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Why can't I find a filter pedal that I like?

#81
hennessybass, thanks so much for the A/B comparison of the Proton and Neutrino! I was hoping the Neutrino would go a little farther and get a little nastier than the Proton...I might have to give it a shot now.
 
#82
I'd suggest any tron clone or an authentic Mutron. The closest you tried to the Mutron so far is the 3Leaf. Many tron clones are more reactive with more Q on tap and some with simpler interface. Also, I need to feel out a filter for a good amount of time before I get used to the detection circuit and can play it like an extension of my finger attach. The SA Manta reactions differ the most from other filters I tried, probably due to the lack of optical detection.

Tron III Types:
EHX Enigma QBalls (Mutron + a whole lot more but the possibilities maybe too much.
Mutron III (holy grail)
Mu-FX Trutron (want to try but cost more than my Mutron)
EHX Qtron (not as feature rich as QBalls)
WMD Fatman (easy to get into crazy territory but a damn good tron like filter)
Neutrino (I haven't tried but it seems to be a simple interface and quality Tron clone)

Also, I LOVE the Octavius Squeezer just as much as the Mutron and Enigma! But it isn't Tron like, more synthy MS-20 vibe, and can cost $350-400 used. Enigmas are like $100 used.

Robotalk is cool but if you don't like the MXR you may not be into the band pass sound. (Its been a while, I remember Robotalk to be bandpass). Also, two of the filters you tried and disliked are dual filters so Robo may not be for you.
 
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#86
ShoeManiac said:
I tried out one filter pedal that I really liked. It was a friend's "BOB". Otherwise known as the Invalid Link Removed. I was genuinely impressed with this particular pedal, but it does seem to be a little difficult to come by.
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I love the DiscumBOBulator - it is a funktastic filter. I have that as well as the Chunk Systems 00Funk MkII and OS on my board. The Chunk pedals can get more extreme & wet & squelchy, but the Emma pedal has a lovely warmth to it, and the tone of your bass is retained through the filter. It can still get quacky though. They do come up occasionally on the classified here or on evil-Bay. The DiscumBOBulator also sounds great with Fuzz before it.

I also have a Micro Q-Tron, but is off my board because the frustrating volume spikes and peaks are just too much for me (even after adjusting the trimpot - it so hard to control and reacts very differently to my passive and active basses). I also have the EHX Russian Bassballs and an EHX Talking Pedal (which is a formant filter). The latter two are much more vowel like rather than quack although the Talking pedal has a wah effect too. All-in-all the DiscumBOBulator and Chunk pedals remain my firm favourites. Having said that, one day I'd still like to check out that Tru Tron 3x!! :D
 
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#88
hennessybass said:
One big difference between the two is that he gain on the Neutrino acts like an actual gain control... On the the Proton, you can kind of run the gain all over the place and get a bunch of different responses, but you volume level stays pretty consistent throughout the whole knob. On the Neutrino, once you start getting up past the 2:00ish area, you start getting a good volume increase to go along with the changing response of the filter. Might be a good thing in a live setting as the filter tends to thing out at those higher gain...
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this filter. I am following this thread, hoping some Neutrino users might make an appearance. Once any of you take it for a spin on a gig, I would be interested in hearing about how you made it fit into the mix and any other impressions.

I am still waiting for another pedal to sell before I take the plunge into filters, but the Keeley design might be the ticket for me.
 
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#91
Kevan Campbell said:
...
Is having an external jack for an expression pedal a big plus to y'all?
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I've tried it on three pedals
  • Solid Gold FX Funkzilla - didn't like it, the expression pedal controls the speed of the LFO instead of the envelope, but mainly because I don't much like the sound of this pedal for bass in the first place
  • 3Leaf Wonderlove - didn't really work that well, went for a Wah pedal instead and ended up with the 105q
  • Source Audio Manta - here an expression pedal makes all kinds of sense, you can control many parameters
 
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#93
Kevan Campbell said:
Thanks to all of y'all for sharing, it's given me a lot of other cool pedals to look into and more frustration that I seem to like certain attributes of them all!

Is having an external jack for an expression pedal a big plus to y'all?
Click to expand...

Not really. None of my Mu-Trons (originals or clones) have any kind of expression pedal functionality and that is fine with me. I like controlling the filter using dynamics rather than expression pedals. That said my Moog MF-101 has expression pedal functionality and you can do some pretty cool things with it.
 
#95
to tag onto this thread, I recently dug out my early nineties fx25, which i used to hate BTW, I actually dig it now more than I used to, I'm pretty sure I know a few reasons why it didn't work for me
1. I wasn't aware of "playing the filter", I was ignorant of this concept
2. I ran a compressor before it not after, preventing me from #1
3.a clean blend, I just need a ls2 to keep the low end, I also run a comp at the end of my chain
. I hope this works, I really dig the funky sounds this time around, I also just bought a older 80's version off this site, I will say that on demos, most guys use the fx25b(I've never tried one), but wiser bassist's than I praise the older one and says the clean blend on the b version is pretty horrible, so I think I'm on the right track.

I was gonna get another older qtron, but got a bass microsynth instead, as I used both in the past, and I won't have enough room on my board, before I knew any better, I used the qtron for an almost synth sound which the micro does quite easily. I also got a SA bef off here for a great price, but I only like one sound on it, might keep it anyways

so now I have 3 envelope filters that I won't use, hopefully a good clean blend with the DOD will do it for a oldschool funk, the microsynth for well, synth sounds
 
#98
decentbassbreh said:
finally!! you guys understand!! I havent found one I like either!!! its soo annoying!
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I feel like I'm real close, just not quite there yet, I think using the ls2 as a clean blend for fx25 might be the way to go(for a 70s like tone, kinda unpredictable), the eh bass synth for the "boogie on reggae woman"/"p.y.t." sound(dirty low pass filter kinda sound), I only want 2 filter sounds I've decided, the FX25 sounds great with slap too imo, not so much the micro synth.
envelope filters aren't for evryone, but I love the big gloopy sound
 

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