Al Krow

Came across one comment on one of the YT reviews in response to another post. "Tell us more about the equipment behind your friends' Yamahas? I guess they're using a computer. So the audio interface, settings, even cables and especially audio drivers. Connected directly to the PC, my Yamaha HS8's sound like a mid-priced gaming speakers without ASIO driver. The difference is dramatic." Got me thinking that as I'm going to be connecting to my PC, getting better quality speakers may just be a waste of time?!

I've had / still have various really good isolated PSUs including the 1Spot CS6, Ciocks DC5 and 8, and MXR IsoBrick. I've recently been very pleasantly surprised by the HB IsoPro5 from Thomann which is tiny (will easily fit under your board), noiseless, has different voltage settings on a couple of outputs (9V, 12V and 18V) and delivers a fair chunk of isolated power (1.9 amps in total). And it costs around £50 including P&P, which makes it incredible value.

The Digital Stereophony site is just excellent (through a decent pair of headphones). Even had a comparison of my current T40s against the iLouds I was thinking of getting! The iLouds do have a bigger bass (e.g. at 02.30) but I'm not convinced they are going to be a significant step up. Back to the drawing board!

Cheers Steve, I'll check those out. Spooky coincidence on the Creative T40s! Did you consider / compare any others in arriving at the NS3s? If so, be very interested in which ones were on your list and why you went for the NS3s over them.

Seems like an additional sub is probably the way to go then? One of the things about the iLoud is the bass reflex port, which seems to really help with the lows from the clips I've seen so far. I suspect it's not going to be in same league as the Adam T5V or the Yammy MSP5s with their 5" speakers but on the plus the iLouds are more compact, which is going to helpful for me, and I suspect half the price (which doesn't hurt either )

Cheers Jack - actually for both audio work and probably even more for listening to music e.g. playing tracks to practice along to at home. Yeah - interesting you comment on the Produce like a Pro Guy - it was actually one of his other videos that got me thinking about this in the first place. He seems to be pretty "independent" i.e. doesn't have a particular axe to grind which makes his reviews that much more useful. I'm thinking that the iLouds should be a very decent step-up from the budget Creative Gigaworks I've been using for the past few years though.

My research so far has identified the iLoud MMs as being decent - they seem to stand up well against the well rated Genelec 8010A and certainly have a fuller bass. They're also half the price!

That would be a really cool thread...over to you on that one!

I've been using a pair of Creative Gigaworks T40 ii for home / studio desk use for several years and they're not too shabby at all. But I wouldn't mind stepping up a level in terms of sound quality, whilst keeping things compact. What are you guys using that you could recommend that delivers a great sound with a meaty low end?

Yeah but if you follow that logic to its conclusion then everything is equally valid and equally crap and no point in asking anyone about anything: it'll be just their opinion at the end of the day and therefore "meaningless." Whereas I suspect a few of us do find the views and opinions shared by folk at bassplayer magazine (and similar outfits) worth checking out. If folk don't find it interesting, useful or helpful they should defo avoid. I've never clicked on any of the endless “8 cool ways to thread a fishing rod” posts in my life and I don't suppose I ever will. Just sayin' 😉

Putting their actual ranking within the list aside, which of course is going to be quite subjective, is it not the case that these are collectively 100 of the best bass players of all time either in terms of musicianship, creativity or the influence they have had on other bass players? That, for me, then becomes a much more credible and useful list. The challenge is to think of any others who should have been included in a list of 'the Top 100' and who to take off to make way for them. I'm sensing from our collective comments that there are perhaps only another 20 or so who should have found their way onto the list in place of some of the others on there? If that's correct, then it's actually a really handy list of a bunch of great bass players a number of whom I've not previously come across and are definitely worth me checking out further.

Was there a bit more to get the tuner to the correct pitch, which we discussed earlier, or is that already covered in the above?

👍 And the Spectrum is also a darned sight cheaper than the 3Leaf Proton (2020) which is also going to be in its favour!

Two different beasts. Digital PC editing deep dive for the Spectrum, but potentially very rewarding for those with the patience to unlock. My limited brain RAM is being fully utilised on the PC editing front by my Helix & Zoom multifx's, so the immediacy of an analogue trad-dial pedal format remains appealing for the rest of my board. Managed to snag a 3Leaf Proton (2020) a few days back and I'm really liking what I'm hearing so far! Just managed to very quickly and easily dial in a squelchy up-sweep - this could turn out to be the best filter pedal I've had yet. Lucky to have managed to get hold of one used so soon after release; the new price including shipping, customs, £12 handling charge & VAT with the current low value of the £ is eye watering and my mini board has definitely lost its right to be called "budget" after the addition of the Proton (2020)!

A TalkBass chap has just posted this on their SY-1 thread today: "Finally got around to trying this on guitar mode, gets closer than anything else I’ve tried. For Moog sounds (for playing along to The Police): Type: bass Variation 6 Depth 9:00 Tone 2:00 Effect 12:00 Direct 11:00 If anyone finds a setting closer to a Moog Taurus let us know!" What's really interesting for me is that's pretty much the exact setting I was describing in my pic / post above a few days back (April 26th). There's a little variation between dry and wet mix - but they are the most 'cosmetic' setting changes to the overall sound. The key difference is my pedal was set on the bass mode whereas his is on guitar mode, but we both really like our respective settings. Will be very straightforward to audition that patch in both bass mode and guitar mode (by sliding the switch at the rear) and hear what that does to the sound - looking forward to doing exactly that. You may also want to try this at home yourselves! [UPDATE] - when the variation dial is set to 'bass', sliding the switch at the back from bass mode --> guitar mode alters the pitch by an octave i.e. from root + octave up --> octave down + root

👍 And that's the great thing about Helix: marginal cost of trying out the BDDI sim = £square root of nil 😊

Sure - I'll give it a go on the Helix. But does the Helix BDDI sim nail the actual BDDI sound? It's been 3 years since I had the pedal, so a bit like krispn I'm starting to get hazy as to what it sounded like and it would have been through a different rig / bass too!

Nah I was just curious. I know exactly why I didn't like it which I've already stated. I just find it more useful / interesting when folk say they do or don't like something (which is very easy to do) if they could articulate, even in general terms, as to why. Can sometimes give a helpful insight or something to look out for. But no biggie, back to Helix...

Thanks. I was actually more curious what it was about the BDDI that put and Osiris off that particular pedal? You've both said it wasn't for you, but with no explanation as to why. That's the more interesting / informative bit from my perspective.

The 'bite' 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 filter (i.e. HPF) to tighten up the sound.

Apologies for the thread de-rail, but penny for your thoughts on what it was about the sound from the BDDI and VT Bass that didn't float your boat and what the dUg does to deliver? I note you had the VT Bass rather than the VTDI, interestingly the VT Bass appears to be lacking the "bite" switch and blend knob, which for me are both really key in making the VTDI such a great pedal.

Nice little review and liked your clean tone a lot at 4.00, but sadly I didn't hear anything from the pedal that remotely floated my boat tonally or as an octave pedal and I won't be parting with £119 to swell's Boss' coffers on this one!**

Pub gigs are some of the most enjoyable gigs we do. Obviously not as lucrative as functions, but they're more relaxed and can be a huge amount of fun particularly when the crowd is up and dancing / joining in, in the hour before last orders! Missing doing them already!

@TJ Spicer - also loverrly! Was that the one at Bass Direct that you had your eye on. Does that mean a certain white Sad PJ5 is about to come up for sale?! 😉