Al Krow

And definitely get the colour you want 😁

Nah, get the display one from Andertons and save yourself £75 or so (and they're doing a discount on the gig bags too, which are decent quality). You'll feel less precious about it and won't have that moment of heartache the first time you bang the headstock on the ceiling!

Stew - tried downloading your patch and all that is coming up is a clean bypass?

Haha was just about to go for the easy to upload Zoom patch files. I did post a slap EQ screenshot a little while earlier on this thread but without the dual comp - that should get you started. The second of the uploaded patches here is EQ only with the comp switched off. Slap2comp.zb1xf SlapEQonly.zb1xf

With pleasure - just pulling you onto this thread for that. Hopefully you fine with downloading the patches themselves via the ToneLib or Zoom editing software. You're very welcome. And FWIW I've been making the most of my B1X-4 as a headphone amp (as well as a multifx with my rig) this past lockdown week!

Understood, although in my experience it's been more about cutting through with these low notes and I'm finding myself increasingly using the bridge J pups on several of my basses to access the bridge harmonics and generally tighter sound for low end B string work these days. But I wonder, as well as choice of bass and strings, how much having a capable cab makes a difference in getting a tight and punchy low end.

Yes, agreed, it's good to have the freedom not to be tied into a PSU. The Zoom joins the Tonepocket in being capable of being battery operated and obviously nothing to stop you using rechargeable batteries.

Yeah - it does seem that hand size from what you, Chris and other folk are saying shouldn't be a limiting factor in deciding on whether to go for a 5, so it seems pretty safe to disregard that particular supposition of mine!

Agreed. It's only noticeable on some patches and not others and only really in the gap between notes, rather than when playing. The noise gate ('ZNR') effect certainly help - I use them as standard in my fx patches - but it doesn't completely eliminate. Interesting point about compression - I've got two patches for 'slap' one with dual band compression and the other without and the digital noise is definitely more noticeable with the comp. However the overall patch works better with the dual comp.

The one negative on the Zoom pedal sound front is that slight 'digital noise behind the notes'. Something I hadn't noticed until @ped kindly pointed it out to me and now I can't unhear it! Lol! If Zoom could fix that they would have a killer pedal for the price on their hands.

Haha - fair enough! Be interested to get folks' views on a PJB vs Tonepocket shootout if anyone has had both. The other one to keep in view is the TC Spectradrive, which doubles up as a feature rich preamp DI. One key Q - is the line in socket on the Tonepocket the same as an aux in? (If not, the lack of an aux in would be a deal breaker for me).

A couple of valid points, to which it would be fair to add that the heavier neck on a 5 is likely to lead to a slightly greater weight overall and a greater tendency to neck dive. Some manufacturers have dealt with the issue by having a flatter radius on the 5 than on their 4s (e.g. Yamaha 600mm on 1025 vs 250mm on the 1024) and a decent strap is obviously helpful on both these counts. Be interested to understand a bit more about your "sonic mesh" issue - was it just that the really low notes didn't feel as tight as the other 4 strings? To me e.g. a F# played on the 7th fret of the low B is pretty hard to distinguish from a F# played on the 2nd fret of the E string on my 5 string basses. Fair enough. I've landed in exactly the opposite place - I won't consider buying 4 string basses these days: for me it's a case of why settle for 4 when a 5 can do more as I mentioned earlier - in terms of being able to play certain songs a whole octave down compared to a 4 string and being able to get so much more scale range while not having to dance up and down the fretboard with my left hand, the corollary being easier / quicker reach. However, one final practical point comes to mind. I have reasonable finger span. I'm guessing that if your hands are on the smaller than average size a 4 string will be less of a stretch and simply more comfortable to play, in which case a 4 string is much more of a no brainer.

I suspect the Zoom B1four which the OP ended up getting is not going to be in the same league sound quality wise as the Ashdown or PJB kit. But as I've been finding over the past couple of days, it's pretty good nonetheless! And having a tuner and easy to access and adjust drum machine (a lot more so than it's predecessor B3N), plus a host of other fx, makes it a really useful bit of kit as a standalone headphone amp. And then there's its price...

Squiers and Sires. Two very well regarded basses. Just had a trawl through this thread and it seems that the two gents (apologies if I missed any others out) who have had both have arrived at the same conclusion. Jump on that V7! Btw if you're planning to be playing in band down the line you might want to think about something more than 25W for your amp; but you can always upgrade down the line. Now that's a whole 'nother thread 😉

Must admit when someone of Chris' experience makes a 'pearl' of a statement like that, it makes me sit up and take note!

Precious little is going to be life changing when it comes to bass gear. There will be incremental little jumps along the way that bring a smile to your face and, collectively, can make a decent difference. I've been playing 5ers pretty much exclusively for about 18 months now and as far as I can tell there are really no real downsides to 5 strings and a couple of nice benefits, like being able to play certain songs a whole octave down compared to a 4 string and being able to get so much more scale range while not having to dance up and down the fretboard with my left hand, the corollary being easier / quicker reach. It feels a bit like having 6 valves rather than 4 under the bonnet - you don't always need it but it's great when you do. And, besides, it's nice to have that unnecessary extra thumb rest...😉

Blimey - there's clearly a decent market for second hand Sires then OP - buy with confidence! 😁

The wisdom in that statement is to do with what sort of basses the Yamahas and Sadowskys you've got / recently had are. And they are mostly (taken in the round) P-J configuration. Just sayin'! So, in my books, there's only going to be one bass that is going to trump the OP's Sire V7 in that price bracket and that's the Sire P7. Gratuitous pic...

But for your extra £2,250 to £4,000 (new) over the cost of your Sire V7, which btw looks pretty much identical to a Sadowsky on a darkened stage - just quickly check body shape and headstock, you get this: AND most importantly these, which do look super cool and justify the price premium by themselves: But if you're not fussed about having nice knobs straight out of the box, you can stick with your Sire (at least for the next 23 years) and continue to buy milk for the next 6 months 😉

Thanks for that. I've actually been surprisingly smitten by my recent purchase of the Tech 21 VTBassDi (after my singular disappointment with the somewhat polite BDDI a couple of years back) - it's such a versatile preamp and some of the clean settings really bring the bass tone to life - it feels similar in effect to the zing of a fresh set of strings compared to old dead ones. And that's before you head into the warm tube and the full on dirt its capable of. It's decade old tech now, but continues to be one of the most popular Tech 21 pedals and I can understand why!

Nah - I can't imagine anyone saying a Sad is not tasty!

Yeah, but there's a rather tasty ACG just appeared in the FS. And it's not even just full HD. It does 4K and everything!

I've been self-isolating to try to deal with that. Doesn't seem to work.

Just the Sire, matey. Under pressure to replace it with a proper Sadowsky rather than settle for a body double, though, from the miscreants above. I'm managing to resist so far. However, apparently you can get bottled Sadowsky in a Helix patch, so that works for me. Don't make my schoolboy error. Replaced my 5 rack, with a 7 rack. So far so good. ....But forgot to sell the 5 rack.

Well I went for the P7 which gives me a P bass and a J bass all in one and is a "best of both worlds" option so the P7 would actually be my recommendation. But the V7 is pretty much identical to the P7 otherwise, except having two J pups instead of a P and J pups. And there are plenty of folk on this thread who have or had the V7 and think highly of it.