Effects Bay

Last week I received an email asking me about the Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser.  I wasn’t familiar with the EP2, I’ve heard of the EP1, but not the EP2, so I wanted to take a look. I think Pigtronix makes some great gear, and I’ve discussed a few pedals here in the past.  While I was doing some light research on this, I found the perfect video to help show me what the EP2 is all about. Basically it’s a side by side comparison between the EP1 and EP2.

Here is the official description of the Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser:

The Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser guitar effects pedal pours on the special sauce to take your tone into outer space. Accentuating and sweeping through the harmonics of any musical source, the motion of this revolutionary phase shifter can be controlled by Envelope, LFO or a blend of both. The Pigtronix EP2 pedal is a complete redesign of Pigtronix’ Envelope Phaser concept, built on 6 years of customer feedback from the original. The Pigtronix EP2 effects pedal sports sounds and smart features, in a considerably smaller package.

The Pigtronix EP2 guitar pedal makes it easy to dial in monster envelope tones for any instrument or playing style. The envelope in the EP2 kicks it up a notch with a “Staccato” function that is ideal for fast-picking, funk bass and tight rhythm guitar. The Stacatto circuit is an “intelligent envelope” that listens to your playing and quickly discharges the envelope between your notes. This crafty circuit enables incredibly responsive envelope performance, even during rapid-fire playing.

The Pigtronix EP2 pedal’s rotary modulation LFO provides adjustable depth and center controls for fine-tuning the frequency range of operation, from subtle swirls to screaming sweeps with a huge range of available speeds. Another crucial addition to this Pigtronix effect pedal is the “LFO smooth” switch, which automatically reduces the resonance setting when the LFO is in use. This performance-friendly function finally lets you switch between corpulent, Mutron-style quack, and deep, swirling Uni-Vibe sounds with a single footswitch stomp—no knob tweaking necessary on stage.

In addition to its unique voice and interactive modulation section, Pigtronix EP2 incorporates additional control options, including expression pedals for both Sweep and Speed, as well as a continuous blend between envelope and LFO modulation sources.

The Pigtronix EP2 guitar effects pedal retains crucial features from the EP-1 such as true bypass switching, + or – phase inversion and the signature “trigger” input for manipulating the envelope with an external audio source. EP2 guitar pedal runs on 18-volts for maximum headroom.

Here is the video by TheGuacamoleXplosion (by the way, my new favorite channel name):

You can pick up the Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phase for $249.00 at Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 3%

Today, I wanted to give another shout out to the bass players out there. So today we’re talking about the Electro-Harmonix Nano Bassballs Envelope Filter for bass.  This is another pedal in the new Nano configuration, and it has a pretty cool effected tone. Basically a envelope filter with a little fuzz (maybe not fuzz.. but harmonic distortion) mixed in. I could see this used for some great bass tones and craziness. I’m sure this would be quite crazy on guitar as well.

Here is the official product description:

The Electro Harmonix Nano Bassballs Twin Envelope Filter effects pedal has everything you loved about the original Bassballs in a pocket size. The human vocal-like sound of its two sweeping filters gives bass a strong presence under leads, or a commanding quality when out front. The resonant frequencies are engineered solidly into the full range of the bass guitar’s strongest harmonics. Bassballs will respond to every bass note. The sweep is widely variable, and harmonic enrichment is available with the distortion switch.

The Nano Bassballs comes in a small, die-cast case with rounded corners, saving valuable pedalboard space. The footswitch selects your original signal or the filtered signal as the Bassballs output. The range of the filters upward sweep in pitch is set by the interaction of instrument volume and the sensitivity control. Both stronger attacks and higher (clockwise) control settings increase the sweep range. Low volume and low sensitivity settings will create little or no sweep, and Bassballs will only provide a small boost in its lowest frequencies. In its upward position, the fuzz switch introduces additional harmonic enrichment that accentuates the filters action. The sensitivity pot also serves as a volume control for the fuzz, also increasing in the clockwise direction.

I found the official product demo video by EHX.

You can pick up the Electro Harmonix Nano Bassballs Envelop Filter for $82.50 on Musician’s Friend.

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Popularity: 4%

This envelope filter is rad! I think that is the only way I can start with this. After talking about the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, I got routed into Electro-Harmonix stuff, yet again. But I ended up at the Riddle: Q-Balls Envelop Filter. I’ve always been slightly intimidated of envelop filters, worried that I would succumb to the dark side of guitar craziness and becoming a noise machine, but holy cats, I came across this video that is AWESOME.

Here are the specifics about the pedal:

The Electro-Harmonix Riddle is a powerful and precise envelope filter fine-tuned for guitar frequency response. Riddle will deliver tight and smooth control over the complete 80 Hz to 5 kHz range, with a consistent and even sweetness. Need some edge? Engage Riddle’s analog distortion and dial in anything from subtle bite to dominating crush. You can even plug in an optional expression pedal to control the filter sweep with your foot. With the ability to adjust Q, sweep range, and filter type, you’ll also wind up with of the most versatile wahs available.

Envelope controlled filters are a unique type of sound modifier where the intensity of the effect is controlled by the user’s playing dynamics. The volume and dynamic of the incoming audio signal is used to control a swept filter. As the volume increases or decreases so does the frequency of the filter. With 3 selectable filter modes, along with START, STOP, ATTACK, DECAY, Q and SENSITIVITY controls, all of the classic Q sounds are available to the user.

Electro-Harmonix Riddle Envelope Filter Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

• 80 Hz to 5 kHz frequency response tailored for guitar
• Optional expression pedal control
• Fully-analog circuit
• Switch selectable analog distortion designed for guitar
• Start and Stop sweep control
• Low Pass, Band Pass, High Pass filter select
• Start and Stop for filter sweep and Q control
• Separate Dry and Effect outputs
• 9.6VDC 200mA power supply included

This pedal is available for $189.00 + shipping at Musician’s Friend. They’re offering ‘We Will Beat Any Price Guaranteed’  for this pedal, and that’s a good thing since it’s currently on sale at Amazon for $168.97 w/Free Shipping.

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Popularity: 2%