Al Krow

Hey BRX - fully appreciate you have a full Helix and adding an additional separate pedal(s) to that doesn't make sense for you. But for pretty much everyone who is planning to get an MXR (or FI), they will either be upgrading an existing set up, shift something else off their pedal board to accommodate, or get a bigger pedal board. It's what many of us pedal users do very regularly, when the need arises. I also completely also get your point re. synth pedal tracking - it's a fundamentally important issue for live use and has been picked up by several of us on this thread. Was precisely the reason for my choosing to go with the Boss SY-200 despite it not having as good synth sounds as several other synth pedals - it's my personal compromise and for me considerably better than the "nothing at all" alternative.

+1^^ re being keen to find out when the next software update will be for the FI. Peter's previously indicated he can't give us an estimated date unfortunately, but will hopefully be sooner than Luke's pedals coming up for sale. Helpful comment re. fast tracking on the MXR - thanks! Also @BigRedX "Also who is to say that someone with a more conventional pedalboard set up already has both room and PSU capacity for an additional synth pedal." Aww come on 😅?! Anyone on this thread looking to buy the MXR or FI etc will make room or get a bigger pedal board, if they decide to get one.

@BigRedX - you're obviously happy to use a keys synth and all power to you! But a couple of points in your post: - you say a pedal with an external PSU gives rise to "complications and unreliability"? I'm guessing maybe half of the bass players on this forum use pedals (typically on a pedal board) with an external PSU week in and week out, and we do so without any issues? - if, as you say, the audience doesn't notice the difference between us playing a song without any synth, then they're even less likely to notice the difference between a keys synth and a quality bass-pedal synth?

@Dazm66 "It's taken me long enough to play bass to a decent standard and I have no interest in learning keys to get those sounds" You've summed me up in a nutshell when it comes to synth bass! I'm currently leaning a little to the FI v4 VIP, which is only £20 more new than the MXR, if I do swap from my Boss SY-200, but certainly bass-mates of mine who have upgraded their C4 to the MXR are really happy with the changeover!

Thanks for that, including the very helpful comment regarding tracking capability = "good enough but not as per IMA's hype" if I've read you correctly? Although tbf I guess completely understandable from IMA, given this is his baby. An honest review of the new MXR bass synth effects pedal MB301... | TalkBass.com Just came across this thread on TB - made for interesting reading!

So in the spirit of the thread, if you had to save one of your 2025 purchases from the proverbial fire ie your "best", which would it be and why?

+1^^ @Bluewine - really great to hear your band in action. As Lozz said - a really good sound, and some nice footage too!

Ah latency and tracking are very much intertwined, so all good! Are there particular timestamps on the video you could helpfully point to for us, so we can get a better idea of what you are referring to?

Thanks Luke! What's the issue with the C4 tracking, for those of us who have never owned one?

You've got a very good ear, Darren, did you come to a conclusion?

That would have been me earlier on this thread and I did get ticked-off for pointing that out, haha! However in a live context I won't be messing around with patch settings / trying to create a new patch from scratch mid-set, so as long as the display is visible and telling me which of the 99 available preset patch nos. I'm on, I would have thought that would be fine. And probably a lot easier to read than remembering which dot accounts for which of the 8 presets on the MXR for me.

This ain't bad at all! Currently easy enough to spot AI on YouTube (and not least 'cos this ones being honest about it!) given the static cover. Obviously we don't have the same cues on Spotify.

The internet is not going away! Enjoy using it or don't. Spotify has been a massive blessing to music listeners all over the world. It would be great if it paid bands better, for sure! It seems to me that streaming is to music, what libraries are to books. Don't think anyone is arguing that libraries are evil, and everyone should buy all their own books? It's certainly not either/or: I love listening to music on YT and Spotify. I also love regularly gigging and being by paid decently by venues who know the worth of live music as part of what they offer their customers.

This ^^ And this too! ^^

Streamed music has already dealt a blow to most bands' hopes of making decent money from their original creations. AI assisted / generated music music is just the next nail in that coffin. Live music is where it's at for most bands and solo artists looking to make a living from their art. Yes there's one hologram providing superb entertainment, at vast cost and albeit with some incredible session musicians actually playing the music, but an average punter going down a busy pub doing live music at the weekend ain't going to be fobbed off with anything but a live band or solo act. What we all should be campaigning against is the ridiculous infringement of copyright laws that our Govt seems to be wanting to wave through for AI companies to train their large-language models on, and which is theft pure and simple.

Not sure I'd ever find a use for anything above +1 oct anyway with our material!

Two excellent YT clip reviews

Amazing - thanks! 7. I couldn't pick out the younger Mick Jagger from the pic and the drummer looked unfamiliar to me, but makes sense!

Ditto ^^ My only "regret" is that I'm liking it so much, I'm already tempted to move it on...to get its bigger sibling the XS-100

Been asked by daughter (who's a music teacher!) to help research the above slide which she wants to include in a lesson. Going round clockwise - pics not hugely clear, but where I've got to is: 1. ?? Elvis lookalike 2. Chuck Berry 3. Beatles 4. Freddie Mercury 5. Beach Boys 6. Black Sabbath (obvs, haha!) 7. ?? Band with Ronnie Wood in? 8. ?? C&W star 9 ?? BB King If you recognise any of 1, 7, 8 or 9 please share your thoughts!

Cheers - I'd best check back in at 11am on Tuesday to see where it's got to!

Is it living up to expectations? I know you've had same fantastic basses over the years!

I've had a lot band related purchases and very little purely bass focussed, this year. Tops for me goes to the RCF 932A PA speakers which were an upgrade from our previous RCF 912A and 732A sets of speakers (which me and one of singers respectively had). The 912As - excellent on bass, 732As - excellent mids for guitar and vox. The 932As provide the best of both worlds. Managed to pick them as B-stock for less than the cost of my bass backline and we put the whole band through them, none of us using backline, without needing a sub-woofer even for the smaller outdoor gigs we were doing earlier in the year. Worst - none so far, fingers crossed. (I did buy a Fuzzrocious Lil Fella which I've not really used due to finding some great drive and fuzz tones on my Boss Multifx, and which I'll probably put up for sale at some point but not because it's been a disappointment). @Acebassmusic - my Elrick Expat in action (through the 932A). Lovely bass!

OMG I love that Elrick! I've had mine (the "cheaper" Expat Czech made one) for 4 years and totally love - fabulous bass and my mainstay for gigs.

That's a lot of "best" 😅 You got one from that list that you would opt for above the rest if you only had one?