Guitar and Bass Effects | A blog about guitar and bass effects pedals.

In a move that could be described as hinting at the ironic, diminutive bass amp builder Mark Bass has released a range of pedals that could only be described as, err, big. Perhaps Marco de Virgiliis was taught colours backwards as a child…

Many people could use this last comment as propulsion into a joke about the choice of his company’s rather vibrant, yellow and black colour scheme, but not me, I’m above all that. And I quite like the wasp-tainted livery. The one thing that comes to mind however, is that these pedals are shaped awfully like those that Ashdown released a few years back… You know, the line that, well, kind of flopped… *cough* Maybe they’re trying to get rid of an excess of unused stompbox cases… *ahem*

Anyway, joking aside, lets get down to business; there’s quite a range of pedals to choose from,  and they really do look very well equipped.  The compressor and distortion pedals have a warm valve heart, and along with a booster (which also acts as a DI box, with the sought-after Mark Bass Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator and Variable Pre-Shape Filter) and an octaver, the range of analogue, true-bypass pedals is complete. However, as much as it pains me to say it… I find the digital pedals of the range a lot more interesting. These are the Chorus Flanger, Riverbero (reverb) and Super Synth. Why are they so appealing then? Simple: these effects come rigged with a USB port and editing software. Sounds can be edited on a computer, and then downloaded onto the pedal; it would be particularly useful for any patch that needs to be kept, but the memory of the effect unit is full.

Anyway, expect a review of this range ASAP, just as soon as I can get my filthy mitts on them.