Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer (Original)

The EH Bass MicroSynthesizer is packaged in a black aluminum thinline box with green and black applied graphics for settings and logo. One in, one out. 10 sliders for Trigger, Voice Mix, Attack Delay and Filter Sweep. Single on/off stomp toggle. One 9V AC Adapter include in price. EH recommends that you don't try to power the unit in a chain from a single (V power source, but use the dedicated AC Adapter -- wise advise.

I tried out a friend's after hearing Nate Query of The Decemberists using one on 'The Hazards of Love.' Street price is $279.

The Bass Microsynthesizer offers sveral pedals in one: fuzz, envelope filter, octave box and more. Uisng the sliders, which determine effect volume, filter cutoff, sensitivity and initial attack time, you can tailor several sounds to your preferences. Octave effects work only on single notes but track well, and the ability to have a octave about' the actual note helps to flesh out the sound -- like Hendrix on bass! I'm a fan of controlled fuzz, the this machine delivers a square wave that is very smooth. It's also possible to get delayed attack that's approximates a volume pedal by ramping up Attack delay slider.

Price, for one thing. It's also a pain to have to either put the unit on a pedalboard and stoop over to adjust settings or mount it high and try to turn it on and off with your free hand. A remote on/off would be nice so you could keep the unit at waist level to adjust settings for on-the-fly changes.

Well made, but maybe not as heavy as you would like on a stompbox. Sliders seem prone to damage from a misplaced attempt to stomp on the toggle switch.

If you like far out bass effects, the EH Bass MicroSynthesizer offers several in one handy unit. Fuzz, envelope filter, octave above and below and attack delay let you satisfy your inner keyboard bass player.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is a company that has been an industry standard when it comes to high quality guitar and bass effects pedals. This company I believe started in the 70's with several high quality distortion and effects pedals that were used world wide by many touring and amateur musicians.

The bass synthesizer has been an extremely used effects pedal for many bass players. It has in my opinion a very sublte tone to it. Not a dominant effects modulation but rather an accompaniment type tone. I had used this pedal with my rig for a while but found that I really didn't prefer the overall tone that was inherent in this pedal.

UTILIZATION

Quick Specs:

True bypass
All analog design
Design optimized for bass guitar
2-pole analog resonant filter
4 Voice mixer section mixes: sub octave, original, octave up and square wave
Square wave voice can be used as a distortion tone
Start, stop filter frequency sliders with adjustable rate for full control over the filter's sweep direction and speed
Adjustable filter resonance control
Adjustable attack time control for fading-in notes
Tough and compact die-cast chassis
96DC-200BI power supply included

SOUND QUALITY

I had used this pedal with a Rickenback bass and a SWR bass amp. I never really could dial in a tone that I liked. The control were a bit confusing to me because at the time I was not all that familiar with synth pedals and how they operated. I was more used to delay and distortion boxes.

For me there are way to many control knobs that need to be tweaked in order to get a decent modulation. That is a bit of a deterrent for me as I like things to be easily laid out and simple. Most of the Electro Harmonics pedals are very easy to use and pretty self explanatory. I ended up getting rid or it fairly quickly.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are a bass player you could very well like this pedal. For me it was a bit bulky in size and not very user friendly. This particular model has been discontinued and now replaced with a newer modern one. Which is fairly more cosmetic than internally changed.

I think you can find these pedals on the use market pretty easily. I would recommend you try this pedal first if you have that option. You may or may not like how the pedal functions and sounds.

The Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer is the popular guitar synthesizer effect tailored specifically for bass guitar and bass frequencies. It's pretty much the same pedal except this one is designed for bass frequencies. It's an analog pedal that consists of a 1/4" input and a 1/4" output. It requires power from an Electro-Harmonix power supply and isn't rack mountable since it's a stomp box.

UTILIZATION

While it does take a bit of fiddling with to get completely comfortable, the Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer isn't too hard to use overall. It was really just a matter of trial and error for me, as I'd been used to the guitar Micro Synth and this was an easy enough crossover since the make up is quite similar if not the same. The sliders that the pedal has include voices for sub octave, guitar, octave, and square wave, as well as filter sweep parameters for resonance, rate, and both start and stop frequencies. It also has sliders for trig and for attack delay. The manual might be helpful but I haven't seen it so I can't say anything about it.

SOUND QUALITY

While I don't think that the Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer is the most practical effect in the world, it definitely does as advertised as then some. I guess I just don't think that many bass players would need these sorts of effects out there on the front lines, but even if you just use them in the studio or at home, they're a lot of fun to mess around with. You can get some pretty funky sounds with the Bass Micro Synth, and the palette of sounds is pretty versatile as well. While I don't think that too many people are going to be mistaking your bass for a synthesizer even with this box, it still gives you a variety of really cool, synth-like effects.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're primarily a bass player and are looking to expand your possible sounds, a quick way to really expand them is with the Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer. The tracking is surprisingly good with this pedal, and while I think that some of the effects are more practical than others, it's an awesome overall pedal for bass players who want to experiment a little bit. I don't know of any pedals out there for bass that can match the flexibility and unique sound of the Bass Micro Synth.

Simple, effective, and vintage look 100% analog.

An on / off switch for the power supply adapter (no battery).
A bypass button for the foot.
10 knobs straight vertical hand ------->

Part mixer allows to reconstruct a sound by the addition of these four signals available:
- Guitar (the input signal but not quite neutral)
- Octave (octave suprieure gnre)
- Sub-octave (octave infrieure gnre)
- Square wave (waveform signal edge after the extreme hyper-saturated, so it falls on a "square", then analog synth sound).
It also has an amplitude envelope play:
- Attack (rising amplitude effect of the volume swell type)

A portion of the filter envelope evolves from a frquence rsonance bandpass another:
- Start freq
- Stop freq
- Rate (speed of transition freq freq start stop)
- Reso (resonant bandpass filter which evolves)
The filter envelope Get You Started on clean attack, adjustable thanks:
- Trigger (the sensitivity)

The freq freq start stop and have the same range, so we can go from serious or aige aige serious choice.

There is therefore a varieties of sounds by additive synthse one hand and envelope filter on the other. Finally, it is a traditional analog synth o oscillators are replaced by the output signal of the bass / guitar.

The IDE is simple and effective.

UTILIZATION

No memory although sr (100% analog) so you have to redo its rglages between songs, by noting on a piece of paper. It is not modern but it has a certain charm.

You can change frquence a live hand-to evolve the sound but the last ca dpend sustain the note. The sound ranges from a another frquence then stays there. on the other hand, it does not change the foot well from bypass sr. For a wah, wah-wah to a ...

on the other hand are made very easy with all the sounds you get the ide thanks its simple concept. Finally, the presets, they are in the head and ear.

SOUND QUALITY

Compared to other envelopes filters I tried matrise is greater with the Micro Synthesizer with the Q-Tron, for example, thanks to the knobs straight, so the sound is more Microsynth B. convincing. And then we have a good octave more! The FM4 Line6 not the same spirit, it is more exprimental more difficult rgler quickly and less vintage sound I think. Finally they are not really competing.

TRS also works well with a guitar. One note both the octave if it does not exist. The envelope filter is a phrase INTERESTED solo, and an octave riff (by blocking the filter with the trigger).

The panel is standard with imagination because the combinations rglages are great.
The doc provides examples of sounds for different uses (the typical squence, or typical moog). It should also play with the attack. In my humble opinion, pair it with a compressor and a noise-gate upstream would facilitate the use fingers for playing Electro-Harmonix recommends using a well mdiator for a sharp attack.

You have a low and you would like a moog on scne? Ben sailing.

OVERALL OPINION

The Bass Micro Synthesizer Electro-Harmonix is ​​located halfway between the wah and effects numriques Muls or more labora (multi-effects or FM4), but neither the one or the other! It allows to easily obtain the sound which is an ide thanks its simple concept. However, it remains appropriate and limit the sounds of bass lines. Do not be fooled by the term "synthesizer", which is just nanmoins, but in the spirit analogue synth, bass synth not fawn DX7.

It will bring the electro funk or rock'n'roll in your ... 100% analog.