Al Krow

^^ what Phil said!

Yup agreed re. the Boss LS2 to provide blend. The Octava has both a clean blend and a natural retention of low-end which makes it particularly good on bass, even though it's really a guitar pedal.

Yes I agree that the Rat is iconic - nothing quite cuts through like a screaming 🐀! You just need to have a plan B for the low-end suck they're notorious for, if they don't come with a clean blend. FWIW I've settled on a Pigtronix Octava for my dirt / fuzz and I've yet to find anything better (including high-end stuff like Damnation Audio's MBD2, Two Notes le Bass, Tech 21 RR, DG AO, and plenty others...). Obviously choice of dirt is very personal at the end of the day and one person's Pigtronix gem is another's pig in the poke...

What would you recommend for that stuff? Just asking for a friend. No really, I am just asking for a friend.

You get the same comment as Lozz and toneknob got: so which would you rate as your best purchase?! Lozz managed to 'fess up in the end after much collective BC pressure. My money is on the Eventide H9...no contest, right?! PS a Schecter Stiletto would be awesome, you'll love it - what rig would you be playing it through? But treat yourself to the 5 string rather than the 4 string - comes with a free thumb rest. (I've got the 8 string which has four free thumb rests 😁)

I'm afraid I can neither confirm nor deny that...

For sure you're not going to get a perfect sim of a £200 pedal from a £50 multifx, tuner, headphone amp, drum machine, looper... If it's given you a taste for the actual dedicated pedal you might want to get, fantastic. If it sets you off on down the rabbit hole of exploring pedals, my apologies! But if you can get decent quality used kit you won't be too much out of pocket when you come out the other side of that long but fun tunnel... 🐇

Awww come on, surely that Darkglass B7K sim is perfectly suited to your metal-head?! 😁

See, that wasn't too hard 😁 Go on chaps, treat us to some pics of your lovely bass / rig!

Nice haul, but that's a very @Lozz196response (please see page 1 of the thread plus @neepheid's entirely correct reply)! 😁 Which would come top? (My money is on the SA Ultrawave for those long winter nights with two gazillion parameters to tweak and nativity 'scenes' to create...)

If you round off that pointy bit on the Sire headstock you'll end up with a...Sadowsky headstock. I know a few folk on here who will be thrilled to hear you describe that as "perfect"! 😊

I think you may have got slightly confused as to which thread you should be posting on? Try this one: GAT 2021 - you'll find both a warm welcome from the OP and much admiration from the rest of us on there. 😁

Sire P7s are great value, particularly the Mk2s which they are decently lighter than the heavy Mk1s. I mean, what other bass gives you a semi-para mid EQ at that price point? As an alternative to getting a short scale, I suspect you'd have no problems at all shifting those strings in the FS, if you haven't done already, as there's quite a short scale fan club on BC! At least cut your losses and put the money to getting some bargain Hartke strings...😄

@Thunderbird- you've clearly struck a chord with us overcharged-for-strings bass players! Your post could seriously result in this potentially massively GAS-inducing thread SAVING BC'ers money! ... Now that's gotta be a first 😁

That's a great price for a set of bass strings! Do you have a link to ones you bought?

That's gonna take some beating as the 'worst' purchase of the year!! And it's only day 1 of this thread...nice sunset though!

Yup and we're then up to £300+...my little Pigtronix will likely survive this rat trap. Plenty of awesome low end on tap with that one!

Ah fair enough, I'll be steering clear. Hope you enjoy the pedal if you get it 😉

This looks awesome, but is it missing a clean blend which is available on some of the Rat pedals to deal with the low end suck? If so, that's a real shame but at least saves me forking out £250...at least until v2 comes out!

Quality of user interface / ease of workflow is a great reason to rate a piece of gear highly. Been a big reason why I've abandoned a couple of pedal brands even though they are actually better sonically. For me a piece of kit that is a PITA to programme ends up not getting used to anything like its potential.

A VERY good rule! My equivalent seems to be: "oh I really like the look of that and what can I flog to get it?" 😁 But at least, for the first time in 7 years (!!) my £gear sales + £gig money = £gear purchases

I'm not so sure about the Shure as you know (although one thing I will say, is that they certainly seem to hold their value), and, fess up, have you actually used your FI in anger yet? Damn! I knew this thread was going to be a distraction from work... 😁

One day, me, @Sibob and @bassfan will put some proper elbow grease into the various gear abstinence threads we've half-heartedly started over the past couple of years and then collectively miserably failed - I mean what sort of mod starts one of those threads, buys a stunning Elrick and then sells it onto another member of that same abstinence thread? 😁 And we will then follow in your impressive footsteps. That day is not quite today, I suspect... Oh yes you can - haha! Go on (as an exception) give us your top 2...

@Chaosanator (& @neepheid!) - spectacular finishes!

Happy to get the ball rolling... My best purchase, for yet another year running, is a bass. A lovely Yamaha BB2005 which I was able to buy off a fellow BC'er a few months back. It almost instantly won me over as an incredibly good bass and a lovely "budget" replacement for my BB NE2 which I had moved on as it wasn't getting much use. I posted a fairly detailed review of it on the Yamaha thread if you want to delve further. In truth, my choice was a complete toss up between the BB 2005 and a fantastic Elrick Evo 5 which I was fortunate to be able to buy off @Sibob in the summer. But given how much less the BB 2005 was in price terms, that edged for me - it's always a treat when a relatively modestly priced piece of kit holds its own with gear costing several times more.