knicknack

Just received a Polytune from Ian, prompt delivery and top notch communication!

This took a little longer than I anticipated! I thought i'd record a few sound examples for those pondering between the two... not trying to match them, but finding settings at low, medium and high gain that appealed to me on each. I've also put in examples of the 2 cab sims and the straight DI with the pedal bypassed. I've really enjoyed playing with these, and I do feel they give me something that other amp sims/preamps haven't in the past. Going in I expected to like the Super Vintage more, as I am SVT biased (and I'd say that my Super Bassman is more SVTish than anything vintage fender). This initially was the case as it felt very familiar, but as I spent more time with them I really fell in love with the Black Panel. It has so much character and some wonderful settings that I really loved playing with. However, I would say that 1. The cab sim with the pedal bypassed is pretty much unusable for me (but pretty accurate to a 2x15 there really!), whereas the 810 sim in the SV is a useable sound. 2. All my favourite sounds required quite dramatically different settings. If one of them was really appropriate for particular gig it'd be great, but the SV has alot on tap with very small changes. So with that, I took the SV out on a gig on Friday, to a local venue with an in house engineer. SV and IEMs in the gigbag, that's it! Engineer is used to me bringing my pedalboard with Noble DI and big Cali76 so I was interested in his opinion. The SV was really fun in the IEMs, but my previous cab sim experience led me to worry that the tone might be too rounded to really work in the PA. The reports however were good! I didn't even really miss my Cali76, as there is an element of amp-like compression. Later in the gig i upped the drive a little and pulled back the master to compensate. Again great fun and positive feedback. It's certainly different from my usual setup, but i can't see owning this little Ampeg in a box as being anything but another great tool in the armoury. Whether it goes on my board or not I'm not sure yet, it may be that it's more useful as a standalone unit. Happy to answer any questions, and I hope you find the examples above useful!

My initial impressions (and pre-bias) was shattered after a bit of a play so it's definitely worth trying both. I'm still very uncertain as to which would be the most useful to me, and really looking forward to A/Bing them with my current pedalboard.

I had a very fun evening playing with these... lots of thoughts but need some more time to get my head around them! Will gather them over the weekend 🙃

I gave in...

Hi @lancer I have the 2x10 combo (I think that's the only option anyway) and I use it in some pretty large rooms and for playing at home. Gain and volume control so fairly easy to dial in something you want and still sounds pretty big when turned right down. Hope this helps!

After over a year of waiting, masterpiece no.2 (sunburst TT4) finally arrived!

Thanks for this, really handy info! Import always seems so random!

@Quatschmachercongratulations, I hope the finish holds together on these ones! I am going to keep my eye out for one just in case. I hesitate to buy direct from him due to not being certain how much it would actually cost when it arrives, and the customer service element if you have a problem, but I doubt any UK retailer will be stocking these. Have you compared to an original OC-2?

Hey @ulestithanks for the kind words! Sadly the 3leaf never came, it seems they are very hard to get hold of and they had some cosmetic manufacturing issues too (fixed now but production is limited). My OC-2 has had a place on the board all year (in an FX loop) and I've been really happy, although I do miss the COG and would absolutley love to own one again if Tom goes back into production! Reports on the 3Leaf Mk3 range from 'They've nailed it this time!' to 'I prefer my Mk1/Mk2'... impossible to say without getting my hands on one!

I can only echo the above, great dealings with Matt!

Pleasant dealings with @BartleyDaviesBassthis week, can recommend!

@tom1946 If you go down the Moog or Novation route get in touch, I'll happily help you with presets and the early learning curve! If you want to be REALLY cool though...

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top this for pedalboard tetris...

Seriously impressive... I give myself full marks for just surviving my double bass gigs without making too many clangers, and that's firmly standing in one place!

@JohnDaBass @Al Krow I’ve just checked with them and yes that’s the case 👍

@JohnDaBassi never found any way to do this, although it may be possible!

The secret is out! I worked with Zoom on presets for this unit, it's very capable indeed. If anyone has any questions i will do my best to answer them! Bear in mind I have only used a prototype, so my experiences may be slightly different from the complete unit!