Greg Edwards69

10 hours ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

Well it’s not last night, but I’ve learned this evening that we’ve been booked to play at The Pappillon in Southend on Dec 1st. It’s one of the more important venues to get your foot in the door in the area, and it’s a pretty hard gig to land, so we’re all stoked!

 

Not expecting an enormous crowd on Southend seafront in December, but if we can impress the owner/booker then maybe we’ll be able to swing a night or two next year!

Nice one. We'd like to get in there too. We were stoked to finally get in the Cow & Telescope (and get repeat bookings), which is similarly challenging to get booked in the Southend area.

Maybe I'll swing by. I'm playing at the Sarah Moore the next day.

Queef

10 hours ago, Aygotaygo said:

I upgraded to a B6 this week, after using a B1 Four X. To be fair, I never used the B1 to its full potential, but I was happy with what it could do. I upgraded to the B6 in large part because since I lost the sight in my right eye, I needed something that was easier to see, so the upgrade would have been worth it just for that.

 

However, this thing is amazing. 1 hour out of the box and I managed to set it all up for my needs without having to go anywhere near a computer. The effects are top notch, the modelled amps are pretty spot on, it’s got two inputs and a DI. I’ve read a lot about it being ‘only plastic’ (which is true), but there’s plastic and there’s plastic. It’s not made from yogurt pots so I’m not sure what you’d have to do to damage it. It’s sturdy, but I suppose if you abused it badly it’d break, but that’s true of anything.

 

I was initial hesitant, wondering if it would be that great an improvement on the B1. This just in: it definitely is.

Serious question, and apologies for derailing the thread (and being a nosy, inquisitive sod), but how challenging do you find playing without the use of one eye? 

The reason I ask is I tried playing a gig with an eye patch many years ago. It was at the wedding of one of our guitarists who had detached retina surgery a few weeks before the wedding and had to wear an eye match for most of the day. Being the loving type of people we are in the band we decided to all wear an eye patch when we started playing to take the fosters.  It's really difficult without any depth perception!

I don’t minds the song. But it obviously wasn’t good enough to work on past the demo stage when John was alive and the band was together. 
 

not keen on the video. Bits of it look like a Stevie Riks spoof. 

33 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Zoom's use of composites has been a discussion point for years, but every one I have owned has never had a problem. In fact, I would say that they have all been very robust.

I've had several zoom units in the past, both plastic and metal housing. One of the plastic ones developed a fault with one of the jacks. This was due body of the unit flexing when I stepped on a footswitch damaging surface mounted jack socket connection. A solid, metal enclosure is less likely to suffer this problem.

This is the same reason I stopped using those solid jack-to-jack stompbox connectors - just a little flex can damage the jack socket connection.

There's quite a few filters in the Helix ecosystem - my particular favourite is their own design "autofilter".  All of these are in the new HX One pedal and HX Stomp if they're in your budget.

Helix models

https://helixhelp.com/models?categoryId=8&subCategoryId=4

Legacy models (from the old M series)

https://helixhelp.com/models?categoryId=8&subCategoryId=6

20 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Which are excellent by all accounts 

I believe so, yes. I have an Indonesian 50s P that is excellent (although it might be up for sale soon - as much as I wanted one, it doesn't "fit" me as well as I hoped it would). I believe some Chinese squiers are just as good, if not better in some regard. Some people are even saying Squiers are now so good, that in some cases they are better than more expensive MIM Fenders, and that Fender should drop the name and call them "Fender M.I.F.E."  - Made in the Far East.

Struggling to find a decent picure of my current No.1. This one will have to do.

It's a G&L Tribute JB2. Maple and block fretboard and sunburst finish. I'd been watching it for a while It came up in a Black Friday sale a couple of years ago for £299, down from £399, so I had to.

My Yamaha Attitude LTD2 had been my main player for ages until I threw my back out after the first gig out of lockdown. So I decided I needed a lighter-weight, inexpensive, main-gigging bass. Even though I bought quite a lightweight Squier 50s as a backup at the start of lockdown, my band's repertoire had diversified enough that I also needed something more versatile. I've had aspirations for a 70's style "black and blocks" jazzes with maple fretboards, black block inlays and black bodies and had previously had half an eye on those black and blocks Harley Benton 70s jazzes, as well as looking at Sire but I wasn't keen on going back to active.

In the meantime, I had replaced the tunes on the Attitude with hipshot Ultralites (3x licenced, and a D-tuner ) which helped a little, and resigned myself to not being able to find a proper black and blocks jazz that was the right price and lightweight, until this cropped up on a lightweight basses round-up article on Bass Direct's website. It ain't black and I've never been one for sunburst, but something about it really appealed to me, and the article mentioned they were a little over 8lbs. It also had a P bass-sized body and a chunkier than usual shaped neck for a jazz, which suits me fine. So I thought about it, thought about it some more and decided to wait for Black Friday, and I clicked "buy". (Sure it wasn't expensive to start with, but what with my wife being off work at the time with COVID-related health issues, we had to be a little more careful with money).

It's a great playing bass. Lighter than the Attitude, balances well and has a good range of tones with the stock pickups. I had to work on the setup as the E string slot in the nut was cut too deep - nothing baking powder and super glue couldn't fix. I do need to get it re-wired, as there's a bit of bleed on one of the volume pots (rolled completely off, there's still a little sound coming through), so I'll get this done in the new year when gigs are more sparse (I am the kind of person who needs to give the authorities not less than a month’s notice before picking up a soldering iron). And I'll likely replace the tuners with Ultralites and D-tuner soon.

I really enjoy playing this one for most of the gigs we're currently doing. Inexpensive basses have really come a long way.

PS, excuse the shirt. It was a corporate summer festival and our band always wears black and red!

16 minutes ago, GoodShowSir said:

Nice, I saw someone locally selling one for under 100squid and was a little tempted. Even more so now

 

Curiously, just been doing a quick google, but does it say where the bass was made?

It says made in China on the back. Considering Jackson is owned by Fender, I would assume it's made in the same factory as the Chinese Squiers.

7 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Frankly the recently released HoTone Ampero Mini seems like the superior unit for this kind of thing.

 

And it is cheaper as well.

I've been toying with the idea of getting one as a "get me through the gig" backup to my Helix LT, and as a home practice device. But I'm waiting to see what the first proper firmware update brings as there's a couple of features I'd love to see added/improved (global eq, darkglass model and pitch-shifting).   It's a real shame they didn't include Bluetooth as well, that would make it a perfect practice device IMHO.

How about one of the Warwick Gnome cabs to go with your head? The specs and price look great to me.  Whether they sound great is another matter, but they could do the job for just occasional use.

2 hours ago, krispn said:

I had to catch myself the other day looking at the new UA 1176 pedal thinking it was affordable because it’s under £200 then I did a quick wait it’s nearly £200!!

I was completely unaware of that pedal. Thanks.  If there's one effect I wish the Helix had, it would be the 1176 compressor. It's got a great LA2A model, but really needs the 1176 to pair with it.

Actually, what I would really want to see, is a model of the Origin Effect Cali76 Compact Bass, as this has a hpf sidechain feature that would be incredibly helpful.

1 hour ago, Sibob said:

Interesting, but then the Helix range has always been a bit of a mess from a marketing perspective.....as good as they are of course.

I kinda agree with that sentiment. As as said, it's an unexpected release, and previous releases have been similar and not quite what I thought they could/should be. The Stomp XL for example could have been so much more. I get why they developed them, but I think they could do better by engaging more users on forums and social media.

56 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I think the price is reasonable too. I don't mean cheap, but the humble Ibby TS9 now costs £120 with zero R&D need, a TS808 is £170!

It's still a lot of money but that doesn't mean unreasonable.

It's also £50 cheaper than a Darkglass B7K, and the emulation of that pedal is excellent. Come to think of it, that (and the sansamp BDDI model) could make it a viable direct to FOH backup rig solution, as the output can be set to line level too.

8 hours ago, thisisswanbon said:

Appreciate the reply Greg, but I respectfully disagree (also owned 2 MS60B's and 2 x HX Stomps).

 

Neither blew my socks off, but I found the zoom filter and synth sounds to be a huge cut above the HX stuff, and The dirts, fuzzes and distortions were more than passable on the zoom.  With the ability to stack effects in the zoom, I'm not sure how it's justified.

That's fair enough. It's all subjective anyway, depending on one's needs.

For me, I had two MS60B's on my board at one point (one for each pickup of my Attitude bass), and I bought the M5 specifically for one effect - the Attack synth - which works brilliantly for Muse's Time Is Running Out.  I could never get that type of 'flat' synth sound out of the Zoom - they always had that squelchy filter, and it didn't track that well.  Perversely, synths were the weak point of the helix for some time before that added the legacy effects from the FM4 last year - it still ain't perfect, but I can get more or less any synth tone I need now.

The drives and amp modelling are in a different league from the MS60B IMHO, and the plethora of eq options is worth the admission price alone - I'll never fear dodgy acoustics again. Oh and the pitch shifting on the MS60B is dreadful - the Helix tracks right down to my open E string with ease.

Don't get me wrong, the MS60B is great, and I wish I had kept one as a backup device. But for me, the way I use it and the sounds I want to create, the Helix algorithms sound much better IMHO.

I do think it's an unexpected release. It's almost as if Line 6 has created their version of the Eventide H9, after Eventide's H90 was released as their version of the HX Stomp. But I'm sure Line 6's research would have found a number of reasons to create such a product. I doubt they would have released it if it was destined to fail. It's clearly not aimed at most of existing multi-effects users like us.

3 hours ago, thisisswanbon said:

This surely can't be £150 better than the Zoom MS60B though... seems ludicrous pricing to me!

Having owned the M5, MS60B and now a Helix LT, I think yes, it is £150 better than the zoom. 

I see there's a new HX product on the loose:

Line 6 Pedals | HX One - Peach Guitars

In essence, it appears to be a revolution of the old M5 pedal - small form factor and one effect at a time. Ideal for people who use stompboxes but also want to keep their pedal board trim and consolidate "occasional use" pedals into a single pedal.

I freely admit, that I was tempted by the Mikro, but the Jackson just edged it for me. It's largely subjective TBH, but a couple of hardware differences also swayed me. The look definitely swayed me - I'm not a huge fan of the "sucked sweet" Ibanez body shape these days - and I say this as a former Warwick fan - although that weathered black model was very very tempting. Neither am I keen on reversed P pickups. And I love maple fretboards, purely an aesthetic choice.

I was unaware that the latest Mikro has a new heel joint - that's quite interesting to hear - I do agree that top fret access on the Jackson is impaired. Thinking about it, my Squier 50s P is even worse in that regard!  The neck on the Jackson is quite comfortable for me, almost a D shape with a bit of meat. I'm don't know what the Mikro neck is like. One would assume it's slimmer like most Ibanezes?

I did watch several comparison videos and, for me, Jackson took the edge, and LowEnd Lobster's review convinced me it was the right choice for me. Yes, those Jackson pickups are pretty good.  Easily matched the output of my G&L JB2, which surprised me. FWIW, Lobster's review also included a modded version with EMG Geezers that sounded incredible. 

All that said, a 5 string Mikro is also tempting me.

PS. I got the official Jackson minion gigbag from Germany, rather than waiting a few weeks for one to become available over here.  It's not great. Hardly any padding and is made out of that cheap rip-proof material that really cheap gigbags usually are. The bass only just fits - very snug fit. I reckon it's a third-party case embroidered with the Jackson logo. They have done that thing with guitar gigbags which annoys me no-end, in that the carrying handle is centred rather than offset, so it's unbalanced when you carry it. It'll do the job for the time being but I'll have to investigate and look for a better slim case for it.

I also need to source some strings! Any suggestions?

It’s teeny tiny 28.6” scale and eminemtly playable. The Ibanez Mikro is the same scale, but upon research, it appears the Jackson just takes the edge.

Jackson JS1X Minion bass.

Well, not quite today, but it arrived at in the office whilst I was on holiday, got it home on Friday and checked it over but didn’t get a chance to really play with it today. Set up this morning and band rehearsal this afternoon.

I've been looking at lightweight 'hope-I-never-need-it" alternate backup bass options. It's become a pain dragging a spare full size bass to gigs that sits in a gigbag all night. Besides, I've also been instrigued by short scale basses and wanted to try something inexpensive. Even though I hope I never need it at a gig, I still wanted something I would enjoy playing at home, where I sometimes find my other basses unweildly to play whilst seated. After looking at various options I settled on getting the Minion.

I’m a sucker for maple and black markers so I've been waiting for one of these to become available for months. I had a couple of email notifications setup and one came through from Mann’s Music on the first day of my holiday. Only one available and good price (£169). Tracking down the case was a little trickier, but found one from Musik Produktiv at a good price inc customs and shipping. Got both sent to work and collected on Friday

What can I say. It’s so cute, and so much fun!

Nice and light, almost too light to feel right. Dead easy to play - I thought the scale might cause problems with muscle memory but it didn’t at all, well not until I got up to the dusty end. Me and my band mates could not believe the sound that comes out of this thing. Seriously, this thing punches well above its weight. I might look a little toy like, but its certainly a most playable and giggable instrument. 

Epic. That’s how last night’s gig was. We played our debut gig for the Cow & Telescope in Southend, one of the cities premier music venues for cover bands. So much so, you need to sort out dates about a year in advance. We’ve been trying on an off for some time to get in there so we were dead excited to finally get the opportunity.

We brought a sizeable crowd of friends and family with us who along with the colourful regular were ready for a party from the get go. We were told that most bands on their debut at this pub usually pull 50 punters at most. Apparently we pulled in excess of 170 according to the doormen. Not far off some of the more established top tier bands on the circuit. Indeed, the buzz from the regulars was that we was just as good as those particular bands. The boss and staff were very happy and want us back next year.

So yes, a great weekend!

Admittedly, this quote made be laugh inside.

“We had it out on over 70 shows with Mötley Crüe, from the prototype all the way to the finished product; it worked perfectly for those guys and allowed them to perform on a higher level,”

As much as I love the Crue, I'd hardly trust them as a barometer of performance excellence these days.

Wow. Starting at $ 4,499.00

https://jhaudio.com/iem/JHA-UIEM-RPB

2 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

I saw great music pubs change inept landlords a number of times before eventually shutting down. That’s why I gave up gigging for a few years. Now I don’t do pubs. 
You can tell a good pub by the way the landlord presents themselves. If they’re scruffy and dressed in joggers it’s not a good place. 

Or gigs are cancelled because the new landlord threw out the bookings list and starts again with acts they know, not the bands who've been playing there regularly over the last several years. Or worse still, they get an agent to do it who only book the same few bands over and over again.

These are my sentiments too. Great hardware specs, nice form factor (I never use the expression pedal on my Helix LT anyway and would love to chop the end of the unit off!) and nice looking interface that doesn't rip off of the Helix, like some others do. Just a shame bassists have been left out of the fun apart from a couple of studio-style preamps. There is nothing bass-specific.  Maybe it will come in time but I won't hold my breath. Fender isn't known for having guitar and bass models in the same unit - the digital rumble and Mustang lines are kept quite separate, and they haven't even created a bass version or added bass models to the Mustang micro headphone device.

The new tonemaster frfr cabs look quite nice and are competitively priced. They'd make a great option for many guitarists regardless of which modelling platform they use. But again, not as useful to us bassists as they aren't quite full range enough - the bigger 1x12 is 70Hz – 20kHz (-3dB).

I really hope the embrace us low noters with this new platform. It's a nicely featured package and a bass-specific fender branded powered cab could be a big seller, as there are not many frfr options for us bassists that aren't plastic PA enclosures.

On 13/09/2023 at 10:23, uk_lefty said:

Personally my view is you need to try a load to see what you like. 

 

What I use now:

TC Corona using the Duff McKagan toneprint

 

Why I use the TC now... I like that I can dial in different toneprints if I need to, but to be honest the Duff toneprint suits what I want from my basses whether fretted or fretless. I don't use chorus a lot but when I do I want it to be heard, I don't want it too subtle, and I sometimes add delay or trem afterwards.

Before I got my Helix, I used a TC Corona Mini specifically for the Duff toneprint. He has exactly the sort of bass chorus I like, and this pedal nails it.

FWIW, I'm using the Ampeg Liquifier model on my Helix as my default chorus tone. Sounds great and the physical pedal it models is worth a look.