Al Krow

Hence the "or similar". What compact format pedal do you personally recommend / are you using to deliver parallel loops?

No question that it's another great Boss piece of kit! My point is a practical one - not everyone has the spare PB real estate to accommodate an ES-8. What size is your PB that it can comfortably take the ES-8? Pic please!

Yup, great bit of kit. But the same size as a Nano+ pedal board just by itself?

What are your thoughts in terms of rejigging your board?

Soz mate, still way too soon to say. Give me another 18 to 24 months and if it's still on my board, I'll give it a thumbs up. I'm sorry that is making a mess of your sweepstake. If it's actually been gigged by then, you'll know I'm smitten. Particularly as my live sound has hitherto been just fingers, strings, bass, lead amp and cab. If I buy an FI or C4, because I need a battleship all bets are off. Probably more likely to get a synth keyboard, though... On a touch more serious note, one thing I would strongly recommend to fellow synth users - having a parallel loop with ability to keep your synth generated sound clean is a game changer. If your synth pedal can't do it worth thinking about a Boss LS2 or similar.

I think that's overstating it a bit e.g. the FI can't touch the SY-1 on quality of tracking, availability of an arpegiattor or the ability to parallel loop - and now I know what I'm missing, never having had any of these on my FI, these features are right up there in things I'd want from my synth. The quality and glitch-free nature of the tracking on the SY-1 is a massive achievement making it a really usable piece of live gear. I've never felt that about any of my synth pedals before. And in terms of the rest of the synth engine - sometimes you really don't need a battleship; a fast tracking and small-form gunboat will do just fine. Horses for courses 😉

Paul - just pulling you on here to avoid my de-railing someone else' FS thread: Couple of quick comments from me: - I'm absolutely loving my LX5, it's an astonishingly good bass! - worth checking the difference between the recent more 'rounded' Aggie pups and the EMG pups, which have the classic 'Spector sound'. I've got EMG 40s on mine as has the OP, and they seem to be getting a BIG thumbs up from us both!

Updated comparison note of Panda FI vs SY-1... Where the FI wins: · overall more capable and more tweak-able synth engine · midi enabled · ability to provide 99 presets Where the SY-1 wins: · flawless tracking all the way down to a low B (and not requiring a staccato / muted style to avoid glitching) · immediacy of dials (no need for an app/midi/PC) to access some great synth sounds · ££ (new) · arpeggiator · polyphonic · straightforward parallel loop capability · ability to use an expression pedal · smaller footprint The Source Audio C4 takes the plusses of the FI (albeit owners of both the C4 and FI seem to be saying that they consider the FI to have the more capable synth engine of the two) and a couple of the plusses of the SY-1 (e.g. arpeggiator, smaller footprint and it can also, with care, deliver a parallel loop capability). It also comes in half way between the FI and SY-1 on price. Of the three, I'm finding myself very much in the SY-1 camp (having previously owned the FI and not being averse to SA pedals as you will have noted from my PB!). Whilst the SY-1 is not going to be everyone's first choice, I think we can all agree there's never been a better time to be a bass synth pedal lover!

Board rejigged with the SY-1 very much as the centrepiece - set up with clean input from Thumpinator and Becos comp; parallel bit crush / drive / fuzz loop comprising Srutator, which has replaced the Mastotron very capably, Grizzly, and Ripper and TRS cable to expression pedal. Output from SY-1, combining synth and parallel loop, --> SA pedals / GR2 / Mosaic and finally to Stomp which provides both balanced out and excellent headphone amp capability. Loving it - and that's hopefully me done for a while on the pedalboard front, although I suspect I'm going to be on the look out for an upgrade to my expression pedal to get the most out of the SY-1 at some point soon (hit me up if you have a high end one going spare)

@MoJoThat's a good question! I think Yammy do their own take on the P bass tone and it's a little less 'flat' than the classic P bass, but of all the BBs I've tried my 425 came closest to the classic P bass 'thud'. If you want something more growly / complex than the 425 then my 1025 and P35 have both provided that. I think of the new line up the 735A has the closest sound to these. Although I absolutely love the P and PJ tone from my BB1025 / P35, neither of them will give you the delicious 'growl' of the Nordy Big Singles which I get from my Ibby 1825 which is definitely a J/J bass not a P/J bass. I think you're right to thinking about adding a bit of dirt as the easiest route to get you to the 'sound in your head' and maybe the question is what dirt pedal would be the right one to give you the growl that you're after? I'm sure our fellow BB crew will have some useful thoughts to share on that subject!

Vast range on Amazon for under £10

They do say he who laughs last... I think you're frankly firing blanks on this one gents; always good to get some Feedback.

Probably about the same time as I sell my Boss SY-1 on. Already overdue, should really be just a matter of days now...

Excellent review just posted by Si: Conclusion - which makes a very fitting summary to this thread: "This is one of, if not the best pedal format compressor I have ever used. Being a VCA circuit it's not a one trick pony, lends itself particularly well to transparent compression anyway, but coupled with the advanced features here its capable of incredibly transparent levelling to help 'glue' your bass into the mix better. Or fast enough attack speeds and extreme enough ratios and thresholds to make compression a fun in your face effect or super fat core tones completely achievable. If you want a tool to help on the gig, or to get a 'signature' compressed tone or a device in your hands to help you really get an understanding of what compression can do for you then this has to be really high up on your list. It certainly deserves to be there."

Really excellent review Si and my pleasure to make this pedal available to someone who deeply understands the subject of compression and is undoubtedly one of BC's foremost experts on the subject.

Did you consider getting a different nut made up with narrower spacing to provide you with the desired taper?

Me too. What's not to like? 😉

Aha so you avoided 20% VAT and Customs duties on top, which accounts for a big chunk of the difference. Thanks for the Helix tip, I'll give it a spin. I do have a Tech 21 Red Ripper - wonder if it might be better to use that as my starting point. What's happened to the days of getting a decent bass pedal for £100 eh?! 😎

Yeah, great that she's doing her own thing. Have to say my immediate reaction was that she came across as a bit Amy Lee (Evanescence) Lite. I'm probably being unduly harsh though... You, me and the rest of the world mate!

Yup I've exchanged messages with Tim on TB before. Does seem like a good guy / really talented bass player! (See also my earlier July 16th post above with a YT clip of him). I hadn't put 2+2 together about him being the bass player in YYNOT, but all makes good sense!

I'm actually really tempted by the pedal now - if that is indeed what he is using on those tracks, has he confirmed that? What are your thoughts about getting close to that sound on Helix? As you can tell by that question, I'm also balking a little at the £249 price tag!

The TC BG 250 112 or 210 are a lot of kit for the money. Add a Zoom B4(X) and you have a 'pedalboard to go' on top and change from £350. What are you going to spend the remaining £150 on? 😀

Genius always is. Peter can confirm. 😂

Really liked that track including the bass line. Not come across these guys before, but I'll be looking out for them going forward!

...To be replaced the very next day with the last one of these available in Europe (well according the Ibby rep.), following Ibby ceasing production of these earlier this year. I had the good fortune to source from a German online store at an end of line price. Wasn't sure I was going to like the colour, but has turned out to be very lovely 'in the wood'. And whilst I'm not usually drawn to some of the 'sparklier' elements on basses, the abalone fret inlays are a really nice touch. Excited about the new material that this will hopefully help me to access on bass, assisted by it's relatively uniform and half way to a bass VI string 14mm spacing.