Al Krow

29 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

@Al Krow but a bigger pedal board may not be an option. My Helix which is probably smaller than a lot of people's pedal boards is at the limit of what can be comfortably fitted on a lot a stages I play. Others have already stated that there is insufficient stage space for a keyboard synth. For them a bigger pedal board may well also be out of the question.

 

The tracking speed is worrying. Almost all the synth bass clips I have seen using processed bass guitar are slow to medium paced songs, or ones with a lot of space between the notes in the bass part. Most of what my band play is over 130bpm and the bass lines are mostly 1/8 notes or faster. That's going to be a problem. The other thing I have spotted is that if you are using synth sounds for rhythmic parts everyone will expect the timing to be absolutely spot on because these are usually handled by a sequencer of some sort. Your audience will be able to hear that something is wrong even if they can't pin point exactly what it is. For me the ideal solution which doesn't involve using a keyboard would be to put the bass through a MIDI triggered Filter and VCA device, but I only know of one and that's a relatively large rack-mount unit which is no longer being produced.

Hey BRX - fully appreciate you have a full Helix and adding an additional separate pedal(s) to that doesn't make sense for you.

But for pretty much everyone who is planning to get an MXR (or FI), they will either be upgrading an existing set up, shift something else off their pedal board to accommodate, or get a bigger pedal board. It's what many of us pedal users do very regularly, when the need arises.

I also completely also get your point re. synth pedal tracking - it's a fundamentally important issue for live use and has been picked up by several of us on this thread. Was precisely the reason for my choosing to go with the Boss SY-200 despite it not having as good synth sounds as several other synth pedals - it's my personal compromise and for me considerably better than the "nothing at all" alternative.

41 minutes ago, EmmettC said:

I'm sort of losing patience with the tracking for faster songs with the mxr, so I think I'll try the FI VIP next, @Quatschmacher any ideas when the new presets will be available?

+1^^ re being keen to find out when the next software update will be for the FI. Peter's previously indicated he can't give us an estimated date unfortunately, but will hopefully be sooner than Luke's pedals coming up for sale. 

Helpful comment re. fast tracking on the MXR - thanks!

Also @BigRedX "Also who is to say that someone with a more conventional pedalboard set up already has both room and PSU capacity for an additional synth pedal."  Aww come on 😅?! Anyone on this thread looking to buy the MXR or FI etc will make room or get a bigger pedal board, if they decide to get one. 

@BigRedX - you're obviously happy to use a keys synth and all power to you! 

But a couple of points in your post:

- you say a pedal with an external PSU gives rise to "complications and unreliability"? I'm guessing maybe half of the bass players on this forum use pedals (typically on a pedal board) with an external PSU week in and week out, and we do so without any issues? 

- if, as you say, the audience doesn't notice the difference between us playing a song without any synth, then they're even less likely to notice the difference between a keys synth and a quality bass-pedal synth?

@Dazm66 "It's taken me long enough to play bass to a decent standard and I have no interest in learning keys to get those sounds" You've summed me up in a nutshell when it comes to synth bass!

I'm currently leaning a little to the FI v4 VIP, which is only £20 more new than the MXR, if I do swap from my Boss SY-200, but certainly bass-mates of mine who have upgraded their C4 to the MXR are really happy with the changeover!

On 10/11/2025 at 22:37, Dazm66 said:

Got mine yesterday. Had a play this morning and echo a lot of the above. This is perfect for those of us who might need a synth sound for two or three numbers up in a set. The presets are fab and there’s more than enough settings to tweak. It’s a lot of fun! Tracking is good enough and I hope better when I get it on the board with a compressor. Mr Martin Allison must have amazing technique or there’s some editing in the vids! All in all a very good bit of kit that really does provide the synthiness I need. 

Thanks for that, including the very helpful comment regarding tracking capability = "good enough but not as per IMA's hype" if I've read you correctly? Although tbf I guess completely understandable from IMA, given this is his baby.

An honest review of the new MXR bass synth effects pedal MB301... | TalkBass.com

Just came across this thread on TB - made for interesting reading!

15 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of '25, eh?

 

The Good - Ecstatic over buying one of the last 5 Status Stealths, my Fender Elite Jazz, my 95 Stingray and most of all, my 1998 GB Spitfire. Mostly all solid keepers. An honorable mention has to go to my Cort Artisan Space 5 (the third one I've owned), which continuously amazes me for it's sheer value for money, playability and great sound. Also, hopefully arriving before the end of '25 is my Walnut/Graphite 66 Modern/Classic Jazz, with a single piece body by @Silky999 and one of @Kiwi's AUROK™️ Graphite Necks.

 

 

The Bad - There weren't really any bad instruments per se, mainly some that went out of the door as I traded up to other things. If there were any disappointments, it was the sheer weight of my KingBass Mk-II (now up for commission sale at Andy Baxter's), whose mass could easily generate it's own gravity, and my beautiful Stingray 5 Special, which was left in the dust by my old Aguilar equipped '95 Stingray. But that was entirely predictable.

 

The Ugly - Only one £150 no name Precision that I bought on a whim from Gumtree, which was recently donated to a school I teach at.

So in the spirit of the thread, if you had to save one of your 2025 purchases from the proverbial fire ie your "best", which would it be and why?

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

It certainly did fall into place in that clip Daryl, sounded really good.

+1^^ @Bluewine - really great to hear your band in action. As Lozz said - a really good sound, and some nice footage too!

16 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

With the caveat that hundreds of bass players have owned and loved this pedal…

 

Tracking was the wrong word! I meant latentcy - I couldn’t live with the slight latentcy and thr attack of the thing - I don’t know how to describe it but it was a me thing, and I could hear it listening to a video so it can’t just be latentcy …

Ah latency and tracking are very much intertwined, so all good! Are there particular timestamps on the video you could helpfully point to for us, so we can get a better idea of what you are referring to?

2 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

 

I had no idea if he's a member on here or anything so kept my thoughts to myself - but would agree - it's painful watching! 
@Kev - skip through and miss bits! 

 

My take, reinforces what I thought - Enzo X probably not deigned for bass... 
C4, the thing that annoyed me with the tracking you could hear on the video (bought and sold one twice)
FI4 - sounds best to me and can do a lot
MXR - pretty much on par and can do less with a simpler interface. 
 

Thanks Luke! What's the issue with the C4 tracking, for those of us who have never owned one?

6 minutes ago, GisserD said:

nearly 2 hours of video, but no conclusions.....

He says at the end he wants community to come to their conclusions in the comments below. jeesus. 

You've got a very good ear, Darren, did you come to a conclusion?

18 minutes ago, Kev said:

 

Nice, i'll dive into that later.  Did you get any verdict from it?

 

Slightly OT, but did I see someone somewhere express concern about how visible the FI VIP's text is under stage lights?  Looking at this video compared to all the other pedals, it does seem pretty bad!  Shame really, as its a nice design otherwise.

That would have been me earlier on this thread and I did get ticked-off for pointing that out, haha!

However in a live context I won't be messing around with patch settings / trying to create a new patch from scratch mid-set, so as long as the display is visible and telling me which of the 99 available preset patch nos. I'm on, I would have thought that would be fine. And probably a lot easier to read than remembering which dot accounts for which of the 8 presets on the MXR for me.

This ain't bad at all! 

Currently easy enough to spot AI on YouTube (and not least 'cos this ones being honest about it!) given the static cover. Obviously we don't have the same cues on Spotify.

The internet is not going away! Enjoy using it or don't. 

Spotify has been a massive blessing to music listeners all over the world. It would be great if it paid bands better, for sure!

It seems to me that streaming is to music, what libraries are to books. Don't think anyone is arguing that libraries are evil, and everyone should buy all their own books?

It's certainly not either/or: I love listening to music on YT and Spotify. I also love regularly gigging and being by paid decently by venues who know the worth of live music as part of what they offer their customers. 

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I'm a regular gig goer, merch buyer and physical record buyer as well. Streaming is where I often discover bands who I then support through gigs and purchases. Streaming isn't necessarily bad but it also isn't good. It's just a part of modern reality so why not try to use it in s positive way?

This ^^

4 hours ago, SumOne said:

Playing an instrument or playing with a band is a different matter though. AI isn't going to replace that achievement, fun, camaraderie or live event. It's partly why I've mostly moved from electronic music production into playing Bass with a pub band, and when I do produce my own music (spending a lot of time with an MPC Key 37 at the moment) I'm doing it because it's fun to do - not because I'm aiming to make any ground breaking music that I'll make £ from.

And this too! ^^

Streamed music has already dealt a blow to most bands' hopes of making decent money from their original creations. AI assisted / generated music music is just the next nail in that coffin.

Live music is where it's at for most bands and solo artists looking to make a living from their art. Yes there's one hologram providing superb entertainment, at vast cost and albeit with some incredible session musicians actually playing the music, but an average punter going down a busy pub doing live music at the weekend ain't going to be fobbed off with anything but a live band or solo act.

What we all should be campaigning against is the ridiculous infringement of copyright laws that our Govt seems to be wanting to wave through for AI companies to train their large-language models on, and which is theft pure and simple.

52 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Good clips, if nothing else, it does tell you to avoid the 3 octave up mode!

Not sure I'd ever find a use for anything above +1 oct anyway with our material!

Two excellent YT clip reviews

Amazing - thanks!

7. I couldn't pick out the younger Mick Jagger from the pic and the drummer looked unfamiliar to me, but makes sense!

9 hours ago, neepheid said:

Honourable mention go to the Boss XS-1 Poly Shifter - hands down the best pitch shifting pedal I have ever heard in terms of preservation of tone and tracking.

Ditto ^^

My only "regret" is that I'm liking it so much, I'm already tempted to move it on...to get its bigger sibling the XS-100

Been asked by daughter (who's a music teacher!) to help research the above slide which she wants to include in a lesson.

Going round clockwise - pics not hugely clear, but where I've got to is:

1.  ?? Elvis lookalike

2. Chuck Berry

3. Beatles

4. Freddie Mercury 

5. Beach Boys

6. Black Sabbath (obvs, haha!)

7. ?? Band with Ronnie Wood in? 

8. ?? C&W star

9 ?? BB King

If you recognise any of 1, 7, 8 or 9 please share your thoughts!

33 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Well, there is one on eBay but not sure how much I trust that advert!

Cheers - I'd best check back in at 11am on Tuesday to see where it's got to!

5 minutes ago, Acebassmusic said:

Hearing you on some of your videos helped me decide to give it a chance and I bought it untried. Thanks.

Is it living up to expectations? I know you've had same fantastic basses over the years!

I've had a lot band related purchases and very little purely bass focussed, this year. 

Tops for me goes to the RCF 932A PA speakers which were an upgrade from our previous RCF 912A and 732A sets of speakers (which me and one of singers respectively had). The 912As - excellent on bass, 732As - excellent mids for guitar and vox. The 932As provide the best of both worlds.

Managed to pick them as B-stock for less than the cost of my bass backline and we put the whole band through them, none of us using backline, without needing a sub-woofer even for the smaller outdoor gigs we were doing earlier in the year.

Worst - none so far, fingers crossed. (I did buy a Fuzzrocious Lil Fella which I've not really used due to finding some great drive and fuzz tones on my Boss Multifx, and which I'll probably put up for sale at some point but not because it's been a disappointment). 

@Acebassmusic - my Elrick Expat in action (through the 932A). Lovely bass! 

58 minutes ago, Acebassmusic said:

Usual "in's" and "out's" at the "Acebass Musical Equipment Temporary Storage & Refuge Facility" 🤣 Like others, I've not had any "bad" purchases but have 3 that really stand out and work for me: my Elrick Evolution Gold V, Anagram multi-fx and MVave Chocolate Plus midi foot switch. I'm a happy bunny that doesnt see me wanting to change any of my gear until at least a week on Tuesday! 😮🤣🤣

 

 

OMG I love that Elrick! I've had mine (the "cheaper" Expat Czech made one) for 4 years and totally love - fabulous bass and my mainstay for gigs.

10 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Best purchases were the Fender Precision to Jazz conversion neck, EB cobalt flatwounds, Hipshot lollipop tuners, ultra heavy knurled callaghan knobs, and EMG GZR P Pickup I used to transform my long-neglected unlined fretless bitza Precision into my favourite long scale bass to play. Worst buy was probably the HX FX pedal I bought several months ago, which I'm sure is an excellent piece of kit, but I've realised I don't really need it and haven't got around to actually trying to use it.

 

That's a lot of "best" 😅 You got one from that list that you would opt for above the rest if you only had one?