radiophonic

This all sounds a bit dodgy. I've just bought a S/H one. Given that it only draws 22mA, I'm tempted to just run it off a battery. A bit annoying though. I never had any trouble with other EHX pedals.

Yup, there's no free lunch with distortion pedals. The Soul Food is for my main band situation and I have 5 gigs in the first two weeks of October so I need to make a decision on the boost / 'subtle' side of things pretty quickly. The M85 is more for a side project I'm trying to put together. Less urgent and it may all fall on its face anyway. If it doesn't, big ugly noise will need to be part of it.

That 'separateness' you can get with a blend is my major irritation. It doesn't seem to be a problem (or seems to be less of one) with P basses (common in demos), but with a scoopier sound you end up with a clean low end and because the mid is recessed already, the grit sounds like it's only added to the top. It ends up sounding like two distinct streams, one clean and low the other fizzy and high. This is exactly what I'm trying to avoid and exactly what happened with the Pike. I'd envisage very light use of a blend and aiming for holding on to the bottom end naturally. Zach Rizer comments on this on his Youtube demo - the LED setting did seem to be achieving this. One option I'm considering is trying gain stacking. Adding low/mid gain to the full range signal,without wiping out the lows, then boosting the mids and pushing all but the bottom end of this signal again with a big nasty distortion. I've picked up a cheap s/h Bass Soul Food (mostly to use a clean boost that can handle my bass's output) and I'll be interested to hear where this can get me in combination with something nastier. If I lose the Pork Loin from the board, I'll gain a pretty big slot for another pedal.

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1505375620' post='3371363'] To be fair something rat based sounds ideal to me as your looking for something to push the mids rather than make them more scooped. A rat circuit is mid humped so will naturally push the mids. You sound like blend wise you just want it to be slight not over bearing so having played the mxr bass distortion I think it could work, however maybe getting something without a blend but that just holds the lows could be a way to go? If you like the mxr maybe look at the fuzzrocious cat tail Also if you want drive that reflects and works with you clean sound the ashdown nm2 is amazing! [/quote] Exactly right - mid hump without losing the low end. Proper broken up distortion. Very subtle use of clean blend, without being on a knife edge the whole time. The guy who does the fuzzrocious pedals has posted on a few forums about his involvement with this, and based on his comments, I think I'd be better off with the M85 than a cat tail. He did say that the M85 had an MXR specified tone stack, but based on how cagey they've been ('based on an earlier and popular distortion circuit' but never being more specific) I'm guessing they've simply optimised for bass rather straying too far from RAT territory. The blend can be turned off after all. I've never even heard of the NM2 before now - footprint might be an issue.

This pedal has attracted my interest - anyone using it and care to offer a review? I'm a bit wary because none of the demos I've seen use my bass and some of MXRs recent dirt pedals have been a bit questionable IMO. I've seen none s/h (good sign) but also not much hype, so maybe they just aren't selling. It's a fuzzrocious collaboration and has a Silicon/Diode switch option. The LED sounds particularly pleasing and nasty to me. I guess you'd call it 'Rat based', but with a blend and different EQ. I've had very bad experiences with dirt pedals on bass. Part of the issue, I'm sure, is that I play a bass with an already fairly scooped sound (EBMM). Cleaning up the low end too much with a blend only serves to emphasize the scoop. The Pike Vulcan in particular just didn't work for me at all, which is putting me off the (expensive) Darkglass direction too. I don't use distortion that much, but I think it makes sense to have one really solid dirt pedal available if needed. I've so far tried and failed with the following Pike Vulcan - I could blend between two sounds, but neither was very usable. Clean blend emphasised the scoop too much. Concluded that the EQ points were probably wrong for me. Way Huge Pork Loin - Not enough gain, too soft and the 'clean' circuit overloads with my bass. Useful for a couple of specific things that it definitely wasn't designed for. Will probably sell it though. EHX Crayon - Bought mostly for guitar and sort of wish I hadn't sold it, but it wasn't nasty enough. Too much of an OD rather than Distortion. EHX Bass Big Muff - Too scooped. Annoying inflexible blend option. Fuzz not distortion. Where else could I be looking?

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1505331497' post='3371175'] Rush. Geddy is amazing. The songs are awful. [/quote] I've always thought Rush are half of a good band. I really like Alex's multi-tracked chordal guitar playing and even his late 70s lead style, before he got all the digital reverbs (side 2 of Hemispheres >> Moving Pictures) and Ged's bass playing - and tone - is tremendous. I've always loathed the dodgy politics, excessive and showy drumming, 'the voice' and 90% of the material (everything except side 2 of Hemispsheres >> Moving Pictures). They don't seem to understand the idea that leaving things out is a good thing. Taste, basically. Ged's playing is great though. [quote name='super al' timestamp='1505327475' post='3371117'] The Who. Fantastic bassist, one of a kind drummer, guitar legend and a really strong singer. All the right ingredients for a rock band, right? I just don't get it, about 2 or 3 of their tunes I think are ok but I can't get excited about The Who. [/quote] This. I have 'Live at Leeds', 'Meaty, Beaty, Big 'n Bouncy' and 'Who's Next' and that's already too many Who LPs. On paper they look like a winner though. In my case, I put i down to Daltry really - I never really rated him. Band's you'd like with a different singer or no singer would be a good thread. I'm sure that's where 90% of the 'over-rated' comments come from. Esp where The Smiths are concerned.

I've been trawling the musicians wanted ads for a side project over the last couple of weeks. My conclusion is that most people, including (or even especially) musicians are incredibly narrow minded and dismissive of anything that sounds remotely different to what they already like and have chosen to identify with. It's almost as if having a different view of music represents a threat to their personality. Over-rated is often as not just a lazy term for not liking something that somebody else does, but not being prepared or able to articulate why. I've recently heard people describe both Kraftwerk and The Beatles as over-rated. The former effectively invented the idea of electronic music as pop music, the latter were one of the defining cultural artefacts of the late 20th Century. There are many bands I can't stand, but calling them over-rated doesn't explain anything. It's just a way of not thinking.

[quote name='Srwu' timestamp='1505247556' post='3370550'] Thanks, I wasn't sure as Amazon described them as 'medium'. I've placed my order! [/quote] I think they meant medium gauge. Definitely long scale. They are still incredibly bright sounding after a good couple of hours of playing last night. Not sure they are the best choice for a Stingray and aluminium speaker cones!

Hmm. Not sure about these! I cranked the rig up last night and played a load of our current set, bass only. I don't think I'd describe the sound as scooped exactly, it's more that the top end is so extreme that it masks even the bass. IOW the bottom end also seems light and when playing harmonics there's a bit of a lack of punch - they really pop when you strike the string and ring for ever, but the harmonics sound thin, as if the highest overtones are dominating. I'm hoping that a bit of sweat will tame them a bit and a more rounded character will emerge. I don't think I've ever said that about a string before - usually I like them fresh as a daisy straight from the pack. The low tension has required me to adapt my technique a bit too since they offer much less resistance when digging in. What I do like about them is that despite being 105 on the bottom, they feel more like 100 and are very smooth to the touch. I've actually taken my action down since fitting them. Definitely not like other strings. I'm tempted to stick some on my fretless Jazz and see what I get. I suspect that on a Stingray, they are just a bit of a treble overload.

I do this pretty often with my Hartke LH500 due to the awkward size/shape of the head. I'm a [i]bit [/i]concerned about the cooling issue, since I figure that even with a fan, there are assumptions about passive cooling that affect how the active cooling is implemented and it does have a valve pre-amp. It's never overheated though or even got noticeably warm.

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1505126034' post='3369583'] [b]TC Toneprint[/b] That does sound like a nice best of both of worlds. However... [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]One of the other reasons besides a more natural octave tone (and reduced latency - which my old Boss PS-6 Harmonist was noticeably impacted by) for getting a dedicated analogue pedal, as opposed to using my Zoom B3n multi-fx, is that with any dedicated pedal it's pretty easy to change settings on the fly in a live situation, or even in terms of getting to grips with the tonal options in the first place.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The TC Toneprint stuff has always intrigued me both on the sub'n'up and the Spectracomp. But my sense is that you need to be quite adept with computer software / IT skills to get into the detail of something like the editor software on Toneprint? So if you're not a dab hand at IT is the Toneprint stuff actually really easy to use?[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]e.g. how much time did you have to spend in terms of connecting up the pedal to the computer, loading and editing the software, unplugging and re-connecting to try out on your bass and amp; keeping the sound you had just managed to achieve in your head whilst going back to the computer and reconnecting everything to make further edits to refine the sound. [Repeat] Until you have got the tone you like. [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Now multiply that time by a factor of 2 to 4 for someone not familiar with Toneprint?[/font][/color] [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]I really like the sound of what you have managed to do for your 1 octave tone down as a preset, but are you then "stuck" with that one preset and e.g. can't have another preset that sounds great as full filter synth, without changing all the software settings again? Obviously that's a non starter when rehearsing or playing live, although you could make it work for recording.[/color][/font] [/quote] I've not used the Sub'n'Up (it's on my list though), but I use Toneprint on a Flashback extensively. It's very straightforward and requires next to zero IT knowledge. You just connect the USB cable and launch the Editor program on your computer. You do need to have some understanding of what the pedal parameters are doing, but they do name them in a way that's easy to understand and Tore stated in his intro video for the Sub that a lot of the really low level parameters are hidden. Instead you are recommended to load a template and work from that. The closest analog for a delay would be starting from a '2290 type Digital Delay' vs. starting from a 'Tape Delay'. I used the latter to make something that sounds not quite like an Echroec and it's become my standard delay. You don't need to disconnect/reconnect. Just tweak the sliders in the template, hit 'Send', try it out and repeat until it does what you want, then save it. I've criticised TC elsewhere for the lack of a portable user library and beaming of your own templates (i.e. more techy stuff), but in terms of basic functionality they really have got this right. If I had the money for an ocatver right now, Toneprint would be a major selling point. Edit - Just saw Osiris's post. I agree wrt Multiband Compressors!

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1505110694' post='3369449'] I wince at the two amp thing, like, bass amps are too easy to lug around, let's use TWO hehe [/quote] And then explain to the sound engineer that you'll need TWO DIs and that they'll have to be panned as well... IME, no chance.

These are great strings. They feel much less stiff than D'Addario but still have that 'zing'. I've not tried them in anger yet, but at this price it might be worth stocking up.

The LH500 is a total steal really. I got mine in an emergency and sort of assumed I'd want to move it on if the band worked out, but actually I really like it. As others have said, the flight cased dimensions aren't the most convenient and it overhangs my cabs annoyingly - I often put the head on a chair or even on the floor for peace of mind. I don't find it excessively heavy, certainly not compared to a valve amp, but the footprint is a bit of problem in a small car. The effects loop was designed by an idiot too (it bypasses the DI out FFS). Great sound though and loud as hell. I can get a convincing 'Hooky' sound out of it if needed, which is the main thing.

I wish I needed a fuzz. I have literally zero use for one, but there's just something totally grin inducing about a proper muff.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1504603343' post='3365935'] Fairfield Barbershop or Accountant are tiny and when great for dirty boosts. Although if you need a mid control you should probably look elsewhere. [/quote] I watched a demo of the Fairfield. Nice. I like the gritty mids thing it does. The ratio options are quite limited, but probably 3:1 and 6:1 are close to all I use anyway, since my amp has a limiter. This and the Spectracomp both look like realistic options. I'm falling a bit out of love with the BC1X anyway.

Can anyone recommend a source for a solder-less patch cabling kit? I recall am episode of That Pedal Show where Daniel used a very simple screw fit solution that even I can't bodge. I'm wiring up a new gig board and I need some longer / non standard lengths for a couple of loops. Since this is a gig board, it will probably get rejigged fairly often and my current solution (Warwick 10/20/30 cm cables + some Neutrik 40 cm ones) is either too fragile or too bulky.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1504725820' post='3366942'] For what they cost and with their small footprint you could just have 2 side by side. [/quote] Only a single TP slot though. The three slot approach as per flashback/HoF is a big plus on those pedals.

It also depends on how much looping time you want. The flashback has a looper setting and with the launch of the Mk2, I'd expect prices for the original to crash. Small footprint was mentioned. I'm considering getting a FB2 and using 2 delays on my board for a mixture of looping, delay and modulation. I don't need more than 40 seconds of loop capacity though.

You mean 'play a passage, loop it, play over the top and hope the drummer is paying attention'? I use a Ditto. Very small. I do find the loop cancel a bit annoying though and put it in an LS2 loop so I can disengage the Ditto, delay pedal and volume pedal with one tap. That's specific to my gig though.

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1504606788' post='3365976'] I use a TC spectracomp as a clean boost which subtly fattens and smoothes out the sound. [/quote] Actually, that's not a bad suggestion. I saw an artist toneprint clip on the TC site that seemed to give effectively infinite sustain. I've even been considering buying a spectracomp as a potential replacement for my Boss BC1X (boring, idestructable, gets the job done) Off topic, but what would be really good is if TC really embraced the potential of the spectracomp and made a two button version with multiple toneprint slots. The ability to switch between pairs of user selected prints would make a fantastic product. Who know's what's in the pipeline after MASH though...?

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1504603343' post='3365935'] Fairfield Barbershop or Accountant are tiny and when great for dirty boosts. Although if you need a mid control you should probably look elsewhere. [/quote] The fatter mids are definitely part of what is happening that I like - or at least what is working in this band's mix. I notice EHX do a couple of suitably eccentric pedals with EQ, gain, compression and dirt. Big footprint again though.

I'm not looking for something totally neutral. I think the EXH LPB-1 offers this too. I want an un-distorted but compressed boost with some mid hump and no bass shelving, in a small box. I wondered about the TC Spark, but there's no mid control - only bass and treble. As I said, the Pork Loin does do it, but it's a big box for just a boost. I did wonder about the MXR M80 but, I suspect it has too much clean headroom.

By 'clean', I mean not audibly distorted, but just pushing into extra compression with some softening and a bit of a mid-hump. I'm using a Way Huge Pork Loin to achieve this at the moment and it's basically what I want, but there are two issues I'd like to correct. 1. It's a big pedal for a clean boost and it does a lot of more gainy things that I don't really need, whilst not being gainy enough to get really ugly (it's not designed to, so this isn't a complaint). 2. The clean (British Channel) side clips with a Stingray. With blend above 50%, it's audible in low notes. I run it on 50% blend with the gain at 0. Tweaking the internal pots has no effect on the clipping. I'm assuming it's a straightforward overload. That said, I really like the way it softens the clank of the bass and adds some sustain as it boosts, especially when playing near the top of the neck and when sliding chords - and this is what I use it for. It seems to be pushing the mids without audibly rolling off the bass. What are my options? Small footprint is desirable. I already use a multiband compressor as an always in pedal. This is 'in addition'.

Order dispatched. I've pretty much killed yet another Ernie Ball set two in practices plus homework, so this is very timely. Given the lack of gauge choices I'm assuming that someone has a 'bin end'. Looking forward to hearing what a 30 quid set of bass strings sounds like.