51m0n

Nah, I'd probably be so jealous I applied a pitch shifter to the vocalist's monitor send Mwahahahahahahahaaaaahhh!!!!

Nice office that

XR18 Jack, you know how complex my band's sound is and the XR18 has been an absolute pleasure. Real world points to note: Definitely get an external WiFi router, an old Netgear hobbies will be fine. Better than the internal. Get a decent tablet, if the tablet is woeful it will make mixing very tough cos the UI will lag significantly behind all the info it is trying to display. Do at least a couple of tech rehearsals to figure out what you are going to do mix wise and monitor wise. This is serious kit with bucket loads of power and options, you won't be able to get it right on a gig winging it!! Whatever you end up with back it up to a laptop. It will change at each venue. You can do a 'soundcheck' in 10 minutes tops at a venue and have killer FOH and up to 6 monitor mixes. Awesome bit of kit, ours was closer to 600, if it died I would buy another tomorrow to replace it.

It's testament to that weak derrière Ampeg actually 😉

Yep 😁

You are right your amp isn't powerful enough. Thing is those BF cabs are very very capable down low, they really deliver, but they definitely need a lot of power in the amp to actually deliver their best. This is not a criticism of the cabs or drivers, its more the fact that these cabs can handle so much more than a 'normal' cab that if you hear any break up, or inability to deliver and you are running less than a solid clean 800w @ 8 Ohm amp then its your amp that's the weak link. I have a pair of FR800s, a BB2 and a BT2 to play with. I can attest that the Quilter BB800 is very,very loud into the BT2, pretty darn loud into a BB2 (loud drummers are going to struggle against you), its only issue is you need to be careful if you like a very clean tone when setting up the gain as it will overdrive (very nicely) if you push that input, and this can become a bit of an output limiter. It will definitely blow away your Ampeg though. The BT2 though, that can just gulp down the watts, I am only just getting my head around the fact that I haven't been able to get the best out of it up until now, and that was with an sa450 ( a really solid 500w), then a BB800 (800w), its taken a long time but I'm now running a good 1KW of super clean signal into it (or thereabouts) and it sounds unbelievable. Superb cabs, but they will really really show up any weak link in your signal chain!

Of course until I get it to a rehearsal at least this is all a bit irrelevant 🤔

40/80 333/473 1k/1.8k 4k/8k Well heft is a funny word, because I struggle to know what it means. However through the Big Twin it produces effortless clean volume, absolutely masses of it. There is no lack of push down to the lowest frequencies that my 5 string produces, coupled with all the punch you could ever need. I found a hair of a boost at 80Hz just about all I needed to get a really incredible tone from my Roscoe. The highs and hi mids are really sweet, not at all harsh. Only amp I can remember using where 1KHz is useful pushed or pulled 😆. Biggest difference between this and the .5k other than sheer volume is the .5k starts to overdrive very pleasantly when you bring the master up, this stays very very clean at all volumes I could get it to, the Big Twin just kept dishing out more and more. Lovely 😃

Yep, like my core kitvto be new. It's the best chance of it not having been abused.

Not sure yet matey 😆

Mate doesn't bother me, the Trickfish has landed. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Not quite sure I made a ballsy claim that it would blow away an M6, I said that to my ears it blew away a D800 (oh so blew it away though, the D800 sounded strangled in comparison, so did the Glock, it was almost embarrasing) and to my ears it will give an M6 a damn good run for its money and, to my ears, it will almost certainly be a tone I prefer, because I don't like tubey fuzziness - I do like the way tubes compress as you push them a bit though - can't change what floats you boat though

I neither love not hate compressors, they are a tool, used in the right way in the right place they have a huge amount to add that is not just about dynamic control. If you dont know how a compressor can be able to to do all the things I mentioned, then you are less well informed than me dude , an expander does not do what a compressor does, it is a different tool entirely. Expanders behave completely differently from parallel compression, which is different from multiband compression, which is different from parallel multibrand compression, then there is dynamic EQ of course, but lets just not go there. Tube type compression ( I assume here you mean vari-mu) is not necessarily the 'best' compressor type for a particular scenario, there are times when you need a FET (its way faster than a Vari-mu typically) or an optical (its 'squishier', has very unique attack/release curves) or even a good VCA. Its all about what you need to do, there are even places where nothing short of a digital compressor will be capable of doing what you need. Its not enough to study their use, you need to actually learn by using them what works were and when and what helps and what doesn't. You can read how to be a racing driver from books that detail everything about the subject, doesn't mean you can drive a car at all. I actually go to about 4 to 6 classical concerts a year on average, at least one a year will include a church organ as well as a full orchestra. Its lovely, its live, it has nothing to do with compressors (you do know your ears are the highest functioning compressor/limiter in the world right?). In fact the loudest part of any of these are the percussion pieces, SPL far far louder than the church organ, routinely (8 snare drums and 3 tom players and a couple of bass drums will do that). Interestingly at the volumes these guys routinely reach you can feel your ears compressing everything, its awesome, and fascinating, and, well, compression As for knowing my history, yep absolutely, more than you would believe, the compression on the Beatles vinyl releases completely blew the Motown mastering engineers minds, their singles were so loud. Don't get me started on how utterly stinky poo vinyl is as a medium, either. There we agree completely. I am considering not using a compressor with this head because I think it sounds fantastic (well OK the .5k did, I am yet to actually try the 1k, it could be not worth the money), but until I have actually used it in a scenario with a band I am not ruling out a compressor at all, because that would be daft. Tools are there to be used after all! There are perfectly good reasons to use a compressor, if you know what you are doing. It is not a crutch, it will not destroy dynamics, it will simply help your audience hear you and feel you in the right way. Tube amps are deeply loved, why? The way they distort a signal as they begin to overload quite simply is a form of compression, and, if you know what you are doing, you can dial a very similar thing into a reasonable VCA compressor and have a solid state amp feel like a tube amp, no noticeable compression artifacts at all to hear or feel... Going by your argument every single piece of music released in the last 70+ years sounds terrible, every guitar amp sounds awful, everything in audio and mastering is just terrible, and its all because of compression. Believe that if you want, but I am not going to be convinced

Ha! OK, that must mean that the lead sled is better? I have had major surgery on one knee, and am due for plenty more - there is no way at all in that I am going back to an amp that heavy my friend, it instantly fails a far more important requirement than anything else, it has to be schleppable by me with ease

Yeah yeah right, ok sure

Yep, its fine - if you haven't got a clue what you are doing. If you know what you are doing its just going to stop you doing what you want. Simples.

I drugged him and left him in the cover of his Big Twin 2, which I sewed up. Mwahahahahahahaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Ah, well now thats is in fact a very ill informed. You can use a compressor to crush dynamics, it doesn't have to. It can be a transient shaper, a tone changer or sustain enhancer. It entirely depends upon what you need it to do....

Not sure I follow the Robben Ford point though, seriously your fingers are actually expanders rather than compressors, they can make stuff louder, they cant squash the output like a compressor does, its a really different thing than turning a signal down. Its all about transient to signal ratio...

Ah balls, read your post too quick, apologies! Thats a nice pre!

Don't get me started on how compressors are every bassists best friend though, we'll be arguing for years (p.s I'm right btw )

I looked at the Monique, little too rich for me right now, plus I really really really want switchable eq frequencies, or better yet sweepable (but they aren't fashionable at the moment) or better yet a fully parametric 4 or 5 band eq (I am greedy af when it comes to eq)... The m700 is certainly going to be a very nice sounding amp, but it is not going to do what I want quite I think, and for that money it would have to be spot on...

Nope, nope nope nope nope... Modelling is even more stuff that can/will go wrong

Interesting points, HZ, but if you are using that Warwick you cant disengage that compressor at all, and it affects output level in an odd way according to a lot of internet noise. I don't like that idea. Also with all due respect your fingers aren't so much compressors as expanders old bean and jolly good ones at that! Yeah, its totally about the fixed eq points and extra channel and the very peculiar form factor, I admit. The made in China thing isn't great but it could be worse, it could be made by Leyland

Mate, we are talking tone above all else. The fact that the Warwick delivers similar power is not the point here at all. The preamp in the Trickfish is its differentiator here, plus the form factor of the Warwick is complete bonkers bobbins, I have no need for a dodgy one knob compressor (heh, I am that 51m0n who stated loud and clear at a Bash years ago that one knob compressors are Satan's balls, and gave two talks on compression in following Bashes - which I admit bored most people to death, but its not my fault they aren't excited by the difference between a true vari-mu compressor and a FET now is it ;)) and I don't need two channels in an amp, waste of space more crap to go wrong. Nah that Warwick's front end is stupid design all over, two channels each with 4 band fixed eq points? Well they are going to be significantly worse designed and implemented than the preamp in the Trickfish with its 4 band eq with switchable eq centers and differing Q's. I'd be willing to bet the difference in cash between them