New MXR bass synth pedal released

[GisserD]

This long after launch i assume MXR are deliberately causing delays to maintain the hype on what is after all a very niche pedal. Just my 2c

[GisserD]

9 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

You've got a very good ear, Darren, did you come to a conclusion?

About the pedals no. 

Although the only one that interests me is the FI for its superior tracking. Just ask Q

The guy just comes across as a click farmer imho.

[LukeFRC]

28 minutes ago, GisserD said:

The guy just comes across as a click farmer imho.

+100 

 

I just wish someone else was making video clips of the FI4!

[Kev]

14 hours ago, GisserD said:

This long after launch i assume MXR are deliberately causing delays to maintain the hype on what is after all a very niche pedal. Just my 2c

 

I'd agree, but the Oc-5 was the exact same, and I don't really think that was Boss attempting to hype.

[krispn]

More likely they’re making them in batches and not rushing ‘all hands on deck’ to this one unit over their normal production schedules. I mean they should but…

[LukeFRC]

19 minutes ago, krispn said:

More likely they’re making them in batches and not rushing ‘all hands on deck’ to this one unit over their normal production schedules. I mean they should but…

Or rather than a trickle every month - save them up in one big bash for Christmas…

[krispn]

Now you’re talking. 

[Sibob]

I’m not aware that MXR/Dunlop own their own production facilities, although even if they do, it’s not really likely that a company would dime their capabilities in order to fulfill backorders, they’ll ramp up production slowly so they can find a sweet-spot between supply and demand. You don’t want more stock than you need, especially on a niche product, because stopping and then starting (again) production is not a simple task.

 

Si

Edited Sunday at 20:58 by Sibob

[Quatschmacher]

On 07/11/2025 at 19:29, GisserD said:

This long after launch i assume MXR are deliberately causing delays to maintain the hype on what is after all a very niche pedal. Just my 2c

It seemed their manufacturing just couldn’t keep up with the demand. It’s been a big hit. 

[Dazm66]

Got mine yesterday. Had a play this morning and echo a lot of the above. This is perfect for those of us who might need a synth sound for two or three numbers up in a set. The presets are fab and there’s more than enough settings to tweak. It’s a lot of fun! Tracking is good enough and I hope better when I get it on the board with a compressor. Mr Martin Allison must have amazing technique or there’s some editing in the vids! All in all a very good bit of kit that really does provide the synthiness I need. 

[Al Krow]

On 10/11/2025 at 22:37, Dazm66 said:

Got mine yesterday. Had a play this morning and echo a lot of the above. This is perfect for those of us who might need a synth sound for two or three numbers up in a set. The presets are fab and there’s more than enough settings to tweak. It’s a lot of fun! Tracking is good enough and I hope better when I get it on the board with a compressor. Mr Martin Allison must have amazing technique or there’s some editing in the vids! All in all a very good bit of kit that really does provide the synthiness I need. 

 

Thanks for that, including the very helpful comment regarding tracking capability = "good enough but not as per IMA's hype" if I've read you correctly? Although tbf I guess completely understandable from IMA, given this is his baby.

 

An honest review of the new MXR bass synth effects pedal MB301... | TalkBass.com

 

Just came across this thread on TB - made for interesting reading!

[Dazm66]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Thanks for that, including the very helpful comment regarding tracking capability = "good enough but not as per IMA's hype" if I've read you correctly? Although tbf I guess completely understandable from IMA, given this is his baby.

 

An honest review of the new MXR bass synth effects pedal MB301... | TalkBass.com

 

Just came across this thread on TB - made for interesting reading!

You have read correctly. It's definitely good enough for the Dog and Duck! To be fair I have only had a chance to have a little play and only through a couple of basses (e.g only just realised from reading the TB thread that I might need to change some global settings OOTB!).

IMA has had time to perfect technique and, I suspect equally importantly, work out which bass and which settings work best. It's certainly not a massive detractor for what is an amazing little pedal!

 

I had a quick scan through the thread and my review would be more favourable. I play in two bands, one is very much soul/funk covers where I might need the pedal for 2 or 3 songs out of 20, and for that, this is perfect. It's taken me long enough to play bass to a decent standard and I have no interest in learning keys to get those sounds. I would also argue that the presets decently cover the sorts of sounds I'm after. Its definitely a million times better than trying to build the sounds on the Helix - I guess I could have bought IMA's HX stomp patches, but they're not far off the cost of this.

 

Ultimately it's 'horses for courses' but worth trying if you get a chance.

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Dazm66
grammar and spelling

[Al Krow]

@Dazm66 "It's taken me long enough to play bass to a decent standard and I have no interest in learning keys to get those sounds" You've summed me up in a nutshell when it comes to synth bass!

 

I'm currently leaning a little to the FI v4 VIP, which is only £20 more new than the MXR, if I do swap from my Boss SY-200, but certainly bass-mates of mine who have upgraded their C4 to the MXR are really happy with the changeover!

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Al Krow

[Kev]

24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

@Dazm66 "It's taken me long enough to play bass to a decent standard and I have no interest in learning keys to get those sounds" You've summed me up in a nutshell when it comes to synth bass!

 

I'm currently leaning a little to the FI v4 VIP, which is only £20 more new than the MXR, if I do swap from my Boss SY-200, but certainly bass-mates of mine who have upgraded their their C4 to the MXR are really happy with the change over!

 

 

I'd love to try the MXR and the VIP.  The MXR has that ease of use that made me HATE the FI v1 I had; I know its come a long way since then, but part of the reason I loved the Deep Impact is that it had everything on the pedal, no PC required etc and the MXR has that too.  

 

I tend to completely not get the argument people make when they say they'd rather just play keys to get a proper synth tone.   I feel like it's mostly bedroom musicians that think this way, oddly enough I can't just whip out a synth for a middle 8 for most of the venues I play in! 

[LawrenceH]

Despite years of piano lessons and messing about on synths, I still don't want to play basslines on them - for some reason it just doesn't scratch the itch in the same way as playing them on bass guitar. Can never shake the feeling I'm pressing sprung switches, I don't feel the same connection. The FI VIP gives me that playing satisfaction, it's just more fun.

[mattpbass]

5 hours ago, Kev said:

 

I'd love to try the MXR and the VIP.  The MXR has that ease of use that made me HATE the FI v1 I had; I know its come a long way since then, but part of the reason I loved the Deep Impact is that it had everything on the pedal, no PC required etc and the MXR has that too.  

 

I tend to completely not get the argument people make when they say they'd rather just play keys to get a proper synth tone.   I feel like it's mostly bedroom musicians that think this way, oddly enough I can't just whip out a synth for a middle 8 for most of the venues I play in! 

I’d say the absolute opposite, synth pedals are for bedroom players or as a compromised solution for gigging where you can’t / don’t want to use an actual synth. Look on pro stages, there’s a lot of synth bass, not many synth bass pedals. 

[Quatschmacher]

7 hours ago, mattpbass said:

I’d say the absolute opposite, synth pedals are for bedroom players or as a compromised solution for gigging where you can’t / don’t want to use an actual synth. Look on pro stages, there’s a lot of synth bass, not many synth bass pedals. 

There are quite a few high profile players using these kinds of pedals on stages: Mohini Dey, Chris Wolstenholne, Mike Gordon, off the top of my head. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Quatschmacher

[mattpbass]

5 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

There are quite a few high profile players using these kinds of pedals on stages: Mohini Dey, Chris Wolstenholne, Mike Gordon, off the top of my head. 

I’m not saying there aren’t, I’m just countering Kev’s idea that using an actual synth is more the mindset of the bedroom player. 

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Kev said:

I tend to completely not get the argument people make when they say they'd rather just play keys to get a proper synth tone.   I feel like it's mostly bedroom musicians that think this way, oddly enough I can't just whip out a synth for a middle 8 for most of the venues I play in! 

 

Then you might want to question whether you actually need a synth pedal at all? 

 

There are a few songs in my band's repertoire that would benefit from me playing synth on them at gigs rather than Bass VI, but until we are regularly playing on bigger stages and have more than 20 minutes to set up and sound check, bringing another instrument simply isn't an option. Using a pedal isn't really an option either. Unless it has the full set of facilities as the keyboard synth it is replacing, I'm unlikely to be able to get the sounds I want out of it, also from the PoV of space on stage I don't really have room for yet another pedal and one that would require an external PSU with the all the complications and unreliability that would entail. If I did I'd probably have room for an actual keyboard synth.

 

So until we are playing suitably sized stages with enough time to sound check an additional instrument I will continue to use my Bass VI with a few standard effects on it. I can guarantee that the majority of the audience don't notice the difference and the few that do are would rather we play the song with a slightly different bass sound as opposed to not at all.

[Al Krow]

@BigRedX - you're obviously happy to use a keys synth and all power to you! 

 

But a couple of points in your post:

- you say a pedal with an external PSU gives rise to "complications and unreliability"? I'm guessing maybe half of the bass players on this forum use pedals (typically on a pedal board) with an external PSU week in and week out, and we do so without any issues? 

- if, as you say, the audience doesn't notice the difference between us playing a song without any synth, then they're even less likely to notice the difference between a keys synth and a quality bass-pedal synth?