EHX Enigma Qballs

[Powman]

For some reason effects are fascinating me these days. Maybe because I am spinning a lot of Muse these days (concert tomorrow night in Toronto).

I have a EHX Bass Big Muff Pi, and I am liking it. I use it for about 30% of the songs we cover.

Yesterday I picked up the EHX Enigma Qballs. It seems pretty cool. One song we are covering in our band is a non-synthesizer version of Ghostbusters (a song choice that is so stupid, it is brilliant again ... audiences love it) and it is coming in really handy for that. I use the envelop auto wah + distortion for the chorus parts and just envelop auto wah for the verses. Cool.

However, it wasn't cheap. As I have 30 day return period, I wanted to gets some other insight from folks who have experience with auto-wah effects. I am not really asking about the opinion which is your favorite auto wah, as I did try the EBS, MXR, Boss, and Digitech versions of auto wah or synth wah before settling on the Electro-Harmonix. But go ahead and post your opinions on that if you want.

But what I am more interested in when and where this effect can be handy. Any experiences out there?

 

[Duarte]

I'm not overly into effects, I've had a few cool toys but sold them pretty quick (mostly Moog stuff), just remember not to overuse them. The Big Muff especially is a very potent pedal, don't forget that you are a bass player

I'd say autowah is useful in funky things, of course, and running distortion the effects loop (if it has one) is a great effect. I have 1 pedal now, and use it rarely, but I do like it. It's an older style Qtron. Works very well with MusicMan basses.

When I use the Qtron, I run the compressor (I don't class it as an 'effect') directly after it, so you can control the envelope filter with your dynamics, but not experience those awful LOUD peaks.

 

[cellkirk74]

Keep it if you like it. Wthose Autowah effects are fun, but as always when using bass and effects, less is more.

I run the bass balls or an old qtron from times to times and they can give you some good sounds besides the typical funkstuff. But Duarte is right with the peaks.

 

[oli@bass]

If you haven't tried the Moogerfooger MF-101, you haven't tried the best auto-filter yet

That said, I just recently replaced the MF-101 on my main gig board with the Enigma. The reason is that I generally use the auto filter together with an ocatver in situations where I'm either replacing a bass synth line or want the bass to have synth like characteristics. And the Enigma sounds more mean and synth like especially with the distortion on. It just fits the sound I have in my head. Would be cool if it had programmable preset though...


BTW, the holds true for octavers as well: The Ampeg SCP-OCT is probably the best bass octaver out there, fast, accurate and very clean. However, the new MXR M-288 is also fast and accurate, less clean but is just more "aggressive". Which is definitely good when aiming for synth like bass lines.

 

[Powman]

Keep it if you like it. Wthose Autowah effects are fun, but as always when using bass and effects, less is more.

I am leaning this way a but more. We just had band rehearsal...the autowah didn't sound as cool with the whole band going. I am not sure I am going to keep this one...

Maybe I just have GAS. My Bongo is still a couple of weeks away and I am itching for some new gear. (Patience. Patience.)

 

[sitonmybass]

I've tried auto-wahs by MXR, Boss, and DOD. Although I like that the effect is sensitive to playing dynamics, I actually prefer my Morley Dual Bass Wah.
An "expression pedal" design with this particular type of effect has more options. One way is to engage the pedal and keep it stationary after finding a desired EQ frequency (for an EQ boost) and of course rocking the pedal to vary these frequencies for the "wah" effect. Using your hands and your foot in varying degrees of "interplay" result in some responses that are simply not possible with a pedal that only responds to "hands only" playing dynamics. You can produce "swells" of wah effect only with an "expression pedal" design. You can vary the speed with which you "approach" or move away from certain frequencies. You can also vary the frequencies themselves. And of course you could vary both your foot speed and frequency choices in unlimited possibilites; try doing that with an auto-wah.

But to get back to your question of when and where...

1. Bass solos
2. Certain bass "moments" that may need that little extra "something"
3. A cover song whose bass line was not originally played on a bass guitar to more closely replicate it
4. Going for a less-traditional bass sound on an original song

 

[Powman]

Interesting...that sounds useable. What songs have you used this Morley Wah on?

 

[sitonmybass]

Interesting...that sounds useable. What songs have you used this Morley Wah on?

The Lenny Kravitz song "I Want To Fly Away;" check out the original version.


I've used a bass wah on covers of songs that don't actually have a bass wah on them.
However, this particular song definetly has a bass wah on it.

And again...

1. Bass solos
2. Certain bass "moments" that may need that little extra "something"
3. A cover song whose bass-line was not originally played on a bass guitar to more closely replicate it
4. Going for a less-traditional bass sound on an original song

A word of caution. Be careful not to choose frequencies that may "interfere" with the other instruments. Make sure they compliment the other frequencies that are being played.

 

[oli@bass]

IUsing your hands and your foot in varying degrees of "interplay" result in some responses that are simply not possible with a pedal that only responds to "hands only" playing dynamics.

Very true. But you need to practice that as well (actually, that's key to almost all types of effects: you must practice their use and application if you want them to sound organic and part of your music). The great thing about the Moggerfooger is that you can control various parameters with an additional foot controller, and when controlling the filter frequency, you can even acheive a combination of foot control and auto-wah if desired.

 

[syciprider]

A manual wah is only good for one dimension of many filter possibilities. No readily available wah pedal offers selectable up or down filter sweeps for example. And you can't play Sir Psycho Sexy with a Morley

Well endowed env filters are so much more. Huge dub sounds, glurpy synth and of course, the funky genre.

After owning up to 8 filters at one time (including the Mooger) I am down to three. A Maxon AF-9, a Morley DBW and a Robot Factory Photron. My fave is the Maxon.

 

[Powman]

After owning up to 8 filters at one time (including the Mooger) I am down to three. A Maxon AF-9, a Morley DBW and a Robot Factory Photron. My fave is the Maxon.

Wow...you really know your envelop filters.

 

[oli@bass]

After owning up to 8 filters at one time (including the Mooger) I am down to three. A Maxon AF-9, a Morley DBW and a Robot Factory Photron. My fave is the Maxon.

Did you use the MF-101 with an expression pedal?

We seem to be the auto filter junkies around here Haven't had that many, but tried whatever I could find in stores. Haven't seen a Maxon... now I gotta try get one

The Q-Tron+ also offers some nice sounds. But I found that it sucks out too much of the bass when engaged, and it's really hard to balance the effected and uneffected sounds properly.

 

[syciprider]

I had an expression pedal which I used to adjust the filter's center frequency. It was a good effect but since it was designed to work with many instruments and be able to integrate with modular synths the useable range for bass on the controls was very narrow making it a tad too sensitive to adjust.

I also had a Qtron +. It was also a good filter which narrowly lost to the Maxon for the right to stay on my board (mainly due to the dedicated power supply and bigger footprint).

 

[oli@bass]

You're right. The MF-101 is very hard to adjust due to the very light going pots and the high sensitivity. However, I (and everbody in my band) digs the sound it produces when the filter is on the verge to self-oscillation.... but as said, it's very hard to control right there, and I did derange the settings quite some times when stomping on it in the heat of the moment.

I'm looking forward to play more with the Enigma and check out how well it works in live situations.