absolutpepper

[quote name='bassbarber' post='680052' date='Dec 10 2009, 11:17 AM']hello i have lernt, crying lightning by the arctic monkeys. and after playing and lisening im thinking there is a effect on it?? so the question is, is there? if so what one? thanks peeps[/quote] Hey I could be wrong but I am pretty sure from memory he doesnt use any effects. He runs two SVTs with one being set for a clean tone and one with a more overdriven tone...you would get pretty close with a Fulltone Bassdrive. Cheers,

One thing to consider is that there is a little bottom end drop with the M9 fuzzes and they wont really gate in themselves; but perhaps if you added a filter to one of the other patches it might give that sound. Its amazing apart from that. I sold all my previous effects and got one and a prunes and custard. My Rig now goes Bass - Prunes&Custard - M9 - Malekko Echo 900 Bright (for crazy oscillation) and its the happiest i've been with an effects rig ever. Plus I can fit it all on a smaller board which means less back breaking labour to go to rehearsals/gigs.

[quote name='mildmanofrock' post='673434' date='Dec 3 2009, 05:23 PM']Sounds exactly the same as my EBS Multidrive. What's with the undercarriage controls that you can only change with a screwdriver? How dopey is that?[/quote] Oh I see, not a fan of EBS stuff so if its like a multidrive i'd give it a miss.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='673163' date='Dec 3 2009, 01:35 PM']The Korg G5 can do that sort of thing fairly well, but it's not entirely convincing (sounds a bit woolly to me), and it's quite limited otherwise and the way the filter works is frustrating. I was very disappointed with mine. It's also a huge pedal to lug around for one or two sounds. A gated fuzz into a chorus would probably work quite well for that, to be honest. The Akai Deep Impact would definitely do it - it's got a preset just like it - but you'd be looking at £3-350 if and when one turns up on the market because of the Muse fanboys, and you get the issues of relying on an old and discontinued pedal. The EHX Bass Micro Synth wouldn't do it, but it is excellent for '70s funk Moog-like bass sounds. And I would say the tracking is very good, I see another respondent has already said it wasn't. The Octavius Squeezer wouldn't do it because it only has one oscillator. It is a mental pedal though, the OSC sounds great and it's really versatile but it doesn't do that string synth type sound - put it through a chorus and it might though, I don't have a chorus so I can't say. The Digitech Bass Synth Wah wouldn't do it, it's a similar effect to the Bass Micro Synth but with a less good filter. The Boss SYB-5 might do the sound, but it might not track your playing well enough to produce that particular bass part reliably and cleanly. Caveat Emptor and all that, but it's cheap compared to most of your options and it's Boss so you might find one in a shop you can try out, so might be worth a look. It's not out yet - nobody's played one. Biggest CON to me is the lack of tweakability on the pedal itself, seems you have to plug it into a computer via the USB port to edit patches - not very convenient to tweak your sounds in rehearsals and I think that's really important. What sounds good at home might disappear into the mix with your band.[/quote] I like how you went through my post and basically tore apart or disagreed with everything I said...so much for my trying to help!!!! Obviously you seem to be THE authority on bass synths.

[quote name='ahpook' post='668046' date='Nov 28 2009, 09:58 AM']hmmm five controls, only one easily-accessible. a triumph of design over convenience methinks ?[/quote] +1 Totally agree but would still be interested in how it sounds.

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='672908' date='Dec 3 2009, 10:06 AM']In the title really ... Looking for a stomp box that gives a reasonable synth effect. I know there are some mega expensive ones, Im looking to colour the odd 80's cover we do. I have a Boss ME50, which is pretty good except when it comes to the synth. I may be looking to swap/trade my DHA VT1 which I never use. That of course may be for another thread. Just looking for a bit of advice to start with please.[/quote] Well a lot of the multi-effects offer synth and filter sounds but by their nature they tend not to be as 'good' sounding as some of the stand alone options. As with everything it will depend on budget, here are some of the big players in the bass synth market. Markbass Supersynth (£280 odd) - PROs, on paper sounds like it could be fantastic and going by their reputation and other products it likely will be. CONs, availability is difficult at the moment and as a result not many people have had the opportunity to play one and explore the sounds/features on offer. Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer (£400) - PROs, excellent sounds, good tracking, reliable. CONs, expensive...thats about it. Korg G-5 (£160s/h) - PROs, dark warm analog sounding with pretty decent tracking. CONs, discontinued and quite large if you have limited available space on your pedalboard. Akai Deep Impact (£300s/h)- PROs, nice fat analog sound with plenty of tone shaping. CONs, not particularly reliable (high failure rate) and due to some celebrity users (see Muse) probably more expensive than they are worth. At the lower end of the spectrum... Digitech Bass Synth Wah (£50) - PROs, pretty decent sounds and tracking for the cash particularly if you run it after a fuzz. CONs, not as warm or analog sounding as other more expensive boutique pedals. EH Bass MicroSynth (£150) - PROs, nice fat anolog sound with easy tone shaping on the fly due to slider design. CONs, quite large (although xo version is smaller), doesnt track as well and sounds are a little limited. My two pence is that the Digitech is the cheapest but also pretty decent for the cash however if I saw a G-5 for a decent price I would be all over that! If money were no object i'd be likely to plump for the Markbass (pending some proper online reviews) or the Octavius Squeezer. I've deliberately not mentioned the Boss SYB-3/5 cause they arent particularly great in terms of sound or tracking. Hope this helps.

Okay so after selling a bunch of my pedals in an effort to scale down my live rig and make it a bit more manageable I took the plunge yesterday and picked up a Line 6 M9. It may be worth pointing out at this stage that while I primarily play bass I do a lot of writing on guitar (probably a faux pas here ) and it appealed to me to have an effects rig that could largely be used for both instruments without too much compromise. So onto the M9...i've now probably played around with it for about 3 hours and I must say its a lot of fun. I like how its very intuitive and it is really easy to use and seems nice and stable for playing live. I've never been one for multi-fx but online review of the M9 really changed my mind - out with my ZVEX's and in with the Line 6 - i'm not a gear snob so it doesnt matter. Now if you are at all familiar with any of the modeller pedals (DL-4, etc) or the POD XT/X3 there is a lot of familiarity here in the tones. In saying this, however the pedal is much easier to tweak and really does provide a lot pretty high quality effects for not too much money (think of how much it would cost to buy a DL-4, MM-4, FM-4, etc). The scenes idea is pretty handy too and i'm already in the process of outlining each scene for a different song in my band's (De Soto Firefly - more info see About Me section) set. From my initial forays I have to say that I am totally loving the Reverbs and Modulations, the Filters are fun but not sure how 'usable' they would be, the Dirt sounds may be best suited for guitar but I was surprised that the low end drop seemed quite minor and could probably be easily corrected with the right pre-amp or the like. The delays too are nice, although I run a Malekko Echo 600 at the end of the chain just to allow a bit of crazy oscillation when I want it - you wont get the Line 6 to do that easily!!! Oh and a good shout for the tuner. I use a few alternate tunings and the tuner coped admirably with them - I A/Bd it next to my Korg Pitchblack and it seemed to work equally as good!!! All in all it seems a great pedal in a size that my back (and future chairopractor) would approve of. I have a rehearsal on Wed and will try and report back on things after that. For those who fancy one and need a bassist perspective hope this helps a bit. If anyone has any thoughts please feel free to add and contribute. Cheers Chris

+1 Some great advice right there. Amazing chorus and wont take up too much pedalboard real estate (im going all american today). [quote name='Hamster' post='559969' date='Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM']AnalogMan Mini Chorus with deep mod - perfect for me[/quote]

Haha yeah it was. I got it at a pretty bargain price as there was only one other bid placed other than mine. Its even better in the flesh (cant really say wood now can i?) and if it had been listed as new and unused I wouldnt have known any better. Looking forward to recording with it in December. [quote name='lozbass' post='639799' date='Oct 29 2009, 10:13 AM']Is this the one from ebay (about two weeks ago)? It looked gorgeous and I was very tempted[/quote]

So most importantly how do they sound in comparison to an actual rick. I've got a 4003 from 2008 and its the best sounding (and loudest) instrument ive ever owned (or played, or heard...you get the idea). Do the shsftesburys really cut it in this dept?

Hey guys I just picked up one of the new Ampeg Dan Armstrong reissue plexi basses and having now been playing it for around a week its absolutely great. The short scale 24 fret neck is really fast and smooth and so nice to play on, i've played other short scales and never quite got on with them - feeling they were too bunched up. This one is different and its really nice. Construction and finish are both excellent and the hard case would put a lot of other manufacturers to shame (i'm looking at you Gibson!). Anyone else have one of these or played one, what are your thoughts. Cheers Chris

Well I think its quite cool and really nice looking too. I also love the fact that a guy from Ayrshire has a Sig Bass available. I think you will see him playing one but the smart money will be on it being a Ghost Built custom job labelled as the Squire. I am going to see Biffy on Monday, I'll try and keep you appraised. Chris