Al Krow

A funny question when I wouldn't ever be looking to use that particular effect in the mix? It was a home use bit of fun for me e.g. in creating a Royal Blood harmony layered sounds with the pitch shift set at +octave +5th & 4th below etc. You mentioned the chorusy result on the Zoom - that is exactly right. Then multiply that up with several layers and you have total mush on the Zoom. I wouldn't be using that ever in a band context. Helix, however, can handle this. No chorusy effect on a single pitch shift and then combine the layers in parallel - again something you can't do on the Zoom which is series only. It's a simple illustration of the enhanced DSP that the Helix has compared to the Zoom. Not a particularly controversial point, I wouldn't have thought? You should have a go at using your Helix looper to record some time - no DAW required! Although tbf the loopers on both the Zoom B1-4 (I appreciate that this is not available on the MS 60B) and the Helix are very limited. (Aside: the Lekato is a great value little looper, although I've had my head turned by the latest release of the Boss RC-500, which seems a very worth successor to the RC-30 I previously had).

You do have perfectly adequate home tech for recording same as me: the looper on your Helix. My main use of a pitch shift has been at home so yup I can hear the difference very clearly (and it's painful on the Zoom B1-4). Personally I don't have a big use for it in a band context: one of the big plusses of a 5 string is how easy it is to change key! Don't get me wrong - I'm a MASSIVE fan of the B1-4: it's the best value bit of kit I've bought this year. But it has its limitations.

Love to hear a clip of both from you. You're obviously getting a much better result from your MS-60B than I am from my B1-4 on pitch shift! (Or your definition of "perfectly usable" is a different one to mine - which could be equally true and equally valid).

A bit unfair to expect Senior Dept of Health advisers, who are making recommendations to Ministers on which vaccines to speculatively order before they are known to be effective, to make the right call on exactly which vaccines are going to succeed and which fail. And in their defence, they've recommended a spread of 350M doses from various manufacturers to give us a very good chance that we will have ample supply; as the CEO of Moderna said today they are in near final discussions with the UK to supply the NHS. Bingo! The rest as someone has just said is boring... Hindsight is 20:20 vision.

Interesting one. The Zutons original is pretty darned good and they will no doubt continue to be enjoying the royalties from what Amy / Ronson managed to do with the cover, which is essentially a "PMJ version" of the original. But it was the Amy version that made this into a global hit. Cheesy cover by Amy W? Well maybe after being played incessantly for over a decade since it was released it now feels like that, but when it first came out it was just instantaneously catchy and the bass line is still fabulous.

(..of Something by George H) Actually, that's not a bad shout - that gal had some lungs on her! I still think the original was sublime.

Just reminded me about how much I was blown away by this 19 y.o. before she became a global superstar. Dylan has, for me without question, penned one of the most perfect love songs of all time with this and her vocals bring out the depth of emotion beautifully.

Now steady on Mick, you'll be agreeing that Dark Glass make half decent amps next! 😁

Really useful thread - just been reviewing your recommendations; I'm particularly after a wide strap to spread the load as much as possible and the following caught my attention in terms of value / quality: Ibanez BWS90 3.54" - £27 (Muziker - black Friday sale) Gruv Gear Solo Neo 4" - £52 (Gear4Music) Minotaur Padded Leather (Black) 4.3" - around £41 (Thomann) Levy Leather 4.5" - £77 (Thomann) (prices incl. P&P - although this can be saved if you spend above a min or for additional items from some of the above). I was recommended the last two by Mark from Talking Bass who I am huge fan of for his online tuition. He finds the Levy to be a little more comfortable than the Minotaur but, as with many things, he said it's not worth twice as much! Well I have a birthday coming up, trouble is investing in a decent strap I suspect is just going to open the door to certain slightly heavier basses that I've had my eye on but balked at getting, so could actually prove to be a very expensive investment 😁

What a stage great act - can totally get why they would have packed out at that venue! And no, I don't think her is natural or that it matters 😁

Great song, but a straightforward collaboration rather than a re-cover of an original?

Another stunning bass @gafbass02! Really sorry to hear about the health issues - wishing you a full recovery, fingers crossed, mate. I have to agree a cheap EQ pedal can be bit a like a cheap bottle of plonk - sometimes it's possible to pay too little for stuff and regret it after! It's a weird one though, some bits of kit can be amazing value e.g. HB basses (and that's just from the +ve comments I keep reading like the from Stew above and @TheLowDown below - not had one myself); and the Zoom B1-4 mulitfx, which has a very passable EQ ability. I guess the beauty of BC is getting tips on what is great value and what is just cheap - such a key difference!

The one in the pic is a BB1025, which you were present at the Yammy store when it got bought(!) and which has never left my herd and I suspect may never do so! The one that's now back in the herd is the black BB735A, which was one of your favourite models too once! It managed to sweep aside a rather lovely Sandberg Panther Special 5er, which was also on my shortlist. The fact that it was just 20% of the cost might have had some part to play - hehe - but, straight up, it really did seem to go toe to toe with the Berg tonally! But I see you've gone exotically posh since those former days 😁

Yeah - it's kinda revealing that a lot of us on BC, including me, often regard MB gear as "MOR" rather than high-end! I remember going into a PMT store and the sales guy saying that they didn't stock MB gear as it was regarded as being too boutique! Having said that, I recently treated myself to a MB combo (a replacement for the top of the range AC 121 Lite I had a few years back) to leave at my aged folk's place for when I'm regularly up there these days. For £400, I reckon I'm going to struggle to find something that's better value in terms of quality / price. Speaking of Ashdown, there's a pair of lovely Ashdown headphones in the pic - made available to me for a ridiculously good price by @dave_bass5 - cheers buddy. My worst purchase this year (for the second year running!) was a Boss pedal! Last year's brown pedal prize went to the Boss OC-3, this year to the Boss SYB-5. Tbf it's relatively ancient tech - I just wanted to see how it stacked up against its new sibling the Boss SY-1. Well it's simply pants in comparison! But I suspect if I was going on value for money and most use my "best buy" trumping a very worthy Tech 21 VT Bass DI which is such a good pre-amp - it provides a clarity and articulation to my basses which I didn't realise I was missing before I had it (and would certainly have been a perfect partner for the AC 121 Lite I mentioned I sold a while back) - and also my recently reacquired Yammy BB735A, which I'm loving, and both of which in another year I'd have happily given top billing to, is the cheap as chips, versatile multifx, headphone amp, drum machine and tuner in the shape of the Zoom B1-4. In fact I liked it so much, I've got a second one to slip into my gig bag which allows me to lazily leave the first at the heart of my small pedal board and which just also sneaks into the pic below.

Boss OC-5 in action on this clip. But forget that - I want the Boss RC-500!!

+1 for the Lekato - been happily sitting on my compact board for a while and takes up very little space. Really tempted by the recently released Boss RC-500, appreciate it's out of budget in terms what ped is looking for, but it looks great and a nice step up over the Boss RC-10R for just £30 more.

@TheGreek Have to 'fess I do like a bit of PMJ - great fun and a BIG following. We've kinda nicked that swing / vibe for our cover of that one in our 50s/60s band. Our guitarist has a sweet spot for Heart and that one is definitely an improvement on Spirit's original, although I do prefer the Led Zep cover better - hehe. Oh, and I still like DG amps... 😁

Oh dear are you deliberately trying to induce a bad bout of Eden GAS in me? 😁 They seemed to be all the rage 6 years or so back when I first started being a bit more focussed on gear / spending time on BC (obviously mere coinicidence - haha). But have since pretty much disappeared from view on the amp front?

What I do love is that both my current and previous 735As feature in very decent YT clips by a couple of our pro-bassists 😊

Story here is that TSWbeEnough (yup - you really do need to ask @pedto shorten that - lol!) had a K sticker on the bass, which has left a very minor blemish when he removed it. (Bet none of you could spot it from the pic I posted? 😊) Given that it is now Al Krow's bass, he could have left it on, none of us would have been the wiser about the blemish and he could have asked me for a higher price - certainly by at least the cost of the sticker, which I've now got to go out and buy! 😂

I loved these boys when they first appeared on the scene back in the 80s. This was a really poignant show for a completely different (sad) reason.

Be following closely how your experience of the 735A develops as I am definitely partly to blame for persuading you to get this! FWIW if my first experience of a 735A was a meh 6/10, which I put down to poor set up, my current experience, second time around, with a really well set up and well played in bass (and for a really good price!) - thanks for all of that to @TwoStringsWouldBeEnough (although he really could have chosen a more compact Avatar name - lol!) is a really happy 9/10! I don't tend to give 10/10, so you get the idea!