Al Krow

12 hours ago, matybigfro said:

It looks pretty good although there's a side by side vid with a Digitech whammy I think I prefer the tobe of the DigiTech. The boss is almost a bit too perfect. Saying that I have a boss gt-1000 core and have been happy with the whammy in that.  The drop tuning in it seems very very good.

 

Will be interesting to see if this and the new algorithms they used on the plugout turns up in a new multi at some point. 

The physics of bass notes being an octave lower than guitar means they are more difficult to track and I've not yet found a dedicated pitch shift pedal that works really well on bass, particularly moving more than a couple of semitones. And multifx have, in my experience, been significantly less good than dedicated pedals - certainly the ones I've used.

As you say, the drop tuning seems to be excellent for guitar!

If it gets comparably close on bass, colour me super interested - having singers who have different vocal registers means that this could be ideal for use with my crew! Although £195 for the XS-1 is going to be a decent chunk of change to part with.

18 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

PA subs go as much as an octave lower than bass cabs, while PA mains don't have the rising midrange typical of bass cabs. Try high passing the desk bass channel at 60 to 80Hz, if it has that capability, or cutting back on the bass EQ if it doesn't, while boosting the mids in the 2 to 2.5kHz range. 

 

If you want to be more precise get this app for your phone. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dom.audioanalyzer&hl=en_US&pli=1

You can use it to see the frequency response of your rig. Play an open A and take a picture of the result, C weighting, slow response. Save it and compare it to the same test through the PA. Comparing the two will show where the PA EQ needs to be adjusted. 

Hi Bill, excuse my ignorance but could you elaborate on what you mean by "rising mid range" for me please?

10 minutes ago, Rayman said:

We were originally a 4pce, but the original bass player left. The remaining 3 of us are original yep…. I was the singer, but also took over on bass when the original guy left around 20yrs ago. 

Love that fact (and loving your music too!) When was the Friday rock show?

18 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Crisis…. 3pce original heavy rock since 1980….. we’re in the process of recording a new album “Homecoming”, which should be done by early next year. Three old men, pretending to still be relevant. 

Wow, you guys have been rocking solidly for 45 years - respect!! No line up changes in all that time?!

10 hours ago, Kiwi said:

@Al Krow is this the correct thread?

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

On 14/10/2024 at 22:42, Owen said:

Boss slicer does it and you can sync it via midi.

 

Not that I EVER found a place I could use it. The one time I tried, the keys player humoured me for about 30 minutes and then did it with his left hand. 

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!

1 hour ago, Si600 said:

First/Index page needs updating

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!

12 minutes ago, SumOne said:

 

I do really like the FI, but there must be some reason (other than I'm very fickle!) that I think I've bought/sold the v3 twice and the v4 once.

 

It's difficult to put my finger on exactly what, but for me there is just something about it that ends up frustrating me and thinking 'time to get back to playing'!

 

The octave jump tracking warble thing annoyed me with v3  (I think it's sorted with v4), and v4 I dunno but it took me many hours trying to connect it to my Laptop and in the end I gave up. That was almost certainly an issue with my Laptop, but I haven't had that issue with any other pedals or interfaces (other than the NUX MLD Preamp) so in a way it is an issue with the FI - It'd be like not being able to start a car and the manufacturer saying 'ah yes, but did you open the passenger door first - because it won't work if you do that, and did you remember to put your seatbelt on before putting the key in - because it won't start otherwise'.

 

I think that hands-on, low-fuss elements are what is making the MXR so popular particularly for live use.

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!)

20 hours ago, Sibob said:

I re-listened to the SY1 a few weeks ago. Jeezo that’s a bad sounding pedal 😅 (IMO).

 

Si

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.

3 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

turned up today, amazing for £36!

Weirdly, so did mine!

31 minutes ago, pantherairsoft said:

Second rehearsal with the new live electronica project coming this week. Session one was an eye opener for the overall sound I need and it’s let me cut the board back quite a lot… way too much stuff that got in the way of the keys.

 

For the first time in ages I’ve put the PT Jr Max aside and downsized to a PT Classic 1. I expect a pedal or two to get swapped about over coming weeks, but the core feels solid. Worth noting that at no point during this do I have a clean bass tone. The OC2 is always on as a minimum.

 

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!

On 08/09/2025 at 20:42, MacDaddy said:

 

 

 

 

@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!

12 hours ago, SimonK said:

Is there a 2025 thread?

46 minutes ago, TrevorR said:

It tends to pop up in December as there’re are still 3 months of temptation add good/bad decisions to go…

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 😅

On 03/09/2025 at 10:31, Al Krow said:

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!  

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!

2 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

Can we just agree that punching downwards isn't a good thing?

Very nicely put! 

32 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Some red herrings there. White grooming gangs outnumber non-white ones massively. I've yet to see a protest about them.

"large numbers of migrants" is similarly loaded. There's about 30K in "asylum" hotels.

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.