Electro-Harmonix Bass Microsynth

For an analog bass synth, the parameters are fairly straight forward. As long as you have an understanding of what each individual parameter does, it's not too difficult to zero in on the exact synth sound you are after.

I am using a MusicMan Stingray5 bass with an Ampeg SVT rig, and am pleased to say that the EHX Bass Microsynth holds up extremely well amongst such high quality equipment. If you take the time to get the right sound, it comes through beautifully when engaged. I am extremely impressed by the tracking of the octave and sub-octave modes - by far the best I've heard from any kind of octave pedal.

Apparently this pedal has been advertised as being true bypass. It most certainly is not, and is a real tone sucker in bypass mode. I have recently bought a true bypass looper pedal which has solved the problem, and well worth the money for the sake of the synth sounds.

EHX boxes are always built like a tank, however the sliders seem a bit flimsy; I've seen a few around with broken sliders. I would suggest buying a true bypass looper pedal (eg. the Toadworks True Bypass Looper). This serves two purposes - solves the bypass tone-sucking problem (as I mentioned earlier), and keeps the pedal out of the way of your feet.

In terms of operation, the pedal has never given me any problems. I gig with it regularly, and it still works like the day I bought it.

I play in a three piece alternative rock band, and this pedal is an excellent feature of our music. It's surprising that such a versatile pedal can be of such a conisistently good sound quality. It can produce anything from synthy fuzzes to underwater sounds to octaves to stringy synth sounds, and does it better than most pedals dedicated to each individual sound.

If you play music where the bass is any kind of feature, then you'll definitely be able to find a valuable use for this pedal.

Looks complicated, but this box is easy to use. It seems to have a weird "warm-up" time though - takes a minute or so before it will do anything at all. I find this quite endearing, but someone who forgot to turn it on before a song started might not. Two other real issues: It should have memory settings and it doesn't. And to adjust the preamp gain - which definitely needs doing if you switch from an active to a passive bass - means pulling it off your pedal board, sticking a screwdriver in the back, and tweaking a trimpot slowly and delicately while playing the bass. Not something you can do on stage. Why couldn't this have been a knob on the top? It's a big enough box!

If you've got a well-constructed bass with no dead spots on the neck, and the aforementioned preamp gain set correctly, the tracking on this thing is rock-solid - it tracks better than my Boss OC-2. All the generated voices and most combinations of filter settings are useful and musical, definitely no complaints there. So, the thing sounds awesome, but it gets an 8 because the bypass is one of the worst I've ever heard. You really need to cut this pedal out of your signal path when it's not turned on or your tone will be flat as a pancake.

I haven't gigged it yet, so I don't know. Ten sliders in a tin box sitting on the floor doesn't exactly fill me with confidence though.

N/A

I am more than happy to put up with this pedal's quirks and flaws for the lovely noises it makes. Better-suited to small bands, where the bass needs to be able to take up more sonic space sometimes.

It seems like some people have a hard time with it, but I manage to get consistent (and predictable) sounds out of it whenever I dial in certain settings. Write them down at first, but once you get comfortable with changing the parameters around, it's pretty straightforward. Oh and yeah, the manual really sucks.

I'm using this with a Schecter Studio-4 with varying amp combinations (I'm shopping). The sounds you can get out of this thing are incredible. And they're super-fat analog sounds. BUT, the "True Bypass" is a load of crap... I run mine through an A/B box so I can actually play clean. Yeah, it required the additional purchase of the A/B box, but so far it's been totally worth it for the Synth.

I've been gigging with it regularly for close to 8 months now, and it holds up. I pamper it though, which I strongly recommend anyone who buys one do. It's built like a tank, but those little sliders look awfully easy to break off. Another benefit of my A/B box combo is that I don't even have to step on it to turn it on. I could even elevate it so I can adjust easier live, but I don't. Short answer: yeah, I feel like I can totally rely on it.

Never had to deal with them (knock on wood), but if they're manual is any indication of their customer support, it's bare bones. But efficient. Overly-efficient.

I'm playing in a band right now whose sound relies a lot on synth work. Until I got this pedal, that entire burden was on the keyboard player, who is great but can only do so many things at a time. This lets me fill sonic space really easily. Plus once you use this thing, you'll find sounds that you've been hearing on records for years.

If it were lost or stolen I would probably replace it. I use it a lot live and on recordings, and it's also really fun to just play around with sometimes. I'm really surprised that they couldn't figure out how to give it a TRUE bypass, but no matter. I also wish the volume control was more accessible... had a hard time figuring that one out thanks to that crappy manual.

I highly recommend this pedal to anyone who is interested in Prog Rock/Synth Rock at all, because chances are good that you'll be able to fit this puppy in cozily with your sound.

sounds amazing, when it works..

i bought it brand new, and plugged it in to test. sounded fantastic. then i started having trouble getting filter sweep sounds..the slider for "end frequency" stopped working. it came back to life a little later, for about 3 minutes. cant get it to come back to life. ive also had a big muff that died on me, as well as a bass balls, and a friend of mine has the dr.Q nano that also broke. whats up with these guys..

waiting to see if i can exchange it.

if i can get one that works, i'd be one happy bass player..

FOR A SYNTHESIZER, this unit is easy to use. Very simple filter and voice sections.

Adjusting pre amp gain is a bit of a pain. A top mounted pot would've been great.

The quality of the sounds I made were good. I can go from fuzzy lead sounds to envelope filter like funkiness. Tracking was spot on. This is a realy affordable yet usable bass synth.

NFI

NFI

Overall rating a 9. The BMS is not for everyone but if you're in the market for a filter/synth that is easy to get into and relatively inexpensive, EHX has you covered.

Well it's not too hard to get a good sound out of it .You just need the time to figure out what every fader does. After that you are set.

This this sounds absolutely GREAT !! Those people who says you can get only two or three sounds should take the time to experiment a bit with it and you ll be amazed at what this unit can do for you. I use it with a fender precision with a seymour duncan SPB3 quarter pound pickup best used with the tone know rolled down completely almost always . I use the knob all up only when i just need the octave up function. Had to adjust a bit the internal preamp ( very easy to do ) . You can get brass instruments sounds , organ sound ( best with a wah wah added classic with fasel inductor) pads, bowed sounds, really a lot of shit !! Takes time and EQing things to get good sounds but it's very cool !! The unit is not noisy to me when you adjust the internal preamp ( do that if you have humbucker picks )

not used enough to say , for now it works fine , hope it will last for a long time !!!

Very nice people they answered in 2 days my emails ( im from Italy so i didnt have to wait longer for a response )

This is a very cool pedal very useful and has a lot of possibilities .
It's a great sounding effect i thought maybe i will try also the POG one day still thinking about it for the octave 2 feature !!!It's a bit expensive but well worth it !!!

easy as pie move the sliders around and stop when you like what it sounds like. Lots of different options all of them pretty "usable" which is uncommon of synth type pedals that do one thing well and then 5 things poorly

Ok this gets a little tricky. When it is on it sounds awesome huge , punchy, raunchy, bell-like at points whatever you want but when it's off it's a whole other ball game. TRUE BYPASS MY A** this thing colors the hell out of my sound and sucks a ton of my top end out. It causes distortion in my chain or on it's own or even plugged directly between my bass and my amp (which I never do I always like to go bass to amp and let all of my pedals be in my loop) So all in all Im torn it does sound great when its on I'll give it that.

seems ok

don't even wanna know. I wish this thing would have been done "right" the first time so I wouldn't have to find out

I have been playing for over ten years I have been an engineer for about 5 so I like to think I know what is junk and what isn't but sadly this pedal is somehwere between junk and awesome. The LED should be for effect on and off not just on all the time and don't be fooled their new pedlas ARE NOT TRUE BYPASS if they were when you remove the power supply it would still pass signal and it does not and if it were it would not color my sound at all when it was off and IT DOES. This thing is really fun and makes some very unique sounds but it has some really bad obvious flaws that it claims not to have. I always thought EH pedals were junk and when I first got this thing my intial reaction was that it was going to redeem all of their stuff for me but sadly it has not it confirmed all the bad stuff I ever thought about EH...

I'm glad this unit isn't easy,....to get great sounds you have to experiment, which makes the process rewarding.

The unit can be very quiet..............it depends on how you set the controls. The sound quality is great.

Looks solid and well made. I set mine on a stand I made up so I can adjust the controls on the fly. I run the cables down to a true bypass footswitch on the floor, so I can still footswitch it on and off....the best of both worlds.

None needed.

This pedal is the best pedal I have ever used. I have been playing since 1983, and have used tons of gear. This unit gives me most of the sounds I have been looking for, and some of the sounds I didn't know I needed!
I wouldnt hesitate for one second to buy another unit if it was lost or stolen. The most supprising thing about the Bass Microsynth,is how few players know about them, considering what the unit can do.

I give this an 8 for ease of use, because as with most fx this complex, the more you use it the easier it gets to use. I have had mine for over 1 year now and it is the only "real" effects unit I use (I also use an Aphex Xciter & Boss CS1... and an EH Tube Zipper... but that's just there to warm things up... but none of these really count as effects in my book due to the manner in which I use them).

At first I thought the synth was stupidly complicated but now that I understand the logic behind what each of the sliders does I find it very easy to quickly dial up the sound I am after. I do not keep mine on the floor, I sit mine on top of my bass amp so I can adjust the unit for different songs without having to reach down all the time. (Besides, I don't like the idea of having something that expensive lying on the floor, waiting to be accidentally kicked or tripped over!).

Passive custom Jazz bass with old Dimarzio's > Boss CS1 > EH Tube Zipper (optional) > EH Bass MSynth > Aphex Bass Xciter > Trace Elliot 300w head + Mesa Boogie 1x15.

Sound quality is fantastic. As I said this is the only effects pedal I need. For me, this pedal is the most suitable distortion pedal, octave pedal, envelope filter and synth, all in one box. I still find new sounds whenever I play with it, as the smallest movements between faders make a difference to how others react.

When I first started using it this pedal would be way too loud when I turned it on, but then I realised that I needed to adjust the internal preamp by turning the screw on it's underside, once I did that I had a perfect volume match between on and off. I find the Square wave slider really affects the on/off volume difference a lot too, so I usually have this slider at about 50%. When it's off it has true silent by pass.

So far no problems, only thing that bothers me are little plastic tips on the faders, as these look easy to knock off accidentally if I am careless. Just gotta be careful when packing/unpacking I guess. I have gigged with mine without any problems, and I dont expect it to give me any problems either.

Chip is the duuuuude. I lost my manual and emailed Chip for a new one and I got one in the post within about 1 week (I live in london, EH are based in the US). Also, Chip was really helpful when I had questions about my Tube Zipper, even though I told him I bought it off ebay and so had no warranty card etc.

Although this is an expensive bit of kit, I think it is worth every penny from the value I get out of it. I play rock with a reggae flavour (NOT Ska!!!!) and when I need distortion this pedal deals it out, when I need synth, it does it, if I need funky envelope filteryness it does that too. I don't use my Muff pedals, DOD distortion pedal, or envelope filter anymore and will probably ebay them all when I get the chance.

If my microsynth went missing I would replace it pronto.

One thing I don't like about it though is that there is no status indicator - so when you look down at the pedal you cant tell if the effect is on or not. Would be useful, but I can live without this.

I tried a boss syb-3 before I bought this but I though the boss came over as more of a toy, both looks and sound wise. I just found the EH more intuitive to use, plus I remember thinking is sounded far superior, to my ears anyway.

All in all I am very happy with this pedal, it has everything I need.

Pretty easy.Easy to forget how you got a particular sound so I advise you write down the slider positions when you have a certain sound you really like.Manual is effective and suggested settings are good.No ability to preset like AKAI SB-1 and it takes a little longer to change settings because of all the sliders but once you get it down it is worth it because the Electro Harmonix can really be "fine-tuned" to however you want.

Astonishing.Funky,weird,silly,and even intense.This pedal makes me want to work on a science fiction film score.I play through a USA Fender Jazz 4 string.(manual suggests using basses w/ singl coil pickups)This synth is FAR SUPERIOR to Boss and Digitech and at least as good as Akai Deep Impact.Sadly I have never had a chance to obtain a Korg G5 which I hear is very good too.WARNING!!: THIS PEDAL WILL ENABLE YOU TO OVERPOWER YOUR BAND.

Solid box but sliders may be prone to breaking.I really appreciate the wooden storage box that this comes with.

I give this a "10" but not because of the Bass Synth.I sent EH my
USA Bassballs for service and they only charged $15 and paid for shipping back to me.(Also,I had it back w/in 10 days)
Chip "Scooter" was my contact at EH and he is a totally great guy.

Wonderful box,maybe the best.Even if you don't use it live or for recording it is constantly entertaining to use.I admit that my Akai SB-1 is more likely to find its way to my pedalboard the EH is much more intense and fearsome sounding when you take the time and manipulate/tweak the sliders.I only favor the Akai because of preset ability.The Akai is cleaner but less "dangerous" sounding.