The Ibanez Deep Impact is a bass synth pedal: an effect that takes a bass guitar signal and turns it into a synthesizer-style bass sound. Gearnews described it as "a bass synth pedal like no other, used by bands like Muse to get a huge synth bass tone."1
It sits in the same corner of the effects world as other synth pedals, which translate what a bassist plays into synth-style tones rather than shaping the natural bass sound the way a compressor or overdrive would.
Status and the used market
The Deep Impact was only available for a short time before being discontinued. Gearnews reports that it is now very sought after, changing hands on the used market for a lot of money.1
That short production run is the main thing a player needs to know: the pedal is not in current production, and finding one means shopping the secondhand market at used-market prices1.
The Deep Impact is discontinued. Units surface on the used market and sell for a lot of money, according to gearnews.1
The Deep Impact and its clone
Because the original was only available for a short time before being discontinued, and is now very sought after, changing hands on the used market for a lot of money, the pedal most players encounter today is a remake. gearnews reported the release of the Panda Audio Future Impact 1, an upgraded remake of the discontinued Deep Impact. The Future Impact 1 is described as "a compact pedal with 99 presets (the originals had only 9) you can tweak and set."1
| Ibanez Deep Impact | Panda Audio Future Impact 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Bass synth pedal | Bass synth pedal |
| Presets | 9 | 99 |
| Status | Discontinued | Released October 2016 |
The Future Impact 1 carries far more presets than the original: 99 against the Deep Impact's 9, and they can be tweaked and set by the player.1
For a player chasing the Deep Impact sound, the practical picture is this: the original is a discontinued pedal that commands high used prices, and the Future Impact 1 is the current pedal built around the same idea, with far more preset storage1.
Questions
Why is the Ibanez Deep Impact hard to find?
The original Deep Impact was only available for a short time before Ibanez discontinued it. Gearnews reports that it is now very sought after, with used units changing hands for a lot of money. Players looking for the same idea in a current pedal may come across the Panda Audio Future Impact 1, which gearnews described as an upgraded remake of the Deep Impact with 99 presets where the originals had only 9.
What does the Ibanez Deep Impact do to a bass sound?
It is a bass synth pedal: it takes a bass guitar signal and produces a synth bass tone. Gearnews described it as a bass synth pedal like no other, used by bands like Muse to get a huge synth bass tone. It belongs to the same family of effects as other synth pedals, which translate a guitar or bass performance into synthesizer-style sounds.
Sources (1)
- Panda Audio Future Impact 1: At last, an Ibanez Deep Impact clone!, gearnews.com, 2016-10-28
