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Need a good usable funky effect, thinking synth/envelope filter

F

Figjam

Aug 5, 2003
15,498
473
Boston, MA
#1
I need an effect. I currently have a few (Boss overdrive, dunlop crybaby wah, digitech bp200 ) but i dont really use them for various reasons. The Boss is great i just dont need the distortion for my stuff, the wah doesnt really cooperate with my sterling well, and it drops out all teh bottom end. The digitech kinda sucks tone like a butt and is annoying to work with.

Im looking for something i could keep plugged in that wont suck my tone. Something like an envelope filter or synth that wont drop out my bottom end. The synth on the digitech multi efx drops all bottom end and sounds like a monotone quack. Ive looked into teh digitech bass synth wah thing but it looks cheap and i hear it doesnt sound good.
What higher level, but reasonably priced (under 200) effects are out there , taht i wont be dissapointed with? True bypass would be nice also.


Is electro harmonix bassballs what im looking for?
 
#2
I'm a filter guy...and I keep looking for that ever-elusive perfect one, but haven't found it. For low end, I highly suggest the EBS BassIQ. It's like a less-greasy Q-tron, but maintains all of your low end.

The Mini Q-tron is decent, but I haven't played with mine long enough to know if it's what you might be looking for.

The Digitech BSW has this cool SUB envelope filter, which adds an octave below. Very low-end friendly with great tracking.

The Emma Discumbobulator doesn't add low end, but doesn't take any away. A very smooth filter.

I hear the Maxon AF-9 is a great sounding synth, as well as the Akai Deep Impact.

I don't really think the Bassballs is the right effect for what you're going for, it's its own animal. Neither envelope filter or synth, but in the middle.
 
#4
FigJam said:
Ive looked into teh digitech bass synth wah thing but it looks cheap and i hear it doesnt sound good.
Click to expand...
I'm just gonna add my .02

I was never a fan of DigiTech, for whatever reason, until recently. I always thought they looked cheap and were just Boss ripoffs. I've since gotten to try out the whole DigiTech line, and I've found that I was quite wrong. The single stompboxes are built like tanks (feel like they weigh at least twice as much as the Boss pedals.) My BSW makes my ODB-3 feel cheap. As for the sounds, the BSW is a really fun pedal to play around with. The sub-octave is pretty cool, as with the autowah. But as always, you should see for yourself. :)
 
#5
Hurley000 said:
I'm just gonna add my .02

I was never a fan of DigiTech, for whatever reason, until recently. I always thought they looked cheap and were just Boss ripoffs. I've since gotten to try out the whole DigiTech line, and I've found that I was quite wrong. The single stompboxes are built like tanks (feel like they weigh at least twice as much as the Boss pedals.) My BSW makes my ODB-3 feel cheap. As for the sounds, the BSW is a really fun pedal to play around with. The sub-octave is pretty cool, as with the autowah. But as always, you should see for yourself. :)
Click to expand...
The digitech stompboxes ive had experience with were cheap. The paint flaked or scratched off very easily , and they didnt sound great.
 
#6
Mo'Phat said:
I don't really think the Bassballs is the right effect for what you're going for, it's its own animal. Neither envelope filter or synth, but in the middle.
Click to expand...

It is an envelope, but I think it's a dual envelope, while the EBS and others are like triple or quadruple envelopes, which is why they teand to be more noticeable. Personally, I still think the Phase 90 gives me plenty of funk, and it's much easier to work with, and more predictable. Well, the EBS is easy too; it's probably my favorite one, and the Mini-Q is my second.
 
#8
The bass iq is very good
BassSynthWah is perfectly serviceable, if nothing great. I use it more as an octaver with extras.
The Maxon AF-9 is very good, very mutron like. Only issue is that you can get some volume spikes when it's on, that can be a big issue.
Bassballs IS a dual filter, two filters simultaneously travelling in opposite direction. Can be cool, but not your classic envelope filter.
I didn't have a good experience with the Discombobulator, I found it lost low end.
 
#10
I finally picked up an NYC reissue Bassballs a few days ago. I guess people either love it or hate it. I think it's great for the price. It's got some flangey stuff going on too and with an octave down it is quite synthy. I find the distortion switch completely useless though, it just adds more volume and sounds really cheap. I got it to see if I could come close to the Phish funk sound of '97. Mike was definitely using the Balls for nasty jams like Tweezer and Ghost from that era.
 
#11
davidmwilson said:
Bassballs IS a dual filter, two filters simultaneously travelling in opposite direction. Can be cool, but not your classic envelope filter.
Click to expand...

Actually, both the filters (there are two in parallel, tuned to different frequencies) are driven in the same 'direction' (i.e. open and close under the control of the same voltage) - the two-filters-in-parallel approach seems to be an attempt at a vocal-type simulation, where each filter acts as a format; this is why the bass-balls can give you a neato 'vowel' effect, which is further heightened by engaging the fuzz mode as this puts more high harmonics through the effect.

Mike
 
#12
prophecybass said:
Actually, both the filters (there are two in parallel, tuned to different frequencies) are driven in the same 'direction' (i.e. open and close under the control of the same voltage) - the two-filters-in-parallel approach seems to be an attempt at a vocal-type simulation, where each filter acts as a format; this is why the bass-balls can give you a neato 'vowel' effect, which is further heightened by engaging the fuzz mode as this puts more high harmonics through the effect.

Mike
Click to expand...
right, can't remember where I read the opposite directions thing but it stuck with me for some reasons. Thanks for the explanation!
 
#13
EBS BassIQ is cool because it doesn't cahnge your volume or tone by being plugged in, or by being turned on. The fact, that turning it on then produces the good, usable funky effect, is just icing on the cake.

No really, the fact that it doesn't have any of the most common problems associated with stompboxes makes it worth the price. AND, it is not an over the top when the hell am I going to use this sound. It does what you expect, and nothing you don't want. Crazy, but true.

Some people want over the top though, and this doesn't deliver that.

Digitech Synth Wah also cool, and way cheap. It has lots of settings you could get lost in, but if you get it set up right, there's lots of neat sounds there as well.

Boss SYB-5, cooler sounds than Digitech Synth Wah, but more headaches and triple the price.

I use the BassIQ, and sometimes have the Digitech in front as an octaver (with a little hint of synth). I'll use that Digitech setting without the EBS, sometimes as well. Might as well get 4 sounds out of my 2 pedals.
 
#16
Figjam - i got a MoogerFooger low pass filter, and an expression pedal hooked up to the cut-off. possibilities are endless, you can get good synth, and a nice wah-like effect, definitely something to checkout at you're next stop to the music store, they're a pricy to buy just like EBS, but there are more options on the MoogerFooger, just may take more time to learn how to use it. you can’t go wrong with the quality and usability of MoogerFooger they’re in a league of they’re own, far surpassing most of the makers concerning this type of synth effects.
 
#18
the digitech bass synth wah is great. BSW>DOD250>Morely PBA-2 is a great combo, imho. the wah pedal can act sort of like opening and closing a filter. combining the synth wah with overdrive adds a whole new world of nastiness
 

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