Al Krow

So how are folk getting on - any crumbling of will power with gigs starting to happen again? Question: would trading a Helix Stomp for a Helix HX Effects (if they were for the same price) count as a "like for like" trade? Just askin' for a mate... No really, I am just asking for a mate. 😂

That is such a great pic, Andy! You really should enter it in one of the monthly photo comps they have in off topic - it would get my vote!

Sorry to hear about the chronic fatigue. It's probably worth mentioning for anyone else following, that in price terms, once you have added midi & /or neurohub options to get the most out of your C4 it's broadly in the same price bracket as the FI i.e. £300+ whereas the SY-1 is retailing for around half of that, but also that the FI and C4 are true synth pedals i.e. generating synth waveforms whereas the SY-1 is a synth emulator.

@stewblack - thanks very much for that "first impressions" post - very useful. I've had the FI and several SA pedals, but not the C4, but also decided to opt for the SY-1 because of its phenomenal tracking and the immediacy of its dials. I think you're the only BC'er I've come across who has had all three of the FI, C4 and SY-1, and I sense you're broadly at the same level of "geekery" as me i.e. happy to get into some PC editing. So I'll be following how things develop with interest!

No debate from me on about Time being ELO's best! Be interesting to hear if @casapete agrees? We've got a few weddings in the diary, but all deferrals from last year. Local pub landlord is chomping at the bit to get bookings going post June 21st. ^^ exactly this. Fingers crossed.

Saves me getting into my nuclear bunker. Which is greatly appreciated, given the weather is so nice out there today 😁 You've clearly been avoiding the PB mega-thread then!

Amazing! That's even more than @bassfan. Very jealous of you both! 😊 Ok that gets a bit of a "wow!" from me. Any festival footage?

That's brilliant news Dave. Enjoy it mate!

Oh the irony! Did someone suggest on here that gigs might be coming back by the end of May (to the clatter of multiple BC'ers falling off chairs? 😂)? We unexpectedly got asked this morning if we are free to play a fantastic venue tomorrow and Monday night, but due to getting zero notice and one band member up in Scotland this weekend etc. we're unable to take them on. Damm!!! Still I'm aware that several of my BC buddies are very much getting back into harness with their bands. Fingers crossed their rehearsals and gigs go well and a raised glass to us all on that front

Amused by references to "the truth" in a universe where we literally understand 4% of what exists and have no real idea what the remaining 96% is about. There isn't a right or wrong answer about using a pedal board compressor live any more than there is right or wrong answer about whether you play a 4 or 5 string (or both) or choose to slap or have a dirt pedal on your board. Not everyone wants or needs compression (i.e. ratio / threshold / make up gain aspects appropriately set) to control their dynamics and many of us are happy to get all the attack and note precision we need from using a pick and swapping back to fingers for a rounder sound, without needing a slow release and fast attack setting on a PB comp. IMO it's entirely valid to hold a different viewpoint about the value and use of compression in different circs e.g. studio (where it is pretty much always used) vs PB compression live (where it's often not). This guy happens to hold a viewpoint on the topic that I find myself in full agreement with: Should I Use A Compressor with My Bass? – No Treble If you're a better more accomplished bass player and educator than him, then feel free to shout him down 😉

Lozz, that's good to hear. Have you come across Mark from Talking Bass? IMO he's one of the very best bass tutors in the UK. In this little freebie tutorial he's focussing pretty much on note dynamics and playing consistency: Out of interest, what comp did you settle on in the end and what attack and release settings in terms of fast / slow have you got your comp on to give the notes a sharper and more defined feel?

That's very interesting to hear. I wonder if it had anything to do with greater frequency range of the Neox 212 which tops out at 18kHz vs a much more modest 4kHz for the Super Twin and which loses a big chunk of the treble zing in consequence? That was the main reason for me swapping out my BF Super Compact for a BB2 to get access to the 4kHz+ spectrum.

You know it makes a lot of sense. A "Simon does compression in Dallas" YT Course with a short Quiz at the end? You could even have red and blue merit awards. Although we probably need some input from the experts as to what these colours should signify - I'm sure Sid will have a view once he has retrieved his car from the ditch.

Surely the key question, following on from the valuable insight brought to the party by @JohnDaBass in his earlier post, is whether you favour red chillies or blue cheese?

Got a full refund for the second hand value of the damaged cab from BD who were very good about it all; but I'm not really sure that a new replacement would have been available from GR for the same price despite initial noises to that effect. But that's cool - it's not really fair to expect the manufacturer to go the extra mile and take a financial hit. Besides the BF BB2 has not yet been used in anger and I'm very much looking forward to doing so! PS @krispn just corrected your assertion

Managed to finally road test the Akai MPC One this morning. OMG! - I can already tell this is one quality piece of kit and in a different league in terms of feature set to the Behringer RD-8 I've upgraded from. BRX - soz mate, don't hold your breath for me to be moving this one on! But I suspect if you get your hands on one you won't be disappointed.

Chris's excellent rep on this thread is thoroughly deserved! Lots of transactions on BC go through super smoothly; what's actually more telling for me is how folk are treated on the rare occasion when things don't go quite to plan, for whatever reason, which inadvertently happened here. Chris was an absolute gent in seeing this sale through. Top bloke.

Ah you say you were using IEMs that explains it...say no more! [Was just joshing...I thought no one would notice] 😁

Haha, very good. Been too busy fending off requests from my esteemed comp fan boy BCers to borrow my Becos Stella, now that it's been off boarded ahead of band rehearsals starting up again. That and looking down the back of the sofa for some more old 50p coins. Isn't it about time you laid into one knob compressors with no metering as being the spawn of the devil? 😉

And still it goes on, and on, and on... Must have been one of those old 50p coins ..😂

Couldn’t have put it any better! 😂

Haha Sid - I think the consensus is that Mr Al Krow should keep off this subject 😉 Tbf - I really said all I wanted to say in my very first post on this thread and shouldn't have subsequently risen to the bait of responding to the comp fanboys thereafter. But you know how it is: it's too easy to put fingers to keyboard and pop one off as it were, particularly when you're quoted. FWIW - as I said in my earlier post, I thought you summarised the whole thing very well in the post from you I quoted. There's lots of balanced wisdom in there both for comp lovers and users as well as as those who feel use of comps in pubs (or at all) is a bit pointless. [As I know you know that I know you know, that I know...] Oh and when you say: "Just about everything about the bass and bass player will go unnoticed by the average pub crowd", I'm afraid I completely disagree with that statement! But that's a whole 'nother topic!

@Jus Lukin no need to be quite so dismissive of a genuinely held difference of viewpoint as "trolling". It's just simply a difference of viewpoint about the value of compression for something like a pub gig, and one shared by several others in this thread and more widely on BC. And if folk are interested to explore the subject then they're perfectly capable of listening to the points made and to make up their own minds, surely, just as @jrixn1is now doing. If you happen to go onto a thread about slap bass you'll find views expressed both for and against too! Life isn't just one shade of colour and there isn't always a wrong and right. Mazda previews imminent rotary engine revival | Autocar

Nope don't think you are missing anything at all!

I think you make a really good point. I can easily hear the difference in tone between my basses through the same rigs, or the same bass with different pups selected. I can distinguish quite easily different flavours of drive. I suspect a lot of us can, because we're listening out for it all the time. So with training we certainly can hear nuances of tonal differences. Similarly with compression. But for me it's the next level up in terms of tonal nuance and there are so many things that "swamp" it. I'm just still not convinced audiences in a live pub setting ever will. Studio compression with attack and release tweaked for each individual track for the bass to fit sweetly with the drums etc makes a lot of sense and why it's pretty much always done and done well by skilled sound engineers. Sid put it really well when he summarised it as follows: Which is why if it makes you happy about your live sound, go for it. I just happen to be in the camp that agrees with his last sentence.