Al Krow

Nice book collection! (And the bass isn't too shabby either!)

Yeah bollox to the first bit, I've heard your set up and frankly the bit I liked most was the bass! Second bit I get: my OP guitarist had turned pro and he was also barely out of college. Almost like rock n roll should be!

The Ugly Andys?

"Yeh that Andy was just great!" Almost impossible for anyone to get upset...😁

Been chatting to a couple of BC mates and it turns out all three of us either still are or previously have been in bands where the guitarist was the better bass player. Any of you been in a similar set up and, if so, how did that work out? In my case, I'd only been playing bass for a couple of years and had just started a 50s/60s rock n roll band. The guitarist was a seriously good musician and with respect to my current and previous crews, the best guitarist I've worked with. In the end he had a major crush on the singer who didn't feel the same way and ended up leaving. I did occasionally find it annoying at rehearsals when he picked up my bass without asking!

Agreed it's good to have choice! And depending on the feature set you want, there does seem to be a nice hierarchy of price and capability evolving in the 'compact' and 'super compact' multi-fx space and you can slot in at the right level for your individual requirements: Compact DG / Neural DSP Fractal FM3 Super Compact Boss GT 1000 Core Helix Stomp Zoom B1-4 Obviously plenty I've missed off that list! Not sure that cost / value was ever linear though i.e. you can pay a fair bit more for a marginal improvement and why a £2,000 bass is never going to be 400% better than a decent £500 bass. The entry point here is a Zoom B1-4 which is around £65 to your door and, having had both, I can say that the Stomp is definitely a big step up but certainly not a 6x better product than the Zoom. On PSU surely it depends on how many other pedals you are wanting to power - but I might be missing a trick here? Some key considerations in getting one of these rather than e.g. the Stomp are going to be whether the following features are of interest and whether folk would be willing to pay another £200, given these differences? 24 rather than 6 blocks (and the associated greater processor power that comes with this capability); a display that's 40% bigger (albeit monochrome rather than colour); access to the full Boss library of effects, but not yet as broad as the imitation of boss and other effects provided by Helix.

Announced a few days back: https://de.juno.co.uk/products/electro-harmonix-mainframe-bit-crusher-effects-pedal/793996-01/

Folk who like to run some of their pedals in parallel, rather than in series, do often use one or more fx loops which is why we have kit such as this being used by our fellow BC'ers (this one has 3 loops): With the Core if you were only needing one loop then you can actually use the other as an aux in - now that is neat! Its more modest power consumption compared to the Helix kit will also come in handy if you want to pair the Core with your other favourite pedals using just a single PSU without needing to invest in something like the Ciocks DC7.

I don't think Bartolini did themselves any favours when they introduced their budget Bart range for some of the more entry level basses; that's left a few of us, including me, wary of the brand which is a shame and perhaps unfair with regard to their higher end pick-ups. Personally, I very much associate the classic Spector sound with EMG pups and the TonePump preamp. Having said that the new Legend range does look great with their neck through design!

You know that your two dodgy Boss pedals were about 320 years old (and not an almost new £400 piece of kit) 😂 I suspect this could be possibly quite a step up rather than just a different flavour. One example: if you want to have other pedals in a parallel loop with the Stomp you need to assign one of the blocks to the loop, right? So two loops = two blocks assigned leaving you just 4 (the same as a Zoom MS-60B) for your effects. Ok that will often be plenty, but not always e.g. you want to set all your patches up with an hpf at the start and a limiter at the end and maybe a couple of EQ options with tailored mids. Well that's your 4 blocks gone already. On the Core, the layout of the 2 loops is really straightforward (if you look at the rear panel) and this thing has 24 blocks!! In Helix terms that's pretty much "unlimited". Never being constrained by the number of available blocks again, seems to me more than a "marginal improvement". Comparison of Core vs Stomp Useful and I think trying-to-be unbiased review here If this really does have all of Boss' latest and greatest pedal hits, as the Boss blurb indicates, (e.g. the about to be released OC5, the SY1 etc) then this really could be an excellent multifx. Two further things: I love the fact that this has a decent sized screen and the same processing power as the GT 1000 i.e. it has not been cut down in the way that the full fat Helix has been with the smaller Helix units, and which is why we still have 24 blocks available in the Core.

Ever thought of moving to Belarus? You'll get plenty less choice there 😁 Did someone previously mention that the perfect number of basses was nine? That works for me (again)!

Yeah - hats off to Line6 for their customer service on that - definitely good to hear. Much better than what I'm currently getting from Amazon on an Asus laptop they sold me! But, equally, I completely understand you now wanting a back up in case it happens again! Btw I am a generally massive fan of Line 6, their innovation and speed to market and the way they have moved things on with their Helix line up. And I'm just as much a fan of their parent group...Yamaha, whose basses I adore. But I'm also thrilled by what Boss, the old gits(!) have been doing to update and keep relevant their product ranges. For example the Boss SY-1 is on a different planet to the predecessor Boss SYB-5 in terms of its tracking and features. I think this new GT-1000 Core is a very exciting new addition to the multifx options we have and will finally give the Stomp some serious competition, at a similar price point, particularly with the additional processing power it seems to be bringing to the party. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on one. And in my case, it won't be replacing the Stomp, but the Helix HX Effects, where its more compact size is another real plus in my books.

Only the stuff I've already shared on the Helix thread - including your own 'blow out'. I wasn't particularly bothered about the previous reports of the Stomp overheating or my own USB issue (which could be just wear & tear related). But an almost new Stomp failing on a gig (how old was yours when that happened?) coming on top of the rest was definitely concerning, particularly as I know you're not one to abuse your gear. A quick search on the net, just to confirm we weren't unique, threw up a few of these threads: https://line6.com/support/topic/45406-hx-stomp-sudden-loss-of-sound/ Having had both a Stomp and HX Effects the HX Effects has, to me anyway, a more sturdy feel to it. Maybe all this stuff was just teething issues and Helix have got it all sorted now.

And mentioned again by you, for a third time by the looks of it - hehe. Good to see you adding value to your own thread 😁 And there's now even been a link provided. Service with a smile eh?

But folk who are happy with their rig aren't necessarily going to be that fussed about amp and cab sims? I'm certainly not, which is why I have the HX Effects: that has precisely none of them! Besides it seems to have a very cool IR loading capability should you want it. In my experience, the quality of multi fx sims (eg synth, filter and pitch shift, in particular) is very much related to the processing power on tap. This seems to leave the Stomp and HX Effects in the rear view mirror on that score. Doesn't reach the processing power of the forthcoming DG multi, but it is less than half the price of that unit, so it's a good compromise on price vs power for me. And knowing Boss, this will be built like a tank. That has been a bit of an achilles heel on the Stomp from the feedback I've seen.

This one's on guitar but he does a pretty good job on his reviews. It's not an in depth review by any means, though. I guess there will be a lot more YT stuff on the GT-1000 and this shares the same platform, patches and editing software as that.

£599 https://www.peachguitars.com/boss-gt-1000-core.htm

Yeah - but neither do the current gen Zoom or HX Stomp and Effects. The Stomp does have a balanced out and you can always use a 1/4" to XLR cable with that, if you need. What's going to save my B1-4 is a) it's just ridiculously good value b) it's a great headphone amp with aux in and c) I really enjoy the drum machine for home practice. My HX Effects ain't going to be hanging around too much longer though! Dunno whether the Boss has a balanced out though...or a built in drum machine 😊

Comparable in size to my Zoom B1-4 and half the pedal board footprint of my Helix HX Effects! 24 effects blocks in series and parallel. Yes that's right, 24 effects blocks (vs Helix Stomp and HFX both with sub 10 block limit).

O....M.....word!!! Colour me very interested!

Well I'm sure we can all chip in here. I get that the BDDI can be tricky to dial in e.g. I think it took @Lozz196 several years(!) before he found how to get to the sweet spot on his. Which Zoom do you / have you had? There are a bunch of very happy BC Zoom users (me included) who get some great sounds out of our Zoom multis - I'd head over to this thread if you still have one: In terms of the Stomp it would be useful, as a starting point, to understand what the rest of your signal chain is in terms of: what bass you're using, rest of your pedal board, amp and cab. Following which, hopefully one or more of the many Stomp users on this thread should be able to jump in with a few helpful tips!

Agreed 😉

In respect of the OPs query regarding the HX Stomp, that does provide a balanced out, albeit from a normal jack output rather than an XLR, which can go straight to the desk. (But you're right, a fair few don't).

And then there were 4...see what you've started here @Stofferson😁?