Two Notes Le Bass preamp

[JimBobTTD]

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1458243597' post='3005985']
Thanks for the update JB - was waiting for this update all week! Can you report on the noise and click issues Meddle experienced?

Are you happy with the distorted tone? Are the cold and hot fusion modes usable rather than a gimmick?

Can you run effects on one channel and change to the hot channel for boost/soloing, etc.?
[/quote]

I've only had a play at home but:

Yes, I am happy with the distorted tone. I would say that it needs a booster pedal in front of it to get utterly filthy, but there is a lot of gain possible. The cold and hot fusion are very, very usable. I can see myself using them both frequently. No clicks or unexpected noise.

I am a little unsure what you mean about effects on one channel and then change to the other...the FX loop is for the pedal, so you would be running effects on both channels.

I see the pedal as, essentially, the front of an amp, using A as clean and B as dirty and the fusion for different characters of dirt. The FX loop is not switchable - this would be nice, but not possible without making the large pedal even larger. There are ways of doing this on your pedalboard, of course.

In fact, I can see that the pedal might mean the end of a few amps when people use it as their preamp and go straight to a power amp afterwards.

Rehearsal on Saturday and a gig the Saturday after will let me know a lot more. But let me reiterate - this is a great pedal and lives up to the hype.

[visog]

Thanks for the update JB... will make the trip to Bass Direct to try one out when they're in stock...

[JimBobTTD]

Rehearsal today: the pedal is fantastic. Unbelievably fantastic. Today was grindcore, but I had about 20 minutes by myself to play with the settings and hear what the pedal can do. I am very happy and would gladly recommend the Le Bass.

One thing that is slightly concerning, though, is that I found the DI to be very hot when I tried it at home. I have a gig in a week and I shall be using it there, although I think that the DI will be taken from the normal output rather than from the DI on the pedal.

[visog]

Thanks for the update JB... sounds very promising

[0175westwood29]

Anyone use midi with these?

Thinking it could be cool to set a side clean and other super filth.

There's a chance I maybe getting on soon

[JimBobTTD]

Gigged with it last night.

My fears:

1. It would not sound good
2. It would be difficult to change from A to fusion A&B

The reality:
1. It sounded absolutely great
2. Switching was a doddle.

Signal chain was bass -> Line6 G30 Relay -> Korg Pitchblack -> Le Bass -> House's DI to FoH and H&K amp

So, sadly, I never managed to test the DI part of the pedal.

It all started off badly when, after soundcheck (we checked last and played first), the guitarist stumbled off the stage and shifted my mic stand, nudging the volume on channel B to almost zero. So, standing up on stage, plugged in etc, I play a note and it is really quiet, but I assume that the soundly hasn't sorted out the sound yet. Due to the huge amount of gain on the Le Bass, I managed to pull off the bass intro of the first song, but was totally drowned out when the guitar and drums kicked in. It took the rest of the song to work out what had happened (and I could not exactly stop playing), but after that, all went well. I switched from Hot Fusion to A and back a dozen times, the sound was great (to my ears, at least!) and I made the backline sound good.

Success! The Le Bass is definitely going to stay with me for the foreseeable future and, although it was pricey, was definitely worth the outlay.

[Opticaleye]

Received my Le Bass today and I'm absolutely amazed .I wasn't wanting it for distortion just clean-ish tubey warmth and for a bit extra EQ and boost in front of my already tubey Markbass TTE801 head. The Noble preamp was what I really wanted but the expense and hassle getting one shipped was . However, if the Noble sounds better than this I would be surprised ( I don't need the DI as I already have a Basswitch IQ).
The sheer tonal versatility of this unit is stunning and it's hard to get a bad sound out of it....... Except that the power supply that came with it made the unit really noisy. Things improved when I plugged in my Markbass Compressore power supply but there was still a background hum which increased when I rolled off the bass volume ! I dug around and managed to find another 12v supply and after using a polarity reversing adapter the Le Bass is now super quiet.

Andertons were very helpful when I rang to inform them and a replacement 12v supply is being sent from the distributors.

I have a pub gig near Witney this Saturday and can't wait to try it with the band.

[visog]

Loving mine too. Nails the John Wetton/Chris Squire tubey-driven treble clank. I'm liking its rig-sounding 'heft' when run through the computer. Masses of low end and air... the cab sim helps here.

I'm still learning as it has three parameters that introduce all manner of complexity:
1) Mid & sweep - these two controls on channel two interact to give a very different character to the sound
2) Fusion level - balancing the clean and high-gain channels
3) Cold and hot fusion - this is a powerful feature but get it wrong and it reduces your volume or introduces high-gain hiss on hiss. Get right and you get a more over-driven Geddy sound. But note, the distortion is not insane so you'll probably still need an additional boost if you want to get all Billy Sheehan.

Note, this pedal accentuates the settings on your bass so the pick-up selection and boost/cuts are a key part of the mix. (I suppose that's an obvious statement but in the past my amps haven't always been so sensitive to the input.) I have to take out much of my GB's bass control otherwise I just nuke the signal chain (through a computer). The treble and mid then becomes the 'who do you want to be?' selection. Spent the last two weeks playing the intro lick to 'Heart of the Sunrise' badly but enjoying the sound.

A/B'd this against a Darkglass VMTdeluxe in Bass Direct. That was a lovely pedal too with more distortion but less overall heft. The Two Notes sounds like a rig whereas the VMT provides more of a mid & treble snark, albeit a very pleasurable one but I was looking to replace an amp rig for recording so the Two Notes fits the bill.

Recommend anyone trying to introduce some crunch tries one out... Successfully gritted-up my hi-fi clean GB! (Not sure Bernie would approve...)

[LayDownThaFunk]

If I were to pick one of these up in the US, would I be okay to use it with my UK 12V power supply?

[SingleMalt]

How does the headphone out sound on these? I think the cab simulation only effects the DI and headphone out.

I'm after something with a really great sounding headphone out.

[Opticaleye]

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1461666662' post='3036522']
If I were to pick one of these up in the US, would I be okay to use it with my UK 12V power supply?
[/quote]

If it's at least 500ma, the correct polarity and well regulated/isolated then yes


[quote name='SingleMalt' timestamp='1461668486' post='3036543']
How does the headphone out sound on these? I think the cab simulation only effects the DI and headphone out.

I'm after something with a really great sounding headphone out.
[/quote]

It sounds great, much better than my DHA and Zoom B3. However there is a buzz when not touching the strings (like the DHA). I'll wait until my replacement power supply arrives but there's no buzz from the DI or 1/4 " out with the power supply I've been using so I'm not confident.

[visog]

[quote name='SingleMalt' timestamp='1461668486' post='3036543']
How does the headphone out sound on these? I think the cab simulation only effects the DI and headphone out.

I'm after something with a really great sounding headphone out.
[/quote]

I echo Opticaleye's comments above and can certainly recommend you try one. (Can't recommend you buy unheard as grit and overdrive tones seem to be deeply personal!) However, I'd add a caveat:

Channel 1 is quiet with a pleasing amp-rig heft. (Unlike many here I like the 'woof' the cab sim adds.)
Channel 2 is higher gain so an element of hiss is introduced as you get hotter.
Cold fusion layers these tones so point 2 above applies
Hot fusion multiplies these sounds so if you're pushing the gains and channel 1 volume and treble, yes you will get noise alongside your barking bass tone.

Keep things under control gain wise and you get a very pleasing, musical gritty articulation which sounds superb through headphones.

Recommend you take a trip to Bass Direct or Andertons further South and try one. Make sure you watch the promo vids and note down some sample settings so your trial is not a frantic knob twiddling fest (ooh er!) to try and get a good tone. It's quite a sophisticated bit of kit with a large amount of variability based on your bass settings, the channel interactions and the mid controls.

[DanFold]

I purchased one from andertons a few days ago, sounds amazing! After one rehearsal and one gig, loads of positive feedback from people.

But I'm also experiencing some power problems 😩

With its own power supply it's fine (apart from the headphone out, always noisey, but not a feature I'm fussed about) I have the TRex Chameleon (no current doubler yet to feed its 500ma) so I swapped with our singer for his TRex Classic and plugged into the 12v 500ma output, there's a low constant hum, almost a low feedback tone, never experienced this before (gets louder on channel B and louder still in Hot Fusion) Gutted! I'm off to the USA playing a few gigs next week, and wanted to use the TRex 110volt switch (to also power my tuner) rather than having to buy a step up voltage increaser.

Top marks for the tone and cab sim (works amazin to keep the distortion under control when di'ed straight to pa) but read a lot of people having power issues.

Lastly, im not athletic on stage, but by no means a shoe gazer. I have had some difficulty with the switching, especially while singing and playing. Something I'm getting used too, but I cut the pedal off rather than going from hot fusion mode to channel B a few times. I wasn't 100% on buying the pedal off the limited videos online and lack of local music shops stocking them, but sound wise, what an amazing pedal! Oh, and I think it's a better idea not having the cab sim (mixture of 8x10 and hartke 4x10 with horn so Two Notes told me) on the Jack output. It won't give you a true sound out your amp to the DI.

[dannybuoy]

I've seen on Talkbass someone powering both the Le Bass and Torpedo Cab off a single Truetone CS-7 power supply. I checked with their support and they confirmed you don't need current doubler cables with this unit, you can ignore the mA ratings on the individual outputs as long as you don't exceed the total for the supply. So even though the 12V output is labelled 200mA, it has no issues pumping out 500mA. I've just ordered one!

http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/true-tone-1spot-cs7-7-way-power-block-power-supply-5809-p.asp

Edited May 3, 2016 by dannybuoy

[Opticaleye]

[quote name='DanFold' timestamp='1462227709' post='3041355']
I purchased one from andertons a few days ago, sounds amazing! After one rehearsal and one gig, loads of positive feedback from people.

But I'm also experiencing some power problems

With its own power supply it's fine (apart from the headphone out, always noisey, but not a feature I'm fussed about) I have the TRex Chameleon (no current doubler yet to feed its 500ma) so I swapped with our singer for his TRex Classic and plugged into the 12v 500ma output, there's a low constant hum, almost a low feedback tone, never experienced this before (gets louder on channel B and louder still in Hot Fusion) Gutted! I'm off to the USA playing a few gigs next week, and wanted to use the TRex 110volt switch (to also power my tuner) rather than having to buy a step up voltage increaser.

Top marks for the tone and cab sim (works amazin to keep the distortion under control when di'ed straight to pa) but read a lot of people having power issues.

Lastly, im not athletic on stage, but by no means a shoe gazer. I have had some difficulty with the switching, especially while singing and playing. Something I'm getting used too, but I cut the pedal off rather than going from hot fusion mode to channel B a few times. I wasn't 100% on buying the pedal off the limited videos online and lack of local music shops stocking them, but sound wise, what an amazing pedal! Oh, and I think it's a better idea not having the cab sim (mixture of 8x10 and hartke 4x10 with horn so Two Notes told me) on the Jack output. It won't give you a true sound out your amp to the DI.
[/quote]

I'm awaiting a replacement unit as I had interference problems with mine as well as the hum and the tested power supplies from the distributor were still noisy compared to another PSU that I had.
I'm going to stick with the Le Bass though as it sounds [b]so[/b] good (and it's impractical and expensive to import a Noble !)

[DanFold]

Two Notes have just told me Le Bass for some reason doesn't get along with TRex power supplies. Definitely sticking with the Le Bass too though, it sounds amazing! So versatile, and the cab sim works perfectly when you're running ampless or through a dodgy house bass rig and don't want that sound out front. So anyone wanna buy a TRex chameleon? Ha!

[horrorshowbass]

Dannybuoy,
How does this compare with the Darkglass Vintage Deluxe? Have my heart set on a VMT but curious nonetheless☺

[visog]

[quote name='horrorshowbass' timestamp='1462300779' post='3041966']
Dannybuoy,
How does this compare with the Darkglass Vintage Deluxe? Have my heart set on a VMT but curious nonetheless☺
[/quote]

From my earlier post, "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]A/B'd this against a Darkglass VMTdeluxe in Bass Direct. That was a lovely pedal too with more distortion but less overall heft. The Two Notes sounds like a rig whereas the VMT provides more of a mid & treble snark, albeit a very pleasurable one but I was looking to replace an amp rig for recording so the Two Notes fits the bill."[/font][/color]

[dannybuoy]

Both good, both different. Hard to quantify really! Best to watch the various videos and let your ears decide. If you are interested in the VMTD I would make sure to get the new version with boost/attack switches or the Ultra version do out any time now.

Edited May 4, 2016 by dannybuoy

[horrorshowbass]

Thanks Danny

[visog]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1462367948' post='3042429']
Both good, both different. Hard to quantify really! Best to watch the various videos and let your ears decide. If you are interested in the VMTD I would make sure to get the new version with boost/attack switches or the Ultra version do out any time now.
[/quote]

Looking forward to the VMT Ultra... even with the Two Notes... Which continues to confound with it multitudinous parameter combinations...

[dannybuoy]

I sold my VMTD in anticipation of the new one coming out... I have a standard Vulcan now which sounds miles better than my old VMTD ever did, so I'm probably sticking with that!

[sk8]

Just picked a Le Bass up so looking forward to putting it through its paces. Not as big as I thought it might be so that's a bonus!

[visog]

Another vid of the Le Bass where the guy walks through a number of channel and parameter settings... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xq96qLu21c

[visog]

Yet another vid... this one a nice in-depth trial from the Andertons chaps in an episode of 'All about the bass'

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdjhTSIWjh0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=XdjhTSIWjh0[/url]

Actually this one's quite a good tutorial on the product too...

Edited May 31, 2016 by visog