Al Krow

I think there's a whole 'nother thread specifically with you in mind! The "Gear Absinthe 2026" thread, or something similar...

John - love this! I used to have an Alesis, too, some years back and concur it was a PITA to programme! Look forward to following how your pub trio band develops. I think the bass & Beat Buddy combination could be a really neat rhythm section if it can be made to fly! I've not come across much on social media with bands using Beat Buddy, so if you guys are posting anything on YouTube or Instagram please do share! (And if you have anything with your Alesis SR16, to show a drum machine in live band setting that would also be great).

Only 6 years behind you on this, haha! But, as I've just started discovering from a very basic slicing patch on my Boss GX10, it's a very cool fx!

Love the fact that you've finally found what you're looking for after a 16 year search!! Guess when that happens you set aside any concerns about the chunky price of this unit and dive in! Looking forward to hearing more about how you get on with this and how you're managing to use it live / in the studio.

Guess I'm surprised that they've allowed it to go on sale ahead of general release though? Seems unusual in terms of commercial practice?

Thanks Dave - for me part of it is putting something down in writing on a public forum which I can look back at and be reminded of as the year progresses. Will be really interesting and hopefully encouraging to see how we're all getting along over the course of the year with what we've individually decided to prioritise, and see what impact it's having on our individual bass playing lives.

Interesting. Looks like a stripped down version in terms of having purely bass focussed patches, and buttons to directly access these, a smaller screen, but otherwise very similar to the GX10. Wonder if Boss abandoned this as the GX10 covers everything this does and a fair bit more? Or if it's still planned for release? Just spotted that same eBay site has a Boss GX-1 for guitar also "ex demo". Makes me wonder if this might be a clone / scam, if neither are on the Boss website?

Nice set of specific goals there Dave! For your #1 - how many gigs have you guys done this year and what would be a decent challenge in terms of additional gigs for next year? Seems like getting a good agent is a recurring theme already! I've no ideas / suggestions where to look for decent agents outside of mainstream covers bands, which my lot fall into. But maybe there's a few folk who can come up with some useful suggestions? Is an agent someone you can advertise for and "audition" / interview in the same way you might a band member? Or is that a daft idea?

Being in a band is such a big part of many BC'ers lives! Why do you feel it's wishful thinking for you?

Are you playing covers or originals Steve? And already currently signed up with an agent or getting gigs mostly off your own bat as a band?

I'd be happy to get the ball rolling! My main music goal is actually the same both for me personally and the band I'm in: I'd like me and my crew to get "off book" so we can all play our rep without needing to look down at tablets or notes! I'm sure that this will improve our on-stage performance no end in terms of being engaged and communicating with each other, and equally with our audiences? Main hurdle: we've got about 6 hours of material, which gets rotated to keep things fresh for us and our audiences. Where there's a melodic element to a bass line or many chord pattern variations that actually seems to be quite a challenge, certainly for me! But I'm guessing making this a priority and maybe aiming to get chunks of sets off-pat will be a do-able way of getting there? The second goal for me, as band leader, is to add another 5 function gigs to the 15 or so we managed to do this year. For this one, the main "hurdle" is getting our 2025 showreel finished - and that's on me to finish up the video edits, and then getting signed up with a couple more agencies.

I suspect lots of us will make new year resolutions, but do we have any particular music related hopes for ourselves as bass players and/or for the bands we're in for the coming year? What are yours and why those particular goals? What do you see as the main hurdles to achieving them? Are there any tips we can give each other to help make some of these goals & ambitions a reality?

Thanks Phil - the 2 x 12s at 21 kg apiece are actually an easier carry between them than a single 905. I actually did a bit of spec comparison across 8 different 15" active sub-woofers and interestingly the three that came top for me on £price, weight, SPL and reputation for quality were: Subwoofers - 15in active summary.pdf The overall winner on my personal criteria was Electro-Voice EKX-15SP. A mate of mine uses a pair of Electro-Voice EKX-12SP, and I'm wondering whether I can sub (excuse the pun!) those two 12" with a single 15". The RCF 905 AS-3 should definitely go on the list, too, and maybe will be a case of seeing which of those comes up in good condition used first!

Tbf - the HX Stomp should also be fine for use on guitar. But I think the GX10 will be excellent - I've always found the Boss sound to be better / less harsh tonally "out of the box" than the Stomp when gigging with the guitarists I've worked with, some of whom have been on Helix and others on the Boss multis, and the form factor with its decent size colour touchscreen and built in expression pedal on the GX10 make it really easy and fun to use.

Thanks Phil! "A pair of 12's is going to give you plenty of output but so is a 15 of the same quality." is a very helpful summary So the key question for me then is: is a single 15"speaker going to be significantly better than a single 12" speaker for a sub? The 2 x 8" FBT sub is not one I had considered, though and one to look into, but seems to be an alternative to a 12" sub i.e. typically go with a pair rather than just one?

Hey Andy - loving mine: Done a couple of 2 hour gigs with it now, and liking it more each time! Will need to tweak a couple of patches as I get used to it in a live band mix, but discovering more depth and capability to it all the time, and reckon it's going to be an excellent standalone pedal board for much of my live use.

Ok thanks! This thing is ridiculously cool! Is that a step up from Helix @BigRedX, or pretty much the same on there?

One of the massive advantages of having everything going through the desk & FoH? And if the venue says can you turn it down a bit / take it up you can oblige at the push of a slider.

Agreed that a good pre-amp pedal, whether as a standalone or as part of a multifx, could make a positive difference, particularly if it also has decent EQ options that aren't available on the bass, amp, or desk. A "better bass" is a can of worms though! Could potentially be money very poorly spent, particularly if the OP is already happy with his current bass.

We've got a sub on our wish list now that we've got a band member who is able to store and transport it! I appreciate a single 15" sub is usually considered inferior to two 12". But did you notice a significant improvement of the 15" over a single 12"?

In the case of our Boss multis it's just the former though, right? Ie assigning parameters to the knobs and expression pedal?

Ah interesting. For some reason I thought Helix allowed parameter assigns? Do you know if that is the case, if not be very easy to check with @BigRedX who is a bit of a Helix expert?

Agreed! Which multi-fx have you come across that don't allow parameter assigns?

100% ^^ How a particular bass sounds in the mix may actually not differ that much but, equally, there's an unmistakable signature sound to some of the greats eg John Entwistle. For me, the quality of the pups and electronics makes the biggest difference here. YMMV! Playability of basses on the other hand is another thing: weight, balance/neck dive, string spacing, neck thickness, how a bass sits on your frame etc. Can individually, and certainly together, make a real difference to how comfortable and enjoyable a bass is to play. Would it be fair to say, as a rule of thumb, that the really budget basses don't major on playability? But also that playability won't necessarily improve much beyond midrange bass prices and you then start increasingly paying for branding and/or craftsmanship of boutique basses?

Also love the fact that some (definitely not all!) of the most successful musicians in the world played basses that many average gigging bassists could have afforded when those basses were in production. And for no other reason than they loved them eg Paul McCartney with his Hofner and Yamaha BB and Tina Weymouth another Hofner player are two that immediately come to mind, and I'm sure we can think of plenty of others?