dannybuoy

I can understand the pain point when a soundman hands you an XLR cable rather than a DI box and you have to fish for a dongle. But if you own everything including the PA, there's not much to worry about, you carry a standard kit to which you either add an adapter or just swap your XLR cable to a TRS-XLR cable. It is a valid point and it's good to air your discontent so that Line6 take note, but I wouldn't let the omission of XLR put you off trying and buying. For example when I bought a tube amp I just accepted it didn't have speakon outputs and bought a new speaker cable. If I had been firm and said I'm not interested because it didn't work with my existing speakon cables, I would have missed out on the experience of owning one.

Just because there's bound to be one of you that will buy this and wear it to work! 😁 https://ebay.us/ALaEgV

Cheaper than a MM Bongo I suppose.

#1 Timing. You need to lock in with the drummer, and pay attention to note length as well. I've heard tracks ruined by the bassist playing short syncopated notes when they would sound better held longer, or vice versa. Also don't go for flashy fills if it means you lose the groove. #2 Variation and a good ear for what to play and when. Sometimes you need to play exactly what the guitars are playing, sometimes you need to pound root notes, sometimes you need to outline the chords, sometimes you echo phrases from the drums, guitars or vocals, other times you just play something totally different.

I have the Hotone Bass Press. Sounds like a wah should! The Dunlop sounded more like a synthy filter vs a wah, I got one in to compare and it got sent right back!

Sounds good! Is that recorded with the VT Bass?

How is that LS-2 being used with the Meatbox exactly? You might be able to do away with that too!

XLR would be nice but it's not a deal breaker. Buy an adapter for a fiver, chuck it in your gig bag, done.

Line 6 said it would have increased the footprint of the unit and they wanted to keep it compact. It does have stereo outs though and the outputs are balanced just like the XLR output of a DI, it just uses a different plug. So a good setup would be to split the signal routing to left and right channels, apply an amp/cab sim to one side destined for the PA, then use a TRS jack to XLR adaptor on that output and you're golden.

From my experiments with Native, I got some good results from the auto filter, but not as good as the filters I had already. One of my favourite filters is the Z-Tron on the B3n btw! This is a very useful post from Talkbass:

That wasn’t exactly my point, although compression can definitely help even sloppy technique and I’m not afraid to admit that I can sometimes need that! Digging in yields a totally different timbre to plucking gently. I also like to use that technique where the fingers strike down on the string to make it bounce off the frets, similar to slap but using the fingertips. Compression lets me express these different tones at a consistent volume. The biggest thing it brings to to table for me though is increased punch. Think about it like this - the compressor reacts to your incoming signal after a slight delay to reduce your volume. Then the overall volume is boosted to compensate. This means that for a fraction of a second, the initial attack is in fact louder than before as the first few ms are unrestrained. The attack is reshaped to become more percussive like a drum. You don’t hear the note as louder but it packs a more visceral heft! Multiband compression means you can apply different settings to the frequencies you can hear vs the ones you can feel.

Using that logic, how you smell is not on the list, so don't bother showering before the gig as the audience probably won't notice! But seriously, you have balanced sound at #3, compression helps there. Compression helps every note be heard and felt with equal punch, letting you dig in to get a different texture but without an accompanying volume spike (actually my main reason for preferring multiband, a single band comp can rob your low end when you dig in hard). It definitely helps get butts wiggling if you ask me, even if playing something simple like straight 16ths. The way that a compressor shapes the attack by letting the peaks through before clamping down just does something - I know I can tell the difference and it makes me want to move more!

I would say yes as long as you have a volume control! The main input expects an instrument level signal. I've run things like a Tech21 VT DI and DP3X into it no problem, but I've set them up so they are around unity gain when on/off. You might get clipping if pumping in a really hot signal, but I have boosted into it quite hard and not heard any obvious clipping before.

I feel the same after upgrading my Cali CB to a Spectracomp. I can really notice he multiband when I dig in aggressively and it’s reigned in by the upper band with a fast attack to catch the peak, yet the low end still pulses, with a slower attack to accentuate the thump.

They are brilliant. More output volume and less noise / distortion then any other headphone amp I've tried.

Line 6 reps have said on Talkbass that a Sansamp model is on the way.

I think someone’s got the wrong end of the stick. As far as I can tell the HX Stomp as two independent outputs both with TRS balanced jacks. When I referred to splitting the signal I meant within the software routing of the unit itself rather than physically splitting cables. So send the left output with a few effects to your amp, the right output with an amp/cab sim added direct to the board, via a TRS to XLR adapter if the soundman passes you an XLR lead.

Since it has stereo outs and not many bassists need actual stereo, you should be able to split the signal, pan it hard left and right and apply a cab sim to one channel only, and use that as your DI.

I get that you would need a separate DI if putting other FX after it, but @Sibob seemed pretty insistent that the built-in balanced outs would be unsuitable going straight to the desk, so I was just trying to work out why, 'tis all!

I still don't think a separate DI is necessary if you can make use of the stereo outs or sends. The output is balanced so all you need is a TRS-to-XLR converter if you want to use the XLR leads that are probably already on stage. If you can adjust the volume and flick it between instrument and line level, that's pretty much all you need. What will an additional DI box bring to the table? The only thing I can fathom is perhaps a signal pad, if the instrument level output is still too hot for the mic input on the desk and the desk can't take a line input. But most desks have pads / trim controls on them anyway.

Most DI boxes just output the same volume level that goes in. Never had an issue sending an instrument level signal via a standard passive or active DI to the board, it's more commonly expected than a hot line level signal.

I had one of those modded for more low end as my first bass overdrive. Great pedal, replaced it witha BB Preamp although if I'm honest I might have slightly preferred the BM!

Pretty much! Although I run mine into another headphone amp (PJB Bighead) as I find the Zoom doesn’t drive my Beyerdynamic DT770 cans as loud as I’d like. But it seems I’m firmly in the minority there as it’s plenty loud enough for most people around here - either those cans are particularly hard to drive or I just like it stupidly loud!

Both models have a headphone out. Only the B3n has an aux input, but on the o5er hand the B3 is a USB audio interface so you can pipe in mp3s or backing tracks by hooking up a laptop via USB.

I think the newer ones are definitely more Fender-like due to the alnico pole pieces rather than the blades, my BB1025X though with both pickups on sounds unlike any Fender PJ (I’ve tried about a dozen of them!). The BB is way growlier!