NancyJohnson

They just posted up another one from the session we did with them. This is the lead track from the EP we recorded at the start of the year. It's up on Spotify as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C98ey-4CQdo&feature=youtu.be

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1504696807' post='3366623'] Much as I love Geddy, I'm fairly sure that it would take more than just replicating his set-up to sound like him... [/quote] I watched a few videos on You Tube with guys gurning their way through various Rush tracks and feel that stuff like the one below might be the holy grail of tone. That said, the none of the basses I've pushed through the unit give anywhere like the tone this guy has. I don't own a Jazz Bass either...anyone in my vicinity who does, it welcome to give it a whirl! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QsdDYKpC0U[/media]

Tech21NYC posted this on Talkbass yesterday. Rather than taking the unit apart and fiddling with the jumpers, it's possible to route the Deep channel into the Effects return on the unit and it will output in blended/mono via the Drive output. I jammed with it last night and have to say it sounds so much better with this wiring configuration that the reverse-ABY method I had it wired with yesterday. [b][size=3][i]"If you want to have the unit set internally to have both channels present at each output contact our support dept. We don't recommend using an ABY box in reverse, as this will compromise the tone and not provide consistent results. If you’d like a “quicker” method for mixing the channels, you can run a short cable from the Deep section’s 1/4” Output, set for 0dB (button pushed in) to the Effect Return with the 50/50 mix engaged (button pushed in). Then run from the Drive section’s 1/4” Output to your amp, and/or the Drive XLR Out to the PA. Start with both Level controls at 12:00. The Drive Level will now serve as a “master volume,” and the Deep Level will allow you to “blend in” the clean signal."[/i][/size][/b]

Well here we are then. Apparently the first in the UK. Picked this up through FX Pedal Rental [url="https://fxpedalrental.com/"]https://fxpedalrental.com/[/url] arrived this morning. I savoured the unboxing and loading the unit into my rack (pics below). First impressions are that it's sturdy and the build quality is great. I feels like it weighs a little more than my outgoing RBI. For test purposes, I've been running a variety of basses through it, trying different wiring configurations. To get one thing straight immediately, the Drive channel sounds very nice in isolation, so (IMO) it's a perfectly adequate solution should you need to utilise the unit in a single channel set up; the Deep channel operates more in a subwoofer capacity, phattening up the overall tone when combines with the Drive channel. (The Deep channel also sounds super nice as well, sounding lovely and clean in isolation with the saturation knob phattening up the tone on rotation.) While I have purchased a micro-ABY pedal to test whether I can route both channels down into a single output feed, for the purpose of this brief sum-up, I attached the unit to a Morley ABY. An external ABY is a far simpler solution than taking the thing apart and arseing about with the internal jumpers. (See edit #1 below.) Tonally, I was honestly expecting to simply plug in a bass and it would just emulate Geddy Lee's tone out of the box, but that's not really the case, so experimentation in a real life scenario in a biggish room will be required for that. I assume that the unit has been built with Jazz basses in mind, but as I don't own one, I'll just need to tweak things with accordingly. I'll be basing things on my Lull JAXT4 as it's the one I'll be sticking through it most of the time. The drive channel is pretty sensitive; whereas with the RBI it was a case of dialling up a 100% Sansamp blend and rolling up the drive to about halfway, this unit seems happy at 50% and drive at about 25% before you get into clippage. The mid/midshift are controls I've never really had previously and obviously they have an effect on the drive, so there'll be experimentation in the coming days. That's it for now. Edits below. [Edit #1] The unit works with a Morley ABY box (not the one I'll be using), so you [u]can[/u] combine both channels externally and route one output into a poweramp. There's a very slight dropoff in volume when the drive and deep channels are combined using this method. As I'll generally be running this into a single Barefaced enclosure, it may be a case of just leaving the ABY Velcro'd inside the rack, so I can rewire easily. [Edit #2] The Lull sounds happier with the mid shirt at about the 5 o'clock position (2-2.5K).

Mine should be here today from FX Pedal Rental. [Edit] I've also ordered a tiny Vein Tap ABY box as well to see whether I can run it into one channel...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1504454401' post='3364967'] A set of drums, just the 'shells', not the stands, cymbals etc, although cymbals/snare stands [i]would [/i]count if we're talking transportation, because of the weight. The drummer just brings his/her 'breakables', ie: snare drum, cymbals, sticks, pedal... Didn't you learn nuffin' at uni music studies..? [/quote] It's got eve more cliquey for drummers now...I've seen the headline act drummers actually removing their felts from cymbal stands as well.

I know guys who seem to be able to use public transport for gigs, but in general they're reliant on other band's shellpacks or enclosures.

I owned one for about a year and to be honest it was simple to get a decent tone and it did sound pretty good irrespective of what I played it through. I'll ping a question or two back to you. What do[b] [i]you[/i] [/b]want it to sound like, or more precisely, [i][b]who [/b][/i]do you want to sound like? (If for instance you said, Geddy Lee, then we have a good start point.) Plus, what's your budget? Do you have the ability to lift heavy things or do you want something a bit more bijou? You want to go loud or quiet?

I'd forgotten about this thread. A year on, I'm still going through a big XTC phase; that I need to do periodic three hour car drives just gives me the opportunity to dial up a playlist and let it go. For the fanboys out there, the XTC documentary, 'This Is Pop' airs on Sky Arts on 7/10/17. Maybe they'll do the right thing and give the band the credit it deserves and show some other stuff around it too, there has to be a ton of live footage.

[quote name='goingdownslow' timestamp='1504366400' post='3364426'] I wonder why the change. Could it be that the rectangular case did not fit all the Thunderbird models (sure I read this somewhere) and the new one does? [/quote] Just for clarity's sake, I own an Epiphone Thunderbird hardcase - I bought it for my Hamer FBIV and it fits like a glove, but (more importantly), Gibson Thunderbirds do not fit into it as the body shape is different.

Used to play with this guy up in Ealing, a real talent, but an opinionated asshat. This was about 15 years ago. We wrote tons together, we used my studio to record. Project ended abruptly. A few weeks back I punched his name into Spotify and ta-daa, he has three collections on there, of which I had a hand in about half the songs (he's also bits from different songs to compose new material). I would say while I was initially shocked but listening back I'm glad my name is off the material as it's all been rerecorded and is frankly awful. Horrible production, terrible hand coded electronic drums.

Now then. Get a coffee. I ran a tri-amp set up in the 1990's; I was running so many cabinet combinations it was mental. I had a rack with a Trace GP12SMX preamp, a Trace PPA600 stereo power amp and a mono powerstage (which could have been a Trace, but I don't remember). I could feed this into a combination of an SWR Workingman15, a Goliath 4x10 and a Trace 4x5 bright box. There were other cabinets. It did sound huge, but it was ridiculous really, especially when you rock up to a gig and your guitarist is sporting some little combo, so It all went. Speaker technology has come on somewhat since then. Interestingly, the crossover thing. I used a Rolls SX21 for a while in an effort to get a decent tone out of a Waterstone Tom Petersson 12-string. It did work really well and I was able to route the fundamentals through one signal chain and the octaves through a second dirty route; there was very little spillage and it was a sound investment at the time, so it's highly recommended from me. I wish I'd hung onto it when I moved the Petersson on.

[quote name='Lightlyseared' timestamp='1503941888' post='3361717'] The Grabber is such a cult bass with alt-rock/metal bands, surely it would sell if given a reasonably accurate reissue? [/quote] Thing is with basses, they tinker; it's just not like the plethora of Les Paul historic reissues. The Grabber got a reissue a few years back, it didn't seem a bad bass, but it wasn't a straight copy of the G3, more a reinterpretation. I don't think they made that many and there always seemed to be stock around for ages. If they did a 20/20, that could be fun.

It would be interesting to see them draw away from the power-trio thing...expand the line-up to four or five, get a dedicated keys player and vocalist.

I really like what Placebo did with 'Running Up That Hill' and 'Wouldn't It Be Good'.

I'm gigging in Chatham that night, but will be there for a catchup as my gear will be enroute to Kent. P

We're doing a gig in about three weeks with a dep drummer. I won't lie that I am a little concerned...I think we have one rehearsal with him and another half rehearsal (we're playing another gig the night after the first gig and want to have a run through with our actual drummer). Our original guitarist came back for a show once, we did do a set based more around his tenure within the band and that went OK.