mcnach

I'm very surprised to hear that... I mean, it's possible that the MB800 is louder all other things being equal, I don't know... but I'm surprised it can be that much louder that you'd notice a big difference. Unlike a lot of amps out there... the Mesa keeps on giving, the volume knob continues to work. You may need to use it at 1 o'clock as opposed to 11 o'clock on another amp... but that means nothing: you can still turn it and get louder while the second amp will probably have nothing left once you reach the 1 o'clock position. The operation of the master volume on the Mesa is a lot more sensible than in many others out there, and clearly designed to be useful, not to impress people in the shop "look, I barely moved the knob and it's so loud, imagine how much louder it'll get when I turn it all the way!" Another thing is, it depends a lot how you use the adjustable HPF / voicing / bass controls. They have the ability together to make your bass go from Woody Allen to Dwayne Johnson... and everything in between. I used to use a pair of BB2 in the past too. They're good but they're not magic. If you think you're running flat out with a single one, I think you are simply reaching the limits of what a single BB2 can achieve (and be damn loud too), and you're probably treading dangerous territory where you must be close to damaging the speaker... the Mesa has enough power in store to obliterate a BB2 if the controls are not use carefully.

... yeah, still loving it, but I hadto do something. Black on black looks great, however it's not the best for visibility. So I did this. The look is growing on me, it's not my favourite, but at least I can now see the settings clearly and quickly

My issue disliking TE amps was that they were common on rehearsal rooms around here... but typically old, battered things, abused, with speakers in bad shape sometimes... When I've used TE rigs belonging to individuals who looked after them, they were good. The best two were the same combo, a 210 (I forget the actual model), one by itself as stage monitor, and another with an extension cab (a 115 or maybe another 210)... and I really enjoyed those.

As Beedster said, it's more to do with playing style... but the right strings also can help. Not all tapewounds are the same. The Rotosound TruBass are the most doublebassy strings out there, I think.

And I've just ordered the Eno TC-61, which can do up as well as down-sweep... watch this space.

Of course that the context is very important... but to say that you can't judge anything from listening to it alone is just not right. You can't tell *everything* from listening to a bass in isolation, but you do get a lot of information. Furthermore, with experience, you develop an ability to 'educatedly guess' how a certain bass sound would or would not work in a band situation. It's not a black or white thing.

£22 delivered, tiny, and it sounds pretty damn good. Downside? Not that versatile. But that's all. If you just need the occasional quacking from your bass and don't want to spend much, or take up too much space on your board, I think this is a pretty good one. On bass it works very well, it doesn't lose the low end or get extreme... it's very easy to get a good fast 'wah' out of this with bass. I haven't found a *good* demo online... but if you listen to RHCP's 21st Century, it's easy to get that kind of sound: On guitar... I love it for leads where it smoothens the attack. Like this: It's not going to replace my Soundblox BEF, but it's a pretty cool little pedal. A lot of the cheaper envelope filters get too honky or lose all low end... not this one! You don't get a lot of different sounds, you can't do down-sweeps, you can't make the sweep time change a lot... but what it does it does well.

I just wish you had left that beta/alpha BS out...

Not the best player, but I think it shows nicely the range of sounds that bass can make... It works, for me.

I get the general idea... but it's still not clear to me whether: 1) I can use it such that each footswitch is assigned to a single preset (I think it's called 'pedal mode' in some other controllers) and 2) if I can, and I select one preset... can I still use the knobs on the Aftershock for changes in real time? Not interested in saving those changes. All I really want is to move that tiny mini-switch to a footswitch form.

Actually... forget the 'red' or 'green' mode... as sometimes recalling full presets will be what I really want I guess what I'm really asking is... I don't want to use the Gecko (or whatever) to navigate around the presets available. I want to assign one preset to each footswitch, and I want 2-3 available to me. With the footswitch on the Aftershock itself as a ON/OFF button. Does the Gecko support operation like that? How many presets? 2? 3? Or is it strictly a "find the preset you want and select it"?

Yes, I know I can have 6 presets that way, however the 'red' mode seems to work as full presets, where each one has its own set of parameters (drive at 50 on preset "Tube", drive at 100 on "Heavy", etc...). I like the 'green' mode... where if I have the drive knob at, say, 50, with the switch on "Tube"... drive stays at 50 when I switch to "Heavy". I would like a footswitch to do what the mini-switch does on the 'green' mode... just allowing me to use my foot rather than bending over the pedal to do it with my hand. There must be something simple out there... ?

Hmm... I have no interest in getting into MIDI. I did it years ago with a big Behringer pedalboard and I haven't yet recovered from the experience. I use the Aftershock in 'green' mode, whatever it's called. The one where each position of the mini-switch selects one overdrive engine... and the position of the knobs represent the sound you're actually hearing. If I increase the drive, and move the miniswitch to another type of overdrive, then the gain has increased there too. I like that. What I'd really like is to have a *simple* way to select various overdrive types using a footswitch, rather than the mini-switch. I'm happy with a couple, but three would be ideal, using a pedal with dedicated foot-switches for each overdrive type, and where the position of the knobs on the pedal are represent what I hear. That Gecko pedal seems to allow me to navigate among presets, and perhaps each footswitch can be associated with a different overdrive... but will it operate as I describe? Not recalling a full preset, but taking the positions of the knobs as they are, in real time.

Well... I like tractors.

Oh! Tell me more!!! I would REALLY like it if I could have say another 2-3 foot switches in a compactish box that would allow me to select an extra 2-3 overdrives... It would actually even save me space on my board. For me it's not so much having access to MANY overdrives, but to have EASY access to 2-3 of them. Three ideally, that I can just switch between with the footswitch and tweak if required on the spot with the pedal's knobs. Is this gecko thingy the key to what I am asking? 😁

I almost put it up for sale... I'm impatient. But I really must play with the neuro app on this one and try the different drive engines available... then choose my fave three and ignore the rest. Even the knobs can be re-assigned to other parameters! I just realised that one of the available presets is called "Rage Bass". Guess what band I'm using all these overdrives with???

Having been playing with the SA Aftershock a bit tonight... what a great pedal that is! I must really explore it properly. I'm getting the feeling that those sounds I'm looking for in other random pedals... they're in there already.

Then the EB Cobalt Flats would be my choice, for sound (and smooth as they can be, since they're flats).

I got the soft case. The hard case is attractive but it added quite a lot and I want to keep it light, so I figured I'd try this first and explore hard cases in the future as I don't really need anything as solid as a full flightcase.

Done it a couple of times myself

I had one for a while, the neck-through model. It was very well made, and sounded great. It also looked a bit different, which was nice. However, I let it go after only a few months. Why? That thing weighed like the Moon, and the neck dive on it was really annoying. I would recommend trying before buying or staying away.

+1!!!

I tried the G3 using a 100mA output from my power supply: it does not work. The 250mA is sufficient, but the 100mA is useless. I then tried it with a separate supply capable of 700mA. I am not sure I hear a difference between that and the 250mA. I *think* it may be slightly louder... but it was hard to tell at 'home' volumes. Which means that 250-300mA is probably what the pedal requires for normal operation. The funny instructions that came with it suggested 350mA, and as usual you can go lower... but not much. If you plan to get one, bear in mind you'll need to have an appropriate supply for it. I have not tried it using AC or anything other than 9V (it's supposed to be happy up to 12V)

Well, a Cinque 5.2 is on its way now. Thank you for the nudge! I almost went for the 5.3 which is a bit bigger than my current one... but then I realised that the 5.2 is only a bit shorter than my current one, but a bit deeper, and with the power supply underneath, it has plenty of space, and the thing is just over 3 Kg. Result! I was very tempted by the patchbay too, but I'll wait until I get the board and see how I will best organise it, as I might not find it much of an improvement and I have better things to spend £50 on... but it's a very cool possibility. Thank you!

During periods that I am really busy playing I hardly ever buy anything... but then I hit a quiet time, and here come the new basses, FX pedals, and time spent looking at things I could buy to streamline this or that. I think it's a mechanism to compensate. Then when I buy things, and I'm stil in the quiet phase, I get a bit restless because I am not really using all that stuff and it seems like such a waste and I feel a bit silly for spending so much time (and money) on it all. It goes in cycles for me.