Al Krow

Well I'm down to below a full Trav after tonight - I'm definitely slipping, although I can't complain about the quality of what's still in the pantry A BC buddy was after a 5 string PJ... as it happened I had a very nice BB 425 not getting much use, so it was a no brainer to suggest he check it out. I loved the fact that he instantly liked the play-ability of the neck and punch of the pups. In fact, it was a 'goner' the moment he picked it up. Looking forward to his report back after his band's rehearsal tomorrow night, to see if it lives up to expectations. I suspect it will! ... I now just need to work out what to do with this Tech 21 Q\Strip he's left behind 😁

Haha - I'll leave such niceties to my younger future self who took a diversion into electronic engineering and making a name for himself with plastic lunch boxes on the other side of the pond. I've just worked out how to use the ToneLib editor for my Zoom pedals, that's quite enough intellectual exercise for Q2 2019 thank you very much! 😂 Time to master ghost notes...

Ok well you've definitely lost me on the technicalities here Q, as I have no idea why a synth keyboard signal is different to a bass audio signal as far as the FI is concerned (but maybe it's something I should know?) For now, I'll settle for knowing that the FI doesn't track a bass as well as it does a midi keyboard

Is that a bit like saying we don't hear a bass being played - what we're hearing is actually vibrating air molecules? 😂

The factory setting is only with the B saddle reversed (and that's also how my P35 was set up when I got it off Mark). The reason for swapping it round was that when I got the 735A (couriered to me by the previous owner) and played it for the first time, it was really badly set up with a lot of fret buzz. So I spent a bit of time raising the string heights and tweaking the pup heights etc. Not knowing any better(!) I assumed that the reverse saddle was a 'mistake' by the previous owner and part of it not being set up properly, so I 'corrected' it - haha. Have you adjusted the set-up much since getting it? My initial reaction to the 735A was, consequently, much less positive than yours but the bass grew on me (a lot!) after I'd set it up it until...I bought that damn P35: love at first play! Mark who sold it to me is, like you, another pro bassist and had everything on the P35, in terms of string selection and set up all working beautifully. So when I went to reach for a bass I found myself just wanting to play the P35: the passive tone on that edges it over the 735A for me; and in terms of an active bass my (your old!) NE2 is a complete treat. So I was struggling to justify keeping the 735A. But it's definitely found its way to the right home and is already more famous than any of my basses!

Hey Tyler - great video! At 2.30 - when you said the bridge doesn't have the same option to reverse, not sure what you meant? I actually changed it over, myself, from the 'factory reversed' bridge saddle set up to 'normal' so it should be easy enough to swap it back again.

Be really interesting to hear what your patches sound like on a 'plain vanilla' bass, given that's how most of us will likely be using our FIs, and whether the FI can track a bass as well as it can keys?

A bold statement 😁 And full of flavour.

Is the SA C4 also monophonic synth (as with the FI and Helix Stomp)? Be obviously interesting to see how good it is at tracking, but if @Quatschmacher is getting one immediately following release we shouldn't have too long to find out how it stacks up against the FI. I'm going to be so bold as to suggest that tight tracking is perhaps the single most important feature to having an 'usable' synth. My understanding is that a polysynth, as well as allowing chordal synth patterns, will be better at tracking because it won't glitch so easily if any notes are e.g. deliberately overlapped or octave notes played together. Wondering if the Mooer GE300 is currently the only polysynth option?

Well that would definitely make it unique. You could even get it resprayed red while you're at it. 😁

That's cos you've gone from your beloved BB1025 (which you have always regretted selling, right?!) to the 735A, which has the most complex EQ layout of the "3" series basses, given you've got both active and passive options and a 3 band EQ. I'd say the VVT control on the rest of the current purely passive "3" series is just as easy to operate as the 'simple' "2" (and earlier) series with their pup selector switch, but also provides the benefit of fully flexible pup blend.

Anyone who pampers his basses by taking them on trips to the Med is entirely justified in being fussy. Let me know if there's a role going as a bag carrier to your bass going in the near future (no need to post a 'Wanted ad', just pm me)...can't be any worse than being the PA carrier for my bands and could well involve sunnier climes 😁

You can extend the life of 'normal' batteries with any recharger I would have thought (not just the one dB linked to). But not for anything like as long as proper rechargeable batteries.

Right I've been ridiculously slow on this point, but one benefit from the "3 series" EQ is that you have complete flexibility to blend in as much or as little P or J into the mix as you want. With the older "2 series" and earlier models, which have the selector switch, it was a choice of P, J or exactly 50:50 P/J. But given how good pure P or P/J sounded, I guess no one (me included) really gave a rat's tail about it!

Haha - I bet the poor bass is thinking: "damn I wish I was stuck in the East End now..." 😀

Had the privilege of playing this today. Lovely bass in great condition. Light weight, looks great, and sounds pretty good too! @bassfan will be getting it properly set up shortly and, following that, I suspect it will be an excellent gigging bass for some of those venues a fully loaded Status probably shouldn't venture into 😀

Sounds like a very good choice! I'd actually expect the 734 passive tone to be a little different (preferable?) to the 434 given the step up in pups from the YGD V5 to the YGD V7. @bassfan and I A/B'd a BB425 and BB1025 today. The 425, as previously mentioned, has some of the punchiest pups I've experienced. However we both agreed that higher end pups in the 1025 gave it a tone we both preferred - a more complex sonic flavour and richness if I can put it in those terms; and this, together with the other refinements in the 1025, explained the price differential between these two very good value "2 series" basses. Looking forward to the YT demo! I clearly let that one go too quickly, or more likely simply that a better bass player can always make exactly the same bass sound better in his or her hands! 😀

It's been waiting patiently in line for a while to get tried out, behind a bunch of other bass gear, but got unpacked yesterday and tested with a six string at home. Plenty of power and articulation. Good solid build. Straight forward to use. Then got its first outing with the full band last night and seemed to do the job just fine! Can't see any reason why this won't be a keeper as our new floor monitor and replace our current Behringer B205D.

Sold Lee my MXR BEF. Very easy transaction and great comms. Top bloke and always a pleasure to deal with. Cheers, Bas

Traded a PSU, sold a Fwonkbeta, got to try out his rather marvellous Status and also his BB1100S and found time for a burger and chat all on a sunny Sunday. Top bloke. Always a pleasure to meet up! Cheers, Bas

Shouldn't you be out buying Alembic basses or something? 😄