Al Krow

Excellent and a seriously long list! Are they actually live users on pedal boards or just endorses though? The gear rig videos you recommended checking out does look like a very good shout and not just for compression.

Yup good one. Probably why they replaced Mark Stoermer 😂 The question was a genuine one, it would be interesting / useful to know which world class bassists have pedal board comps for live use and which don't.

Congrats - yeah saw you'd managed to nab one for a very decent price. Worth checking out this thread and there's another one dedicated to just the HX Stomp also. Helix Floor/LT/HX/Stomp Owners' Club - Tips, Ideas & Patches - Effects - Basschat

But apparently according to the OP the comp in the TC amp is pants 😉 If you feel that Paul McCartney is too "old a name" to be considering using a pedal board compressor for his live performances (and I'm not sure why you would think that, given he was touring right up to pre Covid), by all means share more modern day successful touring musicians of similar calibre who are actually using pedal board compressors for their live performances and which ones are they using? Also good to know which ones don't seem to bother with pedal board compressors who, like Paul M, are happy to leave things to venue sound engineer to sort compression out as part of getting a balanced mix. I'll get the ball rolling. 4.23 Mark Stoermer, like John Paul Jones, doesn't appear to be using any pedals live - certainly no compressor in sight. I'm assuming 2013 isn't too far back in ancient history... I guess I should just make clear I have zero objections to anyone using a pedal board compressor (or a £5k bass for that matter) and apologies if, by taking one side of the debate, it seems I am! Please crack on if it's working for you - that's the most important thing! The point I'm making here is that if top / world class bassists don't consider a pedal board comp worth bothering with, and vice versa, then there's maybe a message in that for the rest of us mere mortals also in terms of "misconceptions".

Here's the advice I'd give to a kid starting out: Get a decent bass, amp and cab / combo, there's plenty out there, but you don't need to spend the Earth: you'll get a very decent rig and bass for under £1k particularly if you buy used. Give any one of us a call and we can point you in the right direction. Don't get too distracted by gear, it's a lot of fun but it's not what it's really all about. Get a cheap multi fx if you fancy exploring pedals. A Zoom B1-4 costing £65 will be just fine, it's even got a easy to use tuner built in. Spend as much time as you can practising and get yourself into a band. Playing live can be great, personally I can't think of too much I'd rather be doing. And remember people don't don't give a fig if you have a £5k bass or a £500 one, or about nuances of bass tone, that's what middle aged bassists on BC, like me, spend endless hours discussing. Audiences come to hear you and your band play and to have a great night out. And above all, have a lot of fun making music. Good luck!

Damn, Paul McCartney's post Beatles pedal board apparently comprised a Pete Cornish multi fx with distortion, chorus and tuner. Can't believe he wasn't using a pedal board comp - what's going on?! 😁 I'll get my coat.

John Paul Jones pretty much didn't use any effects live, went straight to amp. Man, what a loser. 😁

Apparently Jaco didn't use a pedal board compressor live. Left it to the WR sound engineer. I guess he must have sounded shite.

Some folk seem to manage without any pedals other than a tuner and go straight into their amps. I'm a little staggered that anyone goes to listen to them 😁

Hi Rb - that's pretty much exactly it! My post below from a couple of weeks back, ties in exactly with what you're hearing. The 425/424 are a slightly updated version of 415/414 model that you had, with laminated rather than single piece necks. The 1025/1024 then adds more refined pups and bridge and I think the body construction on the 1025/4 is 3 piece construction vs 1 piece (I believe) on the 425/424 and predecessor 415/4. As I mentioned in my post below, I think the bulk of the tonal difference is down to the more refined pups. I didn't find that the 1025 had higher output than my 425 - the pups were pretty hot on that. Dunno if that could be down the relative pup heights of the two basses you've had? But all in all, sounds like you've hit the jackpot with your 1024. What was the issue with the 414 neck you had?

How are you finding the 1024 compared to your previous 414? Is this one more "you"? You and @gobasserk have definitely started a trend for BB's on wood! Does look great!

You're actually contractually obliged to get a B1-4 as a compact version of your B3N, (btw that's exactly what I did and there's one on for a good price in FS right now), as you started up the B1-4 thread! It's the law, right? 😁 Besides it resulted in me getting two of the darned things and the same for @JohnDaBass also. Oh yes and another one due to your Boss SY-1 thread, and worst of all a thread on Ibby SRs meaning I'm now lumbered with three of those! As for that neat Lekato Looper we've both got, was that me or you spotting that? Clearly your threads can be very expensive! More seriously, if you're thinking about trading in your B3N, then worth noting that the B1-4 does have some neat little upgrades over the B3N, as well as being more compact, e.g. global vol and 3 band EQ (can't recall if the B3N has a global vol?); drums being accessible parallel to rather than just within a patch and being able to access the patches in banks of 10. The B3N wins on number of stomp switches and 150 patch storage rather than 50. Speaking of John and his bass, we're trying to work out whether we can easily ToneLib file share by email. If we can, I'd be very happy to make my 35 or so patch efforts available to other BCers on this thread.

I think many Emperors would claim to feel utterly naked without their compressors always on. Oh wait...

I'll let you have a pic of my PB at some point with all the others that have survived many and various pogroms. Tbf on you many, many were not so lucky and are now being used and abused by other BCers, eBayers, fBook and Gumtree afficiandos. But that was pre Covid. The world has changed...

Haha! I'm happy to take a sweepstake on that following your recent "success" with the SY-1 prediction. Oh wait...

A decent dedicated octaver will likely have better tracking in terms of going low, although pretty much all octavers will warble if you sustain the note too long (@Woodinblack helpfully pointed out that this was not "unusual as the primary octave dies faster than the harmonics"). I recently got a Boss OC-5 which I can readily recommend and is reasonably priced (obviously nothing is going to compete with the B1-4 on price though!). They seem to be flying off the shelves though and a lot of places are out of stock.

Now if that were only true for my pedalboards! 😁

But at least I've FINALLY got around to getting one! Must have bought and sold literally 100 pedals in the time it's taken me to decide which DAW to get!! I mean what was going on here? I guess (more seriously) a DAW is not just for Christmas in the way a pedal can be: once you've invested the time getting to grips with it you're kinda committed; it's more of a serious relationship than a holiday romance. Well that's my excuse anyway! 😁

Congrats - that's a stunner!

So, perhaps the biggest dither in DAW-land over. I've decided the answer has gotta be whatever is going to make it easiest to collaborate with yer BC mates... In my case that's going to be Cubase Elements £77 from Juno or £78 via Amazon. And apparently it's great. Can't wait!

@krispn - cheers for taking the to time write that lengthy post for us. Certainly no need to personalise this as I'm actually not looking for any particular guidance or input - I've had plenty! But thanks for your very kind offer - it's appreciated. FWIW my focus these days is much more addressing all the other stuff you rightly mentioned in your excellent earlier post; with gear being an enjoyable & fun distraction rather than the main event - although I do still end up getting suckered into thread re-treads such as this, lol! My challenge (and apologies for continuing to repeat it), in the context of this thread, is for folk who are finding compression works well to share what that actually sounds like, as a couple have already kindly done. I get that it will be tailored to their own set up. Others can then make up their own mind whether what they are hearing is going to be useful for them or not in one of the eight areas you outlined earlier, plus the more limiter focus that ped shared. And if we get a few more clips to add to the ones we already have, this thread could very possibly end up being one of the most useful compression threads ever! 😊

@acroxixo sounds great! Feel free to share any YT clips of you playing the bass / rig in action with either (or both!) of your bands. Of course, I'm pretty much the last person on BC who is going to contradict you about just how good a BB1025 is!

+1^^ And a top notch Berg amp (yes it's D class and I know we were debating those a few pages back - but it gets my vote!) head to top it off. (I think there's one in the FS right now). @acroxixo is there a full rock band you're in, that your rig gets played with?

@krispn cheers mate - TJS's stuff is always thoughtfully put together. What would be fantastic, when you're next at rehearsal, is if you (or anyone else!) could get a recording done "in the mix" with comp engaged and switched off - I'm sure this thread will still be "open" when your laptop has been cleaned up 😊 The nuance point you mention is, however, an important one - as we are constantly told the real benefit of the PB compression is "in the mix". And maybe you could encourage your southern buddy to share the clip he's already done, as I'm sure everyone is bored with me and him going round in circles (again) - lol! Particularly given that it would take 30 seconds to upload and he's made a point of referencing it earlier in the thread. If I recall correctly, his band was sounding pretty good in case he's feeling shy!

Soz - gonna be nothing further from me in terms of compression related clips - I'm not the one saying that "normal" (i.e. not being purely used as a limiter) pedal board compression makes a noticeable difference in a band mix. Besides, I've posted a shed load of clips on this forum over the past few years (this week's are on the OC-5 thread); so I'm sure a few BC comp fanboys , if they really believe in the value of pedal board compression, will oblige. If there's silence on the subject, well I think that tells its own story. As yours is already done, shouldn't take any effort to share that one for us all to have a listen to? And maybe the OP could oblige with a couple to illustrate what the misconceptions are he believes we are all suffering from? Obliged to Kev for getting the ball rolling with that A/B comparison of compressor both bypassed and engaged from 2013. Good man. Be useful to hear a few transparent clean compressors, without the overlay of heavy dirt, in action in similar vein particularly in a band mix. But I'm not holding my breath! 😉