mcnach

It's one of those days when I end up searching something and becoming a zombie-thread resurrector It's been 9 years since I started this thread, and I decided to write a little update. I had 3 Sue Ryder Precisions when I started this thread in 2011. One to leave as a normal P, one to make fretless, and another for a heavy modification project. Fast forward to 2020, where are we? The normal P ended up with a Wizard Thumper, flats for a bit, then roundwounds. It was a revelation, and this little bass turned me from a "ugh, Precision" into a "ooh, lovely Precision" kind of guy. I sold it years ago, and I have owned various other Precisions since. The beginning of a new era. The project... I never assembled it, and didn't even finish stripping the body (hard work!!!) and I sold it as a bunch of parts. The fretless, however... I still have it and I love it. I bought a 70s style maple board Japanese Fender Precision, but I preferred the Sue Ryder, so out of 4 fretless basses, this is the only one I've kept. With a Model P and D'Addario black nylon tapewounds. It sounds great. Now, I'm about to change the pickup on my reverse-P Maruszczyk Jake. I've put a John East MMSR preamp and the original pickup will go (big poles Delano of some sort, I forget the exact model), as I never loved it, it felt a little too... clear, 'hi-fi', hard to describe. So I am about to put another model P on this one (it'll have black nylon tapes on it too). The Model P is such a great pickup! I'm considering trying a DP127 here, because it would look great, but I know the Model P would suit me well sound-wise... Do I risk it and see what the DP127 is like on this bass? Hmmm...

Personally, I would not bother with it. I've owned only a handful of instruments that allowed be both ways of stringing them, and of those I only really compared two, both Precisions. I can't say I noticed anything. If the difference is supposed to jump at you, well, it didn't for me, so I am in the "whatever difference must be too small to matter to me".

British Sound pedal arrived and it's just as good, but different sounding. For bass I still prefer the American Sound and I'll stick to it, but my Stratocaster sounds beautiful through either. I haven't quite managed that Marshall JCM800 type of sound yet but I didn't investigate a lot yet (I know it's there, I've heard it in a demo): I found a sound I really enjoyed and spent over an hour on my guitar. I'm rediscovering guitar since I got the American Sound pedal...

That looks sooo nice!

Welcome to the light! 1) It depends on the type of gig. For small bar gigs we typically bring our own PA etc, but bass doesn't go through it. For the rest of the gigs, which for me is the vast majority, there's a bigger PA at the venue and yes, my bass is generally DI'd, although on occasion they wanted to give me a microphone AND DI. Most sound engineers have their DI boxes, but they're generally more than happy to use the DI on my amp (Mesa D800+ for the past 3 years, it's got a very nice sounding DI). Sometimes, rarely, there's a sound engineer who insists on using his DI box, and I just go with it: it never sounds bad either. Considering my amplifier really acts as a stage monitor most of the time, I'd be happy with a DI as long as I had a good monitor. I once had to go DI without an amp at a festival when their bass amp broke down... but they had really good monitors and I loved it. It made me realise that any trouble with bass on monitors is merely due to unsuitable monitor speakers. It's always wise to have a backup DI box: it takes little space, can live in your case permanently. It's unlikely you'll get caught out even if you don't have one, but if you can, why not? Another consideration is: do you use overdrive on your bass? Anything above low gain will sound pretty bad on a DI: the higher frequencies on the distortion make it sound fizzy and ugly. Using some kind of speaker emulation in that case can be a very wise move. Some DI boxes already have that function, but there are quite a few stand alone units that will give you that option. I use a lot of overdriven sounds with one of my bands (a RATM tribute band) and for that one I use a DSM OmniCabSim DeLuxe box. I use it as a DI, you can tweak it to simulate different kinds of speakers, and makes overdriven sounds work very well. 2) a 212 is not too much, I don't think. You have a volume knob on your amp, use it Single cabs may be easier to carry/pack, but there's something to be said for being able to use just one hand to carry them so a 212 is not a bad option. I use a couple of 210. Whenever I can, I bring both, even if one is enough when I just need monitoring, because I seem to get a better stage coverage with two cabs, without needing to be louder. Not just me, my band prefers it too. So... if using your 212 is easy... I would stick with it: you can always turn down. Also, the difference between 900 and 500W is not that large, unless you also increase the number of cabs. In fact, I'd focus more on the cabs, if you end up needing more volume. I made that mistake years ago, I went from a 500W to pretty much the same amp but in 800W as I hoped to get a bit more volume... nah, it barely made a difference. Adding another cab, now THAT did make a difference. I'd also invest in an adjustable high pass filter. It removes the bottom of the bottom. It's been a revelation for me. It's surprising how much you can remove from the very bottom end and still sound big and fat... but you get better definition and it's a godsend when stages are a bit boomy. People often think bass is about the lower frequencies, and to some extent it is, but there's a lot of low frequencies that you actually sound better without.

To me they seem mellower than Sunbeams from day one, but still have plenty of brightness. More focused on the lower mids, and less bottom end. They sound very good on my Sandberg VM4 (P/MM config), but I'm not sure whether I prefer them to Sunbeams or Fat Beams. They are all slight variations of the same theme, I think, my preference between Sunbeams and Fat Beams varies, I keep switching between them. The one thing I don't like about them is waiting for the initial extra brightness to fade... Pure Blues are already there from new, I just haven't decided whether their mids response is preferable to the others... :shrug:

The American Sound makes my Stratocaster sound pretty good through a MarkBass amp into TKS S112 cabs... Not 'acceptable' but pretty good. A pedal that sounds great for guitar or for bass, and makes the one-rig-for-all not a crazy notion. It's not quite as nice as plugging into a Fender DeLuxe amp, but it's better than many dedicated guitar amps I've tried. Can't wait for the British Sound to arrive. If it's as good as this, I think for home use I'm going to do without dedicated guitar amps (no gigs on guitar these days), and have a little board for recording/practice containing those Joyo units.

It depends entirely on the type of pubs... and how much you enjoy playing in pubs, because there's always some degree of 'hassle' so the question is whether the amount of fun/cash offsets the hassles. Back in 2017 I joined a band that was travelling around the UK playing all kinds of gigs. We were doing supporting slots in decent music venues one day, a festival the next, and a small pub another... Pubs were my least favourite, because in those places we used our own PA and we set up everything ourselves, and often it required waiting around for people finishing their dinner before you could set up... you don't always get enough room to dump your stuff so soemtimes we had to wait to even load in... But I enjoyed playing that music, I enjoyed being with my band mates, and the gigs themselves were great fun (ska/reggae band playing a mix of originals/classics). So, for me, it was ok. BUt everyone have different preferences. I would not turn it down just because the gigs are mostly pubs. Not all pubs are equal. Some are consistently bad, and some are consistently enjoyable... I am sure you can learn which ones to repeat and which ones to avoid as you go along. Of course, all this is thinking of a pre-Covid19 world... the future may be a little different, depending on how much pubs suffer. I can see a decrease of live music available, so in that case perhaps I may even be grateful for not-so-nice pub gigs... edit: while I've seen some bad situations... the vast majority of my pub gigs have seen nothing but a reasonable crowd. Fights, drunk punters falling on you/equipment is not the norm. Or maybe I am choosier, but I certainly don't associate those with pub gigs. One thing that I always try is to make some kind of physical barrier to deter drunks. Space is often limited, but it's not difficult to put some small stands or beer crates between monitors. A bit of plastic tape joining them create a 'stage area' that seems to psychologically stop all but the most persistent.

Thank you. That would be a no-no for me too then, because I really like the feel of the DRs too. Both Sunbeams and Fat Beams for me too, although I've developed a love for Pure Blues too.

SG with P90s... oh yes... (drooling)

Cool, I just programmed my TV box. Hopefully my grand-grandkids will enjoy it.

... and I ordered a British Sound too, mostly for my guitar. It's dangerous to be in front of my computer so many hours...

Bass is cut only??? That will explain why I max it. I thought it was based on the Xotic BB preamp. I used to have one and the EQ worked as you'd expect (boost and cut) so I assumed this one was the same. I seem to remember I cut the treble a fair amount too. It makes sense now, thank you.

I had mine (SC-02) for a while and never tried that, it certainly helps, thank you!

One thing I noticed was that the class D ones ran cooler than the AB ones, which is not a bad thing.

I have a Spark Booster too I start to think I may have a problem I like it a lot and, like in your case, it was destined to replace the Orange Burst (are we related??? ; )) but I was using the board with two different bands at the time and while I only really liked the Spark Booster for low gain, while the Orange Burst was a bit more versatile, so I put up with the slight low end loss (after boosting its bass control!) just so that I could have some grittier sounds too from a single pedal. I need to get all those overdrive/distortion pedals out one day and choose a handful to keep and sell the rest!

Ha! Indeed. I have a couple of Rat derivatives but they've never seen live action on bass for that reason. I used to have a couple of LS-2 back when I really needed a lot of effects, and one was there simply to provide a clean blend/volume to a couple of pedals. I can't remember what it was, but I had a beautiful distortion pedal whose output was not in phase with the clean signal, and there was no way to blend it with the LS-2. I then found there are other pedals that allow you to switch phase too, but it started getting silly. The LS-2 is such a versatile pedal. It would indeed 'fix' the Orange Burst for bass if it bothered me enough. It's one of those pedals that seem not to do much (I mean, it doesn't give you any funky sounds or anything) but it's a great tool to have.

This.

No, it's confusing because of their nomenclature. By the time the came with the combo they were doing the Little Mark II, and they labelled the identical head on the combo "Combo Head", without the II. When they released the LMIII, the head on the combo became "Combo Head II", but it's a LMIII, they didn't make separate heads. The only difference is the labelling and that the combo head lacks the top metal cover (which is not needed since it's inserted in the cabinet. I always wished the had made the head extractable... but I guess the model works for them since I ended up with a head AND a combo. They switched to class D on those amps back in 2012 or so I think, so heads/combos bought around 2012/13 could be anything, but anything newer would definitely be class D. I've owned both class AB and D versions and I can't say I noticed any significant difference, but I never had them at the same time to test them side by side. When I had the combo and the head they were both class D. My current LMIII is a class AB unit from 2009 :shrug: I like it as much as all the others, and this time I'm not selling it If it says LMII or Combo Head, it'll be class AB. It it says LMIII or Combo Head II, it can be AB (early ones) or D. By the time they moved production to Asia they were all class D, but there are Italian ones of both types.

My Aftershock has been seen home use only, which is a crime as it's such a great pedal... but I seem to end up gravitating to simpler pedals for live use, even if the Aftershock can do the job of some of them better. Anyway, we're talking smallish nuances that won't come across live. However I don't see myself selling it soon (but then I don't have a Helix). Low end on the American Sound seems good, but it's early days and I am reluctant to pronounce myself 100% about it until I get a chance to try it at proper volume with a band etc. Having said that, I've had many pedals where the loss of low end was very noticeable at home, and I don't have that impression here. That suggests that if there's some loss, perhaps a tiny bump of the EQ on the pedal would compensate for it. I've been using a Caline Orange Burst on my "RATM board" for the lower gain sounds. It is a very nice sounding overdrive but with a marked low end loss. I bump the bass control on the pedal almost to max on that one just to retain the 'oomph'. I love it on guitar, but for bass it's not ideal. The American Sound would be a great substitute where the bass control could be used to adjust the sound to taste, not so much to compensate for its deficiency, if you see what I mean.

Yeah, at that price I don't think anyone can complain much. It seems pretty solid, as long as the switch holds, I can't see much going wrong with it, and if it fails I could probably just buy another. For versatility, the SA Aftershock is amazing, but I get easily bored when I have too many options, menus, etc. This one is so good, that if I don't change my mind in a month or so I might just buy another just to have two 'presets' on my board. Although who knows when I'll be needing it... I can't see myself gigging anytime soon

I've got a Scarlett Solo, so that's good to know.

After 2-3 years hearing good things about it, last week I was alone in front of my computer and I caved in. I ordered one, and it arrived today. It's not good. It's REALLY good. Nice range of overdrives, from round and fat to aggressive and gritty, just by turning the "voice" control. No low end loss to speak of, and it's got a 3-band EQ so you can easily adjust the basic sound should you need it. I first used it with my Stratocaster... and I liked it a lot, nothing extraordinary but I got easily some really cool sounds. I've owned a couple of old Fender valve amps and I could recognise some of teh sounds in here, with low gain. So far so good. BUt on bass? Fantastic. I especially liked this lowish gain, fat, creamy compressed type of sound... hmmm. Hard to describe, I should record some clips. Anyway, I just wanted to say that if you're looking for a nice overdrive that works well on bass and is versatile... you should consider this one. If you also want it to be cheap, then you DEFINITELY should consider this one.

Mine arrived today, an "American sound". I only used it for about an hour, alternating between bass and guitar. What a great pedal that is!!! I didn't get to enjoy the discount but thank you for indirectly pushing me to finally buy one: it's far better than I had hoped for.

come on, we wont tell!