thodrik

Billy Sheehan comes to mind. Basses, preamps, pedals, strings. The guy likes to put his name on stuff that he believes in.

The new V2 Bass DI has a dedicated mids knob with switchable frequencies and the bass control can be switched from 40Hz to 80Hz. I had the V1 Bass DI for years, but I think that the V2 is a significant improvement in terms of tone shaping. The programmable has no mids control, but the programmable channels means you can easily switch from clean, light overdrive, heavy overdrive or different settings for different basses in a set. You really can't go too far wrong. If you just want an 'Ampeg in a box' then the VT Bass DI is worth considering too.

Stunning bass that. A custom Warwick is on my wish-list, love the red finish.

I bought a whole bunch of XLR cables for a recording project back in May. It took about a week and a half which I thought was reasonable. Customs checks took an age but that isn't Thomann's problem. If I need something really quickly, I go for a UK supplier. I generally go for Thomann for buying their in-house cables/accessories which I think are really good value for money.

I own an Arpege and actually really recommend the Vigier Excess model as well which I also own. Roger Glover from Deep Purple switched to them and he was a previous Rick user. All the Vigier instruments are a fairly comfortable weight. Neck profile on the Excess is a bit more substantial than an Arpege, with a 42mm nut, but the neck is very comfortable.

This is great news for me. Now when I really want to get a custom Spector or Warwick I can justify the price on the basis that it will be about 1/4 the price of an Alembic.

Softube are doing a sale of their Eden WT 800 plugin. 39 euros so about 33 quid or so. The sale runs through the weekend. It is a very good plugin. Not worth the normal 100 euro price but worth the sale price in my opinion.

I thought that the American Elite models were really excellent basses. Had they been out in 2009 I would probably have got one of them rather than a Sadowsky Metro. Not tried the Ultra ones, but frankly I prefer the design and look of the prior Elite models, though I haven't tried one myself. I always wanted to try the Victor Bailey model though. It just always looked really cool. The Japanese Marcus Miller models were about as good as any active Jazz Fender produced in my opinion.

Thanks, I will check that out. I have the Softube bass amp sim and I just use the Ampeg sim on that. I prefer it to ones I have tried on AmpliTube, Brainworx or Bias FX. I am a sucker for new and cheap plugins though. Honestly most bass amp sims to me involve faffing around with numerous settings and half the time I feel I would get better options by plugging into a Sanamp and running a Di straight into the interface. I used to have a Bass Pod and ditched it for a Sansamp for that reason.

I love EBS and Mesa amps (I have a Fafner, Walkabout and Big Block 750). You can't really go wrong with either brand. I did have an M6 Carbine for a while, which was a much more 'modern, clean, aggressive' tone which I understand is not a million miles away from the sounds that can be had with the Subway channel on the TT800. I did end up selling the Carbine because it was actually 'too clean' for me and I needed to sell the M6 to get the Big Block, which had been my dream amp for about a decade. The two channel flexibility of the TT800 would be deciding point for me, though I would probably be on the Boogie channel 90% of the time. If going the Mesa route I would certainly consider the WD800 as well.

I am intrigued by the 'Bassment' plugin. Not sure I need it, given that my general set up involves plugging a P-bass into a Softube SVT amp sim and then running it through a Neve EQ and compressor. Essentially my tonal goals are for everything is for it to sound like it was recorded in a very expensive studio by a very incompetent engineer (me). Also heard good things about the FrontDAW. Might have to try that.

It is a bit of a sham sales practice. UAD in particular runs sales through the year, so the full price for most of their plugins are never really charged. Plugin Alliance do the same. Frankly everyone does. For amp sims I just bought Softube’s Amp Room and I just made the decision not use anything else for amp sims. It is a slippery slope to spending unnecessary money.

Same plugin by the same company (Brainworx). The difference is that the UAD version can be used as a Unison preamp with UAD Apollo and works on the digital signal processing in the UAD hardware rather than your computer. Brainwork did the UAD version for the UAD hardware but UAD control the pricing. If you don’t have UAD hardware and just want a B15 plugin just get the Plugin Alliance version.

In terms of the production of its time I think that the first four albums are really good. I honestly prefer this type of 'band in a room' production than more expansive 'modern' rock production where the kick drum and snare drum are compressed to the max. Considering how quickly and how cheaply the first album was recorded I consider it to be incredibly well done.

I love that track. One my favourites from latter period Sabbath. Don't like much of the rest of the album but the vibe on Junior's Eyes is great.

Not bought any bass gear specific gear, but plenty of studio gear. Best would be a tie between my 16 inch Macbook Pro and Universal Audio Apollo 8xp. Possibly the best musical purchase I have ever made, albeit the most expensive, even with the Apollo being a bought second hand. It was my first Mac and first 'proper' interface. When I first got them my first thought was 'why didn't I buy a Mac and a really good interface 15 years ago when I was really busy playing music?' which the obvious answer was 'because I was totally broke and couldn't afford a decent Mac or interface.' Worst 'bass' purchase would probably be a Brainworx Ampeg SVT 3 plugin which didn't really hit the mark.

I was kinda hoping Kirk Hammett would buy it and use it on tour with Metallica.

I think it will be a classic passive tone stack, so 'flat' will bass at about 2, mid at 10, treble about 2.

I really like the 'console emulation' feature and the fact you have three 'different but similar' preamps to work with. The compressor is also really good 'ah, that will do' settings that avoid having to add another plugin to the chain.

Thanks, I hadn't found that yet! I am mainly using it to get a broad stroke mix on acoustic drums. Very nice and amazing for the price.

I actually picked this up yesterday. Despite not being very experienced at mixing, I am very much a Neve fan in terms of how the EQ plugins respond and their ease of use on a variety of source material (I find API and SSL channel strips at bit frustrating to work with at times in comparison). This one is a real cracker and an absolute bargain at the price. I have previously been using the Universal Audio Native 1073 plugin and the Softube British Class A plugin. The Console N's EQ and preamp, to my ears, is way ahead of the UAD and Softube. You can of course get them to sound similar but the Console N seems to have a warmer sound to my ears and is really easy to work with (I find the UAD finicky to work with in terms of getting the output gain set optimally). Mild Criticisms: 1. The compressor is glorious but has a fixed attack. While the old Neve consoles generally had a fixed attack I do like the variable attack settings on the Softube. 2. The GUI is huge and generally takes up the whole screen and is probably a bit too 'dark' to read in certain lighting. So not perfect, but still an absolute bargain at the price. I do still really like the Softube as an all in one channel strip (gate, EQ, compression and limiter) but the EQ on the Console N is really really nice.

I always fancied trying once of those heads but never saw them in the shops to try. Just looked like a really solid, well thought out amp. Definitely Fender's attempt at providing competition to the Ampeg SVT Pro and Mesa M-pulse lines which were doing well (at least in the USA) around about the mid/late 2000s.

I own the V1 AO pedal and I would agree that I find it harder to drive in a tone I really like just using it alone. I nearly always have to blend it with something else (usually a Sansamp BDDI and a B3K). So essentially I use it as 'Salt and Pepper' on top of my established tone. I don't actually like the tone of the pedal or drive circuit by itself. I find the mids to be very very hairy and congested, compared to the B*K circuit which has more of a clean mid scoop and high end drive/fizz. On the AO pedal I frankly find the three band EQ isn't particularly great (It needs more than a three band EQ to shape effectively) and I don't particularly like to low and high 'growl' and 'bite' switches. As a result I have...been using the pedal constantly for the last 5 years. If I was choosing between the Darkglass amps I would definitely pick the one with the B*K/VMT circuit. A B3K has been on my board since 2016 and while not perfect (a bit mid-scoopy on all settings) it does just 'work' in a live setting.

A Spector. Never tried one and never really liked the look of them despite knowing that they have 'that sound'. Suddenly wanted to try a 5 string Forte at age of 35. Hofner Beatle Bass. No interest in trying one when I started playing at 11 and no interest now at the age of 38. Headless basses: see comment above. Modulus/Status Graphite basses. I have two Vigiers, so just never investigated or felt the need to try them.

Great idea!