SumOne

Nice one. the Aguilar is probably my favourite Phaser that I've used but I think I prefer the sound of the Warm Audio in your clips, like you say - a bit warmer and smoother. ...but then again, playing live with a band and through an amp/cab perhaps suits a slightly harsher sound to be heard. And at least brand new, the Warm Audio is quite a bit cheaper at about £140 vs the new shape Grape Phaser is about £240 (although there is an older shape one for sale here for £95 which I'm also tempted with). Both are tempting, I do have a multi-fx that has a decent Phaser but I like the simplicity of 'stomp on Phaser switch for Phaser' rather than mucking scrolling through presets (and hoping I remembered to keep all the other parameters like EQ and Drive and Amp sim the same as the previous preset). Of course, this is a slippery slope to getting a board full of individual pedals again!

Exciting! My issue with digital envelope filters might well just be bias in my head. It's not so much that they sound different A/B with analogue in recordings, it's more that they've never felt quite as good to play - perhaps the way they are can be dialled in with physical dials, or very small delay for processing.

I've gotta say, I've only recently gone through the cycle of downsizing and selling pedals to go as minimal as I can with a small multi-fx (Boss GT 1000 Core, my third one!) but already I'm eyeing up individual pedals on this forum and elsewhere! What I'm asking myself is: Can the GT 1000 Core 1000 that I have sound/work better than or be more fun than: FI V4 for Synth = No Analogue envelope filter = No SA EQ2 = Sort of, the Core can do all the same stuff (and probably more) but I think I'd prefer he EQ2 display showing what the EQ is doing and having a pedal specifically to go through EQ presets. Idiotbox Blowerbox Deluxe = No (the Core drives are good, but from what I remember of the Blowerbox it sounds a bit better. Cali 76 Bass mk2 = No (the Core compressor is good, but I'd prefer better metering and hands on controls) Tuner = Draw (and the EQ2 could perhaps stand-in as tuner) LS2: Sort of, I need to switch between Basses, the Core can do this but it takes some preset planning and takes a valuable footswitch and isn't quite as obvious as footswitch to change input with 'red light/green light' .......but the GT obviously also has all the other effects and routing options and would sell for about £370 whereas the individual pedals would be about £1k and more bulky to move around. A bit Heart vs Mind. So if you are anything like me, it becomes a cycle (one where the high frequency is starting to annoy me). I think my conclusion has to just be that I enjoy it.

That was the P2. Unfortunately, no bass specific things (including tuner) meant I returned it.

I think Envelope Filters are quite niche, even within Funk and Pop, and very rare for Bass Players within Rock, Metal, Punk, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Country etc. They are good fun though so I expect they are used a lot at home, or sit there on boards just waiting for the day they can be used live for a small part of one song! I was talking to someone the other day about pedals and he didn't know what an Envelope Filter is, and he's been playing Bass in pub bands for about 30 years. I'd guess pedal popularity goes something like: Tuner, Drive, EQ, Compressor, DI/Preamp, Chorus, Octaver, Phaser, Loopers, and Envelope Filter pretty low down - just above things like Synth, Delays and Reverb. There was a video from somewhere like Scott's Bass Lessons years ago that stuck with me though: it said the first pedal anyone should get (after tuner) is an Envelope Filter - not because they are useful, but because they are fun, add a different dimension to your sound that keeps you interested in playing, and they can teach a lot about playing dynamics.

It's sampled from a Victor Lewis Smith prank call.

I fully agree with this. My first love of music is electronic stuff, but sitting at home listening to drum loops for hours and thinking about the finer details of which hi-hat sample to use just doesn't fill me with much joy. Meeting up with a few people who enjoy playing music is a lot more fun, getting their different viewpoints (and leaving the hi-hat nerding to the drummer!), and I find that having live gigs to look forward to (even if they sometimes turn out to be poorly attended) gives a focus that you don't get by just doing practise sessions.

Many of us struggle to find the right USB cable though, let alone all that stuff.

Unfortunately, these are the trials of multi-fx, lots of potential, but lots of potential faff too! The last gig I did was delayed as there was some very odd noise which we eventually tracked down to being because of the lead guitarist's multi-fx. And our last practice session was interrupted by the rhythm guitarist's multi-fx unexpectedly playing a drum loop. Another band I was in had trouble with a guitarist forgetting that a preset had a pitch shifter applied. I've tried to turn on the tuner of my Boss GT 1000 Core before (double footswitch press) but ended up just pressing one footswitch and changing preset to something inappropriate. All these hassles are possible with individual pedals, but they usually seem more intuitive. I'm sort of sold on the concept of Multi-fx, they can be great, relatively cheap, small, powerful tools. But they can also be a real headache.

I saw the Orb play live last night, one of the highlights was 'Towers of Dub' (from the excellent UFORB album) The Bassline that kicks in at about 3m what really makes it. It's the same bassline as the Revolutionaries 'El Bamba' ......and that is a reworking of Jackie Mittoo & The Skatalites 'El Bang Bang' (but that doesn't have the same bassline)

Thanks @MrDinsdale, you're right - it just needs the Divider to be directly in front of the Input and can then have it set in 'Single' mode as a switch between L and R inputs, can then map that channel select function to a knob or footswitch. So no need to use the Send/Return inputs for this (but could also use them 100% as 'Return' to have upto 4x inputs). What I like about the Core is that it clearly has a big brain! It's not always the most intuitive to find these things but it really can do a lot of processing. e.g. The Divider can also be set in Dual mode to apply dynamic filtering/sensitivity/cutoff frequency for L/R, and then can have multiple divided paths and map multiple switches to one footswitch or knob (and can add 2x expression pedals or extra dual footswitches). 2x inputs, 2x FX Loops that can be used as inputs, 3x dynamically divided signal paths, 20+ blocks of effects, midi in/out, and then different output signal routes means the possibilities are pretty huge but all within a pedal that fits inside my Bass gigbag front pocket. .........I still haven't managed to get a decent envelope filter sound out of it though!

If you still have all the rest of the band why not continue but with a new singer?

Has anyone found a good way of having a Bass in Input R and another in Input L and being able to switch/mute between them? As far as I can tell, there are all sorts of options for splitting the effect chain signal and different outputs, but not so obvious how to split L/R inputs and mute one of them. My solution so far is Splitting the path and using the 'Return 1' for one Bass (Send set to Zero) and Return 2 for the other (again, Send at Zero), then the 'Mix' block can go from 100% / 0% for each side of the split. Is there a simpler way by switching the Input L/R though?

The question is a bit like 'I can only have one pair of shoes, which ones should I get - Wellies or High Heels?' (not that either one of the pedals mentioned fit those descriptionsl!), so the annoying answer is that it depends on what your needs are. Saying that though, if I was only getting one pedal and the budget was about £100 I'd get a Zoom B1-Four. Then you have a Tuner, Compressor, EQ, Drive, Modulation, Octaver, Synth, Delays etc, and a decent practice tool with drum loops/metronome and can plug headphones into it, and can be battery powered. If you really need a XLR DI (which I've found is only really needed if you are doing long cable runs to a mixer/PA and you can't do it from your Amp XLR out) then there are seperate passive DI boxes like the SubZero for about £15.

Protoje & Zion I Kings 'Weed and Tings' Zion I Kings remixed all of the Protoje 'In Search of lost time' album, to 'In Search of Zion', and all have dub versions too. Worth checking out.

Saw Johnny Osbourne and Horace Andy at Komedia in Brighton a few weeks ago, both were excellent, so were the bands (Dub Ashanti Band, and Upper Cut Band), the venue was good too - sold out and busy enough for a good atmosphere but no queing, could get right up close to the stage, and could even get a decent pint easy enough.

Yeah, I guess. Perhaps they push for the upselling - they advertise a Plek setup for £175 with the Bass, perhaps they hope to also sell an Amp/Cab/cables etc. Still though, GAK, Guitar Guitar, Gear 4 Music all sold out at £750 (Bass Direct £700) so selling for £600 seems to be shooting in the foot a bit. I wouldn't hold my breath they do it again in the short term. Good deal for whoever got it though, I'm a bit jealous I paid £700! (mine is green though, which I prefer, Peach only seemed to sell one or two Grey ones).

If I were Peach I'd regret discounting a new in in-demand Bass for £600 while pretty much every other UK shop sells for closer to £750 and are sold out everywhere. It's not like they needed to put that discount on to sell (unless they were B stock or something). Most price match though, so if Peach happen to do that deal again you could try with another shop that has them to try out. It's a good Bass, my thought process is what are the alternatives for a well balanced, 5 string, lightweight, relatively cheap Bass? The closest non multiscale 5 string alternative is probably the Ibanez EHB 1005 which is about £1k. (and doesn't appear on the Ibanez website anymore so I think it's old stock, it seems the 1505 is the new - more expensive version). The Ibanez its better in some ways (sweepable mids, passive tone control, s-locks, a bit lighter, saddles can move strings sideways, rounder where forearm meets the body) but I'm not sure it's worth £300 more, and there are a few things I prefer on the Cort (colours, zero fret, non-slanted back, non-locking jack).

It's funny how a small thing like a non curved body where your forearm meets it (I tend to play quite far forward - pluckng in front of the neck pickup) can become an issue. Well, it does for me anyway, but perhaps I'm overly fussy. Personally, I find this can make playing uncomfortable. Which is a shame, as surely it would cost next to nothng to round it off. If be tempted to sand it down a bit myself but it'd look a mess.

I think I wouldn't mind that 'what you see is what you get' too much if it kept to that - but I assume that as it has presets and programming, each time you go to a new preset potentially none of the controls are actually in the positions where they are physically set, which I think could get really confusing. I suppose you could never change presets though and that'd solve that.

£345 from Andertons and GAK etc. I suppose it fills a niche, it is good to have physical controls, it looks tough, and the DI XLR could be useful. Not for me though, I think things have moved on from these sort of designs - something like the Boss GX 100 (£449 from Bax) gives a whole lot more control/editability in a similar sized and priced unit.

Yeah, as others have said: I'd prefer stage left. To be the same side as the snare & hi-hat, and it means the Bass headstock is pointing away from bandmates that could knock into it, and away from the crash cymbal.

Yeah, but not available for a couple of months. I wouldn't be suprised if the price goes up once in stock - I've seen shops do that before. It dissuades you buying from elsewhere in the meantime. And I think for the sake of £50 it might be worth avoiding international shipments with customs checks, my last Thomann delivery took about 2 weeks to arrive.

Arrived! First impressions are good. Sounds good. lightweight at 3.64kg (although I think my Ibanez EHB 1005 MS was even lighter at 3.4kg). Perfectly balanced (can sit with it on the lap and take hands away and it'll stay in position). Low action without fret buzz, no noticable things like dead spots and the strings all feel part of one instrument (I've had 5 strings where the B feels quite separate). Nice neck - satin rather than glossy, quite shallow but quite wide, some might find it a bit too wide but I like it (19mm string spacing and a bit more space on the edges than some fretboards give) Nice colours, it's a dark purple on the backk and there's more purple blending through on the front than pictures pick up (it is matte that seems that it'll scratch and dent easily though). Seems decent quality control throughout. Decent gig bag (weak point being a bit of a flimsy feeling zip). If I was being picky (which I am!) One thing I'd check if you're getting one: The bridge saddle for the G is pretty much as far forward as it can possibly go (less than 1mm forward movement left), so very little room for manouver if it needed going further forward for intonation. But that isn't an issue on mine as all the strings are intonating correctly without me adjusting anything. There seems to be no tone control in Passive mode. It'd be good if the volume and pickup blend knobs had white position markers on them (like the EQ knobs have). I would prefer more rounded edges where your forearm meets the Bass body. I'd prefer EQ with sweepable mids like on the Ibanez EHB or at least being able to internally switch different EQ points like Lakland do (perhaps there are internal switches for this - I haven't checked yet). Those plastic covers for the Battery that lots of manufacturers use seem like they're from a cheap toy, they could at least be flush with the back, I think I was spoiled with the Digwall system for that though. But these are picky/personal preference things. Overall, it seems a great Bass, especially for the money. But even if money wasn't an issue, I think it gives the Ibanez EHB series a good run for it's money.

I've sold via commission through them before, and once it sells there is something like a 2 week wait until you get paid in-case their buyer returns it. So I assume they offer buyers returns/refunds easily enough if something is wrong.