dannybuoy

45 minutes ago, Chaosanator said:

Santa was a couple of days late, but mine has finally arrived! Enjoying it so far.

I'm now wondering what to do with my VT bass DI. Do you think there's a reason to keep both?

Keep both until you’ve compared them in a full band mix and/or at high volume. I preferred the VTDI in the end and sold the SH1!

On 24/12/2020 at 08:25, sshorepunk said:

Still using the borrowed TC compressor

But have a nice big Amazon voucher heading my way from work and most of it is spent already (behringer X-touch control surface) but still some left for a compressor 

MXR, dark glass, boss, pigtronix and Aguilar compressor pedals all available on Amazon, plus a while load of budget boxes

or do I use Amazon pay at GAK for an Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass FET Compressor Pedal?

 

I had the Cali, then I upgraded to the TC Spectracomp and pocketed the difference! Multi-band compression is where it’s at if you have any kind of high mids / treble in your tone IMHO.

Hyper Gravity is the same comp with more knobs, but the Spectracomp is dialled in for bass and comes with a bunch of bass presets... although it is possible to map these to the Hyper Gravity using the settings that someone dumped into a spreadsheet!

Line6 are still releasing updates years after the initial release though, I wonder if these other brands would do the same?

On 19/12/2020 at 11:57, Jonesy said:

Maybe a VT pedal and something like a Catalinbread SFT? 

This is a good choice - I've spent years and £s trying out various pedals (including most of those mentioned so far) and have come full circle back to a similar setup. I had an SFT into a VT on my board for a long time back in my gigging days, at the moment I am very much liking the combination of the SolidgoldFX Beta and Tech21 YYZ.

On 20/12/2020 at 17:18, TheGreek said:

Pronunciation? "Ho tone" or "Hot one"? 

I'm pretty sure nobody pronounces in "Ho tony" 

It’s supposed to be pronounced Hot Tone, but I always say Hoe Tone!

I wish I weighed my BB415 that I picked up for peanuts brand new when they were end of line. It was light as a feather compared to the 1025X that came in to replace it - I should've kept it!

On 06/10/2020 at 19:25, Dood said:

I just ran through the post, but I was looking to find out what you were driving your DT770's with? Mine sounded pants with an old Audio interface, simply because the headphone driver was woefully underpowered. (Literally anything USB2 powered is likely to suffer) My latest interface is way more capable and the DT's sound SO much better. 

I've found the same with mine - 80ohms is higher than average so I guess they need a bit more juice. My Focusrite 2i2 just about drives them well enough, but they sound much better through the PJB Bighead. They sound awful through a lesser headphone amp like a Zoom multi FX!

I wasn't bowled over by my DT770s when I first got them, but they either broke in or I got used to them because I love them now. I tried the PJBs out but they didn't come close and felt more like a toy in terms of build quality.

I did get to try out a set of what I think were HD280 Pros once and they sounded amazing - I'd love to pick up a pair to compare. Interestingly this was at a Muse gig where we paid the extra ticket price to gain entry to the 'Muse-eum' where loads of their gear was on display including a guitar and bass hooked up to a headphone rig. There was a big queue to have a go on Matt Bellamy's guitar, but nobody interested in the bass so I had a nice long go on Chris Wolstenholme's Status all to myself!

Just ordered a lighter gauge set of the regular nickels to try next, 40-125 EXL220-5. Never tried a light set and I think it’ll benefit my agressive playing style.

4 hours ago, GreeneKing said:

A question for BB owners that have the bevelled through body stringing, as opposed to the through body through the rear of the bass. Given that flats can get damaged if they are run through too great an angle, is it okay to use flats on the lesser angled through body stringing?

I’ve been pondering string choice. My favourite strings are Dunlop flats. They aren’t at all dull or muddy and I’ve ordered some for my BBPH. 

I’ve also been experimenting with fretboard darkening using black leather dye, a popular choice. I practiced on my Mexican Jazz and it worked well. It did however leave the side dots sort of half and half tinted. I’ve decided not to risk it on my new BBPH  
 

I'd string through the bridge to play it safe. The break angle isn't much different to a traditional string through body design, since those designs usually have the string hole behind the bridge in a similar position, just the string bends twice instead of once before it reaches the ferrule.

18 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I haven't dB! Have you got them on your 1025X? What extra are you getting / hearing from them compared to the EXLs? (I see they're about 50% pricier than the EXLs - dv247 currently have the NYXL 45 to 130s in stock for £33).

I can't really trust my opinion here as I tend to run strings for a very long time (like over a year), so any string change feels like an upgrade! I'd need to try a fresh set of both strings without a huge amount of time in-between to make a fair comment. But I think these felt looser and sounded more lively as a result, and have lasted longer too.

Also I got a 4-string set for free (D'Addario promotion on BC when they first came out), they were sat in a drawer for a couple of years until I found a tapered NYXL B string for sale on here to add to the set. The low B sounds much more defined than I'm used to, not sure if that's the string in general or the fact it's tapered, but I will try and hunt down another!

@Al Krow have you tried the NYXLs? If not, ask Santa for some!

Tech21 VTDI - the Leeds is very hard to find, doesn't have a blend, and the VT sounds very similar anyway! For those specific examples you gave, I don't think you could do any better.

It's great for really heavy distortion, but not so great for low gain drive - it's pretty filthy even at low gain! Sounds like a RAT or OCD type of sound, but unlike most of those pedals, the crossover keeps the lows solid whilst also reducing the lows being fed to the distortion side to keep it tight sounding!

It'll be back on the classifieds soon though along with most of my collection, some variant of Sansamp is all I really need and use!

I have one of his builds:

mini-XO (homestead.com)

Built in crossover so the drive just affects the highs!

On 20/09/2020 at 16:56, DarkHeart said:

Put an extra strap button on the heel and use a wide suede backed strap.

With a T-Bird, if you just run the strap over the front of the bass, it pushes down on the lower bout and neck dive is non-existent. It just sticks in place and doesn't budge!

@mika77270 The Yamaha store in London has a BB2024 and BB2024X listed. Crazy prices, but they do price match, and they’ve probably had them for a long time and struggling to sell alongside the cheaper P34 - so if they really want to clear them, they will probably do you a deal!

Depends where you're trying to get the muff to sit in the mix - if you want it to cut through the upper mids then you'll struggle - turn the tone up too much and you lose low end. However, leave the tone around noon or below and you'll completely dominate the low end and low mids - it'll be heavy AF but more like a low rumbling growl that stands out in its own way down low rather than 'cutting through'. I had to experience the EHX Green Russian at high volume before I could appreciate it!

Not all pedals are happy running in an FX loop at line level. This might be one of those pedals! Most bassists just run their FX straight into the amp, as we don't tend to rely on preamp colouration/overdrive as much as guitarists. So if your amp is pretty clean and neutral, I'd just forget the FX loop personally.

It's worth trying a buffer beforehand, but my Phase 90 works just as well with a passive instrument plugged in vs having a preamp pedal just before it... and the FX loop situation should be fairly similar to the preamp pedal situation, just perhaps with a higher volume level.

Do you hear any distortion coming from the Phase 90?

The EBS ones seem slighty more sturdy but there's not much in it. Both suffer from the same issue of having poor shielding around the plugs though, so in certain rooms they can be a major contributor to noise. I went back to cables with full metal plugs, as I had too much buzzing practicing at home with a dimmer switch on in the room with the flat cables.

5 delays?!

... and you get overdrive, phaser, and filter effects with the HX, along with better signal routing, crossovers,etc!

Pigtronix make an envelope phaser, and the Source Audio filter pedals (Spectrum, C4, Manta, etc).

I found the Small Stone pretty intense and dark sounding, it does really well in a blender though to add a bit of dry back in. If this was your primary aim also, then that might be a simpler route to get what you want.

I sold it in the end to be replaced by a standard block logo MXR Phase 90 as it had more clarity, but I do miss the Small Stone!

@stewblack - did I sell you my Bass Whammy? That has a detune chorus setting too that you might like to try.

There is this, but it's overkill and uber expensive:

https://www.chaseblissaudio.com/shop-pedals/wombtone-mkii