Osiris

Out of interest, what was the first bass that you plugged into it that you found underwhelming? What was underwhelming about it? Yes, I agree that the Magellan offers you nowhere to hide. It has certainly forced me to be a bit more careful! I've not experienced any underwhelming sounds from any of my basses yet, even my cheap and cheerful Peavey sounded good through it, but it has been fitted with a decent pickup which no doubt helps. As for the weight to the low end, that seems to be a characteristic of the Magellans. I emailed Genzler to ask if they use a high pass filter as there is no mention of one either in the manual or online. I had a reply from Jeff Genzler himself (how's that for customer service!) and this is what he said; [i]Hello Sid,[/i] [i]Thank you for your purchase.[/i] [i]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. [/i] [i]This allows us to achieve a clean, solid and authoritative low end without potential flubbyness.[/i] [i]This also helps with protection from over-excursion for speakers under high power situations.[/i] [i]I hope this information is helpful.[/i] [i]Best Regards,[/i] [i]Jeff Genzler[/i] [i]Founder[/i] My guess is that this accounts for the weighty low end! Class D doubters take note

I owned and gigged an RH450 for several years and never once did come close to feeling like it was running out of power or lacking in volume. I don't think I ever needed to take the volume above about 10 o'clock - even when the bass wasn't going through the PA. While TC may not have been entirely truthful with their figures (if that is indeed the case) but in my experience, their claims that the RH450 can compete with a 'real' 450 watt amp, are perfectly justified. A lot of guys on here don't seem to like them, but I thought it was a superb little amp. As Dood alludes to above, the tone of the RH450/750 is more of a warm, vintage kind of vibe, so they may not be the ideal choice for a synth. As with everything, there are a million and one opinions online. But they are just that - someone's opinion. See if you can get your hands on an RH450 and try it and make your own mind up

Let us know what you think of it once you've had time to get to know it and put it through its paces. Assuming that the Magellan 350 has the same tone as its big brother (of which I am a proud owner) I think you'll be a happy man.

I picked up clone of the Blueberry last week from the classifieds section on this site. I've not played through the real thing so I have no idea how close it sounds to the original. But it does sound really good in its own right. It's the only drive pedal that I've really been impressed with other than the Tone Hammer - and I picked the clone up for less than one tenth of a new TH! Even if it's only half as good as the original (not sure how you'd quantify that exactly, but hopefully you know what I mean?) then the praise for the Blueberry is entirely justified. I've not got any other dedicated drive pedals to stack with it but I have got some great results running a pre-amp model from my Zoom B3 into it to act as a booster to get a touch more gain. I can't remember which model it is of the top of my head but it's the one with a semi parametric mid range, the icon for which looks a little bit like the Tone hammer pedal, although it's purely a clean pre-amp with no inherent drive of its own. I also dialled in a push of the upper mids at 1.2 kHz to add a bit of clarity when using it with my dark sounding passive Sandberg. Backing off the volume of the Blueberry allows me to use the booster to push the saturation from the pedal without a significant volume increase. Other than a bit more more gain and the eq change, using the booster also retains the fundamental blueberry flavour. My guess is that stacking it with another drive pedal would make a more noticeable change to the overall sound. Could something similar be an option rather than another drive pedal? Not had a chance to try the Blueberry clone through the Genzler yet, I'll need to wait for the elderly neighbours to go out for a while before firing it up in the house. But though my little 30 watt, 1 x 10 practice amp, with and without the B3 pre-amp, it's brilliant!

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1493825308' post='3291025'] Just looked at the site. Sounds a pretentious twerp. Give yer hard earned to someone who deserves it. [/quote] Definitely. I got as far as "An aristocracy of artistic instrument" before I was engulfed by nausea. He could teach Calvin Klein a thing or 2 about pretension.

I also have a bass that could do with some fret work doing, so I'm also interested to know the going rate for a fret dress (not a full re-fret) too, if anyone has an idea?

[quote name='DBerriff' timestamp='1493811769' post='3290822'] Osiris. I missed you at the Grainstore. Sorry. That is what comes from skim- reading posts. [/quote] No problem. It's probably as well you didn't make it, we had to cancel the gig in the end due to the drummers hypochondria flaring up again

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1493809954' post='3290795'] Here's a GZ M 800 YouTube review which I think illustrates the points that Osiris has made very well, for those of you interested. [url="https://youtu.be/YzkCtlcffw0"]https://youtu.be/YzkCtlcffw0[/url] It's clearly a really good amp. My only hesitation is that I'm not convinced that the in built drive on the Magellan comes close to competing with some of the best dedicated drive pedals and that a GZ M 800 on its own would therefore improve on a transparent, but true, Markbass amp (which I have already) + good drive pedal. [/quote] I'd also watched that YouTube clip (plus a couple of others) before buying the amp and had come to the same conclusion as you had, that the drive channel was nothing special. Mind you, he plays through the amp with a Stingray and I've never been a fan of that nasal tone. Plenty of guys love it, but it does nothing for me In the real word the drive channel is much smoother sounding, has a ton of clarity and a great dynamic touch response, the harder you dig in the more it growls, ease up with your right hand and it cleans up again. There's no low end mush or harsh, fizzy top end. It just sounds good. Really good. In my opinion, of course! Anyway, as I'm sure you know, when trying something in real life, there is usually little tonal resemblance to what something sounds like online plus there's a multitude of other variables to factor in that have an impact on the tone on a YouTube clip. I'd still recommend you try one out if you can - if only to eliminate to from your list of potential new amps. And I'm guessing that Muzz would second me on this too! Obviously tone is a personal thing and we all have different ideas of what the perfect tone is, or what we want our sound to be. This obviously includes drive sounds too. The Genzler drive channel just sounds right to me. It's definitely on the low gain, smooth and silky side, but that's what I want. That's not to say that it's what you want, but from your other thread, I'd be surprised if the Genzler isn't in the same ball park even if it's not exactly what you're looking for. Try one and let us know what you think

Less is usually more with eq settings, i.e. don't massively boost some frequencies and then make a big cut of others as you'll end up with a hole in your sound - some notes will be be really loud and others will be inaudible in the mix. Keep the pattern on the eq setting smooth, not spiky! Also, don't be tempted to cut the middle frequencies out of whatever tones you eventually settle on. The bass sounds great on it's own with the mid range scooped out, but when you use that sound in the mix you'll struggle to hear yourself and to cut through. And don't just keep boosting frequencies, remember to cut them too - for example, sometimes if you want more presence it's better to cut back some bass and/or mid range rather than boost the high end which usually just adds more hiss and noise to your tone. These days I tend to play with the eq flat and only make small adjustments for the room if they are required, e.g. cut a bit of bass if the room is booming or add a little bit of treble if things are a bit mushy. The bass may not sound very exciting with a flat eq compared to a scooped sound, but you will have no problem hearing yourself in the mix. Hope this helps

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1493649380' post='3289684'] Tim Allen does. He's on here... TimAl I think is his user name. [/quote] And this is his website - [url="http://www.originalscratchplates.com/scratch-it/"]http://www.originalscratchplates.com/scratch-it/[/url] I've not used him, but have plans to in the future!

[quote name='indiegrungesound' timestamp='1493451908' post='3288366'] Hi Osiris. You've peaked my curiosity with this! I use the Spectracomp all the time on my BH500. It gives me the kind of loud, punchy sound I like without having to turn my volume up! I have toyed with the idea of getting the pedal if I had to sell/trade up my amp. Are you saying the pedal is better to use than it's onboard amp form? [size=4][/quote][/size] 'Better' is a subjective term as we all want different sounds from our gear * [size=4] [/size] I've no experience of the Spectracomp in the BH500, but I'm assuming that it's the same, or at least very similar, to the one in the RH450. I was a big fan of the one on the '450, it sounded and worked really well and had a pleasing punch as you say. My assumption was that the default tone print that comes loaded on a new Spectracomp would sound the same, but in my experience it didn't - but you also need to factor in that I was using another amp too (my new Genzler Magellan - which is another thing of wonder in itself, some of my thoughts about the Magellan [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/303884-amp-test-drive%3B-aguilar-darkglass-genzler-and-mesa-boogie/"]are here[/url]) so there was more than one variable that could account for the difference. I felt that the default tone print was making the mid range a bit mushy. It's hard to describe the sound but it wasn't for me. But that's not to say that you wouldn't like it, or that it wouldn't work well with your gear. However, the Spectracomp has got to be about the most versatile compressor currently available. It can be as simple (one control knob!) or as complex as you want it to be if you have the time and sufficient understanding of compression to use the tone print editor as Dood says above. But for my needs, the tone prints you can load to the pedal from [url="http://www.tcelectronic.com/spectracomp-bass-compressor/toneprints/"]TC's website[/url] offer pretty much any style of compression that you're ever likely to need, and a free, quick and easy way to have a taste of the different flavours of compression. All you need to load tone prints are the pedal and the free tone print app on your mobile. Or you can use a PC/Mac and a USB cable. It takes 2 or 3 seconds to load a new tone print, and if you don't like it you just load another one. Simple as that! [size=4]If you're looking for loud and punchy compression, check out the Muscle Comp tone print - it's [i]really[/i] punchy and makes the bass really cut through a busy band mix. [/size] * My personal opinion is that the pedal is way better than the one in the RH450 [size=4] [/size]

Just received a pedal from Paul, a clone of the Blueberry bass overdrive made from a Fuzz dog kit, and it was a fast, friendly and easy transaction. The pedal was really well packaged and Paul posted it first class the morning after I'd paid. Can't ask for more than that!

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1493326992' post='3287587'] I've most of my reviews listed here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/248043-doods-100-online-video-reviews-all-the-gear-artists-and-more/"]http://basschat.co.u...tists-and-more/[/url] though some of the early issues are currently offline. The good news is that the review in question is available and it's in this magazine: [url="http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=2790a35c-e2e4-435d-9361-3d3f9e251ad7"]http://edition.pages...61-3d3f9e251ad7[/url] hopefully this link will work for the video on it's own: [url="https://www.guitarinteractivemagazine.com/videoplayer?issue=32&umbracourlname=dv_ampeg_ba115_and_ba110_reviewmp4"]https://www.guitarin...ba110_reviewmp4[/url] [/quote] Thanks, Dood, appreciate it [size=4] [/size]

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1493232447' post='3286810'] I've also reviewed a couple of Ampeg combos in the past with the scrambler circuit on. I was surprised at how useable it was and got some really cool 'Sheehan' style low-gain drives with it. Just a nice bit of bite. [/quote] Thanks, Dood. I had a quick look on the Guitar Interactive site but couldn't find the Ampeg reviews. Any chance you could dig out a link, please?

This isn't my band but years ago I worked on the buildings with an old punk, Biff, who was just starting a new band. In the canteen one day one of the other workers was relaying a tale about something or other and said something about someone being sick on the bus. The site agent, who had a great sense of humour, turned round to Biff and said something along the lines of "you ought to call your band sick on the bus". [url="http://www.sickonthebus.com"]The rest, as they say, is history[/url].

The Spectracomp is a superb little compressor. The default tone print seemed to have a bit of a bloated mid range to my ear (it didn't sound anything like the one in my old RH 450 amp, unfortunately) but there are some great tone prints available on the TC site that should cover pretty much any type of compression you're looking for. My personal favourites are the Fed Comp for tonal transparency and the Muscle Comp for a big, punchy tone. Let us know your thoughts on the Ampeg, I've been tempted by one of those myself!

Thanks, Hugh, this looks to be a fantastic exercise that will keep me going for a long time!

[quote name='HazBeen' timestamp='1492888339' post='3283974'] I liked the Spectracomp, although I did not like 1 pretty key thing..... it was pretty noisy certainly compared to my Keeley. Do others find the same? [/quote] No, I've never experienced any noise with mine. I tend to switch between the Fed Comp and Muscle Comp tone prints depending on what type of compression I'm looking for (Fed is ultra transparent whereas Muscle adds loads of punch and presence) usually with the Spectracomp control knob at about 9 to 10 o'clock ish. I've tried most of the other tone prints too (other than the slap specific ones as I'm not an old slapper [size=4] ) and other than noticeable volume differences between some of them, they have all have been very quiet. [/size]

Sorry, I have no experience with the GK MB Fusion so I can't comment on how it sounds or compares to anything else. A lot of guys speak highly of them so it's got to be worth trying to track one down to have a blast through. Having either owned or played through a couple of amps over the years that have a valve in the pre-amp (Trace Elliot SMX, Hartke, Mark Bass and Genz Benz) I've never been completely enamoured with the sounds - admittedly these are older amp models and the technology has moved on a bit since then. But this is purely my experience, plenty of other folks seem happy enough with what these amps and other hybrids have to offer. The Genzler doesn't have any valves in it at all, but just seems to nail the sound that I had in my head - it's subtle but very usable and the eq curve that rolls of the high and low end helps to stop it from getting farty or frizzy. It just sounds right to me. But you really need to try it and hear it, the YouTube clips that I have seen and listened to don't do it any justice whatsoever!

[url="http://www.joespedals.com/cgi-bin/sh000011.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejoespedals%2ecom%2f&WD=blueberry&PN=Bearfoot_FX_BlueBerry_Bass_Overdrive%2ehtml%23a1715#a1715"]Joe's pedals[/url] have them on their site, but appear to have been out of stock in the several months that I've been looking.

Great review JimBob! Even after the recent purchase of the Genzler Magellan amp to get this kind of tone, your review above has still got me hankering to give the Blueberry a try out at sometime. Just need to try and find one in stock somewhere in the UK....

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1492423332' post='3280056'] Excellent review. I have a D800, and using a passive fretless with flats, I don't seem to have the same impression of having to rein it in. I find it full and rich with plenty of power in reserve. I also run it through the mesa cabs, a 15 and a 2-10, as that might also affect my impressions. I always love good reviews with other's impressions. Well done. [/quote][quote name='Yank' timestamp='1492507937' post='3280737'] Last night I plugged in the Mesa and tried to listen with your ears. I tried your settings also, before reverting to my own. I had never thought about it being aggressive, but found your review spot on. I mellow it out by playing technique, but you're right, it wants to be aggressive and powerful, in the same way that a Precision tone is more aggressive than a Jazz tone. I also keep the deep switch off, but have the bass at 12, low-mids at 2, high mids at 12, treble at 10, with the voicing off. This gives a mellower tone, and for punch, I'll boost the high mids to 1 or 2. Also, the aggressiveness, means that your tone won't get lost/overpowered in a band setting. Great review, you have good ears! [/quote] Thanks Yank, my guess is that using a flat equipped fretless would mellow the naturally aggressive tone (in my opinion!) of the amp. But to be fair, I'm not always the most subtle of players, I tend to dig in a lot with my right hand (a legacy of being an old rocker) so regardless of the bass and amp being used at the time, the sound I'm getting is usually a bit more aggressive than it is polite and restrained, if that makes sense? The Subway enhanced that aggressiveness to my ear. But as I said, it was far from a bad tone, it's just that I couldn't imagine it being the first choice of amp for a jazz or acoustic gig. Having said that, I'm happy to be proved wrong! [quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1492554125' post='3281251'] Great review, thanks. The Genzler wasn't a head I had really considered before, but am definitely going to now! [/quote] Al, I'd read your 'That warm valve amp sound thread' and it sounds to me that you and I are after pretty much the same thing. I'd been through a lot of pedals to try and get [i]that [/i]sound - The tone hammer pre-amp does it really well as does the Sansamp VT bass, but I found with the VT that there was a bit too much compression going on and it got lost in the mix when playing with the band. But I've not heard anyone else have that issue, so maybe it was just me? Anyway, I can definitely recommend the Genzler amp for the warmth and smoothness of the drive channel if you're looking for that silky, rich, traditional tone. No doubt some of the valve purists will turn their nose up at it, but for me it's close enough and has the advantage of much less weight to lug about. Like you I started off going through pedals, but ultimately I ended up with a new amp! If you can get your hands on one, definitely give it a go and see what you think for yourself.

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1492022037' post='3277309'] A Compressor is your friend, will bring everything together, loud notes down quiet notes up. if you get a booster you will just make everything louder rather than the quiet notes. [/quote] Spot on, a compressor will even everything out rather than just boosting what's already there including any existing volume differences from 3rd/4th finger pull offs. Depending on your budget there are a million different options to choose from. Here's the inevitable link to [url="http://www.ovnilab.com"]Ovnilabs[/url] My current favourite compressor is the mini TC Electronics Spectracomp. It offers pretty much any and every type of compression available, whether you're after subtle and transparent or something much more coloured and/or squashed. The versatility of this little thing cannot be overstated. There's loads of different sounds and flavours of compression available just through the [url="http://www.tcelectronic.com/spectracomp-bass-compressor/toneprints/"]free tone prints available on TC's website.[/url] There's also a free tone print editor you can download to fully customise your own settings if you're knowledgeable enough about these things. But unless you're after something very specific that you can't find anywhere else you'll probably never need to dabble with it. I seem to recall that it has something like 30 or 40 different configurable parameters. For my needs, there's more than enough to keep me going just with the tone prints. No-one is judging your technique. The idea that compressors somehow correct or compensate for poor technique is only spouted by people who don't understand the principles of compression or how to apply them