Al Krow

Gents - conceptually that makes so much sense. A compressor is going to be great for evening your dynamics out should you want it to - but with a filter you want the freedom to be able to open it up with those peaks when you are digging in.

We had a good first gig at a new venue just south of Blackheath (SE London). Nice early 8pm kick off and 2 x 45 sets for a very decent fee by pub gig standards. Bank holiday crowd was sparse but welcoming and supportive and, fingers crossed, we'll get asked back. Our lead singer was away on hols, and I was giving a lift back to our regular dep vox, who's main band happened to be playing at a pub we were literally driving passed on the way home (they have a couple of line ups so its easy for her to swap out and she's keen to dep for us when the opp. arises). So we stopped by and popped in to support them. Was great to meet her regular crew - really nice bunch and doing a good job. Band leader is a fellow bass player with some really good bass chops on him: The Spicy Notes at Blackheath Nice end to an all-round good evening out!

@nilorius makes sense. Does that tie in with what you were finding @lidl e?

There's plenty of very good octave down pedals, but there's definitely less in the market for good tracking, glitch free octave-up for bass and I've been looking for something for a couple of tracks in our set. Just come across the Mooer Tender Octaver X2 and liking the look of it! MOOER Tender Octaver X2 Official Video (youtube.com) Could be a very decent alternative to my Boss OC-5 and, unlike the Boss has presets which could come in very handy for live use.

Mine was a brand new around Dec 22. Not sure there's been a newer model since? Our issue was shielding rather than bleed from the main outs. Are you guys using wired IEMs with it?

How good is the poly pitch shifter on the Stomp for tracking? Not come across pedals that do this really well, so this would definitely make the Helix effects worth considering for me (maybe something like a Pod Go).

That's helpful thanks. We're actually using pretty limited stage monitoring, guitarist has a small Behringer B205D one in the main line up, but otherwise we use IEMs. Is it the high frequencies that are usually the main culprit for feedback? We've certainly had low end boominess too, which I suspect is not uncommon for many bands at some point.

Ok - in which case if you were to wander into an audience you would likely face drop outs pretty quickly with the Lekato? If so, the Nux is likely to fare better. Obvs not an issue if you don't wander into the crowd occasionally though, as I have to 'fess-up to doing from time to time!

Looking forward to getting your thoughts on it!

In terms of eliminating feedback there seems to be a consensus that cutting the pre EQ input gain on the desk is better than cutting the post EQ faders vol. Is that the correct approach? If so, what's the thinking behind it given the volume per channel ends up being the same ?

It's certainly a good value bit of kit. Are you using it with IEMs? We found ours fine with wired IEMs but unusable with our Xvive wireless IEMs due to the lack if shielding from the relatively cheap plastic casing. We subsequently swapped to Soundcraft MTK12 which works well, is multitrack and still decent value.

But fine if the punters' bodies are between?

Worth mentioning to Thomann? I think @BigRedX has previously said it's a legal obligation to supply a UK adaptor?

Wot Sam said 😊 And overall more "realistic" sounds / better pitch shifting. But the nuances may not matter a great deal in a live band mix to anyone but ourselves. Will be much more noticeable in a home or studio environment when you're not competing with a drummer and guitarist. And even with whatever processing power, few multis can yet still do as decent a filter or synth sound comparable to dedicated pedals. Bear in mind your full fat Helix has double the chip set and processing power of the Stomp (or HX Effects). It shouldn't therefore run into the same processor power limitations that @Jack was referring to.

If processing power is an issue, then maybe have a think about the Boss GT1000 Core as an alternative? The Stomp chipset is almost 9 years old now and getting a little long in the tooth compared to some of its rivals. That's not a criticism that can be levelled at the software patches available for the Stomp though!

I found the Lekato noticeably noisier i.e. it introduced a slightly gritty/dirty tone with a couple of my basses. Tbf I would say the Boss WL-20 was even cleaner than either (comparable to a cable). The Nux has excellent range - I've wandered 20m+ to the back of a couple of venues we've played at mid-set with no drop-outs. The Lekato may be able to match - but I never got as far as testing for this.

So how about using the filter on its own without the compressor at all? How does that sound?

Haha there are several, right? eg Boss ES5? But personally I'm content in a live band mix to get something that works well. I appreciate for studio work you would likely want to get something more refined and honed.

Agreed - which ties into the school of thought that says give the filter pedal the most complex input signal you can to filter i.e. pretty much at the end of the signal chain. In which case you would then put your compressor or limiter (to tame unwanted spikes) after it, if you're using one.

That pretty much exactly summarises my journey, too. Except I went one step further and got a set of Nux 5.8 Ghz wireless having tried the Lekato - the Nux are more on a par with the Boss in terms of both price and quality IMO.

@Jakester "I have a pedalboard setup that I'm happy with" I think you've answered your question 😊 If, however, you fancy spending a lot of time getting up to speed on a multi-fx and tweaking it so that it gets close to your dedicated pedals with your specific rig, so that you're equally happy with your Stomp well that's an entirely different matter - crack on!

Well if it's good enough for Mohini Dey 😁...apparently one of just two pedals on her board she has gone and bought herself. The rest were given to her. Maybe a smart move for Andras to pop a V4 in the post to her along with your manual and get her to record a demo for you? Just a thought!

Turns out that Mohini Dey is a bit of an FI fan!

That's another thumbs up for this new A&H range and a cumulative GAS leak into our collective consciousness! Being digital can you can tailor whatever fx you want to each channel? Unlike a lot of analogue desks where the fx choice is global and either apply it or not is then the only option, so ends up being reverb for vox and off for the rest of the band. Please talk us through the key benefits of the Double Tracker for your set up?

That's the one! Simon's in-depth knowledge about compression is pretty much unrivalled.