Analog Alien Alien Bass Station

The Analog Alien Alien Bass Station, or ABS for short, is an analog multi-effects pedal designed specifically for bass players who want to shape and control their sound in both live and studio situations. It packs three sections into one stompbox: a limiter/compressor, an amp generator and the Gamma Fuzz, which RockBoard's PedalPedia describes as the three essential effects all bass players should have¹.

What the three sections do

The limiter/compressor section controls a bass guitar's dynamic range without suppressing tones, according to Premier Guitar's announcement of the pedal³. Vintage Guitar magazine put it the same way: its limiter/compressor controls the instrument's dynamic range without suppressing tones⁴. For a player, that is the classic job of a compressor pedal: evening out the difference between soft notes and hard attacks while leaving the character of the instrument intact. Delicious Audio's report from the Analog Alien booth described the compressor/limiter as offering deep sound shaping capability².

The amp generator gives the pedal the characteristics of a tube bass amp. Eric Werner of Analog Alien described it as "similar to a classic Ampeg B-15"², the vintage tube bass amp long associated with the standard recorded sound of electric bass. That places the ABS among preamp pedals that put an amp-style front end on a pedalboard.

The Gamma Fuzz is the third section. Vintage Guitar reported that it allows stronger and lower bass frequencies to produce more fuzz⁴. Werner said the Analog Alien signature Gamma Fuzz accentuates low frequencies rather than just boosting mids or highs, keeping the instrument's tone balanced and present². That low-frequency emphasis is what distinguishes it from a generic fuzz pedal, which on bass often thins out the fundamental.

Power and practical details

The pedal runs on 9V DC, center negative, and draws 43mA, according to RockBoard's PedalPedia's product listing¹. That is a standard pedalboard supply format, so it fits a normal daisy-chained or isolated supply setup.

Where it sits among the alternatives

The ABS was announced as a new pedal at NAMM 2014, where Delicious Audio reported that Analog Alien's booth was constantly filled with bass players checking it out². It combines three effect types that bass players more often carry as separate pedals: a compressor, an amp-style preamp and a fuzz. A more recent pedal with a similar all-in-one brief is the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier Bass Station, which is also an analog circuit⁵.

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