Al Krow

Sadly my experience of the Xvive too. I was really hoping it was going to be a runner given what a compact design it is.

You and I differ on this (as we know!) But I wonder if that is just down to our different set ups? We're both agreed that latency doesn't really get noticed until around 20ms. So if my SH has an 8ms latency it won't be an issue when used alone and it certainly has not been in the couple of years I've been happily using one (even more so since Chris just sent me a completely free of charge (including no P&P!) replacement battery cover, which arrived this morning! ). But even with a pedal board, it seems to me that latency is only really an issue if there is some syncing going on with another signal that is being triggered at exactly the same time (so you end up with an unwanted slap back). Otherwise human reaction time from taking a decision to play, to our fingers actually hitting the strings is way slower than 30ms and yet we somehow all manage to keep in time with our bandmates - so we are all clearly very capable of managing to compensate in real time for this human latency. Another few ms from a pedal board will just be absorbed into that real time processing we are all clearly capable of doing. However my bands are using good old fashioned bass and lead guitar backline, with vocals and acoustic going separately through the PA. I wonder if your latency concern is something that impacts IEM users much more, which is where you are coming from, and therefore is an additional factor for them to particularly consider / be aware of?

+1 ^^ I see what you mean about room for that bass unit! Defo not for me...

@Vinny - thanks for that. Reverse polarity - yup, what was Chris smoking when he decided to do that? 😂 He sells these polarity reversers for £1.99 (or can be had from Amazon etc) In terms of being light being a 'problem' - well I've dealt with that with a bit of velcro on top of my amp if I'm using the SH with no other pedals (and obviously the same solution if it's going on a pedal board). So if you're not saying that the G75 is significantly better in terms of connectivity or latency, then I can rest easy with my SH gear

If you're loving bass, get the best gear you can comfortably and want to afford! A good cab is perhaps the single most important bit of kit in terms of the sound you're hearing, and if you aren't having to worry about neighbours IMO playing through a decent bass rig is much more satisfying than playing through headphones or a 15W practice rig. If you buy good condition used, your downside risk is pretty low i.e. if you decide it's not for you and you look after it, should be able to move it on for close to what you paid for it. So have a think about what you might want to reasonably fork out and I'm sure there will be plenty of very good suggestions coming that will be a step up from your current rig and potentially something you can also use when rehearsing and playing with a full band in the near future.

Interesting! I'm a massive fan of Smoothhound and have just bought a back up set from a fellow BCer. But always interested to hear about great quality gear. What are you finding is better about the G75 and how does it compare in price to the £149 new of the Smoothhound?

Indeed, and most amps don't have a DI volume for that very reason. I would put in the "nice to have" category alongside parametric mids and hpf control on an amp. All features that provide additional appeal to me about the Mesa M6 and Mesa WD-800. Again, a lot of amps don't offer these extra features, but they are a nice touch if they are available. And particularly where you don't have a sound engineer, on site monitoring the desk (as per @Jack's post earlier), it does allow you to vary the volume of the amp on stage whilst keeping the post EQ volume going through your PA unchanged. But not being able to offer a clean pre EQ is defo a bigger issue.

Tbf, very few amps seem to have a separate volume control for the DI. The Mesa M6 is an exception to the rule, but it's an exceptional class AB amp that is not really appropriate to compare with D class heads we are discussing here. The weird thing that Quilter have done is to not offer a pre EQ DI switch. I doubt it would have cost much to add, so definitely a bit of an oversight.

You and me both. Guess that's why the Low-Q is so popular.

Apologies for the thread sidetrack. Tbf a Mesa M6 at 25 lbs, whilst undoubtedly mighty, can in no way be considered small! As you were, back to playing nicely with the little ones now then 😂 Speaking of which... Substitute AG 700 for DG M900 in my case, but otherwise I'm in exactly the same boat as Chris:

The discussion around what the FOH is getting got me thinking and it seems to me there are typically 3 levels of flexibility: 1) Just post EQ DI out => any changes to your stage volume will also impact the FOH volume e.g. Quilter BB800 2) Pre EQ DI out option => FOH gets whatever the amp receives. Changing the amp vol or EQ won't impact the FOH signal - standard feature on most amps At first blush could be considered limiting because any effects (drive, compression) or EQ to get to your "sound" done on the amp won't get fed through to the FOH. But actually if you do your tone shaping and drive / compression / fx on your bass preamp and pedalboard then you can get a fair chunk of your "sound" to the FOH whilst having stage volume flexibility. 3) Amp has a a separate DI volume control e.g. Mesa M6 Bingo! You get complete flexibility to go post EQ assuming your sound guy is cool with this - the ones I've dealt with at venues generally would be. You then get to benefit from the amp's flavouring also. In the case of the M6, that's going to be a BIG plus (which @bassfan can hopefully confirm as he's ahead of me in gigging his M6) as, based on my albeit limited experience, it's got the best tone of any amp head I've heard.

Just received a Smoothhound wireless set from Geoff. Everything as described, very smooth transaction and a pleasure to deal with! Many thanks, Bas

I think the issue is that the sound guy (in the venues I've been to where we have had one) will set everything at sound check time and may tweak once the audience is there during the first couple of tracks. If you are turning yourself up mid set so you can hear yourself better on stage, you could risk being very loud for a while before the sound guy realises what's going on and has time to react. Not going to go down well with him or your band mates.

Sold one of my Yammy BBs to Tyler. We met up 'half way' in W London which saved me the hassle of packaging it up and sorting out a courier - always appreciated with the bigger bits of bass gear. Really smooth transaction and great guy. I'd have no hesitation in transacting with Tyler again or recommending him to my fellow BC'ers. And, as darned good bass player, I know he'll be putting the Yammy to better use than I would have managed to Cheers buddy - enjoy the bass!

@TJ Spicer what a great post and great pics! Totally delighted you're liking it a lot and I look forward to seeing and hearing news of it in action. Devon and Manchester in one weekend!! I was kinda worried that it might fall a little flat compared to the august company it's now finding itself in, particularly your Sadowsky, but it seems to be holding its own for your affections so far

+1 to @EBS_freak's comments - he's pretty much nailed it. Only point to add is that on another thread @operative451 mentioned that she was using a Joyo ZGP (costs around a £10) to cancel PSU noise. Not sure whether she is using it for just one PSU --> one pedal or for daisy chain purposes; but it seems to me if you went PSU --> Joyo ZGP --> daisy chain you could potentially get the benefits of low noise without needing separate PSUs or a power brick with isolated outputs. If that's right / works, I may have just rendered forking out on a Ciocks DC5 a bit otiose! 😀

Another example of great service from Chris at Smoothhound. I messaged him about a replacement battery cover for my transmitter and he replied within 24 hours offering to replace and post (I presume for free). Amazing. I've had mine for a couple of years now and just managed to source a spare / back up from a fellow BCer. So yup, I'm a big fan of the product and happy to recommend to any bass player thinking of going wireless.

One question 4 basschatters 10 different answers none of them correct 😂 But it stops us going out and mugging old ladies, so it serves an important social function. ...I did promise the great god (actually more short scale lover these days ) Osiris that I would be a good chap and feck off, so I'd best go do that now! 😂

Would be really interesting to A/B the Mesa M6 with the Handbox. Similar weight, the Mesa is 600W in 4ohm / 2 ohms which gives it a bit more headroom. And I'm guessing that the Mesa is like double the price which is clearly very much in HB's favour... 2890 Zl at 4.89Zl to the £ = £591 add my guesstimate of £109 shipping, £25 forex = £725 to your door. Or a bunch of bananas less if you can get from someone used 🐵🍌

And I guess the important thing with all of this discussion around Q is not to get overly concerned / bogged down (as I am rapidly in danger of doing myself - haha!). A key point is that a "surgical Q" in the context of bass tone doesn't necessarily imply a better tone. In fact a broader and smoother Q could well be the better sounding option. It brings to mind the (somewhat out of fashion these days) smiley EQs we used to see across the ubiquitous TE amps in all rehearsal rooms 'back in the day', which clearly had a smoothing intent to the overall mid scooping of the bass EQ.

I'll feck off, like a good chap, now then 😉

Agreed for 3 band. Just to confuse matters (sorry!) the B3n GEQ, which is the alternative being discussed for the OP, is actually a 7 band EQ

And the fact that you preferred this to a Mesa WA also says a lot, too! (Speaking as an M6 owner who loves his amp).