CliveT

I learnt from experience too that you can't dial in your sound at bedroom volume. So, when I set up at the gig I set all my EQ flat and turn up the volume to roughly the volume I'll need for the gig. Then you can hear the difference the room is making and adjust accordingly. Amazing how little I tend to wonder from that 'flat' tone. I prefer playing with an amp but if it's just in-ears then of course all that stress is taken away and the FOH has control.

The MXR M89 bass overdrive is pretty good at the vintage style overdrive. Used price is pretty good too.

Looking at IEM's for occasional use as still playing mainly with an amp and the 2 most popular seem to be KZ and CCA KZ ZST or KZ ZSTX look very good value at £18.99 on Amazon. Is there much difference? I've read the ZSTX is louder. The KZ do generally get excellent reviews for the cost on Youtube. CCA C10 is just over twice the price at £38.99 with the CCA C12 a little more. Are the CCA worth the extra over the KZ or would you recommend something else entirely?

Something like the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe has the Growl and Girth so you can make the octave note as synth like of phat as you like by mixing these together. The Aguilar Octamizer has the tilt EQ which can also change the character of the octave note in a similar way. But both are a synth style recreation of your original note, not a copy one octave down. Both track well. I've never tried an EBS Octabass but always sounds good on the demos I've heard.

I had the MXR M80 and as a clean preamp DI it's great. I personally didn't like the 'Color' button, a bit too scooped for my taste but a lot of people do like it. The distortion is OK too but there are better bass distortions. Also had the TC Spectradrive and again I found it a good clean preamp and the compressor was good too. I couldn't get a good sound out of the drive channel but it has aux in and headphone out so a very useful box. Since then I've not got another preamp pedal and just use my bass and amp's preamp when rehearsing and small gigs. Larger gigs I let front of house deal with it.

I've been using a P bass and Markbass combo for a few years now and keep things pretty flat most of the time. EQ's at 12:00 and VLE and VPF at minimum. I find the VLE useful for taming new strings and somewhere between 09:00 and 10:00 works well. At higher volumes the VPF stops the mids being too sharp so a setting somewhere around 09:00 works for me. I then just EQ to taste depending on the room but it's not usually much. It's a great tone and sits really well in the mix. Sound guys love the DI out too.

MXR micro amp will give you uncoloured boost too

Well worth another bump. Great playing and tone. I think he uses a MXR Bass Octave Deluxe but very little info about Rocco's pedalboard out there.

#3 is the only reason I do

The MXR micro amp or basic TC spark booster will do the job too. Just set the boost so the quieter bass matches the level of the louder. You'll get uncoloured boost from ether and both are cheap on the used market.

It took me some time to work out the MXR OD after using it at home only to start with. In the mix I find it works well, lots of headroom and find I need more gain than I thought when solo. That being said I still have the gain below 09:00, or no higher than 11:00 for higher gain setting.

Another vote for the TC Unitune or Polytune. I have a full sized Polytune on my board but if I gig with no pedals I have every confidence in the TC.

Had mine a few years now and even without the extension cab there's plenty of volume to compete with a live drummer.

Isn't this true of many preamps? It will have a basic sound of it's own which you then tweak to build upon, so all knobs at 12:00 isn't necessarily the same flat response as bypassed. I did try this pedal and liked the eq, compressor, aux in and headphones out, but couldn't get a good drive sound.

Does the Spark completely clean and transparent with the bass and treble at noon and gain at minimum? How much headroom does the level have when the gain is a minimum? Just curious if I can use this as a fully clean boost and/or OD ?