![]() ![]() The pedal essentially works on unity-gain levels. There is however one drawback in the current design. It'll keep you aware of your legato technique and phrasing, which can only expand your musicality. ![]() You will have to change your playing to adapt to this pedal, which is a good thing. It has some really cool features that allow you to compete with or completely replace the lame keyboardist in your band -) Think the solo on Queen's "I Want To Break Free" - it can easily be replicated with the MicroSynth! And although it is ideal to have an amp set up that is capable of responding to the frequencies it generates, it will still sound great in smaller amps and less-than-ideal set ups. I have always loved this pedal from the time I first played the predecessor version way back in the day. The dimensions are 143 x 119 x 60 mm (5.6 x 4.7 x 2.4 inches) - for some reason it was impossible to find the actual pedal's dimensions listed anywhere online! It came with its own power supply, but with the 9 V negative-center DC setting, I was able to daisy-chain it to the power supply of my other pedals without any problem. At £115, we can see many bassists getting plenty of gig mileage from this pedal - and having followed the anticipation for this unit online, we think many synth-hungry bassists’ prayers may have been answered.Kudos to Electro Harmonix for reducing the physical size in this new version. The best bit about the Mono Synth is the price. The lower register notes offered by five-string basses are a challenge for units like this, but with some experimentation we found that there were certain synth types that this pedal tracked well with, even when grooving all the way down to the bottom of the B string. Naturally, active basses raise certain issues based upon the strength of their active circuitry and pickup output, so adjustments need to be made depending on your bass. The Sensitivity control works wonders when it comes to dealing with glitches based on your instrument’s responsiveness (or lack of it). Each synth setting is notably different from the last, so there are plenty of interesting options available to the player, all of which sound highly usable to these ears. The sound quality is quite stunning - possibly the most considered and thorough synth sounds we’ve heard using a bass guitar as a trigger. When you want to recall it, simply press the switch. ![]() The Bypass switch turns the effect on and off, while the Preset switch allows you to store a preferred sound for easy recall set the pedal as you require, press and hold the preset switch for three seconds and your control settings are stored. The manual gives you an easy-to-understand breakdown for each synth setting. The CTRL control has a different interaction with each synth setting, from decay and attack times to envelope filter resonance, sweep depth, oscillator volume and modulation rate. The Sensitivity control also has an effect on the sweep ranges of several synth effects. If your playing isn’t triggering the synth, turn the control up - but if you’re hearing ‘false’ triggers and resonance, turn the control down a touch. Bear in mind that the ‘Mono’ reference means that only one note can be played at a time as a multi-oscillator monophonic device, only one note per oscillator can be played, so the unit can’t cope with chords.Īn LED indicator gives you a visual reference as to how ‘hot’ your signal is. Various modulation and filter settings contribute to distinctly different synth sounds, and the control set allows the player to extensively tailor the voicings. With 11 synth types and voicings to choose from, there is inevitably some experimentation required before you find the sounds you’re looking for. The pedalboard footprint is very modest too. EHX’s Micro Synth, with its array of sliding controls, was a benchmark for many years, and the new Mono Synth is typically rugged, with a metal chassis and well-sized controls, clearly labelled and intuitive. Perhaps things are about to change with this new pedal. The passing of time has seen more and more players taking to keyboards to get the sounds required. Fiddling around with pedal controls on a gig, with something as temperamental as a bass synth, when the sounds you’ve spent hours mastering just aren’t working onstage, can be a major pain in the butt. ![]()
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