Osiris

I'd pay good money to see that.

Dragging the Genzler down to the Gallery to test drive the BF Two 10 sounds like a plan to me I've already had the pleasure of playing through a pair of One 10's (albeit without my own basses or amp) and they are just incredible and fully deserve the hype and praise they receive. But I think a single Two 10 would be a better option for me in terms of cost and the fact that I'm not too old and knackered just yet to manage a cab that weighs some 13 Kg or so

Hi Kevin, Just a thought in regard to your original post. You said that you're running out of steam (whether it be volume or headroom) only when you're slapping. When you slap, do you cut all the mids out of your signal for that classic super scooped slap tone? If you are, I suspect that that is the cause of your problem. Try leaving the mids in your signal and you might well be OK.

Great detailed review. Did the gallery have a Barefaced Two 10 in stock? It'd be interesting to hear how that compared to the VK.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509455385' post='3399024'] [b]SPLUTTER![/b] [Wipes tea splattered screen with a snotty sleeve] It can't be true because bags are not hefty enough to contain heft without risk of rupture. Now... if you'd said [i]skip-loads of heft[/i], I'd have believed you without question. [/quote] They are big bags. [i]Really [/i]big.

I haven't made too many purchases this year as I'm really happy with my gear setup, my basses, amps and cabs all give me exactly what I want and what works with my band. Admitedly it took me years to get here though! [b]Best purchase:[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] Genzler Magellan 800. The best bass amp I have ever used or heard. Infinitely flexible, bags of heft. Seriously. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/314013-genzler-magellan-800-and-350-bass-amplifiers/page__pid__3395611#entry3395611"]More of my thoughts on it here[/url]. [/font][/color] [b]Runner up[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]: Genzler Magellan 350. As above. [/font][/color] [b]Best value purchase[/b][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]: TC Electronic Spectracomp. Jaw droppingly brilliantly versatile compression that is both stupidly simple to use and infinitely tweak-able if you want it to be. [/color][/font] [b]Worst purchase[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]: Haven't made a duff purchase myself. [/color][/font]

Any chance of you nodding off again so that you could give him a good slap from me, please?

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1508967266' post='3395756'] Pedal performed flawlessly tonight. Totally silent in switching off and on. I was using same bass, same cables, my own head, same as I use at home, only difference is it's their cab. I use a pedaltrain volto power supply so can't even blame the mains. (Obviously the amp is plugged into the mains) I arrived at rehearsal first so had a chance to set up and check it before anyone else arrived. Any ideas why it might be noisy in the house and not at the rehearsal rooms? [/quote] That sounds good, hopefully it was just one of those things and won't happen again. [quote name='funkydoug' timestamp='1509009306' post='3395935'] hope you don't mind me hijacking this... what does the tone spark sound like? There's nowhere that says it is a tube preamp emulator, but that is my guess ... or is there something else going on? Cheers, Doug [/quote] What do you mean by the tone spark???

Looking at [url="https://youtu.be/DzwJplADU8g"]this clip[/url] from about 3 minutes 30 onward, it looks like making my own out of Lego is the way forward

[quote name='Cuzzie' timestamp='1508921082' post='3395285'] Sid, eloquent as ever and thanks for that, its a real gem of a review and sounds like a real gem of an amp. I reckon you should have your own youtube channel. I can't, i have a face for radio...... [/quote] Obviously we all have own own tastes and ideas of what makes a great bass sound. But the Magellan amps are massively versatile and I think they'd suit most people who plug into them regardless of their tonal preferences and the styles of music they play. My own YouTube channel. Now there's an idea! [quote name='Rich' timestamp='1508931958' post='3395415'] This is not helping my GAS one bit great review, thank you! [/quote] Just give in to it and give one a go

Cheers guys, some good suggestions here. Something like a tablet stand or the [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]MB amp wedge could be the way to go as it's only for a single stomp box. [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Al Krow, have you got a link for that wooden shelf like contraption, please? [/font][/color] [quote name='Cuzzie' timestamp='1508920874' post='3395283'] Is that a childs 9 or big boy sizes Sid........ [/quote] One of each, mate. It's true what they say about us villagers. All of it.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1508911812' post='3395225'] Mobile phone stand perhaps? [/quote] That looks perfect. Does it come in size 9?

I occasionally use my Zoom MS-60B as a tuner and compressor on small gigs where it's standing room only and there's no room for my pedal board. I usually sit the pedal on top of my amp but it's sometimes awkward to see the screen when tuning so I'm looking for something to angle it up a bit. I've had a look online for something like this but couldn't find anything. Does anyone know if such a thing exists? Or is there something else I can use to angle the pedal up?

Here are my thoughts of the Genzler Magellan 800 bass amp after having gigged it for the past several months. I've deliberately left it a while to make sure that the honeymoon period was over so that any issues or quibbles that I may have with it have become apparent. For reference, I play in a 5 piece, female fronted, rock, pop and party band playing a mixture of pub and club gigs as well as some private work and functions. My cab is Tecamp M212 and I use a variety of basses, usually with a bias towards the neck pickup. I play finger style more or less exclusively and am pretty heavy handed too, I love to dig in when I'm playing! If you're not already familiar with the amps here's what Genzler themselves have to say about them, the Magellan 800 and the Magellan 350. When I originally bought the amp, I tried it against some of its peers. To see how I thought it stacked up at the time see the thread here. Overview The 800 amp has both a transparent clean channel (that can be coloured by the Contour control, more of that later) and a coloured Drive channel. That makes it extremely versatile and usable for pretty much any and every musical situation that you're ever likely to find yourself in from soft jazz to the lesser extremes of metal. Clean channel The clean channel with the eq set to noon and the Contour control dialled out sounds even across the frequency range, there are no peaks or troughs in the signal. This sound works great in the mix straight out of the box. The Genzler marketing talks about a “weighted feel to the notes” and this is absolutely correct, the low end is definitely forceful, punchy and powerful but without being overbearing. Those that claim that class D amps lack heft should take an objective, unbiased listen to the Genzler. Pre-amp The EQ frequencies that the Magellan uses are absolutely perfect for real world live use. The bass EQ is voiced at 75 Hz which is great for adding audible bass to the sound if you're in a room where the bass is sounding a bit thin, or for backing the low end off if things are booming on stage. In my experience this has proven to be a far more useable frequency for controlling your low end than 40 Hz that many other bass amps use. The semi-parametric mid covers a wide range from 150 Hz to 3 KHz. It sounds perfect with the mid eq control at noon, which keeps things flat but I personally like to give it a slight push in the upper mids to help the bass cut through a busy mix. But you have massive flexibility here to control those critical mid frequencies whatever you want to do with them. The treble is voiced at 6 KHz so is useful for adding some presence to the tone or brightening up dead strings. Or backing things off a touch for a great retro tone. The treble never gets harsh and the tone is never completely dulled when the top end is backed off. The simplicity of the tone stack and the choice of frequencies that they operate on cannot be praised enough. The Genzler just delivers everything you need and nothing you do not. To finish of the awesome eq section there is also the dual voiced Contour control. A button on the front panel allows you to choose between curves A and B; Curve A is a mid-scoop pre-shape. However, compared to similar controls on other amps, this one is more gentle and is more usable because of it, it is usable throughout most of its range. Its only when its cracked beyond about 3 o'clock that the bass sounds like it could potentially to disappear form the mix. Curve B bumps the low mids while rolling off the upper mids and the extremes of the frequency range to give a great retro vibe or to tame a bright sounding, scooped rig . As with Curve A, things are still kept subtle and musically usable with this control throughout its range. Drive channel The 800 model also sports a footswitchable drive channel that has its own gain and volume controls. Genzler have wisely allowed the use of any generic latching footswitch to be used rather than forcing you into using a proprietary one. Although the drive channel is completely valve-less, it is one of the most convincing, warm, valve-like sounds that I've heard. When engaging the drive channel a pre-set eq curve is applied that subtly rolls off the high and low ends and leaves you with a silky smooth, valve like drive that never gets fizzy. Even at full gain, the drive is always usable, it does not get into the realms of distortion. The slightly mid biased voice of the drive is more suited to Motown or classic rock than it is for anything extreme. If you want more gain, or a modern scooped distortion then you'll need a dedicated pedal. But for those of us who want that touch of hair or a light, usable drive that works in the mix, this is, as with everything about this amp, perfect. HPF There is no mention of any form of high pass filtering by Genzler, but I emailed them to ask about it and none other than Geoff Genzler himself responded to say that; Yes, we do utilize a High Pass filter with the MG-800. It is a very steep slope and set low around the 30 Hz range. This allows us to achieve a clean, solid and authoritative low end without potential flubbyness. This also helps with protection from over-excursion for speakers under high power situations. I hope this information is helpful. Best Regards, Jeff Genzler How's that for customer service??? Construction and finish The amp is a great looking design IMO and the quality of construction is flawless. Genzler describe it as; aircraft-grade, brushed aluminum (sic) chassis with a sleek custom extruded front panel. It certainly looks classy and feels substantial. Anyone concerns over quality because it was built in the far east are misplaced. And it has 4 ultra-important blue LED's on the front panel. Nice. Niggles As you have probably gathered by now, I'm struggling to find fault with the Genzler Magellan amps. However I do have a couple of very minor criticisms. It'd be great if the Contour voicings were footswitchable so you could switch between the different curve options on the fly. But this is just nit picking, and not something that I'm likely to ever do anyway. And then there's the name. No doubt there is a reason or story about why Magellan was chosen, but it just seems a bit of a daft name for a bass amp to me, It's more like a name you'd give to a dog! Summary Honestly, I can't fault the Magellan amps. Everything about it is just right. It delivers everything you need in the real world. I've played many gigs in many different venues with mine and I'm yet to get a bad sound out of it or have ever been in a situation where the sublime eq section wasn't able to eq the bass to a room with poor acoustics in a matter of seconds. In fact, I like it so much that I bought the baby 350 model as a rehearsal and back up amp. The 350 has the same great tone and features of its big brother but it does lack the jaw-droppingly brilliant drive channel. However is makes up for this by being smaller, lighter and cheaper. I've also gigged the 350 and don't let its nominally low power rating put you off, this thing has more volume than you're ever likely to need on a typical pub, club or function gig.

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1508654778' post='3393510'] Thanks guys. Sounds like this one may be faulty [/quote] Unfortunately so. Are you able to contact the guy who you bought it from to see what he says? If that doesn't get you anywhere, maybe start a thread in the repairs section to see if anyone there can help you out? For example, if it turns out to be a dodgy switch you might be able to replace it yourself.

I've had no experience of the mini spark but I did have the full sized Spark Booster, and I still own a couple of other TCE pedals too, and the switches have all have dead silent when switching them on and off. It sounds like something is not quite right with the one you have bought, unfortunately. However, I'm no expert on electronics so I can't offer any insight as to what might be causing the issue.

Looks interesting. I've always loved the B[i]x[/i]K sound when I've heard it, even though I can't make it work for me when I've tried any of their gear out. I've always put that down to the mid scoop, but being able to boost mids on the B3K and select the frequencies on the B7K may well change all that. Assuming they're sensibly priced of course. Just thought I'd lob that grenade in as we all know someone will mention it sooner or later

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1507801280' post='3388006'] It doesn't matter at the end of the day - you can get the mA rating from the manual, and test manually in a daisy chain to see if it creates noise when sharing power with other pedals. Those are the only two things that are important! [/quote] Amen to that brother

I've been using a TU2 for about 15 years now, but unfortunately I have no idea whether it is analogue or digital. However, I've never had any issues (noise, interference etc) when powering it using either a battery, dedicated power supply or my Fuel Tank Junior. In fact, a battery seems to last forever in there so maybe it's analogue after all?

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1507470321' post='3385643'] Thanks to you, Cuzzie and Cameron (and despite the best efforts of Osiris who would have me just use a Zoom B3n and nothing else!) I've now got a pretty good effects board, which I'm having a lot of fun getting to grips with. [/quote] To be fair, Al, my point has always been you not throwing money away on something that you don't actually need as the B3n already has it covered. For example, at least one of your pedals (that costs more then the B3n new) [i]significantly [/i]under performs in comparison to some of the equivalent models on the B3n. You know the one to which I'm referring .

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1507721418' post='3387420'] +1 ... I had no idea they were German. [/quote] Me neither but it does answer the question of why when I ordered a pedal from them a few years ago it came with a European mains adaptor and not a UK one (although they had included a European to UK adaptor in the package). Other than that my experience was fine, but having had issues with online purchases before from other retailers you have my sympathy, for what it's worth

I'm also contemplating the same thing, a pair of one 10's or a single two 10. So any thoughts on this would be welcomed by me too.

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1507070031' post='3383206'] I have some great comps, FEA Dual Band and Rothwell Love Squeeze being particularly good ones, but limited to one? I think it might have to be the Boss LMB-3. (Yeah, I clocked the pun, just going to ignore it though!) It's good at super subtle levelling, peak limiting, and a mighty squish without too many weird artifacts. The 'enhance' function isn't much cop, and I actually think that replacing it with the attack control from the CS-3 would make for something very useful indeed. For the record, I've only used clones, and those cheaper than the Boss, too. [/quote] I've also got a Boss LMB-3 and agree that it is a very good compressor despite being labelled a limiter - although it does do limiting brilliantly as you say. And yes, the enhance control is best left at minimal settings, or even off altogether. Haven't really touched it since getting the Spectracomp though!

[quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1507039643' post='3382937'] I have an A/B input box that lets me switch between either using a cable or my Smooth Hound Wireless. So my chain is bass>cable>A/B box>Spectra OR bass>wireless>A/B box>Spectra. Either way the hiss is present on certain presets. I only really notice it through headphones via a Phil Jones BigHead though. When playing through speakers it's much less noticeable, though still present. Having read up about the TonePrint settings on the Spectracomp, it sounds like a setting called "Auto Makeup again" could be the culprit. [/quote] I only ever use mine with my gig rig and have never heard any noticeable noise added from the Spectracomp using the MuscleComp TonePrint which is my preference when gigging. I usually have it set at about (or just before) 10 o'clock which is perfect for me to add punch, keep everything even but still allow enough dynamic control by adjusting my playing style. I use the TonePrint as is, no further editing. I use a separate compressor (or 2, via a Zoom B3) for rehearsing through my bedroom amp and headphones and they add a small amount of noise, but nothing significant or distracting. As I understand things most compressors add a little noise to the signal due to their nature, but some are worse than others. Stick with it, it works brilliantly with my gear

[quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1507028166' post='3382793'] I have a Spectracomp myself and for a very long time used the MuscleComp TonePrint...but it always annoyed me that when engaged it noticeably amplified any hiss/noise. [/quote] Everything is quiet as a church mouse with my set up (bass - Boss tuner - Spectracomp - amp) using the MuscleComp TonePrint. Have you got anything else in your signal chain that might be causing the noise, or causing the SpectraComp to amplify the noise?