Al Krow

Wot I previously said 😁 Cheers John!

True - but compressing a sine wave will change the amplitude (volume) but shouldn't impact the frequencies (i.e. the pitch)? I mean YT clips generally don't sound out of tune or pitch-shifted compared to a Spotify recording. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if I've got that wrong. Besides, I was adjusting for amplitude in any case by altering the volume as I was going along.

SM - what we should both consider doing do is to play that YT clip through our bass cabs (BB2 and GR 212 Slim respectively). Be interesting to see how much low end comes through and where the cabs top out and I'll also A/B it with RCF 310A and maybe @jrixn1 could do the same with his 732As?

Paul - that's a seriously impressive BIG sound from a 3 piece!

These are my "creative" pedal boards for home use: And I just take this one pedal off to give me everything I need for live work! 😄

This is always informative and fun through a decent pair of headphones: I can definitely hear the low B and E on the bass as an indistinct "rumble" at 31 Hz 41 Hz respectively with the volume pumped up through a decent quality headphones. Their first harmonics at 62Hz and 82Hz become "notes". I then have to reduce the volume considerably through the mids and treble before progressively increasing it again as I get to the high treble, and then my aged ears top out at around 13kHz.

John - does the RCF 732A Mk4 handle a low B well? I note that it has a frequency range floor of 50Hz, so should be able to cope with the first harmonic of the low B (i.e. 62Hz) comfortably and I'm cool with the sub 40Hz boom-ville / sub-audio range not being prominent anyway. We've been using RCF 310As, since we started up, for vocals, sax and acoustic guitar. It's been great and very lightweight and compact. But if the 732A can handle 5 string bass, we could stick the bass and electric guitar through the PA and use the 310As as monitors and get a better overall balance to our FOH sound. Might even start making use of our RCF 702 which we got shortly before lockdown and which has had a very easy ride of things since then!

Damn! I enjoyed that!

Sounds great, I'll PM you.

Is that your band?

@Maude - great job on that bass! If that reverse-P J option was available from Yamaha (on a 5er) I would be getting one!

I liked both clips a lot. The first clip with the Hartke is a bit more mid-scooped than the second, so my guess is that it will sound 'sweeter' solo'd but I suspect the second set up with the YYZ will cut through better in a band mix? Would you agree? I've got a YYZ waiting patiently in a box from a fellow BC'er waiting to be opened - was too busy getting our set list material up to scratch for a wedding gig last night to unwrap it yet, but looking forward to giving it a spin. I had a really useful exchange with one of the chaps from Tech 21, on another thread, who recommended using the cab sim on all their pedals as they are voiced to operate with the cab sim engaged. Must admit I'm kinda glad you've ditched the DP-3X; sounds like you've come to the same conclusion it wasn't working for you. Certainly the previous recordings you made with it were completely not my cup of tea at all and very much at odds to your other recordings which I'm a fan of!

@lee650you've also had a Valeton OC-10 (my old one) which is a compact OC2 and perhaps the best value of all the clones? Sadly discontinued - I'm guessing because Boss probably threatened to sue as it was such a close copy of the sound! Another one to add to your summary The best all rounder, including value for money, is still the Boss OC-5 😁

I really didn't like how "tinny" / artificial my Pitchfork sounded. But it did have a bunch of interesting options.

Boss OC-5. IMO the best value octaver on the market today, it has excellent tracking and nails the OC-2 sound. And you get a very decent octave-up thrown in on top!

Thanks for your post which was super helpful. It's already changed my view to having the cab sim as a 'default on' with Tech 21 pedals (and also explains why @dannybuoy was finding it was giving him a better sound!) Was my guesstimate of the cab sim bump curve on the VTDI about right i.e. if 22Hz is the 3dB drop point, is it providing around a 6dB boost at the 50-60Hz bump point and then back down to 3dB at around 90Hz? Also interested in understanding a bit more from you as to why an analogue pedal is likely to work better than a digital pedal through trad guitar and bass cabs?

That's a really interesting additional snippet of information about the Cab sim on the VTDI, thank you! What the manual has to say is this: SPEAKER SIMULATION Speaker simulation is an integral part of the SansAmp circuitry. The VT Bass DI is tuned to match 10-inch American-style bass speakers. It is designed for a smooth, even response as would be achieved by a multiply-miked cabinet, without the peaks, valleys, and notches associated with single miking. The shape of the speaker curve will not adversely effect or interfere with the frequency response of your own cabinet. The speaker simulation works in tandem with the EQ controls to custom tailor the overall sound. i.e. there is no hint at all that the cab sim is doubling as a 'bass boost' on the VTDI from the manual, so I will definitely be checking that feature out a bit further and, based on your additional info snippet, looks like it should be another 'always on' feature rather than my current default of having it disengaged. If 22Hz is the 3dB drop point, is it providing around a 6dB boost at the 50-60Hz bump point and then back down to 3dB at around 90Hz?

Exactly this^^ in relation to the VTDI, cheers dB. The bite switch on the VTDI is an always on bit of "magic sauce" for me, but is essentially a 'presence' switch which, from the manual, is boosting parts of the high mids and treble and, as you point out, has a subsonic filter. I'm not engaging the speaker sim, as I'm very happy with the my speaker, but I agree with you that 22Hz is getting to "sub-audio crud" territory and, like many others, I use an HPF to tighten up my low-end sound, but I certainly don't want it disappearing entirely and the clean blend is certainly helpful in that regard. For me, it's around the 65 to 130Hz range where the meat of the low end sits (i.e. first harmonics of low B, E and A strings), but the VTDI bass is centred at 125 Hz which is set a little too high IMO to support that key bass range. That's really my only niggle with the VTDI, otherwise it's a really excellent piece of tone shaping kit.

Yup! Tbf one did come up in the FS just very recently, but it had gone within a few hours...

Good to hear -although I see that you're having a clear out of some very decent pedals! The VTDI is excellent, but there is unquestionably a loss of low end on the effected portion of the signal, so having a clean blend on that is pretty essential IMO.

Just been re-reading this thread and some great posts from you, dB, which I thought I'd quote to give this thread a nudge with, really to see what folks' opinions of the YYZ is a couple of years down the track?

Ah ok, in which case...I'll PM you

The small size without the scroll, would have been perfect. But it would be vandalism to remove the scroll!

A small iron or brass version of your sign in the picture for a window ledge.