Designed with low-end professor and tone connoisseur Ian Martin Allison, the MXR Bass Synth is a powerhouse of a pedal offers thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain—plus all the features you need to shape every detail of your tone.

This pedal requires a 9-volt (330 mA) center-negative power supply and can be powered by the Dunlop ECB003 9-volt adapter or the MXR Iso-Brick, the Iso-Brick Pro, and the Iso-Brick Mini Power Supplies. This pedal cannot be powered by a battery.

The Long Story

Turn your bass into a filthy funk machine with the MXR Bass Synth. It serves up intergalactic grooves and vintage analog-style vibes with a range of monophonic synth tones that call back to hits from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Parliament Funkadelic, and more. Designed with low-end professor and tone connoisseur Ian Martin Allison, this powerhouse of a pedal offers thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain.

FUNK IT UP

Dig into your groove with a full, player-friendly suite of controls to shape every detail of your bass synth tone. The Sub Mix knob sets how much of the sub octave is blended with the main synth signal so that you can go as fat and low as you want. The Mod knob brings shimmering liquid tones, from subtle, musical motion to bold, mind-bending pulses—while the Envelope knob sets the filter response from rubber band bounce to slow, syrupy sweeps. Mix, Cutoff, and Resonance knobs help you dial in the perfect tone and feel for your setup—blend dry and wet signals, set filter cutoff frequency, and boost that frequency for extra punch.

Finally, the Voice button adds additional harmonically tuned oscillators for more complex tones while the Shape button selects your preferred waveform: smooth and subtle triangle, rich and aggressive sawtooth, or fat and punchy square.

PRE-FUNK

If you want to skip the set up and get right down to it, then we have eight different presets designed by Ian Martin Allison to plug you straight into the groove. Each is inspired by classic synth tones, from those heard on Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” to Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” and Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole.” Cycling through them is as simple as pressing the Preset button.

DIG DEEPER

For the true bottomologists out there, the MXR Bass Synth features a number of additional parameters, from oscillator and modulation mix to compression and tracking style. You can also run the pedal in stereo output mode, use an off-board switch such as the MXR Split + Tap or Tap Tempo Switch to cycle presets, use a Volume(X)™ Series Pedal to blend setting configurations, and more.

GO FORTH AND GET NASTY

Whether you’re replicating pop hits in a cover band, holding down the low end at church, or touring the world, this pedal gives you instant synth bass magic. Get down on the one with the MXR Bass Synth.