Al Krow

If that's correct, Dave, that would be doubly neat as it would leave the woofer able to focus more on the mids and lows. Win win. I actually quite like the tone with HF dial set at 8/10 or so; it really is very articulate. Not sure now why I hesitated in getting the BB2 before, perhaps based on some friendly fire which suggested that topping out at 4kHz shouldn't make much of a difference (on the SC and the ST). It noticeably does.

Bit of a shock response from the missus, just now (must be going down with a bug or something)! I explained that the BB2 edged it over the SC for me sonically, and I thought that Monsieur P le Chat was a bit mad letting it go for such a good price only having had 6 months, particularly as he'd felt it sounded a LOT closer to what he was after when paired with my AO900 rather than his Ashdown, so actually it's his head he needs looking at? Mentioned I'd had my SC for 18 months 'cos it's easily the lightest decent cab out there. She asked "if that's the case, why was I thinking about selling it then?" Hmmm...she's got a point...it is still the perfect "grab'n'go" cab. @Merton I think you've just replaced your SC, what's taken its place and you glad you made the move?

My privilege to start Ian's (aka @Pirellithecat) feedback thread. Ian sold me his BF BB2 today, having very kindly delivered it to my door and allowed me the opportunity to try it out before buying. It was in the mint condition he'd promised it would be (and it's a great cab). Ian is a proper gent and the whole transaction went very smoothly, as well as finding time (of course!) to chew the cud on bass gear and music. No hesitation in recommending Ian to my fellow BC'ers - deal with in complete confidence. Cheers, Bas

But would you take more than one bass to a gig? Shouldn't take you too long to dial in the right setting for each bass pre gig, if you're only taking out one bass at a time? Although if you had @bassfan's B|Amp you could just set it all up as presets! Ah yes - a horn not a tweeter - my turn for an error in my mini review above! Actually that's a ton better and explains why I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of hiss with the treble dialled up and the high freq set to max on the BB2.

@krispn definitely not any form of dig at you at all, my friend (on this occasion 😁)! More of a challenge to the "orthodoxy" that's all too often heard on bass gear forums, including this one. But don't get me wrong, I totally respect folk who gig their gear! And playing live with my bandmates is my passion. But assuming that is the only "proper" enjoyment / pleasure / fun that folk can get from their kit is IMO small minded and disparaging of the many who are not in a band. Creativity comes in many guises!

Barefaced Super Compact vs BB2 Interesting you mentioned on the 'best D class thread' possibly thinking of pairing your AO900 with the BF SC, Paul, it's exactly what I have been doing for the past 6 months or so (and with a DG M900 for a year before that). It's not a bad pairing at all and the SC has outlasted several other cabs that tonally stole a march on it because it such an easy carry at 21 lbs. But for me it definitely met its nemesis today in the shape of its big brother, the BB2, which I very nearly went for 3 years back but ended up with VK 210 MNT instead. Well I've come full circle. I had a very pleasant time with the seller, Ian (aka @Pirellithecat), who kindly bought his cab right to my door all the way from "up North" a chunk of which involved A/Bing the SC with the BB2 via an AO900 set clean and a Yammy BB1025 on the full spread of its P/J settings. Conclusion: they are clearly sibling cabs but the BB2 is more musical sounding vs a flatter / slightly harsher tone from the SC which tops out at 4kHz. The BB2, unlike the SC, has a tweeter horn that provides welcome additional colour to the top end without being 'hissy' or unduly bright. The BB2 is a little bigger depth wise and is 7 lbs heavier than my silver grille SC, but still very portable. The flatter / slightly harsher tone I've had from my SC has recently made me think about getting a tonally richer amp to pair it with ('cos frankly my Mesa M6 makes pretty much most cabs sound good!) I know others have "solved" the same point by pairing their BF SC with a BF Super Midget, but as a one cab solution the BB2 seems to tick a lot of boxes. I suspect the AO900 /BB2 combo will be a pairing, for live use, that I'm going to be very happy with. [Aside: we were in full agreement about having the benefit of some of our best gear for home use: like me he plays far more at home than live with his band and we agreed that the nuances of great bass tone are much harder to discern in a full band mix with ear plugs in! I'm gonna continue battling the snobbery that I often hear on BC from guys that "if you don't gig it, it's pointless having it!" Tosh. We should all get to choose how we enjoy our own gear without that sort of bollox being regularly spouted. Here's a glass raised to bedroom bassists as well as their gigging counterparts].

But surely why I invite you round, what's the point of doing that otherwise? 😁

Ok following up on the above discussion - so I've had a listen out for any annoying 'comb filtering' resulting from putting the digital B1X-4 in the LS2's loop and tried it with the 15 or so patches I've got set up. Conclusion: - if there was any 'comb filtering' it was barely noticeable (by me anyway!) and completely swamped by the effects themselves. The benefit of being able to blend in clean to preserve both (i) authentic bass tone and (ii) low end, particularly on the drive patches, was immediately obvious. => very happy with the set up and no hesitation in recommending folk doing something similar with their Zoom multifx.

Where's this PSU been all my life?! Slots comfortably below a "flat" pedal board. Delivers 1.9A vs my Trutone 1Spot CS6 1.6A vs former Ciocks DC5 0.9A. I mention those two 'cos they are two very good PSUs which can also work well under a flat board. It provides two 500mA outputs with variable 9V/12V/18V which are the most common alternatives AND costs much less than either the 1Spot or Ciocks!

You can never have too much fat valve on any bass thread!

You're turning into a right digital diva aren't you? .😂 You'll be singing the praises of your HX Effects next!

+1 ^^ for the DG AO900 Still discovering new nuances of this versatile amp. It's not a cheap amp though!

Wow that list has been kept up to date for a decade! Impressed! Well my two Tech 21 pedals are both analogue and not on the invert phase list so on my other larger board, which is also going to be centred around a multi fx (I think you're getting a bit of theme from me here!), having the Red Ripper fuzz in the Boss SY-1 loop to keep a clean synth sound in the chain should be just fine.

Cheers Gents - thanks for taking the time to post the above, appreciated! Well the board is set up and ready to go so I'll be having a play and be listening out, although the dirt I've got set up e.g. the Rat Tail is anything but subtle! There is a broader point here about parallel loops more generally, right? Loads of us are doing that without any concerns. From what dB is saying, it seems to me that this is only going to be an issue when digital pedals are in the loop of another pedal, it should be a non issue if a digital pedal has an analogue pedal in its loop?

True. But very easy to dial the clean signal right down if that ever becomes an issue for a particular fx patch: remember the LS2 offers independent volume control for both clean and fx, so you can still go fully wet by simply doing that. Or alternatively just have the LS2 set to output 'A' only. Comb filtering is going to be a non issue for dirt though, right? And plenty of folk throughout history (or at least since the invention of the LS2 decades back!) have been blending clean with their dirt to preserve low end, albeit mostly with analogue dirt pedals. On a separate note, the comb filtering effect doesn't seem a million miles off what folk are deliberately trying to do when they bi-amp? So it could actually be a good thing?! But I'll have to have a listen to see if I can actually hear occurring in the first place. I suspect it will be most noticeable on pitch shifting (which I absolutely won't be doing on the Zoom anyway) and octave down, when the additional latency should also be relatively obvious.

I've kept things very simple for live band work so far i.e. just bass --> amp & cab. Pedals have pretty much entirely been for home creative use for me to date. However I've put together a budget mini board centred around an inexpensive Zoom B1X-4 multifx and powered by a Harley Benton Iso5, which slots easily underneath the HB 50M board. I went for the HB board instead of the usual Pedaltrain as it has a perfect width for the Zoom multi. Board has all the bits I'm likely to be needing for live use: Smoothhound wireless--> Boss LS2-->Zoom B1X-4-->Digitech Mosaic The Zoom is in the LS2's 'A' loop to allow me to blend in as much clean to combine with the Zoom's effects. That's a must for a lot of the Zoom drive patches, particularly my fav Rat Tail, but it will be a "nice to have" to keep some authentic low end with other fx. One area that the Zoom is pretty pants at IMO is pitch shifting, including octave up (although it's not too bad at octave down) and the Mosaic is on the board for that particularly duty. Looking forward to giving it a spin just as soon as the next non cancelled gig materialises!

Yeah crapping out on a gig is never going to be fun. But less of a surprise with an old road worn amp than a new one. HXFX will be on same board as VTDI. But first things first, nice simple mini board with Zoom B1X-4 set up and ready to rock! Although gigs are currently slipping out of the diary at a rapid rate of knots!

I'm afraid the Ibby Portamento 5 is an obligatory addition for any complete set. Avoid checking it out 😉

Is that completely right, though? Surely lifeless 3 /4 year old rounds are not going to be same as a set of new flats?

Good man! Going to be using it solo or with any other pedals. Amp failure! Ouch. Which one? Was it "not unexpected wear and tear" 'cos it had a fair few miles on the clock?

Fair, it would be in keeping wouldn't it?

Congrats!! I very nearly bought that bass off Paul myself! They really are superb basses. You've caught the bug** haven't you? You'll soon be surpassing my modest hoard of 3 Ibbys and Woody's stash of 6,359 which he keeps in a shed together with 6 months' loo roll and tinned bean supplies 😁 **Ibanez not the OTHER one...

I can tell that you've done a good thing getting into @walshy's supply chain! I think I'm going to have to follow in your footsteps at some point soon! Out of interest, Walshy what's succeeded the BAmp in your own line up?