Al Krow

Oh I missed, that. Ok I need to edit the thread and my OP! 😎

Less depressing than I initially thought... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8780631/Pubs-bars-restaurants-blame-3-coronavirus-outbreaks-week.html

Except...you've just eloquently managed to join in the fun without actually doing so! Can't keep a good man down, eh? 😁 And you've now made me wonder what a Jamerson bass line without his trademark thud, or whether Entwistle's signature sound on My Generation would have been quite so iconic?

What you have heard for yourself, now, is just how bloody amazing the speed, accuracy and glitch-less depth of tracking on the Boss SY-1 octave down is! Goes lower than my Fearless F112 cab could comfortable handle, and that's saying something! We could hear the speaker 'flapping' as it tried to cope with notes an octave below E and lower! Oh and thanks for the personal delivery of the Ashdown headphones - they're ridiculously cool in their own way!

Heard another tale of Stomp build quality issues recently with a report of one dying mid live set. Previous mentions of over heating and in my case a flaky USB connection. Just doesn't seem to have the gig-build that something like the HFX has, with its more tank like housing which seems capable of handling our size 12s. Helix SL rather than Stomp perhaps a better name for this product?

As per your suggestion, I'd still be very interested to hear a clip from you with your TC Sub'N'Up on octave-up with your settings, to see if it matches the Digitech Mosaic; which I hope you'll agree is really very good once you've had a listen to the clips posted above?

Refreshing to see Sergeant Pepper's, as totally iconic and ground breaking as it was, knocked off the top spot for once. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/ Any obvious omissions?

Here you go - my Digitech Mosaic recordings at the start of this thread: Look forward to hearing the TC Sub'N'Up.

Yes that is almost certainly correct! Fyi - I have only tried the Mosaic not the Ricochet. It is possible they are using different engines - I had assumed that they were the same octave up circuit. The Ricochet does a lot more than the Mosaic, which is a one trick pony. It just does that trick remarkably well! I posted a couple of clips a while back, one of the Mosaic and one of an actual 8 string. A lot of BCers thought the Mosaic did a very decent job and some even thought the Mosaic was the 8 string!

Agree about the compressors or other effects. Keep it simple! However if this avoids the need of having a separate isolated PSU for the rest of your pedals, given it is already mains powered that would be a big plus in my books - one mains lead per pedal board rather than two has gotta be welcome!

The only thing that I've come across that tracks effortlessly and at speed down to a low E is the Boss SY-1. It's also polyphonic. But it's a very transparent octave down, and you may want something with more flavour - or alternatively add a bit of grit with a dirt pedal of choice. Oh and octave down is just a "side effect" for the SY-1. It does a huge amount else as its main focus.

Or if, like me, you can't be ars*d to use a PC to do Toneprint editing, but prefer the immediacy of dials and want something that sounds at least as authentic (IMO even better!) as a faux 8 string as the TC... ... then get a Digitech Mosaic (or it's even more featured sibling, the Ricochet).

Well that's a big encouragement to pick up my fretless Ibby Portamento then, which has lain untouched for far too long! If a fretless can fool a middle aged bass player with poor speakers on his mum's PC into thinking it's an upright, it's gotta have something going for it, eh? 😁

If you're into £200+ territory and you want the immediacy of dials, check this unit from Empress. https://empresseffects.com/products/paraeq

Nope - maybe just poor quality speakers on the PC I was at! Best have another listen through headphones eh? What did you hear it as being?

Upright double bass, rather than electric, right?

@Quatschmacher - I've got a sneaky suspicion that the new Source Audio EQ will get Dave to where he wants to be?

I think there is often a "cancelling" effect when both pups are engaged equally. It results in a sweet slight mid scoop on my Ibby JJ, which actually is quite attractive. On the older series like my BB 1025, however, the mid switch position combining the P+J adds bridge J grit to the P and is the default setting for many of us. Be interested to hear from other 734A users if they are getting the same result as you with both pups set at 50:50.

The "chorus" bass line (first at 029 to 041) sounds like its played with pick up at the dusty end. No way was that bit a synth - good that we aren't completely usurped by electronica just yet!

There's a current TB thread on Tech 21 pedals and a comment from one of the posters re. Tech 21 confirmation. But if you also found differently, I should reduce that percentage figure 😂

From the comments I've read, 99% of folk found the exact same thing with the Tech 21 dUg Pinnick, which I believe Tech 21 themselves may have acknowledged. I guess that's one of the benefits of having the AO on the AO900 - you have some impressively flexible gain stage options on that amp!

Sid - a couple of posts from me on here a while back, which look at the amp and AO drive in a bit of detail: The clean tone on the amp is great, and it now has a 6 band EQ rather than 4 band with variable mids; and I know you were hugely impressed with the clean tone and EQ from your own review of the Mk1 in your amp shoot out a few years back. When I'm playing live I tend it to use it mostly clean, and maybe add a bit of grit from the drive for harmonic richness, rather than using it full on drive mode.

Gotcha - that's definitely a crap experience to have had! Was it just an unfortunate one-off or did it require a full repair / replacement - hopefully under warranty? FWIW - I find that the Tech 21 VT Bass DI, which is more featured than the VT Bass you've tried, really hits the spot in terms of that 'blanket lifting' effect, even with gear I really wouldn't expect it to "improve". Primarily I think due to the 'bite' switch which I leave permanently on, and which provides a ‘presence’ boost by boosting the upper mids and treble so that the tone becomes more pronounced and present especially in a mix. It also has a subsonic HPF filter to tighten up the sound. It's also got a very decent 3 band EQ & character / drive dials for tone shaping from clean to full on dirt. Put that all together and it's very possibly exactly the antidote needed for a dark sounding bass? Out of interest why are short scales darker than 34" scales?

Won't your Helix Stomp give you pretty much all the tone shaping options you need? What do you feel it's lacking?