20 Best Synth Pedals For Guitar (2023 Updated)

The Boss SY-200 is a stellar addition to their 200 series line of pedals. Giving you more than the SY-1, which can feel somewhat one-dimensional with its lack of adjustable parameters, but not a dizzying amount of options and menu diving like the SY-1000, the SY-200 strikes, to me, a perfect balance of sound options and finite control, without feeling like you have to spend a year digging through menus to get there.

The only downside to me, is that some of the tones can sound pretty cheesy by themselves, especially compared to something like the Meris Enzo. But that can be easily remedied by blending in your dry tone, or other pedals.

Personally I love stacking it with my Meris Enzo to get absolutely HUGE and multi-textural/multi layered synth tones. All in all, if you’re looking for a solid entry into the synth pedal world, the Boss SY-200 is just about perfect, offering a plethora of synth voices, and a good amount of flexibility and tweaking, without having to dive through too many menus.

If you liked the SY1 but wished it had presets, here ya go! In a nutshell it’s the SY1 with presets. It’s got the same sounds and same limited control features but now you can tweak and save. Programming is very easy, more so if you are already familiar with the Boss 200 style pedals.

Check out the zillion YouTube videos to hear for yourself. Sounds just like that when you get it home 🙂 Of course I wish it was more powerful like an Enzo or C4 but those two require a PHD to get anything other than a Theremin on LSD type of sound.

If you need simple 80’s goodness added to your pedalboard then this is your ticket. It’s fun and good for you. Buy one.

The sound, versatility and ability to have preset/midi control is a huge improvement over the SY-1. I loved the sound, one sound I used on my SY-1 but having to dial it back in if I was messing with other sounds or it got bumped was a pain.

The quality and quantity of available sounds is awesome and tracking on bass is great!.

Loving it!. Couldn’t prize the guys off my guitar once this was plugged in. It surprises at every turn. Loading your own patches is something I haven’t mastered yet with the software; not intuitive.

It could be a little noisy and unpredictable at times, but overall really cool sounds could come out of this pedal, if you’re looking to add some dirty octave sounds to your riffs or leads, you’d really like this one, could dial retro arcade like sounds, could make your guitar sound broken, or just turn it into a noisy octave mayhem.

It will totally destroy your chords, you may still like that tho, it tracks single notes just fine. One star off because I think it is a bit expensive.

Not your typical distortion. But as with everything Earthquaker Devices makes it is quality build, quality sound, and a very unique pedal. Watch the YouTube demos before buying. it makes some crazy 8 bit sounds and some super thick awesome distortion, and everything in between.

Insane pedal. One of a kind. I’ve played a few octave effects pedals but this takes it way further then all of the others. Dirty, filthy with a side order of sludge.

Killer sounds and dynamics, and not just because its a value price. If I had mine stolen I’d have to buy another one. Sounds great going into the front end of my 100 watt Katana and its effects mix well sonically with the Boss’.

I also play through a Blackstar htr5 tube and it’s overdrive models sound awesome going into the tubes. The amp models are distinct and responsive, as are the cabinet models. Compression is very musical and the Univibe sounds alive.

Wah is very good for a unit. Lots of reverbs and modulations to tweak for years. Insane value – the snobs are missing out on a great unit. The interface is a little involved but definitely pays off if you are a tweaker.

A great choice as an addition to your pedal board, or as an all in one for players who don’t need a ton of switches.

This Multi effects box is awesome. It has stereo effects which what I was looking for, I’m building a stereo Guitar amp. It has soo many effects, I can’t understand how this works. It has Pages, Patches, and types.

It has Tuner, and looper. I like that it doesn’t have a foot pedal on it. You can plug a newer foot pedal into it allowing you to keep the unit at waste level for adjusting it and, and the foot pedal on the floor.

Then later you can place on floor. I’ve had it several weeks and I am still finding all the different bells and whistles. There are a few corny effects, but then, some people my like them.

This is a fun pedal. I doesn’t make a ‘Grand’ synth sound, but add on delay and some reverb and this makes a great addition to my pedalboard for some great sound effects to add in hear and there at a gig.

Its helpful that you can turn on and off the arpeggiator by holding down the footswitch.

This pedal packs a punch as a very versatile Synth Pedal. Don let the size fool you. Well Engineered and Well Built. You will be very pleased with this pedal. Verified Buyer: ironmaniax

For a very good price, you can add some new sounds to your guitar rig.

I use this in an effects loop on the Line 6 Helix. I use it both blended with my natural electric guitar tone and as a standalone sound, depending on what I’m playing. I also use it as an extra overdrive pedal without the synths, particularly because I love Boss’s Blues Driver but don’t own one, and this has a good model of it.

I perform with it at Sunday church services and I mainly use the synths for pads or to simulate an organ, strings, or bass. It comes in useful for hymns where electric guitar doesn’t really fit. (At least not the way I play; I’m not about to start in on cheesy ’80s corporate-pop chord vamping.

) Regarding its overdrive models, it also has several fuzz models that I find more useable than the Helix fuzz models. I’m not really a fan of fuzz in the first place, and the Helix models seem too over the top.

This has a ’60s fuzz I like that is quite mellow. It also has a treble boost and a mid boost, which I like to use. Other non-synth effects it carries are compressors, reverbs, delays, choruses, phasers, flangers, slicers (like a gated tremolo to use with the synth sequencers), and some I don’t really use and can’t think of right now.

I feel the effects models on the Helix are generally better, but the SY-300’s are still quite good, especially the overdrives. It does have a few unique effects, like the slow gear and bit crusher models.

The best thing about it, for my purposes, is how mindbendingly fun it is to play around with. It’s almost a problem because of how long I can sit with it and tweak the synths, adjust the filters, move effect patches around the signal chain, ad infinitem.

I would give a more detailed review of the synth itself, but I’m such a novice at synth, I couldn’t reliably say whether it was good or bad, and I also know I’m not scratching the surface of what it could do if I understood all the parameters.

I can still get great sounds and a lot of fun out of it, but there are still many parameters I haven’t explored.

After 15 minutes of playing i liked this processor a lot. After getting a few devices from boss i became a huge fan of Boss products. So SY-300 isn’t only a synth, it’s also great guitar processor. There’s no tones of modelled amps but there’s one awesome no amp and many boss fx pedals so i tweak my favourite basic guitar sounds, they sound just awesome plus i selected a number of great synth leads/pads/pulses.

And it’s everything in outstanding quality, great playing feel and compact size. I’m very happy with this purchase and so far i prefere boss SY-300 to my Fractal Audio AXE AX8.

this is a nice Guitar Synth with good response and a good array of sounds. Nice ability to tweak any sound into what you need. The one down side is more with the documentation in the manual and the synth description information that is provided on the Roland site and commercial re-sellers.

If you read the given info on this page, no where does it mention that the SY-300 DOES NOT transmit MIDI note data. No where in the instruction manual does it mention that the SY-300 DOES NOT transit MIDI note data.

If you look up the info page on the Roland site, it mentions all the positive aspects of the SY-300, but does not mention that it does not transmit MIDI note data. I ordered one from MF. Discovered quickly it does not transmit MIDI note data.

Finally I googled an inquiry and found an Roland ‘How To’ page and in that documentation it does state that the SY-300 does not transmit MIDI note data. Oh well. Spent a good meal out with my wife on return shipping! So, if you need everything but MIDI note data, this is good! If you are looking for transmission of MIDI note data into another synth or a DAW, this product will not do that.

My mistake, for sure. But I wish the info data on the seller’s write up, or the info in the instruction manual, or the basic info on the Roland site would have clearly said this.

The tracking is spot on with no latency; works on all types of playing and technique. What I dont care for is the many of the sounds themselves. There are some inspiring sounds but many are too harsh and redundant.

I find the variety and quality of Yonacs Roxsyn on my iPad to have much better patches for 1/10th of the price tag. Boss/Roland is missing the mark here by not stocking this synth pedal with superior and diverse sounds.

They could easily replace half of the current sounds with something better. I do enjoy this pedal for its plug in and play directness but the price is a bit steep for the current limitations and questionable sound quality of many of the patches.

Why couple such advanced tracking technology with old, primitive sounds?.

Great Synth solution that won’t break the bank. I watched several reviews on this product before purchasing so I had a very strong idea of what i was going to get out of it. the biggest advantage is the size and price point.

It basically has many of the various synth modulation options of a board, built into a small pedal. I think for on stage, it would be hard to move through the multiple settings so it would essentially become a on trick pony” pedal, however, when utilized in a studio, it opens up the options, as you can record, move to your next track or sound evolution, move on, reset again, repeat.

the expression pedal is an integral part of the unit and purchasing the pedal without one would be a huge mistake, as it would truncate all the value of the synth modulation options. finally, the ability to switch between guitar and Bass mode is huge for me, as a bassist who also plays guitar.

it allows not only for swapping out between devices, but essentially allows the device to cover the entire spectrum of tone and modulation. I am VERY please with the sounds quality and that is tracks perfectly, all the time.

Actually purchased it to use with my Hammond C3 organ but so far only using it with a guitar. Tracks very well, plenty of adjustments possible, probably eats batteries like most of the more complicated BOSS pedals so I’m running it with A/C.

Npo issues with it so far.

Overall: Well, I’ve officially owned this unit for a year now and have had many many hours with this thing and wanted to provide a better and probably more realistic review. My first impression, when only having to have owned it for a week or two was awesome, but now that I’ve really had a chance to really really use it, I’m finding out that, while its synthesizer/keyboard sounds are equally nice as the real keyboards, it does lack many functionalities a guitarist need during live shows (as well as studio sessions).

First, the good things: As mentioned, the synthesizer sounds are great; piano sounds as good as any real keyboards out there; string sounds are state-of-the-art; acoustic guitars sound nice and can work really well on live gigs – but for recording, I would not recommend it because while it does sound nice, it lacks any real sound, feel, and response of a real acoustic guitar.

The slapp’n and sound of the picks striking the strings are not there. The ability to use the expression pedal for “moment/toggle” switch works as it should; the ability to ease off on the pedal to set to clean and pressing the pedal down to increase the level of gain is a really nice feature, which I use ALOT.

This function allows me to set up the level of Delay, Reverb, Chorus, to either the Clean (when pedal is backed off) or to Gain (when the pedal is pressed down) to my desire and is a great feature that I cannot live without.

(Disclosure: NOT ALL effects can be used in the “moment” function – as you cannot adjust the level you need (ie. , Phaser), whether in CLEAN or GAIN as you press or depress the expression pedal). so this means, you’ll have to assign the “phaser” to the control switch.

but this will limit your other desirable effects. The BAD: When using the sound cards in the synthesizer mode (doing piano, flutes, synth, or any other percussions), there are significant delays in the response time of the keys that makes you wish for a regular keyboardist.

Even when you play basic guitar chords and you move from chord to chord, you have tons of delay, such that, that the chords rarely come through. and it always sound like you are messing up really bad (have tried to adjust the sensitivities, etc in the system.

and it does not work). You can play like 5 single notes in a smooth motion and you’ll get like 2 notes that actual come out. Roland really NEEDS to work on this!!! It works best if you only need to pick a single note or a chord here and there – but give it plenty of time, because a faster change in notes will only result in the GR55 not picking up anything you just played.

The GR55 is really designed to function as a single unit. For instance, you can’t really link it with your GT10 or GT100, etc. I’ve found that, while using the 13 pin cable and playing through the GR55, you can use the regular guitar output as a clean signal to your amp.

but with this method you’ll need to get a switch pedal to switch between your GR55 and your actual amp. But this only works well if you need to totally switch from the unit to your amp to do specific songs.

In other words, don’t expect to do, say, 12 string guitar sound from the GR55 and then switch it to the amp for the Gain sound you’d prefer. Actually, it works fine if you’re guitarist in a full band where people won’t really hear you switching in and out.

but if you’re like me, and you play in a 3 piece band, the switching is very noticeable. The GR55’s COSM guitar engine does not sound like its design of the GT10 or GT100. If you set it to, say, one type of amp (hahahaha) in the GR55 don’t expect to sound like the same amp as the one in the GT10, etc.

THEY WILL NOT sound the same. It’s as if they are different amps. I have been doing nothing but setting and fine tuning my GAIN sounds from this unit. There is just something about it that I just cannot get it to sound even close to my GT100.

for my GT10 and GT100, at least I can adjust them enough to sound good for live gigs and will still blow people’s mind that all the great rock tones are coming from my GT10 or 100. So yes, the GR55’s guitar amps need work.

If you buy this thing for the COSM guitar modeling sound, you’ll be quite disappointed – especially you rock/metal guys, because this thing just will not produce the ideal rock amp sound you seek. After a year of playing around with it, I’ve managed to find an amp setting that is starting to sound decent and somewhat similar to my GT10, and it now can be used on stage or practice without me needing to grind my teeth all the time.

BUT, it definitely still needs WORK!! If this unit is designed more of a stand-alone item (which it is), then Roland should have added at least TWO control functions and not just one. Realistically, most guitarist need to switch on/off and have instant access to turning on/off the Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, or Delay.

but with only a single Control switch. I can’t play a classic tune from Van Halen, etc. , where I need to instantly turn on the Flanger and then the Phaser, etc. However, the “moment” function is capable of adjusting the Chorus and Delay, via, expression pedal as mentioned above.

but this does have its own limitation. AND. why isn’t there a “Harmony” effect??? I use alot of harmonies in my live tunes. especially if I’m doing “The Trooper” from Maiden or “Mr Crowley” from Ozzy.

What the heck, man!!! So, I’m kinda left with the GT10 and/or GT100 for gigging. So then, why do I even need the GR55? Well, for now, I mainly use it as practice and recording simple keyboard sounds, I guess.

In conclusion, the unit has more limitations then advantage, if you ask me. Truthfully, for my purpose, I’d probably find more use out of my GT10 and GT100. Knowing what I know now, I think I’ll save up to buy the Line 6 Helix (or its LT version).

BUT, in the end, you decide. Because for my use and my purpose, I don’t find the GR55 to work too well for me. For now, I use the GR55 for nothing more than just recording simple keyboard effects, strings, etc.

I suppose this is better than having to learn the keyboard, for which I’ll definitely never use for any situation other than recording. lol.

This has literally changed my guitar playing tenfold. There is so much you can do with this product. My favorite feature is the alternate tuning when I have to play transposed songs and have to learn it in the original key.

I did purchase the additional Sub Sonic filter that takes some of the ghost notes out of the Sax/piano sounds but other than that it is worth every penny. 12/10.

The PC drivers for the GR-55GK apparently unload/uninstall after switching the device off and have to be reloaded from the Internet as far as I can make out. This takes up to 10 minutes which causes confusion when using a DAW.

There is also a residual ‘GR-55 unknown device’ left lurking in Win 10 Device Manager. I would prefer to simply download the Win 10 drivers and install them once. Other than the driver issues the kit is working as expected but a bit of a learning curve as yet.

The Boss MO2 Multi-Overtone pedal is a high quality and great sounding product worthy of musicians seeking to add organ-like and ambient overtone textures to their music. For several years, I’ve relied on the Electro Harmonix Micro POG to add a variety of overtone and octave sounds to my sonic palette.

I am still very satisfied with the POG, but was intrigued by some of the extras that Boss offers with this pedal. Namely, Boss has highly promoted their new MDP (multi-dimensional processing) technology, boasting greater clarity and precision in tone.

In testing this pedal, I can attest that there is, in fact, a noticeable clarity in sound and tone. I was also intrigued by the stereo outputs on the Boss MO2 and the possibility of creating fuller and more lush sounds.

I was not disappointed by the MO2 performance in this area. The POG also has dual outputs (‘dry’ and ‘effect’), but the effect itself is not designed around a stereo image. The MO2 offers three modes of overtones.

Each is distinct and useful, going from thinner treble to more deeper and resonant bass overtones. These modes can be further tweaked with a dedicated ‘Tone’ control, in addition to a spacey and intriguing “Detune” control.

The bottom line is that the MO2 and the POG do very similar things, but the Boss pedal, in my opinion, has more versatility, and, by virtue of more control options, achieves more precision sound. I would like to see stereo inputs on the MO2 in the future.

As it stands, the MO2 has a mono input, which limits where it can be placed in a pedal board chain with other stereo effects. Of course, the EH POG also has a mono input. I’ve had no trouble with the POG over the years, but the MO2 just feels more solid.

In all, if you may think that Boss’s MDP processing is just a gimmick, think again. It’s innovative and lives up to its hype.

I could not believe the demo for this pedal. The player really got into it, so I ordered one for myself. The Boss MO-2 turns your guitar into a B-3 on the clean channel and with a little overdrive, you get a variety of different effects to happen.

The 3-position dial also includes string and bright settings, so there is lots to explore. I don’t usually use detune functions, but it’s there for a chance to experiment. This pedal came out with other Boss pedals with new chip technology.

I think it’s worth checking out the demo and then decide if this pedal is for you.

Awesome pedal!! This thing is WILD! It actually gives your electric guitar that organ/ synth tone as well as mimicking a 12 string guitar reasonably well. Also gives you those tones at a octave below regular tone for some nice low end if you need it.

It’s like a little tool box for your guitar, great tones and LOTS of bang for your buck!!.

This is THE pedal that I have the most fun with!! EHX has definitely outdone themselves with this guitar synth pedal! 9 different voices with 4 adjustable parameters for each voice gives you almost infinite sound options! My favorite is Number 4 where my guitar sounds like a famous brand of keyboard synthesizer – I can play Keith Emerson’s keyboard solo to Lucky Man on my guitar!! Still experimenting with the other sounds but Number 4 is my favorite with Number 8 a very close second.

Buy it and have FUN and sound amazing!!.

From EHX’s growing family of keyboard simulator pedals for Guitarists, the Synth9 joins with the B9, C9 and Mel9 to at last give guitarists the same arsenal of sounds previously reserved for the smug ivory-tinklers.

Now WE have the power! Guitarists can now provide their own accompaniment without needing to grow an extra pair of hands, perfect for small groups playing small venues who want a big sound. I’ve been using the B9 Organ machine for a few years and more than once after a gig someone will come up and ask “I heard an organist, where is he?” and I just smile and point to the little white box on the floor! The signal is split by the pedal, with a dry output continuing to the regular guitar rig whilst the other output sends the keyboard sounds either to another amp or straight to the PA.

I can now play duets with myself, live and in real time! the range of sounds covers all the great synths of the 70s/80s and beyond, I started playing guitar back in the 80s and was always jealous of what keyboard players could do in terms of their sound palette, now I can do everything they can and still rock out with a strat/Marshall stack in ways they can only dream of! If you are just a rhythm guitarist you now have so many more options in what you can do instead of just chugging away in the background.

You can probably tell I like these pedals. I do. A LOT!.

Electro Harmonix has done it again with this super cool synthesizer pedal. We all can’t add another member to the band let alone fit on some of these stages! Let’s face it, if you are a killer rock guitarist and you show up to audition for a band with a roland synth bolted to beautiful quilted maple PRS you’re so fond of, you are going to get the spot, however you’re now a sax player, piano player, flute or whatever a song needs.

you just opened a spot for another shredder!!! Don’t let this happen to you! Get this way cool Synth pedal, add some accents and depth to songs and still be a guitar slayer! I used this with my 1990 Nady 201 VHF trusty ole wireless and worked fantastic.

So cool to see the guys walk in to practice and hear this bad boy! Long story short. DO IT!.

This pedal is amazing. Thankfully I have other pedals that require midi to go through the presets I’ve saved, so it’s not a problem for me. If I didn’t have it, I’d be a little flustered by only having one sound available.

Otherwise I’m satisfied. I do also use an app on my MacBook to control all the knobs and their all there: I don’t need to play with the pedals actual knobs. It’s very responsive even when playing polyphonic notes and is super fun.

Tricky to get the hang of, but once you do, a very powerful and exciting tool. If you are looking for a plug and play synth pedal, this is not the unit for you. But if you want to put in the time and learn all the controls, this thing is well worth the time and money.

Much more than just a synth pedal. Watch the Knobs demo on Youtube. Get yourself one!.

I was very disappointed with this purchase. It was my most expensive pedal purchase to date and it was hard to use with a horrible manual. It worked but not as I had hoped for even for its main function Freezing a note or chord.

It felt very finicky! The effects were not all that compelling or solid and the knob to change effects was not detented so it was possible to set it between effects. It felt poorly made (the control knob section).

It felt to me like it would fail very quickly. It was not possible to use the effects if you were in freeze mode so at least for me it was hard to try to use as an ambient background to play over with other sounds.

It never did mate up with a low cost expression pedal and maybe if it did the pedal would have had more functionality. It has 3 switches but 2 do basically the same things so why? I never did figure out the FX LOOP on the pedal either.

It has a confusing array of control knobs too and they must be turned by hand so they become impossible to use from a standing position. The manual does not explain anything very clearly. Changing “modes” requires multiple presses of the far left switch which made it harder to use too.

I worked with it for a full day but never got it to do what I wanted it to do so I returned it. I am not dumb but I never found my way around this pedal!.

I own the EH freeze and love it. EH freeze can hold a sound for you like a sustain pedal. I believe that Bill Frisell is using that effect for creating some of these etheral sounds. I became interested in the Superego Plus pedal because of the the added glissando/layer function which essentially modulates the transition from one sound to the next.

In addition there are multiple modulation effects. The manual is okay but the sample settings are not very useful. This is a crazy pedal and it takes some time to understand how the different functions interact and how to play the guitar in each setting particularly with the glissando/layer effects.

It really helped me to watch some Youtube video to see how people dial in this pedal. For the experimental-minded and progressive player this pedal takes you to Shangri-La. Even if you get tired of the “New Age” glissando/layer stuff you are still left with a great latch/sustain pedal and the individual modulation effects.

The pitch effect by itself is very cool, for example.

2 things: Take your time to learn and experience and get a expression pedal It simply adds new dimensions to your guitar with infinite sustain and very natural and enjoyable swells. Must have for meditational and harmonic purposes.

Trem 1 seems a little bit overshadowed by square wave trem 2!! Pitch and Filter are ok. then you add a expression pedal you have whammy and very crazy filter!! Mod, Rotary, Phaser, Flanger are great modulations delay and echo are actually good! and finally detuner is not my thing but this one has very nice texture! The built in fx loop is crazy useful and you can manipulate the layers separately from other effects! Clearly I’m in love!!.

Not the newest tech but it is great sounding. Lots of sounds to “dial” in. Very flexible and easy to get good sounds out of it. There are even some mods for the technically inclined or you can send it off to really make it a synth beast.

Probably really works best on single notes, but I use it for chordal work all the time. Kind of fits the low fi, grunge type sound really well. The older big box ones are the one to get. The wired version is probably the best but most expensive.

The bad part is probably the fragility of the sliders. You see a lot for sale with tips broken off. Usually they can still be manipulated but they should have been made more durable. Use it on the desktop and it shouldn’t be a problem.

A couple of important things to know before you buy this pedal: First: Use the power supply that comes with it!!! I initially put mine on my Boss BCB60 pedal board and used the daisy chain power supply.

Not sure if it was this or user error that resulted in my initial failure to get a good sound out of the pedal. but I think both played a role. If you read the instruction manual, it says the same thing.

Using a daisy chain can ruin the pedal. This pedal needs all the juice it can get to work right. so use the adapter. Second: Give it time. This is definitely not a plug and play pedal. The first day, I couldn’t get anything good out of it.

By the third day, I was making sounds I never thought a guitar could make. Third: This pedal is great alone, but it really benefits from having a delay and a compressor. Some of the settings on it are not friendly to sustained notes.

I use the pedal along with my EHX Little Big Muff to help the Muff cut through during solos (think Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins). Occasionally when sustaining a note, the pedal will cut the note off before you release the note (even worse when sharing a power source with other pedals).

You can overcome this by adjusting your playing, but delay, compression, or a signal boost (distortion, overdrive or cranked volume) really help with that issue, as well as enhancing the beautiful sounds you can get out of this box.

Lastly: This pedal is by no means subtle. It is a beast! It’s probably not for those seeking a mild and friendly tone. This pedal is for those looking to explore sonic territories in which few guitar players dare to travel.

P. S. It doesn’t handle chords well, but it can do arpeggios fine. This pedal has so many features it can be a bit overwhelming at first. The first night I had it, I almost returned it. I did some reading and played around with the suggested settings and that changed very quickly.

One of my bandmates has a very nice Korg Synthesizer, and I was able to mimic his tones with my guitar fairly easily. I was also able to spice up my lead tones and get amazing octave effects, and some really beautiful feedback.

As with 99% of EHX’s products, it’s built like a tank and can take many years of liberal stomping. It is a pricey pedal, but it’s like 5+ pedals in one. Given you’d easily pay $80+ for a pedal that does one thing, this box is a steal.

Haven’t quite figured it out yet, takes a little gettin’ used to. The sounds you get are pretty epic though. The sweep can be fast or slow (controlled by the rate level). The octaves are legit, the square wave adds the extra distortion.

I haven’t figured out the ring modulator yet but just check the youtube vids for more on functionality. Pretty spendy but if you’re lookin’ for some crazy sounds, get it.

I was looking for a pedal to give me a convincing 12 string sound. When I received it at my office I plugged it in, as any responsible guitarist would do even while at work. One of the employees thought for sure i had a 12 string, so there you go.

The band I’m working with has added some Byrds tunes to our covers as well as Kicks by Paul Revere and the Raiders. The pedal is just right for my board and handles it’s assignment well. Only 3 knobs, so even I can set it with no worries as to what this or that does.

Just set it to your tastes and roll with it. I have the dry signal and octave up set at 12:00 and the sub octave on zero because I’m using it to cover 12 string parts. However, it gets a nice church organ sound by adding some suboctave to the blend, especially with a little tremolo added.

I don’t currently have a need for that, but you never know. I’ve been playing professionally for 35 years and would have bought it a long time ago had it been invented. Until something much better comes along to get a 12 string sound, this pedal has a spot on my board.

I use this on my pedal board for performances and home use, it tracks multiple strings really well! I enjoy that you can blend your dry tone with the effect. The down side is that it never really leaves the “organ” sound.

Over all I would recommend.

A very intuitive and fun way to fill out your sound tremendously. I was using it with tenor saxophone and did find that the synthetic coloring of the sound, for my purposes, was a bit too distorted and crunchy.

I think with guitar or other non-mic instruments it may likely produce a cleaner sound and have more predictable control. I ended up upgrading to the EHX Hog2, which does some of what this does and much more.

I would also suggest looking at the Superego+ which has more controls that definitely expand the possible applications of the pedal a ton. I only give this three stars because it’s applications, while quite rad, are fewer than with other more fleshed out options.

This pedal is perfect for the jamming lead soloist that is looking for that extra body to their overall tone. Many youtube demos feature guys playing David Gilmour style solos over top of resonating sustained chordal tones which is perfect for any lead ins or song transitions.

I have used it live with a fellow guitarist who sings and plays rhythm and found it a perfect way of adding a little body to round out the overall sound. Playing mostly lead myself, it is very easy to change keys and keep soloing at the same time while on the fly.

I primarily use the first (far left setting) to latch and keep that steady tone, but found the auto (far right) useful for some unique recording tones. The middle setting is a temporary hold, I honestly never use it.

The control knobs are dummy proof and blending your clean and effect volumes is flawless. A very clean pedal I must say and I use it at the end of my pedal train. (BOSS ME-70 -> BOSS loop station->Superego).

Unlike some boutique pedal, this one comes with its own power source which is relatively small on your power strip. Overall lightweight but durable construction. A great find and I’m looking forward to years of use!.

After playing for more that 30 years and owning loads of stompboxes I think this is THE best bass pedal. It has loads of different sounds, it can do funk autowah, dubstep growls, imitate strings with attack delay etc etc etc.

Go listen for some demos on youtube. It was designed back in the 70’s and this is the sound you hear on classic records. It is 100% analog and there’s not one bad sound in it. It always sounds fat, with lots of character and texture.

Love it. Now don’t you think I’m overexcited? There are some negative sides, let’s start. First, being analog it’s not able to do all the extremes some digital synths are capable of. The tracking is always an issue with synths.

There’s no latency, but it tracks only single notes, chords generate all sorts of strange effects (that some may like as well), and you cannot play fast on some settings. It requires some adjustments to your technique.

EHX construction is not as sturdy as BOSS and I’ve had many issues: adapter socket goes loose, jacks disconnect, ground is suddenly off, in short – be gentle with it, it’s not built like a tank.

I love this pedal. I have been playing electric bass for many years, and have always wanted to have a synth bass for certain songs. But I am too lazy to tote around a keyboard; nor do I have room for even a mini keyboard in our rehearsal studio.

The Bass MicroSynth works great. pros: – I can play my electric bass like an electric bass, but sound like a synth – tracking is good as long as the correct levels coming into the pedal – easy to dial in a variety of classic synth sounds using the templates provided cons: – there is no wet/dry mix or dry out – I find the square wave signal not all that useful.

I wish it was another waveform like sawtooth – the octave up signal is very distorted. can’t really be used as an octave up pedal.

I’ll be honest, I hated it. Super easy to accidentally step on the “delay type” knob which changes the rate of the delay. I have literally screwed up during a show my band was playing because of this.

Also, the letters are so tiny, I have to get up close to see the settings. Pedal sounds ok, I prefer analog. It’s just too complicated and the face format sucks.

The first Bass Mono Synth I ordered arrived with a broken foot switch that must have been snapped off during packaging at the EHX factory. FYI – the inside of the foot switch is made with a cheap and brittle plastic.

Not good for durability. The second one worked fine, but I had a hard time finding synth sounds that I was truly wanting to replicate for one of my cover bands. However, I did eventually manage to find a few sounds I could use and be happy with.

Once this pedal was added to my signal chain, I started having issues with the consistency of the signal through all of my other pedals. There would be times when practicing that everything was working just fine.

However, if I turned off my rig from practicing without unplugging anything and then came back later that day or the next day, I would be greeted with no signal whatsoever. Unplugging and reconnecting all of the pedals would get it going again, but that was not something I was happy about needing to do every time I played (practice or show).

The final straw for this pedal came at a show I played at yesterday. After dealing (AGAIN) with the no signal at first during sound check, I got the signal back and made it through the first set with no issues.

However, during the last song of our second set, I had a part during a bridge where I didn’t play. When I came back to play, I suddenly had an extremely weak and distorted sub-octave signal coming from my amp.

I scrambled during the break to diagnose the problem and get everything working for the third set. The Mono Synth was the first pedal in the chain. After unplugging it from the chain, BOOM! The full bass signal came roaring back.

I put the synth back in the chain with backup patch cables to make sure that wasn’t the issue, and back to weak and distorted sub-octave signal. I bypassed the synth and made it through the rest of the show with no issues.

I am returning this pedal and will never consider an EHX pedal again. Terrible quality!.

This is a review for players that are looking for synth sounds. I have to say that so you know what this pedal is not. It is not a fuzz pedal. It is not a phaser. It is not a flanger. This is for synth AND synth bass.

Yes, AND. With the turn of a dial you are either playing a monophonic synthesizer (pads!) or a synth bass (donk donk!)or something in between. Here’s where I have to say that around the 1 to 2 o’clock positions on the dry knob were not very useful to me, but your mileage may vary depending on your pickups, your playing style, and your amp.

To get your full money’s worth, you’ll need to be of two minds while using this pedal. Don’t have the dry knob at 4 o’clock and try a JJ-style run. At 4 o’clock you need to be thinking like Vangelis (sustained synth notes).

Set the knob at 12 o’clock or to the left (synth bass) and now you can get your synthed-up groove on. The synth styles are nerd-level. If you don’t listen to much synth, you won’t appreciate the nuances between some of the options.

But circuits be praised, if you know what you are after, you can get it on this pedal. That said, there are plenty of options if you just want to turn knobs until it sounds good. Every review I have read that has regarded this pedal negatively has failed to grasp the nature of the pedal and confused its purpose.

Like many EHX pedals, it is a tool with wonderful possibilities if you expect to craft your sound out of an array of options.

When I first bought this I was expecting to be able to rip fast synth riffs. Unfortunately most of the sounds have a bit of a latency before the effect becomes prevalent. I can get a wide arsenal of very unique tones out of it and thats great, but the effects themselves have a tone reminiscent of a cheap octave pedal.

It’s as if theres a sluggish processor in it slowly calculating modulation. Ive managed to use that to my advantage, as it makes a very cool effect where you end up fighting your bass a bit to pull the tone out.

I like that. Saving ptesets for each tone is a great feature, and to be clear I havent fully explored this pedal yet. Most of the sounds just sound like a sustain and a phaser / flanger. Very cool pedal to throw some unique flair and colour into your song.

I use this on my pedalboard for soloing in conjunction with an overdrive. The sound is amazing. Makes the guitar sound great through the amp, and plenty of tones to choose from. This pedal gives you the other worldly psychedelic sound you’re searching for!.

There are some very cool and useful sounds that can be gotten from the pedal. Great features and good build quality at unboxing. Variety of modulation applied to different distorted and fuzzed octave sounds for most settings.

Have not tried the expression option, but could be useful. I did notice some glitching in some of the more modulated presets causing some unexpected glitched sounds, not enough to throw the baby out with the bathwater and return it but enough so that I would not use that particular preset in a live or studio setting.

If you like Gary Numan’s “Metal” one of the presets is very spot on and it is a fun tune. Overall this is a lot of fun in a pedal for the intro price.