Synthy analog bass pedals that are designed to work together

[moon-bass]

That’s wild you’ve bought and sold the C4 that many times.

I'll be on record and say that the C4 is an amazing pedal, it's just not amazing for me.

The first time I bought it, I really didn't know what I was doing and I didn't put any time into it, and GAS struck so I sold it. The second time I bought it, I decided that I was going to dedicate some time and effort into learning it, and I found a bunch of cool presets online, and started digging it, but I felt it limited for live use so, sold it. The third and last time I bought it, I needed it for a band that I had just joined, so I also bought the Disaster Area MIDI controller to make it more versatile, and that made a hug difference. The band ended up not happening and I didn't need it anymore, and of course, GAS, so I sold it.

I just never really got into the computer or app based editing. Same goes for the Future Impact, and multiple Helix units that I have owned over the years. Same as the C4 - fantastic gear, ut just not fantastic for me.

It stems from my day job - 25+ years in IT, which means 25+ years staring at a computer screen all day - the last thing that I want to do is to stare at it instead of playing bass

 

[moon-bass]

Fender Hello Kitty Fuzz: kind of an impulse buy, but cranked it has one of my favorite beyond broken synths fuzz sounds and handles bass well.

I've heard this and I'm kinda low-key GASsing for it. Is there anything else that you would compare it to?

 

[moon-bass]

Team Awesome! Fuzz Machine into Prometheus.

Yeah I can dig that Team Awesome fuzz. What do you like about the Prometheus? Is it more of a MuTron type filter, or can it do more?

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Funny enough, I have these two as well but find shortcomings in both, past fx having the fast/slow toggle and the agent00 not having an effects loop and in/out level controls so thats why I wanted to see if the meatball will work for me.

I did checked the agent00 manual yesterday and apparently you could use a splitter into the CV input and that would work as a pseudo fx loop so I'm going to see if that works first.

Yep, they both have their shortcomings and the Meatball does as well. There's no perfect envelope filter yet unfortunately. the Meatball doesn't sweep as wide as the Agent00 Funk, the range knob sets upper and lower limits on the sweep, so that's something to take into consideration as well. One thing I love about the Meatball more than these other two is the responsiveness. If you are looking for a dynamic interaction with your filter then you should be happy with it.

 

[spufman]

I've got a lot of filters and the Prometheus is not much like any of them. It's a little finicky, but not as much so as the 00Funk. The sample/hold option adds to its versatility. My three favorites are the Grease Juicer, Xerograph Dlx and the Prometheus. Bonus points for onboard battery option.

 

[bassbrad]

Oh no man, not a struggle at all, just having fun and experimenting

I don't have any specific sound or tone in mind that I'm chasing - this is about trying a bunch of different stuff, having fun, and finding some cool sounds. In fact, I would say that I'm more interested in finding original sounds than copping any existing synths and the like.

I do have a couple of synth pedals - I'm actually a fan of the Boss SY series due to their simplicity - at heart I'm more of a knob turner. I've bought and sold a SA C4 at least 3 times lol. I actually really loved it, but I found that I was spending more time in front of my computer tweaking it than playing.

I get where you are going with your experiment. When I want to create an effects chain to simulate a synth I reach for a Zoom pedal to save and recall for future needs, I have a B2 full of those creations and on my other Zooms too. I would rather tweak, create sounds and be able to save them for later use so the current synth pedals I have are far more appealing to me. The SA C4 and Panda Future Impact were both answers to a long time desire for a synth that would work with my bass. I also use the SY200 and have several of the EHX pedals.

 

[moon-bass]

I get where you are going with your experiment. When I want to create an effects chain to simulate a synth I reach for a Zoom pedal to save and recall for future needs, I have a B2 full of those creations and on my other Zooms too. I would rather tweak, create sounds and be able to save them for later use so the current synth pedals I have are far more appealing to me. The SA C4 and Panda Future Impact were both answers to a long time desire for a synth that would work with my bass. I also use the SY200 and have several of the EHX pedals.

I got rid of all of my modellers and multis for now, but I've been looking at picking up something small, just to have. The Zoom B2 4 is int he list ...

 

[Just Wrong]

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.

Wait, you created the filter addict thread and never tried the Filter Twin? People are sleeping on the Filter Twin.

 

[elvish_paisley]

I've heard this and I'm kinda low-key GASsing for it. Is there anything else that you would compare it to?

Hmm, I’ve done some comparisons. I’ve been meaning to make some YouTube videos for fun. Honestly, I think the closest other pedal I have is the Earthquakes Data Corruptor (speaking of IT, I too have done too much computer work…)

 

[moon-bass]

Wait, you created the filter addict thread and never tried the Filter Twin? People are sleeping on the Filter Twin.

Yeah I think I have to give up one of my Funk Bassist cards

For real tho, I was focusing a lot on MuTron-alikes and not really paying too much attention to everything else. That's changing for sure .. one of the lessons learned for me is that maybe the best envelope filter for me is the one that will cop a great MuTron sound/feel, but can do a lot more ..

 

[bassbrad]

Wait, you created the filter addict thread and never tried the Filter Twin? People are sleeping on the Filter Twin.

I have been interested in trying both the Aguilar Filter Twin and Xotic Robotalk pedals because the EHX Bass Balls continues to be my favorite defect pedal.

 

[Just Wrong]

I have been interested in trying both the Aguilar Filter Twin and Xotic Robotalk pedals because the EHX Bass Balls continues to be my favorite defect pedal.

I went down a bit of a filter rabbit hole a few years back. I loved my Moog Low Pass Filter, but it had its issues (weird power requirements, size, buffer).

I tried the 3 Leaf Wonderlove and Proton, one of the newer Mutrons, MXR BEF, Source Audio Spectrum Intelligent, EHX Q Tron Plus and the Aguilar.

The Aguilar was my favourite by far. The Source Audio sounded great too — it did the Moog thing — but I had no patience for the whole editing thing.

My all time favourite sound-wise is still the Moog, though.

I sound like Aguilar fanboy, but other than the AG, the Octamizer and the Filter Twin, I don’t like their other products at all.

 

[sunbeast]

I went down a bit of a filter rabbit hole a few years back. I loved my Moog Low Pass Filter, but it had its issues (weird power requirements, size, buffer).

I tried the 3 Leaf Wonderlove and Proton, one of the newer Mutrons, MXR BEF, Source Audio Spectrum Intelligent, EHX Q Tron Plus and the Aguilar.

The Aguilar was my favourite by far. The Source Audio sounded great too — it did the Moog thing — but I had no patience for the whole editing thing.

My all time favourite sound-wise is still the Moog, though.

I sound like Aguilar fanboy, but other than the AG, the Octamizer and the Filter Twin, I don’t like their other products at all.

Do yourself a favor and check out a Past FX PX101- its a clone of the Moog with all 3 of your cons fixed: MXR-sized, regular 9V tip-neg power, and an internal switch to make it either true-bypass (Drive-disabled when bypassed) or standard "Drive circuit always enabled" like the original. It also has a Master Volume (one of my issues with the original was lack of volume control), better LED metering, and an internal envelope sensitivity trim (so you can get full sweep with Drive set low or tame the sweep with the Drive set high, vs the original where sensitivity was tied to the Drive control). I still have the Moog and the Past FX does it all but better IMO! The only thing it lacks is all the CV in/out jacks, but it does have an assignable expression input to do the standard Freq sweep that most users would use (or a few other parameters)- most of us bassists probably didn't take full advantage of those other CV jacks anyway. The PX101 is honestly the pedalboard-friendly MF-101 most of us hoped for! (sure I'd love added envelope attack/release control and a trigger input or FX loop, etc but beggars can't be choosers and maybe PastFX might tweak more in a future version if we get lucky!)

 

[Just Wrong]

Do yourself a favor and check out a Past FX PX101- its a clone of the Moog with all 3 of your cons fixed: MXR-sized, regular 9V tip-neg power, and an internal switch to make it either true-bypass (Drive-disabled when bypassed) or standard "Drive circuit always enabled" like the original. It also has a Master Volume (one of my issues with the original was lack of volume control), better LED metering, and an internal envelope sensitivity trim (so you can get full sweep with Drive set low or tame the sweep with the Drive set high, vs the original where sensitivity was tied to the Drive control). I still have the Moog and the Past FX does it all but better IMO! The only thing it lacks is all the CV in/out jacks, but it does have an assignable expression input to do the standard Freq sweep that most users would use (or a few other parameters)- most of us bassists probably didn't take full advantage of those other CV jacks anyway. The PX101 is honestly the pedalboard-friendly MF-101 most of us hoped for! (sure I'd love added envelope attack/release control and a trigger input or FX loop, etc but beggars can't be choosers and maybe PastFX might tweak more in a future version if we get lucky!)

Oh, wow!!! It even looks great!! I will definitely order one in the near future. Thanks!!!

 

[moon-bass]

I've got the 3 Leaf Trifecta, the Agent OOFunk (arriving tomorrow) with the Brown Dog Fuzz, and an IE Subterrograph on the way.

I'm going to do some sample recordings with all three once I have had some time to dial them all in.

Have to think of an Octave to use with the Chunk Systems, and a Fuzz to use with the IE. I don't have many octave choices, but I've got a few good fuzz's ...

 

[Just Wrong]

I've got the 3 Leaf Trifecta, the Agent OOFunk (arriving tomorrow) with the Brown Dog Fuzz, and an IE Subterrograph on the way.

I'm going to do some sample recordings with all three once I have had some time to dial them all in.

Have to think of an Octave to use with the Chunk Systems, and a Fuzz to use with the IE. I don't have many octave choices, but I've got a few good fuzz's ...

Don’t you have the 3 Leaf?

But if you want something different, try to get your hands on the Mantic Hulk or DOD Meat Box.

It’s… Special. It doesn’t sound as good as the OC-2 and its clones or the Octamizer, but it’s earth shattering.

 

[moon-bass]

Don’t you have the 3 Leaf?

But if you want something different, try to get your hands on the Mantic Hulk or DOD Meat Box.

It’s… Special. It doesn’t sound as good as the OC-2 and its clones or the Octamizer, but it’s earth shattering.

Thanks, I'm gonna check them out! The Mantic Hulk seems to be unobtanium, but the Meatbox isn't too badly priced, especially for the reissue .. which I am sure half the ppl would say that it's not as good as the original.

I figured I needed an excuse to pick up a new octave pedal, and beside that, it would seem like the Octabvre is, like ... cheating on the the 3 Leaf gang ;-)

 

[Just Wrong]

The Hulk comes up from time to time. I emailed Mantic earlier this year to ask when they were going to release a new batch, and I got a reply within a few hour saying he put a few up so I could grab one.

 

[sunbeast]

Thanks, I'm gonna check them out! The Mantic Hulk seems to be unobtanium, but the Meatbox isn't too badly priced, especially for the reissue .. which I am sure half the ppl would say that it's not as good as the original.

I figured I needed an excuse to pick up a new octave pedal, and beside that, it would seem like the Octabvre is, like ... cheating on the the 3 Leaf gang ;-)

The Meatbox/Hulk is just a typical analog octave divider with a blend control with two low-frequency EQ controls placed after it. So if you have an octaver and a versatile EQ on hand already you can emulate what it does. I suspect part of the draw of the original Meatbox is the lo-fi grittiness that would happen as you pushed the subs and volume on it and the circuit ran out of headroom. I can’t speak to the improvements the Mantic made to the circuit. I have a couple of the reissues and they are cool when used in moderation (I just blend in a bit of octave and boost some of the EQ and you get a sub pillow underneath your playing without any obvious octave sound, and you can even play chords without audible glitching), but IMO not a great replacement for a better-sounding octaver (the actual octaver circuit in the Meatbox is not on par with any of the big guns in that world in sound or tracking IMO)

 

[Just Wrong]

The Meatbox/Hulk is just a typical analog octave divider with a blend control with two low-frequency EQ controls placed after it. So if you have an octaver and a versatile EQ on hand already you can emulate what it does. I suspect part of the draw of the original Meatbox is the lo-fi grittiness that would happen as you pushed the subs and volume on it and the circuit ran out of headroom. I can’t speak to the improvements the Mantic made to the circuit. I have a couple of the reissues and they are cool when used in moderation (I just blend in a bit of octave and boost some of the EQ and you get a sub pillow underneath your playing without any obvious octave sound, and you can even play chords without audible glitching), but IMO not a great replacement for a better-sounding octaver (the actual octaver circuit in the Meatbox is not on par with any of the big guns in that world in sound or tracking IMO)

I thought the Mantic tracked decently, but I agree 100% with everything else. The Hulk’s octave doesn’t sound as good as the others. It’s a pedal you feel more than one you listen to.

I haven’t spent much time with the Mutron and EHX octave dividers, and I’ve never tried the Ampeg Sub-blaster, but to me, octavers fall into three categories:

Synthy
OC2, OC5, 3Leaf, Subsonic, MXR VBO

Subby
Aguilar

Subharmonic?
Hulk and Meatbox

And then you have the MXR BOD, which can do both synthy and subby (although if I recall correctly, any of the synthy and subby pedals sound better than the BOD).

The Aguilar can also get synthy, but its strength is subby.