Skybone

Getting a band up & running is only part of the battle, you have to keep the momentum going, actively promote yourselves wherever and whenever you can, write songs, rehearse, all while trying to keep your daily life going as well. It's a job in itself, but a job worth doing. Good luck with the band and good luck with the upcoming engagement party & wedding.

The XT is a pre-amp, so I can't see why it wouldn't run in front of a power amp, all the "tone" shaping is done by the xt, and it's just boosted up to amp like levels by the power amp. My plan is to run it into the PA (basically a power amp). I installed Gearbox, but much prefer Line6 Edit to work on tweaking settings.

Another thing to bear in mind, is how much you want to spend on a specific pedal. Cheap, mass produced pedals sound good, but "boutique" pedals do sound a lot better, but cost a lot more. Is it worthwhile looking at getting a Fuzz AND a Distortion? That way you can have different flavours of grit for different songs?

TBH, I haven't noticed any difference to having them on or off, but maybe I'm not setting them up "right". I'll have a lay with the channel volume, but I do like a "bit of grit" in my sound, and always find pre-amp grit to be a bit harsh. My favourite patch on my old faithful desktop (guitar) PODxt is the JCM800 model with the channel volume pushed up, to get that "power amp" overdrive. Looks like I'm going to have to do some more tweaking. I had a look in the manual for clip advice, but couldn't find anything, will have to read it properly sometime! Favourite amp models in the Bass Expansion Pack so far, are the SVT & the 8x10 cab (of course), the Acoustic 360 with the 1x18 cab, the Tweed 4x10 & the 2x15 Fender Dual Showman and the Marshall Super Bass. But still have a fair amount of experimentation to do.

Update on the update, had a bit more of a play about with it, tried a few different amp models & settings, saved a few favourites. Still impressed with it. It does keep showing "Clip" on the screen, can't recall how I can stop it from clipping, had a similar problem with the desktop PODxt a number of years ago. Played with the compressor, maybe drop the gain a tad too.

The PODxt Live turned up today, quite impressed as it's in pretty good nick (better than the photo's). Got it up & running pretty quick & updated etc, but ended up having to buy the Bass Expansion pack from Line6 (cost more than the xt Live did!). Even loaded all my guitar patches on it too from my trusty old desktop PODxt. Once I'd got the Expasion pack into the xt Live, I had a bit of a play about with it, various amp models & effects etc, and got it sounding rather sweet IMO. Obviously, I'm going to have to wait until the band's next rehearsal to try it out in anger, but suitably impressed so far.

I was looking at them as well, unfortunately they're still a bit pricey for me just now, hopefully I'll track one down at some point. The footswitches on the x3 are a big draw, as well as the stereo DI XLR's & pre-loaded bass amp models.

Finding a "proper" Rockinbetter is a lot harder now that there are a number of set neck "ChinaFakers" coming over, quite a few with "Rockinbetter" TRC's (though they are in a minority). There are definitely a few out there, but most retailers can't touch them without the fear of having name brands removed and the potential of Distributors withdrawing their services because of the far reaching legal implications. Most online auction & sale sites can't sell them, especially if they mention a certain brand name. On day, a certain brand name might realise that having off-shore sourced, licensed products, that meet the companies Quality Control standards, would gain them more sales, rather than alienating potential customers.

I'll have to have a look at that one Fret. Ever get over to TriumphTorque these days?

I owned a Bass PODxt a while back, so still have the backups for that somewhere on my HDD, so I'm hoping I don't have to buy the Bass Expansion Pack. TBH, the B3 has quite a few years of development on the PODxt, but I've always found the Line6 gear to be very "intuitive". So here's hoping I can coax a decent sound from it, and adding effects etc to the basic amp model. The B3 does sound really good IMO, so I won't be selling it on anytime soon, but I do find that I'd like to have more options than "just" 3 effects, when 1 effect is an amp model, add an EQ and a Boost/OD/Dist, and that's it. Could maybe loose the Boost/OD, and add something else, but only having one "free slot" is very limiting.

The first few albums were superb, but then they went a bit too artsy-fartsy-soundscapey-mallarkey for my liking. The bass sound on Celestial was utterly superb.

I'm with sunburst. Guitarist's & singers are ten-a-penny, but a good drummer is like rocking horse poop.

Cheers, I already have a B3 to fall back on, was just looking for other options. I liked the HiWatt & the Plexi for bass on my guitar PODxt.

So I've been looking at various DI / Amp Modeller options, in the aim to "go ampless" for my bass-rig, I already have a Zoom B3, which is the benchmark, but is kind of limited if you want to add a few effects to an amp model. As the Bass PODxt Live seems like the proverbial rocking horse doings, I latched onto the idea of getting a "standard" guitar POD Live floorboard & loading the bass amp models onto it. I managed to score a second hand PODxt Live on eBay over the weekend, with the thought of adding some more scope to my sound by adding effects etc. Anyone ever tried it? I have a regular PODxt, and had a Bass PODxt a while ago, so actually have the bass amp/cab models backed up on my system somewhere. If I can't do that, then I can just buy the Bass Expansion Pack from Line6. Experiences / opinions on the Line6? (apart from the lack of development of their bass amp models/range).

You can always give Matamp a call, and buy some new valves from them, at a slightly better rate than most retail outlets.

Must just be me then, I find Jess Glynn's vocals to be nasal & mumbled, apart from when she "opens up" for the chorus, when she gets "shouty". Adele's a bit better, at least she's not singing through her nose. Just my opinion of course, not that I'm any judge.

Masonite's actually good old "hardboard". A pre-MDF particle board, basically thick cardboard made under pressure IIRC.

Nice catch. Enjoy!

Well, the Harley can either be fixed or written off by the insurance, the main thing is, you are here to tell the tale (been there, done that etc, etc). Get well soon, and hopefully you'll be fit for the March gig.

Does anyone know how a Zoom B9.1ut compares with a B3 sound-wise?

These guys: [url]http://www.originalscratchplates.com/[/url]

Currently in a bit of a muddle as to whether to go DI or invest a few quid into my amp/cab setup, and getting nowhere quickly. I mainly use my B3 for the amp sound, a bit of boost/dirt when needed, and either EQ or Reverb. At home, with headphones, at the rehearsal space with a Peavey amp & 2 4x10's, also have a Hartke HA4000 & a 250w 2x10 at home. Might start using the PA at the rehearsal space, just to hear how it sounds in comparison. Been thinking about upgrading the speakers in the cab to 2 Celestion BL10-200x's, but for similar cash, I could either get another B3 (to add effects to the core amp sounds from No.1 B3) or track down a Line6 Bass PODxt/PODx3 Live, or another floor board type multi-effects unit (Zoom B9.1ut?), and then go for an amp-less setup. Feeling a bit "Confused dot com" about it, as being a bit "old school", there is a part of me saying thay you really can't beat an amp behind you. But, there are huge advantages of having less gear to lug about, and less to worry about at gigs. I suppose I'm looking for the Pro's & Con's from people who've gone Amp-less, people who've returned to Amps, and people who use digital multi-FX units for their "sound".

Whichever sounds best & plays best.

RIP Jimmy Bain, never realised he was a Highlander.