Al Krow

Haha - you've clearly never played in a Bethnal Green pub 😉 @AndyTravis - I'll know exactly the day I start stressing about the minutiae. It'll be the same day I start using a compressor live. No stress here bro, just sharing an observation which seems to chime for some and not for others. All good.

Bingo! The simple version works just great, thanks.

Not on the Series 2 BBs (which I have), but eminently possible to fit a regular pup in the new Series 3. But the ability to switch between PJ <--> J as the song requires provides a varied and usable tonal palette range and my BB 1025 will continue its role as a mainstay of my gigging basses for the foreseeable future yet!

Nah - not my opinion it's muddy (which I equate to being mushy and inarticulate) that was a verbatim viewpoint shared by a couple of TBers, whose comments seemed to be interesting (to me anyway) in that they were vaguely based on "the science". I simply relayed them warts and all. My point / experience is that the low B notes don't cut through in the mix with my Yammy P or PJ but that they definitely do on solo'd bridge J. As you said earlier this works for me. I'm merely sharing this and putting it up for debate, in case it's of use to any fellow BCers. This is NOT something EQ can easily solve IMO, 3 band or otherwise. But the right pups does sound like a solution here. And Nordy P5s, mentioned earlier, strike me as being ones that could work well given my very positive experience with Nord Big Singles on my Ibby SR Premiums I'd need to record the band playing that number live for you to hear what I mean by "meaty crunch" but any such recording would be 3rd hand by definition, after it's been through the limitations of my recording gear and your play back, and given that my videocam is being passed onto one of my offspring for Xmas could be a while...

Only time I tried an MM it came off badly against a BB425 I was in the process of selling, so didn't take any further.

All 4 string P basses, not 5ers? Stuff that's been recorded not the same as played live Can't argue with that.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very lucky to have some great basses in my herd and my Yammy BB1025 PJ has been my stand-out gigging bass during 2019. Couple of helpful TB posts dealing with the 'science' on this topic that have certainly deepened my understanding, which I wanted to share: 1. Bridge pickups are great for low B strings because they emphasize the "overtone" frequencies over the fundamental frequency, and strong overtones are one of the factors that help create a "tight B string tone." A practical tip how to achieve somewhat similar tone on a P bass is to use a high pass filter. If you set the HPF around, say, 60hz then it will clean up the fundamental frequencies and emphasize the overtones when you play on the B string of your 5-string P bass. This will give you more of a "bridge pickup sound" on a P bass that doesn't actually have a bridge pickup. 2. The physics here are that the string vibration is much more pronounced above the area where a P pickup is than it is at any point closer to the neck. The subjective I’ve read is that pickups have a harder time, all else constant, “reading” the string when it’s moving a lot than when it’s moving a little. And lower strings move more than higher ones in general. If that is true, it explains why P basses with only the one split pickup tend to sound a bit muddy down low. Adding a bridge pickup helps, because that pickup gets to read the string at a point where the amplitude of the vibration is less. Also, BTW, notice that as extended range basses became more popular in the 80s and 90s, we saw some new pickup configurations emerge that moved the pickups further back in general. Presumably to address this issue. But I'm getting the sense from your feedback that choice of P pups and to a lesser extent strings can go some way to addressing the issue.

Ibby GVB36 new from Muziker in Germany earlier this year. All good (kinda had to be - as production of this model had ceased and it was the last one available in Europe!) But maybe you're only asking about used basses from fellow BCers in the FS?

Seems to be quite a lot of love for Nordy P5 pups on this thread. Unfortunately the P fitting on the 2 series Yammy BBs is a non standard size. The newer 3 series BBs have changed to a standard size.

I stand corrected; my point was that they're not a P though.

I do hear the point that the choice of pups is going to make a big difference here. I'm struggling to see how EQ is going to make much of a difference in that this is low end territory and it's about the low B string notes cutting through. So gonna primarily be about 80Hz to 100Hz bass frequencies and the last thing I want to be doing is overly boosting the bass EQ.

Yup, indeed, but it's a JJ config not a P.

We recently added a few songs to our set that make use of the low D and C on the low B string e.g. Uptown Funk Immediately obvious to me that neither the P nor P+J settings on my Yammy BB1025 bass cut through the mix at all, whereas the solo'd J bridge pup produced a meaty crunch for the really low notes, eliciting comments from bandmates of "sounded great, what pedal was I using to deliver that change?". No pedals involved at all - simply switching to the J pup. The PJ setting had until then been my default so I'd tried various ruses including raising the height of the low string P pup but to no real avail. Got me thinking that when Leo was sorting out the P bass configuration, 5 string basses were not even a twinkle in his creative eye. Also got me thinking that the reverse-P set up, which several brands have as standard, would get part of the way there by having the low B and E pole closer to the bridge to produce a tighter sound, but that if I really wanted a meaty / crunchy low B that didn't get lost in the mix then actually J pups on my 5ers were going to be essential part of the armoury. Probably been the single biggest bass learning point for me in 2019, so I'm sharing in case it's of use to others. But my experience is derived from one bass (albeit a very well regarded one) and one set of pups - so in good BC fashion, please feel to disagree. Happy Xmas!

Ah that is generally a very fair comment. However Harry knows exactly what my herd comprises having popped round to buy a bass off me, and I'll have to fess to being a big fan of his bass playing! With something like an F bass, you kinda have to go with the steer of your trusted basschat mates as, unlike more mainstream basses, they're generally not something you can try out at your local PMT store.

Ahh you know my weak spots! Anything that's too 'nice' or too hi-fi tonally is not getting past 'go' in Krow herd...particularly at £3k+ entry fee!

Yup! This one in Bass Gallery - which is just a GAS inducing drool in every other way - is the weight of a neutron star...

Why would you buy a head you couldn't use at home as well?

Ah I wonder if that is what has been improved on from Mk1 --> Mk2? That's a really useful tip-off btw thanks!

In terms of spec the Mk2 looks identical to me. No doubt I've missed something but if it is the same, I'd much rather pay £175 for a Mk1 than £400 for an identical Mk2.

If you liked the Boss OC2 then the Valeton OC-10 will deliver that tone in a compact package for a very good price. Review with sound samples in the gear review section. I'd personally avoid the Boss OC3 (it was very meh). The MXR 288 BOD is good but often has a very noisy circuit. A used COG T16 can also be picked up within your budget - I really liked it set with clean blend for fattening up my sound. I've actually managed to replace them all with the octaver effects patch on my Helix HX Effects, which would make sense if you're wanting to do a lot more than just octave, although it does do octave down very well.

There's a BN5 in the FS right now! But translucent red is not really my thing. Hmmm, wonder how easy it would be to get it refinished?

Amen to that. And don't even think about getting me started on the subtleties of compressors 😂 Can you hold down a groove and play with a bit of flair? If you can cut through the mix, whilst you're doing that You'll be 90% of the way there. The punters will love you, and your band mates... Well - they will keep out of your hair.

500W at 4 ohms, so going to be around 300W at 8 ohms. I do have a slight hesitation on the EQ centre points, but I reckon these could be finessed with a bit of care: Initial reaction was that bass centre point was just too low at 50Hz and that would be a deal breaker for me, but I think the way I would work it is by cutting a touch at 50 Hz and engaging the PUNCH switch which boosts by 6dB at 100Hz; Semi para mids with a choice of 250Hz (which would be my default) or 600Hz via the MID SHIFT, gets am unqualified tick from me; Treble centre frequency is 8KHz (which is very high) but compensated for by the BRIGHT SWITCH which provides a 10 dB boost to frequencies above 1KHz. Like the fact it has aux in, head phone out AND a tuner on the amp (yeah!). And DI gives pre/post EQ options. Currently £239 elsewhere. But at around £175 posted (allowing for forex costs) from Thomann - this does look like great value. And as a back-up amp (or indeed a main amp) should give the Bugera heads a run for their money.

Neat!

If you want outstanding tracking then the polyphonic Boss SY-1 easily outperforms here, and doesn't require you to change your playing style to something less natural. It doesn't have the programmability of the FI or C4, however, although it does have 121 accessible settings.