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Looking for a Funky, Versatile Envelope Filter Pedal... (how original, I know)

#43
Found another filter you guys might be interested in... I was on proguitarshop.com watching a video for a Solidgoldfx Electroman (delay). Got curious as to what else Solidgoldfx offers and found THIS little gem:

Solidgoldfx Funkbox!

A 6-way Sweep control??!! Wha-HUH? And a STOMP SWITCH for reversing the sweep with your FOOT??!! :eek: Sounds pretty awesome with bass in the demo tracks too... somewhere between the 3Leaf and the Pigtronix EP2 to my ears, maybe with a dash of M82 thrown in.

*sigh* Another envelope filter to check out. :rolleyes: I guess I just can't help myself. lol Oh well, better than drugs I suppose. ;)

Houston, we're gonna need a bigger board!

5sg.
 
#45
fivestringgecko said:
Found another filter you guys might be interested in... I was on proguitarshop.com watching a video for a Solidgoldfx Electroman (delay). Got curious as to what else Solidgoldfx offers and found THIS little gem:

Solidgoldfx Funkbox!

A 6-way Sweep control??!! Wha-HUH? And a STOMP SWITCH for reversing the sweep with your FOOT??!! :eek: Sounds pretty awesome with bass in the demo tracks too... somewhere between the 3Leaf and the Pigtronix EP2 to my ears, maybe with a dash of M82 thrown in.

*sigh* Another envelope filter to check out. :rolleyes: I guess I just can't help myself. lol Oh well, better than drugs I suppose. ;)

Houston, we're gonna need a bigger board!

5sg.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did a thread about this one a little while ago. I wonder if the sweep control is the same as a range control. I really love the idea of a foot switch for reversing the sweep. I thought the demo tracks were a bit tame, though...maybe just how they had it set. If you get one, PLEASE do a review with soundclips! :D
 
#47
Smurf-o-Deth said:
I'm not buying any effects for a few days at least (have a Raven and Octron on the way), but I'm still looking for the right filter--I may take this one on a trial basis in the coming weeks, we'll see. I'll obviously post about it if I do so.
Click to expand...

I won't be getting a Funkbox anytime soon either I think, I need to hold off for a bit too. At least that what I told myself, because I'm scheduled to get a new tattoo started at the end of the month (3/4 sleeve!!!). But then Digitech had to go and release the 20th Anniversary Whammy last week and my G.A.S. won. Been wanting to try one for a long time, and now it's chrome! lol :rolleyes: lol

The Funkbox and the EP2 are the next filters on my list, but I don't know in which order or when. Maybe I'll put it up for a vote here when I decide to pull the trigger. ;)

5sg.
 
#49
Cloverfield said:
Do you think like the guys below me that an old-school EHX Q-Tron+ would be perfect for me? That's what Flea actually used on "Falling into Grace," correct? If so, I totally dig his sound on that song.
Click to expand...

I've been meaning to reply to this, sorry for the delay!

I'm not sure what effect Flea used on that song, but he's got more going on with his sound than just an envelope filter. If you listen closely, the tempo of his effect is too even (triplets on the beat) and doesn't always match up with his notes to be a straight up envelope filter.

A few possibilities come to mind...

Option 1: I suspect he's also got some form of oscillator going. Sounds like he may be running a tremolo (or phaser or flanger?) into an envelope filter, but I don't currently have a trem so I can't test that theory.

Option 2: It could be the Tempo mode on a Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah. I've never used one first hand, but it's got a tap tempo function that acts like sweeping a wah pedal automatically at the tempo you set.

Option 3: he's using an actual wah pedal and manually sweeping it on triplets through the whole song. If that's the case, dude has the ankles of the Incredible Hulk.

With it's phaser section, the EP2 can sort of do an effect like the bassline you're talking about, but the WMD Super Fatty could probably get you much closer with it's LFO section. (LFO = Low Frequency Oscillator)

Just a couple guesses anyway.

5sg.
 
#51
I play a lot of Red Hot Chili's and Flea stuff, I found out he used a DOD FX25 envelope filter for Power of Equality, a Mu-Tron III with dying batteries for Sir Psycho Sexy and for 21st Century he used an Electro Harmonics Q-Tron which he also used live on tour. However the Q-Tron and Mu-Tron III is meant for guitars not for bass, so the effect can peak out when playing lower notes. The FX25 has had its fair share of bad reviews and complaints from customers.

EBS Bass IQ is supposedly the best wah effect money can buy, but it had to be shipped from Sweden and costs the earth $499!!!! But I know a guy who owned the EBS and said that the MXR Bass Auto Q is better quality and has a wider range of wah effects for half the price of the EBS. So I got the MXR and I haven’t looked back, I'm not trying to sell this thing, but when I received it, you could like tell that MXR knew what bassists were looking for in a wah. The construction is bullet proof, it has a volume knob! (which is rare to find on any wah), an led thingy that pulsates to the effect, 5 more dials to adjust the effects of the wah, the booklet which gives different settings for different situations and explained what each dial is for. Blah Blah Blah I’m sure you can look it all up. But most importantly the sound is awesome. You can adjust the effect to be subtle, punchy and funky or really gooey, fat and buttery. And that’s playing it through a Rumble 15 amp and Squire Jazz. It’s RRP in store was 399 or something, but i said to the manager i saw it advertised for 250 so the store manager called up MXR and said that they can do it for 250. So i was stoked, and have sworn by this thing ever since.
 
#52
There's a PGS video demo for the Funkbox on YouTube:



It's a guitar demo, of course. Solid Gold FX describes the Funkbox as being more like a vintage Italian wah than an auto wah, and it does sound rather wah-like in the PGS demo. It doesn't sound like it has any settings where the filter will open and close really fast to give you that "POP!", but I don't think it's designed to do that. It definitely sounds smooth, and it has a good stuck wah sound, too. I think maybe it's made to compete with filters like the MP Snow White as opposed to Mutron-style filters. It sounds really good with dirt, and even though Andy didn't do it on the fly, the sweep reverse stomp switch sounds very cool and useful! :hyper: I'd like to have one as a nice complement to my Mutron-style filters, but I'm not ready to give up $265 for it, at least not right now.
 
#53
I've tried the EP-2, it’s great and sound very pretty but not to classic Mutron or DOD sound if that is what you are after. I got the same impression from the Sub Decay. Until yesterday my only two "keeper" pedals were a vintage Mutron III and an M82, they gave me the best of both vintage tones IMO & IME. The Mutron was by far the more versatile with at least 3 desirable classic tones and handles fuzz and octaves very well if you want vintage synth. I think EHX gets closer to the old Mutrons than anyone else I've tried. Though George Porter Jr. got some great vintage Mutron like tones out of a BassIQ when I saw him perform last October.

I just got the WMD Super Fatman and wow! It's a keeper. You can get great synthy tones with out any dirt and it has been demonstrated to me by a friend to get great vintage (mutron like) tones as well. I'm still learning how to get vintage out of it. At $280 it’s more expensive than a Qballs, Qtron or M82. Also it comes with a learning curve.

The Groove regulator is a great pretty sounding pedal but was too nice and well behaved to be a keeper on my board. I feel the reason it is hard to get a bad tone out of it is that the ranges on the knobs were too small. I like the ability to make my sweeps as fast, slow, wet, dirty, clean, short, long or.... as possible.
 
#55
cybersnyder said:
This may sound silly, but I really like the filter effect on the Korg Pandora PX4B. I'd love to find that in a pedal. Everything I've tried sounds too trebly, like laser beams in outer space.
Click to expand...

Can you make a clip of it? There's likely a comparable sound in an existing filter out there to match it to.
 
#57
Smurf-o-Deth said:
The Qballs is going to be wet, funky, and very, very versatile. The MXR is going to be much less versatile, but much smaller, easier to use, and will nail that old DOD-style filter sound. Either one of those are going to be your best bets here, I'd say. The Groove Regulator is not a top candidate for you, in my opinion--everyone is just gaga over it, so they plug it in every filter thread, regardless of whether or not it's the right fit--it's pretty tame, overall, which is not what you are describing yourself as looking for. As far as the Jacques Trinity, while versatile, I'd strongly advise against it for bass--both the range and nature of the sweep combine to make it simply not very audible on bass (yes, I've owned one), and it does not compete with the other suggestions in the thread, in my opinion. Also, the Prometheus is not a particularly funky filter (more "spacey"), so probably not what you are looking for.
Click to expand...

I own a ton of filters and still rave about the 3 Leaf, because FOR ME (this is subjective) it has the best sound, is easiest to control, and cuts through the mix. The Version 2 of the 3 Leaf is "wetter" than V.1 (I modded mine to V2). Of course, what you like is going to be subjective, but I would advise against anyone ruling out the 3 Leaf Groove Regulator without first hearing a demo of V2. (FYI, I have an Enigma Qballs with expression pedal, DOD FX25, Subdecay Prometheus, Alesis Philtre, Korg G5 with expression pedal, and a modded EXH Bassballs in addition to the 3Leaf--I've never dug the MXR filtes in terms of getting sounds I liked out of them--this is not to say that they aren't a valid option--I like Uriah Duffy who demos the new MXR filter, and I play a bass he used to tour with--see avatar.)

If folks listen to some of the older funk recordings, heavily "quacked-out" basses using envelope filters often get lost in the mix, in my opinion. It may be fun to solo on these things, however.
 
#58
Nice! I've been lurking filter threads for a while and there's some really solid knowledge and experience here.

I've waffled between the MXR, [DEL]EHX[/DEL] EBS and 3leaf but I'm currently saving coin for the GR. All three are readily available in my area but I dig the classic funk tones from the GR.

OP: I'm interested to hear what you end up going with :)
 

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