Tripehound

Hi Ped - Many thanks for the offer but it would be a trek from here in Derbyshire! I'm off down to Bass Direct tomorrow to try out the Eich which looks to be the most cost-effective and flexible approach. The P&D costs £922 by the the time you've added VAT and carriage whereas the Eich comes in at £439 plus I was considering the TC BQ500 at £181. Also has the merit of being able to split and sell the two parts if necessary, use the Eich with my other rig, etc. I don't doubt that the P & D is a fabulous piece of kit (and I like it aesthetically) but it's over £300 difference to do essentially the same thing. P & D tell me that theirs is the superior product because it has a wider frequency range so you can add keyboards, percussion etc to the input - I was thinking in terms of just bass and drums. Do you just put bass into it or anything else? Very interested to read your comments on cutting mid and treble - I'll try that tomorrow.

I'm thinking of getting a bass board to go with my IEMs. The Porter and Davies looks terrific (and has the big name endorsees) but it's pricy at over £900 by the time you add VAT and carriage. However, this has its own amplification included. Alternative is the Eich Bass Board which is considerably cheaper but requires a separate amp to drive it (assuming I'm not going to be taking a bass rig out with me, just a Helix or a preamp pedal). The Eich T500 is suggested as a suitable amp for it but, splendid amp though it is, this seems like expensive overkill if all it's going to do is drive the board and sit there looking pretty. Any suggestions on a suitable power amp to drive the Eich board which is around 500w? Also any views on which is the better product very gratefully received!

Ooh! I'm getting tempted. Any view on Eich vs Porter and Davies? Funny how the moment I look at P&D they announce an imminent price hike...

Which one are you using?

Ah ha. Right - so Helix (or preamp setup) goes one output to the amp driving the board and the other to the mixer. Presumably then (sorry to be a bit dense) then I have a regular IEM mix but get the sub effect from just the bass. And that means another amp - preferably cheaper than the T500. Shame fun has to be so expensive! Wonder if it would be worth getting the kick drum routed to it via a noddy mixer?

I've tried IEMs - I really have - but they're not doing it for me yet. I've tried one of these boards and they are fantastic but I'm not sure how I'd use one live. I normally play via either a Helix or an MXR preamp on my pedal board then straight into the PA. Do I really need an amp?

I've acquired a Duesenberg Starplayer bass and a lovely thing it is to look at but I'm not there with the sound yet. I'm finding it a bit - nasal? I suspect flat wound might be better than the rounds that were on when it arrived. Any recommendations?

They look both lovely and interesting - I had a brief unrequited infatuation with the Motown bass. Our guitar player has several of the six-stringed things and I've had a quick go and they are very good to play. However, apart from that bloke in Tears for Fears, I can't remember any significant players using a Duesenberg bass and if they were that good...

Bought myself an MXR M87 Compressor off the eBay a while back and for a time all was good. Great sounding pedal. After a time, all the LEDs mysteriously stayed on for a while when the device was powered up but went back to normal after a moment. The moments got longer until they now stay on all the time and so it's hard to know what (if anything) the pedal is doing. After some digging around, I was advisedly MXR to send it to their UK distributor who subsequently said they didn't deal with out of warranty products. I sent it off to a nice amp repair chap in Newark who was able to reproduce the fault but couldn't find a fix. Anyone else had this with these pedals and more to the point, do you know if it's mendable? Here's a video of the problem

This may be a stupid question but... After years of using a regular amp I have recently moved to using a DI pedal straight and floor monitor. Sounds good to my ears and positive feedback from audiences. So far so good but I'm never completely satisfied so... I started to look at cab simulators - examples are the TwoNotes Torpedo Cab and the considerably-cheaper Digitech CabDryVr. 1) Is this worth investigating further - worth the effort and the expense? 2) Why don't they have XLR output if they are last in the signal chain, after the preamp? Oh - that's two stupid questions....

I've seen good things said of the OmniCabSim - can you only get them mail order (from Chile isn't it)? There's also a Digitech pedal - Cabdryvr? Like the Torpedo it lacks an XLR socket which seems odd for an end of the line pedal.

One of the attractions is that the Torpedo seems to have power amp simulation as well as speakers. I have a Helix but I've not yet managed to get it to sound as good as the MXR!

I’ve started using an MXR M81 straight into the PA which is one of those fancy line array setups. Sounds very good - and I’ve finally gotten round to this approach after a lifetime of substantial amplification. Lacking much experience on this topic, can anyone advise whether things could be further improved by using a speaker sim say like this? https://www.andertons.co.uk/two-notes-torpedo-cab-pedal-torp-cab?LGWCODE=TORPCAB;56375;6335&gclid=CjwKCAiAhMLSBRBJEiwAlFrsTgV5xF-9dNO-jsJqVL7hjt1rN_NAfrvk4wy4jawuGbJhdaf_LsKxbhoCfJ0QAvD_BwE

I'm currently using a Fender Super Bassman (300 watts valve) into a Neo 410 cabinet. Rig of my dreams and sounds amazing but sadly I don't have a roadie to move it around for me. Classic dilemma. Just bought a Helix LT and loving it which has led me to wonder whether I should invest in some sort of FRFR arrangement. The FR800 seems to get a lot of positive press, and I hear good things about the Yamaha DXR10 and 12. Also the HK Audio L5 115FA. I could really do with some reassurance and recommendations from people who have used this arrangement in anger. Is it an idea worth pursuing? Is the Barefaced worth the (considerable) difference in price? Should I try a halfway house with a power amp and use the 410? Any contributions welcome!

Any chance of an update on the old Helix/FR800 thing? Considering the same arrangement..

What is the view on the choice between the Helix and the Helix LT? I'm trying to decide whether the scribble strips and the extra I/O is worth 300-odd squid, money that could go towards an FR800....

Splendid chap - went out of his way to expedite a pedal so I could rush into a gig with it! Buy with confidence.

Any thoughts on how the b3n compares to the new Boss unit - the GT-1B?