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Cheers folks, it shouldn't be too hard for me to get a hold of either of these, especially the Bassballs. Both seem to be going reasonably cheap, though I'll be trying the FX25b last, since I can't try that before buying since it'll be from fleabay. Any more suggestions welcome EDIT: Crap, my mistake, they only have FX25's (no "b") on ebay. Might be a bit harder to find :/

My Spector Euro LX with it's 18v preamp, seems to be a bit fussy when it comes to envelope filters. Well, actually make that a few different effects, but especially so with envelope filters it seems. I've tried Q-trons (micro, standard and +), Digitech's BSW and Ibanez's AW7 and SB7 pedals. All gave me problems which subsided (at least some what), with the usual "solution" of turning down the volume on my bass. Problem is, when turning down the volume, I lose the punch and growl that I love my Spector for. Even if I turn my amp up to compensate, it still doesn't sound the same to me. For this same reason, I'm a bit apprehensive about using an impedance changing pedal (such as the Barge Concepts GLZ). Does anyone here, have any experience with envelope filters that work well with particularly high output basses? I've heard good things regarding MXR's Bass Auto Q, which I'll be trying in the near future, but some other options would be nice too.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='233441' date='Jul 6 2008, 02:28 AM']I dislike it. The blend knob has potential. Sansamp BDDI with blend at 11 o'clock and drive at 2 o'clock is todays favourite flavour of overdrive.[/quote] As far as emulated tube OD goes, I'd certainly have to agree with this, except I have my blend a notch higher at 12. It's the best sounding solution for me so far, with the exception of buying an expensive tube amp.

Okay not bass gear, but the closest I've ever gotten to a famous musician's gear. Our guitarist has a Gibson Les Paul, which was supposedly once owned by Gary Moore. His brother was doing some plastering for some rich producer guy (he has no idea who), who's house was being renovated after it caught on fire. His brother claims that rich producer guy was drunk most of the time, and since this guitar was pretty damaged by the fire (well aesthetically anyway), he was told to just throw it on the skip. Instead of throwing it on the skip, guitarist's brother threw it in the back of his van. It turns out, other than a required refret, damage to the paint and plastic (humbucker surroundings and switch), there was nothing wrong with it. The burnt paint job looks awesome too. Even the melted looking pick ups were tested, and checked out fine. I have no idea if it really was Gary Moore's guitar, but our guitarist and his brother (both very good mates) aren't the type to BS about such a thing, so unless the producer guy was telling porkies it's legit as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, it turns out, even without proof of it's alleged former owner, the workshop that fixed up the guitar offered over 3 grand for it (which was turned down). Not bad for a guitar that was gonna end up at the dump. And in case you were wondering, it sounds awesome in it's new found heavy rock roll (as you'd probably expect). Plays nice for a Les Paul too, but I prefer the thinner SG neck. Do you guys think it might be worthwhile trying to contact Gary Moore about this guitar? He's probably owned a ton of black Les Pauls, but it would be nice to find out for sure.

The limiter suggestion's a good one I had great results after putting a Boss LMB-3 at the end of my chain, beefed the sound up nicely without altering the tone (if that makes any sense). It doesn't sound louder, but just fuller. Make sure you set the "presence" control to 0 though, as it adds a crap load of cheap, nasty treble effect (IMO). On a side note, I A/B'd my LMB-3 with a friend's Harley Benton bass limiter (cheap Behringer style knock-off, with a metal case) and didn't find any difference in the two (apart from the price). I think he got it from Thomann, they're also avaliable in the UK under the name GLX pedals AFAIK. I found the same with their Bass Equalizer knock-off and the Boss GEB-7. Might be worth checking out, since they're only about 25 quid each or something.

I'm no longer a fan of my ABM-300 EVO II's sound, so I stick a Sansamp BDDI and EQ pedal before it. Totally changes the tone to something I'm actually satisfied with. Just something to maybe consider, if tweaking your Ashdown doesn't work out for you. Ideally I'd like a Mesa/Boogie 400+ or a decent Ampeg SVT but I'm kinda skint :/

[quote name='Leowasright' post='222175' date='Jun 19 2008, 02:25 PM']The entire way I play bass! I damp the E (and the A sometimes) with my fretting hand's thumb. In other words, I hold the neck in my palm and not with the thumb in the centre of the back of the neck. I play with a plectrum virtually all the time. (I can use fingers but can't be bothered).[/quote] I too am guilty of both of these. There are some songs though, where I'm not too sure if it's actually possible to play them correctly with a pick, without muting the E string with the thumb (well for me anyway ). I also fret with my thumb on the E, though not as much as with any finger. As for playing with a pick, this is required for the sound I like for both of my bands. Right now I don't have a bass at home regularly to practice on (long story involving a fear of bailiffs), so when I do get a chance to pick with my fingers regularly, it takes a week or so to harden them up again, a PITA. Oh and on occassion I'll pick an open with my fretting hand (fingers or thumb).

Nirvana - Milk It. Well not exactly recently learnt, but went over it to make sure I've still got it down after all these years, since my band wants to cover it. Not the most technical bassline in the world by a long shot but hella fun to play. Easy to jump around and not f*** things up with this one

[quote name='Wil' post='222996' date='Jun 20 2008, 03:10 PM']Dano Cool Cat. Simple, but effective. Blends well with bass.[/quote] +1 I like it better than the Boss CE-5, CEB-3, CH-1 and EHX Small Clone. Can't say I've compared it to anythng else, but I don't feel a need to. Does everything I require.

[quote name='uzzell' post='210630' date='Jun 1 2008, 05:41 PM']I'm using the Electro Harmonix LPB 2ube which is a valve powered preamp pedal with 2 gain and 2 volume knobs and when you link both channels up together it gives a really convincing valve amp sound. It can give you anything from slight grit to full on distortion all whilst keeping the bass intacted, which is good because some pedals can rob you of the bass. I do admit that this pedal is not for everyone but at least give it a go. My 2 sence.[/quote] I'm a big fan of EHX's English Muff'n (don't let the "muff" put you off, it's [u]not[/u] a fuzz), same housing and dual-tube design, I find it does nice OD to all out distortion without colouring tone. You've got me wanting to give the LPB 2ube a go now, I'm also wondering what the Tube EQ can do. I'm guessing the latter wont do dirt, but may warm things up nicely.

If money is no option, I recommend a Sansamp GT2. It loses hardly any middle in the (IMO awesome) California setting, but it does lose some bass, at least according to this - [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4205301&postcount=11"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php...mp;postcount=11[/url] However, this is easily dealt with by cranking the bass knob. I have set the bass at around 3 o'clock and the treble at around 11 o'clock. Does a great job of cutting through the guitars in my band. But... there is a catch (this is where the money being no option part comes in). First of all I blend all my effects with a clean signal (around 70 effects 30 clean), using a Boss LS-2 Line Selector (cheap enough at only £55) and secondly, the GT2 feeds back like a bitch when you're not playing (at least with my active bass it does). I have to put it through the loop of a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (another £55), to cut out any unwanted "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", though at the stomp of a switch you can have the "eeeeeeeeeeee" back if and when required. Some people slag off the NS-2, but for the purpose of just eliminating severe feedback without altering tone, it's perfect for me. Sure I could've searched around more for the perfect distortion pedal, but to me the GT2's tone was perfect, it just had to be tamed. Cheaper options are the EHX English Muff'n, loses nothing but a smidge of mids, which can be boosted with the 3-band EQ. Does light warm very slight OD, all the way to nasty almost fuzz-like in yer face tube distortion (especially if you switch the two 12AY7 tubes for a couple of 12AX7's (about £8 each). This is all through a single channel with no blending what so ever, and I still found it to keep as much low-end as the clean signal. To my knwledge there aren't too many distortion pedals (even those built specifically for bass), that won't lose low end and/or mids, unless you blend them with a clean signal. I went through my share of distortion pedals, before learning of the blending technique and in retrospect wish the LS-2 (or at least some other blender/looper had been the first thing I bought). My advice, get something like the LS-2 and take it with you whenever you go to try out a new effect. Hell, you might even like your ODB-3 through it, I stress the "might" Off the top of my head, also the MXR Blowtorch doesn't seem to lose any mids or low end (to me), if properly adjusted though it wasn't quite the sound I wanted (your tastes may differ). However, if plain gritty OD, and not all out distortion is what you're after, I'd suggest trying the Sansamp Bass Drive or the MXR M80 DI+. Both of these have blend controls, which will mix your OD signal with your clean signal, if you find you're losing too much of anything. There's also the EBS Valve Drive II, that gets good reviews, though I've not actually tried one myself. The very cheapest, yet I suppose still satisfying enough, option I've tried, would be running a Digitech Bad Monkey through a LS-2, but that set up will still knock you back around £90. Even then it wont get much past heavy OD, leaving you without the ballsy distortion that the GT2, English Muff'n and Blowtorch can deliver (IMO). At end of the day, finding good dirt with bass isn't going to be cheap. At least it hasn't been in my experience.

Boss TU2 - for tuning Boss LS2 - to split my signal into effects and grit signals (both loops always on) LS2 loop A - EHX English Muff'n (loaded with 12AX7's) - always on for my grit channel (End loop A) LS2 loop B - EHX Micro Q-tron - for the funky stuff and a bit bit of random weirdness here and there Boss NS2 - To shut up my extremely noisy dirt pedal when required NS2 loop - Sansamp GT2 - Above mentioned dirt pedal, for when things get heavy. Sansamp Programmable BDDI - Always on, sometimes with overdrive, sometimes without. Behringer BEQ700 - Cheap and nasty looking/feeling pedal, to add back some mids that my Bass Driver sucks. A tad noisy but works okay with the NS2. (End of NS2 loop) Danelectro Cool Cat - Adds some nice deep, lush chorus, or nice and subtle per your requirements. I can never decide whether or not to leave this on all the time. (End loop

Personally I prefer my chorus after my BDDI (since I don't use the DI on it), I also put my GT2 (which feeds back like a bitch) and BDDI (which the GT2 causes to also feedback) in the loop of my NS-2. So if I had your pedals I'd set them up like so - wah > Punch Factory > NS2 > chorus NS2 send > Big Muff > Sansamp > NS2 return Of course, your tastes may vary.