Synthy analog bass pedals that are designed to work together

[moon-bass]

Lately I've been diving into synthy bass pedals - think a combo of 2-3 pedals with fuzz, envelope filter, and octaver. There are at least a few pedal makers that design their pedals to work together.

The 3 Leaf trifecta is the first that comes to mind - the Doom 2, Proton, and Octabvre sound absolutely fantastic together!

Other ones that I can think of are the Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk Mark II and the Brown Dog Fuzz and the Iron Ether Subterrograph/Dubterrograph and the Xerograph Deluxe. The FKT Octavarium as well!

What else is out there?

TIA!

​

 

[Just Wrong]

Maybe not as boutique as your examples, but I always thought Aguilar's Octamizer and Filter Twin worked great together. I suppose the Fuzzistor sounds great with the combo, but I've never tried it. The Octamizer is more subby than synthy, but it can also be synthy. Either way, I much prefer it to OC-2 type pedals.

 

[moon-bass]

Maybe not as boutique as your examples,

Doesn't need to be boutique my friend, I'm an equal-opportunity pedal guy! And I haven't tried the Filter Twin yet, but just added it to the list!

I may be an outlier here, but I've had several OC-2's over the years and they always leave me wanting more. Maybe the two of us were just never meant to get along .. and it's weird, I've tried a number of pedals "based" on the OC-2 and some of them are outstanding.

 

[sunbeast]

I have clones of the Chunk pair and the trigger input that sends clean bass from the fuzz to the filter's envelope side-chain input is wonderful! I find that filter quite tweaky to dial in, but end up using it often because of the touch-sensitivity allowed from that side-chain (and when it is dialed in right it is a beast of a filter!). I do wish the Chunk filter had an expression input!
My fuzz-filter of choice for fatter 4-pole "Moog-ish" bass is the Z-Vex Mastotron into the Moog MF101 (or recently the PastFX PX101). Dependent on settings I can still get some touch-sensitivity from the Mastotron, and I end up using a lot of expression pedal control of the MF/PX filter combined with envelope to make it more dynamic. I wish the Moog/PasFX had a trigger input!
I still use the OC-2 or MXR VBO into either of those combos.

 

[Roland GR 88]

After decades of exploring synth bass and still occasionally using the original G88/GR33B system I get similarly great results with an EHX Tube Zipper into an Aguilar Octimizer and often just the octave on its own.
It’s never been cheaper, easier and more fun than now.

 

[blizzard]

The Really Good Pedal Company sells a 2 in 1 clone of the Chunk Systems pedals.

The Funky Puppy MKII

The Funky Puppy MKII is currently in the prototyping stage. If you're interested in getting updates click the "Notify Me" button above. There will be a discounted preorder offer available as we get closer to release. The original Funky Puppy was designed to be faithful to the effects circuits...

www.thereallygoodpedalco.com.au

 

[yberwaffe]

Future Impact or SA C4 ???
Are those too synthy ??

 

[el murdoque]

Future Impact or SA C4 ???
Are those too synthy ??

Both of these are not analog pedals.

 

[NotColinGrigson]

My mxr combo -
Bfd, black label chorus and bod work brilliantly together

 

[el murdoque]

Lately I've been diving into synthy bass pedals - think a combo of 2-3 pedals with fuzz, envelope filter, and octaver. There are at least a few pedal makers that design their pedals to work together.

The 3 Leaf trifecta is the first that comes to mind - the Doom 2, Proton, and Octabvre sound absolutely fantastic together!

Other ones that I can think of are the Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk Mark II and the Brown Dog Fuzz and the Iron Ether Subterrograph/Dubterrograph and the Xerograph Deluxe. The FKT Octavarium as well!

What else is out there?

TIA!

​

Just a heads up: Most of the IE pedals are digital.

I suspect you want single pedals that look and behave like analog ones?

With Iron Ether and 3Leaf, you should have the most prominent makers that do a complete synth chain.
WIth the Chunk Systems Brown Dog and Agent 00Funk you've discovered the obscure version.

I'd wager money that you can get some kind of synth sound going with Moog, but I've never really looked at the weird Moogerfoogers, the ring modulator, freq box and such. I'd just naturally assume that a company like Moog simply has to make something that works.

I recently acquired an Iron Ether FMeron and must say that FM Synthesis is interesting, because it does several things completely different to the octave-fuzz-filter thing.

 

[brianrost]

Lately I've been diving into synthy bass pedals - think a combo of 2-3 pedals with fuzz, envelope filter, and octaver.

You just described the EH Micro Bass Synth pedal. It adds a slow attack effect and does both octave down and octave up. It’s possible to use only one effect at a time, but this requires tweaking the sliders. You can’t just stomp on a switch to bring different effects in and out.

 

[getBAK]

Keeley makes a whole line of pedals designed to work together. Although you might just need

Synth-1 Reverse Attack Fuzz Wave Generator - Keeley Electronics Guitar Effects Pedals

The Synth-1 Reverse Attack Fuzz Wave Generator allows you to create fuzzed-out synth waves! You control the tone of the wave with the Filter Control.

robertkeeley.com

 

[Roland GR 88]

The main drawbacks of dedicated analog synth pedals are their abilities to play more than one note at a time and track and trigger consistently. Especially notes lower on the fretboard. Octave pedals tend to do better at both but not always and envelope filters and fuzz pedals aren’t affected by these issues.
Analog synth pedals are the second most retuned pedals in the industry. IMO & IME. Not too far behind the EHX Key series. Both try to mimic a keyboard which rely on simple on/off triggers and not a plucked string generated envelope which produces too many variables for a tone generator to follow consistently.
Digital pedals do much better as the Source Audio C4 has proven and the mighty trio of envelope, fuzz, octave tend to work best for analog sounds.
Good luck, diving into reviews before buying will save you a lot of headaches and money.

 

[el murdoque]

El Jeffe, just a heads up:
The 3Leaf Doom2 has a special party trick that I remembered today in a conversation with @Charlie Tuna :
Your dynamics leave the pedal a lot more intact than they have any right to be.
Playing the Doom2 into a filter like the PX101 is a real treat - you get something akin to the brown dog into the Agent 00Funk with the trigger cable connected - or when you put the fuzz into the FX loop of a Meatball, where you can set the filter to the sweet spot and choose how hard you trigger it with your playing dynamics alone.

 

[AudioSlave556]

Playing the Doom2 into a filter like the PX101 is a real treat - you get something akin to the brown dog into the Agent 00Funk with the trigger cable connected - or when you put the fuzz into the FX loop of a Meatball, where you can set the filter to the sweet spot and choose how hard you trigger it with your playing dynamics alone.

I'm considering a meatball clone cause I don't have a bajillion dollars for the real thing. Just wanted your opinion/thoughts on the meatball (shortcomings etc) and if you tried putting the octave+fuzz in the loop.

 

[eriky4003]

You just described the EH Micro Bass Synth pedal. It adds a slow attack effect and does both octave down and octave up. It’s possible to use only one effect at a time, but this requires tweaking the sliders. You can’t just stomp on a switch to bring different effects in and out.

They should upgrade this to be able to save patches (a la POG2). Way too finicky for live use but some great sounds.

 

[Bob_Ross]

still occasionally using the original G88/GR33B system

I love you, man.

 

[el murdoque]

I'm considering a meatball clone cause I don't have a bajillion dollars for the real thing. Just wanted your opinion/thoughts on the meatball (shortcomings etc) and if you tried putting the octave+fuzz in the loop.

I've used this clone: Envelope Follower/ Triggered Filter - FTelettronica Handmade Pedals

It's large.

You can run it like a regular filter, but you can also stuff pedals in the loop. This means you can activate your entire synth chain with a single knob.

You get a rich choice of options - sweep direction, low pass / band pass / high pass, attack and release timing etc.

That means you can precisely tune it to your taste, but it also means there's a learning curve.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

I'm considering a meatball clone cause I don't have a bajillion dollars for the real thing. Just wanted your opinion/thoughts on the meatball (shortcomings etc) and if you tried putting the octave+fuzz in the loop.

I've used this clone: Envelope Follower/ Triggered Filter - FTelettronica Handmade Pedals

It's large.

You can run it like a regular filter, but you can also stuff pedals in the loop. This means you can activate your entire synth chain with a single knob.

You get a rich choice of options - sweep direction, low pass / band pass / high pass, attack and release timing etc.

That means you can precisely tune it to your taste, but it also means there's a learning curve.

To add to @el murdoque : I had an original Meatball many moons ago when I hadn't the faintest idea how to use it. So yes, there's a learning curve depending on your filter/envelope filter experience. I too have the FTelettronica beast, which is not only large but also has side jacks for the input and output.

The expression jack apparently works with expression pedals with TS jacks or I believe, volume pedals. I still have to figure this part out. You can use TRS expression pedals but you have to insert the cable and then pull it back out one "click" and you may get some sweeping ability. Until I get the expression working properly I will say it is the biggest shortcoming. It may do great expression sweeps but I have no clue.

Shortcomings aside, the Meatball (clone) is my favorite envelope filter pedal. You get Lowpass/Bandpass/HighPass modes and can even use them as static filters. If you use the Blend knob you can fatten up your regular bass tone by using the Colour (resonance) knob. In that manner, this isn't just a quack quack pedal (which it can definitely do) it's a full-fledged resonant filter pedal that has a lot of potential uses. The tone is thick and juicy but can also get wacky. I've had a Q-tron+, Xerograph Deluxe, JoshWah, Chromatron, Aguilar Filter Twin and have a PastFX PX-101 and Agent00 Funk clone and the Meatball clone remains as my favorite. It's big but it's worth it if you put in the time. IF you want something simpler and a bit more synth sounding (4-pole) then the PastFX PX-101 is a good choice. The Meatball gives you more control over the Attack and Decay times however so there's that.

Octave+fuzz in the Meatball's loop works great, BTW.

 

[bassbrad]

After too many years trying top cop synth sounds from analog pedal combinations I totally embrace the synth pedals we have on offer these days. FWIW I feel the same way about analog vs virtual synths.

If you choose to continue the struggle than I have nothing for you but the Serenity Prayer and crossed fingers.