Opticaleye

I've tried to record further examples but I really can't add anything new that improves on the video in the OP as far as the basic functions are concerned. 

I've also found that it sounds spectacular with my RMI Basswitch Dual compressor placed before it. They complement each other perfectly with the Dual Comp mostly taming the low frequencies and the Becos ignoring those frequencies (with the SCF switch set to low or deep).

7 hours ago, Opticaleye said:

I'll see if I can find the time in the next few days. There are so many options I may not do it justice until I get to know it better!

A brief example to go on with.

There really are so many variables for getting a tape saturation tone on this pedal. There are two internal jumpers that affect the tape saturation and I've removed neither at this stage.

I've mixed a 3.5 :1 regular compression in with the tape sat. on this quick snippet, the tape sat and parallel compression both at about 50%. I used a Sandberg VS4 with worn in Fender flatwounds and passive EMG Geezer Butler pickups. The first half is the pedal bypassed and direct, the 2nd half is the Stella with Tape Sat.

The range of the saturation increases with a hotter input and removing jumpers for low or/and high pass might be desirable to some.

29 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Any chance you could record a little demo? Especially illustrating the tape saturation effect... That pedal looks really interesting.

I'll see if I can find the time in the next few days. There are so many options I may not do it justice until I get to know it better!

4 minutes ago, Osiris said:

Sounds like it's a cracking little unit, Kev, I'll have to invite myself round for a cheeky listen 😃

You'd be welcome🙂. I may not be in this area for too much longer...

On the other hand, the way the housing market is, I could be here some time ☹️.

I picked the Stella up 😁. I've spent most of this afternoon acquainting myself with it's many features! I like them all. 

The build quality is excellent, the pedal has a really solid feel and is a fair bit smaller than a Boss pedal, for instance.

I had a message from Becos saying that mine was arriving with premium aluminium knobs "as a way to say thank you for placing a back-order for a new BECOS product".

The basic compressor functions work as described and I really like the sounds available and the control they give over the waveform. The tilt Eq is really nice, and not overpowering. Clockwise from centre gives a more aggressive tone I feel, but I will probably use the added fatness to the left of 12 o'clock. I love the tone of both the hard and soft knee settings and will probably use the side chain filter switch in the L position although all the positions sound great and my opinion may change as I become more familiar with the pedal.

The timing switch sounds good in both automatic positions but I will probably use it in Manual and use the attack and release knobs. 

The threshold knob has to be set fairly low to light up more than a couple of the Led's with my passive basses plugged directly into the Stella at around 4:1 on the ratio knob. This will allow plenty of adjustment for any extra gain when used in a chain of pedals though.

The tape saturation circuit will probably be of more use to me when recording as it sounds good with flatwound strings to get that slightly distorted Jamerson tone that sits nice in a mix. I decided not to remove the LoCut jumper as recommended as that affects the whole of the dry signal not just the saturation and takes away a bit from the Parallel compression feature when not using the saturation.

To summarise then, a fantastic full featured transparent compressor with added bells and whistles. Sounds punchy with regular compression settings,  great for slap and fingerstyle. Sounds really good as a limiter too with the Ratio set higher.

When set at unity gain it adds a discernible improvement to the same basic tone.  

I'm really pleased.

2 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

So where can you get them from?

https://becosfx.com/product/compiq-pro-stella-compressor-pedal-for-guitar-bass/

Although they have a bit of a security issue with the website. On back order too atm.

I went out for 1/2 hour leaving 3 people at home in case the Becos Stella arrived. Nobody heard the postman and he left the "card of disappointment" for me. Will be able  to pick it up tomorrow.

Not happy!

1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

It actually seems better configured than the Cali 76 CB, would you agree? Which is regarded by many (correctly or not I don't know) as the gold standard for pedal compressors. And this also costs a lot less. 

Looking forward to getting @Opticaleye's feedback on this and if it's half as good as we are all hoping, I could see this as being a really good way of getting to grips with compression. 

I was hoping that it would be with me today but nothing yet 😐. The parallel compression and tape saturation are the interesting features for me, over the excellent Basswitch Dual Comp and Markbass Compressore that I also have.

I'm not expecting that this would immediately appeal to someone new to compression given the number of options to twiddle with.

The review over on TB in the stickied compressor review thread makes me think I made the right choice.

I've been notified that the Becos Compiq Stella is now available to order. I have ordered mine. 😀

I'm not sure that I've tried Black Label pickups. I tried a TT4 Masterpiece at Bass Direct that was listed as having Black labels but it was also listed as having an active pre when it was, in fact, passive. There are lots of inaccuracies in BD's specs including incorrect fingerboard wood that doesn't tally with the pictures. The SL's though are definitely Black Labels.

I ended up buying a 3.3kg birds eye maple/mahogany TT4 passive that I believe has Sandberg's Alnico5 pickups, although the Bass Direct website lists the bass as having Delano TT's. Whatever they are I really like them.

I have 5 Sandbergs (all passive with Alnico pickups) and have sold another 3 that had Delano big pole pickups. I prefer the Alnicos as they sound a little more vintage and dynamic. 

The Tilt EQ would be similar to the Diamond Compressor's (or, if you have a Zoom B3n, the Glam comp model).

It seems very fully featured for it's size. I'm happy with my Markbass Compressore and Basswitch Dual Band comp but this is speaking to me. 🤔

Manual here...https://becosfx.com/product/compiq-pro-stella-compressor-pedal-for-guitar-bass/

The mix of tape saturation and parallel compression should give a few tone options.

This looks even more interesting. It has "tape" saturation, wet/dry mix and tilt Eq. Coming soon apparently. 

1 hour ago, JapanAxe said:

Tell me more...

They're roundwounds rolled to create a smoother feel but to still retain a little brightness. On the right bass they can thump a little too. To me they sound best when they are a little worn in.

I've tried a few P pickups including Original 62's and my favourite is the EMG Geezer Butler ones. Faithful passive reproduction of a vintage P Bass set (from a bass owned by Bobby Vega). They even come with pots and solderless wiring 🙂 

GHS Pressurewounds of course.🙂

Still loving mine. The pre-amp section is top quality and the EQ surprisingly powerful and intuitive once you familiarise yourself with it.

I tried a couple of Nash's in a shop  a few years back. They were about on par with my Tokai and Aria Jazz and P copies from the '81 and 78 respectively but not quite as good to play IMO.

For that money I'd get a passive Sandberg or you could save money and get an older Japanese copy that's seen some use.

4 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

That's kinda interesting, and definitely helpful to anyone who still has a Le Bass. I agree the mid scooped nature of the A channel, whilst nice at home, could definitely be an issue in the mix.

In my case I found that simply cutting the bass (you mentioned overpowering bottom end) on the pedal was quite effective in allowing more of the mids through without having the benefit of an HPF back then. 

Yes, Channel A is boost only, so I used to leave both bass and treble completely off for the least scoop. With the Broughton I can turn the bass up on the LeBass and then cut @around 80hz on the HPF to accentuate the low mids. 

10 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

Thats cool, for me I managed to keep the A magic favouring the blend towards it in the cold fusion so there is a hint more mids there, but the Broughton is quality, so no complaints.

I used to do something similar stacking it with the Hartke VXL

I tried various pre's to introduce mids and even  ran the LeBass into the Aux in of my Quilter (with cab sim) whilst taking the Thru output into the front of the Quilter and mixing the tone paths. This worked (sometimes) brilliantly but just using the subtractive cut of the Broughton seems to work very simply and elegantly for my desired objective and my amps and cabs.

Channel A can make a smaller cab seem so much bigger.

16 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

@Opticaleye try setting the B channel up to be almost the same as A, essentially very clean, but pop some more kids in there, run them as cold fusion, parts out the scoop, brightens it a little

I found that mixing Channel B cured the lack of mids but at the expense of losing most of the magic of channel A. The HPF retains the magic.

My original Le Bass gave up just before the warranty expired. The replacement has been fine though.

I'm a firm fan of Channel A (at home at least) but in the past I found it a little scooped when using it live. My new Broughton HPF in the effect loop really curbs the overpowering bottom end, letting the mids shine through. 

The Broughton HPF seems to make everything I have sound better though...

12 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

@countjodius So here is my take, please ignore if you want!

G&L - fanstastically well made basses, brilliant craftsmanship and quality.

Problem is the pick up. Leo was suffering hearing loss and in particular high end hearing loss, so he rotated the magnet, changed the pole pieces, over wound them to compensate. That to me is why they have so much output and Treble. Personally, I could not tame them using any form of pre-amp type pedal I like to use, the signal was too much, and too hot. I imagine straight to amp especially a valve amp, it would be OK. That’s having owned an ASAT, a semi hollow ASAT and an L1500.

TM2 brings balance to the force, you will not be sad, and if you care for upgrades, get black labels in it, well worth it IMO.

Good Luck!

Interesting. I have an 81 G&L  L1000 and find the MFD humbucker to be less bright than the Delano's on the Sandberg VM's and TM's I've owned. I wonder if it has mellowed with age. I can get a really nice powerful but vintage passive tone out of it.

I have a MFD P pickup that I've tried on a couple of basses but found it very aggressive and put it away in the drawer because I couldn't tame it. My idea was to re-create the L1000 with a narrower neck by using it on my Sandberg VS4 and I wired it using the same passive bass and treble cut circuit as the L1000. Sadly it didn't work for me and it now has an EMG Geezer P pickup and a vol, tone and a Tonestyler for the 3 controls. It's nice and vintage sounding now 🙂.

https://schalltechnik04.de/en/instructions/vong-filterung

If you're handy with a soldering iron.....

I've just bought a Broughton HPF and have to say that it's worth the money even including the import duty etc..