Electro-Harmonix Bass Microsynth

took me 20 minutes to get to know what it does n dial in some kool sounds.

fat analog tone. killer!!!!

no probs yet. i take care of my toyz.

contacted e.h. for manual... hopefully ill get it?

heres the kool thing; im a guitar player & i tried the guitar micro synth , it sounded too thin & nasaly!! the bass micro synth in my opinion sounds best on guitar!! not a cheap pedal but once you hook it up n adjust it it rocks!! puts to shame the lil boss bass synth pedal!!

I sat down with this pedal and went through the suggested sounds, and i was in awe. This pedal contains loads of those tripped out spacey, funky off the wall insane sounds that i'd been looking for and then somemore. Obviously ten sliders is a bit daunting at first but once i got it figured. (id been checking thins thing out for weeks and pretty much knew what it did even b4 i tried it out) Basically it does exactly what it does on the tin, but i guess a good foundation knowledge of Analogu synths really helps

I using it with a Warwick 5 BO five string ->EHX Bass microsynth-> Boss ODB3-> Warwick Pro Fet IV Head with a 2X10 and 1X15. It sounds great, once i got the preamp gain trimpot sorted it sounded like a beaut, id have prefered a true bypass but i've pretty much given up on it these days. When i bypass it there doesn't seem to be any noise at all. Sounds much better that the stupid little Boss SYB-3 thingy.

I had a Q-tron for two weeks, i loved it, it broke, i stopped loving it. EHX stuff is the best for sounds but im really not to sure when it comes to reliablity. I'm scared that it will be dead in a few weeks. But then again id prefer to own pedals then need caring for rather that evil little PCBs that wouldn't break even if you wanted to destroy them (not metioning any names BOSS) I'll give it a 5 because of the Q'tron experience, but im keen to point out that at this moment in time it is very much alive.

I havent dealt with them no, so i will remain neutral

I Play funk metal jazz type madness, Althoug i dable in as my as possible. I've been playing for about 3 years and this really fills a hugh hole in my sonic arsenal. The Filter section is good enough for all my envelope filter needs. I was really tempted to buy an MXR Bass AutoQ and a Boss Octave pedal, for a nice bootseyesc squelch, but this does that and more. Id still love the MXR Bass AutoQ though, it beats the socks off the Q'tron IMHO. But i Recon i'll give it a 9. I dont want to brown nose to much and there are a few features id like to heve been included, like and expression pedal of some sort. Or if the LED turned off when in bypass, or follewed the filter like in the Q-tron, but i guess ill just have to let EHX know that. All in all a smashing pedal

Um - frankly it takes a while to learn how to use it well, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes cake. After almost a year, I use it several times in a show, and make dozens of adjustments on the fly.

It's great quality analog, so it really depends on what you put into it. After using it with a kick-ass bass (2002 MM Sterling) I've determined that it produces awesome sound! Dark sweeps - thunderous rumbling - electronic dub buzz - many levels of distortion - auto wahs - all kinds of weird and great crap! No wonder Bootsy loved this thing! In can be noisy when you're not playing if you don't adjust the trigger well. I find a good smack on the strings shuts it up though.

Um - it's died a couple times on my after I've dropped it. It's a simple repair of power switch (basically just put it back together) but can be annoying. Also, the sliders are easy to break. (I only have 3 left - but they are all very useable.)

Never tried.

Overall, it's a really cool toy, that will turn into a useful tool once you learn how to control it well. It's very well built with a thick metal box and all, but the design is a bit flaws with the vulnerability of the plastic sliders and such.
Be sure to check out www.moulderslounge.com !!

There is a learning curve with this thing, but the manual makes it a bit easier (has some suggested settings for different sounds.) 10 sliders with different functions, so... yeah.

This thing has kickass sound, not too noisy. I'm using a fender strat plus through a jcm 2000 dsl 201. The insane filter sweeps you can get out of this thing make me wish i had a louder amp! (sounds amazing through my mate's bass amp). Basically there is two main sort of sound that you can get out of the unit. 1. Filter sweep (up or down and long or short) and the settings are on a sliding switch. 2. Square wave distortion/ fuzz. You have to hear this to believe it. Billy corgan described this sound as the end of the world and he was pretty close. You can then mix these together for some very out of this world sounds. There are also octave and sub-octave sliders but they have less drastic effects on the sound.

I gave the unit a low mark because sometimes when i use it with the square wave and trigger turned up the sound will crap out on me like the circuit is being overloaded, so i would not be so quick to use it on a gig (even though i would love to, just to watch peoples reactions). Letting the unit warm up, and playing with the trigger set really low for a while seems to help wit the problem.

never dealt with them.

Overall i would say this unit is like a pot of gold at the end of the sonic rainbow. It completely blew me away when i first heard it and still does now (9 months later). I play psychodelic, weirdo music and this thing gives me lots of different weird noises to play with.

This is a confusing question. It is easy to use, just like riding a bike is easy, once you know how to ride a bike. What is not easy is learning all of it's possibilities.
This unit has 10 sliders, each does something radical and unique to the sound. It takes a couple of hours to get the hang of it, and then whoopie! You're a 70's Moog Meister. With so many sound options, it makes sense that you have to do some tweaking.
The manual is bare bones, with only about 6 suggested "starter" settings. But, it is useful. A little more information on what the actual synthesizer section of the unit does to the sound would've saved me an hour or so in getting the hang of it.

I play through a 4 string Pedulla, SWR 750x, and SWR 2x15 big bertha cabinet. The effect is in between my bass and amp, but I'll probably place the effect in the effects loop (for reasons below).
I wouldn't describe the sound as pristine like a chorus or reverb. The sounds are fat, surreal, and funkadelic. It is not very noisy, and I suspect there's a built in gate that isn't mentioned in the owner's manual. I can definitely get the early Moog synth sounds, and the amazing part is that I'm doing it from my bass guitar! The "dry bass" slider really isn't close to the actual sound of my bass, so I think blending the effect in an effects loop would be the best way to use this unit. I'll give it a 9 instead of 10 for that reason.

I cannot depend on this unit like other stomp boxes (such as boss, dod, etc). In fact, I'm going to baby this thing. The boss stomp boxes are built to take a lot of abuse, and I just don't get that sense with the electro-harmonix stuff. If I dropped a boss pedal onto a concrete floor, my first impression would be, "I hope I didn't chip the paint", whereas if I were to drop an EH box onto concrete my first impression would be, "Oh shit, let me plug it in to see if it's still working." Also, I had to return the first unit that was sent because there were several things wrong with it (very disappointing, but even then it sounded cool), but when the replacement came, it was in perfect working order. This unit is too expensive to buy a backup, and having a second box would make me want to play both of them at the same time, what a concept! Still, I think the box can handle most conditions, but I would definitely be bummed out if someone were to accidentally kick it, spill beer on it, or step on the sliders.

Didn't deal with the company, but the retailer did a good job when I had to return it.

I love this box. It is a creative work station, and almost qualifies as a different instrument altogether. There's nothing quite like it out there. The boss bass synthesizer doesn't hold a candle to this thing in terms of sound quality. It's almost as though they're different types of effects (analog vs. digital, really). I think the closest thing is the SWR Mo' bass amp that has a built in synthesizer, but even then, it can't do all of the things this unit can do and you'd have to buy the amp (which I don't like very much) to have bass synth of this caliber.
I like playing funk, rock, and pop. I've been playing for over 20 years. I've owned a lot of different amps and boxes in my lifetime. If it were stolen, I'd get violent. If it were lost I'd cry.
The only thing about this box I wish were different would be that I wish it wasn't a box at all, but a rack unit. Small movements of any of the sliders can make a big difference in the sound so it's really made to be tweaked, which is very inconvenient as a stomp box, unless you're going for only one type of sound that you want to punch in and out. But, in terms of contributing to my sound, it has made me feel like playing again, and for that reason it is well worth the money.

Let's face it guys and girls-No matter how great the thing works it's real stupid to have it on the floor and try to control the faders and mess with the sounds. I've had mine about 18 years(an oldie). It's got a great sub-octave but if you want to mess with it, you have to pick it up of the floor. I HAVE THE SOLUTION! I took mine apart, removed the footswitch and put it in one of those radio shack footswitch chassis boxes along with 2 jacks- one for the instrument input and the other a stereo jack to wire in and out(one stereo cable) to another stereo jack on the unit. I riveted the bottom part of a mic clip to the bottom of the unit; then you can attach the unit to your mic stand via a drum sort of mic bracket. Voila! Now you can operate the unit standing up with one hand, and activate it via the homemade footswitch. Why hasn't electro-harmonix or other footgear manufacturers come up with this idea?

A real fat sub-octave, but to much emphasis on those fuzz tones.

The steel chassis is great. I've snapped a couple of faders but was able to replace them.

A 5 simply cause I've never tried to call them.

I'd say it's worth it if you get one great sound that you can stick with.

If you can figure out how to hit the notes for each variation on this unit to take effect you can pretty much get a real kickin sound just by smacking around the sliders randomly. And I'm glad I'm not exaggerating on that. It's outlined in the manual that it was designed for passive basses. I have two high-output active EMGs in my 5-string so I was forced tip it over and use the attenuator knob as the manual instructs. It's a little bit of a pain to get to but if you have a precision phillips head screwdriver(as no bassist should be without EVER) it shouldn't be too difficult. Just a little time consuming. Each slider is pretty straight forward as outlined in the manual you really won't find yourself turning back to much at all, even if it is only 4 pages, and the presets in it make for some very interesting starter effects. The nine is because of the need for a precision screwdriver. It's a double-edged sword though because if the knob were easier to get to it could also get accidently or sabotagingly fiddled with more easily. Also the only number markings on it are 0, 5 and 10. The sliders are very long so it is difficult to find the exact same setting more than once. I write mine down as best i can and am pondering actually painting or taping on cm measurements.

I use an ESP LTD-205 with a virtually useless Fender BXR-100 combo amp and this thing still sounds very good. My rig on my SKB pedal board is as follows: Boss Limiter(older issue)>Microsynth>Boss Overdrive>Boss Chorus>Zoom BFX-708(shut up, i know it's cheap)>DOD(i know, i know) old-as-dirt stereo flanger. I noticed it works best when the Limiter is off, which I only use because I can't get a good bottom end out of the BXR without it sounding terribly muddy. When deactivated, but not turned off, i noticed no detectable hiss, and while activated (as long as you don't have your overdrive pedal on too) it is still quite minimal. I've already accidently stumbled on many of the settings I have heard Les Claypool use(or at least some VERY similar) and made some very Bootsy-esue sounds as well. Other than my own stumbling fingers there is not much of a detectible difference, which makes sense cuz I happen to know both of them use this pedal.

I haven't used it on a gig yet, as my band is sort of in a dry spell right now. We were Sans drums for about a year, but I plan on bringing it along without a back-up (until I can afford one anyway) which I figure I would only use in case this thing got run over or something. The contruction is not as firm or thick as a Boss stomp box but it is a nice metal chasis nonetheless. I would be more worried about one of the sliders snaping or the paint chipping than anything else. I have had this thing, though, since around October and it hasn't had a problem yet. I give an 8 because it could stand to be a little more compact in design thus ensuring nothing comes loose if dropped. And the chasis could be a little better designed. I am using Boss as a standard though because, let's face it; you could play wall ball with my overdrive pedal and not have to ever worry about it breaking. This one, however, I could drop on the hard dirt and not worry. If it were dropped on sidewalk, cement, or asphalt though I would definitly worry.

I have not had any dealings with the company.

The band I am in, (as well as my own projects independant of my band) is very experimental. We play rock, I mean my guitar player has like 3 distortions or something and I have a few in my zoom as well as the overdrive if that's what you're talking about, but we're extremely experimental and this pedal has aided in the experimentation quite a bit. The first song we wrote with our new drummer pretty much centers around its sound. It has also been very good for creating long jamming instrumental sections in our songs. If it were stolen or anything I would certainly buy it again, as I also enjoy the unmistakable warmth of an analog pedal, I could not just replace it with its Boss counterpart though I plan on getting the Boss in the near future to add to my arsenal.
I very much wish it were knobs rather than sliders because I am very poor at judging linear distance so resetting it to the default I keep it on is often difficult. At least smaller intervals than 0,5,10 on the sliders would have been nice. This pedal has strengths where the boss does not and can do things the boss cannot. However the boss can do things it cannot. Unfortunatly I know nothing of the Akai so don't ask. I started playing bass three or four years ago out of the necessity of not being able to find a bass player obsessed with half-time root note playing or downtuning a four string to a B rather than getting a 5 string. There have been times where I have felt quite overlooked as a bass player in the effect department considering, well, we are, but things like this make me think; wow, look at the neat noises we can make. That and funk bass gets you lucky and this thing can definitly come correct with the funk sound. But don't get me wrong. I'm not one of THOSE guys. I'm just saying is all. Overall it was totally worth the money. Also, when purchsing from a store make sure they give you the AC adapter. It doesn't take a battery and I have yet to find a patch chord for it to plug into my pedal board, which is a pain, but two chords to the wall is still better than the old 5 in the pretty pedal board era so i'm not totally complaining.

This unit is pretty easy to get a good sound out of it right from the box. The manual is straightforward without to much fluff. After some tweaking with the helpfully provided presets in the manual, I had some awesome sounds in a matter of minutes.

I've tried this unit with active and passive basses (Ibanez, Fender, Ernie Ball Music Man), as well as a number of six string guitars (Ibanez, Gibson, Schecter). Amps used were a Marshall JCM800, Mesa Boogie Mpulse 360, Sunn Sceptre, as well as a small Crate practice amp. This unit isn't really noisy at all, unless you set it to BE noisy on purpose. I really like the Bass Microsynth for bass and guitar as well.

I haven't owned my Microsynth for long enough to say it's never broken on me, but I have taken it on gigs and known many others using them with no problems and no backup. I'll give it an 8 for now, but would probably change it to a ten.

n/a
never needed support

Just want to say again that I really enjoy the cool things this unit can do, and want to say thanks to the guys a Aplusguitars.com for turning me onto this unit and ordering one for me.

ahhh...trial and error in mass abundance...i have been trying to get a real moog or arp lead sound out of this puppy and it comes and goes...i have a fender jazz and a steinberger xl...im running a tech 21 di thru a compressor which gives a much stronger signal from the mircro synth..the jazz bass has a badass II bridge so it has tons of treble...i feel i get a bit of a better synth lead sound out of the jazz versus the berger...it's easy to get a funk staccato sound out of but leads seem a bit more daunting

i actually used one in the studio right when i got it...i have some free music on mp3.com if you want to hear what i got out of it in action...its at www.mp3.com/grand_muff the song swank force 5 nadia and jack no spam here!....anyhow the square wave feature is a bit of a pain being that it distorts like a mo fo...sometimes i get a great lead sound with little volume then i have to pump up the square wave a bit to produce a louder signal

i always put it on top of the box it came with while playing because EVEYTIME i get a new eh pedal i wind up busting the ac adapter input on stage while stomping on it..this way the input hangs down .darndest things..so far so good

i never got a sound template with my unit which was supposed to be included...tried to find one but not yet...if anybody out there has one!!!:)

still....i love it so....my friend had an original and he traded it for a pack of cigarettes and $25 bucks....this was before he knew how much they go for thanks to ebay!!..im running some synths thru it with a good old sine wave and its really producing some old arp odyssey sounds lots of bass and growl..ill never get rid of mine it's easier to transport then a minimoog AND i quit smoking two years ago!!

It took a couple of uses with the band to determine which settings provided usable tones. The ten sliders allow you to easily visualize what is happening with the device. You can get sounds out of this ranging from beautiful long filter sweeps to the most aweful fedback distortion that you can imagine.
The manual was limited, but provided a bass to do your own configuration of the synth.

I am currently using a Modulus Genesis V->Peavey T-Max-> SWR Goliath III Jr. I have an ernie ball volume and DOD Chorus pedal between bass and amp.
Due to the bypass of this effect being, IMO, very weak, I have decided to place the synth in the effects loop of my amp(which is footswitchable) so that it doesn't deteriorate my sound. When in bypass mode, it seems to suck all the sound of the instrument. It is kind of annoying. If I ever have to use this with someone elses amp, I will probably just forgo it :(.
The Synth section, after tweaking the EQ, sounds very good and has worked its way into several songs, whether it is just filter sweeps, distortion, or little synth like annoyances.
The unit is very quiet.

Haven't had a problem, but did somehow lose one of the little white caps that go over the slider. Looks pretty solid.

nothing.

I play in a technical/jam band and it is the perfect thing for what I do to add some crazy bass noise. I will sometimes use this to solo and let the keyboard or malletkat player to take over bass duties for a while. The crowds usually have no idea where the sound is coming from, kind of amusing. The only complaint so far is the bypass mode which is very weak.
I can get some very Trey Gunn-like sounds out of my bass using this with all voices on and fast filter sweeps going on. Really cool. Not for full time use, but a very nifty little device, that if used appropriately can add a lot to your arsenal of bass gadgets.