Al Krow

Dammit - I really wished you hadn't pointed that one out! Exactly the model / colour / reverse PJ, I would want too (and 34" is just perfect for me)! "Fortunately" I can't find anywhere that stocks it!

Hi Rob - I had exactly the same thoughts as you, a while back, about stringing a normal 6 string bass E to E with "guitar" tuning in order to play both chords and classical but in an octave-below register. Key learning points for me that I can share with you are as follows: 1. It sounds fantastic - there is a richness to the sound of both chords and classical played an octave down. 2. If you add something like a Digitech Mosaic pedal for chords, you end up with a 12 string bass, which can sound ridiculously good! 3. I kicked off my project with an Ibanez SR1206, on the grounds that the Ibanez have narrow string spacing and fast playable necks, but I still found it quite a stretch to shape chords, and there is no doubt that a Bass VI would be a lot easier for that - I did briefly flirt with a Squier Bass VI - but the string spacing near the headstock was too narrow to comfortably play classical and the Squier was also at the top end of comfortable weight for me. 4. I ended up with a very happy compromise by getting an Ibanez GVB 36 which has 'fixed' 14mm string spacing for the whole length of the fretboard and is a signature design by Gerald Veasley, who uses his for jazz playing including a lot chords. Sadly they are no longer in production (I managed to source the very last new one from Germany as discounted end of line stock - which was kinda amusing as I would have paid extra to get my hands on it!). They do come up used from time to time. I've really enjoyed re-learning some of my old classical guitar pieces on this during lock-down. 5. In terms of string gauge - normal E to C bass strings are fine (and just de-tune the C one semi tone to a B). I then added a 25 gauge for the top E which has worked fine. Hope that's helpful. It's a fun and rewarding project - let us know how you get on.

Fixed 😁 Tbf I'm not sure you've held on to any of the 5 pedals you've bought off me?! So if I'm your official "pedal pusher", that's gotta make you my official "middle man"? PS - what was I saying about you being my middle-man? 😄

I found myself wanting to disagree strongly with this observation Dan, probably 'cos it's certainly not always the case with basses - where there are some fantastic basses which can hold there own against basses that cost several times as much. But in the context of cabs - there's actually a lot of truth in the statement: the really good cabs are IME generally more expensive than the mid-range quality cabs and those, in turn, tend to be better quality and more expensive than budget cabs. I'm maybe a little biased in placing a huge amount of importance to cabs in our signal chain - given that they are the key final link between us and our ears and those of our audiences. So I guess my recommendation is not to scrimp on your cab, but get the best that your budget allows.

Sold Nik a Zoom multi-fx. Fast payment, good comms and a pleasure to deal with! No hesitation in recommending or dealing with again. Enjoy the pedal! Cheers, Bas

I've been having a bit of a gear clear out - mostly pedals. Lockdown has been really helpful in getting me to see that some of my gear was not getting used just because of a lack of time - or at least that's what I'd been telling myself was my excuse. Quite a lot of us, me included, I suspect have had a fair bit more time with less commuting / meetings etc. over the past four months. Kinda made me realise that the real reason that some of my kit was not getting used was that they were actually more appealing on paper than in real life! Certainly in terms of the amount of reward for buck of time invested. Obviously I'm just speaking from my own purely personal perspective here. So I've kinda resolved that any "pseudo multifx" pedals that aren't actually multifx, but where you still need to get into PC editing or midi or your bluetooth phone etc etc to get the most out of them are not for me. PC editing headspace is gonna be reserved for proper bona- fide, good dog, multifx like my amazing value Zoom B1-4 and the very capable Helix HX Effects I'm fortunate to have. Anyway! The main point of this neo-luddite ramble is that interestingly (to me anyway!) 1/3 of my pedal sales over the past couple of weeks have been to bass players from the EU. I'm guessing that things might just be a little more positive on the continent than for us Brits, right now, on the music front and that £:euro may well be making our used gear seem like good value despite postage costs being +£10 more than it is to send within the UK. Just a thought.

Sold Jeff my MXR PSU - another very smooth transaction and great comms.

@MattiZ and @gobasserk some great BBs there. Here's my not-quite-matching BB pair to put alongside yours!

My Roland UM One interface is going spare - I'm currently trying to simplify my pedal board life, so that I actually use rather than merely admire my kit(!) and de-humidifying is part of that process! 😁 You would be very welcome to borrow it and if it's useful then feel free to buy it off me if you want to hold on to it. I'm actually making a trip to the PO tomorrow morning to post a couple of pedals sold to fellow BC'ers, so I could post it to you at the same time. Let me know.

Haha - ok I've learned something new about the B1-4 today from our discussion on stomp mode: you can use the foot paddles to select an individual fx to switch it on or off in stomp mode (although youl first need to select stomp mode by hand), as well as being able to select individual items with the finger buttons. With the paddles it assumes you have a bank of 5 fx (even if you have only say three in a patch) and will scroll through each of the 5 slots in turn. Not sure whether I'd ever use this live e.g. to have 5 individual fx in a banks of 5 rather than simply scroll through full patches normally. It seems to be much more of an on pedal editing feature on the B1-4. But useful to know that its there.

Guitar Lab is Zoom's own software. The alternative that BC'ers seem to prefer is this one by ToneLib: https://tonelib.net/

Also have you downloaded the ToneLib patch editing software yet? This makes creating and saving patches via your PC significantly easier than doing it on the pedal itself.

Can you give an example of what you have in mind?

I'm guessing your MB amp will sound a treat with the ST! Combine with Helix (or a VTDI) for drive and you're then completely sorted?

The MS-60B was actually the very first pedal I bought (back in 2013 - apart from guitar pedals several decades before that!) I really struggled with the interface, though. The B3N was a big (literally - haha) step up. I kinda feel they've cracked it for me with the B1-4 and it's now sitting happily at the heart of my mini board. The best value pedal I've got, by some margin.

The B1-4 kinda feels like the spiritual successor of the MS-60B, but with a MUCH better user interface. It benefits from the same processing power as the B3N and also the same ease of editing patches. Particularly via the free ToneLib software.

Nope it's one stomp box, but nicely organised into 5 banks of 10 fx with the drum machine (eg for home practice) much more accessible. It also has global EQ and volume control which is super useful - can't remember if the B3N does?

Oh dear, that's a shame. The B1-4 which has the same suite of patches and the same generation chip as the B3N and is much more compact. I ended up trading my B3N in and have since replaced with a B1-4, and I'm really appreciating the smaller form factor. If you're in the Amazon return period it may be worth thinking about swapping them over? Just a thought.

Yeah, very fair. I wonder if someone like our own @Grangur might be able to refinish it for you at a fraction of the cost of what you were quoted? And there was a BB425 refinished in white + pattern (earlier on the thread) and it looked amazing! I'll see if I can dig out the pic... Here you go - it won't be to everyone's taste, I appreciate, but I love it!

But is that suggestion (the Eb bit rather than the lock your 4 strings away - which I agree with!) proving effective in your own 5 string quest Luke - as I know you were having similar issues to the OP in transitioning to a 5 string from your other thread? If it is, well and good! Personally, I didn't particularly see a need to focus on playing songs in Eb, which is pretty limiting and not necessarily something I'd be able to use a great deal with my band, given my guitarist much prefers E to Eb. Rather than advise the OP to stick with mainly one key, I'd recommend just getting used to playing 5 string in any key and make use of the low B for some of the lower E string notes (as well as the only B string notes, B to Eb).