Al Krow

Sounds like a great year...now where did you mis-lay that pic of your full rig & bass? 😊

Ah two DP3Xs at once? Oooh very posh! The only (self-proclaimed) multifx I've ever had more than one of at once are the cheap-as-chips / incredibly good value Zoom units.

You've clearly been spending too much time in proximity to a black hole or in a Tardis, Doc...my recollection is more like over 3 years ago when you, and a bunch of others, first got a DP3X!

Great post, thanks.

Yes. Andy is still looking very much looking forward to getting that beer with you when you do fancy getting out! Hope the Stella is living up to expectations. If you want any tips on it, then feel free to drop @51m0n a line 😁

Love the look of both of those basses! And that Laney Digbeth Pre seems to have finally nailed that elusive "bottled valve amp" sound in a package that doesn't break the bank - definitely been added to my 2022 wish list!

Btw - I think you've touched on a key point in relation to all our gear purchases. I'm totally with you that so much of our kit only makes a very marginal difference to what an audience hears or gets out of an evening - and most of that really is "in the fingers" and how good we are as bass players. But if, as the bass player, you personally do notice a difference or you get more enjoyment, either at home or when gigging, and you can comfortably afford the bit of kit in question, then my counter would be why not treat yourself?

Chris - the fact that it's only just dawning on you, with your decades of experience, doesn't bode well for the rest of us "relative newbies" does it? 😁

I think for a lot of folk it's exactly that Dave - although the fact that an item has been moved on doesn't necessarily mean that it's not been used a fair bit both at home and / or on gigs (although obviously not everyone on here is in a band). E.g. I've just traded a bass which, together with its predecessor 4 string, was one of my two go-to gigging basses for several years. But a couple of new-to-me basses I've been privileged to get this year: the Yamaha BB2005 and Elpick Evo5 I've previously mentioned on this thread, both from fellow BC'ers, have blown me away and my traded bass was just not going to get used anything like as much, so I decided it was time to move it on. But that's a totally commonplace thing for a lot of us BC'ers, I suspect. Other bits of gear can simply be an upgrade, or even a downgrade if you find you don't need something quite so fancy and something more budget will do the job just as well - certainly been the case on a few things this year and last e.g. Zoom B1-4 in place of a Helix HX Effects. I guess the beauty of buying used on BC is that you can get to try out a fair bit of gear from generally trustworthy and lovely fellow bass players and, if it doesn't suit, move it on without too much of a hit to the wallet. Sometimes curiosity, sometimes pure GAS. But pretty much all of the time, good fun!

Errrr...if your comment below was referring to my response to this post from Sid: It was meant as a pretty obvious 'take a hike, mate'! 😊 (Smiley face inserted to confirm that it was a good natured retort to an obvious wind-up). I mean wtf eh? Lol! If someone said that to you having no real idea of how / where / when you used your gear I think you'd tell them to take a hike, too? No? One day soon, we can but hope.

Lol, you don't really need to concern yourself with my gear buying habits; I'm certainly not concerned about yours 😉

Hi Biscuit Bass. Absolutely! Mark at Talking Bass is one of the very best online tutors out there IMO: he provides, excellent, clear usable lesson tuition and materials and often at around £1 / lesson it's fantastic value for money. But maybe dip into his free material first to give yourself a flavour of his style and approach? Here's a link to a thread that might be of interest: Paid online bass courses you've done & can highly recommend

What are your PB(s) currently laden with - any new 2021 pedal acquisitions you're particularly pleased about?

Good fix with the SG! Be great to hear some sound samples of both if you're able to rustle some up for us?

Thanks. Yup very happy with the pedal board and have slotted a Thumpinator underneath for good measure. It will shortly start to be used in place of the Zoom B1-4 solo at rehearsals and gigs; settings and songs to be worked out when it does. Will need to invest some time getting up to speed on the FI editor, as I'm determined to avoid another D-grade on my homework from @Quatschmacher! Bear in mind that the rig pic I posted just refers to my best gear purchases of 2021, rather than of all time, and it's certainly not the case that e.g. the BB2 struggles at all. It's just I know how phenomenally good Berg cabs are, having previously had a CN212 and when I was able to get my hands on an almost-new NXT in part-ex for a bass in my herd that wasn't getting much of a look-in currently, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I've actually failed @bassfan's 2021 Gear Acquisition challenge spectacularly: I've had quite a gear churn this year including 7 basses, although I'm ending the year with the same number of basses as I had at the start. But the overall content of the Al Krow bass-ment feels like it's in good and very usable shape and, touch-wood, hopefully there will be plenty of opps to use them at home and with my two bands in 2022.

Duplicate post.

Great review, thanks! PS @gobasserk I should have added: I actually really LOVE your clean tone, too! What's your full clean signal chain in terms of bass, strings, amp and cab?

That completely ties in with @Old Horse Murphy was saying about it being "a lot more organic sounding than a number of other similar pedals". I can see the old Borg saying about this pedal is going to prove true...😁 I'm really delighted for Laney (who are based not too far from where I grew up) that they seem to have such a winner on their hands!

How highly would you rate it compared to other similar pedals you've had?

You really aren't helping my GAS for this pedal at all! Just been added to my 'wishlist'! In terms of the rattle it seems to only be when you move it towards and away from you and not when you shake it from side to side. Wonder if that is no more than just one of the stomp switches? Would it be easy to open it up and have a quick peek inside and if nothing obvious - you could maybe send that clip to Laney to get their thoughts on it. You've had various Tech 21 pedals recently. How does this compare to them?

Super impressed with all you guys who have managed to limit your gear purchases to just a couple of items and, have instead, been managing to put what you already have to good use! I'm hoping that will be me one day soon, but certainly wasn't the case this year! I recently took a pic of my function bass rig and realised that most if it, apart from a couple of pedals and my Boss WL-20 wireless, were actually all 2021 purchases! If I allowed myself 'category' awards for things I've bought this year, then: best bass is the pictured Yamaha BB2005 (just pipping a lovely Elrick); best amp: Bugera Veyron 1001M; best cab: Bergantino 212 NXT; and best new pedal: Boss OC-5.

👍😊

Now that is a good question! But it's not according to @agedhorse and tbf he does know his onions from his garlic.

Haha - zero need to do that as I also happen to have a copy of the said dictionary. It says: 'multi' [primary definition] 'many' (from the Latin multus = much, many) so it's hardly "my own interpretation" of the word, is it? It certainly does give a secondary definition of 'more than one'. However, I suspect very few guitarists and bass-players would consider something having just two (i.e. more than one) features to be a multi-fx. Just sayin'...