Guest Blogger Scott Wilcox asks: BEST BASS PEDAL TO STUFF A STOCKING? Here's his findings:

The BOSS standards like their GEB-7 bass graphic EQ and LMB-3 bass enhancer/limiter are good but flawed: the graphic EQ -- like all such EQ's -- introduces phase-shift that's apparent when doubling a track without the exact, duplicate EQ settings. And the limiter needs a side-chain bass-rolloff so the limiter doesn't overreact to the loudest notes on the low E or B string. I did find okay results by 1) running the EQ first in line with a bass cut, then 2) using the limiter, which is stellar in how fast the attack is!, then 3) bringing back the bass with the Digitech Bass Squeeze and Aphex Big Bottom (reviewed next).

The DIGITECH "Bass Squeeze" Dual Band Bass Compressor (pictured above-left)is cool in that it lets you squeeze the bass while only lightly compressing the treble, thus avoiding pumping and hiss. Really well-built too. (I also liked their Bass Synth Wah, but more for guitar-wah and auto noise-reduction as the octave and synth effects never really work well in a full-band mix.) You've still gotta use a high-threshold limiter when playing loud though, as the compression is subtle with slow attack. It's so slow in fact that even using the Squeeze first in line so as not to make the Boss limiter overreact to bass (see 1st pgh.) didn't work because the attack of the bass was still present.

Lastly, the APHEX "Big Bottom" Exciter/Direct Box costs twice what the above pedals cost because it's basically two effects in one, but like the Digitech Bass Squeeze, the low-end compression is too slow and causes speaker distortion (as well as internal distortion with a pro-level input signal). The direct box is outstanding though, so if you can get one used for half-price, I'd say go for it.

So which pedal would make the best holiday gift for the semi-pro bassist? I would have to say the Digitech Bass Squeeze as the effect is both most dramatic and useful for improving picking technique. What pro bassists really need though is a 3- or 4-band, crossover-based pedal (the Bass Squeeze being only 2-band). And for that, I've been hard at work the last 5 years developing such an effect, and hope to have my MYSTIC FX Samurai Eq in mass production in 2010. [pi The Samurai Eq with a couple Boss limiters would be an unbeatable budget-rig, as the Samurai with 2 dirt boxes and a delay would be for guitar (see link below for more info on MYSTIC FX).

Scott "The Bard" Wilcox, aka tocs100, is a musician, Mystic Fx Stompbox designer, filmmaker, and former English teacher, living in Utah.