Al Krow

Does look v. interesting and I think only came out a few months back? Not come across any bass specific demos on YT yet, but it does sound pretty good on guitar. Looks like it has a lot of versatility in what it can do (ie more than just a filter) as well as tweakability, but allows us to store couple of presets which will be very handy for live use.

Fair enough and thanks for the feedback. The wettest filter I've come across is the 3Leaf GR2 and it seems you really like Wonderlove which, together with the Chromatron, are its successors. The Proton Mk 4 is allegedly a Chromatron mini according to Spencer. I actually really like mine - it's very easy to dial in both up and down sweep; so it might still be worth me giving the SupaFunk a spin and A/Bing them - it maybe we just have different playing styles etc. One thing I can't disagree is that the prices are mental for quality filters - I mean your Proton Mk4 just sold within 24 hours of listing for £250 inc P&P, and you could get a very capable used multi (eg HX Effects) for very little extra and which is anything but a one trick pony!

How would you rate it compared to the Proton Mk4 you've just sold? Sounds like you preferred the Proton?

59 min cycle you say? In which case a SupaFunk pedal is entirely justified.

Clearly less pressure on the home front for one of you 😁

For anyone else interested: here's a side by side comparison The EHX at 5.56: Not convinced the mono synth nails it, but certainly usable! Guessing that @Quatschmacher would get a lot closer on the FI but we're, of course, talking about a level above in terms of price point and sophistication.

Love to hear a clip of this setting. As you say, if it nails the 80s bass synth, it's gotta be worth checking out particularly at that price point and with presets. What is it like in terms of tracking, glitchiness? @krispn - may be of interest for your new 80s band venture?

Yup no debate from me on any of the above. I'm sure Si knows very well how to use a comp and wouldn't be using one to "rip his face off" - lol! I was just genuinely interested in getting his take for not having one on his board, as he is a bass player whose sound I really like a lot and is playing in a band who are top notch live.

Yeah...know what you mean! Still there's 2022 to get that sorted 😁

Cool! No question, a rock / metal look for the band - your hair was defo longer then! 😁

Nice pic - are we allowed to know "when"? 😊

That wouldn't be an unfair pithy eulogy for me.

Been a few months since my previous post, but I've recently managed to find a really excellent and reasonably local-to-me bass tech in the shape of our very own @gary mac who has just fitted a Glock 3 band pre-amp to replace the previously somewhat "tired" Carvin preamp, which was passed its best as mentioned in my previous post. Gary even gave the truss rod a quick adjustment to give the fretboard a little more relief and eliminate fret buzz and the whole bass in now sounding massively better. With its choice of neck and bridge pups and ability to go for a more J style single pup or a fatter dual coil tone combined with the very good 3 band EQ and you've got a lot of tonal versatility on tap. My favourite settings so far are neck pup on full fat dual coil which provides a meaty / punchy and warm tone and which seems to play really well with some effects (e.g. fuzz) but pipped on "clean" setting by the same pup on single coil which adds clarity to the warmth - just lovely! And the latter also works really well with pedals that prefer a clean signal to bite on (e.g. octaver). Cheers to @BassBunny for the recommendation of the Glock for this bass. I was thinking of taking the Carvin straight out on the road tomorrow night, however I can see that I will need to get used to the wider 19.0mm spacing on this 5er which, whilst it is the staple string spacing for many 5 string bass players, my other basses have a narrower 18.0mm to 16.5mm and something I'm definitely noticing when doing repetitive stretched chordal patterns on something like Hotel California over the full neck width, so 'll see how brave I'm feeling!

Love the board Si! I was interested to see that, as as a semi-pro / pro musician and one who has introduced me to the delights of Elrick basses, you don't feel the need for a dedicated pedal-board compressor? (Genuine Q, and not wanting to stir a hornet's nest!)

I think you've hit the nail on the head here Peter. The decent thing would be for FI to refund the VAT to Woody and other UK buyers, given that their ad was clearly misleading and certainly would not get much sympathy from any Tribunal (not that anyone is going to take it that far).

I'm guessing she knows she can voluntarily VAT register? You don't have to be above the UK VAT registration limit of £85k to register for VAT.

Genuine and understandable "mistake" on your part, Peter. But actually they're still talking bollox. The amount of VAT a retailer charges on new goods going from EU-->UK won't really have changed much (maybe a couple of % difference between local and UK rates applicable) post Brexit. If the sale price said it was all taxes paid then that's what it should have been. A purchaser in Germany should be paying pretty much the same as we are in the UK in terms of VAT.

Thanks very much for the recommendation Lozz. @gary mac has just fitted a new preamp to one of my basses and sorted out an earthing issue with the blend knob on another that was causing the bass to cut-out; all for a very reasonable price. Both basses now working well and it was lovely to meet Gary in person and have a catch up. Gary doesn't "push" his bass (and guitar) tech work on BC given his role as a moderator, so let me take the opportunity to do that on his behalf - I'll certainly be making use of his skills again as and when the need arises.

Thanks Phil for the whole post; your sentence above very much chimes with where me and the drummer are also landing (for some reason we've ended up being the techy members of the band!) and it will let me progress the cost/weight/benefit analysis of upgrading our relatively simple but actually pretty effective PA set-up. This has all been triggered by one of the vocalists wanting to use a wired IEM at our gig on Saturday night, and then me thinking "what if?..." You know how it is! I've got a sneaky suspicion, however that "if ain't broke..." will end up being the very sensible answer for us, but it's certainly been useful to kick the tyres with folk on this thread - many thanks all.

Phil, picking up on your last para, I'm guessing that the 310As are fine with your duo, but would probably struggle to provide decent bass for a 5 piece rock band? And that either our RCF powered sub or continuing to use my amp and BF cab would be required in such circumstances?

@Caz - worth checking this thread out - lots of really good recommendations.

Hah! Gonna be releasing your inner Peter Hook big time then...

Cheers Greg - seems like your last sentence is exactly where I'm at with my band: we've got a couple of 10" tops and a compact sub and I'm looking to see if I can drop the backline. Wireless would definitely be nicer than wired P2, but starts getting expensive - I've just been discussing a couple of options with another BCer who is well ahead of me on this one!

@Phil Starr thanks for taking the time to pen that detailed and yet another very helpful response! Really useful to have a bit of a route map that's been trodden by another band (and one that is also using the excellent 21 lbs active RCF 310As!). I think your and @bassman7755, @lemmywinksand several others' comments have convinced me that IEMs are the way forward. One of our vocalists is about to get a Behringer P2 to pair with his Shure SE215s, and the drummer and myself already have been using the SE 315s as passive ear plugs for gigs. So we've already started down that journey. I'd best make a bee line to one of the excellent IEM threads...

Exactly. And whether you're using a single powered PA wedge and/or making use of two powered PA tops in your PA is really neither here nor there. I think there are a few two many wedgies of a powered PA nature or otherwise going on 😁