Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls

a knob, a switch, a toggle, pure simplicity

The standard filter sound is very useful to me. I play cheap brands (santa rosa, lotus) with a Kay amp. Normal sound hums a lot, but on minimum sensitivity it kills all that. Distortion sounds good with solos and a few bass lines, but the entire effect can get annoying since no one has one on record, that I know of.

I treat my pedals like shit, and this one has been taking it for over a year now. Everything works great on it. No backups in my rack.

I play just about everything under the sun. I love this pedal, and one of the other guitarists in my band thinks its one of the neatest sounds hes ever heard. I would definately replace my bassballs. Its use to kill static (in the new models, at least) is very useful to me. I wish it had a wah-style switch, to control the sound a little differantly. It can help or hinder, depending on what I'm playing.

With only one knob, one foot switch, and one toggle, this pedal could be operated by a two year old.

Sound quality...... Honestly there is no way to describe the sounds I can make with this pedal. Sometimes it sounds like a chorus of chipmunks!

I am running this with an Ibanez EDB 690 bass and a Crate BX-160 amp. I've been playing for 2 years, and this is the strangest damn thing I've ever heard. I really don't know if there's a good use for it, but it's fun to play with. I sucks batteries like there's no tomorrow, so I suggest a power supply for it.

Yup, its really that easy. I have a reissue and there can be a problem with the new pot turning if it gets bumped lightly though.

fat unique sound. doesnt sound like any other envelope controled device ive heard, and i have 5 envelope devices in my rig.

the new knob is crappy. its cheap and flimsy and doesnt stay on very well. after a week of gigging, mine was loose and tilted. im looking to get an original pre sovtek bass balls now cuz they are much better built.

havnt tried them yet

I am in a technical jam band and we get way out there lots of times. this thing is just one of the weird stops on the way of our musical trip. i like to mix it in with a phaser and just let the vowel sounds fly. iv also found that with the distortion on and an e-bow which i use on bass (weird enough to begin with) i can almost make my bass talk.

It's a weird pedal.. good to make funky, unpredictable, sounds out of it. easy to set up.. easy to make good sounds out of it (but is lame if overused). No manual.. don't need one. only two setting variables (distortion on/off, sensitivity knob). sounds good if the settings aren't extreme.. extreme settings washes out your sound.. but some people want that capability

Setup: fender p-bass (american Standard) -> Boss tu-2 -> dunlop 105Q -> boss pq-3b -> EH bassballs -> Ampeg SVT-II Pro -> Ampeg PR-410 HLF

I'm using a generic radio shack battery eliminator.. but I couldn't tell the difference when it's on and off (noise level).. it really didn't sound any different. Settings with high sensitivity are pretty annoying most of the time.

My balls are really hard and heavy. I'm pretty sure that someone could grab my balls and smash it and it'd work. maybe if my balls were shot with a gun.. that'd create a problem.. I haven't encountered any problems yet. good communistic metal construction. I would gig without a backup..

All I know is that all of the EH pedals are made by fat russian wet nurses who nurse cows.

I think it's great for 40$.. I can afford 40$ for a pedal that works. I would only replace it if I could find it for cheap.. it's not neccessary. I wish that my balls weren't so heavy and big.. a more compact design (like boss pedals) would fit better. sometimes it's just popping out of my 'holding area'

I find the combination of a few delays, LFOs, and ebow in conjunction with the Bassballs to be an absolutely stellar combination. That said, the reason I give the ease of use only a "5" is because the average musician won't find much use for this pedal; it's essentially a hyper envelope filter that sounds almost as if there's a light flange in the background as notes fade.

I use it with a variety of Strats and Strat copies, particularly with ebow, and run it through my rack of 80s-single-function delay units into a Fender Deluxe. Sound quality is extremely good for what I want it for; combined with the ebow, the Bassballs pedal makes it possible to switch from synthesizer to noise to funk in no time.

It adds very little noise (if any) to my signal path, which is amazing.

I have one of the "black box" reissues; the pot that controls the chicken-head switch is particularly poor. I have a Small Stone in the same series, and after a week, it's in the shop getting the pot replaced because the chickenhead caught on a cable and pulled straight out because the dial is screwed onto the pole rather than just friction mounted like all my other pedals.

Other than that, it's built like a tank. Unfortunately, we all know that a tank is only as good as its weakest spot.

EH's website has no information about dealers, repair facilities, warranty, or anything else functional for those of us with faulty units or who have damaged them in the line of duty.

First rule of customer support is to be available to your customers.

EH fails dismally in this area.

I consider this pedal to be absolutely wonderful in terms of its overall rating, even with the poor pot construction..I bought it for how it sounds, not how it stands up to abuse.

Guess I'll just have to baby the pedal rather than treat it like the old EH pedals I know and love.

This unit is totally easy to use. There are 2 switches (distortion on/off, and pedal on/off) and one knob (sensitivity.) It is very easy to experiment with the settings and come up with all kinds of neat sounds. It didn't come with a manual but it's really simple.

It sounds great. I use it with an active Warwick bass. There is also a DOD delay and a DOD chorus in my rack. There is little noise or hum. I put it thru a Yorkville 400B and it sounds fine. Even sounds cool thru my practice amp.

I've only had it for a week, but so far it's good. Seems to be quite solidly built. A russian tank?

Haven't dealt with the company

This is a cool pedal. I play all kinds of styles, and I find this pedal useful in funk, rock, and general improvisational madness. I have been playing 3 years. The pedal is great for fingerstyle, picking, and slapping. The distortion is really cool. I like it ALOT better than my DOD envelope filter. This pedal is good. Better than an envelope filter in my opinion.

Man, it barely gets easier than this. There's an on/off switch, a distortion switch, and a knob.

I'm using it with my '65 Gibson EB-0 and a Nemesis 2x10 amp. There's almost no extra noise until you crank the distortion up all the way. It's got a really nice vocal sounding filter on it that changes depending on how loud you're plucking the strings, so you can really make individual notes and phrases stand out if you want. The distortion can get pretty silly if you crank the sensitivity knob, but otherwise it's a nice overdrive with almost no loss of low-end.

Hah. It's a solid steel case. Even the switch is made out of heavy brass, so you can turn the distortion on and off with your toe at a gig.

Well, it took the store where I bought it two nonths to get the thing in stock because E/H was first were out of inventory, then decided to ship the boxes to some other stores first.

This is a funky box. Don't use it for swing ;-) It's kind of a bootsy/flea style box. I'd definitely replace it if it were stolen. It's way better sounding than any other envelope follower I've tried, because it leaves all the low-end in. It's not even that expensive, all things considered. $85 for a solid, good-sounding box compared with $300 for some plastic P.O.S. multi-effects? No prob.

I like foriegn people.

This is a really brilliant effect, it is very fun, but has a limited application. There is a subtle, and very strange, "talky" effect to it. It makes the guitar sound kind of like its gurgaling, and makes for a very, very classy 'spice up your sound' device for one-liners, solo's and any other little melodies. The distortion is nice, very subtle, and I keep it on most of the time, as a matter of taste. The SENSITIVITY knob, when turned past about %70, will not give the sound its 'chewy' texture anymore. It just boosts high frequency in a very wierd way, that is musically unappealing in most cases. However, it is usable too. The sensitivity knob must be kept on low if you want to play four-note chords, but you can play power chords with just about any settings and have it sound good. Can sound 'gurgley', 'watery', 'chewy', and any other buzzwords of that sort. Sounds great on recording, because your guitar is no longer a boring and predictable stringed instrument, it becomes a 'what-da-hell-is-dat' noise machine, so to speak. This device changes tone with distortion mode ON, but mostly just changes the texture of the sound, very neat. Chord progressions sound junky, on alot of settings, and that is a bad thing.

yeah. Made by ex-Commie ruskies. Public ownership of production, and all that. The problem with Communism, speaking as a human being, is the centralization of everything HUMAN under one institution: Government. Everything is run by them, the houses are owned by them, the schools, the Churchs must cater to them, and so must the bookstores. If you came to hate one, for example, the Schools, how could you not hate all?

I dont speak Communist, so I wouldnt know what to do..

good for anything. This sound is upbeat, exciting, and all that other good stuff. Manages to be tactful, mellow and not obnoxious, so it could be used for anything from punk to jazz to ... rock, blues, and punk.... I dont know... anything... techno! For $60, you make your guitar more interesting. My problem is, that my guitar is always covered with snot and blood, so its hard to play.

A sensetivity knob and a distortion switch and an on/off button. Similar to a Small Stone

This is orriginally for bass but it sounds fuckin killer on my guitar. I wouldn't use it with other pedals it's already two in one any way. But I would use it with maybe a flange, phase, delay, reverb simple stuff I wouldn't use another distortion or might just sound like shit. Unless you are into the Primus sound. I use a 7-string RG7620 with a heavy ass gauge, a 60.-10. gauge with a Marshall practice amp which are really heavy and Marshall 4X12 Cabs with a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier which are also really heavy. This pedal is a good pedal for people that either don't have the money to have both a envelope filter and a distortion or just like the sound of the mix. Example like me I like an e. filter and a distortion mixed together like my Mu-Tron III and my Big Muff. The sound is killer. But I wouldn't wanna use it all the time I play in a aggro-metal band.

It's a RUSSIAN TANK!!!!!

Never dealt with them

This is a good pedal I wouldn't use it all the time then the effect would get weak ya know. You would get sick of it. I know I would. But I play in a aggro-metal band which sounds like KoRn, Limp Bizkit (mostly them and KoRn ), and White Zombie put together. But I'm really experimental. I really like it even though I'm in a aggro-crossover band. When I talk to people about my band they think your just suppose to use distortions and wahs. But I use all different kind of stuff. So I give this a 9 overall but you can't really get good sounds with other pedals.

Extremely easy to use. Just turn the knob to change the amount of the effect. Swith the "Distortion" switch on to get distortion.

Designed as an envelope filter for bass, this thing works great with guitars. I use Strats and Les Pauls into Vox and Marshall amps, and the BassBalls gives a really cool, vowel-like envelope filter effect. Kick in the distortion and you've got some really weird tones on tap! I've never heard anything like this before. Kind of sounds like your guitar is talking, in an "oooh-aaaah-ooooh-aaahhh" kind of way. Sounds good at all settings. Can't think of any artist who has this sound.

Seems reliable. No problems. Think it's about 20 years old.

They're hard to find, in my experience, and not cheap, but well worth every penny. It's good for rock and alternative styles, and I think jazz players could even find a way to work it in. Gives the guitar or bass a vocal quality--and that's a great quality to have in an instrument. It is very easy to get good sounds. The price is steep, but if I lost mine, I would definitely replace it in a heartbeat.
If you have a chance to get one, snap it up. You'll thank yourself later. Nobody makes new effects like the old EH stuff!
Don't mean to rave, but this pedal is EXCELLENT!