Al Krow

MB AC 121 Lite will deliver 500W through its own single 12" without an extension cab. One of the very few combos on the market that doesn't need an extension cab to deliver its full payload: was designed specifically to do this by having an extended speaker excursion. Mine easily kept up with a full rock band without breaking into a sweat for several years before I went down the separates route. Should be able to pick one up used for the top end of your budget. A quality top-end combo. Ooops scrap that! - Just re-read your OP and spotted your point (2) 😁 FWIW: my issues with MB combos have entirely been dealt with by using a presence EQ boost at 1.5kHz and 3.5kHz - removes the feeling that there is a blanket over the cab! If I had worked that out a few years back I would have held onto my AC 121 Lite.

Awww that doesn't sound fun. Any decent paid gigs on the horizon?

For a single speaker solution, although I'd love it, I've yet to find a single 10" cab that can deliver enough volume, by itself, to keep up with a full rock band as backline. Plenty of 12" cabs that easily can. So a single 12" seems to be the cut-off for me.

However my Bo Selecta has been returned for a full refund without ever making it to my PB, so on that basis I should technically be back in as I've had zero new kit since the start of the year. Buuuut...there are several bits of gear that have caught my attention e.g. an entire pedal board replacement in the shape of a Zoom B6 later in the year. So the boss, aka @bassfan, has rightly said my heart's clearly not in this endeavour and I need to remain with him and many others out in the cold waiting for @AndyTravis to join us. It's only a matter of time.

I've had a couple of relatively detailed spec discussions with Jon over the years, lovely bloke! But he's never made me a bass. At what point did the contract become binding on both parties? Now you have paid the deposit does Jon have to provide you a bass? If you hadn't paid the deposit, would he have started work on it? You're out 😁

Apparently you also have the option of setting the looper pre or post effects, which is pretty neat.

Doesn't the Effect Board mode (see start of same clip) allow you to do that?

I think the clip below deals with both your Qs: Not 100% sure what you're asking Woody but check Looper mode (1.34), if this hits the mark in what you're after. Memory mode for storing an entire set list of patches (1.14)

The two input + A/B switch + DI out could be quite an interesting feature for combining either (i) bass + synth keyboard (for you) or (ii) bass + EUB (in my case) or (iii) alternatively just any combination of two different basses - fretted / fretless; 5 string / 8 string etc! EBS gear is highly regarded, but I'd be paying almost as much for an EBS Stanley Clarke or EBS Microsbass3 to offer something similar just on the dual input preamp front. It also seems to have a very decent audio interface so I suspect that also means I can dispense with my Focusrite? 2 hours of looper capability with an SD card, vs the usual 60 seconds on other multis (including Helix) and my Boss RC-5 could rapidly be for the chop, too! I'm liking the sound and feature set of this unit more and more!

An Interview with Rebecca Johnson - No Treble Sept 2020 Are you a big gear head? I’m not. The amount of people that ask me about what pedals I use is astounding. I don’t use any pedals! I’m a set and forget kind of player because I haven’t got time to mess around with it while I’m singing. If you can get yourself a good sound through anything, that’s fine. I’m not precious about instruments. It’s funny reading video comments. Some clips have the StingRay, some have the Sire, some have the Yamaha, and people argue about which one sounds better. Every bass sounds good for what it is. I’ve probably played StingRays more than anything else. I had a four-string StingRay for twenty years. Then I got the five-string Yamaha and the StingRay went to hell. I got a five-string StingRay as you see on a lot of the videos and I put a pair of EMG’s in it. It sounded like a hotted-up race car, but I sold it because the neck wasn’t right for me. Then I got the Sire and I like it. What I’m saying is I’m not stuck on one bass. I’m the kind of person that has the same amp for 20 years. I think that’s a sign of a working bassist. You don’t have time to get hung up on every detail if you’re putting in the work. You’ve hit the nail on the head. You can pick up a piece of wood with a couple of bits of wire on it and if you can get a sound of out it, [that’s all you need]. I know every bass has its quality about it, but people often say it’s all in the hands. I can dig that. She's an awesome bass player; her comments reminded me of some of the discussions we'd had on this thread. I certainly dig what she says!

That was very much my initial reaction, too, when it first came out. However I'm kinda now thinking, given how good "workflow" is with the all the Zoom multis I've had (apart from the MS-60B where I found the interface to be a PITA), this unit could entirely replace my pedalboard. Something Helix never quite managed to do, given its relatively poor filter and synth sims, which even the budget B1-4 out-does Helix on.

Tbf he did just say he was going to spend the money on a new amplifier instead 😁

Just had a listen to the filter at 0.57 - damn that's good!!! Better than anything I could get on my Helix Stomp / HXFX. It does lack the parallel processing of the Helix, but given that I don't make much use of parallel processing on my boards anyway, and the need to watch out for comb filtering issues, not sure I would miss it too much. Have fess I do love the convenience of having everything available to scroll through on one pedal: I've been using my little B1-4 as a standalone "micro board" since mid last year when gigs resumed post lock down. I got a fair few compliments at rehearsal with a new project last Thursday, when using the Z-synth on the B1-4 for Daft Punk's Get Lucky. But with the additional processing power the B6 delivers it's surely going to be a step up from both the B1-4 and it's bigger brother B3N. The colour touch screen is a very welcome addition too. Price is down to the £377 at Thomann UK which is £100 below launch price just 4 months back. If they start to become available used then I suspect it's going to be an irresistible no-brainer for a few of us on this thread! Been added to my 2022 wish list!

It's just not the same without the Punk-u-lator!

Totally agree, but easily done. I've got exactly that set up on my Zoom B1-4 with my 7 or 8 fx patches in the first block of 10 to make scrolling through a doddle, and am planning to replicate that on my FI. And would plan to do the same if I ever get a SY-200 (assuming we have both up / down scrolling ability via stomp switch on the Boss, as is available on the FI).

Pretty close sounding - very good B1-4 patch.

But you don't need 99 settings for a gig, surely? 5 or 6 would be plenty for most gigs And the FI allows you to scroll both up and down through your saved settings. If you do need to access all 99, not sure that the SY-200 would be any better without midi in any event?

Why so? I agree that's much more true of the C4, where midi extension is pretty key, but the FI feels much more standalone as a pedal.

Ah, understood. If you can put up with the hassle of PC editing, then I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that you will get more gig-usable sounds from an FI than you will from an SY-1 / SY-200. If not, then the SY-200 (and indeed the SY-1) has a lot going for it. The Panda FI and Source Audio C4 have both got actual synth waveform generators whereas as the Boss SY-1 and SY-200 are synth emulators.

The 200 series are surprisingly not much greedier on space than the normal Boss sized pedals, particularly when you take into account of the top rather than side connection jacks, as you pointed out.

Nice post, thanks Woody. Does the addition of control over resonance make a noticeable difference on the SY200?

I'll let @Quatschmacherexplain that one, as he will do a far better job of it than me! Btw how many different synth settings are you likely to need when playing live? Will you be be using the synth pedal for covers or original material?

Funny you should say that - apparently exactly how they are typically used...😁 PS please note how the "Punk-u-lator" description has been carefully obscured.