Have points at MF. What sounds nice?

[buldog5151bass]

I just tested your string theory. My strings are the same price at Amazon and Musicians Friend.
I happily use basic Dunlop Super brights or EB slinky bass
So I would go with strings if I were in your predicament.

I've got $300 in points at Best Buy, and I don't want anything there.

They do have some strings and accessories, or maybe get a set of monitors.

 

[DanAdams]

They do have some strings and accessories, or maybe get a set of monitors.

Wow. I just checked. They are an Ibanez dealer! It also looks like Bestbuy has Glarrys that they call 'Winado" also presonus, Focusrite, Roland... who knew?
Their strings look pretty sketch .

 

[Michedelic]

Cheap, power Hungary, over digitized old technology. I bought it for the octave and do like the extreme of the envelope with descent bottom but it does feel more synthy. It was meant as a joke sorry if it doesn’t resonate with your sense of humor.

Are you in Budapest?

 

[FilterFunk]

The M188 Bass Auto Q has no sensitivity knob and has not responded to the dynamics of active G&Ls or passive Fenders and a few on between. Envelope filters do.

I stand corrected!

You're right - the manual says it has a "sensitivity circuit" that's apparently designed to open automatically instead of according to the amplitude of the input. I should be ashamed to call myself FilterFunk! It's been many years since I owned one; my memory of it is faulty.

I know MXR already has a hit with the Bass Envelope Filter, but judging from the many demos, it's not my kind of flavor. I'd love to see MXR make a version of the Bass Auto Q that ditches the LFO, keeps the Range, Q, Volume and Decay, and adds a dedicated Sensitivity control knob, then put it into a smaller enclosure. I know I'd buy it!

 

[DavePlaysBass]

I just tested your string theory. My strings are the same price at Amazon and Musicians Friend.
I happily use basic Dunlop Super brights or EB slinky bass
So I would go with strings if I were in your predicament.

I've got $300 in points at Best Buy, and I don't want anything there.

You know looking at today's pricing at MF strings, there not bad. I have a ton of strings and have not looked for a while. I recall sometime in the last two years the D'Addarios XLs, Rotosounds, and various DRs had better deals on Reverb and Ebay relative to MF, but as of today, they look pretty comparable. I could still save $5 on the right set but not as much delta as there was.

 

[DavePlaysBass]

I stand corrected!

You're right - the manual says it has a "sensitivity circuit" that's apparently designed to open automatically instead of according to the amplitude of the input. I should be ashamed to call myself FilterFunk! It's been many years since I owned one; my memory of it is faulty.

I know MXR already has a hit with the Bass Envelope Filter, but judging from the many demos, it's not my kind of flavor. I'd love to see MXR make a version of the Bass Auto Q that ditches the LFO, keeps the Range, Q, Volume and Decay, and adds a dedicated Sensitivity control knob, then put it into a smaller enclosure. I know I'd buy it!

No problem. There's all kind of circuits and changes out there. I love the sound of my M188 but have never been able to get it to be the one with touch sensitivity despite what it says on the internet. Google AI tells me today that it is touch sensitive. I bought the MXR Bass Envelope hoping it would be a touch sensitive version of the M188. Not anywhere close. It wasn't bad. And the blend is a great idea, but it wasn't the wet Dunlop Wah sound I was looking for. I have read elsewhere it may be a band pass filter made bass friendly with a blend knob. Cool idea but I never found it inspiring like the M188. I am actually looking now at the Nano Q-tron and maybe a Supafunk as my next attempt at the funk in my head sound. MF also has the Behringer Mutron B3 knock off for $70 new but I will probably try the Nano Q-tron next (micro with a level control added). I just wish it went both directions like the peaky AF-9 I tried years ago and can't get out of my head.

And yes, MXR should get rid of the shimmer effect and make a touch sensitive M188. I would be all over that too.