Al Krow

Cheers, I'll be checking that one out too later!

Was rummaging and came across these pearls of wisdom from over a decade ago which, for me, is still very much on point!

The SR16 /18 are soooo cumbersome to properly bespoke programme though. It takes 20 seconds to do something on the RD-8 that would literally take several mins on my old Alesis SR18. That adds up timewise and becomes a barrier to wanting to get any creative stuff done. So you end up just using the preset rhythms.

Haha - @Woodinblack wagered I would be selling mine in time for him to pick up used, that was back last July. He's got a new one!

My apologies for causing you (and possibly also Mr bassfan) additional expense! But, I have to say, as a pedal the SY-1 is a huge amount of fun and insanely tweakable - fortunately setting both filters on noon is a great starting place...anyway this is definitely moving off topic! ...back to Helix 😉

Look forward to hearing what you guys think about it when you've had a chance to put it through its paces and whether it manages to track at speed without glitching, which for me is the key for live use. I'm catered for on the synth front with my Boss SY-1, so won't need to faff about with Helix for that particular fx. Nice little SY-1 review posted earlier today from a fellow BCer.

And risk him or her nicking our bass lines. No way! But fair point - the most authentic bass synth is still done by a...synth.

+1 ^^ Been a Smoothhound user for 3 years now. Liked them so much I've ended up with two: one for each of my pedal boards. And to my surprise they've actually outlasted just about everything else on those boards! Chris has been fantastic whenever I've needed any assistance.

Congrats Lozz - she's an absolute beaut. Can someone please tell Fender to make a 5 string version of this?

Boss SY-1 for you matey. Dial in a couple of good synth sounds without ever needing to hook up to a PC, set and forget. Tracks without glitching like a deer hunter. Job done. Sadly Helix doesn't have the ability to generate a sine, sawtooth or square wave so it's going to struggle on the synth front. The only multifx in the Helix price range that has proper synth ability is the full fat Mooer GE300. The cut down GE300 Lite, announced at NAMM this year, which is Helix HX Effects in size, has lost both the expression pedal and the synth engine.

Congrats! What a great first 5 string you've landed!

For lockdown practice - this £6 headphone extension lead is going to make things a whole lot more comfortable! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002WMMAMU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Aha - a much posher bass and looks great in that finish!

I've tried a few including a number of the excellent filters already mentioned on this thread (not as many as BoOtsy or GisserD mind you!) The analogue pedal that out squelches them all for me is the 3Leaf GR2. Comes up from time to time used. Grab one when they do! YMMV etc.

That one's easy. When learning to ride a bike it's always good to start with stabilisers. And some of us never manage to get rid of them 😁

Wasn't aware that Mark was of SBL heritage, must admit! I think our own Mark @M@23 knows him personally and may be able to confirm. But I guess not unheard of for folk in all walks of life to venture off and do their own thing. At the back of my mind I've got both the Fodera and F Bass founders as having originally learned their trade in Ken Smith's workshop (although that may just be wrong!) Yeah - please do let us know how you get on with the 'The Practice Accelerator' and if it's largely duplicating his free material, that's also worth knowing.

@EBS_freak loved that! So professionally done & sounding! You're sporting a tasty bass, but I couldn't quite make out the make and model - I'm going to have a bit of a wild guess at a Cort A5?

@BillyBass thanks very much for sharing that. Yes - still absolutely looking for highly recommended paid courses that folk have taken and found to be well worth the money. As you spotted, it may not be for me for this year, as I have now signed up to three(!)** of Mark's courses on Talking Bass and I'm only 60% of the way through the first one, but I know several other folk are also looking for lock-down lesson inspiration and it's good to know what else is out there for sure. And hopefully this thread will turn into a useful repository of recommendations that folk can refer to down the line. The course you've recommended seems to have a lot of fans: I've just checked and it's already in the summary list in the first thread post, but it was great to have your detailed comments - really useful for anyone thinking about doing the course. **he keeps offering 30% discounts on courses that I really like the look of and would have likely have signed up for in due course anyway! 😁

Thanks - I've included a precis in the summary.

Hey - first of all welcome to Bass Chat! For a first bass, I'd definitely recommend starting on a 4 string. This thread may be of interest: To save you reading through 20 pages, the "right" answer is a Sire P7, if you want to have both a P and J pup on a bass or a Sire V7 if you're after a Jazz bass 😁 I've recently got a Sire P7 5 string and it's a very versatile and well put together bass. @pepsi-abi, who started the other thread a few weeks back, ended up getting the Sire V7 4 string and I'm sure she'll be able to share how she's getting on with it.

Yes indeed, sounds like a really helpful add on. And I suspect as well as beneficial for those taking the course, rewarding for you to see the progress folk have made and to establish a connection with your 'students'. Hope it goes well - and ties in nicely with the Jeff Berlin discussion I've just been having with fretmeister above.

I learned something new today - bass notation on the bass clef strictly requires the use of an octave-up pedal, as the true pitch of our basses is an octave below what's actually written! I guess a lot of folk know that already, but I certainly didn't!

Haha - fair enough! So would I be correct in summarising the course you've done as being "aimed at teaching how to read 'proper' bass clef music notation"? Definitely something I need to think about doing at some point soon - I was learning classical guitar at about the same time you were having your piano lessons but that was purely treble clef!

@fretmeister - really good mini review, thank you. Exactly the sort of helpful detail for folk to get an idea of whether to look into a particular paid online course further. My only follow up query is that the first course which you took seems to be aimed at teaching 'proper' bass clef music notation. But what extra is it bringing to the party for someone, like yourself, who can already read music on the bass clef given that you've had classical piano lessons?

Pulling you onto this thread... Also worth you posting an ad in the "Items Wanted" forum. Great choice of bass btw!