topo morto

Saved my SFT from my 'stuff I don't use' shelf. Seems a very nice chap - but how could someone who takes such nice penguin close-ups be otherwise?

Sent a Sansamp Sam's way. Quick to complete payment (despite the night in question being, i believe, a traumatic one) and let me know when the pedal had landed. Thanks for the easy deal!

... so much so that I got another one. Sent fast again, all good! Many thanks!

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1348094593' post='1809382'] Come on Zoom, let us have the '6 effects at once' update for the B3 please! [/quote] [url="http://www.zoom.co.jp/downloads/g3/software/"]Latest update for the G3[/url] allows this so surely must be in the offing for the B3...

If it's real... [url="http://www.keymusic.com/en/product/Zoom-MS50B"]http://www.keymusic....duct/Zoom-MS50B[/url] and if it's anything like the guitar version... [url="http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/ms-50g"]http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/ms-50g[/url] it's going to be a bit of a must-have..? Looks easier to squeeze onto a board than the monstrous M5 too.

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1347959239' post='1807061'] a true pillar of the spirit of BassChat [/quote] Obsessively hoarding shiny things I don't use? Sounds about right!

There are some absolutely cracking VST effects available. The computer route gets round the 'You're stuck with what there is' problem I mentioned a few posts earlier - you're totally not! What's more, you can easily download demos to try before you buy. All potentially way better than the world of stompboxes! The problem is that you're in the lap of the gods when it comes to getting it all working reliably at low latency. The latency has to be really low - a few ms. There are so many experiences where people find that a given combination of computer, interface, and software just doesn't get on,and you get glitches and dropouts. Even if you buy the same machine your mate uses with no problems, you can find that yours has a different chipset / wireless card / whatever that screws everything up (And unless you're an uber-expert it's very difficult to tell what the problem is...). This is all PC experience... maybe macs are better? The world is not absolutely awash with decent MIDI foot contollers either.

One of the things that digital should be able to do best though [i]is [/i]all the routing / splitting / blending shizzle ... it's barely any load on a processor, just a question of adding it to the interface. Although I was bleating about the quality of drives, they are getting better and I would totally go for an all-digital setup that allowed me to flip between a few different routings easily. After all, in an analogue setup there's a limit to the amount of live reconfiguration you can do, even with a bunch of splt/mix/loop pedals. But If I'm going to go multi, it is important that I can have my whole rig (or nearly all) in that one box.... I suppose the dream would be a box that had a couple of loops where you could plug in some other effects and use them in place of the onboard blocks, though once you start having to add too many extra pedals around the edges, you've lost the compact size that should be one of the big advantages of going multi in the first place. If you're lucky enough that all you actually want is a few effects in series (and for cheaper units, maybe in the order that your effects box wants you to put them in) you are laughing - sounds like that might be the OP's situation!

Obviously there are many advantages to multis, but three places where they consistently fall down: 1) Routing options. Parallel routings are where it's at for many decent bass sounds, but so many units assume you just want a 'chain', with all the effects in series. The B3 has this failing, and from a brief look at the manuals of the VB99 and M9 it looks like they also fail in this way. 2) Drives. There are a lot of digital distortions that superficially sound good, but when you try to explore their range, have little of the variety of touch sensitivity and response to different drive levels that a good analogue unit has. 3) You're stuck with what there is. You might find that a unit has, for example, great chorus and delays, but the filters aren't great. Unlike individual pedals where you can swap out the blocks, you're stuck. All those are problems that can be solved, but I've given up waiting. Huge pedalboard, here we come!

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1347739683' post='1804579'] Thanks for trying to describe them both...still not sure which would suit... [/quote] Words only go so far, don't they If you'd like to borrow SFT / BB / VT for a bit let me know!

From another thread, in which this question was asked of someone else : [quote name='andydye' timestamp='1347728042' post='1804412'] How would you describe the differences and similarities between the [BB and SFT] as they're both on my 'try list'? [/quote] BB: nice, but non-commital style of distortion - a bit plummy and with a bit of grind in there too. has post gain tone controls so you can brighten or warm your sound. Has quite an open, 'hi-fi' sound, but can sound a little brittle used straight into a recording / PA. SFT: has a bit of an inherant snorty, throaty sound, perhaps like a speaker sim. pre-gain bandaxall tone stack - so the tone controls alter the gain / qualty of distortion, rather than simply change the tonal balance. I like to push the treble much more than the bass, or you just get plummy bloom and no grit. You won't get much added bass out of the SFT. Quite touch-sensitive and responsive. Can be driven at 18v and some reckon it's better there. Both have similar gain ranges. I'll venture that the BB is probably better if you want to add a bit of dirt to an amp you already like, while the SFT sounds more 'like a record' and is great fun to play through a PA or clean amp/cab due to its touch sensitivity and 'ampiness' (and I say this despite having found its basic sound a bit thin and middy)

Just got a pedalboard/bag from bennys. Not only was it delivered next day, but if I ever need to upgrade to a larger board, I can just use the very substantial box that it itself came in. Super easy deal, many thanks!

woolly mammoths, as 'hand painted' zvex pedals, should have a lifetime guarantee.... you'd save on the post sending two back at a time! many effects pedals are no more robust than any other electronic gear. They should take a good stomp to the footswitches - apart from that, it pays to be careful with them.