Greg Edwards69

Bass arrived yesterday. I didn't have much time to play with it last night (early night in preparation for today's early radiotherapy appointment), but first impressions are good. Straight out of the box, it seemed to be set up well, perhaps too well, very little relief in the neck - almost dead flat, and pretty low action, and almost in tune! I immediately noticed the tightness and tone of the B string, even before plugging it in - this boded well. Plugged it into my little Blackstar practice amp, switched the bass to passive mode and heard a nice full range tone without any of the mud of my EHB's Bartolini's, and more top end. Switching to active mode sounded pretty much the same, with everything set flat. The EQ centres seem well chosen - the bass knob in particular adds girth without adding subby boom. I noticed a little buzz at the third fret and grabbed a fret rocker. There are indeed a couple of high frets low down, but I'm not totally surprised at this price point - my more expensive EHB has high frets too. But I'm hoping I can mitigate this by introducing a little more relief and setting the action to my preferences before I think about a fret level. The neck pickup looks a little low, too and needs balancing, but I also need to match the volume to my G&L JB2, my main gigging bass. But I'm going to wait until the weekend before addressing any of this, to give the bass time to acclimatise. I haven't tried it on a strap yet, but it appears to balance well when I held it by the top strap button. I'm not sure about the fret markers. Whilst they aren't as bad as the EHB markers, they are a little difficult to see, but that could just be my preferences. Oh, one last thing. The tuners are a bit stiff and sticky, but I see there's a solution available by adding some small bearings But I have to say, so far, so good. The small issues I have found so far are not surprising at this price point and straightforward enough to remedy.

I've ordered the sunburst NEXT HNB5 (wife helped choose the colour) from Andertons in their January sale, should be with me tomorrow. Fingers crossed it'll tick the boxes my EHB doesn't. The sale offer includes a set of Positive Grid Neo Core headphones. Might prove useful, or might end up on eBay if they're not as good as my Katana Go / ATH-M50x combo.

Yeah, I saw those, but I'm still wary about investing that sort of money into this bass if I'm still not going to love it. Not to mention, I downloaded the schematics, and it left me very confused. Wiring basses goes over my head. I could handle soldering a couple of wires to an existing pot, but EMG's solderless kit looks overwhelming, and I have no idea how to integrate with the existing preamp. Even if I could figure out how to intergrate them into the existing preamp, it looks like the EMG's are active only. I want to retain the passive option. Nice, but more money than I want to spend. The Hils ticks the right box in terms of value for money.

Got to say, I do like the look of those Cort GB shortscales. They look a lot of fun. Almost tempting for £299 And I didn't see the Quad Cortex Mini coming. A little friendly competition for the Anagram perhaps? This can only be a good thing for both platforms

I have an Ibanez EHB1005SMS that I like, but I don't love. I like the feel and ergonomics (the neck is lovely, and the whole bass is light and balances well), but it has issues: The infamous, dark-sounding Barts; lacklustre preamp, which I always have difficulty dialling in (possibly due to the Barts themselves); and as for the glow in the dark fret markers... pointless. But also, I wonder if I made the right decision in getting the short-scale version (30"-32"). The shorter scale is a joy to play, but somewhat goes against one of the purposes of a multi-scale, the low B. I could replace the pickups, but the recommended replacements (Nords) are a custom order and not exactly cheap, and I still may end up with a bass I don't love. I like what I see and hear about the Hils basses, particularly the NEXT HNB5. Does anyone have any experience with the Bart-equipped EHB and the Hils that can shed some light?

I see that Xvive have a new stereo version of the venerable u4 system coming. Looks like you plug it into left and right XLR from the mixer.

I added this idea to the wishlist forum on Anagram Answers - allegedly, some DG staff, such as Ivan, look at these and provide feedback to the team. Feel free to upvote. TRS footswitch support | Anagram Answers

No, they don't have hardware personal monitor mixers for this CQ line of mixers - only the higher-end stuff. There is, however, a personal mixer app for smartphones that replicates many of the same behaviours, and it's free. It just lacks the immediacy and 'hands-on' approach of hardware. CQ4You • Allen & Heath

I'd like to see Joe Dart Sterling basses available to the UK without the absurdly high shipping fee.

Indeed. Dialling in a cab block does require a modicum of audio engineering knowledge. It shouldn’t. It should be as easy as selecting a cab.

A fender Aerodyne with 21 frets A less expensive, far east, mass produced Mike Lull range of basses. I’d love of of those IMA basses with the t’bird pickups but I’ll never be able to save the necessary GAS tokens.

Personally, I think there are a few parameter-based things rather than modelling, that make the Anagram sound arguably "better" than my Helix LT. The default settings on the Anagram usually sound great. As has been mentioned before in this thread, many of the Helix block defaults are at "what were they thinking?" settings. Almost every effect block in the Anagram has a clean blend. The Helix often requires you to insert effects on a parallel path just to make them usable for bass. The anagram's parameters are pretty self explanatory for each block. The Helix replicates real world devices, including sometimes misleading parameters, or strange behaviour, and they take a while to get your head around. The cab blocks are usable without much tweaking. It took me years (literally years) to get a usable tone out of a cab block in the Helix. I do wish the Angram cab blocks had hpf/lpf in them, though. PS. Now that DG has demonstrated they can build amp blocks that do drive when pushed, I wonder if they'll revisit the Peggy block or make a new one.

I'd also love to see Zoom revisit their old 9000 series form factor with modern processing. I loved that wedge-shaped device you could jam under an amp handle, and the compact passive remote footswitch for a tidy stage.

A Boss Katana bass practice amp. Their guitar and bass katana and waza products line up well against each other, but there's nothing smaller than the 1x10. I want something akin to the desktop class katana amps specifically designed for bass.

How do you have the Rolls wired in, Javi? Does it mix the signal from the desk the Anagram? If so, is the bass channel muted on your monitor send, or do you mix the anagram over the top?

The Cricketers in Westcliff last night. Not a bad night at all considering it’s the Saturday after Christmas, the weekend before payday, and miserable weather. It would have been nice if it had been busier, but we had a decent enough, appreciated crowd (including my mum who’s flown over from Spain to stay with us over Christmas who rarely get’s to see us play). The lovely Hazel was stepping in Jenny’s shoes with co-lead vocal and did a great job as ever. It was also my first one since Halloween due to afore mentioned shenanigans. I was a little apprehensive at first, and indeed a leading up to the gig and whether I should do it or not, as I need to avoid getting ill, considering I start radiotherapy in a week's time. But I've felt a little niggle in my throat like something's brewing for a few days, so doing this gig wasn't going to change anything. If I get a cold, it won't be from the gig. Besides, I'm being mindful of who I mix with and obsessive with hand sanitizer! It was a good job I didn't do last week's gig, as half the band had the lurgy at the time! Set up and soundcheck was painless and we played well - I was quite chuffed with myself considering I haven't played in earnest for a couple of months. The end of the night after our planned set had finished got interesting. People wanted a Xmas one, so muscle memory got me through Slade that I hadn't played for 12 months. Then improvised our with through 'My Girl' and 'Don't look back in anger' that we'd never played before. You'll be plaased to know I turned and faced the corner in shame during the latter whilst playing it. The next gig is at the same venue in a month's time. I'm still aiming to do it if I'm well enough, but after that, it's in the lap of the gods.

I'll probably do that for the gig, and carry hand sanitiser. I'm trying to get people at work to mask up if they come in to work with a cold, or at least keep their distance.

I missed my second-ever gig on Saturday for reasons explained a couple of weeks ago. Some of you asked to be updated, so today is as good as any. I had a CT Prep scan on Friday to map out the affected area for radiotherapy and give you a few pretty tattoo dots (my first ever tats - not that I wanted any) so they can line you up in the machinery consistently every time they blast you with radiation. Radiotherapy and oral chemo start on Monday, 5th Jan, so at least we get to have a relatively normal Christmas with the family. In the meantime, I need to make a few new habits in preperation of a 5-week, near-daily slog of hospital visits. I need to hydrate more, and turn up to sessions with a full bladder - so I'm trying to drink a pint of water first thing in the morning (easier said than done) and keep a water log with an app. Using hand cream daily, which I've never had to before, to mitigate the chances of neuropathy. And my diet has to change again to low fibre and low gas (to avoid trapped wind), which will make for a boring few weeks of food, certainly a challenge for a couple of food lovers such as me and my chef wife. Good news is we have a gig next week that I fully intend to do. I just need to be sensible when it comes to mixing with people. The last thing I need is to catch a cold the week before starting treatment.

Sorry to hear this news Woody, please give Sabby a hug from me.

The speed and rate of these updates is overwhelming, I'm struggling to keep up - I still haven't done the previous update yet. It's a good job I didn't redo all my presets with the Swirl or Tiny Lark, I may have had to do it agin with the TDS!

The new blocks might please some users who were unhappy that the other amp blocks couldn’t be pushed into distortion.

The best purchase was my Darkglass Anagram. I've only had it a few months, and it's getting rapidly getting better and better with DG's speedy updates. They're so quick, I'm struggling to keep up! Worst was some IMA Helix presets. There's nothing wrong with them - they sound great. But redundant now I've moved over to the Anagram. Honourable mention goes to my GR Bass 1x12 active cab. It's fantastic and logic-defyingly light. But it only gets used for rehearsals. That said, this and the Anagram have made loading in/out of rehearsal and gigs much more enjoyable.

Looks like a useful practice and gigable backup tool, especially with the built-in battery.

How was my gig last night? I have no idea, I wasn’t there. It was the first one I’ve ever missed since this band started around 20 years ago. A dep was in my place even though I was fit and able. Keen readers my remember I mentioned I had a colonoscopy a few weeks ago and the results weren’t what I hoped for. I’ve since found out it’s not good news at all. There’s no easy way to say it, but it’s proving cathartic to share, so here goes. It’s cancer, of the rectal variety. I told my band mates at the time of the first investigation before knowing it was cancer that it will likely mean surgery and treatment very quickly, possibly before Xmas, so they had to organise cover in case I was out of action. The chap they got for a couple of gigs said he had other offers for the same dates, so he had to commit, meaning I couldn’t do them, whether I was able or not (unless we paid him off). It was probably for the best, though; my head has been all over the place the last few weeks dealing with this. So anyway, it looks like a rough few months ahead. Radio and chemotherapy followed by surgery, and possibly more chemo after that. Oh and a bag atttached, either temporary or permanent. Sorry to bring the mood down, but this is the thread I interact with the most with people I know. Besides, I’m still hoping to continue to contribute to the thread with any gigs I am able to do over the next few months, and long after once I’m cured, and normality is resumed.

I’ve just seen this case on Thomann. Thought it could be useful to a few of us who don’t use the supplied PSU. https://www.thomann.co.uk/thomann_bag_darkglass_anagram.htm