Pigtronix Bass Envelope Phaser

The Pigtronix Bass Envelope Phaser is an envelope phaser pedal built for bass: a filter that sweeps in response to how hard you pluck, rather than on a fixed clock like a standard phaser. Play softly and the effect barely opens; dig in and the sweep reacts to your attack. Pigtronix tuned it specifically for bass, and its 2-notch comb filter was designed to blend lows and highs without removing anything from the sound¹.

The pedal came out of a line of three bass-centric Pigtronix pedals introduced at Winter NAMM 2013, alongside the Philosopher Bass Compressor and Bass FAT Drive². Circuit design is credited to Howard Davis, with sound design by David Koltai³.

What it does: an envelope phaser that keeps the low end

The core idea is a phase sweep driven by your playing dynamics. Premier Guitar described the result as a "downright funky phase effect that doesn't sacrifice low end," which is the whole point of the bass voicing: a generic envelope filter can thin out the bottom of the instrument, and this one was designed not to¹.

Being voiced for bass, it keeps the low end even down to a low E, though Pedal of the Day found that at some settings the effect does not track as well and tends to get lost the lower you go, except at more extreme settings³.

The Up/Down direction switch changes the character of the effect. With the switch in the down position, it sounds like a classic envelope filter; in the up position, it sounds more like a wah³. Bass Gear Magazine's reviewer found the down sweep gave "that funky, Bootsie Collins feel and sound," and reported it worked fantastic on the gig, with the band thinking it sounded phenomenal⁴.

The controls

The control set is deliberately small. Bass Musician Magazine noted the pedal "sports simple controls in order to land the Mothership in your backyard"⁵. What is there:

That is the whole panel. There is no expression input, which Pedal of the Day said would have made it even better³. Players who want foot control of the sweep can find it on the larger Pigtronix EP2 Envelope Phaser, which has expression pedal inputs for both Sweep and Speed⁶.

History: from the Envelope Phase Shifter to the bass version

The circuit's lineage goes back further than the bass pedal itself. The first version was unveiled at the 2004 NAMM Show as the Envelope Phase Shifter, and it has since been modified into a considerably smaller bass version using an optical isolator circuit⁴. That original pedal became the Pigtronix EP-1 Envelope Phaser, which Analog Man's product page described as an envelope phaser with footswitchable phase inversion that could even be used as a clean analog fat booster, running on a 12vAC supply⁷.

The Bass Envelope Phaser is smaller than Pigtronix's older Envelope Phaser and is tuned specifically for bass¹. The first version of the pedal was unveiled at the 2004 NAMM Show as the Envelope Phase Shifter, and it has since been modified into a considerably smaller bass version with the optical isolator circuit⁴.

What reviewers said

Published reviews of the bass pedal were positive across the board:

• Premier Guitar (2021): called it a "downright funky phase effect that doesn't sacrifice low end," and noted it as an expressive and fun stompbox from a respected company, at a $199 street price¹.
• Bass Gear Magazine (2019): "The Bass Envelope Phaser should be a part of every bass player's pedal board." The reviewer found the down sweep gave a funky, Bootsy Collins feel and sound, and that it worked fantastic on the gig⁴.
• Pedal of the Day (2015): praised the bass voicing that keeps low end down to a low E, while noting the tracking can get lost at lower notes at some settings, and wishing for an expression input³.
• Bass Musician Magazine (2014): covered the controls, power options and true bypass operation, confirming the up/down toggle controls the direction of the phase sweep⁸.

Reviews of the EP2 ancestor were similarly warm, and useful context for what this pedal inherits. No Treble's reviewer found "you can get so many great sounds without all the confusion," and that the pedal is "full of funky, fascinating, and gorgeous sounds that spark creativity," while criticizing the small switches⁶. Pedal of the Day called the EP2 "a truly remarkable piece of equipment"⁹.

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