NancyJohnson

I've given the UK distributor a call...left a message on the answering machine. Looks like it's a private house though!

I've had a Pedaltrain Mini for a while...it was sufficient for those gigs where I was using someone else's gear and needed the convenience of hearing my tone through someone else's kit. As the months have rolled on, I've been adding to the stompboxes I have, the Mini has become too small and I'm looking at something new. Of the new Pedaltrain stuff, I'm only really taken with the Metro24 (24x8x1.4") but it's not available here (yet) and doesn't seem likely to be here for a while either. I mentioned this to someone at Sam Ash in the US a few days ago and he said to look at a Canadian company called Temple Boards [url="http://templeboards.com"]http://templeboards.com[/url]. One thing I love about these boards is there's an option of no more Velcro, using a quick release mechanism. OK, you need to attach a mounting bracket to each pedal (with double sided tape), but then the pedal can be located anywhere on the board then attached with a thumbscrew. Different options as well for power and output. Looks decent enough. P

I'm always suprised that manufacturers don't utilise You Tube more. The handheld unboxing stuff I find somewhat compelling and unwatchable in equal measure. On the subject of rig rundown stuff, I find the Premier Guitar very entertaining but pretty uninformative.

Frank Demeil. Demeil Guitar Works. P

Well, here I am sitting in my New York hotel room. Me and my wife swung past The Cutting Room about an hour ago to pick up tickets for tonight's Corey Glover/Dug Pinnick show. I was fortunate to be in the venue for the load in and saw (and heard) the DP head during a very brief sound check. It sounds freaking awesome through an Ampeg 8x10. Speaking to his tech guy, he confirmed the head isn't in production yet...these few gigs are the testing ground. I asked about UK/European sales and was met with the usual poop. No distributor for heads and they would need to sell '300 to 400' to make things work this side of the pond. So there you have it. Great head, unlikely that we'll see it anytime soon over here.

A lot of those RCA Sweet b-sides are best found on the Sweet Fanny Adams and Desolation Boulevard CD reissues. Bringing things forward a bit, there used to be a great blog called 'B-Sides R Us'. Loads of great stuff on there.

I'm on track for the Lull so chrome will be on the menu some time this year. Just need to get the bass we can't sell here up on t'bay and the order will be in.

It was going into a Hartke LH1000 and an 8x10. I understand that manufacturers have to freshen things up a bit but this seems a pointless upgrade. Honestly, my 'birds sound pretty much the same. And hey, it's nearly a thousand dollars more than last year's model.

I'm Stateside this week. Played a 2015 Thunderbird earlier...played nicely enough but distinctly underwhelmed with the new electronics. Couldn't hear anything different from the two new switches so couldn't vouch for what they actually do. New Babicz bridge is very nice, so may order one up when they're available.

[size=4][font=Calibri][color=#000000]I’m certainly nowhere near as big a Rush fan as I used to be, but have to say I do enjoy these little vignettes with the band. I find all of their delivery fluent and eloquent irrespective of what they’re talking about.[/color][/font][/size] [size=4][font=Calibri][color=#000000]I do wonder whether Rickenbacker ever offered an endorsement deal to Geddy Lee (given the editorial in these pages and other forums, I doubt not) or felt any kind of pang of remorse when he switched to Wal/Steinberg/Fender. He, along with Chris Squire and a lesser degree Paul McCartney, were the biggest advert for the 4000 series bass there was. [/color][/font][/size] [size=4][font=Calibri][color=#000000]Obviously I’m not going to begrudge Geddy’s arrangement with Fender, jeepers, I’d take the Fender dollar if they came my way (‘Hmm, can you build me a Fender Thunderbird?’), but I would say that to a young kid just starting out on bass – that’s me folks! - when he moved away from the Rickenbacker (and Alex moved from Les Pauls/335s) it was the start of the end of my association with the band and I never really went back.[/color][/font][/size] [size=4][font=Calibri][color=#000000]On the subject of the US model, looks nice enough. I owned one of the MIJ editions a few years back; it was a nice enough bass, but if I was buying again, I doubt the US model would be £1,000 better. Disappointed the BadAssII has gone as well.[/color][/font][/size]

I tried the following: Bass>Boss Tuner>VTBASS DI>BDDI>AMP - the BDDI is the one with the boost on the output. It's much better this way round...set the BDDI to my desired tone/output level and then (once the BDDI is switched off) dial in what I want from the VT Bass unit. The only glaring thing is that the output on the VT Bass seems a bit lower than the BDDI, but this may be down to the EQ and presence issues. I am interested in investigating what Tony said and will get an AB or ABY box to see what I can do with two separate feeds (cleanish/dirtier) and then comine into a single feed. The BDDI is a bit more whumpy than the VT Bass, so it'll probably be a case of finding an ideal crossover point. Interesting times ahead.

I've only tried with the BDDI first, I'll give it another punt tomorrow and report back.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1429968429' post='2756794'] Because the sound these pedals produce had a distinct voice, having both on can be a bad thing unless you have one set rather subtly so it acts as more of a booster. An overdrive with a healthy midrange boost works really well before these pedals I find. But if the bite switch has an effect on the bypass sound, you either have a defective unit or Tech21 seriously screwed the pooch on that one! [/quote] My mishtake. The bite switch goes off, so it's definitely the +10db button. I think I've pretty much got this under control. Tuner at the start of the chain then into either of the boxes. Parallel out works...take a clean signal from one and then into the input of the other unit. I'm then left with two live outputs, which in theory I can plug into an AB box and use in reverse by outputting one signal into said amp. I guess a Boss AB-2 or a Vein Tap 'Little Splitter' will do the job. P

I think that I need to get something called an AB Box/AB Switcher (heh, who knew?). That way I should be able to leave both pedals on and use the switch to control what goes to the amp. Investigating. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Mv72Zzfdo"]http://www.youtube....h?v=7_Mv72Zzfdo[/url]

At my disposal I have a Sansamp BDDI and the newish (similar sized) VTBASS DI units and in the main (when I use either of these in isolation) my signal chain is generally bass>tuner>Sansamp>amp. A while back I purchased a Pedaltrain board and have whiled away many happy hours playing stompbox Tetris trying to fit these units (along with a PSU and maybe a Boss dirtbox) onto said board. I've included pics of both units below so you know what the unit options are. Anyhow, my issue is such that irrespective of where the Sansamps are in the bigger signal chain they always seem to have a detrimental effect on each other. I can set up my BDDI so I sound lovely, power it off, set the VTBASS up (so I sound similarly lovely), but when I go back to the BDDI, it sounds sh*t. This ultimately seems down to the fact that neither of these pedals offer true bypass and the +10db and bite buttons on the VTBASSDI still seem to operate even when the unit is off. So anyhow, my dilemma. How do I use these together on the same board? Could I take an unaffected parallel output and a Sansamp affected output from the BDDI and feed the parallel output into the input of the VTBASS DI, then run both affected outputs into some kind of box that will combine both outputs and give me one output? (And is there such a box?) Any help appreciated. Thanks P

I saw one of these in the US...it was black, black plate, rosewood board and looked very, very lovely. I don't much care for the pink/blue/green coloured ones, but in black it's probably the only Fender I'd actually consider purchasing. P

Stagetrix Setting Saver Pens. Strings. Might see if I can pick up a Fishman Fission bass stomp box.

I'm still not sure whether it's actually even on sale yet.

I woke up thinking about this today (strange that). How's the project coming along? Amazingly been over a year since the last update. P