Al Krow

I love the simplicity and compact form factor of the Boss WL-20 wireless. Seems to have a pretty decent range too. Here's me misbehaving at a gig last weekend courtesy of the WL-20s:

We went very budget and got a used Casio CT-X700 off eBay for £120. I think they're around £185 new. It's actually proved to be the best value bit of kit any bandmate in any of the various bands I've been in has ever got - had a more positive impact on our sound than any bit of bass gear I've bought over the years! Weighing less than 10 lbs makes it easy for our keys player to take it as a one hand carry in a soft case. Here's a little clip of it in action: Key limitation is not being able to independently set volumes where the keyboard is split into two for each half of the keyboard.

JBC still going strong, thanks. Look forward to your synthy footage!

It is indeed. I love it! Bought it off @Sibob of this parish last summer and it's become a goto gigging bass for me. It's light and beautifully put together and has a lovely tone.

Really enjoyed playing at a 50th on Saturday night with a recently formed crew. I was a little wowed by a couple of my bandmates riffing off each other on Pinball Wizard, particularly as it was the first time we had played it live together. They've somehow managed to turn me into an Elton John fan - Who would have guessed?

So, in an ideal world, what would be your idea of "heaven"?

Very well said, Chris!

Warm valve amp sound was always a bit of a tone quest for me, too, and I've since tried quite a few of the recommendations on here, several of which are pretty darned good. Recently had an opp to try out a Laney Digbeth pre. and thought: "yup that's nailed it!" Feature rich and excellent value too. It has quite a large footprint though.

Phil - took the plunge with putting my bass through the RCF 310As (on poles) on Friday night. 5 piece band with bass, 2 guitars, 2 vox and acoustic drums. Pop/rock covers. I went directly into the PA mixer via Boss WL-20s wireless. No pedals, no bass rig. Guitars (with pedals) and vox also directly into the PA i.e. no other back-line amplification. Single monitor for vox and guitars only - Alto TS308. No IEMs - other than for drummer who was in charge of the mixer. Decent sized pub venue, perhaps 50 or so up and dancing in front of us with plenty of punters seated around the dancefloor. The overall sound was very nicely balanced. I stood behind the PA next to drummer but didn't have any issues hearing myself just from the dispersion from the Tops. Bass tone was very decent, nothing special positively or negatively. Band are all very happy that the light portable set up will work well for us going forward for similar sized, less accessible venues where drummer can take both his kit plus PA in his car and the rest of us can make use of public transport to get across London. End result - we had one of our very best gigs ever! But that really was all about how tightly we played, including improving our song flow, and very little to do with the quality of my bass tone. Pub manager was effusive and looks like we will be getting a residency there; we also got asked to play a wedding gig in June off the back of it. So...all this angst-ing over bass gear and tone I've spent countless hours on this forum debating over the past 8 years, rather than spending the time far more productively becoming a better bass player, eh? Ah well, I've got my priorities sorted in the end.

The CMD 121H feels plenty loud enough as standalone backline, even without PA support. It has more speaker excursion space than the 121P.

Such a shame. Very similar pics of the damage to the AT 212 that arrived via courier, I posted a while back on this thread. Still sounded great though! It went back and my BF BB2 stayed in place as my gigging mainstay. It's almost as if you'd stolen my playbook! 😎

Yeah, mine actually arrived with a couple of mangled corners and top edge from BD. The courier had clearly been less than brilliant, but even so. Mark gave me a full refund.

Once you've managed to stub out the heretic's flames, I totally understand your thinking and choice! The GR aerotech cabs are really excellent in the sound they deliver. But I agree they're just not sufficiently sound from a construction robustness to avoid easy damage from the rough and tumble of regular gigging. They would be fine, wrapped in cotton wool, at home. But you don't really need super lightweight if you are only playing your bass at home and not needing to transport your rig, do you?

So much wisdom right there! Cheers fella.

Agreed. The guy is an absolute legend.

@thebassist - just seen your wanted ad for an Eich BC112 Pro and also stumbled on this thread from a few months back. I'm actually on the look out for a very portable bass combo for when I need to be using public transport around London and the Eich is on my shortlist together the MB CMD 121P. The new GR AT stuff does look good on paper, but I'm aware it's not the sturdiest of construction from my own experience and I wouldn't be confident of taking it anywhere to gig other than in my own car. Be really interested in a bit more detail on why you felt the Eich trumped the GR?

Agreed. @bass_dinger you're going to have to try a lot harder than that to get out. You're certainly not licked yet 😁

Nah - certainly not all on at the same time, haha! That pic with the pedals lit up was just photoshoot purposes and to show some of fx that are available as and when I need them. There's several more that I use from time to time on the B1-4 e.g. chorus, Z-synth, tape-echo, "Motown" EQ. I very rarely have more than one drive engaged at any one time, but may layer them with a presence setting on the VTDI which works well if you want to cut-through rather than sit in the mix. And the VTDI settings, more generally, will be tailored to the bass being used and the flavour desired: ranging from Ampegy to increased presence to tube dirt. As you know, it's a very flexible pre-amp and understandably still one of Tech21's all time favs. What's your pedal board looking like these days?

Signal chain: Boss OC5 --> Pigtronix Octava --> Boss SY-200 --> Zoom B1-4 --> 3 Leaf Proton --> Thumpinator HPF (under the board)--> Tech 21 VTDI. All powered by a HB Iso5 Pro. This update got a big thumbs up from our band’s guitarist! 😊 I've replaced my Future Impact mono-synth pedal, with its cool bass synth sounds, with a polyphonic Boss SY-200 synth pedal. Whilst not quite so lush as the FI the SY-200, being poly, tracks more tightly and with less latency; a more winning combination IMO for a band-mix particularly on faster / busier bass lines.

Very honest of you Lozz to admit that! And I suspect you weren't the only one on here to do so!

The amusing thing about Mike Flowers' cover is, given it's retro take on the track, a lot of people assumed it was the original!

That's a great observation. I'd never really considered Blondie to be an outstanding covers band, but they absolutely were!

Atomic Kitten went to #1 in the UK in 2002 with their cover of the "Tide is high". But most of us would agree that the original by Blondie in 1980, which topped the charts in both the USA and UK was better, right? Well yes and no - the Blondie version was defo better. But it was also a cover which I'll have to fess, as a teenager a little bit smitten with Debbie Harry, I certainly hadn't spotted, haha! Blondie's cover certainly trounces the 1967 original by the Paragons. But all credit to the Paragons for writing such a catchy tune that was still topping the charts 35 years later.