Al Krow

Haha - I managed to avoid mentioning 5 string! So yup you get to keep your Streamer.

Thing is you tend to put together all the little bits that you think would be just great e.g. for me PJ with reverse P pup Meaty / growly pups 3 band EQ with active / passive pull switch Parametric mid sweep (a la BBNE2) Neck through Great finish A couple of mainstream basses get very close, but not quite found one that ticks all the boxes. In my head all the individual bits makes sense and it will probably look great. But it's a one-off frankensteinette-bass which won't have gone through endless production run refinements and testing. How the heck do you know it's going to sound great? Is there a reason why no-one's making it in the first place? Etc? Etc? I still can't get over the look of disappointment on a fellow BC'ers face when I'd driven 90 mins to try his almost new custom ordered bass. It was actually a mainstream brand made bespoke with options so less chance for things to go wrong. It had all the bells and whistles you'd expect on a £4k bass and it was going for just over half price. But as much as I tried to like it, it was just too hi-fi for me and I walked away empty handed. He did manage to sell it shortly after so all's (kinda) well that ends. However it had been a matter of just a few months after getting it that he'd had that gut-churning realisation that he'e parted with £4k on a bass that wasn't for him and there were then no takers for it at £3.5k...£3.25k...£3k...£2.75k... £2.5k...£2.25k.... And I know it's not all about the money, but that whole experience would surely still have hurt?

TC Mojomojo at the budget end. Or if you want everything under one bonnet from mild OD to full fat fuzz, with great retention of low end, pick up a used SA Aftershock for around £90 Actually both pedals retain low end well and added to in the case of the AS by providing a clean blend. Job done 😉

Yup, that's where I've landed also with synths: allowing them to work on the cleanest input signal possible, i.e. at the start of the chain, seems to be optimal. I've ended up putting drive and bitcrush into my Boss SY-1's loop (our FIs unfortunately don't have that option) and left the Stomp at the end of the chain where it can also double up as the DI (as mentioned above). @Rik (ESA) Lots of decent PSUs to go for. Very much recommend you go for isolated outputs if you can to minimise the risk of pedal hum. I've ended up with an MXR IsoBrick which puts out 2.7Amps through 10 isolated outputs. This powers everything on my main board apart from my Stomp which I'm just using it's own PSU for. I have a Truetone OneSpot CS6 for my smaller board. If you can find something that fits snugly under your board, all the better as this will leave more space for your pedals on top! The OneSpot CS6 and Ciocks DC5 are great for the smaller flat boards; you have more PSU options with the larger angled boards.

Custom builds clearly crop up as one of a bass player's bigger lotteries, without the ability to "try before you buy". Our collective experience seems to range from expensive disappointment to massive delight. No idea what proportions fall into which camp though!

Haha! Clearly I'm a nobody then 😁

That's interesting. So what level is the DI out set at? I assume you still have the ability to upset the sound man / keep a bit of control by using the volume control on the bass or on any of your pedals if you're using the DI pre out and also the Gain on the DG preamp if you're using the DI post out. So it's just literally the Master volume that is completely post DI.

NAD - DG AO900 arrived safely in the post and seems to be working just fine. It's a used one I picked up in the FS for a good price but alas comes without the footswitch! Had a few BC'ers been asking how the new models stack up against the (now discontinued) v1s. I'd say it's a significant evolution rather than a revolution. In particular: The power module delivering 900 very clean watts at 4 ohms and 2 ohms is still the same. The Series 2 models both sport the same clean lines of design and general form factor / size. Key difference between the AO, and the M900 Mk2 and Mk1 AO drive vs B3K and VMT (on both the M900 Mk2 and Mk1) The AO drive follows the feature set available on the Alpha Omicron, including 'bite' and 'growl' switches and the ability to blend the Alpha and Omega drives. The B3K and VMT are independent with no possibility of blending. A consequential impact is that the AO900 can manage just fine with the 'intelligent' footswitch and doesn't need the 'super intelligent' footswitch to fully unlock the amp's features when using a footswitch. So whether the AO is the right one for you should very much be driven (excuse the pun!) by which drive engine you prefer. If you're not into DG drives at all but you just want the excellent 900W clean and flexible EQ that's available from the power module then maybe it might make more sense to pick up a used Mk1. However, this key difference aside, the AO900 and the M900 Mk2 have a lot of the new features in common. The following are all available on the both the AO900 and the M900 Mk2, and are the 'evolution' over the Mk1: Improvements that are 'nice to haves' 6 band EQ vs 4 band, but the 4 band on the Mk1 comes with semi para for both low and high mids. Tied in with 2, sliders rather than dials provides a neater layout, allowing space for the additional two EQ bands. Sliders should also be less prone to being knocked off desired settings accidentally. Aux in and headphone out. The latter has its own vol control which is a nice touch and a choice of 3 cab sims. Built in compressor (apparently based on the Hyperluminal circuit but tbc). Other new features (will likely be less relevant to me in the short term, but maybe the opposite for others) Two cab outputs so no need to daisy chain cabs Both pre and post DI outputs available simultaneously IRs can be loaded USB and midi connectivity I'll shortly be putting my Mk1 up for sale, but in the meantime I've got them set up to A/B and I'll be particularly focusing on the difference between the AO drive vs the B3K/VMT and the 6 band EQ vs 4 band with para mids. Will report back when I've done so.

Really about time you got yourself one of these then 😁

In my band I am the butler. 😁

Nah - you can get an overall lighter weight using 2 x RCA 310As and a BF SC than anything comparably good with IEMs and a PA that can handle bass (you're talking RCF 735As or similar, right?) And a BF SC by itself plus D class head is less weight than a QSC K12.2. Where the QSC wins (hands down!) is on cost.

I think we are very rapidly coming to the same conclusion. It will be something we look into as "standard" going forward and who knows we may be able to persuade some folk booking us to consider alternative venues if they don't want the band (and the DJ last night) coming up against sporadic cut outs!

+1^^ to what Dave just said. Didn't put 2+2 together until near the end of the gig - we were too busy trying to avoid the red light & cut off before then. In my defence I was the only band member who spotted this "loophole" - the guitarist was oblivious to the fact, perhaps cos he was already turned down a LOT (treble frequencies seeming to be more sensitive) so probably couldn't hear himself anyway 😁

Yeah good plan! Actually our guitarist looked at me quizzically when I turned up his amp towards the end of the gig when we had yet another raucous-audience induced power outage. He was last man standing - his power socket wasn't affected - and could keep playing along with the drummer whilst I was doing silent air bass 😂

Actually you're not wrong there! So did you replace your temporary Stomp / get the software version or are you currently Stompless?

Nope to HXFX. Size / PB real estate is a major consideration for me. You've missed off all the things I said it does well which I am using it for and I omitted EQ from above (I'll add that in). It's already paid for itself by: - replacing a Q\Strip, octave down, headphone amp and avoiding me needing to get a Fishman Power Chord! And yes I have messed around with the drive etc. Not yet matched my dedicated drives (hence "jury is still out") but early days. Where have you landed on Stomp ownership, can't remember if you still have one / replaced the one you returned?

VK cabs are excellent. I've found Berg and Fearless to be even better. And BF, whilst my least favourite of this high-end bunch of cabs, wins easily on portability.

Nope not ditched all my pedals. IMO Stomp can't do the following as well as dedicated pedals: synth (cos it doesn't have a synth engine); octave up or bit crush. Jury is out for me on drive / fuzz and filter. It's not too bad on plain vanilla octave down but it's certainly no DOD Meatbox (but then what is?!) Can handle pitch shift, and other modulation effects (chorus, delay, flange etc) well. Seems to have got the thumbs up on compression from several BCers. It's pants as a looper compared to the 6 to 8 hours recording and 99 memories available on dedicated loopers. It can manage all of 60 seconds so do hold your breath. Very capable EQ and should be a decent hpf / lpf (although I've still kept my Thumpinator for now for hpf duties). Supposed to be pretty darned good at amp and cab sims, but as I'm very happy with my amps and cabs not an area that will be particularly relevant for me, but if you're thinking of going IEM then it could well be just the ticket. And it's a blood*y good tuner 😁

Feedback from the band is we should simply turn down gigs at venues with sound limiters. Quite a radical approach. But I can see the sense in it. Anyone else gone down that road?

Just back from a wedding gig. Our first experience of sound volume limiters at venues - talk about spawn of the devil!!

Interesting - seems that I should maybe equating the TKS 1126 + tweeter with the BB2 and the TKS 112 (tweeterless) with the BF SC? I actually find the BF cabs a little lacking in the mids, as it is, so if the 1126 is more 'scooped' than the BF it's likely to be going in the wrong direction and the Fearless F112 will continue to be the cab for me (just waiting for @dave_bass5 to decide it's not 'quite right' for him and to sell it back to me. Give him a couple of weeks...😁) Did you consider getting a pair of 212s (or possibly a 410) instead of 4 x 112s?

You've clearly been subliminally influencing my thinking (again) then!

THREE 112s!!! Btw when you said the TKS 1126 was more hollow than the BB2, are you essentially meaning more mid scooped?