Al Krow

Yup, totally agree. I mean why bother having one convenient pedal with presets, which could do the job sufficiently well on many of your bass fx, so that you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference in a live band mix, when you could have 10 pedals and spend five times as much? 😁

Totally agree with that approach. There are just some things that multifx have not quite nailed yet, across the board in particular synth and filter and where dedicated pedals still rule the roost; although there's some serious quality in the dedicated digital space even for these.

Came out in Oct 2020, I'll be super impressed if they release an upgrade this year. I guess they would need to also upgrade the GT 1000 which shares the same CPU? Helix Stomp came out a full 2 years before in Oct 2018 and with Yamaha now in the driving seat and an equivalent stellar pedigree to Boss, I'm guessing that may be the more likely candidate for a refresh?

Long time multifx and Zoom fanboi: a Zoom MS-60B was my first ever bass pedal almost exactly a decade ago. Its successor, the B1-4 has been a super-handy standalone pedalboard for gigs over the past 18 months; but a new addition dropped through the door last week which I'm looking forward to getting to grips with.

Is it true that almost every track they've ever recorded is in the key of Em?

Nice review! When you say the stock patches are more usable, are they essentially otherwise the same as what was on the B1-4 or a whole new set of patches?

Core + SY-200 seems like a pretty awesome pairing and not take up too much more space than a Pod Go or an HX Effects.

Looks interesting. Shame that manufacturers making preamps don't think to add a DI out in addition to a normal 1/4" out as standard in the way that the comparably sized MXR M81 does.

@Jack that does look interesting. RRP seems to be £549 which is obviously quite chunky, but if it represents a significant step up over my Boss WL-20s and as you say offers the 5.8GHz outside of the crowded 2.4GHz space, I'll maybe be looking to pick one up later in the year when hopefully a few might be coming up for sale used.

More a case of changing key to suit our new singer (soprano) in the new band - typically between +1 to +5 semis above previous band which were generally in the original key and which had a female (alto) and male singer. I've simply been relearning everything in the new keys that work best for new band's singer's vocal range. I'd say key changes apply to fully half our set.

Only benefit for me is ease of key change on complex bass lines, avoiding the tracking / warble issues on a pitch shift pedal. It's kinda a variation of the drop D tuners that some bassists use on their 4 strings?

I totally agree that 5 string basses make life a lot easier for kry changes - one of several advantages they have over 4 strings. However there are just a few of the more complex bass lines in our sets that take (me) a much longer time to nail and muscle memory is undoubtedly helping live performance, where either a pitch shift or a capo could prove handy should I be asked to play in a different key eg Shut up and Dance by Walk the Moon. To put a couple of well known examples of more complex bass lines out there (not ones we currently do) if you had learned Rhythm Stick or Rio in one key, how easy would it be to play in a different key?

Nah - the positive trade off was swapping digital warble / glitching using a pitch-shift pedal vs likely having to retune more often using a capo

For non solo work, I guess for the same reason some folk use pitch-shift pedals on gigs, maybe particularly in terms of having learned a bass line involving open strings and then needing to play it in a different key for another band you're depping for. Will also avoid any of the glitching / digital warbling that can result from pitch-shift pedals, but perhaps end up needing to tune the strings more often during a gig, which is actually not a bad trade-off.

These things apparently exist in the wild and have been used by pro players e.g. Peter Hook Just been chatting with one of my session bass buddies and, like me, he's never seen one being used. Are they frowned upon?

John - there's an ability to engage a Lo cut on the Ultra Low switch, which I think to all intents and purposes will function as an HPF, albeit maybe quite limited compared to something like a Thumpinator.

Interestingly one of the comments on Talkbass posted this morning seems to be coming up with pretty much the exact same suggestion as mine above: "Alternatively, you could use the Thru connection to split your signal. Adding effects to the separate signal path which you could then combine back in with your primary signal using something like a Boss LS-2." I've asked him whether he's got any concerns about a feedback loop arising!

Circuit diag The Through output looks like a clean by-pass What I'm also liking is the aux-in (either mono or stereo) which can be taken directly to the PA via 1/4" line out / headphone jack. Given that this unit is likely to be at the end of many of our signal chains anyway, to make use of the XLR out, that could be very handy in terms of not having the aux in impacted by the preamp or the preceding pedal chain on your board before the SVT-DI. Particularly useful if you've got something like a Beat Buddy drum machine on your board.

Coming back to the FX loop issue...the Bass the world comment at 03:20 in the OP YT clip where he says "the Through output can be used if you want to run...a parallel pedal chain" - could you maybe turn that into an fx loop by using e.g a Mooer AB-Y pedal? ie. Bass --------------------------------> A Through --> pedal chain in parallel --> B Y output ---> input of SVT DI Would that work? Or is it going to result in some horrible feedback loop?

Seems to be getting a lot of traction & enthusiasm over in the US - already started landing in the homes of some of the bass players over there.

Just been checking the video clip that Dan posted in the OP and, apart from loving that bass riff at the start (is that from a song or original?), I think there is indeed effects loop through (03.21 of the clip) - so no work around required! And, damn! That's a good meaty drive tone at 03.40... As it happens, I have just recently sold my DG head 😅

Yeah agreed that software is key, which is where Helix wins out over its rivals. But Headrush have a quad core processor in their MX5 which is their equivalent of the Stomp; whereas the Stomp sports the same chip that Helix (i.e. half the processing power available in the Floor and LT) has been using in their range since 2015. There's potential for significant upside with additional DSP and I think you've commented on the benefits of the additional processing power in your Floor elsewhere? Helix could potentially bring that to their Stomp which, together with a larger screen on the Stomp (similar to the competition is already doing), would be a nice upgrade.

Cheers Dan - good spot. A LOT of useful extra features on this unit not available on my Tech 21 VTDI, which is a great piece of kit, and which makes me think that this could be worth checking out, and would seem to easily justify the £100 premium over the VTDI: - two stomp switches which allows you to set the clean tone you want as an always-on and kick in the drive when needed, rather than having to choose between one or the other with the VTDI (or faff around with resetting the dials - not really something you want to be doing on a live set); - the dirt has both saturation level and separate volume level; - three "classic" factory cabs sims for 115, 410 and 810 cabs or up to three cabs of your own by using the (free) Ampeg IR Loader app (via USB port), plus separate volume control; - semi-parametric mids; - ultra-Hi and 3-way ultra-Lo switches (including a cut to the Lo - which I'm guessing is equivalent to an hpf); - variable compressor up to 10:1 ratio - albeit one knob functionality and no metering; - aux-in (with separate vol control) / headphone section - making it perfect silent home practice home tool. Given the prices of the recently launched Bergantino pre-amp and the Origin kit, and all the extra features this is offering over a VTDI, it's pricing doesn't seem particularly excessive? If it sounds good, Ampeg could be onto a winner here.

Nope hadn't seen it - good spot! Well that's an absolute beast of a unit both in terms of size and processing power. If they end up doing an LT version it could be very interesting. And what's also interesting is that it could maybe spur a response from Helix, who've not really introduced anything properly new for 5 years since Helix Stomp came out, to much excitement and acclaim. Fingers crossed to 2023 being a vintage year for multifx releases!

When you say "accurate" with normal muting are you not simply implying a more staccato style? But same point applies to having to use it all the time. The Boss SY-200 doesn't require you to adopt muting to avoid farting/glitching. The trade-off is not as rich synth tone as the FI delivers. So horses for courses, depending on what works best for you.