Bo0tsy

I've been watching the demo's of this and it sounds awesome. Hope you like it.

I have the old big box Q Tron, it can be a finicky old beast. I found the best way to dial it in is to set the gain (sensitivity) low and the peak (Q) high and slowly adjust the gain up and peak down to your liking. It will also need some readjustment to trigger the filter across different basses. Hope that helps.

They have used European distributors before (I got my Tru Tron 3x from Thomann). Hopefully if sales kick off they'll do so again, as agreed shipping costs are ridiculously high. I wonder also if the production models will have the labelling sorted out. Every picture I've seen of the Micro Tron III so far has the labels covered up by the knobs!

The downsweep on the old big box Q Tron is as close as you can get to a Mu Tron downsweep without spending big bucks. Though I'm not sure what the new version Q Tron's are like. The Enigma Q Balls can also cop that sound and more with a little tweaking. The Mu-fx Micro Tron III is also out 1st August and that could be the one to beat if you are willing to splash out a bit more.

I have an old OC-2 which sounds great but can be finnicky with regards to tracking on an active bass. I also use a Foxrox Octron on my board, more flexibility than the OC-2 with octave up and down and tracks slightly better. My favourite however is the Mu-FX Octave Divider, so deep and fat sounding, the green ringer sounds like an awesome synthy fuzz and its the best tracking analogue octaver I've yet come across.

That's the main issue I found with the Manta. It can do all kinds of crazy sounds, but can't seem to do the classic funky 70's envelope filter quack and squelch.

Funk bassists top ten... Bootsy Collins Cordell 'Boogie' Mosson Billy 'Bass' Nelson Rodney 'Skeet' Curtis Larry Graham Andrew 'Love' Levy Stuart Zender Rick James Prince Aaron Mills

Filters are very subjective effects, so what works for one person may not work for another. I also own a MXR M82, mini Qtron, Micro Q Tron, original big box Q Tron, Enigma Q Balls, Emma Discumbobulator, Bassballs, Stereo Talking Machine, Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk Mk II, Chunk Octavius Squeezer, and I've previously owned a 3Leaf Proton, and EBS BassIQ, and for me, whilst they all have their own strenghs and differences, nothing quite matches the sound of a Mu-Tron III. I equally love the Chunk Systems pedals, but they are a much synthier sounding filter.

The Mu Fx Tru Tron 3x nails the original sound of the Mu Tron III IMO. Perhaps the Tru Tron sounds the teensiest bit cleaner, but that might just be my ears and the age of the components in the originals. The Tru Tron can also get wilder (if you line up both side by side you have to dial back on the Tru Tron Mu and Peak settings a bit but you can get an identical sound to the original. Agree that you'd be looking at £400-500 for a vintage Mu Tron III these days. I power my vintage ones with a CAE Sound 3 pin power supply. Even the Mu FX one needs a special 12v AC adapter (I use a Cioks AC 10 for mine). New and old Mu-Trons do have rather unusual power requirements!

If you find a vintage Mu-Tron III for £200 then you've picked up a great bargain!

I'll go for the two not on the list: Envelope Filter and Octave pedal...plus chuck in a Synth as 3rd choice.

It won't help your GAS but Mu Tron III's (and also the newer Mu Fx Tru Tron 3x) are awesome sounding filters. I own two vintage Mu-Tron III's, a Mu-Tron 3x, and own and have tried a lot of other filters: IMO Mu Tron's are top of (funk) heap, IMO 100% worth the hype.They do sometimes come up at "reasonable" prices on eBay or here on Basschat. Soundgas usually stock some but may be in the higher price bracket.if you go vintage Mu-Tron it's also worth checking if it's been serviced and calibrated. Also worth thinking about power supply requirements. Lsound or CAE do modern Mu-Tron power supplies, worth considering as they do eat (2x) 9v batteries.

For analogue octave, hands down the best I've heard is the Mu-FX Octave Divider. It sounds monstrous, very beefy low and fat. It tracks slightly better than my Foxrox Octron and far better than my OC-2, plus the Green Ringer modulation gives an added warm synthy fizziness that's very unique.

A bit of light drive, an OC-2 combined with an envelope filter will get you there.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1465702047' post='3070290'] I wonder if many of the responses are from millenials and there's a generational thing. I understand millenials don't like criticism. Blue [/quote] We get it Blue, it's an age thing. As a result you know best, you've been there, down that, seen it all, got the t-shirt. Everyone else's opinion must be wrong. Now could you please stop making the same old argument ad nauseam.

[quote name='YouMa' timestamp='1464396307' post='3059249'] I know he did some fantastic stuff with james brown and i like some of his early solo stuff,but i do feel overated creeping in here.listened to a lot of clinton stuff and hes more of a lead guitarist........please correct me as i really like him. [/quote] Which George Clinton songs are you referring to? Bootsy didn't play on a lot of Clinton's 80's solo stuff, whilst a lot of the later Parliament Funkadelic albums (Gloryhallastoopid, Trombipulation, Uncle Jam, Electric Spanking, etc.),featured a lot of synth, and sometimes Bootsy on drums and guitar, but seldom bass. However, his bass playing on Chocolate City, Mothership Connection, Clones of Dr Funkenstein, & Funkentelechy vs the Placebo Syndrome albums, is the very epitome of Funk and all things Funky.

My Bootsy Spacebass was my first bass. I still play it regularly.

I do like a lot of Prince's older 80's stuff best, but "Breakdown" from "Art Official Age" a couple of years ago is IMO both one of the best (most honest) songs he'd written, and builds up to be one of his greatest vocal performances.

Gutted. What an incredibly funky talented musician.

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1461005329' post='3030598'] +1 for designacable I like the neutrik with sommers braided cables [/quote] +2 for designacable. The Silent Neutrik Jacks and Van Damme leads are great quality and good value. You can get them through eBay too.

There's a couple of reservations I have about the Fwonkbeta Dannybuoy. One is that it's digital. I have an EHX Talking Machine; great unique sounding vocal formant filter, but to my ears at least I can tell it's digital, and (like the Fwonkbeta by the sound of it) it doesn't like having the filter overdriven. I also got to try a Manta recently and it sounded too artificial to me. I think I'm just too old school. I want my filters to sound a bit lo-fi and sloppy like they do on a 70's Funk record, (like Parliament or Bootsy's Rubber Band), and for me the Mu Tron 3x and Q Trons nail that sound, and they sound all the better for when you're digging in really hard. EDIT: I'm not knocking the Fwonkbeta by the way, it DOES sound huge in the demos I've seen.

If you can get one still, the Tru Tron 3x is an absolute beast of a filter. Like an original Mu Tron on steroids. It can do everything the original can do and get a little wilder.

Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Minnie Ripperton,Bobby Womack, Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo, Eryka Badu, James Brown and Bootsy Collins are some of my favourites. All have very unique and distinctive voices.