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krispn

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Everything posted by krispn

  1. I our one of these T Bird pick ups into a P bass. They sound great! Tol bloke to deal with and all his gear is top notch. Oh the jealousy 😀
  2. Not in the market for a new amp but these are fantastic. Big meaty transformers (if it's anything like the Fender TB power amps) and a cracking pre amp!
  3. These are great and not ‘just’ a clean boost. Three band eq, buffer and it internally boosts the voltage from a 9v supply. If you wanna inject a little sumthin sumthin this will bring some life to your passive basses.
  4. krispn

    Sold

    Bump - or I'll trade for an AOU plus some cash from me
  5. The neck profile on these is great for a 5er
  6. Yup it has one knob controlling it but how many parameters to actually tweak and get to grips with. You’ll probably love it after all the derision😀 Pedal board real estate isn’t really a concern for me as I only really use two or three effects as you know.
  7. Indeed ...or recycling old tropes such as technique over compression. As a newly qualified 5 string player you may find compression useful... of course you may not but I hope to never read about it
  8. Lads I already feel bad for regurgitating it all over again. We can all just get along. The new bc rules should be no political chat, no religious chat, no compression chat!
  9. I’d totally try out a the HL comp and if it works ‘ better’ than my Cali I’d consider the possibility of swapping. If a product is noticeably better or adds something to the whole then it makes sense to consider the options especially if it’s important to you to have the latest version of a pedal. I enjoy what my Cali does I like the sound so not actively in the market but if anyone wants to A/B one in Edinburgh with my Cali just let me know 😀 @Al Krow most audiences aren’t going to consciously notice a lot of what you list over and above the singer and the songs. I believe that unless actively out to scrutinise a band rather than just have a few drinks and a dance folks aren’t that bothered. I know we’ll disagree over that but playing a bum note or screwing up a passage might not even get noticed by many let alone some of the other stuff listed. I’ve hit the occasional bum note and no one on the dance floor stopped dead and eyeballed me with contempt for killing their groove... Ok maybe the drummer 😀 Recently doing our Ska ‘7 Nation army’ cover I didn’t bother with the heavy drive on one chorus but did in another and again there wasn’t any noticeable different in the crowds response to the song as they kept on singing along. Generally folks were more interested in their immediate friends and surroundings than my choice of note, technique or effect be it in their face or beyond the realms of their perception. Ive said it before I’m not apathetic to the audience, I love gigging and a bit of banter with folk when playing. I understand that while many of us do understand where and how important a bass works in a mix a lot of the drunken hen parties we see don’t and would be bored to death if we tried to tell them. I’m happy that they remain as oblivious to my gear if it means they kee dancing and singing.
  10. @Al Krow I think way more people than you think mistake/mistook Class D for digital. It’s a popular misconception!
  11. I think the guy who road tested the D Bird played in a very melodic heavy band and he rewired the bass to be the most usable in all positions electronics wise. The bass was initially set up differently but I can't remember exactly what.... it'll be on the net somewhere - maybe that last namm show premier guitar interview?
  12. A combustio has the NG2 route so you could shift one pick up across into the NG2 config (but you'd need a new scratch plate to accommodate the shift). Not played an NG3 so can't comment. The Combustion5 I played had a wonderful neck profile for a 5'er!
  13. It’s not my own work I believe it was Eubert from the TalkBass site. It’s so comprehensive and exactly describes what the TH can do. I really enjoy having mine as an always on - nice character to the sound.
  14. @Sweeneythebass My pleasure! First time I owned one of these I struggled to use it but now it’s kind of an always on drive thanks to the above info.
  15. These make for a great drive pedal! This is a really good description of how this pedal works in drive mode, the AGS side. The Tone Hammer is a totally different animal. With the AGS off, it's just an uber clean EQ with gain boost. Very high quality, and the sweepable mids are fantastic. You know how everyone raves about the Sadowsky outboard preamp/DI pedal. I had one, until I got my Tone Hammer. The TH covered the Sadowsky thing VERY well. The low control has the same 40 hz setting with the AGS off, as does the 4k treble setting. The sweepable mids on the TH are just wonderful, though I do wish it would go up to about 2k. No big deal. The EQ on the TH is flat when it is engaged. When you also turn on the AGS, at the lowest setting, there is no hair on the notes at all. Again, NO hair at all unless your bass is just SUPER hot in terms of output. What does happen when you engage the AGS is that highs are immediately rolled off in a way that simulates a vintage tweeterless cabinet. So the tone gets warmer sounding off the bat, even though the lows and mids are still the same. The Treble control now acts more like a Presence knob does on the Sansamp stuff. It dials in grindy mids in the 2.5k region. Very slick. The lows are tightened up a bit as you boost them, so instead of getting really deep and boomy, they get fat and vintage. Again, still no hair on the notes because the AGS gain is fully counter clockwise. The mid control still allows you to cut/boost mids where you want them. Very slick. Vintage tones with no hair. As you add more AGS gain, the tone gets warmer until you get some hair, and then it starts overdriving. With the EQ flat, the overdrive tone is VERY mid-oriented such that it can sound a bit nasally and harsh. But remember, this is with the EQ flat, and most folks who are used to hearing a classic tube amp (think SVT for example) should note that an SVT is no where near flat. There's a mid scoop. So to get rid of that nasally midrange in the TH, you have to cut mids as you boost the gain. Setting the knob around 2-3 o'clock puts the mid control around the 750 hz mark, where you'll get some classic SVT'ish mid scoop going. Start cutting the mids there to get the tone you want. Cut to anywhere from 10 to 8 o'clock, and you can pretty much close your eyes and thing your running through the BDDI and not the Tone Hammer. The cool thing is that you aren't having to use a Blend knob at all to control that mid scoop. Just scoop the mids as deep as you like to get the tone you're after, and then adjust the Treble (which now more like a Presence, remember?) to get the amount of cut you want. Then, dial up the bass if you want it fat and deep, or cut it back to keep a thinner tone. Very slick, and way cool. Here's another trick about the TH that I use a good bit. I'll scoop the mids ALL the way out around 750 hz for a rock tone. With the Bass/Treble boosted to around 2 o'clock, this is very similar to the "Fat Tube" setting from the BDDI manual. But the cool trick is instead to cut treble and bass back. I'll set bass to 11 or maybe 10 o'clock, and cut treble all the way back to 8 or 9 o'clock. The result is a very warm, lower-mid dominant tone (because the upper mids and lows are cut back so far), with a subtle, understated top end. It's very B15'ish and sounds awesome with a P bass or jazz with flats. At this point, if you want more depth, rather than boosting the bass, you move the mid frequency knob clockwise, which pools out upper mids and articulation. If you want more of that, then you move the knob counter clockwise to bring those upper mids back into the tone. The highs and lows stay the same, so it's an easy way to adjust your tone on the gig to get more/less articulation in the mix. These are just a few examples of what the Tone Hammer can do. I'm a huge fan of it obviously, but I came from being a BDDI user for quite a while, and I just never could bond with the new VT pedal. I still love and have a deep respect for the BDDI, and while I don't use one myself much anymore, I know I can always make it work. The Para Driver I wouldn't bother with myself. A lot of folks around here have slammed the Tone Hammer because you can't use the AGS like a second channel, where you can engage/disengage overdrive at will without causing volume differences. I guess I can understand that, but really that's not the Aguilar'sdesign intent. Instead, think of it more as a single channel tone shaper, that will "hammer" (pardon the pun) your tone into a wide variety of directions. It just takes a little time playing with the controls to figure out what does what. I still learn new things about it all the time. It's not that it's complicated, but rather that the AGS circuit ties in very closely to the mid control, so changing the mids affects the overdrive tone, and the more gain you add, the more the low end tightens up to prevent things from getting muddy
  16. An understanding that many people don't pay that much attention to the bass doesn't really bother me that much as I'm happy to play and not get approached by the drunks asking for Don't Look Back IN Anger! Don't get me wrong I love gigging, I thoroughly enjoy it, I'll chat with punters who approach and have a wee groove to myself on stage, reacting to and with the crowd. I don't personally think folks are heading to see a band and gleefully hoping the bass player uses a fuzz or tremolo or that they'll bust out a future impact or compression. I was simply replying that the 9 points in the initial post all those years ago were about stuff that the 'average non-playing punter (ANPP)' may not notice. I recall seeing a wedding band and the bassist had a 6 string Spector - I'm sure there were a fe folks who noticed and a whole lot more who could see three guitarists. He played the songs pretty straight and kept it tasteful. He played for the band, the songs and the occasion. I bet he was a tremendous player but from that gig he proved he was a great musician. Dead time and the colour of your bass are the two things the "ANPP' might notice. The drummer and I may find a groove hiding in a pub standard to make it more fun for the whole room but often just for the band - if they're dancing then they've noticed on sme level. We'll rework a song to suit our line-up and the venue or again just cause we want to play something different and unexpected - the sing along parts have the audience singing along either to the fiddle parts or the chorus - they're noticing something! I understand the weight a Low D or C can add to a tune, I've played funky little runs which may or may not get heard but it keeps us grooving! I not saying your original post contained the wrong question(s) but it feels like you've noticed a difference when you're interacting with the audience and employing stage craft - you're getting a better overall experience, as do the crowd because they feel the band have engaged with them, be that the songs, the singer or the guy in shades playing the funny looking guitar dancing while playing. Irrespective of the amount of strings or the brand of bass, the effects used or not, people want the experience even if they're too drunk to remember it.
  17. My singer and I went out to try and scope out a new fiddle player a few years back. In a local folk bar he bumped into a friend and a regular at our gigs. “You’ll know Gav!” he says to her. “Naw don’t recognise him. Where would I know him from?” she replied. Gav! He’s been our bass player for two years. I knew I was doing something right and haven’t looked back since.
  18. I don’t think the audience wants anything from a bass player in a regular gigging pub band/covers band. I think an audience would want a band to be tight and play songs that they like/expect of the venue. I think they want a few surprises I.e. a few covers in a different style to the original - something they recognise but is a nice sonic surprise. The point relating to which pedal or bass or amp etc. will likely not be something the punters care for especially the more booze they’ve had. In fact I propose they certainly won’t understand why you insist they get off your stage, don’t touch your tuning pegs or spill their pint on your pedal board or why you won’t let them sing. What this post does is in a roundabout way is suggest we celebrate what we do and why people may love us for doing it. The reality is most people won’t really know what we’re doing but they’re enjoying what the band are doing as a unit. If there is a sing along bass line of course they’re gonna sing along. Play Chelsea Dagger and they’ll sing along. Play Brown Eyed Girl and they might sing along. Play Ring of Fire....they won’t sing the bass. Play Sweet Home Alabama... they won’t sing the bass. However play Ring of Fire and the reason they’re stomping or dancing is the steady pulse. Play Sweet Home and if you put some stank on it, walk the bass about a bit and thrown in some tasty locked in accents with the drummer they’re gonna be dancing and thinking it’s the best version they’ve heard in years but still might not know why. Maybe it’s the booze. We know it was us grooving hard and we know we’re doing it for us and making the band sound good and not for some spotty geek who wants to know what strings we’re using. I’m off to play a gig now after a 5:30 wake up call and a 13 hour day in a pretty busy and stressful environment. I’m gonna move about and see if my bass lines get more attention than my shaking booty. I’ll update about 01:30 if anyone’s still reading.
  19. I can only apologise! What on earth was I thinking. Hope you’re well, sir!
  20. Between £2 and £300? Some scope there for sure 😉
  21. Hey Tim you’ll be hearing from me real soon too. Need a plain black p bass pick guard cut for a Tbird pick up.
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