Electro-Harmonix Bassballs Reissue

Easy as cake, piece of pie! 1 knob and a switch.

I use this as an auto wah in order to leave me free to manipulate other pedals with my foot (I fall over if trying to use my Morley and whammy at the same time else). This gives me some pretty mad sounds. I like the throatyness of the effect and can't detect a lot of noise. I wasn't that impressed with the distortion in the unit, I feel it is a little lame,(get a big muff instead). As i play in a kinda Tom Morello style this effect gives me the "freedom" to manipulate other effects while keeping a wah thing going. I like it.

I've got the russian one (hard to get the American ones over here in England)and think the build is O.K. It hasn't let me down yet, but I have heard stories about the sovtek ones being shoddy regards their switches and pots.

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It works for what I want it to do, (free up a foot while still maintaining an effect), and gives a nice sound. Ideal for funky lines and a little more texture to it than a standard wah pedal. If you like your vintage funky effects, get one!

Mine has a toggle switch for the clean/drive function- if this were a footswitch, i'd say ten. It also has a big "chicken head" knob for the sensitivity that you can tweak with your foot while playing, which is nice.

The sound is fine- not quite a full on Mu Tron III sound, but great for the price.

Pretty terrible. This is why I'm writing this revue- if you are going to buy one of these, I would suggest the USA-made one; the Russian-made one is shoddy. There is the possibility that mine is an exception, but so many things have broken on it I believe the general design and manufacturing process are bad. Just what went wrong, you ask? First of all, the sheet metal construction is crap. The little bent-metal cover for the battery compartment (the battery actually clips into the cover) lasted about ten seconds. The first time the pedal quite working (It has so many times, I don't remember why it quite the first time)about half the screws holes stripped out when I took it apart. Since then, the sensitivity pot, the footswitch, adaptor jack and input jack have all needed replacement. Granted, I was playing bar gigs with it, but I don't kick my pedals around when I play or otherwise abuse them. I'm not trying to come down on E-H here, I just expect my equipment to be reliable in a situation other than sitting in a bedroom or home studio.

Haven't dealt with E-H. I did get the neccesary parts for repair from the good folks at Dave's Guitar Shop in LaCrosse, WI who are helpful and friendly.

For the money, this is one of the best envelope effects out there - way better than those green DOD things (FX 25?). I just can't go with the crappy construction of the Russian ones. If it got stolen, I'd probably buy another one, but the US made version. I have looked at these and they appear to be a bit better made.

this ones a no brainer..on\off,sensitivity,distortion..they all do what they say.Theres no manual,you don't need one.thats why i give a 10 in this catagory

I use a Fender jazz special(fretless),Rickenbacker4001,Modulus\Genisis5string and sometimes a upright bass(equiped with a p-bass p\u & a K&K piezo).It's pretty darn quiet for a stompbox.the effect is very cool,with the dist off it's kinda subtle but still very audible,kick in some dist.and you got Bootsy.Higher sens. settings yeild some very wacky sounds(go easy with this control).I did notice that passive basses work much better than active ones(I think the output of actives mess with the dynamic control of this effect)but passive instruments are awsome thru it.the unit was designed to work on the dynamics of ones attack and playing style,play soft and get a subtle effect,play hard get a not-so-subtle effect.I think the unit would work equally well with active inst. if you use the f\x loop especially if theres an attenuation switch or blend controll but overall a funky-cool effect

I don't depend on ANYTHING....but this is built like a tank.I would use it on a gig without a back-up, like the rest of my fx if it failed I would just remove it from the chain(I only have one...I don't know anyone who has two of every effect they own)BEWARE this thing EATS batteries..might wanna get a power supply

never dealt with them so I can't say

overall I give this pedal a 9, thats only because I'm not a huge fan of fx.I been playin bass for 20+ years and I've owned almost every effect there is and with fx less is more.I don't know if I would replace it if it got lost or stolen(I would be bummed out)but right now I like this pedal..It is musical and it has it's place and it's just plain FUN TO USE

All there is is one knob (sensitivity) and a distortion switch.

It makes a bit of noise but sounds cool. Also, when you hit the distortion switch the sudden volume burst will scare you!!!

Plastic knobs, sensitivity pot seems weak, but it should last a while,
with it's metal box and everything. I am not positive though, I've only had it a week.

Don't know, yet.

I'd buy it again if I could save up 80 bucks, worth it if you like funky sounds.

I have the black Sovtek reissue version with blue writing, not the new NYC stainless version. But like other Bassballs, it has just one knob (Sensivity), one switch (Distortion) and an on/off stomp button with LED indicator light. Pretty easy to use so far.

But inexplicably, in the 2 weeks I've owned it, it's gone through 2 Danelectro 9v batteries already. After the 1st battery only lasted 4 days, with the second battery, I turned off the switch and unplugged the input jack, the battery was dead a week later with little use. Maybe, I'm not switching it off correctly. It didn't come with any directions, so I give it a 5 here.

I use this pedal with a G&L L1505 five-string bass and no other effects at the moment (other effects I plan to get are the ZVex Wooly Mammoth and the Lovetone Meatball). The overall effect of the Bassballs is a swirly envelope filter sound that is triggered by input level. It is not subtle and very funky. I typically keep the sensitivity below 11 o'clock, otherwise the funk gets out of hand. Also, I find the triggering to work better with the active preamp of my bass switched off. When it's on, the gain is too high to allow much dynamic control over the effect, even with sensitivity turned down. So active-only basses may not work as well.

Engage the distortion switch for an over-the-top "thwonk", but this is better for getting laughs than for playing bass lines. Though the distortion would be useful for getting those booming Bootsy thwonks like at the beginning of "Stretchin' Out" or maybe for a finger-popping solo. Distortion also takes out bottom end, so a signal split

Overall, the twin dynamic filters (whatever that means) of the Bassballs create a funky "talking" sound not found in traditional envelope filters. Check out the MP3 samples at http://www.ehx.com

Can't depend on this until I figure out why it sucks batteries so fast. Otherwise, it's built pretty sound.

No instruction manual and no guidance on the web site for the battery problem. But I have had no direct contact with the company.

I bought the Bassballs for funky outrageousness, and here it excels. Check out the George Clinton P-Funk (Bassballs users) samples at the ehx.com site to see what this pedal can do. Once I get the battery problem solved or resort to an AC wall wart (god, I hate those), I will give this a 10. I have yet to try the NYC US-made version (though I think the black and blue Russian one looks cooler).

i`m in japan so the manual is in japanese but it`s really easy to use so you don`t need the manual a footswitch, a knob for sensitivity and a switch for distortion

i love the sound of this thing it`s too loud when you use the distortion though i prefer to use it clean or with one of my distortion peddles ie a marshall shred master or my guyatone fuzz. none of my favorite players as far as i know use envelope filters but this is great i love it for rythym but i use it on leads sometimes

i would have said i could rely on it until the switch went now i get no sound when i turn it on

as i said my switch is broken at the moment but i have already sent it to be repair after it was returned it worked for about a month before it gave up again i have to take it back again it`s not even 6 months old yet

i would give it a 8 or 9 if i didn`t have the problems with it. i play heavy music and i experiment a little as well it`s good for heavier rythym sounds i think you can get some really big shifts in it`s sweeps when you hit the strings hard. i would buy it again because of the sound but i think i would compare it with some of the more rigid looking boxesif i do. i own a number of other boxes including some vintage and reissue pedals and this is 1 of my favorites i don`t have any other envelope filters but i have 2 wahs a cry baby and a roland double beat.this pedal is probably my favorite for rythym as i keeps the bottom end in your signal better than the other 2