God might have made you funky, and if so, congratulations. But if not, there is hope for you yet in the shape of a new MXR pedal for bass guitar that puts vintage analogue synth sounds at your feat.
Don’t be fooled by MXR’s typically utilitarian designation, because the MB301 Bass Synth is a seriously radical pedalboard proposition that makes the most of its a small footprint.
Designed in collaboration with bass session ace Ian Martin Allison, MXR says the Bass Synth “serves up intergalactic grooves and vintage analogue-style vibes with a range of monophonic synthesizer tones that call back to hits from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Parliament Funkadelic, and more” – and it grants you comprehensive control over how you shape those sounds, and how you can manage them.
Players can adjust the oscillator, modulation mix, compression and tracking style. The pedal comes preloaded with eight presets, all designed by Allison, all inspired by classic synth tones. You’ll find Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer…
And If funk is not your thing then that’s okay because after all this is bass synth pedal first and a funk engine second. One of the presets is based on Nine Inch Nails’ Head Like A Hole; there are all kinds of musical occasions where you can put this to good use. As Allison says in the demo video, it would be a hard-working item on any wedding band bassist’s pedalboard.
Also, accessing these presets is easy. You just hold down the button and cycle through them, or hook up a tap switch and use that to switch them. You can also hook up a volume pedal for performance friendly parameter adjustments.
There are two orange knobs for Mix and Sub Mix. Four blue knobs for Mod, Resonance, Cutoff and Envelope. Sub Mix controls how much of the sub-octave effect is in your sound. As the name suggests, you’ll find some movement behind the Mod knob. Apply this for “shimmering liquid tones, from subtle, musical motion to bold, mind-bending pulses”.
The Envelope dial adjusts the filter response, from fast, bouncy and percussive to a slow psychedelic chewiness. Cutoff sets the filter cutoff frequency. Resonance boosts that frequency. And the all-important Mix knob controls your wet/dry mix.
The Bass Synth needs 9V DC and a minimum of 300mA from a pedalboard power supply. It is available now, priced £289/$269 For more details, head over to Jim Dunlop.
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