# Envelope filter?



## R0ADK1LL (Mar 24, 2011)

Anyone had much experience using an envelope filter such as the Q-Tron? EHX.com | Q-Tron - Envelope Filter | Electro-Harmonix
I think Flea uses this one on Sir Psycho Sexy. It's a pretty sweet sound & I like the idea of bringing the funk to hard rock & metal but it's a pricey piece of kit & I don't have much experience with effects units. There are a few other envelope filters on the market, but after a few hours of googling, nothing seems to sound as cool as the Q-Tron. The only thing that comes close is this little number from Digitech Bass Synth Wah | DigiTech Guitar Effects

I know it's pretty much an auto-wah, so can you get the same effect with a multi-effects pedal?


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## engage757 (Mar 25, 2011)

mmm... BOOOTTTTTZILLAAAAHHH!


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## Mordacain (Mar 25, 2011)

I use to have an original Q-Tron + and its was a crazy effect. Trying to get your basic funk envelope filter out of it was a bit a trick though. Its essentially a gated filter that performs a automatic filter sweep. People call it an Auto-Wah but its not really the same the thing, it just can sounds similar in certain settings. 

Personally I think its a pretty cool effect though if I had one I would only use it sparingly.


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## deevit (Mar 26, 2011)

I've got a Micro Q-Tron and I love it! It's a bit tricky to find the right sound, but once it's there it's one of the best envelope filters IMO, and it's fairly cheap. Only thing is that it has a slight volume boost, and the effect basically is all mids, so it sounds loud as hell! Really cuts through the mix. 
Not a lot of experience with multi effects I'm afraid, so I can't really comment on that..


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## Explorer (Mar 26, 2011)

I learned quite a bit about envelope filters over at TalkBass. I suggest you read through their Bass Guitar Effects forum. (Don't start a thread until you read through everything available. Be sure to hit the threads related to gear which is mentioned.)

The Q-tron (and Q-tron Plus) is based on the Mutron. The Q has a little bit of a volume spike, so a lot of people put a compressor after it. I like the Q-tron Plus, because it's the only Mutron build which has an effects loop. 

The effects loop allows the pedal to control the envelope's opening and closing based on the signal strength at the input, but to apply that envelope to the signal chain coming in at the effect return. If you're putting some serious dirt on the signal, that could affect its strength/sustain, and could keep the envelope filter open due to how hot your input is. 

The other advantage of using an envelope filter with an effects loop is that you can use something *other* than your guitar signal to open/close the envelope. You could use your drummer's kick as the sidechain input (a fancy word for the envelope trigger's input), in order to have your envelope follow the rhythm. 

In addition to the Q-tron Plus (with Maxon CP9Pro Plus compressor immediately after), I also use a Groove Regulator from 3Leaf Audio. The Groove Regulator is based on the Lovetone Meatball, a hugely tweakable filter which is easy to tweak into unusability if you don't know what you're doing. *laugh* Like the Meatball, the Groove Regulator has an effect loop. This is really my go-to filter for synthy sounds, with either a Zvex Mastotron, or a Boss SYB-5 bass synth pedal (square wave) and a Boss PS-3 (dual detune, for three-oscillator synth sound) in the loop. 

Spencer at 3Leaf also recently released the Proton, which is a 9v version of the original Mutron. It's been getting rave reviews from people who have owned or who currently own the Mutron. The stock version has a little different gate time from the original, due to feedback during testing, but when I wrote to Spencer he sent me a nice response about replacing one resistor to get it completely to Mutron specs. 

Whichever EF you go for, good luck!


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## HaMMerHeD (Mar 26, 2011)

I'm a big fan of the Agent 00-Funk...


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## Explorer (Mar 26, 2011)

Oh! It's worth noting something else:


Q-tron Plus - $170
Groove Regulator 2 - $229
Proton - $160
00-Funk MkII - $260
The Lovetone Meatball, 00-Funk Mark I and Mutron are out of production, but tend to run a bit more.

Used prices for the current gear tend to run a little bit less.

There are other filters I haven't mentioned, including the EBS BassIQ Analog Envelope Filter ($179) and the MXR M-82 Bass Envelope filter ($130). There's also the hugely versatile Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter from Source Audio ($119). If this last one had an effects loop, I would have bought it long ago....

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Regarding the Digitech Bass Synth Wah (BSW) and Synth Wah (SWX), they're pretty neat, but aren't as tweakable or sensitive as the other filters I listed. I own one of each of these, but clearly I forgot about them after getting the Groove Regulator.


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