Nelo is a band based in Austin with links to Athens, Georgia. Because of this fact, it is tempting to say they are a cross between Joe Ely and the B-52s, but that would be a boldfaced lie (and here at Gearwire we never lie). So I have to tell the truth -— Nelo is a vaguely alternative, vaguely Americana band whose music revolves around their exemplary songwriting. Bass player Mike St. Clair took some time to chat with Gearwire about his Moogerfooger MF-101 low pass filter pedal.

“I began as an upright bass player, so I've always been interested in getting a sound out of the electric that had the body and richness of an upright. I also have a somewhat irrational fear of fret noise. I love hearing an acoustic guitarist shift, but for some reason I don't want to hear it on my bass,” says St. Clair. “I used flatwound strings on my bass for a while (and still sometimes do) to help address these problems, but I found that some of the lines I was playing with my band Nelo weren't popping out the way I wanted them to with the flatwounds. I'd used low-pass filters in the studio before, but never live, and I realized that a filter pedal could be the answer. I figured Moog is usually the best at whatever they do, so I checked it out and wasn't disappointed.”

He has used the pedal consistently since he got it.

“I've tweaked the sound a little, letting in some more midrange to make it sit in the mix better, but that's about all. I have found some other uses for the pedal though.” he says.

On occasion he uses the pedal as an envelope filter.

“That's a lot of fun. I have also started using it in conjunction with some other pedals and keyboards to create some killer effects. One really cool effect is to roll the frequency knob back and forth to bring out different notes from a keyboard chord. I've found this works especially well with open voicings and in conjunction with an octave pedal,” says St. Clair. “It needs some delay on there, as well, to be really effective. Another thing I occasionally use the Moogerfooger for is to break up the signal a bit by turning the drive up. All of these sounds are coming in handy right now with Nelo since we are working toward incorporating more keyboard parts and atmospheric pads into the set.”

St. Clair describes the pedal as very user friendly and intuitive. The manual also helps by giving initial settings that can later be tweakerd. It also contains suggested settings for specific instruments and effects. But there is a little bit of a learning curve.

“On the other hand, some of the controls are fairly subtle and it's taken me a little while to figure out what situations to change them. Specifically, the two-pole / four-pole option and the resonance knob affect the character of the sound in ways that I'm still learning to manipulate creatively,” he says. “I'm yet to be able to hear a sound in my head and think, ‘this is what I need to adjust to get that sound.’ I'm still kind of like, 'oh, if I put that there it doesn't sound bad.' I think it's because I started out in music as a trombone player that electronic instruments have always frustrated me. With a horn you can make a lot of adjustments to the sound unconsciously that with electronics you have to actually think about and turn knobs to get. The thing I have to constantly remind myself is that electronics are worth the effort because they add so much to your sonic palette.”

He says the pedal works well with his Fender Jazz bass.

“But doesn't everything work well with a Jazz bass? If I'm going for a wah sound or if I'm trying to break it up more I do find that it works better with active pickups. That's simply because the bass is giving it more signal so you can push it into the red zone more easily,” says St. Clair. “I have really only played two basses through it, so I don't have a whole lot of perspective yet on which basses the Moogerfooger works best with.”

What amp should a bass player consider when using this pedal? It depends.

“If your using the Moogerfooger, like I am, to bring out the low end, then it is especially useful with midrange heavy amps. The same thing applies if you're trying to add a little bit of analogue character to your sound (which is another useful quality of the Moogerfooger that I forgot to mention),” says St Clair. “That's going to be more crucial if you're playing through a solid state amp. That being said, I have played it through a lot of amps (SVT, Markbass, Hartke, Ampeg Portabass, etc), and it sounds good through all of them.”

As a big fan of Moog products, and with an eye to the fact that Nelo plans to incorporate more keyboards into their live act, St. Clair expects more Moog products to be incorporated into the band's gear collection. The Moogfooger MF-101 lists for $289.

Nelo are playing mostly in Texas after a short tour of the East Coast. They will be playing at CMJ and then going into the studio to work on demos for an EP they will be recording with Doug Lancio.

“We're really looking forward to working with him. Everyone in the band is a big fan of his. We're planning to show a different side of Nelo with this record. It's going to be geared more toured our more acoustic sound. For one thing, I'm going to play more Upright (which also sounds great played through the MF-101) on the record,” says St. Clair. “We'd been playing most of the songs on the last record for a few years already. These songs will be newer so this will probably more of a studio project as opposed to our last record, which was mostly intended to be a representation of our live sound.”