a vast improvement to this pedal.

EHX Q-Tron (and variants thereof) - wet like the FX25, but can do up drive and down drive, more options and knobs to fiddle with. The Plus version has the added bonus of an effects loop.

EHX Bassballs - not your typical filter. With the distortion switch on, it sounds kind of like a Mutron III with dying batteries... if there was a lot more distortion coming from the Mutron. I'd also suggest fiddling with the internal trimpots on this one.

All of these can be had on the cheap used now and again. The trick is to keep your eyes peeled. :D
 
#22
Niff said:
i know this is a thread hijack, but it's better to add to a thread than create a new one..

who knows of an envelope filter that is completely out of control and insane? giant, deep wah sounds that seem impossibly huge and crazy sounding. especially with a little grit after it, and possibly with an octave pedal before it.

basically, yes, i want a guyatone BR2 but i can't find one ANYWHERE. haha.
Click to expand...


gonna have to add my token response here: Frostwave Funk-A-Duck!!!! it's way out of control.. and sounds great with an octave pedal in front (i tend to use a digitech whammy with the oct up/oct down setting).
 
#26
I recently got a Boomstick Bottom Feeder and so far have only had a little time to play with it, but my initial impressions are it's a cool filter...very "quacky", which I kind of dig...

I also just bought a Maxon AF-9 to try out...
 
#27
cirrus6vt said:
it doesn't come cheap (at least not new) but I've been really digging the Moogerfooger lo-pass filter for my envelope needs. the number of different filter effects that it can produce is definately worth the $$
Click to expand...

yeah, but it also has some drawbacks, and isn't exactly plug-and-play.

If you want a good, cheap, ear-pleasing envelope filter, go for the FX25 or the Digitech Bass Synth Wah.
 
#28
fishtx said:
I recently got a Boomstick Bottom Feeder and so far have only had a little time to play with it, but my initial impressions are it's a cool filter...very "quacky", which I kind of dig...

I also just bought a Maxon AF-9 to try out...
Click to expand...

Nice!
I'm looking forward to read your impressions regarding the Maxon.

I'm using a AF-9 right now, but I'm tempted to sell it and buy a MXR Bass Auto Q, which I know you like.

So, if you don't mind doing a small a/b review... :D
 
#29
four2oh said:
gonna have to add my token response here: Frostwave Funk-A-Duck!!!! it's way out of control.. and sounds great with an octave pedal in front (i tend to use a digitech whammy with the oct up/oct down setting).
Click to expand...

the sound samples of that and even the name itself basically tell me it's not what i'm looking for, although it IS out of control. but, it's too.. quacky. i can see how it'd work for some people. but i'm looking for something that sounds like it's trying to swallow the audience, huge and deep.
 
#30
Niff said:
i'm looking for something that sounds like it's trying to swallow the audience, huge and deep.
Click to expand...

Mutron, QTron, AF9, older FX25 (from personal experience) or Moog, Meatball (by reputation). Also, note that the ones which have the most leviathan swallow-the-audience sound almost always need a compressor/limiter after them to rein in the volume spikes at certain frequencies. Some of the best audience-swallowing sounds I've heard involved either multiple filters in parallel, or a filter controlled by a both signal envelope and an expression pedal. Getting those monster filter sounds can get expensive, bulky, and complicated. It doesn't necessarily have to, but those of us that reach after Bootsy find ourselves going a bit nuts.
 
#32
TheMutt said:
There's literally a mountain of pedals to get buried under. Here's some suggestions to get you started though...

DOD FX25 - like everyone else says, it's a pretty cool pedal.

DOD 440 - not as "wet" as the FX25, and takes a little of the low end away. Tonefactor has a third party pedal based off of this circuitry, which is now called the Bottom Feeder Bass Filter.

EHX Dr. Q - subtle like the 440, but you will want to open the sucker up and fiddle with the internal trimpot to custom tailor the filter. Makes a vast improvement to this pedal.

EHX Q-Tron (and variants thereof) - wet like the FX25, but can do up drive and down drive, more options and knobs to fiddle with. The Plus version has the added bonus of an effects loop.

EHX Bassballs - not your typical filter. With the distortion switch on, it sounds kind of like a Mutron III with dying batteries... if there was a lot more distortion coming from the Mutron. I'd also suggest fiddling with the internal trimpots on this one.

All of these can be had on the cheap used now and again. The trick is to keep your eyes peeled. :D
Click to expand...

+9813745
 
#34
Andy V. said:
Nice!
I'm looking forward to read your impressions regarding the Maxon.

I'm using a AF-9 right now, but I'm tempted to sell it and buy a MXR Bass Auto Q, which I know you like.

So, if you don't mind doing a small a/b review... :D
Click to expand...

So I've had a little time now to play with the Maxon AF-9 and I'm struggling a bit getting a sound out of it I like. I went through the manual and tried using the standard presets they have listed, I tried adjusting it in every possible configuration I could dial up...and I just couldn't get a good straight ahead filter sound out if it...When I would dig in, the sound would drop dramatically, in volume and pitch (hard to explain...but the tone would get very thin and tinny)...the lower the notes I would play, the more this happened. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...I will keep messing with it.

I do have a question for all and please chime in if you've had experience with this pedal:

Does it not play well with Active Basses?


I just wondering if hot active systems don't work well with this pedal. I haven't tried plugging a passive Bass into it yet (since I play active Basses live), but will do that when I get home from work this evening.

Any comments and or experience with the Maxon AF-9 would be greatly appreciated.
 
#35
It does sound, with the bit about the tone getting thin and tinny, like you're sending it a hotter signal than it can handle. Envelope filters in general are extremely picky about the input signal level. Some like it hot, some not so much. I strongly suggest anyone who gets disappointing results with any envelope filter try adjusting the level of the signal going in.
 
#36
bongomania said:
It does sound, with the bit about the tone getting thin and tinny, like you're sending it a hotter signal than it can handle. Envelope filters in general are extremely picky about the input signal level. Some like it hot, some not so much. I strongly suggest anyone who gets disappointing results with any envelope filter try adjusting the level of the signal going in.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bongo...I will play with it tonight and see if thats the problem...
 
#38
fishtx said:
So I've had a little time now to play with the Maxon AF-9 and I'm struggling a bit getting a sound out of it I like. I went through the manual and tried using the standard presets they have listed, I tried adjusting it in every possible configuration I could dial up...and I just couldn't get a good straight ahead filter sound out if it...When I would dig in, the sound would drop dramatically, in volume and pitch (hard to explain...but the tone would get very thin and tinny)...the lower the notes I would play, the more this happened. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...I will keep messing with it.

I do have a question for all and please chime in if you've had experience with this pedal:

Does it not play well with Active Basses?


I just wondering if hot active systems don't work well with this pedal. I haven't tried plugging a passive Bass into it yet (since I play active Basses live), but will do that when I get home from work this evening.

Any comments and or experience with the Maxon AF-9 would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I found that if I put my other effects in front of this pedal and a compressor after it I got good response. I liked all the switches down with the slider on the left 3/4 up and the slider on the right all the way up. I also found that playing softer worked better. I used my L2000 BABP LE with preamp on and my passive jazz basses and found my passive basses with single coil pickups produced the sound I was looking for.
Are you using it buy itself or with other effects?
I really like the sound I got when I put an octave and fuzz in front of it.
 

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