Electro-Harmonix BASSSOULFOOD Transparent OD for Bass and Guitar

A natural overdrive and clean boost for the tone conscious player to enhance the original sound of an instrument and amp while retaining their essential character.

Its gain stage, treble control and signal path are optimized for bass guitar and guitarists wanting extended low frequency response. An adjustable clean blend assures an articulate, full tone while boosted power rails deliver extended headroom.

EHX Founder and President, Mike Matthews, stated: “Our Soul Food put ‘Klon-like’ transparent overdrive into the hands of players at an unprecedented price point. Now we want to bring that to bass guitarists and guitar players who want more low-end definition. The Bass Soul Food delivers a wide range of overdrive and clean boost sounds, and has plenty of volume to assert your place in the mix. It will give your tone a lift in all the right places!”

Selectable true or buffered bypass modes and a switchable -10dB pad for active instruments complete the package. Bass Soul Food runs on a 9V battery and ships with a EHX9.6DC-200 power supply.

• DRIVE Knob – Controls the amount of input gain. As you turn DRIVE clockwise, the overdrive ranges from a colored clean boost in the fully counter-clockwise position, to full distortion in the fully clockwise setting. There are many great sounds found within the full range of the DRIVE knob; we recommend experimenting with different positions in both halves of the DRIVE knob to find just the right amount of grit for your needs.
• TREBLE Knob – Acts as a tone control. When set to 12 o’clock (50%), the tone is neutral. As you turn TREBLE clockwise from the 12 o’clock setting, the treble gain increases making your overall sound brighter. As you turn TREBLE counterclockwise from the 12 o’clock setting, the high end is reduced giving you a bassier sound.
• BLEND Knob – Sets the mix between your clean bass signal and the Bass Soul Food effect. When set fully counterclockwise (0%), the output signal is your dry bass sound. The DRIVE and TREBLE knobs do not affect the signal in this setting. When BLEND is set fully clockwise (100%), the output signal is the Bass 2 Soul Food’s overdrive signal. Set the knob at 12 o’clock (50%) for a 50/50 blend of the dry and overdrive signals. Tip: experiment using the BLEND control with various settings of DRIVE. When DRIVE is set low, the BLEND can control the color of the Bass Soul Food’s clean boost, ranging from a completely dry (BLEND at 0%) to a fully colored (BLEND at 100%) clean tone.
• VOL Knob – Sets the master output level of the Bass Soul Food. As VOL is turned clockwise, the output volume increases. This control affects your signal level after the BLEND control.
• PAD Switch (-10dB/0dB) – Sets the initial input level of your bass signal. Set the switch down for no attenuation, and set it up to engage -10dB of attenuation. Active basses and some very high-output passive basses may need this switch to be set to -10dB to avoid overloading the Bass Soul Food circuit. Putting the Bass Soul Food in a pedal chain after high-output pedals may also necessitate setting this switch to -10dB. Overload most commonly occurs when the DRIVE knob is set low and the TREBLE knob is set high.
• FOOTSWITCH and LED – The Footswitch selects whether the Bass Soul Food is engaged or in bypass mode. When the effect is engaged, the LED is lit. An internal Bypass Mode switch is included to select between True Bypass and Buffered Bypass. See below for more information on the internal switch.
• INPUT Jack – This ¼” jack is the audio input for the Bass Soul Food. The input impedance is 1M Ω.
• AMP Jack – This ¼” jack is the audio output from the Bass Soul Food. The output impedance ranges from 650 Ω to 3.3kΩ.
• Internal Bypass Mode Switch – If you remove the Bass Soul Food’s bottom cover, you will see the bat of a small switch sticking out of the board that holds the footswitch. This is located in the bottom right area of the pedal, bel