Al Krow

Comment above was in relation to the SY-300, which I'm pretty sure is polyphonic?

Ahhh if only... 🙄

A little bit of synth history (well my sawtooth take it on it anyway ) ... Started delving into this side topic when finding myself surprised that retailers can still price the 2004 released Boss SYB-5 for between £120 and £150 new, when the vastly more capable new SY-1 model is about to hit the shelves at £175. It's predecessor, the SYB-3, was released in 1996. I'm a little tempted to pick up a SYB-5 (used of course!) just to compare how the tech has improved in the intervening 11 years. Yup that's not me being bad at sums - but based on the assumption that the SY-1 is a repackaged and cut down version of the polyphonic SY-300 which came out in Autumn 2015 as a belated response to the much admired 2011 Roland GR 55. Moving into more recent times, the Panda Future Impact came out hard on the heels of the Boss SY-300 in the summer of 2016, as a successor to the 9 preset Akai Deep Impact. The Akai was released and pulled relatively quickly in the mid 1990s but got itself a bit of a cult following resulting in stratospheric prices which are belatedly coming back down to earth. The FI with its synthesized blocks of oscillators, filters and envelope generators and 99 presets pretty much became top dog until...last month and the July 2019 release of the Source Audio C4. Along the way we have had the initially popular Markbass SuperSynth which was released in 2009 with minor cosmetic changes made in a v2 released in 2015, but was somewhat done for by the arrival of the FI; the quirky 2017 Bananana Matryoshka which we loved but found hard to get many gigable sounds from and two 2018 releases: the Pigtronix Mothership 2 which provided us with a small footprint and attractive form factor analog synth but never really captured the hearts of us bassists; and the 2018 Meris Enzo which seemed to hold a fair bit of promise but requires midi to get the best out of and seems already at risk of being eclipsed by the C4. In hindsight 2015, with the arrival of the Boss SY-300, heralded a new era of development and competition between pedal makers in the synth arena and without doubt now is a great time to be getting into bass synths!

👍👍👍

We weren't being that quiet in the bass-ment last night Dave 😁 Bear in mind that the Mesa M6 is pretty non-linear in its response i.e. it gets loud pretty quickly. We had the gain and master at between 3 and 4 out of 10 and I'd likely not go that much louder with a full band, maybe to typically 5 / 10 (or poss 6 if I was really pushing it). After Sat's gig when the SC was feeling a little bit 'scratchy' at higher volumes in a large venue, the next large venue we do I defo need to give the F112 an outing to see how it compares. My gut instinct is that it will do very well.

That's a very Sad quip, Dave 😂

Whereas I love having access to 3 band EQ rather than just bass and treble on my active basses. If you think it could provide a back up to a Sadowsky, then that would seem to me to be high praise indeed! Well I moved my BB 735A on earlier in the year, and this indeed could be a tasty replacement for it! Even has a striking similarity to the Yammy headstock

Sooo much going for this bass, as you guys above have also spotted! But your last point could be the killer one and not in a good way! I've been trawling the net for some idea on weight and not found anything that looks accurate / sensible. I took the liberty of emailing Jackson last night - hope to hear back within a couple of days. If anyone beats me to it, please do post.

You're welcome 😁 I would also have potentially thought about getting the C4 if you hadn't started this thread (or more likely kept my FI), so I guess one good turn and all that...

I think synth lends itself to polyphonic use perhaps more so than many other effects. And if polyphony is available that seems a really nice plus to me and in Woody's case a "must have" which I can understand. There were some nice, albeit brief, examples of polyphony on the most recent short clip of the SY-1 I posted last night on this thread.

Fair enough, Dave. Fyi - the F112 isn't much bigger than the SC and has a wedge corner to enable it to be used as a monitor:

Just a thought - but why not dispense with the ST, not bother getting the SC and just get a BB2 as a one stop shop that will cater for all your needs? Or if you want something outstanding, a Fearless F112 which, as much as I love my SC for its lightness and general capability, just deals with the whole sonic spectrum (lows, mids and highs) with more authority than either the SC or even the BB2. It is IMO the best 1x12 cab I've ever come across - had a fellow BCer over last night @dave_bass5 buying a pedal back off me and I suspect he's a convert to the Fearless F112 too

Harry - I think you are spot on. It seems to me that Boss have taken the SY-300 and packaged it into something that is 1/5 the size and 1/3 the price and without the program-ability with their new SY-1. My expectation is that the FI and C4 will almost certainly edge it over the SY-1 in terms of quality of synth engine, but the SY-1 wins on price and for many of us (me included) on work-flow and is also polyphonic which the other two aren't. Once I have incorporated synth as a staple sound into our sets and got my bandmates used to it, I don't rule out returning to the FI, or joining the C4, fold. Particularly if FI release a more compact Mk II (there's a a lot of empty space in the FI shell!) with polphony to refresh their offering.

@Osiris Yup indeedy! That's exactly why I've sold my FI and this will be arriving shortly to take its place (starting to land in the UK) I'm afraid that as @HazBeen confirmed, the Stomp isn't much cop a synth machine. You won't get anything close to even the SY-1, let alone the C4 or FI with the Stomp. The Stomp's filter sims are pretty decent though and its drive effects seem to me to be very good indeed. Looking forward to you posting your recommended settings for multi-band compression, which I am sure a lot of your fellow BC'ers will be interested in.

Yup: more bass player's grin, less space at home for 95% of the time and smaller bank balance. But also less grumble from your back

But you were seriously thinking of a whole day trip up to London over the weekend, so I don't entirely buy that 😂

Well let me start by actually using a synth pedal live (which I'm much more likely to do with the SY-1) and I can always 'graduate' to the C4 when these start coming up in the FS in six months time, if the consensus by then is that it really is that much better. I've decided to nail my colours to the SY-1 mast and I'm sticking with that for a while And although you say there is no 'hurdle' to using the C4, there's a reason why @GisserD hasn't given it a spin despite having had it for a few weeks; it's not that he's not tech savvy, he is (and a lot more than me)! Bet you if he'd got the the SY-1 it would be out and being used from day 1. Mine certainly will be.

Agreed. Ok in which case, the more expensive and potentially more capable C4 and FI win out for home noodling then 😉

+1^^ That's exactly the conclusion I came to i.e. BF SC + (in my case 450W at 8 ohm) D class amp = great combination of power & portability

And FOUR times the ease of use of its current leading competitors. I'd rather have something that is allegedly only half as good as e.g. the C4 or FI but that I actually end up using as it doesn't require a PhD in PC editing / oscillator theory to make sense of! Does depend on your key priorities e.g. ease of workflow vs sonic perfection. The former will appeal to many gigging bassists who only need to find a couple of usable synth sounds for live use but who absolutely require great tracking; the latter likely to be more a priority for recording (but then you're in competition with much better quality keyboard synths). Horses for courses.

That is an interesting take. I've only played the Mesa D800 briefly and wasn't particularly blown away and a fair number of folk have commented that it is quite 'dark'; there seems to be a lot more love for the D800+. The LM3 is undoubtedly a good amp (I had a sibling for 4 years in my AC Lite combo), but with some significant EQ centre point short comings. These EQ shortcomings seem to have been fully addressed in the new Marcus Limited range and then some! In the non D class range I have no hesitation in saying that the Mesa M6 is a truly outstanding amp.

Finally(!) some bass samples being uploaded. Tracking seems fine from this clip although it will be good to see it played with faster riffs. Nice demonstration of polyphonic capability. Looking forward even more to mine arriving in due course now!

Not particularly come across Jackson basses as being 'big' on BC. But this recently released SIGNATURE DAVID ELLEFSON CONCERT BASS CBX-M V has got my attention! 5 string PJ & blend knob reverse P EMGs 3 band EQ 35" scale graphite reinforced neck £659 GAK in the UK (vs $750 in the US?) Downsides seems to be purely active; no passive 'fall back' 21 frets rather than 24 frets heavy??

3. Helix Stomp vs Future Impact (Synth) 1-0 to FI