EHX Mel9 Experiences

[Salt on your Bass?]

Hi All,

Any users of the EHX Mel9 - watched a couple of bass reviews, read some minor reviews online, but wondered if anyone had had one for a while/ gigged/ home use....shop use?

I have a B9 and the tracking can be a bit glitchy but I get on pretty well with it. Just struggling to find any more resources or thoughts. Might just bite the bullet but thought I'd see if anyone was knocking around with one.

Cheers! 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

Edit/Update!!! : Seems like the sources for my claim about the EHX 9 serries of pedals not tracking properly beyond open A of a 4 string bass tuned in E standard tuning were inaccurate, as it has been confirmed that they will in fact track decently all the way down to the low D, as in 2 half steps bellow open E.

My apologies for giving off misleading information.

 

The only thing I really know is that the EHX 9 series pedals only are designed to track properly down to the low A, as in the open A string, of a 4 string bass, which explains the dodgy tracking of your B9.

A shame really, cause judging from the demos they are amazing sounding pedals with really good tracking otherwise.

I simply don't understand why they would not let the pedals track properly down to at least the low E of a 4 string bass, can't see any obvious advantage to that limitation, neither from a production perspective, it is not like it would be impossible, the Boss SY-1 is a testament of that, as good as flawless tracking, and in the full range of a bass too, and even if it possibly would have meant slightly higher production costs (no idea if that in fact is actually the case, but can't imagine it would have made the production noteworthy more expensive if it was), I would think that would be balanced out with these pedals that way being more attractive to bass players. 

In my opinion EHX made a mistake by designing the 9 series that way, potentially losing a part of the potential market. 

I know that I personally at least would have been interested in most of the pedals in that series, had they been capable of tracking properly down to the low E of a bass, even if that perhaps would have meant them being slightly more expensive, but as they work now I have no interest in them. '

If this is an issue to you perhaps you should try to look into the Boss SY-1, even though it won't do exactly what the Mel9 does I believe it can get somewhat in the same ballpark, plus having a load additional sounds in it, actually being capable of getting quite close to a lot of different sounds similar to the EHX 9 series, that you otherwise would need several of the 9 series pedals to be able to do.

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash
misleading information based on inaccurate sources

[Thunderbird]

2 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

The only thing I really know is that the EHX 9 series pedals only are designed to track properly down to the low A, as in the open A string, of a bass, so that'll explain the dodgy tracking of your B9.

A shame really, cause judging from the demos they are amazing sounding pedals with really good tracking otherwise.

I simply don't understand why they would not let the pedals track properly down to at least the low E of a 4 string bass, can't see any obvious advantage to that limitation, neither from a production perspective, it is not like it would be impossible, the Boss SY-1 is a testament of that, as good as flawless tracking in the full range of a bass too, and even if it possibly would have meant slightly higher production costs (no idea if that in fact is actually the case, but can't imagine it would have made the production noteworthy more expensive if it was), I would think that would be balanced out with these pedals that way being more attractive to bass players. 

In my opinion EHX made a mistake by designing the 9 series that way, potentially losing a part of the potential market. 

I know that I personally at least would have been interested in most of the pedals in that series, had they been capable of tracking properly down to the low E of a bass, even if that perhaps would have meant them being slightly more expensive, but as they work now I have no interest in them. '

I this is an issue to you perhaps you should try to look into the Boss SY-1, even though it won't do exactly what the Mel9 does I believe it can get somewhat in the same ballpark, plus having a load additional sounds in it, actually being capable of getting quite close to a lot of different sounds similar to the EHX 9 series, that you otherwise would need several of the 9 series pedals to be able to do.

 

I really like the look of the SY-1 but as I just play at home it would be a rather expensive fun toy 

[Baloney Balderdash]

23 minutes ago, Thunderbird said:

I really like the look of the SY-1 but as I just play at home it would be a rather expensive fun toy 

Well, it's still a bit cheaper than the EHX Mel9 pedal, got more sounds in it, and will, at least for bass, track much better. 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Salt on your Bass?]

I'll have a look into the boss, thanks.

Part of what I liked about the Mel was the choir settings. Had those on the big sky to a degree and haven't found another pedal offering up similar type sim.

Yeah the tracking is pretty weird. The b9 I have works when I use it but I don't have the technical understanding as to why a low a is where it stops. 

 

[prowla]

I considered one of them, but would've ended up playing "Whiter Shade of Pale" and then shrugging and putting it to one side.

I've got a Synth9 and a B9.

The Synth9 is really quite good and its Oberheim voice can provide a high sustained voice to accompany a chugging bass line, a bit like if you were holding a note on a MIDI pedal. It is also spot-on for playing "Subdivisions".

Similarly to the Synth9 and my comment re. the Mel9, I've found that one sound on the B9 grabbed my attention and I've stuck with it; it's great for playing "Lazy".

So overall, my thoughts on the range is that they are good for getting the canned sounds, but as per comments, they are flawed in that they don't go down to bottom-E.

I've also got a Markbass SS, which is very good at tracking, but doesn't go deep either.

And then I've got a Future Impact, which I've had a while but haven't quite got fully to grips with; my initial familiarisation and enthusiasm turned into solving a technical issue with it and MIDI and I ended up spending nearly as much again to solve it.

[uk_lefty]

On 10/10/2020 at 17:37, Salt on your Bass? said:

Part of what I liked about the Mel was the choir settings.

My guitarist bought one specifically for one song, the choir setting is great, on guitar at least. 

Other guitarist has the organ sim pedal and it sounds OK. 

Haven't used either on bass but will try when i can

[Salt on your Bass?]

I picked one up at a really good price. 

Tracks fine with a compressor in front down to about a low d. Really happy with the first three and last two settings. Others aren't really my bag.

Currently writing an album so looking for somewhere to sneak some sounds in now ☺️

[Baloney Balderdash]

9 minutes ago, Salt on your Bass? said:

I picked one up at a really good price. 

Tracks fine with a compressor in front down to about a low d. Really happy with the first three and last two settings. Others aren't really my bag.

Currently writing an album so looking for somewhere to sneak some sounds in now ☺️

Is that a low D as in 2 half steps bellow low open E of a 4 string bass tuned in E standard tuning (as in D1), or as in the open D string of a 4 string bass tuned in E standard tuning (as in D2)?

Cause I've read several places that it won't track properly bellow open A of a 4 string bass in regular E standard tuning (as in A1), which is what I based my previous replies in this thread on.

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Salt on your Bass?]

@Baloney Balderdash Low d on my b string (5er). Its not quite as sustained below the A but its pretty good imo. Like the b9. 

I have a Cali bass compact compressor Infront of it, so not sure if that helps, and I have used the b9 for a while. I play bridge pick up on humbuckers. Overall I'm pretty happy with it and it'll definitely be useable.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Salt on your Bass?

[Baloney Balderdash]

42 minutes ago, Salt on your Bass? said:

@Baloney Balderdash Low d on my b string (5er). Its not quite as sustained below the A but its pretty good imo. Like the b9. 

I have a Cali bass compact compressor Infront of it, so not sure if that helps, and I have used the b9 for a while. I play bridge pick up on humbuckers. Overall I'm pretty happy with it and it'll definitely be useable.

Good to know.

I got the impression that the 9 series pedals weren't really usable bellow open A of a bass from the comments I've read mentioning the tracking of them, but guess they indeed are then.

Sorry for giving off misleading information earlier in this thread, but I just assumed that the people who wrote those comments, and who claimed to have actually first hand experience with these pedals, knew what they were talking about (as this was not just based on 1 single person's claims, but several people), but I trust that you would actually have the more nuanced and accurate answer to that.

As for weather placing a compressor in front of them helps, I know that it usually in fact will improve tracking on pitch tracking devices, but I also know that EHX actually claims that their 9 series of pedals already got a build in compressor that will compress the signal fed to the pedals's pitch tracking circuit/algorithm when engaged, exactly with the purpose of improving tracking, but I wouldn't know if adding additional compression helps that further or not. 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Salt on your Bass?]

@Baloney Balderdash don't apologise. 

I've read a particular thread on talkbass where there are clearly challenges with this series for people even to A. 

I aim for sustained sounds out of this pedal, likely to combine it with a superego in the future, rather than runs and riffs etc. I'd expect others mileage to vary based in the application.

It's still interesting as to whether other experiences vary and all input is always worth discussion. 

I'll have to see how it goes with the band from now.

Here's another video I found which shows the tracking etc just for ref:

https://youtu.be/oeq-c9SjBEA

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, Salt on your Bass? said:

@Baloney Balderdash don't apologise. 

I've read a particular thread on talkbass where there are clearly challenges with this series for people even to A. 

I aim for sustained sounds out of this pedal, likely to combine it with a superego in the future, rather than runs and riffs etc. I'd expect others mileage to vary based in the application.

It's still interesting as to whether other experiences vary and all input is always worth discussion. 

I'll have to see how it goes with the band from now.

Here's another video I found which shows the tracking etc just for ref:

https://youtu.be/oeq-c9SjBEA

Thank you. 

With that in mind I think I might get the EHX B9 Organ Machine to use with the sort of stoner/doom rock bass/vocals and drums duo that has my main musical focus currently.

Since I actually tune my bass in G standard tuning, 3 half steps above E standard tuning (kind of more functioning as a sort of 4 string baritone guitar/bass hybrid), I should have no issues with tracking, and the always on 1 octave up that I always have added to my bass signal will help giving an extra dimension to the organ sound as well.

I'd imagine that pedal would work really well for that project, well the C9 as well properly, but I can't afford them both at once, and I think the thick doomy church like organ sounds that the B9 is capable will be the most obvious choice.

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[Salt on your Bass?]

@Baloney Balderdash I play in a doom band and I used the b9 on a very short section on our latest album. Went full cathedral setting on it. We Dialled the sound back ia fair bit in the studio, but live i really let it scream and sounds ace imo.

Lowest I get to is an A on the e string. if I don't catch it right it can wobble a little, but I mainly play if off the B on the E string and above and it's really nice.