Al Krow

@jjl5590 plenty of love for Ibby SRs, as you can see from this thread! I'm a particular fan of the SR Premiums. Fantastic value used.

Probably worth my mentioning before it gets lost is that the EQ patch, whilst clearly of deep interest to some (hehe!), was actually not the key patch I wanted to share with any B1-4 / B3N owners checking in. That was actually the excellent MXR BEF sim I also uploaded on the same post earlier. Be interested to see what you think of it. Definitely one of the better multifx filter sims I've come across - particularly given it offers both up and down sweep.

Just to finish this off from my side today - here's a Low EQ patch with the HPF setting, rather than Shelf setting, with -12dB/octave cut starting at 80Hz. The most "boomy" of my bits of gear is actually my 4 string Stagg EUB, whose only tone control is a sub-sonic boost, which I've found to be a bit pointless! I have it set at nil. The Shelf EQ patch leaves the EUB sounding a little "hollow" at the low end; whereas the HPF EQ gives a warmer / fuller low end tone certainly on my Stagg. HPFEQ.zb1f

Haha - true. But folk are willing to part with £200+ on pedals that are "just eq'ing" whereas this little box of tricks is providing you quite a lot of sophistication on that score for not a great deal!

My pleasure and privilege to start Jay's feedback thread. I recently sold Jay my Grizzly Bass pedal which he received safely over in Norway. He sorted out prompt international payment and there was good communication throughout, making this another pleasant and hassle-free BC transaction. Jay is a gent and I'm happy to recommend him to my fellow BC'ers. Bas

Sold my Fishman Fission pedal to Jeff a few weeks back. He's fast becoming a regular for some of my PB gear! Another very straightforward and hassle free transaction. Looking forward to clips of you in Royal Blood mode sometime soon! Cheers, Bas

Yeah fair point. Ideally you would want a full parametric EQ with control over Q to give you pin-point control over resonant frequencies but, even so, a semi para EQ will still be a step up from the bass pre-amp or the amp itself where you're stuck with the "factory" bass centre frequency. I guess that's another plus for the B1-4 in that you can adjust the centre frequency (albeit only in 10Hz intervals) that you're cutting i.e. it's giving you a semi-parametric EQ. Zoom B1-4 (or Zoom B3N) as a 4 band semi para EQ If you wanted / needed it you could have 2 Low EQ and 2 High EQ sims in one patch (with a slot still spare!) to give you a 4 band semi para EQ, allowing you to cut or, indeed, boost in the 20Hz to 640Hz range for the Low EQ and 500Hz to 20kHz range for the High EQ. Pretty impressive as "just another thing" from a £60 pedal!

Agreed Sid that adjusting (in this case lowering) pup heights is a sensible thing to be thinking about and in fact was the very first thing I did with the "replacement" 735A I've now got (please see the the Yammy thread for my quick review). Bear in mind, and I point I should have mentioned earlier, that my testing of the "Shelf EQ" patch was done whilst playing a low D below the bottom E, so not a low end issue that most 4 string players will commonly encounter in everyday use unless they are engaging drop D or de-tuning - so this is more geared to 5 string players and the patch itself is focussed at just below the low E fundamental. I'm trying to think whether it was my former (white) Yamaha BB425 of mine you heard a couple of years back - but I don't recall exactly when you are thinking of (I've had a few white Yammys now!). And yes the pups on that were kick-a*s punchy!

Actually Gav - now you've mentioned it the more significant benefit is in passive mode on the 735A. This has the same window rattle capability in passive mode as on active mode set flat - which is what you would expect. However there is not the same ability to cut / boost bass in passive mode (the only EQ is treble which acts as a tone control) and the Shelf EQ comes into its own to cut the low end below 40Hz. You'll be able to do the same on some amps e.g. some of the older Markbass by simply cutting the bass; although the bass EQ is more commonly set at higher than 40Hz (typically 65Hz through to 80Hz) on many amps; so an EQ pedal just allows a little more finesse. And in the case of the B1-4 it obviously comes at no extra cost, being just another part of its Swiss army knife toolkit.

Nah it occurs in active mode with EQ set flat. Besides the NE2 doesn't have a passive mode. Yup cutting the bass EQ on the bass itself will do something similar, no question - although I'm never 100% certain where the bass EQ is centred on basses as the manufacturers seem to think this is vital IP they need to protect! I can be more selective / certain what frequencies I'm cutting with the pedal I guess is one advantage.

A couple of my active 5 string Yammy basses have a very meaty low end - in particular my NE2 and 735A, both of which are easily capable of rattling window panes! Taming the low end - Low EQ sim To deal with this I've put together a little "Shelf EQ patch" using the LowEQ sim set at 40Hz and -12dB. In fact I had two of these sims combined with the ZNR at the end to reduce background noise from my PB, and it very noticeably reduced the window rattle. I think this is going to be my default clean patch going forward and I'll add this to the back end of existing patches (other than drives, which don't need any help losing low end - lol!) where space permits. Only takes up 14% DSP. FYI - I found the "Shelf" setting to be significantly more effective than the "HPF" setting. A pretty neat filter! - Env Filter sim Not sure whether this is a recent addition, but I noticed I hadn't downloaded the Env Filter sim which is modelled on the much loved MXR BEF. Blimey this is good! In fact I'll go as far as to say it's as good as anything I found on Helix and whilst it's not quite in the same league as my 3Leaf Proton Mk4, I'd say it was 80% of the way there. Unlike the actual MXR BEF, which is uni-directional, this provides the option of both up sweep and down sweep. I set up both at the front of the chain, with the Shelf EQ patch at the back end to deal with the low end spikes. Patches for the B1-4 if you want to give them a spin: ShelfEQ.zb1f BEF-UP.zb1f BEF-DN.zb1f

Delivered to my door two days behind MatiZ's, but this time not by UPS but by pro bassist Kelpie, whom it was my pleasure to meet today. BB735A - quick second-time-around review Very happy with it and a really nice weight at 4.4kg / 9.7 lbs - the same weight as my 1025 (and by coincidence also the same as my KS). Having seen it in the flesh the PG is staying on! My first time around with a 735A, it arrived pretty new but with a set-up that the previous owner had never quite been happy with or was able to fix, including trying lighter tuners. I'd largely got it set up how I wanted but shortly afterwards bagged a played-in P35 which had the additional benefit of the I.R.A treatment and was a bass that had been set up beautifully by pro-bassist, Mark, whom I bought it off. I was never really tempted to pick the 735A up to play after that, so I moved it on. Interestingly Tyler, whom I sold it to and another of our excellent pro bassists on BC (and the third I've already mentioned in this post - blimey these BB's are clearly popular with proficient bass players!), managed to get the 735A to just how he wanted it and absolutely loved it! The only adjustment I've made today is to lower the pup heights - Kelpie had set them quite close to the strings and then put tape over the bridge J to prevent unwanted clicks / pops when he dug in hard. I'm just going to settle for lower pup heights and turn my amp up instead! Sounds and feels good - lovely balance and no noticeable neck dive from its sturdily constructed 5 piece laminate maple and mahogany neck. I immediately preferred the active circuit to the passive on this, which I found less articulate / crisp - but each to their own: I know others, including EJWW in his comments a few posts above, prefer the passive tone on their 734/5As. The passive setting is still a really "nice to have" for me though: not least for peace of mind if the battery fails mid set. The other reason for a grin on my bass-face today is that, having had GAS for an active PJ with 3 band EQ and active / passive option, that was not too heavy and had more accessible frets than I was getting from my Sire P7, this ticks all the boxes! I've also managed to spend < 20% I was half-thinking of forking out on an equivalently spec'd new bass (albeit with nicer woods), and the tone on this 735A easily goes to toe to toe with that high-end bass. So my wallet is feeling hugely relieved and the ulterior motive of turning this into a poor man's midi bass with an additional GK3 pup and pairing with a Boss SY-1000 can move onto the next step!

They seem to be, alongside Schecter and Fender, the brand most able and willing to bring new product to market to keep their line up fresh, even if its just a variation on a theme, whereas Yamaha, who as we all know have a very loyal following, are on around a 5 year cycle before rolling out new product. Not right or wrong, but interesting different commercial approaches.

Any intel / goss on what Ibby might have in store for us in 2021?

Nah, you've got plenty of good company - loads of multifx users have stripped down their pedal boards after getting familiar with their multis. You just need to browse the Helix Stomp thread!

Surely ALL Spectors are? 😄

+1 ^^ both to congrats (they look fantastic) and to trad P vs reverse P config question!

Oooh that is a sexy pic! Mine will have had two years of being regularly played and won't be anywhere near as pristine as yours. On the other hand it will have had free A.R.E. (Acoustic Resonance Enhancement), resulting in "outstanding tonal balance and eliminating the harsh edge common with younger guitars" which Yamaha would charge me an arm for if I had bought a BB2025 (the leg is for the I.R.A treatment). In other words it will at least have been "played in" 😁

Excellent - did you manage to get it for a similarly good or possibly even better price? I am hopefully taking delivery of mine tomorrow morning, when I have arranged to meet the seller...I've had a slightly wicked thought of dropping the PG and just leaving the black PG screws on the satin black body, but I've not seen that done before so no idea if it will look any good! In terms of pics - I won't need to upload a fresh one - it'll be exactly the same as I posted on March 2019. Back in Black! 😁

Cash is fungible 😁

Sold your Status for a...Euro LX Spector? Must be a Yammy player who doesn't know any better 😁 Congrats mate - and the EBS rig behind looks pretty awesome too!

When is your 735A arriving? I ended up agreeing with you that all my pro BB 735A arguments are very valid! Lol! And it's a fraction of the price of a Sandberg Panther Special whilst IMO sounding just as good! That all being the case, there really was only one course of action that I could validly take...

It's a good question. The reason that a lot of folk feel compelled to buy additional pedals is often to complement their multifx in areas where the multifx lacks the processing / emulation power to match dedicated pedals. The landscape changed with the arrival of Helix in what I'd describe as the mid-range price bracket i.e. between Zoom at the budget end and Axe and Kemper at the top end, and we saw a LOT of BC'ers offloading / downsizing their pedal boards as they were finding their Helix's getting close to their dedicated pedals / being perfectly "good enough" for a lot of fx. For me the obvious remaining gap with Helix where it doesn't hit the mark was with filter and synth - partly as it doesn't have a synth engine onboard (like a SA C4 or Panda FI does) but is only a synth emulator. But I've recently come across the Boss SY-1000 which plugs this particular gap and, when combined with the GK3 pup, could very well work as a stand alone pedal board for me. I'm guessing that the QC will be a level up further still from the Boss, but at nearly twice the price I sincerely hope it will be!

Yeah fair. Defo no need to go to any great lengths on this entire matter, I agree.