Al Krow

It is indeed! Congrats on getting an SY 200! I know you're particularly interested in the arp feature - 18 different presets provided on the pedal and you can tweak both pitch and tempo. I've managed to dig out a YT clip of it in action: Boss SY-200 arpeggiator & pitch shift via expression pedal

Been looking into arps a bit more since finding the Boss SY 200's arp fx pretty decent and usable live (e.g. on songs such as Green Day Broken Dreams). The SY 200 has relatively limited options for tweaking the sounds of the provided preset arps, albeit it gives you 18 to choose from! This does sound like another interesting use of the Boss Slicer and I feel an SL-2 ought to make its way into the Krow household in the not too distant future!

Done! 😊 @super al - what is it with bands and drummers, eh?! I suspect you're not alone with your drummer turnover experience!

A little Sept bump!

Similar journey for me with multiple FIs! I would like to give the v4 a proper go, though, as Peter's latest upgrades taking some ideas from the MXR, in return, do sound good! Particularly if I can get hold of one of the mini version used. The FI is Mohini Dey's fav synth pedal! (Btw some of us are very grateful for your continued stocking of the BC effects for sale - still loving my GT1000 Core, it's been an excellent upgrade after several years of Zoom B1-4!)

Agreed it doesn't do traditional synth well! But some of its fx are fab and very useful live e.g. trumpet stabs and arpeggiator or others to fill out the sound, and my crew, who just have one guitar and no keys, seem to really like it on the few songs it gets used for. It never suffered from the glitchiness which plagued several other models. Its big brother the SY200 allows for presets which also really helps, live. All in all, I'm not surprised it's still the second best seller after the MXR. People vote with their wallets.

If you buy something online, I think you have a legal right to change your mind within 14 days, regardless? Equally importantly, Paypal and I suspect also eBay tend to be very supportive of the consumer, so you should be fine. "Goods not as described", is a very legitimate reason for returns / full refund. Good luck!

Just discovered Thomann's bass pedal best seller list (211 pedals listed)...due to the #01 on the list! The rest of the bass pedal synth rankings on that list also made for interesting reading: #72 SA C4 #61 EHX Bass microsynth #51 Boss SY1 ... #01 MXR Bass Synth Thomann are doing the MXR Bass Synth for £285 (inc. P&P) which is the best price I've found on line.

Maybe a Zoom B1-4? Can typically be had in good used condition for < £60. As well as being a neat multifx, it includes a very useful tuner, drum machine, looper and headphone out.

Weirdly, so did mine!

Nice board! My sight ia starting to fail me...I could have sworn that was an OC-5! 😅

Given a choice of those two, I'd go for an OC-5. In fact, I did!

@MacDaddy - Nice clip! What's your connection with this crew, are you the bass player?!

I was trying to figure out what swear word g**t*r was, and thinking what's wrong with greater gear? But then spotted you only had the same number of letters as strings!

Yes, indeedy! I'll get it set up for us towards the end of the year - typically Oct or early Nov from previous years. Just checked and it's been an annual BC thread now since 2017! Glad it's still a popular one.

The original thread...(!)

Oh, it has many fans! Me included 😅

Thanks Phil. I did consider getting a couple of the bars that you bought, but I ended up going for one of these as a floor up light due to ease of set up and being relatively inexpensive. I'd seen them in action at a mate's gig (he has four around the stage) - they work really well to light up his singers, and don't seem to give the band any issues in terms of getting blinded - which, as you say, is quite key!

Very nicely put!

I'm sure we're all agreed that all grooming gangs are evil! My point was that the fear of being labelled "racist" was a reason cited for police not looking into the Bradford gangs. In terms of small boat numbers perhaps closer to half a million coming to the UK since the crossings started, once you include dependents who subsequently come over to join them? Does people objecting to the impact on their communities of these significant number of arrivals make them racist? If so, we're going to be labelling a huge chunk of the UK population racist, which I just don't think is true? And if it is true, we're going to have a lot fewer "non racist" bandmates to choose from!

It can work both ways though? The fear of being labelled "racist" is widely cited to be a key reason for the police not properly investigating some of the appalling grooming gangs in Bradford and other cities. If folk are anti large numbers of migrants crossing the channel in small boats and peacefully protest against this, does that make them racist or are they entitled to express what very many others regard as a legitimate viewpoint? A parallel question would be: are we comfortable being in a band with a bandmate who is a Class A drug user? I'm sure pretty much all BC'ers are anti-racist and not homophobic, as is very clear from this thread, but some of this stuff is not always clear cut and it then goes to our values and a sense of what is right and wrong. We will each know that deep down and it's up to us to live with our consciences.

Another band I know well have been using a Stairville CLB5 for their gigs. What seems particularly neat about this unit (although my mate's band are not using it this way) is the ability to set one or two of the units to light up the stage area in white with a steady beam, but have the the remaining two or three units in colour to light up the dance floor with sound to light, and manage to do that all without DMX. That provides a relatively budget one-stop solution to enhance both the stage and audience lighting for the band. It's also a lot more compact than my Chauvet GigBar2 and therefore will be a lot easier to take to gigs and consequently likely to get more use!

@JPJ interesting about putting out too much light - was the iColor adjustable on brightness? I guess another would be an extension plug with built in dimmer switch. (Although dunno if that is going to set off any safety issue alarm bells?)

A mate's band has been using this to good effect for up-lighting, which I've recently seen in action: 60W RGB 24PCS LEDs Wall Washer I've taken a punt on one for my crew, and at just £36 inc P&P - not too much downside!

^^ this 100% !! The importance of quality promo material is too often overlooked by bands. You may be amazing musicians who sound great, but if you're looking to get booked by someone who's never seen you play live, how will they know?