Kebabkid

Hi Gang,

I know we have some Helix users here but I wondered if anyone has purchased the above and what their thoughts are on it?

I can see there are a couple of specific bass pedals in it (EBS, Darkglass) as well as other decent fx that can be used for bass.

I'm a guitarist, too, and so this looks like it could be hugely useful to me and I tried one briefly, but only with a guitar, and it was a doddle to use and sounded pretty decent. I'm just interested to hear users' comments as to how it sounds with bass.

Cheers

Thanks guys and I will give this a go.

There still seems to be a lot of love for these units and it's my spare amp rig (DI out)

Hi there,

Before I go out and buy a separate Octaver, I just wondered if anyone had any decent Octave settings for the B3 (older unit)? Maybe something closer to a Boss OC-2 or preferably, a EBS Octabass, as it would be nice to get everything from the one unit.

I think the Octaver is probably their weakest effect in an otherwise great unit. I've tried mucking about with the mono pitch and harmonist fx, too, but I can't find anything that great. It's a shame as that first Zoom shoulder strap unit had a very good octaver.

Thanks

On 04/12/2017 at 12:10, basslondon said:

Phil Gould from Level 42 made the Les Paul his home. i was always astonished.

And funnily enough, his successor, Nathan King, plays the same.

From the live clips I've seen of him, he gets a great, clipped sound through Fender Twins but I believe he's gone Kemper.

There are others, like Paul Jackson and the guy from Earth Wind and Fire who used LPs and astonished to see that Chrissie Boy from Madness has been using one for a good few years.

Have you tried it with a compressor or with some form of EQ pedal - the Xotic RC  Booster is very good as a tone shaper.

Thanks guys

As a guitarist first and foremost and bassist second, I'm wondering whether an LT is the way to go to serve both my needs. An Aguilar bass amp is something I'd love  and so to find one in here with the latest update and having people here who've owned the "real thing" before saying it's convincing is a great endorsement.

Forgive me, as the thread is so many pages in and I haven't read all of it, can I ask are there any guitarist/bassists here that are using the unit for both and if so, what's your choice of speaker (QSC, Yamaha) to handle both jobbies for gigs? For just the bassists, what's been the popular choice of speaker with these?

I keep finding it hard to find the most up to date list of bass amps and fx. Any handy links to these?

Cheers

Hi everyone,

Our 7-piece are playing at the following Surrey pub this Saturday (Free Admission)

The Windsor Castle

378 Carshalton Road

Carshalton

Surrey

SM5 3PT

Cheers and if you do pop by, come and say "Hi",

Cos

Great stuff.

Well done all involved and who are making this happen

I saw Steely Dan with support from The Doobies last week at The O2.

I wish the next band I was seeing was Cetera (Gary's) excellent Leather & Lace that's down in Exmouth this weekend but it's too far away

It'll probably be a Steely Dan tribute band and there's 2 to choose from this month. Failing that, Extreme and Dan Reed Network in December.

Oh, and Toto at The Royal Albert Hall next April

Cheers @barneyg42 and which band are you in?

Yep, our keyboard player was crawling under his keys and stands to get in place!

Corinne and her bar staff are lovely and it's like and old-fashioned, warm and friendly boozer in there. Considering Sutton Town Centre is minutes away and resembles a war zone at the weekend, this pub sticks out like a sore thumb and I'm glad it exists. We also play regularly at The Windsor Castle down the road from there in Carshalton. It's ok there, too.

The Thai food at The Nightingale is very good and authentic and reasonably priced. Some of the band got take out for when we'd finished.

We've played there twice and on both occasions, it was a Friday night. As 2 of our guys come in from Bedford and St Albans respectively and one of them is keeper of the PA, it's a hike for them and hard work loading up and traffic-wise on Fridays so we may go for a Sunday spot for the next one and apparently, that's the busier session of the two (they don't have live music on Saturdays).

Small world

Our Madness tribute/ska band had a great gig on Friday.

The place was pretty packed (120) and it's a small place but lovely pub (I heartily recommend The Nightingale in Sutton, Surrey). The crowd were appreciative and there was some good banter and I'd say at least half of those present were mates.

The fun part was the stage. I'd say it fits a comfortable 3, an ok 4 but there were 7 of us! I found myself holding the bass almost upright quite a bit of the time to avoid hitting the PA speakers. This gave me cramp and I momentarily dropped out a few times (not good) but we had loads of fun.

I wasn't enamored with my bass sound though and once again, I find myself wanting a Spector Euro.

Got both a Sire V7 and the Zoom B3 and I haven't experienced that.

Sounds like something is going on with your headphones or the headphone output.

Xotic EP-1 and it has internal dip switches to tailor the sound

As both a owner and a user of friend's ones, I'd like to throw in a Taylor. The 514s and 814s are great but I've just seen the price of them new - yikes.

They play really well and have cutaways but the pickup system is very responsive and they offer a good, full, balanced and natural sound not unlike some of the piezo-equipped ones. To me, the older models equipped with a microphone inside as well as under saddle pickup offered the most natural DI sound.

I note you're in Canterbury. I'd say swing round the south and visit Guitar Guitar in Epsom as they have a fantastic range of acoustics and a large, dedicated acoustic room where you'll be able to try the guitars through an amp, desk or PA. Great people to deal with and they're also open on Sundays.

All the best with your search and I hope you find what you're looking for.

Gary (Cetera) and I caught the recent London show.

He can certainly tell 'em.

Very entertaining

Hi all,

We're back at this lovely little pub in Sutton, Surrey next week where we'll be playing a lot of hits by Madness, The Specials, The Beat and Bad Manners.

If you fancy it, pop on down and entry is free. Oh, they do a nice line in Thai food.

Venue:
The Nightingale
53 Carshalton Road
Sutton
Surrey
SM1 4LG

http://thenightingalesutton.co.uk/

[size=3][url="http://www.cairoeast.co.uk"]www.cairoeast.co.uk[/url] [/size]

[url="https://imgur.com/pQwyuHT"][size=3]https://imgur.com/pQwyuHT[/size][/url]

Here's our one (Madness/ska tribute) but it needs more

www.cairoeast.co.uk

Thanks OP for this as I was going post something similar myself.

Having played in a Greek function band for many years, bassists are largely obsolete apart from in the more pro bands.

In the olden days, guitarists handled the bass notes (think the den de, den de bit of Zorba The Greek, root note and chord) but for some time now, bass lines have been handled by the keyboard players who simultaneously play them and their chords and melody lines. Heathens!

Troodos is lovely. Love Platres.

Gary get's my vote!

Now, there's the story about the Trace Elliott, the midget and the root vegetable!

There's so many but I'm going to go with Ian Bairnson, who's main body of work was with The Alan Parsons Project.

Melodic and memorable solos that build nicely and he always had a great tone, too.

Whilst many thought that the outro guitar solo on "Wuthering Heights" was David Gilmour, it was in fact this chap. Oh, and he was also the guitarist in Pilot.

A bit of a newbie but I'm currently enjoying Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy's playing at the moment.

Welcome Andy from a UK Cypriot.

Enjoy the sun and all the best with your music,

Cos

I've been gigging a Roland Bass Cube 120XL for the last 2 years in pubs that fit 150-200 people and it's been fine.

Features:-
It can run an 8ohm extension cab.
It's fairly light and portable
The models on it are decent and varied
It has few in-built fx, like a compressor, overdrive, chorus, octaver, reverb, delay and a looper and it also has a tuner.
Auxillary for an MP3 etc

When we did an outdoor festival for about 1500, I just took a line out (XLR).

When I first started looking for an amp, I was told that 120w would not be loud enough and not offer enough headroom. However, two years down the line, it's delivering really well for the gigs I've described but any bigger and I think, well, feel, I should go with more watts and look to at least 300w.

I gigged a Roland Cube guitar amp for about 10 years and now the guitarist in our band has it and they're reliable little things. I can also recommend the Roland D-Bass amps (discontinued).

All the best with your search

You're welcome TrevorR and you're right. The Sire does need a little set-up tweak here and there.

World bass domination is imminent Mick and Nik

Cheers for the warm welcome