Skinnyman

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1361983536' post='1994040'] Next to try - running the Librarian software under Wine... [/quote] Pretty much all the computer disasters I've had in a twenty year career have been while running under Wine (me, that is, not the computer)....

I just bought Richard's P-bass (MIM Lake Placid Blue) - beautiful bass, exactly as described. Really helpful and a pleasure to deal with. Buy with confidence! Many thanks, Richard!

I have an M-Audio MIDI interface that works fine. Once it's all connected, start up Librarian and go to the MIDI drop down. Make sure that MIDI in and MIDI out are pointing to your MIDI interface (my MIDI out defaults to Microsoft GS Wavetable synth). On the main Librarian screen, press the Online button - it should turn yellow. At that point, all the other buttons become active and accessible and you should be good to go. If none of that helps, my guess is that it's your Interface cable - maybe try and borrow one to check? My M-Audio Uno USB wasn't that expensive and, as mentioned above, just worked out the box. I use Windows 7 64-bit but that shouldn't make any difference at all (other than Librarian crashes on exit which is known bug....sorry, undocumented feature. Just means I have to make sure I've saved everything and disconnect the B9 before I close the app). I find Librarian useful a) as a backup tool as Barkin suggests and b ) for playing around while editing patches - it's a lot easier than keep bending down to squint myopically at the tiny screen on the B9. I stay vertical and squint myopically at my monitor instead. Much cooler.... HTH

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1360324200' post='1968551'] Several are mentioned, maybe in this thread, one of them being: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_effect_pedal_bag.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...t_pedal_bag.htm[/url] best, bert [/quote] I got the Gator 2411 bag. I couldn't be sure the B9 would fit in a traditional pedal case (Stagg=85mm int height, my B9 with 5p piece footswitch fix = 89mm high) then suddenly realised that this is one board, not a loose collection of pedals that need to be velcro'd down - so I just got the soft bag. Excellent.

There are 2 "live sound" patches and they're effectively just two "basic" pedal boards. One has a wah, a phaser, a delay and a bit of distortion, the other is an overdrive, a chorus and a reverb (I think - I don't have my cheat sheet to hand so I can't remember exactly, but you get the idea). I guess their idea is that it's a couple of standard board layouts that you could use in most gig situations. I've taken the idea and just changed them so that I'm not tap dancing through patches in gigs, I just swap between those two patches/boards, but I've changed the pedal assignments and settings for my own purposes. One thing I have discovered is that in a live situation, up against two guitarists, there's no real place for subtlety. A lot of the effects just get lost in the noise of two Marshall tube amps at full chat so a lot of the patches I carefully set up at home to were just wasted, so now I just have a couple of amp styles, a wah, chorus, bit of reverb and that brilliant pedal synth. HTH

[quote name='jw54' timestamp='1360238415' post='1967115'] Not had a chance to play with this properly yet, but what exactly does the switch under the Z pedal actually do? [/quote] It does a number of things depending on the patch currently activated. It's not used in all of the factory preset patches, just some of them. It's easiest to see if you look at a patch in the Librarian software and select the button for the expression pedal - for each of the (up to) four parms that can be controlled by the vertical movement of the pedal, you can also assign a function to the footswitch. So, for example, you might bring up the volume and, when you reach max, have the footswitch click in to bring in a bit of distortion. Or whatever.... HTH

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1359227119' post='1951959'] I have a clickable footswitch under my pedal (I checked after reading about it here) but the pedal doesn't go far enough down to click it. I can press it with my fingers though so it's not stiff. I'll have a read up on the fix for it [/quote] OK, that answers my question then! You have the unpressable footswitch!! I emailed Zoom support about it and got a not-very-helpful reply to tell me that the switch should work when you press down on the pedal. Duh..... Fix is simple though - you can either put a rubber tip onto the footswitch itself or (and this was my solution) glue a small washer or 5p piece to the rubber pad that's on the underside of the expression pedal. Other than that one minor glitch, it's excellent. Some of the patches can be a bit noisy - you can adjust the ZNR a bit to reduce it and its more noticable through headphones than through an amp/cab. I haven't tried it as an Audio Interface yet - I use my Zoom R24 for that - but you'll need to download and install the ASIO driver for it. HTH

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1359217440' post='1951762'] Just bought one of these today from PMT in Bristol (£99 in store and a few in stock still - plus they've got one set up in the bass area at the back for you to try). Just figuring it out at the moment but I think I'll really make good use of the, er I don't know what to call it but it's where you can select one "preset" - bank? and then switch modes and have the option to turn on or off any of the individual pedals. I can set up a couple of these and swap between groups of pedals. So some nice subtle compression, slight fuzz maybe and some amp modelling on one and some flanger/wah effects on another [/quote] Have fun with it!! Out of interest, has yours got the "unpressable footswitch" feature? i.e. does the footswitch under the expression pedal click as you hit max travel on the pedal? If not, your might need the same extensive modification that mine (and others on here) did - viz; a small washer stuck to the underside of the pedal. BTW I just love the pedal synth - we don't have a keyboard player so I usually get stuck with doing anything vaguely synthy and "atmospheric" using my chords and a touch of overdrive. Pedal synth allows me to do that (er, slowly - I'm no tap dancer) and free up the bass for regular playing...

Neat....I hadn't spotted that. You can also change it in the Librarian patch editor - bring up the foot pedal window and for the Vertical and Horizontal pedal you can assign up to four functions and have the switch enabled for any or all of the four. I can't think of a time that I'd want four functions all controlled simultaneously by the pedal and have them all switched on and off simultaneously with the pedal footswitch - but it's kind of nice to know that I can if I want :-) 'Course, that only works when you're at home with the B9 connected to the PC so it's worth knowing how to change it on the fly if I ever need to.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1358951792' post='1947515'] Fun and games [/quote] Isn't it?! And I don't want to keep shelling out £30 a time to try different sets which is why I'm looking to pick others' brains! Thanks for the help!

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1358922548' post='1947032'] La Bella 760 FL's on my Rick..love it. Just the right tension and feel. They are on 3 out of my 4 basses.. seem to suit me most. I've tried a few other sets of flats trying to get it right on the Rik, TI's but they felt too low tension on the rick (fine on the jazz), the GHS precision flats were a little too muddy, then some Ghs brite flats that were neither here nor there in sound or feel, I went back to the La Bella's and they felt and sounded just right. [/quote] Good feedback, thanks. Do you use the standard gauge or have you also gone for .050s? I really like the LaBellas on the SG but was looking for something different on the Rick purely so that I get a bigger differentiation between the two basses (when they were both strung with rounds, I never played the SG on the basis that it sounded too similar to the Rick, without actually being the Rick. Flats have moved the sound completely and I so like the feel of the flats that I want them on the Rick but want something that'll be different to the SG. If any of that made any kind of sense....). I might give Fenders a go - D'addario Chromes are another one on the list to try. Thanks for the input guys

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to have to get a Y cable and give it a try. I'm not sure I'll ever use it at gigs (for all the reasons quoted above) but it sounds like it's worth a go at a rehearsal one night. The guitarist's got a dozen amps he never uses so I'll get him to bring along a spare for me to play with...

Anyone use the stereo capability on a Rickenbacker? If so, how did you do it? Two rigs? Or DI'd into FOH? I believe that Chris Squire used to send the treble pickup to a guitar amp and the bass to a conventional bass amp but wondered if anyone's tried it and their opinions?

Eighteen quid. Got to be worth a try then...ta

[quote name='misterook' timestamp='1358861796' post='1946146'] I've been using the guitar version of this on my rig for about 3 years (G9.2tt) - I LOVE the "Z pedal" - really handy for the guitar (I play both bass and guitar in my band) - doing live dub out mixes of reverb / delay, blending on the fly - it's really handy. I've been able to get some truly awesome bass sounds out of it, which has really moulded my sound as a bassist now. The one thing that annoyed me about the G9 is the fact the EQ is useless to a bassist, and I often generate some crazily low harmonics accidentally with some of the crazier effects; there's no bass synth, and the thing is actually quite heavy for a pedal.... The B9 seems to tick all the boxes and it's a steal... I might be tempted to get the bass version instead of the guitar one. Seems to have the Z delay and step filters that I love, as well as the Fuzzface and Tubescreamer distortions I use on my geet. Has anyone else made the transition and managed to sucessfully transfer G9 patches across to the B9? [/quote] I did try my guitar briefly through the B9 and, to be honest, I wasn't overly impressed with the sound. I didn't really play around much so it might be that I could have got a better result after a bit of tweaking but first impressions weren't brilliant. I might give it another go though. If you want to send me a patch from your G9, I'll see if I can load it into the B. I'd guess the file structures will be the same but I'm not sure if the tags are the same - but if you want to send one over, I'll have a look.

[quote name='jaybass 70' timestamp='1358860254' post='1946100'] Thanks Dude, I've tried all of the above except trying another midi device as I havn't got another one. I keep getting the 'Device inquiry timed out' window popping up, the midi in out lights flash on my midi lead so it looks like its trying [/quote]I got that message yesterday - I'd disconnected the MIDI but left Librarian running. After some head scratching (turn-it-off-turn-it-on-again, etc), I remembered to go and reconfigure the MIDI and off we went again. Sounds like it's the interface in your case though....

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1358868255' post='1946289'] I use fender flats on my Rickenfaker. Sounds luvverly. [/quote] Fender flats? On a Rick? Is that like, legal? Interesting idea though - I hadn't even considered Fenders. Do you use the standard gauge? (.045 - .105)

I had the "Flats Epiphany" a couple of weeks ago - LaBella FS's on my SG and every day they're just getting better and better. I only restrung the Rick with rounds just before Christmas (so it's another couple of years till they're due a change, lol) but I'm really tempted to just say s*d it and swap them out for flats. Any recommendations on flats for a 4003? I like the LaBellas but willing to experiment - sounds like Laklands have a lot of fans, but thinking Chromes might suit the Rick better? My BH500 and BC cabs have a VERY strong bottom end so I tend to EQ the bass down and the mids and highs up to compensate and I get the impression that Chromes are quite bright which could help even things out a bit. Anyone used them on a Rick?

I have a little Blackstar practice amp - only one watt but it's a big one - more than loud enough for living room duties - and I also use it for bass when I can't be bothered to get the big rig out. Obviously, I keep the volume down to reasonable levels and cut the low frequencies but it sounds really nice....

Oops - forgot to update this - I pulled the trigger on the B9 (my views on it are elsewhere) which I'm loving to bits... I'm sure the B3 is brilliant (there's a lot of love for it on here) but I'm happy with the B9.

Hmmm. The one you've got [u]should [/u]work.... whether you've just got a dodgy unit (sorry, but at £4 I can't see QC being that high a priority) or there's a more fundamental issue is hard to say. What operating system are you running? And, stupid question, but have you tried swapping the MIDI plugs over? The MIDI IN plug should go to the MIDI OUT port on the B9 and vice versa which is counter intuitive to say the least! Apologies if this is all basic stuff you've already checked but.... When you say it doesn't work, what happens when you try to start it up? Have you set the MIDI parameters in the Librarian software? Mine defaulted to MS Wavetable and I needed to select the MIDI port for my interface. And do you have any other MIDI units that you can try the lead with to rule that out (or in) as the issue? I got the M Audio UNO MIDI - USB interface for £20 from DV247 which arrived today - plugged in and worked straight out the box with no issues. The only minor gripe I have is with the Librarian software which crashes on exit - I've read somewhere that this is a known issue (sorry, "undocumented feature") running Windows 7 64 bit. It's not a major problem - I just have to make sure that I save any patches I've edited back to the B9 before I exit. I agree with you though - this is a keeper. I'm not sure I'll use the wilder effects in a live situation (that said, we don't have a keyboard player so I can see the synths being quite useful from time to time to add a bit of atmosphere) but I like the flexibility and, used discreetly, it'll allow me to tailor a sound to match the wide range of covers we do. Just as importantly, I can see this adding a whole new dimension to recordings. I'm currently playing around with the Live Sound1 patch to tailor it for my gear/playing style and see if I can also add in the PedalSynth (see above for comments re lack of keyboardist) - I need to try it at rehearsal but once I have that set up, I can see it being the go-to patch I use for the majority of live stuff