MXR MB301 Bass Synth

It has been a long search but worth it in the end. Some time ago I purchased my first synth pedal which was a now discontinued Dirty Robot by Digitech. I had fun with it but obviously it was a pain to actually dial in decent settings that could be used for a pro stage performance. Since then I have come across many pieces of gear, but none of them convinced me enough. The closest I got to having my bass produce powerful and clean synth tones was with my HX Stomp which works miracles. But there was always this 'not quite there' feeling that has left me endlessly tweaking and sacrificing its capacity, so I was so excited when I saw the announcement by Ian Martin Allison in late June that he was working with Dunlop to create the ultimate compact synth pedal we all have been waiting for.

I placed an order almost instantly after seeing it available on Thomann, and I didn't mind having to wait for a few weeks. I just KNEW this was gonna be a game changer just by hearing the demos and that is exactly what you get - out of the box! There's a ton of options but somehow the built-in presets make you not wanna change a thing because of how good they all sound.

The tracking is great but also unforgiving, which means that you really have to adapt your playing style and think of your bass as more of a monophonic synthesizer in terms of precision and tone muting. Also, don't forget to set the tracking mode (4-5-6 string) to suit your instrument. Have fun!

FYI: I am a synth geek and have some keyboard skills, but have been playing bass guitar for almost 25 years now. I've tried a wide array of synth pedals in the past, but was never happy with any of them (horrible latency, awful sound, independable tracking, etc). I had given up the search years ago, until I saw the raving reviews about this one.
Mine finally arrived this morning, after a 2+ month wait (due to high demand, it seems). I've only been playing around with it for about 5-6 hours total, but it seems it was well worth the wait!

+ The tracking is super smooth most of the time, and I barely needed to adjust my play style
+ The sound synthesis is very decent and even though quite basic, I was able to produce a broad spectrum of sounds; clean, noisy, percussive, legato, ducks, waps, paws and everything in between.
- Not the biggest fan of the modulation, but this should be easily remedied using additional fx pedals.
- Even though it's also designed with 5-string basses in mind, I found the tracking often lacking a bit whilst playing the lowest notes in drop D

I still need some extra time to see if I can work out the (very minor) kinks, but all in all this puppy is everything I hoped it would be, combining the sound of fat synths whilst having the tactile fluidity of bass guitar. Can't wait to hit the stage with this one!

This pedal is a dream, it’s everything Ian Martin Allison says and shows, and more. It’s so well thought out, they didn’t miss anything. Make sure you get the MXR tap tempo footswitch to scroll through the presets (holding the switch scrolls backwards too). The presets are perfect, worth the price of the pedal alone. And a power supply is included, which is great. There’s a 30 minute video tutorial by MXR on YouTube, make sure to watch it. Have fun!