New MXR bass synth pedal released

[Quatschmacher]

3 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Sounds great and the tracking seems excellent, but if I read it right there are only 8 presets, and they’re changed by pressing those little buttons? That alone would make it not really a viable gigging alternative to an actual bass synth for anyone but the lightest user. 

There’s a mode which allows the footswitch to be used to scroll presets; mentioned in one of the videos.

 

Even some actual keyboard synths don’t fare loads better in terms of number of presets: Moog Sub Phatty and Subsequent 25 only have 16.

Edited yesterday at 06:28 by Quatschmacher

[mattpbass]

2 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

There’s a mode which allows the footswitch to be used to scroll presets; mentioned in one of the videos.

 

Even some actual keyboard synths don’t fare loads better in terms of number of presets: Moog Sub Phatty and Subsequent 25 only have 16.

Cool, that makes it slightly more useable, but 8 is still not really enough, and presumably you have to write over the IMA presets?

 

Yep, absolutely, I ended up selling my Sub 25 to get a 37 purely because there wasn’t enough patch spaces, nor could I keep track without some kind of display. If you need synth for just 1 or 2 songs this looks like it could be a great pedal, but for anything more I think I’m still in the (annoying to some) “if you want synth just get a synth” camp. 

[Quatschmacher]

8 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

I think I’m still in the (annoying to some) “if you want synth just get a synth” camp

I think we all end up there eventually. 😂

[LukeFRC]

It’s gone for simplicity and accessibility, I guess if you want more presets (plus more options) you would be looking at a Fi4, C4 or EnzoX rather than this. 
The accessibility means it wouldn’t surprise me if this MXR outsells those three combined!

[mattpbass]

Yeah agreed (well, sort of, I’ve tried most synth pedals and concluded that they are all too compromised/ impractical as well). I’m sure this will sell and hopefully work as well as it seems to in the videos, for home playing it looks fantastic, just can’t see it being very giggable. 

[Quatschmacher]

Manual is up:

https://www.jimdunlop.com/content/manuals/MB301.pdf

[stewblack]

Looks very exciting. I like a bass synth. However, as it's nearly 300 quid I'm happy to wait.

[AinsleyWalker]

20 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

Very sensibly pitched. The amount of times I get requests for these very preset sounds on the FI and C4 is crazy. I anticipate these will sell very well. I’ll definitely be checking one out. Nice hands-on control and preset capability.  

Because those kinda sounds should be the default on the FI 😉 I was sad that the 3.6 firmware update (most recent one I've bothered with) removed the original Deep Impact emulations from the default 99 patches and mostly consisted of tech demoes that weren't so useable. I think I've replaced basically every default patch with one of my own or one from the database. You're basically forced to use the editor to replace all the crazy 'out-there' sounds with simple useable bass sounds, whereas the new MXR has foregone all the ''look what I can do'' type patches for the most desirable, useable synth bass sounds! In my opinon, that's the only critique I have of the FI - more simple, useable stock sounds necessary 

[Al Krow]

26 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Yeah agreed (well, sort of, I’ve tried most synth pedals and concluded that they are all too compromised/ impractical as well). I’m sure this will sell and hopefully work as well as it seems to in the videos, for home playing it looks fantastic, just can’t see it being very giggable. 

 

I think if you are needing a synth bass sound for just a few songs in your live set, this looks great! 

2 or 3 very usable different synth sounds which track tightly, together with a usable filter, would certainly meet the needs for my covers band in a given 2 hour live set for filter/synth, I certainly won't ever need more than 8 at any one gig.

I guess in the same way as a couple of dirt/drive/fuzz options are plenty for many of us for live use; we don't need loads - just a few really good ones.

[krispn]

Without sounding like an immediate acolyte for many gigging bass players who need a couple of familiar sounds to nail the wedding gig/pub gig it’s gonna do a lot of the heavy lifting. 
 

It’s not gonna have the flexibility of a dedicated synth but has the accessibility of a pedal with some nice added flexibility to fine tune for folks who want to or need to deep dive. 

 

I think what MXR have offered is a pedal most of us can add to a board and have useable practical sounds that cover a lot of what we need. Calling it BassSynth will garner scrutiny from those who want a full synth in a pedal but realistically it’s a mass appeal unit serving 80%+ of the gigging player. 
 

It’s nice to see a synth pedal which isn’t just showcasing the tech wizardry and offering go to tones out of the box. 
 

 

 

[mattpbass]

4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

I think if you are needing a synth bass sound for just a few songs in your live set, this looks great! 

2 or 3 very usable different synth sounds which track tightly, together with a usable filter, would certainly meet the needs for my covers band in a given 2 hour live set for filter/synth, I certainly won't ever need more than 8 at any one gig.

I guess in the same way as a couple of dirt/drive/fuzz options are plenty for many of us for live use; we don't need loads - just a few really good ones.

Yeah I get that not everyone needs loads of sounds, but looking at the manual and seeing that you have to hold the foot switch down to get it into preset change mode, then cycle through presets with just a little light to say what you preset you are on, and then it will timeout of preset mode etc… I would definitely mess that up live. 😅

[Al Krow]

7 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Yeah I get that not everyone needs loads of sounds, but looking at the manual and seeing that you have to hold the foot switch down to get it into preset change mode, then cycle through presets with just a little light to say what you preset you are on, and then it will timeout of preset mode etc… I would definitely mess that up live. 😅

 

Haha fair enough! For those needing to scroll through several patches mid set and not during a break between songs, then there is the option of using an external foot switch - I guess similar to what many folk use with their multi-fx? Midi capability would have been a very nice touch.

[HoorayForAnonyms]

9 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

It sounds like you can send just dry bass into it so no reason why the filter can’t be used on that. (There’s an explicit option for the dry to either go through the filter or to bypass it.)

The person in this clip demonstrates the dry mode into the filter. Sounds okay-ish but  whether it’ll replace a dedicated envelope filter I’m not sure. 
 

 

[Quatschmacher]

1 hour ago, AinsleyWalker said:

😉 I was sad that the 3.6 firmware update (most recent one I've bothered with) removed the original Deep Impact emulations from the default 99 patches

That’s simply not true: they are patches 21-29, as they have been since v3.00. See here:
 

https://www.auraplug.com/panda/downloads/FI411_DefaultSounds.pdf

Edited 23 hours ago by Quatschmacher

[Quatschmacher]

58 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

In my opinon, that's the only critique I have of the FI - more simple, useable stock sounds necessary 

That’s simply a case of assembling an alternative bank of 99. Could be a rainy day project for me now that I’m definitely losing my day job. 

[Quatschmacher]

47 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Yeah I get that not everyone needs loads of sounds, but looking at the manual and seeing that you have to hold the foot switch down to get it into preset change mode, then cycle through presets with just a little light to say what you preset you are on, and then it will timeout of preset mode etc… I would definitely mess that up live. 😅

Looks like you can use an external tap switch as a dedicated preset switch. 

[mattpbass]

29 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

Haha fair enough! For those needing to scroll through several patches mid set and not during a break between songs, then there is the option of using an external foot switch - I guess similar to what many folk use with their multi-fx? Midi capability would have been a very nice touch.

I think I am just too far down the actual bass synth rabbit hole now to not feel like even the best pedal is too limited; there’s a medley we do that is 8 different patches just by itself. 😅

 

Still, as a fan of the sound I’m looking forward to seeing what people think of this one. 

[AinsleyWalker]

3 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

That’s simply not true: they are patches 21-29, as they have been since v3.00. 

 
Oh right you are... I'm not sure why I remember having to relocate them from elsewhere when updating the firmware hmm... My mistake!
 

 

1 minute ago, Quatschmacher said:

That’s simply a case of assembling an alternative bank of 99. Could be a rainy day project for me now that I’m definitely losing my day job. 

And yes it's easy enough to tinker with, my FI hasn't left my board in 6 years of owning, shows how much I really love what it does! My 1 minor gripe has always been on the topic of useable stock sounds, and so I really love that the MXR has gone for a bunch of classic, useable synth sounds straight out of the box  

[Chadu25]

Straight out of the box, you get useable synth/moog sounds! It’s not hard to dial in and I think this responds better than most of the presets I liked in my C4. Anyway, here’s my small board project. 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Chadu25

[bassace97]

3 hours ago, mattpbass said:

Sounds great and the tracking seems excellent, but if I read it right there are only 8 presets, and they’re changed by pressing those little buttons? That alone would make it not really a viable gigging alternative to an actual bass synth for anyone but the lightest user. 

The port on the side can be used with a tap to change through the presets and you can also use the man footswitch by holding it down, according to the manual on page 6 https://www.jimdunlop.com/content/manuals/MB301.pdf  There is a lot of functionality that wasn't mentioned on the videos it seems.

Edited 22 hours ago by bassace97

[Chadu25]

Just now, bassace97 said:

The port on the side can be used with a tap to change through the presets and you can also use the man footswitch by holding it down, according to the manual on page 6 https://www.jimdunlop.com/content/manuals/MB301.pdf  There is a lot of functionality that wasn't mentioned on the videos it seems.

yeah I love the switching preset function with the main foot switch. And you get new knob parameters when you hold the voice or shape switch. 

 

[AinsleyWalker]

38 minutes ago, Chadu25 said:

Straight of the box, you get useable synth/moog sounds! It’s not hard to dial in and I think this responds better than most of the presets I liked in my C4. Anyway, here’s my small board project. 

 

 

 

Would love to hear your initial opinions or maybe even a comparison with the FI, C4, EHX Micro synth, if you have any

[Chadu25]

2 hours ago, AinsleyWalker said:

 

 

Would love to hear your initial opinions or maybe even a comparison with the FI, C4, EHX Micro synth, if you have any

 

I don't have any of them at the moment but I still remember the feel and reponse of my previous C4 in terms of how it reacts to my playing nuances, left and right hand technique. I would say, this feels natural when I play it. When you play quick passages/runs even on stacatto notes, it responds well/better than C4(even the best presets that I liked). 

Edited 19 hours ago by Chadu25

[Woodinblack]

Excelent, that is on my 'buy second hand when someone gets bored of it' list!

[Greg Edwards69]

I have a couple of IMA's synth packs for my Helix that are excellent (particularly his vintage synth pack). I'm not great at dialling in these types of sounds, so these are a godsend. He put a video together several years ago explaining how to get a variety of synth sounds from typical stompbox effects such as fuzz, octave, filter and chorus  - his Helix presets are largely the same formula.  It seems to me this new MXR pedal takes that formula even further, but with an oscillator added.

 

If I didn't already have the Helix, I might be tempted.