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.

[bakerster135]

That sounds like a deep, metallic flanger to me. Also sounds like it's just sweeping, not hearing any envelope triggering personally.

 

Could be the MXR rack or pedal flanger, or an EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress, or even an A/DA flanger? I know they're all capable of producing that deep, metallic sound.

[BigRedX]

Has to be something available in 1978 when the song was recorded.

[ped]

Agree on the Bassballs vibe - it's a twin envelope follower which therefore creates a sort of phase cancellation effect depending on how you adjust the filters. But it doesn't seem to be triggering very dynamically, as suggested.

[chriswareham]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Has to be something available in 1978 when the song was recorded.

 

MXR Flanger / Doubler. Very popular in higher end studios at the time, and a bit of kit I'd love to own as it's responsible for the incredible synth sound on Soft Cell's "Youth". I've tried reproducing that sound with several other flangers but without ever getting really close.

[bakerster135]

5 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

 

MXR Flanger / Doubler. Very popular in higher end studios at the time, and a bit of kit I'd love to own as it's responsible for the incredible synth sound on Soft Cell's "Youth". I've tried reproducing that sound with several other flangers but without ever getting really close.

Yes, as noted above I was thinking it could likely be one of these. 

Never seen or heard one in person but would love to have a go on one! I understand it was also Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell's secret weapon for adding that amazing thickness to his tone...