TRBboy

13 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Nice one!

 

Do you reckon you maybe could ask them if they're going to be using the same chipset as the MS-60B or will they be taking the opportunity to upgrade?  [Hint @ Zoom if you're listening: the MS-60B came out in Feb 2013 - and I remember buying my first one later that year!]

 

Sorry for the thread hijack...back to Line 6 & Yamaha 😊

I guess it'll be the equivalent of whatever they've done with the guitar version. I assume they'll upgrade?!

@Al Krow I just emailed zoom, and although there's no precise date, they're expecting the MS-60B Plus to drop June/July sometime. 👌

Just now, Greg Edwards69 said:

I'd love to know how the pricing structure is calculated.

 

HX One: $299 = £249

Pod Express: $179 = £199

I thought that! When I saw the $ price, I expected it to be about £150 over here!

9 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I think the detailed YT review that @TRBboy shared was super useful.

I felt that the most of the fx ranged from meh (e.g. the octave down was glitchy, the filter/synth nothing to write home about), passable (dirt) to decent (chorus / modulation) - be interested to hear what other folks reaction to that clip was or whether I'm being too harsh? Love the form factor though.

Personally I'm going to wait and see what bag of tricks Zoom have in store with the similarly compact form factor MS-60B Plus due out this year.

 

I thought the effects sounded generally good, but I guess it would be nice to hear someone run through some sounds they've configured in more of a song context. 

I'm gonna hold off and see how I get on with this B1 Four I think. Is there a release date for the MS-60B Plus yet?

7 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

I don't think so, you only get to choose one effect for each of the four knobs, or you can turn that group off by rotating its knob fully counter-clockwise.

Oh okay. I don't use delay anyway, so it doesn't matter to me 😅

17 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

No chorus and delay at the same time?

I THINK you can, because they're denoted by different colours, so are separate effects, just controlled from the same knob. I think you can only choose one of each colour band effect in each patch.

4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I like the look of this a lot and if the synth sounds are decent then this could be a very neat box! Omitted on the sound samples clip but hopefully someone will preview it shortly. 

Another one for the watchlist for me!

I haven't managed to watch it yet, but someone has done a longer video on YouTube 

55 minutes ago, markbunney said:

Awesome, thanks.

 

this looks great, I’ve been thinking about getting a HX Stomp for ages, but out off by the cost and the fact I would only use a small portion of its functionality

I'm in exactly the same boat. I want a neat package with great sounds, but I don't actually need much, only a few key sounds really. 

This is perfect timing, just as I'm looking at the Line 6 range and trying to decide what would be best. I only really use a few sounds, and this looks too have all the essentials covered, PLUS no complicated menus etc. I just can't fathom why Yamaha didn't bring it to the Guitar Show last week, even if the official launch wasn't until yesterday? 🤷

There's already a post about this

2 hours ago, joel406 said:

The Quad Cortex has the most dedicated to bass stuff of them all. Darkglass, Mesa, Marshall, Gk. All the effects. Even a pog that I keep in line. The ir's are great. And amp and pedal capture. Not to mention all the stuff online. The Nobel preamp is in there and I so love it. Helix is fine. But the QC has the tone.

It looks/sounds fantastic, but as a pretty light effects user I can't even start to consider spending £1500 on a unit, only to use 3 sounds. Definitely looks like about the best thing on the market at the moment though, if that's what you're looking for.

2 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

And now we have the new Pod Express that can do four effects at once and amp/cab modelling. Line 6 have answered a lot of prayers here.

 

https://line6.com/podexpress/bass-effects

Wow, that actually really appeals to me! I have a lot of questions though, and the website is down 😅.

There's 21 presets, but I'm assuming you can save your own too? Can you navigate through them using the foot switches, or do you have to use the knobs? 🤷 I will find out ... 

Will get this in the calendar! Couldn't make it last year, but would really like to come 😊

Most of ours aren't too bad, apart from the best live music venue around here, where you have to fight your way through a CRAMMED smoking area to get the gear out at the end 😫. I yell for people to make way, but end up just smashing a path through with cases/cabs/PA speakers etc 🤣

I was really impressed at the guitar show to be fair, the neck is beautiful. It felt better quality than the EHB I tried, well the knobs were solid on the Cort at least! Spacing felt wider than I expected, but I don't mind that. It was only let down by the strings tbh, I don't know what they are, but they felt rough and horrible. 

27 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

You might be surprised at what a good frfr speaker can do as backline. GRBass are now making active cabs all the way from a 1x10 up to a 2x12 and 4x10. Or just a single Barefaced Big Baby with an appropriate head could possibly perform just as well as your rumble combo and extension cab.

 

For me, I've only ever used single-speaker combos as backline. My humble Headrush FRFR-112 "feels" remarkably similar to the markbass head and 1x12 cab I used to use. It certainly more than matches it for volume and frequency response.

 

But like @BigRedX, I only use mine for rehearsal, or if I really, really need backline on stage. Otherwise, I'm direct to PA with IEMs in my band, or we ask for decent foldback if PA is provided. And similar again, I'm looking to downsize my frfr speaker to a Yamaha DXR10. Both my guitarists use one each and our PA tops are DXR12 speakers. They are more accurate than my headrush, and it would make sense for me to have something that I can tweak my patches that sounds similar to the PA.

I take your point, but we're entirely reliant on backline, as our PA is only used for vocals. We run a pair of Yamaha 15" speakers. We do have subs, but rarely drag them out, unless they're really needed.

Like I said, the guitarists don't want to ditch or downsize amps, so there's no desire to upgrade the PA.

My current rig is a Markbass Stu Amp 1000w and a GR Bass 4x10", 1200w 4ohm, which I love. 😊

If anyone spots a BB405 for sale, could you give me a nod please? Thanks 🙏

50 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

One of the (for me many) advantages of playing in an originals band. No investment in, or need to carry and set up PA and lights. They are ready-installed in the venue along with people to run them. The band that I play with that doesn't use any backline has 8 items of equipment (and two of them are stands) which are an easy carry between car and venue for the 3 bands members and our occasional roadie/merch seller.

Sounds like heaven BRX! Even if I could go ampless, I still have to help haul 100w valve heads, 4x12" cab, drums, PA System etc. 😅

6 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

And as I have said many times before, selling my old (big and heavy) bass and guitar rigs paid for me to buy a Helix Floor and RCF745 FRFR cab new and come away with a slight profit. And on hindsight I could have got away with a lesser (cheaper) FRFR as it only gets used for rehearsals with one band and the occasional smaller gigs where the quality of the foldback is unknown.

I envy you guys who can go ampless! Unfortunately it's not an option due to the venues we play. There's no appetite for dropping loads of money on investing in a bigger PA system, as our guitarists have no desire to ditch their valve amps, so it's a non starter. Would mean I didn't need backline for the odd festival we do though!

Another consideration then; what does everyone think about the HX One?

37 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

The thing with the current Line6 HX/Helix range is that all the upgrades are done in software. Not only that but they are all free. So although my Helix Floor looks the same as it did when I bought it six years ago, inside it's is very different. I'm currently on V3.7 of the firmware and I believe that there is at least one update that I haven't yet got around to installing. There was a major update a while back that improved most of the amp and cab models so that they used less processing power, which allowed you to have even more modules in a preset (not that I have ever come close to running out of processing power yet). 

 

I'm sure at some point there will be some major improvement which will technically render the current range "obsolete". But so what? As long as the devices still work they are still relevant. After all there's musicians using amps, cabs and pedals with technology that is at least 40 years old and they seem to be perfectly happy. My Helix does 99% of the things that I want and does all of those things perfectly. The 1% it doesn't do are highly specialised to my needs (MIDI-triggered gates and filters) and although I have a request in, I suspect my requirements are a long way down the list of priorities. However I've found work-arounds for what is missing.

 

I've been using programmable multi-effects for 35 years now and the Helix is by far the best in absolutely every respect.

Very, very valid points BRX! And you're absolutely right, especially as I'm a pretty sparse effects user, it would probably do me forever. I've been happily using the zoom B3 for at least 10 years 🤷

4 hours ago, Boodang said:

Buy a B6 and ditch everything?!

Another option! But then I'd be getting on for HX Stomp money, which is more flexible and more compact 🤷

1 hour ago, Skybone said:

If the HX Stomp is too much, but you like the thought of the "all-in-one" box, that you can use for guitar as well...

 

Have you considered the POD Go?

 

The models on it are all from the Helix, amps, cabs & effects, you can use IR's, you can use snapshots, but there are obviously some differences. No parallel processing, limited no. of effects to each patch. However, it's still a really flexible unit that sounds great.

Thanks, will check it out!

Well, @SamIAm is kindly sending me her B1 Four to try, with a view to buying it! Top BCer ❤️

Can't wait to give it a try!

57 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The B7K sim on the B1-4 is pretty good, particularly with a bit of bass EQ boost which you can add pretty easily, to counter low-end scoop inherent in the sim. 

 

I've got my eye on the (hopefully!) soon to be released MS-60B Plus, particularly if it has an upgraded chip set but no confirmation that's going to be the case yet. 

Ooh that sounds interesting! Will have to Google that. 

I've always loved Darkglass distortion, but I'm too tight to pay that much for a single pedal! 😅 It was this video that really piqued my interest in the B1 Four again:

https://youtu.be/VQb1D7MBmqk?si=Xq2KnChtYM3jtk5g