ped

The last five years or so have been quite transformative for me in many ways but especially in my bass tastes. For the longest time I was playing my Vigier bass, and found the modern sound perfect for what I was doing. That led to trying similar basses with a slightly more vintage vibe such as a few Smith basses. I also started to become interested in building a collection of the ‘trinity’ (P,J,MM) which has been great fun and opened my eyes to the spectrum I hadn’t been part of for quite a while. A P and J are just great to have in your arsenal and I enjoy having them for playing along with stuff where only a P or J will do. But the really interesting and semi surprising thing was the Musicman. I don’t know why it was such a surprise (or why I didn’t do it earlier) but the MM bass is the perfect coming together of everything rolled into one. It feels familiar as the neck is identical to my G&L, it’s got the classic stingray sound and the simplicity of a single pickup which sits where I am used to, placed similarly to my Vigier. It sounds modern but with a vintage vibe. I could gush on for a while but I think Stingrays are great basses, and this one in particular is perfect for me. Very unusual white pre eb with a dead flat neck that I’ve never had to touch! And you’ve got to love a chunky slab body - and this one doesn’t weigh much.

Sweet. Yeah the gain control is interesting. My Stingray gives a consistent level with the pedal on or off but I will try my others! I'm absolutely loving LP, Up, High range, peak on 5 and gain on 5. It's super responsive in a really dynamic way - playing with the envelope 'closed' just gives you a normal bass sound, pretty much - digging in a tiny bit more gives a bit of 'womp' and digging in more gives a greasy squidge over your clean sound. It's like a super well implemented clean blend. Really quite extraordinary

Yes I think I saw a post about that. That’s a good workaround. I’ve been using mine on batteries for nearly a week now and they’re still fine on my battery tester. When you used the supply did you leave the on/off switch on the pedal in the on position all the time or is it still advisable to turn it off before disconnecting power? I actually rather like the sound of the bypass. Last night I tried experimenting with cranking the gain which gives a nice pillowy overdrive. Apparently some people use it as an OD pedal more and an envelope! What was your favourite mode? Playing it last night I was amazed again at how nice the high band setting is. It goes from super subtle with a slight choke to a really drippy liquid top end with the slightest change in dynamics. And if you ease back and play accents on the G string it makes then thick and submerged. I don’t have to carry my gear far and mostly play in a studio environment at home or with my band so I’m fortunate that I can love the shape, size and heft of the pedal itself. It’s so 70s.

Sure I’ll try and get some on Thursday 👍🏼

I don’t like it when pedals have ‘bass’ in the name like it’s some poor relation to the primary guitar version. Also not a fan of screen printed graphics (like illustrations) and really clicky foot switches

It’s come in handy once or twice 😆

Anything below £50 needs manual approval (unless you’ve got a sub). Just to stop people listing 5k Fodera basses for £1. You know the sort!! It’s been like this for a few years now

More than welcome if you’re ever in York

Current state of the infamous pedal shelf (tm)

Absolutely - and I gather they’re not allowed to make them like the used to due to some of the components, cadmium etc? I’d say my FX25 is ‘squelchier’ in terms of sort of a spluttery raspy squelch. The mutron has more of a juicy 3D warmth which never gets out of control. It’s like the fx25 is a rowdy teenager and the mutron is a mischievous old man with a sparkle in his eye 😆

Thanks mate I think I’ve read some of your posts on the subject over the years!

I found a great condition Mu-Tron III recently. I’ve been interested to try one for a very long time but never quite got round to it. This one has just had a full service and calibration. It’s all original except the power input has been changed to a UK three pin custom made adapter which is super neat and convenient. Though of course it takes batteries too. I saw a few that had been modified to true bypass but I read that this can alter the way the gain control behaves so I wanted it standard. The bypass does take some very top end out of your signal but it’s by no means a bad sound and in fact as the gain control works with the pedal ‘off’ you can use it to get some grit if you like. When it arrived I left the parcel to acclimatise for a while before opening it up and I realised how nervous I was to try it. Partly I wanted to discover it doesn’t live up to the hype as I’ve found with so many pedals of late. In such case I was able to send it back and chalk it up to experience but the only way to know for certain was to try one. So I put my sensible hat on, picked up my Stingray and plugged everything in (backwards at first, as the input is on the other side) The feeling of playing the pedal was akin to playing a new instrument entirely. The second I turned it on everything sounded perfect. I didn’t even touch any knobs or switches, just started with everything on 5. I have many filters and have tried a lot over the years. Favourites of mine really squelch when pushed rather than ‘whistle’ and remain responsive when playing finger or slap. In ‘high range’ The Mutron is very interesting in that you can play softly and it’ll sound almost like your normal sound, and when you dig in the depth and squelch becomes apparent, making any toppy clank go all gloopy. It’s like your clean sound with a seriously funky topping. It never sounds harsh even with the peak on 10, it just sounds wetter and more sparkly. I feel like when you dig in, rather than sending the top end into harsh zone it deepens the background of the note. In low range you get the seriously warm depth with a quickness of decay that means your next note is always a surprise, catching the filter at some point along its bouncy journey. Again the clean sound and the character of the bass always feels present without sounding separate, but the effect is very obvious and all encompassing. It sounds cliche but it just sounds ‘musical’ and makes you want to dig in and be inside your bass in a fully sexual way. With a big smile on my face I took my five fingered hand on the end of my right arm and selected my index finger to push the ‘down’ mode switch which clacked agreeably over on its axis like a mad one way see saw. I’ve never really liked down mode sounds before, and haven’t really experimented much as a result. Normally I find when the filter closes the note becomes a bit muddy and therefore you don’t get much time to identify the note clearly before you go too subby, if you see what I mean. But this gives a really nice growl that goes down to your rubbery note below with some extra stank. I’ll definitely use that. I was fully prepared to not like this pedal; even hoping not to - the prices they go for are getting silly but this is one time that the hype really is deserved. It has so much character in build and sound; it’ll probably only go up in value and after all it’s the pedal everything since is based upon. I’m really happy with it, as you can tell. My wife said it looks like R2D2 which is cool too. A couple of pics. I think mines quite an early one, 1974 ish, ‘pat pending’.

A chap on TB says that a couple of other options are still being considered and that the input will take a standard cable too, so you are able to use a custom job if you wanted to. @ybassman are you able to comment?

I don't know why it needs to be flush fitting anyway - it's on your back, not like you'll be touching it all the time. Doesn't need to be 'tactile'

Lol yep I have tons of those, but you know, not very neat - and some have unnecessarily high power consumption. Companies like EWS do some very clever design that maximises the use of a battery, which speaks to my type of thinking. Darkglass don't use batteries for 'environmental reasons' but I don;t use dark glass so they can do one

I absolutely HATE punk 😂

So what's that going to look like? A single cable from bass to unit to output? They haven't released anything official with regards to the inputs/outputs as far as I know

To be fair for a first attempt I think the thing is fantastic - V2 will be interesting; I've just had some info about the tactile buttons, backlighting, and build (coated in rubber)

That looks like an excellent idea!

Paul just bought a pedal from me and he was the equivalent of a five star food standards inspection throughout. Thanks for a smooth deal and enjoy the pedal

Funkle bought a bass from me, he sorted postage and was very pleasant to deal with indeed. Everyone deserves such a kind funkle.

I much prefer and pretty much only buy pedals that take a battery. I don’t use them much and when I do I only use a couple and I don’t want to faff around with adapters etc. there’s no point in a pedal being small if it needs a wall wart too (granted that’s different if you use a pedalboard which most people probs do)

I put up a wanted ad for a Boss OC2 and Aidan messaged me. He sent the pedal before I had paid, making sure I was happy first. Excellent guy to deal with, thanks a lot

Hopefully they don’t sell or he’s in for a long wait at the very least! I saw the Proton. Mental price. I couldn’t get rid of mine fast enough!