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What are the Top 4 envelope filters, synonymous with bass?


BadHands

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For me, three high contenders are:-

EH Bass Balls

EBS Bass IQ

Mutron 

I have two of those which I find fun to use (I've never felt inclined to spend the money on a vintage Mutron, or any effect for that matter) - however the EBS was quite expensive for the time, when I bought it. You can tell how long ago - it was from the Bass Centre when it was a shop!!  

Edited by drTStingray
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EHX Q-tron + is what I use

Used to have an original ‘70’s Mu-tron, but the above covers what it did.

Have to say that although the Line 6 Pod XT is pretty old hat these days, it had a nice envelope filter on it (as well as a whole lot more), and can be had cheap.

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My vote goes to:

 - Moog MF-101 Low Pass Filter

 - The 3 Leaf audio Proton

The Moog is greasy and and squelchy, everything you'd expect from Moog, plus it has all the extra options afforded by CV ins and outs. The Proton is really clean, with really well tuned controls, and I'd say a touch more versatile than the Moog.

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8 hours ago, csmallett said:

What would you say is the Mount Rushmore of envelope filters on bass?

I'd say that the Mu Tron really stands alone as the classic envelope filter. So many other filters are based on it. Special mention to pedals like the EHX Bassballs, the Seamoon Funk Machine, and the DOD 440.

There are tons of great new filters about, by companies like EMMA, MXR, Subdecay, Mr Black, and reissues of the classics mentioned above.

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6 hours ago, Bassman68 said:

The old green Dod envelope filter certainly tested the bottom-end handling of your rig on certain settings?

Is that the one Flea uses on his bass instructional video, assisted by Chad Smith on drums. The green one? Is so that quacks like fe*k in his hands, using a 3 band Stingray (on the rest of the video as well)!! 👍 I'd forgotten about DOD. 

I tend to use the EBS in preference to the Bass Balls - you can see from how battered it is!! 

image.thumb.jpeg.de1f6ea9b7f145d056053d968834a0a0.jpeg

 

Edited by drTStingray
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2 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Is that the one Flea uses on his bass instructional video, assisted by Chad Smith on drums. The green one? Is so that quacks like fe*k in his hands, using a 3 band Stingray (on the rest of the video as well)!! 👍 I'd forgotten about DOD. 

Yeah, it was the old DOD FX25.

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I loved the old DOD FX25B (the ‘bass’ version with the clean blend), but the effect was below unity, so useless for live.

Other than that I think the MXR Bass Filter is king of them. I would like to try the old 3Leaf GR2 though!

Si

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  • 4 months later...
On 02/03/2021 at 10:04, Sibob said:

 

Other than that I think the MXR Bass Filter is king of them. I would like to try the old 3Leaf GR2 though!

 

Yeah, I really like the MXR M82 but I've owned then sold 3 because I always end up thinking there must be something out there that does the M82 sounds while also having the 'down' sweeping sounds (and because the grass is always greener!). I'm yet to find anything that fits the bill though: Spectrum, Fwonkbeta, EBS BassIQ Blue Label have all come and gone in-between M82's. I think something like the 3 leaf GR2 or Chromatron might be the answer as they have features of the M82 like clean blend, sensitivity, decay and then also having sweep up/down.

If I had unlimited board space and budget for 4 filters I think I'd go for: MF-101, M82, Mu-Tron, and a Pigtronix Envelope Phaser.

 

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2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

MXR M82 - not really interested in anything else! :P

Yeah, I'm heading that way! I don't get why more envelope filter pedals don't have the clean/FX volume controls, that's one of the best features of the M82 and seems pretty rare. In fact, there might be others but I think it's just the M82, Seamoon, and Spectrum/C4 that have clean blend and output volume controls (or separate FX and clean volume controls). Surely being able to control the output volume on an effect that on certain settings gets louder/quieter than unity and being able to blend clean/FX levels to get the sound you want are important things?

Plenty don't even have output volume controls, I'd be much more keen on getting things like the Maxon AF-9,  Pigtronix Envelope Phaser (v2), Emma Discombobulator, 3 Leaf Proton, DOD FX 25 (or, as mentioned in this thread there's the 'B' version which gets a clean blend- but no output volume control and it's below unity?!), or I'd perhaps have kept things I've had like the Fwonkbeta, EBS BassIQ Blue Label etc. if they had clean/FX controls or a mix and output volume control.

Rant!

If anyone makes an M82 equivalent with a band-pass/low-pass toggle and an up/down sweep toggle then they'll have me at the front of the queue!

Edited by SumOne
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1 minute ago, EBS_freak said:

If you look in the EBS IQ, you'll find an internal trim pot that may be of interest to you...

Yeah, I did own the EBS BassIQ Blue Label briefly and quite liked it - ideally I'd would prefer for the internal trim pots to be external....is better than not having it at all though. 

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On 01/03/2021 at 18:48, drTStingray said:

Is that the one Flea uses on his bass instructional video, assisted by Chad Smith on drums. The green one? Is so that quacks like fe*k in his hands, using a 3 band Stingray (on the rest of the video as well)!! 👍

I’m sure I saw one of those pedal board videos on You Tube where Flea used the Q-Tron. Possibly for that sound in Sir Psycho Sexy, but I may be misremembering that. To be fair, he probably has a wide variety of filters to choose from.

I’ve only had the MXR and I does exactly what I want it to. YMMV of course. I think I saw a Marlowe DK video of him playing around with it and that sold it to me. Might have been this one.

 

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On 28/02/2021 at 16:10, drTStingray said:

For me, three high contenders are:-

EH Bass Balls

EBS Bass IQ

I've had both of these - both excellent. You might also want to consider the DR Q EHX Bass Follower which is an affordable Envelope Filter.

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I still haven’t found any envelope filter that squelches the same way as the DOD FX25 when you hit the big strings hard. It kind of wobbles and growls, whereas everything else I’ve heard or tried kind of whistles as the filter opens up wide and stays there. I really like my 3leaf Wonderlove because I prefer a band pass with some clean blend which gets that squelch and it’s very flexible (and can boost) but something about the FX25 just kills. Shame it’s a bit quiet, wonder if it’s moddable. 

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7 hours ago, SumOne said:

Plenty don't even have output volume controls, I'd be much more keen on getting things like the Maxon AF-9,  Pigtronix Envelope Phaser (v2), Emma Discombobulator, 3 Leaf Proton, DOD FX 25 (or, as mentioned in this thread there's the 'B' version which gets a clean blend- but no output volume control and it's below unity?!), or I'd perhaps have kept things I've had like the Fwonkbeta, EBS BassIQ Blue Label etc. if they had clean/FX controls or a mix and output volume control.

I've got a few of the pedals you mention. The Emma is my main filter and I can't say that I've missed a volume control. I've never noticed any particular volume change with it. The DOD FX25 has some volume drop but it sounds great so I'll deal with it. The FX25B does have a clean blend, but I think the older one sounds better. The Pigtronix Envelope Phaser is really cool, and you can get some pretty unique sounds from it- I just don't use it too much because it's huge.

If volume control is important, you can always put them in a loop of an LS2 or something. Personally, volume and mix controls don't bother me too much.

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