Al Krow
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Everything posted by Al Krow
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Being able to assign the expression pedal to dictate the amount of gain on drive patches to take it from mild to full-on drive is also very neat. Essentially you have the option of assigning the expression pedal to any parameter of any particular fx in the chain. Possibilities are endless... All this stuff is obviously do-able on the Core with an external expression pedal, but having one on the pedal itself definitely focuses the mind on the additional possibilities.
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Have to agree with you - the amp sims on the Boss are very good! My GT Core's main function was as an always on preamp with added fx thrown in for occasional use, with a very decent tuner. Boss do make it easy to get a great bass tone with little faff.
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Nope! But it's surprisingly usable for +1 / -1 and +2 / -2 semis (using the pitch shift fx) which is predominantly what I'll need to handle key changes between our soprano and alto singers who separately front the band. (Not sure why I didn't discover this on the GT Core?) I wouldn't want to go further, whereas with the dedicated pedals you can go down/up a bit further to +/- 3 or 4 semis. The poly octave down is good! There's a few options for octave up on the GX10 (which the XS-1 and 100 do very well). I found a couple of them (Harmonist and Pitch Shift) are pretty bad when used for this. But the "overtone" patch is very usable for octave up. It allows you to simultaneously have octave down and up, with independent volume levels for each, very similar to the OC5, which gives a tasteful thickening-up of the bass. But additionally on the GX10 you can then also add in a detune and, very neatly, set the expression pedal to control the volume of eg just the octave up (with min and max set which ever way around you want to use the expression pedal), which could be fun / useful live.
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And in answer to my own question, have managed to get some decently usable pitch shift patches on my GX10 ( and making me ponder whether to hold onto my dedicated Boss pitch shift pedals - OC5, XS-1 and XS-100?)
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I've taken the liberty of widening this thread to GX10 users given the similarity of the patches and Boss editing software.
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Nice one Steve. Remind me which Altos you're using?
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Your best (and worst!) bass gear purchases of 2025?
Al Krow replied to Al Krow's topic in General Discussion
Left my choice of best bit of bass gear to something quite late in the day! I've been on the hunt for a one-stop multifx that could take the place of my pedal board for a monthly pub residency I need to get to via public transport. I wanted something that was a step up from my trusty little Zoom B1-4, but wouldn't break the bank and was decently portable. I've spent a few months pondering alternatives - there's a lot of excellent and often really well priced multi-fx's on the market! I came close to getting one a few others, but none seemed to cut it for one reason or another. Slightly out the blue I was recently offered a used Boss GX10 from a fellow BC'er, which is a more budget version of the Boss GT1000 Core which I have on my board and I'm a big fan of. Whilst less powerful in terms of processing power than the Core, it does have a few features that make it great to use that the Core (or indeed the ubiquitous Helix Stomp) lacks e.g. colour touch-screen, built in sturdy expression pedal that can be easily assigned to patch parameters e.g. to boost volume or change the tremolo rate. It's a big step up from my old Zoom B1-4 and seems to tick a sweet spot for me. Although I bought it as "travel" multi-fx with the intention of using my main board for most gigs, the GX10 has really got me thinking whether it could actually become my main board by itself? -
Origin Effects BassRig Ampeg B15 Fliptop recreation
Al Krow replied to Quatschmacher's topic in Effects
Feel your pain, Gav - it does kinda tie into the convo re. expensive / more "value" pedals earlier in this thread! Fingers crossed you'll be able to snag one used in due course or if you decide to buy it new it lives up to expectations which, from comments from other owners on this thread, it very well may do! -
No worries, enjoy!
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Drop me a line if you want to get a used one - I have a mint one I was going to list in the new year!
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In terms of approach - we've gone for the same i.e. recorded the audio first and then mimed while filming. It's not everyone's preference, but means you can get the audio tight off-line and without the pressure of a film shoot. The key with the miming is that your singer(s) need to be very on it, because that seems to be most easy to pick up if it's out. I guess followed by the drummer not being in time!
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Some decent live footage, doesn't have to be too professional, can be very helpful for getting your first booking at a new pub venue. If you want to be getting function gigs then a showreel is pretty much all that someone who has never come across the band has to go on, so having something that is decent quality both visually and sound-wise will make a difference - there's a lot of competition for function work! Doesn't have to be long, 2 - 3 mins is fine. Check out some of the bands on e.g. Alive Network and you'll get a feel for the quality of the showreel clips function bands are posting. We're just in the process of redoing our 2023 band reel to reflect the current 2025 band line up. We've managed to develop quite a lot of the skill set to get it done in house, which massively reduced the costs, and have decent camera and recording equipment so our main cost has been venue hire. Otherwise you can quite quickly end up spending £1k+ on a reel when you've taken account of venue hire, videographer and someone to do the sound mixing and editing. The flip side is that a function band can recover that outlay in a couple of events or even a single booking. There's a couple of ways reels are typically done: - Live take in a studio - Get the audio recorded separately and mime to audio for the video They both have different plusses and minuses.
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PS - yup actually super easy to assign expression pedal to control parameters. For example: assign expression pedal --> tremolo rate with min = 0 and max = 80, and at the same time assign one of the display knobs to show tremolo rate (to give you both a real time check on actual rate and ability to dial it back in on the knob should you choose to). Just adds a fun / useful dimension for live use to what appears to be a very cool mid-range multifx.
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Nice one Dave, looks even more compact than in the ads! I've been pondering a standalone multifx to take to forthcoming travel-light gigs for several months. The Valeton, Zoom B2-4 (no PC/android editor) were on my radar and I also came close to getting a little Ampero Mini. I was about to make do and mend with my old B1-4 when I got offered a Boss GX10 from my fav BC Boss-angel, and, given I'd already had very good experience with the GT1000 Core and was up to speed on the UI, kinda made sense to go for the GX10 in my case. Hope you get on well with the Valeton mate, although you, bass pedals & accessories and "keeper" should never really be allowed to appear in the same sentence? 😂
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Be sad to see the passing of this iconic brand! Wonder if it might get snapped up by a rival or even Thomann?
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More generally, my initial thoughts on the GX10 having had it for a week or so now are: - form factor is good and it's got a reassuring weight to it reflecting its rugged build; - really like the touchscreen colour interface, which is a nice step up from the GT1000 Core, plus little touches such as a USB-C instead of the older USB-2 connection for PC; - the editing software is easy to get to grips with (I guess helped by familiarity with the Core's similar software) and I've quickly figured out a standard clean preamp patch with a div / mix insert, ready to put in whatever fx I fancy e.g. Touchwah up / down or Tremolo / Clean etc. It has a drag and drop approach which feels a little more intuitive to me than Core's 'standard configuration patch layout. Although it's not got the processing power of the GT1000 Core, it shares a considerable number (maybe substantially all?) of the fx patches / effects with its more powerful sibling, and with the same parameter options, so I suspect it will be more than capable for most of my needs as a gigging bassist - perhaps add synth and an octave up. Whilst the greater power of the Core in terms of nuances of bass tone would likely be something you might pick up on a studio recording it's unlikely to get noticed by anyone in a live band mix. So I may finally have found the spiritual successor to my trusty Zoom B1-4, which sufficed as a standalone gigging board for a couple of years pre-Covid when I was needing to travel light to certain gigs. The key thing I need to see if I can figure out next is how to assign the expression pedal to control parameters, other than being solely a volume pedal, but from @SumOne's earlier posts this shouldn't hopefully be too tricky and will open up some useful additional flexiblity for live use. Finally...who knew that a Slicer fx could be so much fun?! It's got 20 preset slicer patterns and I've taken a shine to #13. Looking forward to seeing my bandmates reaction when that gets unleased on them at the start of 'Freed from desire' on Sat night!
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Having managed to source a GX10 for a very decent used price from my longstanding BC "Boss Multi supplier", I thought I'd give the Touch Wah a spin given your query! It's pretty good! Particularly liking it on BPF setting and the fact that I can switch from up to down sweep with the press of a button having set up a divider on the main signal chain path, which is very easy to do. I personally prefer it the up sweep over the down sweep. I'd be perfectly happy to use the filter patch with my band. I can't comment on how it compares to their Touch Wah pedal though, as I've never had one. Hope that helps!
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And don't forget Ibanez as a relatively lightweight option!
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Yes, that's a key point to note re. the U4s that they are mono transmitters. Our lovely, and very capable, little desk has 6 monitor outputs, not quite enough for us to go down the stereo route which would require 4 x 2 = 8 monitor outs for our 4 piece set up. Has going stereo really improved your gigging experience, Woody? If so, maybe something for me to consider for my crew down the line at some point! Is the U45 a decent step up from the U4 for you? I note that it's a 5.8 GHz, whereas the U4 is on the more crowded 2.4 GHz. "The Xvive U45 is a significant upgrade to the U4, mainly moving to the less crowded 5.8 GHz band for better interference resistance, adding USB-C charging, an auto-scan feature to find clear channels, and minor physical improvements like stiffer knobs for durability, making it a highly recommended buy for new users despite a small price increase. While the U4 is a good budget system, the U45 offers more reliability, especially in crowded venues, through its improved tech and dedicated channel scanning." Hmmm...does sound good! Not come across too many wireless IEM transmitters in the 5.8 GHz space (although the cheaper Swiff WX520 our drummer is using is also 5.8 GHz).
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3 of us have been using Xvive U4s for a while, which seems to be a decent mid-price range. Drummer has recently got a Swiff WX520 from Ali Express (they're currently just under £75) which he's really liking.
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Thank God for digital desks eh?! i wouldn't have a hope of doing this with my old analogue desk! Just as an aside: This level of flexibility combined with the better pre-amps on our A&H CQ18T (vs my old Soundcraft MTK12) and the ability to give everyone a tailored feed that we're already benefitting from, seems to me to make a quality digital desk the single most important factor in getting a band to successfully adopt and accept IEMs in place of backline? With quality in ear headphones running in a very close second - one of our singers tried got a set of KZ ZARs from Ali Express for £30 recently. She's over the moon with how good they are!
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Thanks for clarifying that.
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Interesting, as a lot of the received wisdom is not to have much, if any, reverb on bass for FoH?
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Are you managing to put the reverb just through the IEM feeds and not FoH?
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Using reverb to enhance the IEM experience My understanding is that reverb isn't particularly widely used by your average pop / rock set bassists like me, but the IEM interaction is an interesting one! Apparently a very subtle hall (or hall-like) reverb in IEMs can make the bass tone subjectively nicer and the gigging experience more pleasurable for the bassist, even though it does not improve articulation in a technical sense. This is a monitoring and human-factors issue, not a tonal-engineering one. IEMs lack: - acoustic coupling with the room - cabinet air movement - spatial cues from reflections So, a small amount of ambience: - Restores a sense of physical space - Reduces the “dry DI in your skull” effect - Makes sustained notes feel more musical - Lowers perceived fatigue over a long set Not something I've given much thought to before! Dunno if this chimes with other IEM users' experience?
