ped

Emailing you now mate

To be honest one of the sweetest sounding Amps I've had was my Hartke HA3500. It might just be rose tinted goggles and due to the fact that I was doing some fun gigs at the time but that paired with 6x10 Hartke speakers (a 210 and 410) I never needed anything else. I focused on my playing more than my gear. Then I started Basschat and started to need/wanted more boutique stuff. To be fair I ended up with a Mesa 400+ which I still think is just the best sounding amp ever but the Hartke was only fractionally not as good in the environments it was being used and it was a lot lighter. Currently have a TC BH800 which I'm using to drive an Eich Bassboard so weirdly despite using it every day I don't really know what it 'sounds' like, but it 'feels' mighty powerful for its size. Those of you fortunate enough (!) to have seen my Bass Bash talk about the Vbass system a few years ago might have been surprised that the auditorium filling sound from my SWR 4x8 and 1x15 was delivered by a cheap 1u no name 400w a side stereo poweramp. Also one of the best sounds I've had. Still got the poweramp but it's not bridgeable so one side didn't drive the Bassboard enough.

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1505560300' post='3372818'] Battery solution is a doddle, just sorted all this myself. £50 laptop battery, small and even looks quite smart. Can max out the amp for 2/3hrs easy. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30-000mAh-External-Battery-LAPTOP-POWER-BANK-Backup-Pack-Phone-Laptops-Tablet/122477559464?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Double4 not cheap but it's a fantastic piece of kit. [/quote] Thanks. Worth considering perhaps but I was surprised that there wasn't a built in battery, something a bit neater.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1505562712' post='3372849'] Ooooh... definitely going on the bucket list. Score for le general ! I saw this when people were talking about it before. It still looks uncomfortable to play, to me, but I'd be happy to be convinced. [/quote] I wasn't sure what it would be like so took a punt, and I was amazed how comfy it is. The left corner sits nicely in your leg and it balances in the lap really well. On a strap it's fine though I might experiment with moving the strap button a bit further down the neck although seated the strap tension feels good as it is, with the strap kind of holding the head up.

I was tempted with the pjb double four but I wasn't convinced the battery solution was very neat?

[quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1505523697' post='3372622'] It almost looks photoshopped! Nice work! Edit: I've just scrolled up to compare and it actually looks better than the photoshop mockups. [/quote] Cheers, yeah I'm not very good on Photoshop!

And here it is!! It's a bit dark to get any proper pictures so this instagrammy type effort will have to suffice for now. The install is really tidy (makes my home made effort look a right bodge!) and playing synths on this is just excellent. The layout worked really well. The cavity is absolutely packed - John took some pics I think. Because of the depth of some of the circuits and connectors plus the larger brain unit the layout had to be chosen really carefully and I wasn't 100% sure it would fit like this but it turns out it did, just! The knobs are (from let to right) magnetic volume, magnetic tone, GK assignable (usually tone, wave shape, filter frequency or channel mix) then the two buttons which depending on the patch do things like engage a polyphonic tuner, mute, up/down patches, turn effects on or off or tap tempo for delay. Then you've got the output and still a 1/4" output for backup (mag pickup also feeds through 13 pin GK) You can also see the home made extra thin strap here a bit, it's about 2 inches thick. Secured with rubber Grolsch style washers. I'll post better pics in the next few days. Cheers!

I also note how most people with these use them for soloing and so forth, which is cool - but I'm not really a soloist. I find it a great groove machine.

Luis Cheul [url="https://www.wingbass.com/luis-cheul-chile/"]https://www.wingbass...is-cheul-chile/[/url] I stole some ideas for my bass. Here are some pics of it before and during GK install. This was all done yesterday and John said he's let me know when the easy bit - the connections (most are mini plugs so not much soldering) - are all made and it's ready to collect! [url="https://ibb.co/k0uK3k"][/url] [url="https://ibb.co/kVvFb5"][/url] [url="https://ibb.co/cye8w5"][/url]

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1505368275' post='3371312'] Can you bring your newly acquired Elf head too? 🤓 [/quote] You're a very naughty boy

[quote name='funkydoug' timestamp='1505337640' post='3371227'] I've always ended up looking at compact multitrack recorders for home practice ... For example, Boss br80, br800 & zoom r8, r24 tick most of your boxes, and more. No DI though, just line level out. I've had several over the years and the modern ones from zoom and boss basically sound very good indeed for your purposes. The BR80 in particular could be used as a micro preamp. There is a tiny learning curve but it's really not an issue at all. They also cover your guitar and vocal needs too if you're that way inclined, work as field recorders and USB interfaces. Main advantage over iPhone /iPad is that they are dedicated units. So they don't get updates at inconvenient times, I don't get email, notifications or other cr@p when I'm playing and they have the required inputs and outputs without the need for a separate box. Can you tell I'm a fan??? Cheers, Doug [/quote] Thanks, yeah all of those look great and probably ideal for practice. I did look at a few in gear4music but some didn't have batt power or didn't have line in etc but I could probably have tried harder. The BR80 looks nice. Thanks for the heads up. The Benton will suffice for now.

I'll be bringing a big box of BC Polo shirts. Will sell very cheap (cost price, so about a fiver) and any proceeds will go towards the charity Cheers ped

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1505326705' post='3371114'] Ipad with interface would cover all of those surely... Means buying into ios but I haven't looked back. Selling up pretty much everything else. [/quote] I tried an iRig HD2 but found the latency offputting. I posted elsewhere about it but I never found if it was just mine or all of them but either way it went back. Was a shame because it would be perfect. Maybe I should try another but I'm cool with the Benton now.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1505323031' post='3371068'] Hmm, a miniature power reactor that can be kept on your person.... I think you need to talk to a certain Tony Stark of Stark Industries. He may just have the very thing you're looking for. [/quote] Obbm never posts when iron man is on telly. Hmm.

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1505322152' post='3371061'] I'm on the lookout for something that might serve as a practice tool for the road. (I suppose ideally with some tone-shaping pre/DI backup/other capabilities...) The VB99 is surely not that! Haha. Nice to learn about it, though. It looks frightening! [/quote] Well it's definitely not battery powered! Like you I'm looking for a little practice tool too, this works nicely but maybe check out the Korg Pandora if you can find one. Actually I don't think that has a D.I. I'll let you know if I find anything. Everything I've found is missing at least one thing. Pick any but one of these! Compressor Reverb Line in Battery powered Small Light EQ Decent volume Headphone out

-User deleted-

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1505306404' post='3370893'] I think it does- as the gain goes up, a compressor kicks in or something. [/quote] My wife says WHAT DID HE SAY! YOU SHOULD STOP VISITING THAT BLOODY FORUM. IF YOU BUY ONE I'M LEAVING. Gak.co.uk you say..

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1505307422' post='3370911'] I might give that a go later on to see what I can come up with. [/quote] How many milliseconds later?

Believe me we wouldn't do a thing to the site if we didn't have to. Unfortunately the older software gets left behind and is vulnerable to issues as it gets older (aren't we all) and the company who make it also want to sell you the latest and greatest version. Normally I worry that the new version will be a pain but the new BC looks fantastic, it's a massive leap forward in usability and makes this place feel like a right shithole. In fact I'm heading there now and keeping it all to myself.

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1505304983' post='3370882'] It'll need a 240-volt power connection and I'm not sure that I'd want to be hooked-up to the National Grid like that. Perhaps what's needed is a Beltpack Nuclear Power source. [/quote] That wouldn't be good for your 'elf! ....no? OK anyway if this thing had a compressor I'd be pretty interested. Maybe the next evolution will do.

To be honest I'd find a wireless more useful 'in the studio' (at home in front of my computer) because nothing annoys me more than sitting down to slap some bass then realising I can't reach my cup of tea and having to unplug, collect said beverage and re-seat. In between these steps my little Sybil will steam my chair and leave me in limbo. I got rid of an iRig HD2 because there was a tiny bit of latency... I can't remember how much exactly but it was about the same as a wireless. It would't be a problem if I was plugging into an amp but with headphones I'm used to the immediate response and it became really off-putting once I noticed it. Having said that at the time I posted about it and I don't remember many people saying they noticed. iRig didn't have much of a response either, so maybe it was just mine.

Whilst I'm happy to take all the credit, it's Charic who is doing all the hard work... he's the one to blame when it slows down, too Cheers ped

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1505251178' post='3370582'] Drat. I'll have to keep an eye out for something better, I suppose. Congrats! If I'm permitted to be so bold... what's your main unit? [/quote] You may! It's a Roland VB99 which has a host of really nice sounding compressors and limiters. there are, of course, many more parameters to choose from and I like having an 'attack' control but the HB does well for the price, size and the fact it's battery powered.

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1505236663' post='3370450'] Not much of a manual ped but here it is anyway :-) https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8zq5ubjeadzxt1/Bass%20Expander.pdf?dl=0 [/quote] Thanks for that. Strange, I don't think my clip light goes red when the signal is definitely clipping. It kind of flickers a bit but not a clear red even when maxed. Thanks again for sending the manual ped

Dropped it off today with John Anthony near Scarborough http://www.johnanthonyguitars.com/home.html Had a lovely time talking shop with John - and he's going to get cracking on this tomorrow. He might take some pictures along the way which I'll post up. Cheers ped