Al Krow

Good shout.

I could have pretty much written the same post as you, certainly a while back, so I completely sympathise with where you're coming from! Being obliged to play stuff that grates can put you off enjoying a gig. In the covers bands I've been in, as well giving everyone a say in song choices, we've also allowed each other a veto on the occasional song which falls into the "can't stand that" category. The point about whether your audiences are going to like it or not is an important one, although some songs may appeal to a minority in the audience and you then have something "for them" which they never usually get to hear played live. We've found having an open chat about songs we dislike and being able to share what's a turn-off to us individually has helped, and maybe also given a different angle to a song. I've ended up recently agreeing to play a couple of songs which are crowd pleasers but I'd previously really disliked. Annoyingly, haha, I've found they've both really grown on me! So I guess sometimes it's worth pushing through and giving it a try?

Played on a small stage at Kingston market last night. "Rig": Yamaha bass --> Zoom B1-4 --> (venue supplied:) Behringer XAir desk -> Alto TX210s Super simple / cheap as chips set-up but did the job! (I used the Zoom B1-4 as tuner, clean patch with "Presence" to aid cutting through, and Xotic BB drive patch). Had a complete blast playing with the band!

Played on a small stage at Kingston market with my band last night. Rig: (my kit): Yamaha bass --> Zoom B1-4 --> (venue:) Behringer XAir desk -> Alto TX210s Zoom B1-4 used as tuner, clean patch (with "Presence" to aid cutting through) and Xotic BB drive. Super simple / cheap as chips set up but did the job! Had a complete blast playing with the band.

I'm managing to get pretty good dirt with both a Xotic BB and B7K sims on a budget Zoom B1-4. It's not perfect, but "good enough", but then I've still not managed to find an analogue pedal that is a perfect dirt, particularly when dealing with different gigging basses. Where I think multis still struggle are: - pitch shift (but then so do analgoue pedals tbf); - filter and synth sounds (unexpectedly I've found the budget B1-4 seems to stack up pretty well here against more expensive rivals eg Helix Stomp).

Not all lightweight modern heads are expensive eg Bugera Veyron 1001M or 1001T, which both provide around 800W RMS. A fair few of us BC'ers have had one of these models and been very happy with them.

Be also interested more generally on what effects you feel the GT 1000 Core does well / not so well. Are there any dirt / fuzz sims you really rate? I'm guessing with the parallel paths it's easy to dial in a decent clean blend to avoid too much low-end suck?

@fretmeister interesting point about whether pedals are "designed" to handle the very low end: e.g. an octave down dealing with a 41Hz low E fundamental = producing more flub at the 20Hz end and also several pedals double up as guitar pedals. But appreciate your experience was different here. Max's (Thumpinator) advice was to put it at the start of the chain.

I think there's an argument for both positions - at the start to clean up the low end crud from your bass to give a clean signal for your pedals to latch onto - at the end to clean up low end crud introduced by the pedals and to tighten up the bass more generally. May even be an argument for having two in the chain - although most would likely think that overkill? If you've got a cheap multifx e.g. a Zoom B1-4 you can include HPF even in your "clean" patches, so very possible to have two in the chain on that basis without taking up extra space / cost. The HPF on our desk is pretty basic and kicks in at 100Hz across the board for any channels we engage it on. Maybe a touch too high and end up with the fundamental-suck you mention and which can remove the "feel" of the bass particularly for a more clubby set, although in terms of sound most of what we're hearing won't likely be the fundamental (ie first harmonic) but the second harmonic and up i.e. 62 Hz+ for the low B string. I really do like the look of the Sine HPF - I think its feature set is considerably better compared to something like the fixed approx. 25Hz and below cut Thumpinator, which was an always on HPF on my board for years. If I get another one to use instead of the making do with our desk PA, it will likely be the Sine.

Hi Si - that's a bit of a shock to read, as I know folk do exactly that quite a lot eg one IEM in the ear that's on the side giving protection from the drums and the other left open to pick up what's coming through one of the FoH PA speakers. Can you expand a bit on why it's so bad please (and also if there's been any studies done on it?)

I actually had the same ie v1 MT900 which I then replaced with the AO900 and these were my main gigging amps for a few years - paired very nicely with a Barefaced BB2 to provide an excellent rig, before I started going directly through FoH. Plenty of power and I found adding a small of amount of grit from the dirt was nice. I actually preferred the B3K/VMT dirt on the v1 to the AO as a standalone drive, but that's purely a matter of personal preference. If you're a fan of the AO drive then the AO900 is worth checking out.

If you're only using the 734A in passive mode, maybe worth also having a think about a 1024, which is purely passive and a bass that a lot of us have loved on here and its 5 string sibling, the 1025.

Nice design and obviously very competitively priced! Seem to be currently only doing 4 strings in the headless range?

A used Zoom B1-4, and then you've still got £250 left to get decently drunk... Mine's been a a very decent standalone "pedalboard" for many, many gigs (pubs and function work).

Worth also checking the Lekato Loop Station - cheaper than the TC with greater functionality.

I saw them down in Hastings last year. Absolute treat! Our guitarist recently said that no one likes a bass solo... 😅

Yeah a lot folk said the same about Galileo, too. Turns out he was right 😅 a key point here is that @ped has as much experience of filters as pretty much anyone on BC - so I'm very partial to what he has to say on the subject! I also know that many multifx do struggle with filters and synth sounds, although several manage to do a pretty decent octave up/down and, sometimes, the cheaper older models such as the Zoom's multifx can often match or beat much higher end models.

That's very useful to know. Good UI can't make up for sub-par sims. Looks like I'll be sticking to the GT 1000 Core for now then.

Any idea when pricing might be released? The UI looks really good on this, which is going to really help with work flow.

We had a busy weekend of gigs including one on Saturday afternoon that was Halloween themed, so we couldn't resist having a go at Michael Jackson's Thriller!

Just a quick update from me: I've now had the Nux 5.8 Ghz for a couple of months and used them at a variety of gigs with no drop outs and very good range. The Nux performed admirably with no drop outs even at a large venue corporate event with a "full fat" sound set-up and plenty of competing mics. Very happy with it and to recommend to anyone looking for a compact wireless in the £100 to £150 price bracket

Man...we really are starting to box clever now

You could almost make the case for having two! One at the start to present a crud-free signal to the pedals and one to clean up any low end crud created by the pedals. Overkill?

At least it's timely for Halloween 😅

Interesting side-track about good (as in easy to get on with) people vs good musicians. Both are obviously ideal. Anyone who is either really unpleasant to work with / be around or isn't sufficiently good / willing to improve and is holding the band back, is not going to last, and either the individual or his/her bandmates are likely to end up parting company. What is "sufficiently good" is going to differ depending on what people want from the project. E.g. a hobby band playing pubs once a month can take a more relaxed "fun" approach vs semi-pro musicians looking to make a decent part time living from being working musicians playing function gigs where a greater degree of professionalism and musicianship is going to be required as the entry ticket.