pantherairsoft

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1335823934' post='1636740'] Always wanted to try modding a gameboy as an effect pedal though, get some 4-bit broken fizzyness into the sound. [/quote] And now you have a Geiger Counter so no need! [quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1335824769' post='1636752'] Awesome dude nice work once again [/quote]

[quote name='lxxwj' timestamp='1335819166' post='1636626'] I think if you tried that the combined amount of effects would explode the minds of all your audience members. [/quote] That was exactly the plan!! [quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1335820308' post='1636666'] lol. Cheers Shep. I've heard of this LSDJ thing before, and one of my favourite band's (Anamanguchi) actually use a similar thing but with a NES [/quote] LSDJ was a new one to me. Have been looking into it since Oli mentioned it.

This makes me want to do a side project with Oli! Amazing live act!!!

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1335813332' post='1636508'] Really interested in how he uses the Gameboy as an input! [/quote] Ste, I've just seem your comment on the blog. I've asked Oli if he can elaborate on it in reply to your comment... UPDATE: Asked & answered!!

[quote name='the_krysh' timestamp='1335811758' post='1636464'] thanks, +1 and I hope you don't mind I share this again. [/quote] Share away! The more shares the better! Btw - what is that forums actual website? My website logs it as a hit from the hosting server so it comes up as 'f3.webmart.de' - I found the forum by searching 'webmart.de bass forum' - but it gives me the webmart source address in my browser rather than the actual address (like 'basschat.co.uk' etc.) Thanks guys!

In that case... I give you Oli Montez... PLEASE BE AWARE - MY WEBSITE IS NOW CLOSED. THE INTERVIEWS CAN NOW BE FOUND HERE -> [url="http://simonpoulton.tumblr.com/sheponbass"]http://simonpoulton.....com/sheponbass[/url] Oli is part of UK prog/ambient/noise outfit, Aulos. The 1st thing you may notice is that Oli is a guitarist (plus a bit of synth!) but he fulfils the role of the guitar, bass, keys and general noise as part of a live set. These interviews are all about effects and if there is one thing Oli does well... it's effects!!! Enjoy.

Thanks Andy! Anyone ready for another interview???

Amazing fuzz. It's been my primary dirt sound for over 6 months now & certainly my all round favourite fuzz pedal. Nice demo as well!

Stolen from my website & blog: [url="http://www.sheponbass.co.uk/blog/2012/4/28/review-thegigrig-generator-modular-power-system.html"]HERE[/url] This is something that I have been meaning to write up for a while now. [url="http://www.thegigrig.com"]TheGigRig[/url]'s gear has been discussed on this blog numerous times and my '[url="http://www.sheponbass.co.uk/blog/2012/4/7/signal-chain-bassics-part-vi-pedal-power.html"]Signal Chain BASSics, Part VI: Pedal Power[/url]' blog post does discuss the items below briefly, but I thought it deserved a real write up. For a long time I was very dubious about spending large amounts of money on power supplies for pedals. Adding up the cost of using such a system on my massive board was quite scary and well over the cost of a couple of top end pedals themselves. I am however, VERY glad I decided to take the jump! [b]TheGigRig Generator:[/b] The Generator forms part of a 'Modular Power System' which offers not only the mother of all power supplies, but also a replacement for the traditional 'Daisy Chain', in the form of a high quality terminal strip-style distribution unit, simply called 'The Distributor'. The Modular System also has a range of smart little adapters that can be added to any of the Distributors outputs to convert it's 9v supply into 12, 15, 18 or even 24v, reverse polarity, change plug size etc. and [url="http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/PS_Virtual_Batteries.html"]TheGigRig Virtual Battery[/url] can be used to provide isolated outputs. This effectively allows you to buy the exact components required to power an entire pedal board (even a huge one like mine) off a single 9v DC supply. [i][b]SPECIFICATION...[/b][/i] [b]TheGigRig Generator:[/b][list] [*]A huge 5 Amps (that's 5000mA!!!) of power [*]Regulated 9v DC output [*]Switching system that works anywhere in the world (from 110-250v) without power convertors [*]Short circuit protection [*]Self-healing fuse (if it blows it actually heals itself!) [*]Very compact and super lightweight [/list] [b]TheGigRig Distributor:[/b][list] [*]Provides uninterrupted 9v DC output to 6 pedals [*]Cut-to-length power cables (supplied) so no excess cable to deal with [*]Distributors can be linked together to provide more outputs [/list] [b]TheGigRig Virtual Battery:[/b][list] [*]Allows powering of pedals that require 'isolated' power [*]Power noisy and problematic pedals from your Generator [/list] Various [url="http://www.thegigrig.com/acatalog/PS_High_Current_Adapters.html"]High Current Adapters[/url] are also available for the system. [i][b]FEATURES: 9/10[/b][/i] The unit pretty much has it all. You can't deny it. Looking at the list above it's easy to see why it's the power supply of choice for many top touring musicians around the world. The Generator is the most powerful 9v supply on the market with massive amounts of headroom even for demanding pedal boards. 5000mA is serious juice! The fact it can be used anywhere in the world and has a range of built in filtering and protection circuits also earns it massive points. You know you're safe in venues with questionable electrics and dodgy wiring & you always know you're pedals are protected. The Distributors are also fantastic a design, allowing exact cable lengths to be used when powering your pedals. It is worth pointing out that the Distributor is not 'required' to use the generator (which will function perfectly with traditional daisy chains) but they are a must for a tidy board! Here are a couple of shots from the back of my board where you can see the Generator, Distributors, Virtual Batteries and Reverse Polarity (red) adapters: The high score here is really relevant to The Modular Power system as a while though, rather than just the Generator. The range of adapters along with the awesome Virtual Battery (which lets me power my Moogerfoogers from the same supply without horrid noise!) means the system really has the ability to power almost every pedal in the world. The only minor set back is powering those pedals which require an AC supply. Some rival supplies (that often lack in flexibility) do have a dedicated AC output for units such as the Digitech Whammy (GigRig did make a Whammy AC adapter for a while but it was discontinued) which is a VERY useful addition. As soon as TheGigRig crack the AC side of things this is on for a perfect 10! [i][b]PERFORMANCE: 9/10[/b][/i] It does what they claim without a doubt. It provides perfect quality power while protecting your pedals. Even with a hefty load the Generator remains very cool compared to many supplies I have used and while some of the high current adapters do get quite warm while in use, the manuals clearly state this is totally normal and they do not introduce any unwanted artefacts or noise etc. The system is easy to set up and move around with all the cables being reusable should you decide a new layout is required. I've been gigging with my board being powered by a Modular Power System for nearly a year now and have not experienced any powering issues and no sign of any noise being added to the signal chain from any part of the set up. Having confidence in your gear is a huge bonus for any musician and this performs by letting me perform with no worries! One observation I have had is that the power cables from the Distributors can emit a slight 'rustling' noise when moved by hand - not that this would ever interfere with live or studio work, but when making slight adjustments to locations of stuff in the rehearsal room while the board is powered up I have heard this. I assume this is part of the cable contact not being soldered in place. The sound is slight and in no way related to a crackly cable connection. This does not bother me in any way, but a point worth noting for completions sake. [i][b]BUILD QUALITY: 9/10 [/b][/i] The Generator is built like a tank. Holding it, you'd expect it to be the one thing along side the Cockroach that will survive nuclear fallout! The Distributors are also well made, especially given they are in essence small plastic cubes. They feels sturdy with no movement in any of the components. The terminal clamps hold fast and require a small tool (such as a precision screwdriver) to move them. When the cables are clamped in place they require SERIOUS force to pull them out (you'd be more likely to snap the cable in two!) - no way anything is coming loose here! The high current adapters are built from the same materials as the Distributors and feel just as solid. A few discussions around online forums have argued that the cable itself is quite thin and flimsy when compared to the insulation around the cable on a typical daisy chain. I think it's important to point out that the GigRig power leads are comparable to that used from most professional wall-wart style supplies and offer more than sufficient protection for the cable inside. [i][b]VALUE FOR MONEY: 8/10[/b][/i] This is a very tough one to score. There is no doubt about the units 'worth' - It does what it does better than the competition and with more options available to it than almost any other power supply on earth. It runs without interference and ensures you get the best out of your gear. In those terms, a GigRig Modular Power System is STUNNING. It would be very unfair to score top marks across the board though (not that an 8 isn't a bloody awesome score!) as this is a VERY expensive system. Not to say this is the MOST expensive system out there but the price point to power a larger board, or one with some more demanding pedals, would price this system out of the market for a fair portion of musicians who have already invested all their money in the pedals to start with. I'd like to state for the record that personally I feel the price point is totally justified given the quality of the product and the fact that I really can't put a price on piece of mind and reliability for my gear... others however (particularly those with smaller set ups) my struggle to justify the expense given the prices of some other options on the market. [i][b]CUSTOMER SUPPORT: 10/10[/b][/i] This one is easy peasy... Dan is a customer service monster! He understands that happy customers are the bread and butter of his business. He replies to emails daily, answers questions on social networking sites like facebook throughout the day and picks up the phone/returns calls promptly. He is also determined to solve all and every issue that could come to light. The simple fact is that on paper it's easy to work out which adapter will power which pedal, but in practice simple things like the order of the pedals, the noise floor of older units etc. can have unexpected results. Dan ensures all of these situations are dealt with. TheGigRig will modify and tweak adapters to get the correct results and Dan doesn't rest until your set up is working 100%. I had one particularly naughty pedal when I first made the move over the the Modular Power System and Dan was good enough to send me out a modified adapter to ensure the results were perfect before I paid for it! The bonus with this is that Dan is not just the customer service man for the company, but also involved in the conception, design & creation of the products. Prompt service. Knowledgeable. Helpful. Friendly. What more could you want! [i][b]OVERALL: 9/10[/b][/i] Without a doubt the daddy of all pedal powering solutions. Compared to the other options is offers masses of headroom and unlimited powering options as part of a noise and hassle free system. The Generator and it's little friends offers me everything I could ever need and should I ever get to the point that 5000mA wasn't enough for me then a 2nd Generator would allow me to split my existing Distributors between the 2 of them for a total of 10,000mA headroom! Even some more expensive systems available actually offer you less for your money and many are sold on benefits & functions that The Modular Power System includes as a given. The system is offered with fantastic customer support behind it (which adds to the piece of mind) and will ultimately never become redundant as your pedal collection grows. Expensive - Yes. Quality - Yes... and we all know that you get what you pay for! This is a professional system for professional musicians and I know for a fact that mine will be staying for life. Shep A little video from TheGigRig which offers a run down of how most of the Modular Power System works along with some of it's smart little adapters: [media]http://youtu.be/36wQ0QmI8RY[/media]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1335483901' post='1632180'] Wow. I've got a BDI-21. *slinks away* [/quote] That's a good thing. You identify what you need for your sound and your music and run with it. Just shows how different gear suits different music. If you had my set up at your gig it would likely sound a mess (or go unused!). If just had your BDI our set would loose a fair portion of it's impact!

[quote name='Mikey R' timestamp='1335553567' post='1633195'] Shep, is yours this one? http://buzzelectronics.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=90&osCsid=7b5e257bc427319a4b781cdea103bf3e [/quote] Same size but mines the non-programmable version. Just a straight 8-way looper: http://buzzelectronics.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=28 (mine has in/out and power also on the back).

[quote name='Tom Brookes' timestamp='1335545453' post='1633022'] Good point.....I never think of compressors in that way when playing live (I used to use them as 'limiters' when I ran a recording studio though) Did you like the fact that I refered to you as 'the mighty Shep'? [/quote] It's about the only way I use a compressor these days! I feel honoured... Though not sure I'm all that 'mighty'

[quote name='Tom Brookes' timestamp='1335544222' post='1632997'] Do you really need a compressor? I've not used a Hot Hand with my bef, but can't really see how it would benefit as it tracks really well. I use a joyo dynamic compressor at the start of my signal chain (very cheap on ebay) purely to improve the tracking of my behringer bsy600 synth pedal. Without wanting to sound rude though, if you need it to even out your hammer ons etc then just do some more practice and save the cash! You may not need to use hammer ons either, slides should work fine. Check out some of Nathan Navarro's stuff and also read through the threads that the mighty Shep has posted above. I'm told that the Source Audio multiwave bass distortion goes very well with the BEF....... Happy Wubbing! [/quote] I may be wrong but I don't think the compressor is with tracking in mind. If you use lots of resonance on your filters those high frequencies can get seriously eat splitting. A compressor after them allows you to maintain a maximum volume level so as not to raise the roof and make ears bleed. I have a multi and compressor that is always on a low setting. For the majority of the set the meter never lights up as my volume if not hitting the threshold I have set. I play loud and don't want to get louder still. When I push the resonance up on the low pass filter I see the compressor start to light the -2db point Si I know it's taking just a tiny bit off the top to 'cap' my volume. If input an envelope filter on before the LPF the combined resonance is enough to make my compressor settings pull the signal down as much as 6 or 8db. If I turn the compressor off that combination of effects is ugly loud! Think of it more as a limiter. Not 'needed' but very useful when you are stacking effects!

All your suggestions look and sound great. Geiger Counter is massively versatile for the music you re looking at, but a good gated fuzz will get you a large array of the tones also (Mammoth, Mastotron, Brown Dog etc...). Have you played with the BEF & Hot hand much already? It's VERY different to using an expression with a Low Pass Filter like the IE Xero or the Moog LPF. If you haven't experienced it yet I'd suggest trying to try both options before investing. Neither are better for this genre of music - just very different. I would suggest looking at the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/141357-live-dubstep/page__hl__dubstep"]'Live Dubstep'[/url] & The [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/72012-drum-n-bassdubstep/page__hl__dubstep"]'Drum N Bass/Dubstep'[/url] threads as many of your questions will likely already of been answered. As for compressor... while most will do the trick, I find a multi-band is quite important for this kind of music so it can keep those resonant high peaks in check without reducing the volume of the sub bass etc... I use a TC Nova Dynamics but have also used the EBS Multicomp to great effect.

[quote name='Mikey R' timestamp='1335523333' post='1632503'] I was looking at the Carl Martin ones with the DIP switches, Im not sure the Buzz ones are as programmable. Let me know as soon as you want to move it on, I might be interested. [/quote] Ah yeah - The Carl Martin one is very swish and has lots of options. It is pretty massive though (and not quite as switch as the GigRig Pro 8!). The Buzz one that I have is not programmable and was custom spec'd to have ALL inputs and outputs on the back (plus the enclosure is smaller than 90% of 5-way loopers) which makes it amazing for space saving, but you have to use compact jack plugs or you can't fit them all in! Buss do make a programmable version as well though it's not as feature rich as units like the Carl Martin (though it is a ton cheaper) and I think the programming is done on the inside so it's less tweak-able-friendly. I'll know if I'm moving mine on in the next week or two hopefully.

[IMG]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h44/pantherairsoft/ClarkyCaption.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1335296341' post='1628956'] 20?! Thats just a shop isn't it? Dan [/quote] They are as much the instrument I play as the bass is... in fact some of them can be played without the bass. If I hit serious financial issues though they do double as a shop for emergencies. (BTW- the 20 excludes bypass loopers, expression pedals and CV controllers!). [quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1335302614' post='1629117'] Big Dug is a killer track! [/quote] Thanks dude. There is s**t load going on in that track... I 'think' it uses more effects than any other track too (2 parallel effect loops, fuzz, envelope, low pass filter, delay, compression, bit crushing with LFO controlled Low Pass in the 'chorus' sections) -it's a minefield . That song is guilty of tap dancing and while it sounds pretty wicked it isn't that much fun to play as I have to press quite complex combinations of buttons in little time with great accuracy while playing in time... We do it live all that often - Just special occasions Where the OP is concerned... difference is that this is what I do. Synthesised music using a bass, in an analogue way. The board is a visual thing as much as the music is an audible thing. I spend hours and hours every week literally living and breathing my set up. If something sounds slightly off live I can identify the cause pretty easy. I can play with one hand and one foot while fixing cables with the other - I know as I've done it live! If you are going to use masses of stuff like that you NEED to put that kind of time and effort in. My set up is a case of lift the lid off, plug it in at the mains, one cable to the amp and one to the drum machine. It's a 30 second set up. If your guitarist wants to do that then tell him, if it ain't this tidy then he can go knickers: [IMG]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h44/pantherairsoft/Amp%20Cab%20Pedals/IMG_0521.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Mikey R' timestamp='1335474575' post='1631969'] Cheers Shep! Youve got me drooling over those 8 way loop switchers... [/quote] The Buzz Electronics ones? Real good for the money... Mine will be up for grabs soon as I'm 'hopefully' moving to a GigRig system.

[quote name='Mog' timestamp='1335472785' post='1631908'] I sure nobody would object to some fresh reading material tonight..... [/quote] Not until I have the pics! (ones on tour, ones waiting on a board re-arrangement & the other just hasn't sent any yet)

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1335471603' post='1631860'] great idea for a series of interviews. Thanks for putting the work in and sharing with the rest of us. [/quote] Thanks buddy. I have another 3 back and written up ready waiting on photo's from the interviewees so the next one will be up as soon as I have the visuals (pedalboard shots mainly). [quote name='Mog' timestamp='1335471921' post='1631875'] Some great stuff in this already, looking forward to next installment. Any chance of getting this pinned? [/quote] It can be pinned... Though I waiting for the new BassChat Blog to go live (link at the top by the calendar/shop etc) to see if I can post them all there. Soon as I know how that software works and looks we'll see wether its better pinned here or not. Really excited to get more of these posted.

[quote name='EskimoBassist' timestamp='1335469309' post='1631810'] It looks PERFECT save for the digital artifact that many of them seem to suffer from. [/quote] I've never experienced it buy heard of a couple of others that have... Though it's a part of the 'stomp' (single band) compressor, which I wouldn't really use anyway. No one ever says anything but good stuff about the 'studio' mode - which is by far the best compressor I've ever had the pleasure of using.

TC Nova Dynamics in studio (3-band) mode is bloody lovely. Subtle. Transparent. Amazing. Shame it's discontinued

Cheers guys... Really looking forwards to it!

EBS stuff is typically bright. They are quite clean and hi-fi sounding. The Fafner is my favourite of the EBS range and while it has the classic EBS zing it does have a lovely drive channel and some great gritty tube warmth. Tonally the thing is a monster. It does weigh a fair bit and the little red lightbulb in it does have a habit of blowing (silly design... Not that it affects the performance!) but other than that it really is an amazing amp.