dannybuoy

Try mids at 10 o'clock, character at 2-3 o'clock, drive at 11 o'clock, bass at noon, treble at 11, and blend just past halfway. Since playing this more however I've come to prefer the YYZ! I have to boost the mids and treble to get the same kind of bite that the VT has naturally. The top end is a lot less shrill on the YYZ too, which I like. The low end on the VT gets kind of blurry and indistinct as its being driven, whereas it's so much clearer on the YYZ (when the tight switch is pressed in), especially on a low B. When it comes to this vs the DP3X, the YYZ sounds miles better when auditioned solo, or when you want the bass to take a main role in the mix - but the DP3X works better when playing it alongside a full mix, which is where it counts I guess. Bearing in mind this is not with a live band as I'm not in one any more, this is playing along to album tracks either in headphones or my bass amp combined with hifi speakers. Pretty sure though I'd get just as good results from the YYZ by adding some additional compression and EQ. Also, if you're a fan of Geezer Butler's grindy tones on the last Sabbath album 13, the YYZ nails that! Anyone interest in getting one, check with @tonyxtiger first to see if he has any going at the discounted rate, otherwise Guitar Guitar currently have 1 in stock right now!

A guiro! Pronounced 'gee-ro' I think.

You sound pretty good together, in that track alone the bass is providing more rhythm and interest than the drums. All I could hear pretty much was the hi hats, the singer could have just played a tambourine instead - but that’s perhaps more to do with the live sound setup and/or recording! As to which to choose for each song, I don’t think you can apply a formula. If you’re going to swap instruments through the set, just choose whatever feels right if you have the final say, it sounds like if you put it to a democratic vote they’d choose cajon for every song! Ultimately I’d look for a drummer/cajon player if you prefer to play bass.

A lot of bass players will be biased though when forced to choose between only having percussion or bass. Ask a drummer and they’ll choose the cajon! A decent acoustic guitarist can cope without either if they have the necessary rhythmic chops, and they can put out a surprising amount of low end when amplified. I went to see two friends play a festival gig recently with just female vocals and acoustic guitar, and imagined what it would sound like if I were to play bass alongside them. I’d definitely would have had to get the guitarist to turn down the bass EQ for one - the root notes of each chord were quite powerful. Ideally of course, you’d add both. But if I was being totally honest and looking at it from the perspective of a typical audience member, I think a cajon would have added more excitement to the live performance than bass alone. There’s also a novelty factor since many non-musos would have never seen one before, which will get them more interested in what’s going on. In a similar way, I pulled out a Ukelele bass for a song once and it grabbed the attention of the audience like you would not believe! Another option is play bass and play foot drums simultaneously. It’s surprisingly easy to manage at least a kick drum with one foot whilst playing, I have a couple of stomp devices like these: https://www.logjam.net

Had it on my watchlist and live nearby, but only saw the notification pop up after the auction ended!

Precision plus Agro is instant Sabbath! Shame it broke!

That wouldn't quite work for me - I don't want to cut bass at the source, I want to split the signal first and only cut the bass going into the distortion side, and the full low end going into the clean side!

I didn't get in with the B3K/B7K either until I listened to it in the context of a full rock/metal mix. It also helps to have a bass that has a similar EQ profile to start with - like a Jazz with both pickups on rather than a Precision. I find it has the cut and boost in just the right places to leave breathing room for the guitars and vocals but cut through higher up the frequency range. Any shrillness or fizziness tends to disappear in the mix, especially if you don't have tweeters!

Too much low end going into the overdrive section makes things sounded bloated though, it changes the nature of the drive. Especially with a high output bass, it's best to cut the lows going into the drive and use blend and EQ to bring it back. That's why the Geddy pedal has a tight switch, and the DP3X and Darkglass X range use crossovers. And fully agree about not liking full on dirt, as a base tone at least - I never have the gain above 9-10 o'clock on my B3K or when I had the M900.

The pedal still has merit over the M900 - the grunt (AKA pre-distortion bass boost) is on permanently in the amp, I prefer the it off for a tighter sound.

I can vouch for the B7K model in the Helix being very close to the real deal having A/B'd it against my M900 with decent headphones. Even the 2 generations prior (X3 and HD line) did parallel processing but no Darkglass sim of course.

No way I'm spending that much on it though. I'll either buy used or from the US. I recently scored a Geddy YYZ pedal from US eBay for £170, which is less than I'd expect a used one to sell for over here (£250 in most shops and out of stock everywhere).

Anyhow, I still want to try one! Anybody taking the plunge?

I guess the main benefits are the cab sim, aux in, headphone out. All of which, you might find not very useful if you happen to want to run any effects after it. That could be remedied with an effects loop, shame they didn't include one! Foot-switchable distortion never made sense to me on any of the amps or ultras, since you will generally want different EQ settings with and without. The X7 doesn't have a cab sim, but it does have a mild LPF on the DI output, much like the Tech21 DP3X, which may be 'good enough' to not warrant the upgrade. I'd love to get my hands on one though, the B7K was the best thing for me in my last band until the DP3X showed up, and this is the closest thing to a hybrid! But the HX Stomp with its built in crossovers and compressors, B7K-a-like, guitar amps (and a BDDI on the way) looks like it'll be able to cop all of those sounds if you're up to the task of setting it up right!

As well as the pickups, I'd expect a sound difference due to the blend pot too. You might get different loading on the pickups with each connected to their own pot (a blend pot is just two regular pots stacked together) vs a single volume pot. Also, not all blend pots are equal - at the middle position some blend pots are 100% of both sides, but this isn't always the case. Love my BB1025X in the middle position though, sounds most unlike any other PJ I've encountered. I think the fact the J is proper meaty has a lot do with it!

😉

Sub bass is frequency content under 60Hz (or any arbitrary value down there, some might say < 40Hz) Sub octave is a tone generated an octave under what you are playing. If you are playing high up on the neck through an octaver, you have a sub octave without excessive sub bass! Octave down should be switch off if you're playing below regular open A IMHO, otherwise you're just generating speaker/trouser flappage (a technical term that).

I think I'd rather pull out a backup bass than make the audience wait for my soldering iron to warm up mid-set! Although I have never brought a backup bass to any gig in my life!

The volume boost of the AGS switch is not necessarily a downside of the pedal if just comparing to the amp, since the amp has no such switch. Aguilar really should have put that control on a toggle switch instead, there'd be a lot less complaints! The main difference is the drive control on the head is like a variable AGS switch. As you increase it, it applies a speaker-like EQ to roll off the top end as well as the deepest lows, as well as determining how much overdrive the gain control produces (i.e. with drive off, the gain control is just a clean volume boost). The head also has a -10dB pad for active basses that the pedal doesn't. I'd go for the head, unless you plan on using it a lot at home as a preamp/DI for practice/recording - the fan noise of the TH500 I had was rather annoying!

The pickup is the least likely thing to die, much more likely to be a jack, string, or strap button!

An LS-2 will do it yes, it’s one of the few pedals that can blend two effects in parallel. Also try putting the OC-2 last - common guidance is to put it first, but I prefer octave further down the line to keep the sub octave clean as you say, and I find dirt and envelope don’t negatively affect the tracking much at all!

The TRBX 504/505 sounds much duller than a Jazz though. Humbuckers sacrifice some top end. I love the look of them though, I was interested in getting one until I played one! The cheaper 305 sounded much more lively. I'd compare it to the difference between Barts and Nordstrands in the Ibanez SR line that you're familiar with Al. The Barts are much more polite, the Nords growl!

Got mine in. Have to say at the moment I prefer my VTDI. But I do have ancient strings on well overdue for a change, plus haven't tried it alongside a mix yet, so will give it a fair run! With the BB1025X which has quite a lot of output and low end, the YYZ definitely needs the tight switch to stop overloading the clipping section with too much low end. It's the same with the VT, but I achieve a similar effect to the tight switch with the VT by cranking up the character and cutting back on the mids and blend. It somehow sounds more Geddy than the Geddy pedal, but I probably would not be saying that if I had a Geddy bass with fresh strings on! It's definitely more than capable of being a subtle warm drive pedal though, it's not overly nasal/fizzy/clanky until you really push the gain.

I've got a lot of pedals here, I don't think any of them do! It can often be found in the manual though.