Al Krow

On the understanding that the SY-1 is a cut down version of the SY-300, the following extract from a Sound on Sound 2015 review of the SY-300 is quite informative on what's going on under the bonnet and how Boss have managed to eliminate latency on the tracking. "The engineers at Roland/Boss are understandably a little secretive about what’s going on inside the SY‑300 but, given the way other devices work and some knowledge of recent advances in polyphonic real–time pitch extraction, I have a good idea of the essentials. As you’d expect, some form of polyphonic pitch–extraction is used to control the sound processing but, unlike with most such systems, there’s no latency between plucking/strumming the strings and hearing the sound. This is because the sound you hear actually starts life not as a sample, but as the waveform that comes directly from your guitar’s pickup, just as with any conventional effect. You might not recognise it as such because its harmonic makeup is augmented and re–arranged to produce the familiar square, pulse, triangle, sine, sawtooth, and noise waves used in basic analogue synthesis, but that’s what it is — the processed sound from your guitar. This approach overcomes the problem of latency, of course, but it also means what you hear is directly affected by the way you play or the guitar’s pickup; the SY‑300 restores that organic connection between player and instrument that previous guitar synths sacrificed. Some form of digital pitch–shifting is then used to detune or retune the individual oscillators by up to 24 semitones (in either direction), and synth–style envelopes, filters and modulations can be applied."

Sold Jack a PT2 flight case. Fast payment, great comms and a pleasure to deal with...you'll no doubt soon be wanting to purchase some more pedals to make use of it methinks 😀 Cheers, Bas

Cheers Dave. Yup on true bypass. Clicks are fine. Chunky loud thuds / pops that you know your speakers are not liking, much less so! Let me know if you find 'pretend' bypass any better in this regard, I might have to settle for that if it's significantly better.

Just fire your existing guitarist and get this guy...I'm going to be putting a bit of pressure on my lot after seeing this! 😁

^^ This And it works both ways.

I'm still on the fence, mate. 😀

Chap who I was using in Hackney has left London, so I'd be really interested in any techs in the London East area, too! Edmonton is likely to be a 2 hour round trip for me, so any other recommendations more central / east would be very gratefully received.

I think we've managed to clarify between us why polyphonic capability can result in better tracking. In summary, as we discussed: It seems the best tracking results on the FI are achieved when using a staccato / muting playing technique for the more rapid notes you might find in a typical bass line e.g. when playing octaves, by making sure your thumb mutes the lower string at the instant (or just before) you pluck the higher one. A polyphonic pedal will certainly be more flexible in accommodating different playing techniques. For me, not having to modify my playing technique to get the best out of a pedal is a significant plus point - I like that the pedal is working with and for me and not the other way around. So it's definitely looking like the SY-1 is hitting the mark, beautifully, for what I need it to be doing: a quality synth pedal that is both very straightforward and a pleasure to use; small footprint with great tracking and a varied soundscape.

Sandberg TM4. Lovely well made bass and my goto bass for several years. Limitations for me were mainly finding the Delano pups too civilised, and not wanting to spend ££s on another set of pups; but also transitioning to active basses and preferring 3 band EQs over 2 band. So it was not for me and I've since moved mine on and subsequently discovered the delights of Ibbys, Yammys and most recently Spectors (having flirted with a couple of Warwicks along the way). But there are plenty of BC'ers who hold Bergs in very high regard and are very happy with them.

Go on finish it in a stunning gloss white, buy yourself a NE1 pedal for £60 (used) and you've got yourself a Nathan East sig for a fraction of the price. Now there's a thought!... Yup selling a Sandberg (with Delano pups) is the very definition of liberation - I can vouch for that! 😂

You do realise that your much heralded flirtation with possibly getting a BB 435 / 735A / P35 has a bunch of us sellers feeling like a Yammy version of Love Island don't you? 😁 Btw if you ever refi your N5 in vintage white, or that lovely gloss black that @TheGreek has, it's going to be a head turner! Although I appreciate there is quite a head of steam for orange being the new black on this thread. It isn't 😂

+1 ^^ Will preserve your tonal range intact below the volume threshold. @ped is a big fan of this approach.

So how is the kitchen coming along?! 😀

Are you guys getting a mini-'surge' when engaging the full bypass? Something that seemed to be happening on mine and not great for the speakers so I've ended up just including easy to access 'clean' patches.

My 5th pedal transaction with Lee, first time as buyer. All completely good: he's a top man!

I think y'all need to stop pussyfooting around....😂 [ Courtesy @Salt on your Bass? (c)2019 ]

Looks awesome! Had to do a double take though - first time around I had a jaw dropping moment thinking "has he really gone for an almighty 12 x 10 rig?!!" 😂

Ah cloth covered leads instead of vinyl. I knew there was a good reason for all that extra cost 😂

Wow - this thing kicks out low end!! On humbucker setting, it's delivering a perfectly full / meaty low end with the bass EQ at nil(!) and at most adding just a touch for added flavour. On single coil settings can usefully increase the bass EQ to 3/10, but really don't need to go any higher than that. Treble EQ provides a nice range from Motown dialled-off through to bright slap zing at the other end. Default for me will likely be 6 to 8 /10 with dialled-off when required. Of the other basses I've owned / played the Euro 5LX reminds me most of my Yammy BBNE2, with its sculpted body and similarly meaty low end (albeit the NE2 does have a more versatile on board active EQ than the Spector and pretty much the rest of my herd for that matter!) Believe me, that is high praise indeed coming from a Yammy fanboy like me! Just day 2, I know, and still in that honeymoon period etc. But am liking it a lot already and delighted that I've been able to pick it up at a 'sale' price.

+1^^ absolutely!

I think @Osiris mentioned he had got some great results with the multi-band compressor on the Stomp. Hopefully he'll be along shortly to give you some pointers...