Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls

Russian model. There are not many options on this pedal itself. However, if you have distortion before or after the effect you could definitely spend alot of time tweaking the effects together to get a good sound. Nevertheless, very easy to use.

Okay, so the important part of my set-up with respect to this pedal is a crappy fuzz before the bb and an overdrive after it. I don't like the sound of the bb without distortion. I turn on the fuzz before the pedal, and it maxes out the envelope. When I hit a note the sweep goes to its highest point instantly. I like to change the sensitivity knob while I'm playing with the fuzz and it works sort of like a wah. The distortion after the bb really emphasizes the wah sound. It's wicked. If you try to do the wah thing without the distos it's very weak, and reacts slowly. I don't use the bb's distortion cause you lose volume as you approach the minimum sensitivity position, and I like to use that, too. Maybe I should just get a wah, but I suspect it wouldn't sound near as gnarly.

Mine fuzzes out sometimes when I power it up. I then proceed to kick it until it comes back. Then it usually works flawlessly for the remainder of the session.

I would gig it without a backup because who cares. I never get paid anyway.

I've played ten years. Lately I play in my garage trying to write something that doesn't sound contrived. But I fail. When I turn this pedal on with the distortions it makes me wish I was in a 70's psychadelic band like King Crimson or early Yes or even Black Sabbath. I stop my brainy songwriting fiasco and start playing minor or pentatonic riffs for hours. Its a complete waste of time. Also, I sometimes kick in my danelectro chili dog octave to make it all rumbly. That pedal, like the Bassballs, was well worth the money.

You'd have to be a total moron not to figure this thing out. Quite simple.

My set-up is a Washrun XB125 active/Gibson RD Standard (passive) and a Samich CB130 Fretless (passive)>bass balls>Mesa/Boogie 400+ with a Mesa/Boogei 1x15" enclosure and an older model Traynor 1x15" wedge. This peddal worked fine with all of them but best with the active Washburn. I haven't noticed any crackle or noise that shouldn't be present when using this pedal. The clean setting is different. It gives vowel like tones. Almost as is someone is more or less "gulping" in time with the notes. It's different and may not suit everyone. The distortion I find to be of lower quality. Not very clean in my opinion but still, fun to mess with. Almost produces a gassy or "farting" sound at times and no, my volumes not jacked too high and my speakers are of good quality. Two quotes from prior reviews I find to be true: A) You have to play with the dial to find the setting you like and B) There is no middle ground with this pedal, you either love it or hate it. However, as I discovered, it may grow on you. Experiment and find a niche for it.

I've used this on gigs for the past five years as well as messing around at home. It hasn't failed me however, I do find it to be a bit of a dust magnet. It may require extensive cleaning from time to time. I have the Russian model and the inputs are plastic. As well, the inside is very basic but should be handled with extra care when cleaning.

Never had to contact them.

I'm not much of an effects freak. I bought this on a whim and am not sorry I did. It fits into the mix and is a lot of fun to play around with. Some will love it, some will hate it. Chech one out and decide for yourself.

Dead easy to use you might think, and I suppose it is...finding a usable sound is harder than you might first imagine though. That said, easy as pie.

The sound is more flangey than an envelope filter. This is neither a synth or envelope filter by the way: basically, someone had the idea of engaging two dynamic filters that would peak at different stages. All Electro Harmonix have done is used this idea in the pedal, plus the distortion switch.

The sound (like someone said in a previous review) sounds a HELL of a lot better with an Active Bass, with a phatter sound. This can be somewhat salvaged when engaging the distortion switch, but if you want a clean sounding effect, then I suggest only really looking into the pedal if you're going all Active.

My effects loop goes as follows: Fender Jazz >> Bassballs NYC >> Marshall Guv'nor >> Mini Q-Tron >> Marshall Bass/Valve State B150. My Jazz ISN'T Active. I don't regret the pedal (and my next bass will be another Active one) but without the extra signal boost, the basic undistorted sound might be a bit thin.

However, it remains a brilliant pedal if you're into crazy sounding Effects (like I am).

It's stainless steel...not as heavy duty as Boss, but it could withstand my foot, so...

I really love this pedal (so much so it's my second one, my first one was dropped from a large height several times and broke). Try it out first though.

YOU HAVE TO FIDDLE WITH THIS PEDAL to get a good sound, AND the sound is contingent on your bass, PU's, amp, etc.

THIS IS A BASS SYNTH, NOT AN ENVELOPE FILTER! EHX does make envelope filters, they're called Q-TRON. This does have a switch for an envelope filter sound, and for under $100 its pretty good. The envelope on this is better then the Guyatone BR-2.

I love this thing. The reason I gave it 9 is because it takes time to play with it to get a good sound, and there is NO MANUAL with any settings (I guess that's because the sound will vary from instrument to instrument.)

Fender Jazz->EHX BassBalls->Boss delay pedal-> Ampeg15 combo.

Sounds great once you find it!!! Again, for the $$$ you can't beat this thing.

THIS IS THE POOR MAN'S BASS SYNTH!!!

Totally reliable. Built like a freakin' tank.

VERY friendly. Answered phone on third ring, returned email next day.

It's not the best bass synth (that would be the EHX BassMicro Synth), or envelope filter, BUT for the money, it is the best. For under $100. you get a pretty good bass synth and a decent envelope filter. It's EHX!!!

YOU HAVE TO FIDDLE WITH THIS PEDAL to get a good sound, AND the sound is contingent on your bass, PU's, amp, etc.

THIS IS A BASS SYNTH, NOT AN ENVELOPE FILTER! EHX does make envelope filters, they're called Q-TRON. This does have a switch for an envelope filter sound, and for under $100 its pretty good. The envelope on this is better then the Guyatone BR-2.

I love this thing. The reason I gave it 9 is because it takes time to play with it to get a good sound, and there is NO MANUAL with any settings (I guess that's because the sound will vary from instrument to instrument.)

Fender Jazz->EHX BassBalls->Boss delay pedal-> Ampeg15 combo.

Sounds great once you find it!!! Again, for the $$$ you can't beat this thing.

THIS IS THE POOR MAN'S BASS SYNTH!!!

Totally reliable. Built like a freakin' tank.

VERY friendly. Answered phone on third ring, returned email next day.

It's not the best bass synth (that would be the EHX BassMicro Synth), or envelope filter, BUT for the money, it is the best. For under $100. you get a pretty good bass synth and a decent envelope filter. It's EHX!!!

check the other reviews....you'll get the idea!

I'm pretty much an eh whore...i'm running an early eighties big muff pi, double muff, bassballs, small stone, small clone, full double tracking effect,70's golden throat and a dunlop cry baby classic and rotovibe... the balls does plenty of work for me...sometimes on it's own, but mainly i use it in combination with other effects...it kind of "synths" everything up quite nicely in a way that's very unique to this pedal. not tru-bypass, but not alot on my pedal board is and i'm not losing any(or very little) signal. if you're having a problem with signal loss i suggest you look at the order you have your pedals in...surf around on the net for different setups and experiment away. if you're wondering how the re-issue sounds compared to the original...i have them both! the difference is minimal!

the fact that i have 30 year old pedals on my board and they say "electro harmonix" on them should tell you something.

never had to deal with them...

i have to agree with some of the prev. posts that this thing is not the best effect on bass (which it was meant for) but i absolutely love it on guitar. like i said before...this pedal is great on it's own, but really try it in combo with some of your other pedals...the oddities will abound!

one knob (sensitivity) , one stomp switch (punch in puch out) and a recessed switch (distortion/clean)... do you need a manual for that?

It do't sound pretty at the wrong settings but it's not hard to dial it in.

this is pretty much a one trick pony and subtle it ain't - it's like a Boss touch Wah on acid.
Noise is acceptably quite given that if your in a groove that's using this pedal your probably playing loud enough to drown the hum.
this runs 2nd in line with a pedal compresser/limiter set with mild compress and mild enhance to keep dynamics in check if I want a less wild tone. if you put a reverb (or better a delay) unit ahead of th Bass Balls you can get some seriously weird (both good and bad) filter re-trigers. The distortion setting is some what redundant as I use Big Muff and/or tube screamers.

I wouldn't want to be driving the car that tried to run over this baby - it would surely come out second best.

Electrovoice have a local service contracter so I couldn't imagine it being to hard a issue

one trick pony - you'll love it or hate it there is no middle ground

The Bass Balls uses a knob for sensitivity and a fuzz switch to control the effect. Easy as can be, just figure out how sensitive it needs to be for your specific pickups and you should be ready to go. There isn't enough manual to speak about, but come on, it's one knob! Just make sure you are prepared for the volume increase when you click on fuzz mode.

I have run both my Reverend Slingshot Junior and my girlfriend's Danelectro Longhorn bass, two instruments not known for having massive amounts of volume output, by the way, into my Ampeg Gemini G-12 amp and her Ampeg B-3 with very satisfactory results. Without the fuzz on, there is a bit of a volume drop, and there is a slight loss of highs when off, but both of these are to be expected from an envelope filter, or in the case of this pedal two envelops filters. Used with my Tech 21 Double Drive or Boss Blues Driver in front of it, the loss of tone was almost inperceptable. Used with my Russian Big Muff Pi, it was suitably nasty and fuzzy.

I am purely a bedroom player, so my idea of reliability is not going to be in line with those of a gigging pro, but I haven't had any problems with it. A back up would be sweet though...

I had the unfortunate situation of having broken jack nuts on my unit straight from the box. The plastic nuts had split in half and were inside the unit. I popped it open, cleaned out the refuse and e-mailled New Sensor. I had new jack nuts a week later. I don't know how I could ask for anything more.

For my purposes, creating unusual modulations before my fuzz, this is a perfect fit. For bass players, the choice is even more clear: get one of these, and quickly. While it won't sound god when you strum chords or play blues double stops, the Bass Balls is great for adding texture and depth to single note lines and can be used for some very interesting talking effects. I love using it after my Doctor Q and I cannot wait to use it in front of an Electric Mistress. I would very likely replace it if it were broken and I'm having a hard time not buying a second one as it is.

Physically or aurally? It's really easy to figure out how to turn on and find a sound, but it can be really hard to find a place for that sound. unless you play in an expiremental/progressive/psycadellic band like i do. A 9 because the average musician won't want it.

talk about! i use it for bass and guitar, a music man and a les paul, respectively. alone, it's great. with other effects, it's great. I plug it between my Electro-Harmonix Frequency Analyzer and my DOD Flashback Fuzz. that right there should tell you that i'm not a typical player. (it's also routed around an a/b box so i can use my talk box. yes, bassballs and talk box. think about it.) THIS IS NOT AN ENVELOPE FILTER! this is a dynamic filter, meaning it responds to your dynamics, your picking intensity. envelope filters retain a constant wah; this wahs harder when you play harder. if you want to retain a constant sound, you have to make sure your dynamics stay constant. if you dont care, then whatever... i like to throw on the distortion and mix it with the fuzz; really nasty, really gnarly. throw the frequency analyzer into the mix...not even going there! i do like to run it clean, though, it's kind of flangy. i give it a ten cuz i'm kind of trippy!

it's a fucking panzer! (mine's the russian)

i love it! steal it and i'll buy another and bash your head in with it! remember it is a 15 pound brick.... it's trippy as hell. i play barefoot, so i can easily manipulate the switch and the knob with my toes, creating even greater sounds. rock on EH

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I am adding this as a follow-up to an earlier review.
TOTAL BREAK DOWN.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS PEDAL!
GET THE USA REISSUE.
I pampered this unit and it died anyway.

Didn't deal with them.Took back to Guitar Center and traded for EH USA BASSBALLS.

Reliability issues kill this thing.