Al Krow

Believe me, it's just as useful to hear contrary views, particularly when they are based on experience and fair reasoning!

@Phil Starr In terms of ranking sound quality from your above posts, would I be correct in reading you as saying? 1. Allen & Heath 2. Yahama 3. Behringher 4. Alesis If so, that bodes well for us! I have ordered a small Behringer 1002FX for use with a small band set up which has 6 usable inputs including 2 mic; and for the other bands that I'm involved with which need more mixer inputs we already have an Allen & Heath Zed60-14FX, This has 10 usable inputs including 8 mic inputs - don't see us outgrowing that any time soon!

In principle absolutely! Key criteria for me would be: 1) how many pedals it could control? 2) size? 3) how does it differ / improve on eg a Boss ES8? 4) obviously cost.

See @GisserD's just started thread. Affordable digital controls for analogue pedals are on their way.

Sounds great! Count me in! I'm guessing you'll be putting the same question to TB'ers, where you're building up a bit of a following with your FI housing design? You'll be setting up a Southern version of COG next, before we know it!

Well here's the thing Andy, I do...buuut it was relatively brief (the focus was on 12 strings that evening, right? Oh yes, and how much awesomer my VK was compared to your Markbass cab 😂) and, if I'm being completely honest, I had no idea of the quality and value of the instrument back then. I do now! And I'm certainly looking forward to a return visit at some point!

Yes for sure (and I have the necessary adapter). But the Smoothhound gets used primarily at gigs use and my pedal board is 'creative home use' only right now, so it makes sense to treat the Smoothhound as an 'off board' item in my case. A four socket extension plug for my bass gear really is not a big imposition at all. Being responsible for the band PA and lights on the other hand... 😃

Good spot, thanks - I've updated the OP to avoid any confusion. And he's swapped to the bass of proper bass pro's in this most recent one (although he was totally not cutting through the mix - probably needed to boost his mids a touch) 😁 I'll need to try a little harder to find him playing his Alembic...

Result! Not going to make you feel any better though Lewis...😁

I've gone for the easy option of powering my Stomp with it's own provided power supply and the other 14 units (i.e. pedals and controllers) on my pedalboard with a single MXR IsoBrick. Having two plugs to power my board didn't feel like too much of an imposition. Then I have another one for my amp and a final one for my Smoothhound. So a 4 socket extension plug sorts me out.

Saw one of my all time 'guilty pleasure bands' on a BBC4 documentary recently and was reminded that the guy who wrote perhaps the most iconic bass line of all time, played on an Alembic bass. Also that Lindsey Buckingham never played with a pic, which is super unusual for a rhythm / lead guitarist. But boy what a sound! On the website Alembic speak of the electronics as being part and parcel of the bass and not some after thought. That's a philosophy that get's a massive thumbs up from me. So who has one and are they as awesome as their reputation (and price tag!)?! The other question I wanted to ask was actually posed by my fellow BC'er 7 years back. Be interesting if thoughts have moved on since then...

Nice! Btw - is 'Rich' short for 'Richard' or just signifying the fact that you can afford a Wal?! 😀

Haha! Status?

Oh that looks nice! Any pics of the full bass?

Was at a jazz / blues venue a while back with a full set by Davide Shorty & The Fresh Prints. Great little band over here from Italy. Bass player was very good. The 'house' bass kit was Markbass (and my gigging combo was also a MB AC 121 Lite at the time). Had a quick chat with him at the end of the night. He mentioned he had started using GR amps in place of Markbass and he found them to be really 'true' to what he was actually playing. I'd not come across them before and he suggested I check them out. So on the back of that I went ahead and I tried out a GR One 800 at Wunjos. Didn't set my pulse racing and certainly wasn't an improvement on MB for me. Sorry not to be any more enthusiastic about these heads!

Just to clarify: the B3n "Low EQ" works as well as, if not better than, the HPF on the MS-60B. For cutting out subsonic crud, I would however recommend a Thumpinator every time as it has a steep cut. But the Thumpinator also has a fixed start point (28Hz) so it's a powerful one trick pony. If you want the flexibility to be cutting above that (eg from 60 Hz) then the Low EQ provides you with that flexibility.

The Soundcraft 8FX does look pretty good and ticks a lot of boxes in terms of 4 inputs and 2XLR outputs plus basic reverb FX. At 215mm x 230mm it's 20% bigger than the Behringer 1002FX, has two less usable inputs and is 60% more expensive. It does have XLR outputs, though. I think the Behringer still edges it overall.

Pulling you onto this thread - please see TJ's comments above about Sadowsky preamps, which may be of interest to you. My only Q is does it make sense to fit a such a nice preamp that is a similar price to the bass itself? Wouldn't you be better off getting a BB 734A and seeing if you liked the pre in that (it's pretty decent) and, if not, replacing it with a Sado preamp?

I think it's going to be mainly for songwriting purposes and to understand drums more deeply. Never been to a rehearsal without a drummer so far, my lot always seem to turn up! Maybe I've just been ridiculously lucky! I need to get off the pot and make a decision on a DAW. There's a whole 'nother thread on that one I know. I guess I'm tossing up between Ableton and Reaper. Very different price points for the two I appreciate, but it's about the time investment getting up to speed for me that this is the key: I'm fortunate that my bands pay their way so investing in gear / kit / accessories isn't a particularly a big deal for me (although I'm still a big fan of value for money!)

Dang - just spotted that the B1 Four has an aux in and the output jack is "for connection to amp or headphones". It's got the DSP of the B3n, rather than the older chips present in the previous generation B3 and MS-60B (and I assume the B1on too?) At £68 that makes it an incredible value multifx headphone amp. Be able to edit with Guitar Lab / no doubt the excellent Tone Lib software will be adapted for this very shortly also too. As @Chienmortbb said above "It is a PITA to programme any digital multi effects unit from the knobs and buttons on the front." Completely agree, particularly the MS-60B in my experience. An expression pedal for another £17 is going to make this a LOT of fun as a stand alone multi to take to rehearsals and gigs. Having sold my B3n to get a Helix Stomp, I'm actually tempted by the fun and convenience of this little thing to go back to a Zoom multi (although I've kept my MS-60B probably more for nostalgia as it was one of the first bass pedals I ever bought) and not to mention its price! ...Shame: I've just discovered it's got a plastic chassis which puts a bit of question-mark over how rugged the B1 Four is going to be.

Haha! For me the 424 is the one bass that will give actives a belly full. Now why did I think you were a passive bass player? Clearly getting that particular wire crossed 'cos I know you're man of great Status. At least you're not burdened with an Attitude yet. BB 734A for you next up, then matey. In fact there's one in the FS as we speak 😂

Dug out an old post from this thread (below) So I did already try an Attitude bass and I really wanted to like it, but it seems that my reaction to them is pretty similar to yours with the BBNE2. But I was probably just playing with the wrong Attitude? 😂 PS the story didn't end well for me. @CameronJ seems to have played the same dastardly role in my BB bass life (he was the guy who first introduced me to BB 1025s, he then inexplicably sold his) that @bigsmokebass seems to play in yours. Cam then force fed me BB NE2 ads till I succumbed. PPS That must make Cameron, Bassfan's BB grandad...

@bassfanwelcome aboard buddy! I see that my surreptitious loan of a BB 425, 'cos you wanted to try out a 5 string has singularly failed in convincing you of the benefits of 5 strings, but had other side effects like persuading you what a lot of bass for the money BBs are!! The 424/5 is a bit of a Ford Mustang in terms of the punch it packs. Be warned, you may find some of your other basses feeling a bit 'civilised' when you've played this a while. Happened to me with a rather nice German bass sporting Delano pups I once had...

Well actually it's a really good question! But I think the only way I'm going to find out is by 'sucking it and seeing'. I just have a 'gut' feel that a hardware solution is going to be easier to flex outside the comfort of home than a software one. I dunno if that chimes? Neither the software or relatively budget hardware options are going to break the bank at £90 / £300 respectively and both are likely to help me get a deeper understanding of the other half of the rhythm section which has gotta be a good thing. I guess the answer maybe to try both. Starting with the cheaper software and then jumping to hardware if I am finding that limiting and as blisters pointed out I can download a demo for free...

Fighting talk! Let's check in in 18 months, I may have worked out what the heck my Spectracomp is doing by then haha 😁