dannybuoy

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1506720026' post='3380746'] My first was a Yamaha RB270F (£90 iirc). Kept it for years. [/quote] These are great. My first ever bass and still have it!

Anyone ever try this or use it as their core sound? I’m a big fan of the VT Bass sound but always felt it overcompressed the low end and took away the thump of the note at medium drive levels. At least it does with my BB1025X, which has hot bassy pickups in it which only exacerbate this. The blend feature found on the DI and head versions remedies this somewhat, but it didn’t sound very fat just blending in a dry bass tone. So, inspired by the Tech21 Geddy preamp and Dug amp which blend two parallel chains, I tried a little experiment this evening. I split my signal to run through my Effectrode PC-2A compressor (which has a real fat thumpy low end for my ‘deep’ channel) and VT500 preamp section in parallel, then into the input and fx return of my Mosquite Blender to adjust the balance (which handily has a phase invert switch to counteract the polarity flip of the PC-2A), and finally into a PJB Bighead. Bloomin’ eck! One of the best bass sounds I have ever got into my headphones. So if anyone has a v1 VT Bass, BDDI, Oxford or Joyo Orange Juice for sale let me know, I’d like to play around with some more combinations!

The little Ampeg Micro VR stack sounds great, and there is just such a rig in the classifieds. The cabs sound like an 810 with less low end. I have a pair of them and use them at home! A word of warning about the Micro VR stack though, it is designed to be able to be used with a pair of the matching cabs (which you would most likely need to get to gigging volume with only 100W), however it goes snap crackle and pop, sounding like it’s about to explode when you do so. That amp plus pretty much any other pair of 8 ohm cabs is fine, or these cabs with any other amp is also fine. Probably just tolerances and the cabs a slightly lower impedance than labelled compared to other cabs.

Over the pond the Subway D800 is reasonably priced, but over a grand here.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1506687602' post='3380430'] Amp-wise (looking at Thomann as a quick example) Ampeg, EBS, Markbass, Ashdown, Hartke, GK, Tech 21, Fender, TC and Warwick can all do a 500w bass head in the £500 region, some [u][i][b]significantly[/b][/i][/u] below. What makes the M500 so special that I should buy it at a premium? While I liked the M900 I had quite a lot (and the Vintage Ultra I'e just sold), there's no doubt that in the value for money stakes Darkglass are in danger of disappearing up their own bottoms. [/quote] Quite, but I find all this vitriol rather odd when there are no similar threads ripping into Aguilar, Mesa, Glockenklang, Vanderkley etc, whose amps cost even more?

I gotta disagree about the "yesterday's sound" thing too. Just because the pedal/pre is capable of full on distortion doesn't mean you have to use it that way - I for one use the B3K mode on the amp set to minimum gain, where it sounds clean unless I dig in. The baked in EQ curve of this mode has a mid scoop that's in just the right place so that it slots into a busy mix perfectly with distorted guitars, and unlike a lot of drive circuits they only distort the midrange, leaving the bottom end clear and uncompressed. They produce a great sound for direct recording, even without a cab sim. But those prices are getting out of control!

TC Spark Mini, One Control Granith Grey, Mooer Pure Boost or MXR Micro Amp will do the job too.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1506526926' post='3379366'] My 'phone..? I hardly know where it is, most weeks. Sometimes I charge it up, if I remember. [/quote] This, but in reference to my house phone rather than my mobile. I think BT and cold callers are the only ones who know what the house phone number is, I’ve no idea!

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1506507543' post='3379183'] Firstly, we use Messenger. I've nothing against What's App other than it's not iPad friendly. [/quote] Btw, you can get WhatsApp working on the iPad by going to https://web.whatsapp.com and choosing ‘Request Desktop Site’ from Safari’s options. Still not friendly, but a workaround nonetheless!

If the footswitch was included you can bet the price would be higher. Personally, I would prefer to pay less rather than get something I might not use. I just use it set to B3K mode, minimum gain, blend about 3/4 and leave it there - sounds perfect with my BB. Although I am now bringing an acoustic fretless into the equation where I will probably just switch the Microtubes off manually.

Does anyone actually use their footswitch much? Like the switchable drive in the Ultra series, I don't find it terribly useful unless you have the blend set really low due to the drastic EQ changes when switching the Microtubes on or off, or going between B3K and VMT (which you can do with the new super duper footswitch).

Got some Royal Blood style fake guitar ready for this evening's shenanigans! Tender Octaver into the American Sound nails the RB tone, then the doubler recreates the fat sound they get from using multiple amps. Board is split 50/50 for 'guitar' and bass, with the guitar sound going to a mixer in stereo. Two compressors on board for different basses, although I may eventually restrict myself to one. Just using the Beta as a dark & dirty boost which works well into the bright sounding Darkglass amp. That might get replaced with the Green Russian though...

New headphone jack is worthless to me without an aux in, but the pre-master DI/loop is an overdue fix!

The Le Bass runs fine from a single 300mA output on my DC5. So that's one socket freed up right there! Pretty sure I've used the Manta from a single 100mA socket too. When it comes to the other fx, current draw should be really low on anything that is analog and doesn't have tubes. I routinely chain 3 or more off a single 100mA output, and I've never bothered to calculate beforehand. If it works, it works! You will usually find that power supplies can dish out more than they are rated for and pedals use less than quoted in their manuals. I estimate that both sides probably add a safety margin of at least 20-50%.

Manufactured in the UK too apparently, so hopefully reasonably priced over here. I wonder if they have collaborated with Barefaced or someone else we are familiar with...

Sorry, not tried either, but there is the TC BH250 and Markbass Nanomark also!

There's a few in that list I didn't actually like but I just recommended them because they can sound very similar to the Phat Phuk (which I have bought and sold twice now!). I've heard a lot of love for the MojoMojo actually, I should try one out. Quite a different feel to the PP but it does sound like a great low gain OD.

These can all achieve a similar grit to the Phat Phuk: Fairfield Barbershop or Accountant (the Accountant is a dirty compressor but I use it like a dirty boost) TC Spark (full size version, the mini one is clean with no gain control) RMI Sonic Spark Tonefactor Cream Pie (can sometimes be found lurking in the classifieds) Creation Audio Grizzly Smallsound/Bigsound Mini (I think there's a used one around these parts still for sale) Southampton Fifth Gear Cheapest and most readily available option is the TC, it can hang with the rest tonally, a bit of a bargain really!

I think it would do a great job on upright, sounds amazing with the fretless Godin.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1506342900' post='3378035'] Danny, I'm sure you'll love the Two10 (it isn't called the Retro anymore! ) If you're used to the 210AV cabs then I'm almost surprised you didn't find the Two10 had too much bottom end - we had one on loan for a while and I've never played through a bass cab with so little happening below 100Hz - in many ways it felt like playing through a guitar amp. I was so shocked I even measured it to make sure I wasn't mishearing! The Gallery is a great shop but your experience of testing the Super Twin confirms why I'm not a fan of testing amps and cabs in shops - it's just such a weird acoustic environment for all but the smallest rigs. I don't think we've ever heard feedback like that from bassists gigging the Super Twin - and as we sell almost everything direct we hear back from the majority of our Barefaced users, good and bad (the former vastly outweighs the latter but the latter is more informative so we like that!) [/quote] Yeah, the 210AVs are light on the lows which is one of the reasons for seeking an upgrade! Plenty enough thump in what I perceive as the 80Hz-100Hz region when you EQ to compensate though, and I've always felt that lower than that just creaes too much boom and rumble. The Two10 sounded perfectly balanced to me in terms of lows and highs - but of course I realise that doesn't necessarily mean flat, and I was not testing at gig volume, nor at a distance from the cab, which are all factors. Looking forward to giving it a good outing at a rehearsal in a couple of weeks and my first gig with the band at the end of October!

Well if the Mod Duo takes off you will have almost unlimited new FX models and patches being created by the community. Also you can have a very complex signal chain going including amp sim, parallel chains and such. With the H9 you are stuck with what Eventide give you, although they may release more content in future. Many of the FX could be higher quality, being designed by pros rather than hobbyists, but then again you can only run one effect at a time I think? Think of it like a Linux desktop PC vs an iPad. Varying quality, complex and flexible Vs. high quality, simple but restricted.

About mids... I've been practicing using the DI out from my Darkglass head mixed with my new band's old album tracks into headphones. It has two distortion types, the mid-heavy VMT and the scooped B3K. After constantly hearing on forums that you need to boost mids to be heard well in a band mix, I went for the VMT mode first. However I found that I was then battling for the same frequencies as the guitar. B3K mode, which has a natural bass boost, mid-mid cut and hi-mid boost, just slotted into the mix perfectly. Now I understand why bassists and recording engineers love the Sansamp BDDI and Darkglass B7K so much. Another thing - some amps, like the Orange Terror Bass, are flat with the mids maxed and bass and treble off. It's worth finding out what type of tonestack your amp has and if anyone has posted any measurement graphs online.

I just gave my Effectrode a try with a few basses and stand by my original comments. It does colour the sound and add quite a bit of low end, it's hard to explain but it does it in a different way to an EQ, like it accentuates the thump of the note attack. However it sounded so good with my Godin A4 fretless that it's most definitely not up for grabs! I've yet to experience some of the high end tube DIs like the REDDI or Noble but I reckon this little box delivers some tonal magic in a similar way they do! It's definitely an overlooked pedal, I had never even heard of it when I was offered it in a trade, even though it's one of Ovnilab's top picks.

Also, the SUB Ray4 not only has a Jazz-width neck but the one I had was very light also being made from basswood.

There's a used Sandberg Basic up for sale on here, very similar to my own. Not quite as aggressive as a Ray but very much in the same ballpark, with a much skinnier neck and smaller, more comfortable body. Be aware that many two-pickup basses with a MM at the bridge have that pickup a lot further back than the typical MM sweet spot, so you may not get the typical Ray sound you're after.