dannybuoy

Kev's right in that it's not generally good form to filter out most of your mids with a HPF then apply a vicious mid boost to bring them back again. That can lead to noise issues, as well as the fact each EQ stage introduces phase shifts which you want to minimise. It would indeed be beneficial to have a freq control like the DuG amp does and the Darkglass pedals, that way if you wanted more upper mids you could simply lower the cutoff frequency rather than try to boost the mids back after the crossover. But in my experience you don't really need to boost that much, and it's a non-issue for me. You should definitely try one out Kev! My wishlist for this pedal would be a dial to control the HPF frequency, get rid of the Mix switch and have it control the mid shift instead. Shift in to boost the high mids sounds better in a busy mix, but if it strips back to just bass and drums, it sounds better with the shift off.

I bump my mids to 2 o'clock with the mid shift pushed in. This raises the mid frequency, so I still have a fairly big gap around 500KHz. But this is where the guitars and vocals are most prevalent, so it serves a purpose. If I play lightly, I can only really hear bass and low mids <250KHz, as if you'd rolled the tone control off. The compressor is really punchy too, it's not just a leveller/limiter, it accentuates the attack of each note so that it really hits you in the face - but of course only in the low freqs since there is no compression of the highs. The high mids / drive channel only becomes audible when I dig in, so I play that way sparingly to accentuate certain parts. But when you do so, it pokes out above the other instruments to complement them without battling for the same sonic space.

I had similar reservations about the DP3X until I tried it in a mix. You end up punching under and cutting through above the guitars - it's like it was made to work with a band mix rather than sound good solo. There's still plenty of midrange grind on tap if you boost the mids. I'd very much like to try the X Ultra though, might treat myself once I've offloaded all the pedals I no longer use.

Interview with Al where he talks about the bass: https://www.musicradar.com/news/al-cisneros-sleepom-when-im-stoned-its-readily-apparent-whether-a-rhythm-has-a-shelf-life-or-not

Yeah when I saw a pic of the Sire rolled edges, I thought that was a little extreme, and would either result in issues with the strings slipping down the curved edges, or them having to make the neck wider to compensate.

Even the cheap Ray4 has a really nicely finished neck. One of the best feeling necks on a cheap bass I've ever felt!

I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact Bas took the time to calculate it, or the fact you guys are arguing about it!

It’s not just about the fret ends, it’s the sharpness of the fingerboard digging into your left hand. I had a MIM Classic 50s Fender P that had a pretty sharp edge to the wood, which combined with the wide nut width, made it uncomfortable fretting a low F. Some rolled edges on that neck might have made a difference!

Not in my experience. The Fwonk had me instantly pulling funk faces. The QBalls had me instantly looking up return policies!

So you were leaving the cable plugged into the jack most of the time when not playing? If so I think you were lucky to get more than one month!

Why? C4 does everything the Spectrum does, just get that! @Al Krow I agree on the jack of all trades thing, I just want a couple of basic filter sounds, but I want them to be perfect for me and my playing and I'm happy to shop about and try things vs compromise for convenience. If this pedal can deliver, then great, but since filters are so personal, it's impossible to tell from a demo and I didn't hear anything in there that particularly floats my boat. I'm in no rush to try one as I'm happy with the Fwonk for a basic funk envelope and the Discumbobulator for playing into overdrive/distortion. But if I see a used one for a great price I may try it out of curiosity!

It can do quite a bit more. Octaves for one, including an OC-2 clone. And rather than just a few generic 2-pole / 4-pole lowpass filters, it has models based on the Mutron, Meatball, and others.

Plenty of squelchy ones out there, Fwonkbeta, Discumbobulator, Filter Twin... I've found that many filters do make that noise, including Mutrons, Q-Trons and Meatballs when the resonance is turned up. You can avoid it by turning the resonance down, but then it sounds more subtle. It's a big reason why I like the Fwonk, it's anything but subtle, but does not have that whistle!

You need a hub to use a generic expression pedal, but the Source Audio expression pedal can plug straight in I think.

Yes. I asked Source Audio on 'the other forum' and they confirmed that the C4 has everything the Spectrum has plus more.

Don't be too swayed by my opinions on basses I've never seen or played! Ibanez must have chosen to go with named brand pickups for their more expensive model, doesn't mean they are necessarily better. Maybe ask this dude on Youtube, plays a lot of metal and has the SR:

Frets will wear at the same rate, i.e. very slowly. Stainless steel strings will produce more wear than nickels. I wouldn't make it a factor in the decision making process unless you prefer the feel of one fret type over the other. Many bassists prefer the thinner vintage frets, for instance Dingwalls come with them, and also new Fenders.

Wise to wait 2 days before ordering, You'll probably change your mind at least once! Just looked up that SR306EB you were looking at and I'd be tempted by that if after a 6 string. I like the fact it has coil taps plus a fairly unique (in that I've never seen it before) 'powertap' option that gives you the growl of single coils combined with the low end of humbuckers. Not sure how that works but it sounds good for metal!

CITES should hopefully not be an issue any more: https://www.thestrad.com/news/cites-exempts-musical-instruments-from-rosewood-permit-system/9382.article

‘Good tone’ is subjective though - e.g. any bass I’ve played with Bartolini electronics has sounded really dry and dull, so for me I would probably skip the Corts. I had a Ray4 that sounded pretty good to me, I love the Stingray sound so would probably choose that from the list if buying blind (deaf?). If a passive PJ might float your boat, I’d look at the Yamaha BB435 also.

Depends what you want to do with your chain. If you want a Royal Blood style fake guitar, going to an amp sim and possibly other effects, but keeping the low end dry, you'd need something else.

If it's 9V DC and under 800mA, this might do the trick, worked well for me when I had a similar situation: https://www.amazon.co.uk/JOYO-ZGP-Guitar-Effect-Supply/dp/B07CS6T95Z

The Mosaic can't solo the octave up however, which might be important if using it in a parallel setup to generate a fake guitar sound. I think the algorithm is the same as used in the Whammy range though, just minus the tone control. The Ricochet is fun as an octave up as you can put it in momentary mode and do pitch divebombs when you press the footswitch! The Bass Whammy has a few modes that are fun to add on top of a solo octave up: +5th / -4th as mentioned earlier can be used to generate two different inversions of power chords, letting you change between a high and low one by rocking the pedal. +5th / +Oct lets you have a power chord with the heel down, then be able to bend that up to an octave up. +5th / +6th spreads a semitone over the full range of the treadle, so you can do a power chord but then press the pedal slightly to do a bluesy bend on that 5th up.

BTW, I found it sounded better to just play the added 5th on the bass rather than use a 2nd pedal to fake it. It ended up simplifying the setup a lot!

The Whammy can only add the otctave or the 5th, not both at once. I’ve used a Mooer Tender Octave (MicroPOG clone) into a Whammy with good results. The Bass Whammy setting 5th up / 4th down works well since they’re the same note an octave apart, and you can slide between them with the pedal. The only other small pedal I know that can do an octave up plus a 5th is the T-Rex Quint Machine. I don’t think any of them sound very natural clean though, but you can get away with adding distortion to mask it!