Electro-Harmonix Bass Microsynth

As long as you know how synths work (as far as filter sweeps and octaves) then you can get a nice tone out of this quite easily. The first slider is ok, but unless you know what it's doing (i.e. changing the volume at which it starts the synth) then you won't get a decent tone out of it.
I would reccommend that you put it on a music stand away from your pedalboard so that you can adjust the settings easier.

great!

I play a fender jazz bass (2008 edition) through an ashdown MAG-300 combo with 4x10 speakers.
This thing sounds is absolutely amazing! It sounds like an overdriven synth, very similar to that of the synth in 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush. Plus, by mixing the square wave with the origional, octave and sub-octave signals you can adjust the amount of overdrive.
When I set the start and end frequencies to the same (about 80% high), then i could get exactly the same tone as in by boss BOD-2 bass overdrive pedal.
It's a completely silent pedal. No fuss or anything as it only kicks in with a ertain amount of volume going through (adjusted by the first slider).

I got this pedal literally 2 days ago, and it's quite heavy (but not overly so). It's built copmletely solid. If i had millions of ??s I'd take one just because it sounds so nice that if anything did happen to it, then I'd really need one as I use it so much in my band.

Never dealt with

I'm in a heavyish rock band called HyBrid http://www.myspace.com/bandhybridhybrid and I will be using this constantly! It has a very rock-techno sound, which perfectly fits my type of music. I'd buy it again if i lost it. It's great for playing long notes during guitar intros and for fiddling with on-stage! Just SLIGHTLY pricey.

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.

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.

its not the easiest pedal to get a good sound out of, but when you sit down and give it time you can pick it up pretty fast.

well its not true bypass, which is a downer but its pretty quiet depending on what your doing with it. the effect itself is just the coolest thing around

nothings gone wrong so far.should be careful with it though.

haven't needed to.

i play space jam stuff so its right on the money for that. but its also the FUNK pedal if you want it to be. truely innovative sounds.

Kinda involved I suppose(all those sliders) but the manual has some good suggested settings which are a wise place to start.You can learn to "tweak" your sound later.Practice is required to get the full potential out of this box.

Once you get the hang of it you can get a tremendous amount of great
sounds from this unit.Some funky,some funny,some even SCARY and some
just weird.Has a fantastic analog sci-fi space rock vibe and alot
of character to its many colors.As stated in the manual it tracks best
with Jazz basses or basses with single coil pick-ups(which I use with this device)but can be adjusted for other types of basses.

Looks and feels totally solid and has a nice wood storage box for when
not in use but sliders might be a little fragile.Don't step on it!

Not yet,great company web-site though.

I adore this unit! Without a doubt this is the single most fun and totally entertaining bass effect I have ever owned period.It is very useful and I feel that it has a profound influence on my playing.It
can generate sounds that are inspirational to the creative element
of experimenting and composition.Versatile,I love it---'nuff said.

I bought it used with no manual. Controls are complex compared to other pedals (possible to not get any sound at all), but fairly easy once you know whats going on. Small phillips head pot on the bottom for tuning the gate trigger.

Low octave is good, but slightly loose.
High octave is fantastic - this is where you get the best filter/synth sounds.
Square wave fuzz- kinda cheezy and worthless for bass, use a Muff Pi or Bass overdrive.
The REAL Problem is the gate, extremely noisy woomfy sound at each attack, to the point that I wouldn't use this thing for anything but play time. It is possible to minimize this by really contentrating on keeping your attack steady. [I wonder why no one else has really mentioned this much?]
The swell and filter sections are fantastic, the variety of sounds and clarity of effect is unrivaled. Coupled with the synth section, I don't think you could get anything this funky for this cheap.

I have never gigged with it. Solid box, solid footswitch, but don't step or spill anything on the sliders.

This is THE funk machine. The noisy gate is the only problem. I wish the gate could be turned off via a switch or turning the pot all the way down (at the expense of the swell feature I suppose).

Sliders are easy to use, but takes a while to figure out what you like. personally, i really really want to be able to move sliders while im playing, like with some expression peddals. the guys in my band always see me crouched over this thing, playing bass with one hand and moving sliders around with the other for some way out sounds

hi, i dont play bass anymore, i play a fat synth from before midi was even a glimmer in the digital eye

not a problem at all. its an eh built like the old ones, good old metal.

nothing yet

im in a technical jam band and we get way out there alot of the time. with this thing, i can bring us in for a landing with serious space tones, or throw the speed really fast while my drummer kicks on his new EH sonic boomer triggered by his kick drum and get some seriously weird house and drum n bass / jungle goin on. people love to dance to this sound

This is not the easiest pedal in the world to use. The 10 sliders are very nice for visualization of what the pedal is doing, but It takes a while to actually figure out what each slider really does and the effect it has on the sound. It is also kind or a pain that it has to be plugged in (no batteries), but I guess I won;t have to worry about batteries dying in the middle of using it.

I use this in direct line with my Carvin LB70 bass (also with a chorus and occasional wah-wah for some really freaky sounds). The electronics are very quite in bypass mode. When this pedal is on look out!!! you can get that very deep almost dub sound to a great fuzzy white noise sound to an excellent "moog" lead synth sound. This pedal tracks incredibly well because of it being analog (unlike the Boss pedal that is digital). With this pedal's octave up, Octave down and fuzz, plus the variable rate you can achieve very deep powerful and highly varied sounds. Imagine some background music to "Flash Gordon" to some Funkadelic sounds. Also one key feature is the trigger slider. setting it allows you to activate the synth differently depending on how you pluk the strings. A strong firm pluck can trigger a ringing fuzzy synth sound, while a light smooth sweep over the string can create a low solid deep background. This pedal is probably the best synth pedal around.

I would probably gig with this without a backup, even though I bought it more for fun, than for mixing in with my band's sound. Plus at almost $300 a backup can be a little pricey. This thing is built very sturdily....all metal (except the sliders, which could be kinda fragile, but they are fairly protected)

Haven't had to deal with them yet, but they have a good warranty and supposedly they will assist you very redily if you have any problems

This is a great pedal to just experiment with the whole synth sound with. I wouldn't recommend using the pedal all the time (after all you are playing a bass). This total blew the digital Boss synth out of the water. The only reason I didn't give this thing a 10 is due to its high price tag. If this were stolen or lost I probably would buy another, because every now an then I just like to get a sound from my bass that is more than just bass.

Ok, If you know the basics of analog synths, dialing up sounds are a snap. If you don't, well, it's not so easy. The interface is as straight-foward as you can get. 10 sliders and a button! Once you figure out what they all do the possibilities are endless. The manual, ehem, pink instruction ditto just gives you a VERY general idea of each sliders function. Also, comes with charts for a bunch of thoroughly cheesy presets and a few blank charts to record your own.
Kind of cool. I'll give it a 6 because if you're new to analog synths it can take a few minutes to get used to.

Right now I'm using this unit with 2 basses. Either my old Peavey T40 or a Danelectro Longhorn reissue. I've come to discover that this unit doesn't take kindly to humbuckers as when I've tried to use it with my 5 string Thunderbird, the sounds are just not all there. I'd say straight-up single coils make this thing sing. I play through a Hartke 3500 head and Ampeg SVT 15e cabinets. The graphic EQ on my head (which I used to hate) has never come in so handy. You may dial up some awsome sound and then when you play it loud the resonant swells are just TO MUCH. So lowering (or raising) certain frequencies on the head clear it up no sweat without changing the desired sound from the pedal. My EQ has never been in such odd configuration but hey, it sounds awsome so, whatever! Noise...none. Seamless switching between clean and dirty. Which is surprising for a big metal stomp box. Ok, the sounds...THIS THING RULES All I can say is it's just a beast! The possibilities are endless. You can get anything from light nuances, sub-bass harmonics, sweeps, swells, leads, pads, and of course, your cheese infested space sounds. They are all there, right on top of the box. I have but one grip with this machine and is it does't handle a low B string too well. You have to turn the gain pot way down so the trigger doesn't break up the signal. But with the super-low frequencies this thing produces you probably wouldn't want to use a low B anyway. Unless you're playing through Bag End E.L.F. amps or a true subwoofer. I recommend this unit to anyone wants to add a little fatness to their sound and everyone who wants to make aliens land on their roof. In order to get all these sounds from single pedals you would probably have to chain a series of at least 7 pedals that would cost you a hundred bucks a piece.This stand-alone unit does 'em all and then some! This thing is perfect in my eyes. It's the ONLY pedal I use.

If you're familiar with Electro-Harmonix, you know that the stuff is built to last. It's big. It's metal. Just don't step on the sliders. I know people who own the originals and they work like they're new. I would definitely use it on a gig without a backup. But first I would put some tape on the power plug. I pesonally like wall-warts because in case of a surge I'd rather fry the wart than the pedal. I'm not worried about this thing.

Top-notch! A few years ago, way before they reissued these things, I dug an original Guitar Micro-Synth out of this dudes garbage and Electro Harmonix sent me a schematic, parts list, replacement foot button, and a phone call! They are glad to help owners of they're products. Excellent.

I use this for fusion/drum n' bass type stuff and it is perfect. I was searching for "my sound" forever and I found it in 5 minutes in the store showroom! I set the frequencies WAY-LOW and the trigger WAY-HIGH. If I play lightly I get the deep P sound on old Soft Machine records. And when I hit a little harder the trigger kicks in to an auto-wah type thing. So cool. Super expressive and sensitive. I consider it a whole instrument in itself. It needs to be mastered like anything else. When I play it's ALWAYS on. I've used it to develop an original, expressive sound that couldn't be duplicated with anything else. Especially any digital pedal on the market. I've owned virtually every flanger, wah, pitch-shifter, and distortion pedal around, and so far, none compare in quality, originality, and especially, price. I won't lose this thing as I've had surgically attached to my hip, but if it were stolen I wouldn't hesitate to replace it the same day. I couldn't play the stuff I'm playing without it. It's revamped my entire playing style. If there was one thing I wish it had it would be a twin brother. Get this pedal.

I would say it is in the middle as far as ease of use. If you have a knowledge of synthesis then it will be very easy to understand. It is very important to take the time to learn how to use the Bass Microsynth. You must understand what everything does on the unit to get the results that were intended by the designers. Most of the negative reviews that I've read about this unit are probably due to a lack of understanding how to set the controls.

Excellent sound quality. If you are looking to get a very authentic "ow" type MiniMoog bass sound from your electric bass (as well as a huge variety of other sounds) then this is a way to do it. I'm impressed with the unit. Since the unit is totally analog, there is absolutely no tracking delay like you find on digital units. The filter has a great ballsy sound like the filter on the MiniMoog. The Bass Microsynth can be used to acheive many other types of sounds as well. I use it to add a sub-octave, as an analog eq (with resonance!), as distortion pedal, as a envelope modifier, as well as providing very cool synth bass timbres. It is highly funky but also very usable in pop/top 40 music as well.

The unit is well built. I does have an external wall wart power supply. I wish this weren't the case but I can live with it.

Excellent. I've had several email correspondences with them regarding possible mods that I want to do. They have been great. On two occasions they even sent me materials to help out with the mods.

This is the absolute best way to get that coveted MiniMoog bass sound from your electric bass. It's authentic. Keep in mind, though, that you need to learn how to use the Bass MicroSynth in order to get the results. It's a fairly complicated box. It the ONLY pedal I use.

There's a lot going on with this device, and the interactivity of the controls makes for many discoveries (and occasional frustration) when figuring it out (however, if you're familiar with analog synthesizers, you can probably "up" the rating to a 9 or 10). And it can sometimes take a while to tweak the controls "just right" for the patch you want, even once you are experienced with it. And it *is* possible to set the controls for no sound, so watch out for that. The short manual (instruction sheet, really) does a good enough job of describing the features, but probably isn't necessary if you're in that "9 or 10" category. Once you understand how the effect works, changing the settings is trivially easy since there's a slider for every parameter. Using sliders instead of knobs is a big plus in this case - it makes it easy to visualize things like the range of filter sweep based on the positions of the filter start and filter stop sliders. And if you really want, with a bit of care and practice, you can adjust the sliders with your foot while playing - I have done so, although that would really lower this rating by a couple points.

This pedal is *loaded* with features. The first slider sets the trigger threshold for the attack decay and filter sweep sections (see below). The next four sliders adjust the levels of suboctave (octave down), guitar (clean) signal, octave up (like an Octavia fuzz) and square wave (fuzz). The quality of these doesn't match high-end pedals like an EBS Octabass or ZVex Woolly Mammoth, but are as good as any standard Boss, MXR, or other "standard" manufacturer. One slider controls the length of time of the attack decay phase, which is initiated when the volume level of your bass exceeds the threshold set by the first slider. The next four sliders control the filter sweep: resonance (amount of "bite" or "presence" for the filter), start frequency, stop frequency, and sweep time - this section acts like an envelope filter with variable attack time (decay/release is instantaneous when it's re-triggered). Since the start & stop frequency settings are full-range, it can be used either for up-sweeps (swell) or down-sweeps. This can either sound like a normal "funky" envelope filter, or, with the various fuzz settings and resonance cranked, noise spawned from the pits of hell (or something like that). The sound can be fairly transparent (the character of my Rickenbacker 4001 still shows through) or, with heavy fuzz and filter, can thoroughly decimate your tone (I mean this in a good way!), somewhat like Helios Creed/Chrome (I believe he uses an original Microsynth on his guitar). I give it a "9" because there's so much sonic variety, even if it doesn't have "boutique" sound quality (which is usually required to get a "9" from me).

Seems reliable enough, and I've done several gigs with it without any problems. The only trouble I ever had was with the power supply (see below), and that was entirely the building wiring's fault. I suppose one could worry about breaking the sliders if you move them with your Doc Marten-clad feet, but they feel sturdy to me. As for needing a backup, the Microsynth is, in effect, a backup for my Meatball / Octabass / Wooly Mammoth combo (replace 3 expensive pedals with 1 expensive one!) or a "real" analog synth (modular or vintage), so I'll have to do without one (especially at this price).

One day, the electricity in our rehearsal building went crazy, with AC levels fluctuating from very low (~90v?) to very high (~130V?), which fried the power adaptor for the Microsynth (note to people who prefer internal transformers to "wall warts": if this had been an internal transformer, I would have needed to take the entire unit into the shop instead of getting a new wall wart). The rep at New Sensor quickly answered my Email, and got me in touch with a local dealer who was able to order a replacement part for me. Both she and the dealer (Panhandle Guitars in San Francisco) were very friendly and helpful.

This effect pedal is fantastic! At first I was a bit leery because it *is* so weird, but it has integrated into my band's sound (punk/pop with psychedelic, spacerock and experimental influences on some songs) very well (albeit used sparingly/tastefully) in the several months that I've owned it. It even came in handy the time our drummer had to fix her kick pedal in the middle of a set, so I improvised a Spacemen 3-like instrumental on-the-spot using the Microsynth through a tremelo pedal. One of the great things about it is that there's nothing else like it, so if it were to go missing, I would HAVE to replace it. It's NOT for everybody - if you're playing straight-ahead blues, country or other more traditional music forms, don't bother with it. But I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to add a bit of freakout to their sound. The only reason it gets a "9" is because I don't give out "10"s.

To be honest I'm glad I downloaded the schematic for this beast before I got one. The controls are misleading and the manual, if you get one is very general in descriptions. I myself am an Air Force trained elecronics technician, and am familiar with analog synths. This is probably one of the most complicated analog effects ever created. But once you get the jist of it you're gonna get a chubby every time you play through it. There are ten sliders on the top of the unit with a power on/off switch and an effect on/off switch, not a true bypass. Out of all the controls the trigger ajust is the least responsive on my unit. It may be that the old IC's are at the end of their serviceable lives. There are 2 trim pot inside of the unit. One is preamp gain that sets the overall gain of the unit. The other is the "SQUELCH" adjuster. This is an analog threshold limiter, aka: Noise Gate. This one is tricky to set if you play several basses with different levels of output. It would have been wiser for E/H to mount these two pots externally to accommodate varied input levels, hopefully they will do this on the reissue models that they will be releasing soon. They also need to make the squelch ajustment a little more precise. The more time I spend with it the more capabilities I find in it.

I use this thing through all different kinds of setups with many different input devices (basses,guitars,drum machines,mics, whatever) and it rocks. If you want an analog synth sound this and I suppose the microsynth are the best at that. It is not noisy at all unless you turn the squelch control down too far. With the trigger set correctly you can get the most marvelous sounds, plus you can use the attack delay setting to smooth the response to sound like a keyboard type synth. One of the most interesting things I've found in this unit is the sweep controlled envelope filter type effect. Unlike a typical envelope filter you can control the sweep time and the filter range or peak no matter what your string attack is. It took me no time to get Bootsy's sound on "FLASHLIGHT" or "THEME FROM THE BLACK HOLE" I mean this is a pure funk machine. I own or have owned every envelope filter made except for the Lovetone MEATBALL and this thing beats 'em all for control. Except for the MEATBALL? Out of all the bass/guitar synths I've tried this is the best tracking unit ever, it is however nothing more than a super filter, but ti beats the fuck out of the glitchy DIGITAL SHIT on the market.

Don't know. Have only had it a short time. I would use it on a gig without a back up,if you are familiar with E/H construction you know why. Besides I have the PC board layout and all the parts required to build another one now.

I have e-mailed Sovtech and got immediate responses, even from Mike Matthews himself. These people appear to accept input from us end users on the reissue stuff, plus they will help you with the vintage stuff if you ask them.

All I can say is that this is the sweetest analog pedal I have ever owned. I would gladly spend the money to replace it if it were lost or stolen. If it were broke I would simply repair it. The one word that comes to mind with this pedal for me is "FUNK" this is the queen mother of old school funk tone for me. Plus its got a million other sounds in ther that I have yet to discover.