Al Krow

@FinnDave where the venue has a decent sound system including monitors and a competent sound engineer, I turn up with just my bass and a lead! I may pull out the stops and take along a Zoom B1X-4, which fits into my gig bag, going forward...

Entirely depends on your set up. We have two RCF 310As as our PA and put vocals, acoustic guitar and sax through that. The PA is lightweight and very portable. Bass and lead guitar are through backline. Works very well for both pub gigs and functions. For me, around 500W+ D class works a treat, gives me enough headroom without needing to thrash my amp every gig. My current D class head delivers 450W through an 8 ohm cab (perfect for pubs) and has the ability to go to twice that for functions via a VK210 LNT 4ohms, where we are providing all the kit. It sounds great. I've done the sums and the weight of our PA and bass rig (which is what I am responsible for transporting) is actually less than just a PA that is capable of handling bass as well as my bass rig can (e.g 2 x RCF 745As).

What are these mixers you and @EBS_freak are referring to which have these 'superior facilities'? How much would one of these set you back? Our pretty good quality Allen & Heath analogue mixer is definitely not in this league!

Agreed with everything you said, John, apart from that last statement 😁

...or just get a couple of pedals that meet your immediate requirements What's your current set up for bass rig and PA? I presume you will be providing all the sound gear for at least some of the functions you're going to be playing at?

Paul - I totally love that. Gonna be my 'thought for the day'! I replaced a rack that could hold 5 basses for one that could manage 7. But I somehow managed to not get rid of the 5-rack!! Schoolboy error.

Well my Spectracomp has unexpectedly been usurped by a single effect patch on the capable (and amazing value) Zoom B1X-4 mulitfx and is currently sitting in the departure lounge... A month in, how are you getting on with the Stella? Is it still stellar and how does it stack up against the other comps you've had over the years?

Ok I just need to get competent on using a pick and learning how to slap then and I'll be able to justify getting that swanky CompIQ Stella 😀

Are you using the ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction) effect on your B1on patches? I find that adding it as 'standard' eliminates background 'standstill' noise on the noisier B1-4 patches e.g. the drive effects in particular. Not sure about your Q - but full available effects list attached. But that then leaves you plenty of time to be playing wing basses, doesn't it? And the audience probably does think that is a keyboard bass 😀 Zoom B1(X)-4 effects.pdf

Haha - no doubt I / we spend far too much time on here. But we're all allowed some R&R, right? And this beats fBook for me! Btw - if you get the Zoom B1-4 or the Helix Stomp, you can cut down a lot on buying pedals and maybe even start selling some!

Actually there's quite a big point here, ped. It's a personal one for me, but I'm sure others will relate to it. It has nothing to do with shoes and everything to do with good use of time. There are a lot things calling on our attention musically, from working on new material, band management / getting new gigs, trying to improve musicianship both as a bassist and a band member. I want to be prioritising those things that make a tangible difference. What I love most about my bass is playing a tight set live with great band mates, to an audience who are showing that they are loving the music, up and dancing and having a great night out. There's always a stock answer of 'do everything'. But back in the real world it's about making the best of use what limited spare time we have, particularly for those of us for whom music is a passion and not a full time job. So I want to avoid spending too much time on stuff that is going to have little or no impact on my audiences or that me and / or my band mates don't notice, and focus on stuff that does make a difference.

Mine would! But switch the compressor off, not a chance 😁

Haha. When is that quote from? Surely folk are allowed to learn from other BC'ers (and in life generally) and to evolve and grow in their thinking, wouldn't you agree? Or do we all arrive on this forum as perfect and fully formed bassists? Here's what I would say today: BUT frankly NO pub audience is ever going to notice whether a bass player is using compression or not. (Can I suggest that folk who disagree simply switch their compressor off mid track and see if anyone in the audience notices?). [Yup still agree with that!] In that context it's pointless, unless it's something that the bassist finds that they, themselves, notice and get pleasure from. - a prolific bass chatter

For my part, I'd really like to hear from fellow B1-4 / B3N users out there what your favourite Zoom drive effects / patches are that you have put together and what are you doing to preserve a meaty low end?

+1^^ In my case different amps, but identical sentiment: I totally love my Class A/B with its valve preamp; but in no way do I lack any confidence in the ability of my Class D to come up with goods at rehearsals or gigs. And my back is grateful every time!

@Sparky Mark Loved the last two sentences! Btw - I thought the LM3 was D class and came out more recently; did you mean its predecessor the LM2?

Is that a Spaceship from Space 1999 you're sporting? 😀

@JohnDaBass I know you were particularly interested in how good the comps are on the Zoom effects. Well I've not really rated them, until now! The Glam Comp effect gets pretty close to the Spectracomp which is set always on at 3/10 of my board (I've posted the spec on the user patches thread - which I know you've seen). It's actually slightly less mid punchy and doesn't give a volume boost on my settings that the Spectracomp does, both of which I like better on the Zoom. So I think I'm going to use the Glam Comp as my default comp for all my Zoom patches going forward. And I can't actually think of a good reason to hold on to my much loved Spectracomp right now, so I suspect that the B1X-4 carnage is going to claim its next victim on my board very shortly

Did you hear / notice anything much different? I've just been focusing on the (allegedly) reduced stress on the strings as per the Yammy blurb (propaganda? 😂) “Diagonal Body Thru Stringing,” where strings are angled at the saddle and pass through the instrument to the bridge at a 45º angle, as opposed to the traditional vertical stringing method which places more stress on the strings. Diagonal Body Thru Stringing significantly reduces this stress while transferring string vibration to the body reliably and efficiently.

Glam Comp - seems to get pretty close to what my 'straight out of the box' set-up Spectracomp is doing on about 3/10 (which is my 'always on' setting for it).

Except, I have to agree with dB that it doesn't look that good! And given the choice of through body or through bridge, I would go for through body every time.

I agree that for anyone going in-ears the Stomp looks ideal and is way more capable than a £70 B1-4. No question. And it's a Yamaha product after all 😁 Is the Helix Native software free for Stomp owners in the same way that Zoom's GuitarLab or ToneLib is?

Haha... @bassfan has ended up with a Mesa M6 and is on the way to getting his second (rather lush) Yamaha BB. And he's even got a pedal board. Not sure any of these were part of his 5 year plan 😂 @dmccombe7 a vintage white BB finished like this for your 70s glam covers band? Now you're talking!

But only the 415 is stringing through the bridge, the 425 and 435 are body through stringing and they both have the extended bridge piece - why? The 1025, 735A and P35 are all body through and, quite rightly, don't have the extended bridge piece. However, the 235 is stringing through the bridge and doesn't have the extended B string bridge piece. Methinks Yammy are using their surplus bridge piece stock on the wrong basses! i.e. they should be using them on the 235 and not the 435 (where they look a bit weird and serve no purpose).