Rare FX Pedal: Able Bassmaker by John Rogers

I often use an Able Bassmaker in my set-up. They were made by John Rogers who was based in Pwllheli (Gwynedd), in Wales, UK. I phoned him up one day, long after he stopped production, and he very kindly made me a one-off. I now read that pedal cannot be purchased anymore which is a shame as it is a unique (and perhaps 'quirky') pedal.

The bassmaker acts as an intelligent octaver. A filtering process allows the octaver section to kick in on the lowest notes. However, how it does this I'm not so sure. There is an op-amp on the board, but I believe the easiest way to filter the bass-end is to couple a resistor and potentiometer (not unlike the tone control in an electric guitar). As standard analog octavers process monophonically ( e.g., such as the Boss OC-2/OC-3), the filtered signal cuts out some of the frequencies that confuse the pedal when playing polyphonically. The bassmaker does get confused but it is just hidden better; this adds to my hunch that the filtering process is achieved via the potentiometer itself (the other pot serves as gain of the octave section only)and not via the circuitry.

I hereby invite comments, especially if there is anything technical to add concerning the electronic workings of the Bassmaker. Moreover, he made a strings/synth pedal for guitar; do you remember the name of this?

Meanwhile you can view videos of me using the bassmaker at the following locations:

http://www.youtube.com/daleharrisguitar
http://www.youtube.com/user/musicianshive
http://www.youtube.com/user/europalivemusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/b4udr