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What is the most forgiving envelope filter?

#41
Tom Bomb said:
"FX25 IS ALIVE!" :smug: It's a flamin' festival of funkiness :hyper: For starters, just a clean boost > EF > comp - ride the sensitivity a little to suit the axe and then the bass' tone knob on the fly, if needs be, to reel it back in and you're in like Flynn :cool: Then throw any number of things in between whenever the mood takes you. It can get really dirty, sometimes :wacky:
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IME, if you want big, wide-open sweeps with no low end loss, you'll need a blend pedal, too. I really like the nastiness of the FX25, but when you open it up, the beginning of the sweep squeezes out all the low end, and there's a big bassy swell on the decay. After all, it is a band-pass filter.

But of course, I'm guessing you're having a little fun here - the FX25 was clearly never meant to be a "forgiving" envelope filter!
 
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#42
Feral Feline said:
MXR BEF's just a one trick pony (that's all it is)
But it turns that trick with pride.





Something like an LS-2, but with a Low Pass Filter on the clean signal, would help retain the booty and still let the rest of the signal be as quacky as you wanna be ducky.
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So i've got rid of my MXR BEF not coz' it was bad. Tru Tron x3 was the ultimate point - i use it often from those days...
 
#45
Tom Bomb said:
No guesswork, pal. Observe :)
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With a rig like that, I'm sure he can make anything work!

IME, with just the FX25 (no blend, signal-splitting, etc.), I was never able to get big, open sweeps and keep the low end intact throughout the sweep. Either way, it's still not among the most "forgiving" pedals, IMO, unless maybe it's been modded to be.
 
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#46
Ant Illington said:
Where do you guys try your pedals (the non mxr, boss and zoom) before you buy them. I'm pretty happy with mine which I use almost never.... Mxr. Are there brick and mortar stores that carry boutique stuff for bass or do you just roll the dice and buy direct (or used from someone who bought direct)?
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Buy used so you can flip or for the same price, or buy from a store that has a good return policy. I've bought pedals brand new and returned them quite a few times.
 
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#47
HolmeBass said:
Ok, that makes sense! If all you've tried is the Haz, you haven't tried a *real* MuTron III. Trust me. I would suggest a TruTron 3x if you can get a hold of one.
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The TruTron sounds a little too clean compared to the original for me. I like a little bit of dirt in my filter which is why I like the Mr Black and the Mini Q-Tron so much - but the new Broughton JoshWah sounds like a contender for the cream of the crop.
 
#48
dannybuoy said:
The TruTron sounds a little too clean compared to the original for me. I like a little bit of dirt in my filter which is why I like the Mr Black and the Mini Q-Tron so much - but the new Broughton JoshWah sounds like a contender for the cream of the crop.
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Definitely seems difficult to drive the TruTron 3x into saturation without it getting *very loud* first. My guitarist and I have been trying. But all the more reason to just run some nice OD right ahead of the filter. Set your own dirt just the way you like it.
 
#51
SteveCS said:
The most musical amd natural sounding envelope filter I've ever used or owned, and the one I will now be sticking with, is the Xotic Robotalk 2. Hardly gets a mention but IMHO it's the best there is...
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I've always wanted to try one. It definitely looks cool, like a fully-featured version of the FilterTwin. Except can you set either filter to down sweep instead of upsweep? Is that set on the internal dip switches?
 
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#55
This could be very interesting if the NAMM 2017 rumours are true:
mufx_microtron3-preview_001.jpg
 

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#56
FilterFunk said:
IME, with just the FX25 (no blend, signal-splitting, etc.), I was never able to get big, open sweeps and keep the low end intact throughout the sweep. Either way, it's still not among the most "forgiving" pedals, IMO, unless maybe it's been modded to be.
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Agreed. I loved the old FX25 both for the Bill Laswell dub trick and for the super greasy filter tone but it was an unruly little beast.

The sweep was so big that it would both thin out my tone and get me lost in the mix at the beginning and then having me fearing for my cabs' lives at the end.

To get the most out of it I ran it in the loop of a blender and had a compressor downstream that was capable of some limiting action to protect against huge peaks.

dubboard5.jpg


Later versions of the FX25 added a blend knob which was a good idea but IMO poorly executed as I thought it was a lousy blend.

But dialed in right I loved that little green monster.
 
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#57
Jared Lash said:
Agreed. I loved the old FX25 both for the Bill Laswell dub trick and for the super greasy filter tone but it was an unruly little beast.

The sweep was so big that it would both thin out my tone and get me lost in the mix at the beginning and then having me fearing for my cabs' lives at the end.

To get the most out of it I ran it in the loop of a blender and had a compressor downstream that was capable of some limiting action to protect against huge peaks.

dubboard5.jpg


Later versions of the FX25 added a blend knob which was a good idea but IMO poorly executed as I thought it was a lousy blend.

But dialed in right I loved that little green monster.
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Yeah the old FX25 is probably the *least* forgiving envelope filter! I think the way the resonance is set up it probably rules on guitar. The FX25B seemed to remove all that was cool with the FX25; it was definitely safer and easier to dial in, but I did not like the sound as much at all.

Also Bill Laswell uses a really obscure DOD pedal for his dub trick, not the FX25. The FX545 (see my next post for attribution). It get's reported erroneously as the FX25 and I think Laswell has been ok with the misinformation because he thinks we should all discover things for ourselves. He's probably right, but some friendly advice never hurt, did it?
 
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#58
From Bass Player interviews, Laswell uses the DOD Wah Filter 545 for his Dub trick.

"Both the live and direct signals always run through Laswell’s pedal board, which is equipped with a few key effects that are usually set to get only one sound when they’re engaged. One of these is a rare DOD Performer Series 545 Wah Filter; when Laswell lays into a straight dub groove (as heard on “Revolution” from M.O.D.’s Jahbulon), he’ll play lightly enough to avoid opening the full range of the envelope filter—a move that cuts the highs and adds a rich fullness to the lower register."
 
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