dannybuoy

I always felt the deluxe/elite models with the noiseless pickups sounded a bit lifeless. If yours has those fitted I would be looking at changing those before the pre.

You won't get a very detailed compressor comparison out of me as I don't have much experience with them. But the Cali is the best I've ever had for transparent volume levelling without neutering the thump of the attack, altering my EQ or introducing any weird artifacts. If I can get that from a smaller cheaper single-knobber, I will be happy!

Not really, looks like a great all in one solution, but I like my separates too much that I'd rather not compromise for the sake of convenience or portability. I've not found a headphone amp as good as the PJB Bighead - everything else I've tried in multi FX or amp heads has been either noisy or not enough volume, so I fear the same from this. I've settled on my two main favourite sounds, my BB into a B3K, or my P bass into a Tonehammer, and I very much doubt the Spectradrive could replace either. I picked up the SpectraComp just out of interest to compare to the Cali Compact.

I expect it will be the same as the Tubetone™ in the RH450/RH750 so you could always check some demos of those out for now!

Pretty much - most should be 9V. As I said some pedals are noisy when sharing power so it would be a good idea to list what you have in case there are any known offenders! For example anything digital by Zoom or EHX is usually prone to it, yet I've not found the same to be true with digital pedals from TC or Mooer.

A simple 9V daisy chain may well suffice for starters, I used one for many years before upgrading to something fancier. Depends if you have any pedals with differing voltage requirements or any that are noisy when sharing power.

I didn't know you could do that. I don't have an Aftershock any more but I do have a mini tap tempo switch going spare - but I suspect one might have to convert the 1/4" to the mini plug they use to make use of it?

Hmm. Were those pancake jacks even around in the 70s? I thought they were a fairly recent invention to help people squeeze more pedals onto their boards.

Still not sure why you're looking to get a pedal? Except for GAS reasons of course, which I understand perfectly! I would just take the head, plug into their cab, and use the amp's DI. If your on-stage rig is a combo, use the amp send into the combo's return, or main input. Depending on the fx loop level that is, some run close to instrument level, others like my Terror Bass generate 1.21GW.

Indeed, you may never know what is going to be thrown at you, so two channels would be best if the soundman can be ar$ed to deal with multiple channels that is! I'm not familiar with Multirack (although have used Waves plugins in the distant past) but I suspect I would be met with a blank face if I asked the soundman to recreate me the sound of my preamp on the spot using plugins! The problem with a clean pre-pedalboard DI though is the number of pedals that invert phase. On a recording session onca I had a clean signal mixed with the pedalboard signal coming into my headphones... stepped on a SFT pedal and my sound disappeared!

Try these! http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Thunderbird-Bass-Pickup-Vintage-Style-for-GibsonChromeNickel_p_2287.html

Of course it depends on the band, the sound coming out of the DI on the head, and if the bassist using it knows how to use their equipment. In my last band, we did most of our jams and rehearsals into a mixing desk and headphones. The dry bass DI sounded bland no matter how I tweaked it, yet the DI out of my Darkglass amp with the B3K distortion applied made it sit perfectly - a bit of a mid scoop to carve space for the guitar, and a mild clanky high-mid distortion to make it audible in the mix without being obnoxious. I only did a couple of gigs with them but had no issues with the soundman using the DI out on the head and got great results each time. The above situation would have been no different if I had a B3K on my pedalboard and used the stage DI. Or would you as a soundman prefer to take a feed before the pedalboard and ignore all the tone shaping and effects they may have spent countless hours honing? Of course for some bassists that might just use a Boss ODB-3 with the treble whacked up, that might be the best option!

That's the point where you say "thanks, but keep your Behringer DI box and use the one on my head please"!

I got a great dub tone out of a Stingray due to the active EQ, I imagine one of the double pickup versions of the Stingray, Sterling, Sabre or Bongo would be even better.

The nano line only comes with soft cases, but the rest of the range have a hard case option. The hard cases are very high quality too. I think the Metro 16 is the smallest one that comes with a hard case.

I guess we have to define 'woody' first. To me, it means clean and warm so you can hear the natural tone of the instrument, so any kind of distortion is just going to blur that... I would probably suggest Darkglass Vintage due to the blend letting you mix in some smooth overdriven midrange on top of your clean tone.

As ever, it depends on many factors. E.g. if you prefer a clean uncoloured sound and have a good sound engineer then by all means send them an unprocessed pre-EQ DI and let them get on with it. If your amp has some dirt/growl/colour/whatever that's vital to your sound then you're going to want to send that coloured tone to the PA also. For example I have a Darkglass and Tech21 VT heads - like the OP's EVO1, the whole point of using them is for their colouration so I would no way want to just have a clean DI going to the desk unless it was also being mixed with a mic or 2nd DI.

I would look at the Pedaltrain Nano/Metro series. They have a planner app on their site to help your work out which model will be the right fit. Then if you want a flexible power supply that will fit underneath then you'll be after a Cioks DC5 (sold by HotRox) or a Onespot CS6 (Andertons currently cheapest). For cables I would recommend a solderless kit like Evidence Audio SIS or Tightrope for their ultra low profile plugs and the ability to change lengths as your board evolves.

Active/passive switching usually means it'll be a 250K/500K pot in there, but if you want to wire it active only you may have the option of wiring the pickups straight to the pre and putting a 25K/50K volume at the end. I know my Darkglass pre came with diagrams for both arrangements anyway! To keep it simple you'll want to swap like for like though. You might also be able to source a lower profile push/pull and wire it up exactly the same as it is now.

Whatever value you currently have, minus the push/pull bit! Hard to say without pics.

Simple solder job once you have sourced the right pot, and you can still have the active/passive switch as a separate toggle if you like. I went the other way and added a push/pull active/passive to a Darklass pre!

They are all closer to cherry or sienna sunburst - tobacco sunburst looks more grotty than those!

I hate TSB and also hate gold, except when they are together on a '57 P, when the sum is greater than its parts: