Cool for Cats bassline - chorus, phaser or flanger

[JJTee]

Caught this on Pick of the Pops earlier and the bass, and the very heavy use of effects, caught my ear. Found the isolated track and out of curiosity I was wondering if this is a very heavy chorus effect, or flanger? (Or maybe phaser, but thought not). Anyway, it’s very effective (pun intended…):

https://youtu.be/AYtG3NSJ5CU?si=4WG4ym4_o98_laVT

[Dad3353]

Envelope follower..? 

[BigRedX]

Could be an EHX Bass Balls?

[cetera]

I use a Phaser when we play it in one of the covers bands I go out with... Seems to do the job close enough... just add some playing dynamics.

[Mrbigstuff]

16 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Could be an EHX Bass Balls?

Sounds just like a bass balls to me

[Cosmo Valdemar]

It's not a Bass Balls, they gurgle. If you listen at :30 you can hear a uniform phase or flange effect - a Bass Balls would respond to each note.

[BigRedX]

Having had another listen it could possibly be a Korg VCF pedal which has a combination of an envelope follower and a manual pedal for controlling the cut-off frequencies. It's a long time since I last used mine but it produced a similar flanging effect with the right settings and playing plus pedal technique.

 

However, I think it is stillest likely to be a Bass Balls. Again with the right settings and a compressor it could be set so it only re-triggered when you really dig into a note.

[Dan Dare]

I'd be surprised if it was any single pedal or effect. It sounds to me as if there's some flange, a touch of wah/envelope filter plus quite a lot of compression. Easy enough to dial up in a studio environment, but you'll need to experiment to get the same effect live. 

[JJTee]

Thanks all, glad it’s not just me who can’t quite pin it down! Almost sounds like a heavy chorus that’s then gone through a subtle phaser. 

[chriswareham]

Some of the early flangers had envelope followers, could be one of those.