Electro-Harmonix Bassballs Reissue

very easy to use

Not a noisy unit but really only has 1 basic sound with a distorted version to the same sound as variation. I tried this with my 72 Jazz with active EMG's into Ampeg gear.
Reminds me of Bootsys solo sound on Govt Mules Deep End vol 1 album. You really dont get much else from it.

If it died at a gig I'd probably throw it at the stage hand and tell him to file it under B.

Dunno, dont care. If it dies its in the bin.

I play Rock/classic rock/blues/funk etc etc
I've played for over 25 years, 10 for a living.
If it were stolen or lost I would probably order a beer and forget about it.
It was fun for 5 mins to jam along and have the same sound as Bootsy.
I picked it up cheap from ebay mostly out of curiosity.
I gotta say that the hype I've read about it falls a long way short for the money.

Its a bit of a novelty but seriously if you expect more than a funky novelty sound to use in a short solo out of this unit, dont bother.

My opinion is to spend more time effort and cash on your natural sound than worrying about 1 dimensional novelty sounds.

Sorry to be so negative about this. I am a fan of Mike Matthews and admire what he's done greatly, its just this unit doesn't do much for me.

Not as easy as one might think. OK it has got just one knob and one switch. But this little guy is quite a pain at first. But after you've got the hang of it it's easy.

This is my setup: Fender American Telecaster - Bass balls - Trex Mudhoney - Ibanez Fz7 Fuzz - Zvex Fuzz Factory - Marshall Mdfx 30.
To some up the sound quality is very hard, because this pedal has got no comperion. There is no other effect like it.
But it is save to say that this a very interresting little pedal. It has got 2 sepperate filters: one sort of phaser/chores like, and one sort of wah like. This is what makes it so special. You can get a huge amound of different sounds out it. Some very phiacdelic,, some very funny and some very wild. It depents how you play.
This is truly a filter it totaly reacts to the way you play, let alone what kind of pedal you put behind it.
I play blues, rock, and indusrtiel. So this is perfect for me.
But you have to get to know this thing because you can get very ugly sounds out of it. Put some time in to it. After that it's all good sweet stuff

No problems yet.

A great thing to play around with, just get one it is not that expensive. And a lot of great bands use this effect like Placebo and Radiohead just to name a few.

As simple as it gets, just one knob and a distortion on-off switch

The sound of it is amazing. It makes no noise, even if i have my ODB-3 with gain in 10 and bassballs with the distorion on and sensetivity in 10 [you should try that, it makes a funny sound] When i first got it a played some scales on the bass and it sounded exactly as the bass intro on N.I.B by black sabbath, and when a turned the distortion on it sounded exactly like the the main riff that butler plays after the bass intro....

I don't know, i just got i a few days ago, I bought the american because i heard the russian was crap....

never had to deal with the company

I whoul say it's a great effect for bass players that are looking for new sound from there basic setup. It sound great!

There's no manual, but you don't need one! One switch and one knob. It takes just a short amount of time to find a good sound, but with some more time and experimentation with other pedals, you can get much cooler sounds. It's a little annoying to adjust the sensitivity, but once you get used to it, you'll memorize its sweet spots.

I have a Fender Precision Bass and Custom Fender Stratocaster Guitar, and I use a Fender Bassman amp (75 watts). The only other effect pedal I use is a Boss Blues Driver. Don't use the "balls" effect in the fx loop, because it weakens the effect (although you may get feedback). With bass and "balls" alone, you have to turn up the mid or treble on the bass itself (in order to here the effect), and then turn the knob on the pedal a little bit under the light (7-8 o'clock) to get a pseudo-wah sound, basically a gurgly "WOW" or "WOAH" sound. The switch just adds distortion, but thins out the sound. With a guitar, there are more possibilities. Use a distortion pedal set all the way up before the effect, sensitivity all the way down but with the switch up, you get a cool kind of singing, tubey octave fuzz. With the same setting but with the "balls" distortion, it gets brown nasty and distorted clipping (way cool) but thinned out. With "balls" first, sensitivity all the way up, and the switch up, you get a nasty screaming sound, and it gets even more brown and screaming with the distortion switch. With a just the bassballs and the guitar, its just kind of a gurgly "WOW" sound, so in my opinion use this with other effects. Um...I dont really pay attention to it, but i don't think this is a "true" bypass, and when you have all this distortion and stuff before the amp, you WILL get feedback, and using the bassballs on high settings with high distortion can get piercing screams at times, so be careful while experimenting on high settings.

Works fine, but serious giggers or pedal abusers may want to check out the USA model instead.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I initially bought this for bass because autowahs were too expensive and i was too lazy to learn how to work a pedal. this isn't the same, but the "Ow" sound is good enough for me. It sounds WAY better with distortion effects instead of by itself, but it makes those other effects sound great.

Very easy to use. I've got the American reissue, just one knob and a switch. If you can play with yourself, you can play with this.

Very responsive to your playing, getting groovy vocal sounds that change depending on you attack is killer. Nice for solo's as the distortion switch gives you a few extra db's, but it is useful only for the one sound. It's not noisy at all. I'm currently running through a Fender Pro 300t, into a 4X10 David Eden XLT and a 1-15 David Eden. I use an active BBNE2 bass from yamaha.

The thing is built like a bricksh**house. I use it to hunt my food, one good knock usually kills a moose.

Never dealt with em.

I play lots of different types, but it seems to work best when taking leads, and funk songs. I've been playing for 8 years. I also own a Q-tron, Micro-synth, phaser, Morley Dual bass wah, digital delay, tremolo, a whole wackload of crap.
I'd buy the thing again if it was ripped off. I was looking for a groovy filter, and something that'd give me a little more boost when taking a solo. The thing is pyschadelic, the only thing I wish it had was a distortion blend control, but other then that it's all groovy.

easy as one, two,three.If you can play with yourself you can play with this thing.

I have run this pedal thorugh a hartke 4ooo wit a 4x10 and a spector 5 string and also through a guitar setup.I am very pleased with the results on both.Very funky pedal but like somebody mentioned before you really have to be a finger player to enjoy the full range of the pedal.With the guitar setup it added a lot of harmonics which I thought sounded really cool.The only problem is the volume boost in the distortion and my main problem is the loud ass click it makes when you turn it on/off.

I have owned it for 5 yrs now and it has never given me a problem.I have never really gigged with it but I,m sure it would hold up allright.

Never had to

Overall I'd say it's a good buy if you get it under $60.I havent tried any other envelopes except the DOD and that one sucks ass.I would replace it if it were stolen because I use it on newer stuff i've been working on and because it wouldnt be too expensive to replace.biggest problem for me is the goddamn click it makes when you turn it on....but no pedal is perfect.

One dial, one distortion switch and one on/off foot switch. Couldn?t be much easier, however see comment below about the sensitivity knob.

Pretty darn funky. Not a wah. Different. Not very versatile, but that?s OK. Does one thing, but does it well. Basically you have two options, distortion or not. I wish the distortion switch was a foot switch so you could change on the fly. I?m a pick player, but I think this effect sounds better with fingerstyle. This effect gives you a sharp, piercing attack which is nice with your fingers, but over-exaggerated with a pickup. When picking if you want to kill the harshness, you have to turn the sensitivity so low that much of the fun sounds of the effect are lost. Still usable though if you get the sensitivity set just so.
Regarding the sensitivity dial, I have one minor complaint. If you move the volume knob on your bass, you change the volume of the signal that goes into the pedal, which drastically changes the sound of the effect. In other words, you may get the sensitivity knob on the Bassballs just right, but then if you move your volume knob on your bass, your pedal settings have to be changed again. To maintain the same effect, you have to turn the sensitivity knob down when you turn your onboard volume knob up. Turn your bass? volume down, then you need to turn the sensitivity knob on the effect up. The moral of the story is that it?s tough to keep that sweet happy medium setting, especially if you?re a picker.

I wish it and every other pedal on the planet was true bypass. When will the industry learn that?s what we want?!

I wish it had a volume knob and/or a blend to mix the dry signal with the effected signal. There's a very slight volume boost when turned on too, but it's not terribly bad. Not nearly as bad as the Mini Q-tron.

I have the Russian version. So far, so good. Haven?t had it long enough give a rating. Seems a little flimsier than some of the Fulltone and EBS stuff, but time will tell.

No experiences.

Fun, funky, freaky effect. Not a drippy, squishy bell bottoms effect. More pissed off and mean sounding. I haven?t yet found a place for the Bassball's sound in any of our original songs, but I?m sure I soon will. I?ve only had the thing a couple days. It?s not something that most people will use often because it?s pretty obnoxious, but it?s boatloads of fun when you do find the right spot in a song for it.

it has got a knob on it for sensitivity, and one switch for distorsion (im talking about the russian version here)

the knob is very sensitive, and i can only get VERY! good sounds out of it by turning it, but once im on the 12;00 stand, and further, nothing changes.

i don't know if there's a manual for this, but ehm, my grandmother could even use it without so... pretty easy to use yess

when i play my fretless base, it sounds very easy..
and when i put my ibanez on it, it has a nice pop n wah, for the solo's sort like agressive, when i turn up the mids on my eq, but when i take the mid out, it sounds nice, like an normal auto-wah.

it isn't noisy at all, but when i put it off, i think somehow, im still hearing a little bit wha, so better be careful if you don;t like that!

and one more thing, when you put the distorsion on, you get a immense boost! your base has become as loud as an aeroplane.. damn...

i also like to play sir psycho sexy - from the chili peppers with this pedal.

well.. seems pretty solid to me, and its been around for about a year with no problems so... i think a 10.

??? never dealt with

i like this pedal, its cheap, has nice sounds, is easy to handle.. yeah.. that;s what im talking about... but the only thing is that i think it isnt true bypass.. and that can be a major problem.

if it was stolen i think i get another one... or save some money to get me a lot of ebs stuff, tough thats fucking expensive.

i wish it had a better bypass, but im VERY critical in that, because other basist i know cvouldn't hear it. i think that;s just me, but once turned on, it's a great pedal.

If you can open a door and turn on a light switch, than you can use this pedal.

Sound is sensitive, you must be careful how to dial in correctly in appreciation to your individual playing style, and equipment. If you know the sound of the pedal, and you like it then you buy it. If you think you can get this in place of an envelope filter, you'll be upset, it is NOT an envelope filter. All the people saying it sounds like a mutron, or lovetone meatball are complete idiots.
You need an envelope filter in order to make those sounds, and they don't come cheap, unless you're willing to settle for swill.
However it has a unique sound which, used correctly, sounds good, but the switch is a bit noisy.

I am pretty comfortable with it, as I am with electro harmonix.

I like the sound I can get out of this pedal. I first heard mike gordon from Phish using this in some jams(it doesn't come out often) It has only one function, but it's pretty funky. I'm happy with it, for what it is. At 1st I had it in the middle of my effects chain(for bass) and it lost some contour, so I moved it 1st and it sounds good there. There is definate dynamic charachteristics to it, it reacts to your playing making you half of the effect. I think it was intended for pickers, because you get a more responsive sound with a pick, rather than with fingers. I do not use a pick and haven't for 12 years but I just started to because of the sound you get from this with a pick. I am also going through some changes, looking for new sounds and ways of playing so that is also why I was more apt to trying the pick.

When I plugged it into my reg. guitar I did not like the sound during a lead, but you can get a unique sound for some rhythms. It seems to harsh for guitar and best left to bass. This unit also complements a host of other effects like flang, you will be happy with combination exploration.

This is damn simple. You turn the sensitivity knob up to get an obvious effect, turn it down for a more subtle effect.

Distortion switch goes up, down, up, down, up, down. Simple really.

You dont get a manual, just a little piece of paper telling what the distortion switch and sensitivity knobs do. As if you didnt know.

I use mine with my slightly mashed up Squier Strat and my Fender Frontman amp, wid a Zoom 505II.

Mine was a bit mashed. I got it on eBay brand new with warranty card and all, but there's a couple of proooblems. Its meant to have distortion when the switch is up, clean when its down. The problem is that its clean in the up position, and in the down position, theres a tiny bit of gain, but nowhere near enough to be called distortion.

I was expecting a synth type sound, but thats not what i got. Its a mixture of a Flanger and an Autowah really. If you hit the strings hard it sounds like a flanger going down quite slowly. If you hit higher strings, or dont hit them so hard, it sounds quite wah-ey, and you can also get a mixture of both. You really control the sounds you get by how you play basically, though overall it does have a good sound.

Looks pretty solid, spose i could use it without backup...

I play all kinds of music really, but mainly kinda emo metal and blues. It's good for someone who likes effects like me, but if i had tried it first i dont know if i would have buyed it. if it were stolen or lost, i would get another Russian made one, though i might get an NYC one.

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.

N/A

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