MXR releases Bass Synth pedal co-designed with Ian Martin Allison

July 1, 2025 · 5 sources

MXR released the MXR Bass Synth on July 1, 2025, a monophonic synth pedal for bass co-designed with bassist Ian Martin Allison¹²³. MXR's parent company Dunlop Manufacturing is based in Benicia, California¹. MusicRadar gives the model designation as MB301⁴.

MXR says the pedal delivers "a range of monophonic synth tones" with sub-octave, envelope and modulation effects, and describes its tracking and sustain as "killer"¹²³. According to the maker, controls allow players to blend dry and wet signals, shape filter sweeps, adjust filter cutoff and resonance, switch between triangle, sawtooth and square waveforms, and add additional oscillators¹²³. The pedal ships with eight presets designed by Allison, which MXR says were inspired by tracks from Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel and others¹²³. MXR also lists stereo capability, tap and expression control, and advanced parameters¹²³.

Guitar Pedal X reports further detail: six knobs with secondary and tertiary functions, nine controls in total, a push-button to cycle and save presets, and a side slider switch that sets the CTR port to tap tempo, expression or right audio out⁵. It lists ports as mono TS input, mono TS or stereo TRS output, and the CTR jack⁵. It names the eight presets as "Thriller," "Boogie On Reggae Woman," "Chameleon," "Flash Light," "Sledgehammer," "Army of Me," "Head like a Hole" and "Ghosts N Stuff," and reports a 6-string guitar tracking mode alongside 4-string and 5-string modes⁵. MusicRadar reports the pedal needs 9V DC and a minimum of 300mA from a power supply⁴.

The price is given as $269.99 street by Bass Gear Magazine, Bass Musician Magazine, Bass Magazine and MusicRadar¹²³⁴. Guitar Pedal X gives a MAP price of $269⁵.