BigRedX

Modern battery driven active circuits are very frugal with their power consumption. Unless you play for several hours every single day or leave your bass plugged in by mistake for more than a couple of days a good quality PP3 should last well over a year. It's a long time since I have encountered the symptoms you are describing since I normally change the battery in the one active bass I still own well before it starts to run down, but it was a regular occurrence in my 80s Overwater basses which did well if the battery lasted more than 3 months.

Exactly this. I have a default Helix Preset for each band which will be fine while I am working on the musical aspects of a song. Once I know what I want to play I can start fine-tuning the sound(s).

One of the first things I did when I got my Helix was to go through each effect on its own to work out which ones I liked and would use and which ones I didn't do it for me. IIRC there are 4 different dedicated Chorus sims and couple more hidden away as parameters of other effects, but there is only one that really suits the sounds I want to create, so that's the one I use. Should a new one be introduced with a firmware update I'll give it a go next time I'm creating a new Preset. Every so often I may also try one of the others, but in this case I always realise immediately why I didn't pick it before and go back to my favourite. Just because there are multiple options for a particular effect doesn't mean that you have to use them all. I know that the Chorus sim I like the best won't be to everyone's taste and that's why there is more than one available. I now have two default Presets (one for each band) that contain all the modules that I need to produce the vast majority of the sounds I'll be using. When I'm creating a Preset for a new song I'll go to the default Preset and tweak the settings until it sounds right. It's as quick and easy as individual pedals with added benefit that once I've saved a copy it's there forever and can be recalled at the touch of a foot switch. I often wonder how quickly someone using non-programmable individual pedals could get their sounds back should some malicious person set all the controls to zero?

There's also at least one thread on the Sound On Sound forums detailing these problems with input from people who know their electronics. Well worth having a look at that too

That's because IMO you are approaching them wrong. 1. Most classic bass amps are simply guitar amps with a different name and maybe the EQ frequencies tweaked slightly. 2. IME almost all amp sims (both guitar and bass) have too much drive in their default settings. Try them all with the drive/distortion turned right down. The "best" value will be different for each sim so you need to play with the adjustment for each one before making any real decisions. However... 3. IMO most amp and cab sims make my bass sound worse. I've got much better (to me) sounds by just using separate EQ and drive/distortion sims. That way I'm not tied to a particular combination of EQ and drive from a single amp sim so I can mix and match to find the right EQ and drive for the sound I want. On the few occasions where I have used an amp sim it has either been picked for it's drive sound over anything else, or I've used a guitar combo sim that would be completely unsuitable for bass at gigging volumes but because it's just software there's no worry about damaging anything. 4. On the Helix most of the effects include a mix control so I don't have to worry about them sapping the bottom end from the sound. If absolutely necessary I can always run a crossover module first. 5. IME a lot of so-called bass-specific stuff is actually a red herring, so if it sounds right then it's right irrespective of what sims/modules you are actually using. Program with your ears not with your eyes.

This thread is over 10 years old.

This.

The key words that you want to be looking for is "Pure Sine Wave". If your inverter doesn't produce this, and most budget devices won't, then you will run into problems like the one you are experiencing. Unfortunately unless you spend a lot of money on a device from a reputable supplier, ideally one who specialises in audio solutions, even devices which claim to be outputting pure sine wave AC won't be close enough to prevent problems. Also exactly which model of Yamaha speakers are you hoping to use? I suspect that 300W of the inverter is insufficient to power a pair of them for any length of time.

The instrument I have owned the longest is this: This was my first proper guitar which I got for my 14th birthday along with copies of The Beatles Complete and Simon & Garfunkle's Greatest Hits songbooks. As you can see it's been heavily used and modified. As well as the visible Schaller pickup there's also a piezo fitted under the bridge and both are wired to a TRS Jack socket. This feeds to a box fitted with two foot switches - one to select the pickup and the other to select the amp input. This was my main (and only) instrument until I completed the solid electric guitar I had been making during my last year at school some 4 years later. It's had little use since and I still have it only because it's not really worth the hassle of trying to sell. About 5 years ago I had a big clear out of all the guitars and bass I'd accumulated since my first guitar. I was in a situation where I had both the finances and space to keep most of the instruments I bough over the last 35 years, and I did all my serial instrument ownership during my synthesiser playing days in the 80s. So the bass I have owned for the longest is this one: Which was ordered in 2002 and completed the following year and therefore is now over 20 years old. This has had off-and-on use over that time. The red Gus G3 I bought a few years later looks better on stage so it's my first choice for gigs, but this one has a slight edge sound-wise and so is my recording bass for anything that doesn't require a Bass VI.

It's big because of all those "user-friendly" controls. You can't fit that many controls into something the size of a Stomp without them being too small to easily manipulate. If you want to have a reduced set of knobs you'll most likely need a computer or menu diving in order to be able to set up the assignments, and you can guarantee that if that's the case there still won't be enough "hands-on" controls to satisfy everyone. For me the biggest weakness of this unit and most other budget multi-effects is the external PSU and the lack of locking connector for it. The wrap-round post is a terrible idea because this automatically introduces a point of weakness in the PSU cable. Both guitarists in my band have multi-effects with separate PSUs, and both have gone through several in the 6 years I've been in the band due to the low-voltage side cable failing. If you have to mounts this device on a pedal board with the PSU it defeats the object IMO because devices like this are designed to BE the pedal board. Also I'm not keen to just having numbers to identify the patches, it's no longer the early 80s. Again, the guitarists in my band have enough difficulty finding the correct patch for each song when the names are displayed; having to rely on just a number would be a disaster. And if you're organised enough to be able to remember the patch number for each sound, then IMO you are organised enough for something less immediate. One of the great things for me about the Helix Floor is the big display with the big Preset name and LED "scribble strips" above each foot switch that identify exactly what they do for each Preset.

If the above offer doesn't pan out, go to your local bicycle shop and ask for a bike box. They'll most likely be more than happy to give one away as it saves them having to get rid of it themselves. You will need to cut it down to fit the bass, but that's easy and the waste cardboard can be used as additional strengthening. IME bike boxes are far sturdier than guitar shipping boxes which only really work if the item is double boxed and the instrument can be replaced by the manufacturer or retailer should something happen to it in transit.

These solutions look fine but fall over (pun intended) the moment you use locking strap buttons, which Sei actually fit as standard.

Wimp! 😉 In the 70s we used to play "football" with a tennis ball during school lunch break whilst wearing platform shoes. It's a wonder none of us broke our ankles.

When I was actually operating my foot pedals by foot, I mostly used my right foot apart from the bank up and down switches on the left of my Helix Floor for which I used my left foot. Currently my Helix is now controlled by the computer that is also our band's drummer and second synth player, so it tucked away somewhere where our singer is unlikely to step on it mid-song and the only switch I have worry about is the one for activating the tuner for which I use whichever foot is most convenient. I do have a foot switch for controlling the computer which is normally positioned as far over to the left of the stage as possible so I normally use my left foot for that.

Just looked at the three options from your first post and to me that seems like a lot of money to spend when all you really need to do is swap out the three cheap pots for a set of CTS or Alphas. Also I notice that only one of those three actually specifies the brand of pots they are using. If the others were fitting something decent you'd expect them to include that detail in the spec.

What's wrong with the current controls on your bass?

IME it depends on what you are playing. For covers this is almost definitely the case. However if you are playing songs that you have written yourself and you are playing to the right audience - i.e. one that has come to see bands in the same genre as yours then you can pretty much play what what you want. It is harder work at the start because you have to build up a following from pretty much nothing, but if you are entertaining, it can be done.

What exactly is wrong with the tuners currently fitted?

And at last, some much better photos of In Isolation from Saturday's gig:

To get back on topic here's a photo of the whole of In Isolation from our set at Whitby on Saturday:

You've obviously never played in a band with a guitarist who seemingly had to recreate his pedal board from scratch every time he set up his gear, and often couldn't remember the order that the pedals went in the last time when he thought it sounded great. Or the guitarist who insisted on turning all the controls on his amp to "0" before switching it off, meaning that he would spend at least 10 minutes next time he set up dealing in "his sound". I, on the other hand simply plug my multi-effects unit into my FRFR cab and hit the footswitch for the Preset for the first song and I'm ready to go. For one band I have now programmed all the patch changes into the computer that is also our drummer and second synth player so when I call up a particular song my multi-effect unit automatically switches to the correct Preset and changes Snapshots as required as the backing plays.

@Dad3353 While I applaud your efforts to improve forum literacy, if this was aimed at me it is of zero use unless you also quote and point out where I have wrongly added or left out the apostrophe, and as I am mildly dyslexic could be interpreted as bullying. Also in the grand scheme of writing on these forums, missing an apostrophe out or putting it in the wrong place is low down on the scale of crimes against literacy that I have seen inflicted here. However if you were to flag up every error you'd be sticking in some inane graphic after every other post.

My next gig is with In Isolation on Saturday May 11th at The Black Bull in Gateshead. Saturday May 11th, it's Twilight Zone Day, and the planets have aligned over Gateshead as Liber8 and OTH present a Spring Special In the bar: Liber8 and many other local traders will be on hand with uniquities, curiosities and all manner of goodies. More info about the awesome market right here Also playing are Machiner. Bands on from 8.00pm. Tickets available here

It looks as though they'd moved on the embrace new technology in the two years since the first one where the contact details were just a house address and landline phone number! I know this because I have a friend who is involved with the Whitby Museum archive and is in the process of putting together material from the very first WGW. As part of that he was at the gig interviewing members of In Isolation and Chaos Bleak as they were at the first one either as punters or members of the bands that played.

Unfortunately I think the era of cheap Gus Guitars is long past, especially since the Prince connection. I was lucky enough to get my G1 guitar and the G3 black 5-string bass back when the new prices were a fraction of what they are now. The red one in the the photos was second hand and just under £1k, but it was in dreadful condition and cost me almost as much again to have it completely refurbished by Simon about 15 years ago. If you were going to go back in 1996 that would have been in the very early days, as this October is the 30th anniversary of the original weekend in 1994. The weekend has grown beyond its tentative beginnings, and although it could appear to have been taken over by people parading around the town in "costume", there is still a very healthy audience for the musical side of things as witnessed by this and other gigs around the town. The fact that Whitby has it's up and coming own goth band in Westenra has most definitely helped to keep the music current.