New MXR bass synth pedal released

[krispn]

On 02/10/2025 at 22:42, kiat said:

How are folks finding the MXR Synth Bass pedal? Guessing by the constant state of sold-outness in the UK and Thomann there must be quite a few BCers with them. On Marketplace there were 5 already sold and I'm wondering if that's a usual amount for a very popular bass pedal.  Looking to get a 2nd hand one or wait til the new ones become more available. 

Two things and this isn’t gospel…

 

1. It’s as ‘plug and play’ as this type of unit can be in it’ll work for almost everyones playing style but you may need to make very minor adaptations to your playing style - it’s as good a synth pedal as any bassist wanting to do the synth thing will find out the box. 
 

2. It’s the closest and easiest ‘out of the box’ in terms of its actual sounds and in that regard it’s as ‘plug and play’ sound wise as you might want with enough scope to refine or edit to taste. 

 

In the same way something like a classic OC2 octave pedal has to be ‘played’ due to its quirkiness/glitch related behaviours there are little changes we might need to make with some gear to make it work. 

[bassfan]

Love mine. Slotted straight into some 80s synthy goodness. Cuts through the mix. Still love the C4, straight out the box though this is a cracker. IMO. 

[SumOne]

I like playing Bass synth on a bass guitar and can certainly see the attraction to pedals like this and am tempted -  but the more tempted I got the more I've look into it and am finding it difficult to look past the advantages to a small synth keyboard, something like the Korg Monologue, Novation Bass Station, Yamaha Reface CS, Behringer MS-1. I know it's an extra thing to take to a gig and probably needs a stand and the faff of wiring up to the PA etc. so there are definitely downsides, but on the other hand the upsides are they're just so much better at playing synth sounds (physically with the keys - playing chords etc and having on-hand parameter editing, and also sounds available etc), and most are a similar sort of price to the MXR (especially second hand). So I think personally, I'm going to go for the classic envelope filter + octaver + distortion + modulation pedal combinations for my synthy sounding bass guitar, and a small synth keyboard for pure synth sounds. 

 

(Then it has got me considering the MPC Keys 37 to also have drum loops and production stuff....but that's a whole different story!)

[Paddy777]

16 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I like playing Bass synth on a bass guitar and can certainly see the attraction to pedals like this and am tempted -  but the more tempted I got the more I've look into it and am finding it difficult to look past the advantages to a small synth keyboard, something like the Korg Monologue, Novation Bass Station, Yamaha Reface CS, Behringer MS-1. I know it's an extra thing to take to a gig and probably needs a stand and the faff of wiring up to the PA etc. so there are definitely downsides, but on the other hand the upsides are they're just so much better at playing synth sounds (physically with the keys - playing chords etc and having on-hand parameter editing, and also sounds available etc), and most are a similar sort of price to the MXR (especially second hand). So I think personally, I'm going to go for the classic envelope filter + octaver + distortion + modulation pedal combinations for my synthy sounding bass guitar, and a small synth keyboard for pure synth sounds. 

 

(Then it has got me considering the MPC Keys 37 to also have drum loops and production stuff....but that's a whole different story!)

Just depends what you’re doing with it. If I’m doing a dep gig and there’s stuff like Thriller/Another Part of Me by Michael Jackson or I just can’t get enough by Depeche Mode (these are examples that I’ve used this pedal for in the last month) but you’re just hired as a bass dep, then nobody will expect (or want!) you to turn up with a key synth unless specifically asked for, but it’ll almost certainly be better received if you can play the bass part sounding more authentic with this. If you’re in your own band and have the time and willingness to do all that then I don’t think anyone would argue that an actual bass synth like a Novation or something would sound better, but where its not practical or where you need to just play bass I think this is excellent, but you have to ask if it’s really necessary to carry/setup more equipment when you could get 80-90% of the way there with a pedal, and just use your bass. For me if I turned up at a Dep gig (or even a regular gig) with a keys synth to play a few synthy parts I imagine I’d just be told not to bother, and told nicely to stick to bass 😁 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Paddy777

[Woodinblack]

24 minutes ago, SumOne said:

(Then it has got me considering the MPC Keys 37 to also have drum loops and production stuff....but that's a whole different story!)

 

I consifdered the MPC keys, but then realised the stuff I needed was preprogrammed so got an MPC Live!

[BigRedX]

Back in the 80s when I first go into synths and the idea of using a guitar or bass to control them I spent some time alternating between teaching myself some rudimentary keyboard technique and modifying my guitar playing so that I could cleanly and accurately trigger the sounds on a synth. After a couple of weeks I found I could play most of the things I wanted on a keyboard, and while I had some success with the guitar controlling the synth it was very variable, difficult to repeat accurately from one day to the next, and the moment I got carried away with my playing my carefully set up sound went to pot. I know that synth control from stringed instruments has progressed massively since my first attempts, but they still require a degree of control that I can only sustain under perfect conditions in the studio. Ultimately I'm glad I spent some time learning to play keyboards because it's added another instrument to those I can play (badly).

[SumOne]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Back in the 80s when I first go into synths and the idea of using a guitar or bass to control them I spent some time alternating between teaching myself some rudimentary keyboard technique and modifying my guitar playing so that I could cleanly and accurately trigger the sounds on a synth. After a couple of weeks I found I could play most of the things I wanted on a keyboard, and while I had some success with the guitar controlling the synth it was very variable, difficult to repeat accurately from one day to the next, and the moment I got carried away with my playing my carefully set up sound went to pot. I know that synth control from stringed instruments has progressed massively since my first attempts, but they still require a degree of control that I can only sustain under perfect conditions in the studio. Ultimately I'm glad I spent some time learning to play keyboards because it's added another instrument to those I can play (badly).

 

Yeah, there is that added issue with keys being a new instrument to play. Luckily I have some basic piano skills from a couple of years playing as a kid and occasional noodling about on the piano as an adult, and generally the synth basslines that I want to play are pretty basic (in fact, most synth basslines are quite basic - e.g. the ones mentioned above 'Thriller' and 'I just can't get enough').  There is also some demand in the band for offbeat chord stabs in our Reggae tunes which is something I can do and is partly encouraging me to get an MPC Key 37 (for organ and piano sounds as well as synth bass). I'm a bit cautious about going down that route though as it means handing over Bass duties to another bandmate for those songs and I do still find bass guitar the most fun instrument to play (especially for Reggae) so wouldn't want to turn into a keyboard player!

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by SumOne

[BigRedX]

IME the biggest issue with playing synth bass using any instrument is that most of what you are trying to recreate will have originally been played by a sequencer on the recording and therefore perfect timing is absolutely critical. Even the typical audience member will be able to tell something is off when the timing isn't rock solid even if they don't know exactly what is wrong.