fretmeister

I'm going to bet that covers bands with Non-trite set lists get fewer booking that Ines with trite ones. Nature of the beast.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1490201947' post='3263220'] There you go, just put a 5 string Stingray neck on it. There's a chap on eBay who specialises in modifications for people with big hands that could soon convert it to a 4 string for you. [/quote] That bloke's a nutter!

Just strip the lacquer off the neck. It will be dark and filthy in no time then!

The WD is a fantastic pedal. It is a bit big, but the controls allow it to be set up really well for bass use.

The Harris model weighs as much as an anchor too. Harris was my first real bass hero when I started playing in the 1980s and I'd love his sig model - but with some of them hitting 12lb. No chance.

I've still never played a wide neck one. I find the concept a bit weird - my 5 string stingray is the same width as a wide P! I'd be worried my fingers would fall through the gaps!! I do like the look of the 50s Roadworns though. My local shop never seem to have any in stock to try though.

Get a used Pino signature model for a fraction of your proper old one!

Lovely. I keep listening to the Mr Exane demo. Sounds great. But then again he makes everything sound good.

I've got one. Bad things - the wah without the fuzz is sh*t on bass. Admittedly it was never designed as a bass pedal, but even so, it's pointless for just wah. Good things - with the fuzz on the wah is excellent. Real grindy abrasive wah, like the man himself. The fuzz on it's own falls into the "not bad at all" camp rather than the "brilliant" camp. I'm pleased I've got it, but there's no doubt you'd have more options with a Weeping Demon and a Duality Fuzz used together. Or separate.

Protein shakes. Even the Slimfast cans have plenty of carbs and protein for an easy snack. Very useful for a pick me up.

First I think. Always seems best to me there.

BF retro One10s for me. Love it!

BSW. Funky squelchy goodness

I'd pay 90 for Hendrix

Full review when you get it please! Looks like an interesting bit of kit.

I've had 3 Bergs. All were excellent.

Done.

I've got a BSW in a loop. Hidden in the back of my rack. That's it!

That's a damn good question! I don't know. I've never tried it - BUT as you can record a totally dry signal via the Helix and then reamp later I'm going to guess Yes. But I'll give it a try when I have a mo - I suppose it might need a volume block if the gain is too low without an amp model. The GK model has a load of low end, and the beauty of the 2 main paths with a secondary path each is that you can blend direct with a Cab model, and muck about with Mic type and placement too. You can even set it so the XLRs have cab sims and go to the PA, but the 1/4 inch outputs don't have cab sims for use with a regular amp or power amp and cab. - at the same time. Even though I use a head (just the power section) and traditional cab, I sometimes mix in a cab sim as well. It's just an FX block after all. If it sounds good...

I went for the Helix rack with the foot controller. Partly because I wanted to keep the brain away from the beer, but also for ease of use on a desk when recording. The floor unit is pretty big and would take up all my desk room! I already have a rack sitting there so it was an easy choice. There's also the bending down to tweak stuff rather than having it at waist height. (Although you can actually tweak with your feet too - and the buttons are capacitive so you can touch them to see what is assigned to that switch and the settings without actually turning that button on or off) The Rack and controller option does not have an expression pedal. I got the helix specific Mission L6H model to go with it. It plugs either into the brain, or into the footcontroller. I have mine into the foot controller with a couple of patch leads. It allows the toe switch to also be programmed for things beyond just turning the wah on. My Cliff Burton Patch (For whom the bell tolls) uses it for the intro section - the toe switch turns on the wah, and a second fuzz stacked with another to get the completely nasty grating sound he had. When it's off, it is just a volume, when on, wah and fuzz. IIRC the only physical addition the rack + controller has is that as a total it has another set of expression inputs compared to the floor unit- basically because the main one with toe switch is on both the brain and the controller. If you run out of them, then the Source Audio Reflex expression / midi controller would solve the problem. That thing is amazing. I haven't got one as I don't need one, but friends have and they are controlling all manner of things with it. 2 wahs at the same time in reverse, while controlling speed of a phaser etc. There is no Sub-Dub bass model on the Helix. At the moment there is the usual selection of SVTs. Mesa 400+, GK and others, but the EQ is very powerful. There are the amp EQs, then separate EQ blocks, and then global setting EQ as well. More bass models are in the next firmware update, due this month. The individual settings for the EQ blocks and the Amp EQ can be set as "Snapshots" - so a footswitch can change the values of any or all of the EQ settings without changing a patch- therefore no patch loading time. I'm biased because I bought a Helix, but the UI is amazing - so easy to use. It comes with a Beginners Guide info sheet, and the full instructions on a memory stick. I've never even looked at the stuff on the stick, I imagine that unless diving into MIDI it won't be needed by many people.

If you get one, make sure you do the firmware update as soon as you get it. If it's been in a shop for a little while it may well be out of date, and the updates are certainly worth having before you get stuck in saving patches. Join the facebook Helix Users Group too - loads of advice on there.

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/03/12/trace-elliot-announces-the-transit-b-bass-guitar-preamp-pedal/ Looks interesting!

I had a Dingwall ABZ5 and it was very good across the range but it was a bit polite for me. In hindsight I wish I had tried a pickup change as the basic sound and response of the bass was great. I've got a passive Yamaha Attitude Standard 5 which is excellent and great value for money, and I often use my Marleaux in passive mode.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the 3 top machines anymore. They do sound a little different, and the way they operate is a little different, but the tech has now reached the point where it's pretty much down to personal choice rather than something more physical. Something else that is coming though is Helix Native as a full featured app for Win and OS. A Helix in your computer. Alone it is going to cost quite a lot, BUT if you have a Hardware Helix already, it's only going to be $99 - and apparently it will be a multi-machine licence so you can have it on your desktop and lappie too. The Helix is already awesome at doing re-amping, but if I can do that all in the PC, then that will be awesome.

The next Helix firmware update will have loads of bass amps, The DG B7K and other stuff on it. The 2 senior modelling guys at L6 are bassists.