1976fenderhead

I've just bought the MXR Bass Compressor and I'm very happy with it.

I have slightly more on the neck than bridge, maybe that's why...

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1329511229' post='1543781'] Synths - Mostly garbage except the G5 clone which has flawless tracking and a very usable sound. Never heard a real G5 to compare though. [/quote] I had a very different experience, though the G5 clone had a pretty good tone I thought the tracking of that and all other synths was awful.

Maybe [url="http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/supanova-9-12v-adaptor-1153-p.asp"]this[/url] would work?

Thanks. I've found [url="http://www.cgraham.com/chris/music/bass/super_synth/"]this review[/url] which makes me think it's an endemic problem though, what do you think, do you agree/disagree? "My biggest grip is with the envelope filtering. It's frustrating to work with and always wants to push the filter cutoff into very high frequencies. I struggle with filter re-triggering specifically due to the way the Filter Dynamic setting controls the responsiveness of the filter retriggering and peak cutoff simultaneously. Thus to increase sensitivity for retriggering (good) you unfortunately have to simultaneously increase peak cutoff (often bad or undesirable). Thus there's no way to implement good attack/decay filtering that focuses on a low cutoff and low filtering depth with responsive retriggering as the Filter Dynamic always pushes cutoff too high." There's also the phasing issue I noticed as well: "When blending multiple oscilators there is an unwanted (in my opinion) phasing applied. Minimally what may start as a thick single voice oscilator becomes a thinner, higher voiced multi-oscilators. Worse is if you try to set a mildy detuned dual-oscillator you get a horribly annoying mid-tempo LFO phase or ringmod like waver occuring which causes an audbile modulation to both volume and oscillator voicing, sometimes the rate of that phasing/whatever changes based on the pitch of your note, hence my mention of ringmod." Both these issues sound quite problematic to me, in the sense that they will mean a lot of work and compromising to work around satisfactorily... I still liked the sound of it generally, even if not as thick-sounding as the EHX, at least it's more 'synthy'. I want to get one but I'll wait until one comes up second hand, what this has done is put me off forking out for a new one...

I had this at home for a bit and tried it for less than an hour, didn't have time to try the software, just played around with the default patches and compared it with my EHX Bass Micro Synth... A few things annoyed me (bear in mind this is all having the default patches as reference)... it was very hard to control the sensitivity of the filter... I like how well it works with the "trigger" slider on the EHX, I can get pretty much ALL notes triggering, none and everything in between. With the Markbass it was always fairly chaotic, and the quicker I played the more it missed triggering the filter, causing some notes to be barely distinguishable... Can this be fixed/controlled well with the software? And in these patches the filter was also reacting to dynamics which made it hard to control the cutoff freq: I'd choose one with the knob, but then as I played harder, it would go to higher frequencies. Is this easier to control with the software? Can you get similar result to using the start and end frequency sliders on the EHX? And is it possible to have the filter never triggering? I know this pedal is all about what you do with the software, but after going through the default patches several times and not being able to get a decent sound and behaviour from all the dozens of knob combinations I tried, I'm doubting that the software can do any miracles... I liked the sawtooth as opposed to the square wave of the EHX, but that was about it... the filter was just too erratic for this to be usable with fast playing...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1329209899' post='1538657'] Have been in communication with Max and others re this, and the Thumpinator is suitable for 4 and 5 string basses. You said it yourself, '...[color=#000000][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]nulls string thump, mic stand rumble, the thump when you drop/bang your bass against something, and any other source of sub-harmonic pops/booms.'[/font][/color] [/quote] But is that all...? I mean, no audible difference in normal playing?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1329184923' post='1538567']and on balance I really think my loot would be better spent on (for example) a micro-Thumpinator, which judging by the recent BC (and other) threads, would overall make a more positive and fundamental improvement to my live sound. In theory. [/quote] What thread is that? I read a very long and informative thread on talkbass and a guy said this: "[color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,] This unit is ruler-flat down to around 30 Hz, then it drops sharply like a steep cliff. IOW, nothing from the low B and up is affected [/font][/color][u]at all[/u][color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,], but nothing [/font][/color][i]below[/i][color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,] that low B can get through. This nulls string thump, mic stand rumble, the thump when you drop/bang your bass against something, and any other source of subharmonic pops/booms."[/font][/color] So not sure it will be noticeable at all for a 4-string bass...

[quote name='tonyclaret' timestamp='1329081404' post='1537010'] Just had a little play today and was trying to get one semitone down but found it nearly impossible to get it to -1.0 exactely always ended up around -1.2. It still sounded ok though. Yes a few key changes needed here too and need the open strings on a few tracks, this looks like it will work. How you get on with the wahs? Haven't got round to trying them but noticed on previous reviews they werent liked by the masses. [/quote] I see you haven't read the manual Get it from their website. For fine tuning of values, hold Tap and immediately turn the desired knob (within a second or else you'll get the tuner). You'll get -1 like that. I found the wahs quite good, I usually would need about a 50% mix I think, and I believe the Vetta was my favourite. The good thing about them is you can get them just right by setting heel down and toe down values. The bad thing about them is the on/off switch is not on the expression pedal, so you have to activate on the M5, then move your foot to the exp. pedal, a bit of an annoying delay. That's the only reason why I didn't give up on my 105q, if not for that I'd be quite happy with using the M5 for wah, soundwise not much of a loss...

As above, you have 24 slots (patches), you can save whatever effect you want in them. You can have 24 pitchglide patches if you want. I actually do have quite a few for home practice, my band plays a few songs in different keys from the originals, so I have different (stationery) pitchglide settings so that I can practice to the recording while using the fingering of the key we use

I'm trying to keep to a Pedaltrain Mini though, so I don't have room for onboard PSAs... You might be interested in the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Digital, it seems like it would solve your problem. I don't have room for it though, so I may follow your solution: maybe get all PSAs on a triple plug adapter (I have a Super Synth coming which will mean 3 PSAs for 3 pedals!!!) and tape all cables together so it's kind of like "1" adapter...

[quote name='Dave Tipping' timestamp='1329046295' post='1536359'] ... Apart from being very nervous beer would get spilled on it .. or some tool would jump on it during a stage invasion at the end of our set last night [/quote] [quote name='Dave Tipping' timestamp='1329046295' post='1536359'] it just seems a lot more vulnarable that my old pedal board ... Esp with a large group of drunken punters invading the stage with pints in hands! I'm probably going to get some rechargeable batts for it so I don't need it plugged in, that way I could probably kick it / pull it to the back of the stage if it's getting a bit crazy. [/quote] In the end, that's a big reason why I returned it. I could see I just wouldn't be able to relax playing with this thing live, I really baby my stuff (made a new tiny dent on my bass yesterday and was devastated all night ) so for OCD people like me the M5 is much more suitable, pretty hard to hit that screen and the rest of it can withstand a thermonuclear war. FWIW, I tested it with my monitoring headphones (AKG K240 Mk2) and I thought it sounded a bit better than through my amp (SWR 350x + Triad cab).

If I daisy chain my M5 along with a T-Rex Bass Juice (nothing else), powering them form a Godlyke Powerall (or from Line 6's PSA, same result), I get this slight electronic noise in the signal. In their support forums, a Line 6 guy said you should give high drain DSP pedals their own supplies because they tend to feed noise back into the system. Is there any workaround for this? I tried using a Diago isolator cable but it wouldn't even start...

[quote name='I am not excane' timestamp='1328894449' post='1534569'] I put up 3 new videos demos of the MXR. Check my sig. Enjoy [/quote] Thanks for doing those. Now I know I really don't like that pedal at all... :/

Interesting... http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/effects/boostbfuzz.html

[quote name='Green Alsatian' timestamp='1328818072' post='1533263'] I switched the Booster on patch A0 'MarkBoost' for the Pitchshifter and turned off the other two effects. With the Total Balance set to 100 (default), I set the Pitchshifter to -2 and set the Balance on the Pitchshifter to 50, which as expected, gave a 50/50 mix of the pitched tone and the bass. I then set the Balance on the Pitchshifter to 100, for a purely wet signal and the only sound produced was the pitchshifted tone, two semitones down - ie. a 100% wet effect signal. Leaving the Balance on the Pitchshifter at 100, I then turned the Total Balance down to 50 and this brought the bright signal back in. Setting the Total balance back up to 100 again brought back the 100% wet effect signal. I had another look at the flangers - on some of the patches Total Balance was 80 or lower in some cases, so raising this does make the flangers more prominent but I feel that they're still a bit restrained. However, they're okay with certain settings and you can still get a usable flanger sound out of them in the chorusy-range, but they're definitely no match for an analogue flanger or the Line 6 models (I'm going from the MM4 flangers). Your M5 will still trump them. [/quote] Cool, thanks for all that. I'm pretty sure I did my last 2 testing sessions at 80% minimum because the pitchshifters were 100% wet or close to it. 100% or not, I could see the character of the modulations was not as warm as the Line 6's, like you also say, the distortions also sounded a lot more digital and I couldn't roll out the effect enough on those Synth didn't track fast enough, so I'd still need to have my distortion and synth on the board and would use the B3 for modulation only and sounding weaker at that than the Line 6 - no point for my usage. If only the Line 6 had a lowpass filter in the setup screen for each effect like it has a gate control it would be perfect for bass...

[quote name='devnulljp' timestamp='1328596849' post='1529597'] This guy has a lot of nice reviews of various different compressors. [url="http://www.ovnilab.com"]http://www.ovnilab.com[/url] [/quote] Great page, thanks for the tip.

[quote name='Green Alsatian' timestamp='1328810723' post='1533098'] No probs! I've just fired it up and the Balance settings in the Total menu are as follows: A0 'MarkBoost' - Balance 100 (maximum) A1 'Polytone' - Balance 100 (maximum) If there any other patches you remember and want to know the Balance settings, just give me a shout and I'll have a look for you. I'm off for another crack at those flangers, to see if the Balance control was less than 100 on the patches I was tinkering with. [/quote] Whoa really, I'm even more confused now Thanks for checking... So if you get a pitchshifter in and and tune to -2, 100% mix, does it sound a bit 'chorusy' with a bit of that vibration you get when tuning to harmonics and they're not right yet, or does it sound like it should, just a clean sharp note 2 half steps down? Let us know about the flangers too...

[quote name='Green Alsatian' timestamp='1328784328' post='1532515'] I'll have a look when I get home from work tonight and report back. [/quote] Big thanks for that mate!

Sorry Dave, or anyone else with the unit, can you tell me also about patch A1, what the default mix is? So [u]A0[/u] and [u]A1[/u], I think those are the ones I tried, would really appreciate it as I don't want to put people off with my review unfairly, which is the case if it was at 50% or near... The first time I tested the unit everything felt too dry and I couldn't dial out the dry sound when using the pitchshifters, now thinking about it, that patch was probably at 50%. The second and third times, however, I must have been on a different patch as effects felt stronger and I could get pitchshifters to sound close to 100% wet (there was still some chorusing there so maybe something like 80-90%). The first patch is compressor > EQ > amp, why would Zoom set that at anything other than 100%???? I think Zoom may have shot themselves in the foot here, if they did set any of the first patches to less than 100%. If we had hours of disappointment with the unit at home not noticing this, how many people will try the unit in stores and not buy it because of it? If I were Zoom I'd set at least the first half of the A bank to 100% just to be sure to showcase the unit's effects in their full glory, maybe do any mixing on the effects only...

[quote name='Dave Tipping' timestamp='1328746382' post='1532232'] This is where I had my first "oh, I see" moment. Each "patch" of 3 effects has total settings as well as the individual effect parameters. This instantly perked me up as the patch I had been trying alter had the "bal" set at 50 .. meaning only 50% of the signal was being effected. [/quote] D'oh! Can't believe I'd actually read a bit of the manual before I bought it and knew about this and didn't think to check it. Oh well... Still don't think I'd prefer it over the M5 though... Does anyone know if the A0 patch is set at 50% by default? That's the one I used almost exclusively...