Al Krow

No denying it's a big brick of a thing! I can't (at this stage) confirm or deny whether it makes the cut though...😄

Just wondering whether the boom you were getting on your BB2 could have been dealt with by cutting the bass EQ on your bass or amp a touch, rather than reducing the overall volume? I can't remember now whether you've held onto your BB2 or now moved it on?

Well you and @bassfan currently definitely have the two best guesses 😁and you're ahead as you've had a very decent stab at a sensible signal chain. My bad - I originally incorrectly posted it was 5 pedals plus the B1-4. It's actually 5 including the B1-4. So which pedal are you going to lose from your selection?

I really don't recall you saying that, last time we were in the pub? 😁

A BC'er very recently twisted my arm and persuaded me to upgrade my Boss WL-20 wireless to a Shure DLXD6 wireless. In terms of pedals for gigging (we play standard pop/rock covers) I've been happily just using my Zoom B1-4 as a 'standalone' micro pedal board since the end of lockdown. But the Shure is a much heftier beast than the WL-20 and it made sense to set it up on a small 'gigging' board with the Zoom B1-4 and a few other pedals and keep the rest on the larger 'creative home use' board. With a bit of pedalboard tetris, I can fit 4 other pedals onto my smaller board together with the B1-4 and the Shure. (Alas, sadly not quite enough space for a Thumpinator hpf underneath, so that will need to remain on the larger board and I'll make do with an hpf effect on the B1-4). But it got me thinking - which of my pedals would I really want/like to use for gigging? Proved to be quite an interesting and useful exercise! My starting point is these two boards and a recently acquired Tech 21 YYZ: For a bit of fun if you fancy it(!), have a guess which 4 pedals I decided to "save from the fire" besides my Zoom B1-4? Bonus points for working out the signal chain I've used. Please also feel free to share which 5 pedals you would have gone for (no prizes for that - lol!), what order you would put them and why. I'll limit any comments to your personal choices so as not to give the game away! Assuming mods are ok with this - £10 prize (PayPal f&f) for whoever is closest. Closing date : Sunday 12th.

Yes indeed - and sometimes (more often than not in fact!) there's no right (or wrong) answer because a particular pedal is not for you, whatever setting you have it on! I suspect pretty much every bass player has moved on far more pedals, over the years, than they have currently on their boards. All part of the fun, particularly when you can buy used from a trusted cabal like we have on BC, without suffering much, if any, financial loss.

Thanks @Tech21NYC - I've now had chance to play using the cab sim on the VTDI now and found the following: In line with your comments, the cab sim provides a more rounded / 'pleasant' tone than when not engaged. No cab sim = harsher more brittle tone I associate with taking a DI out from an amp without the coloration provided by the cab speaker. Previously I had 'bite' always-on, but going forward it will be the cab sim always-on and the 'bite' engaged just for cleaner tones with the 'bite' off for dirtier drive settings; the bite is effectively doubling-up the treble enhancement of the distortion taking it into 'sharp' / RAT territory (which could, of course, be what's wanted on occasion). The overall impact of engaging the cab sim and disengaging bite on dirt settings gives a fuller, warmer drive that I like a lot! This little exchange has been really useful and not something I would have easily gleaned from the manual, and further enhanced the high regard I hold the VTDI in and the uses I will be putting it to! The irony of this little side-track discussion is that the YYZ doesn't have either the 'bite' switch or a cab-sim and from my perspective it's just had the bar raised in terms of competing with its VTDI sibling. But I'm still very much looking forward to putting it through its paces.

Yeah I've gone through 25 basses of which I still own 11, but I'm not and never will be Peter Hook! So I'm still with Mr Beserk on this one. Just put the thing on a wall - I mean that's all a fan is ever going to do - it won't be getting used down the Dog'n'Duck!

I can't imagine he's short of a bob or two? I'm with @gobasserk on this one! Maybe he does genuinely prefer his new signature bass to his old 1200S?!

Best not check my review then 😁

Nope - one of the new Marquess range; I'm a little bit blown away by how good it is!

Just bought an HB bass off Thomann (above the £135 limit that Alan mentions above). A couple of my BC mates have asked me whether there were any hidden costs in importing from Thomann? My experience is that they really seem to have got their shit sorted! I simply paid the all-in price quoted on their website and they dealt with all aspects of importation with no further costs e.g. customs handling charges etc. They used DHL to courier, who gave me a 1 hour delivery slot on the agreed day of delivery and arrived within the first 15 mins of that slot. Couldn't have been more straightforward.

I guess glitchiness in pedals is like marmite - you either love it or hate it. Personally, I can't stand marmite! 😁

Harley Benton – Marquess 5: Quick Review This bass is good and at its price point it’s excellent value. Sound & electronics You immediately notice that the pups have considerable punch and that’s without being particularly close to the strings. Each pup has a separate volume control to allow you to use them individually or blend them to taste. Both pups deliver a very nice touch of growl. The neck pup is warm and full; the bridge more gnarly as expected and blended together they deliver a sweeter, slightly mid-scooped, tone. 2 band EQ. Bass set to ‘neutral’, or a very slight cut to tighten up the low end, is good; you certainly don’t want/need to be boosting the bass. The treble has a good range from vintage when rolled off to bright when maxed to deliver a slap ‘zing’, should it be required. Very slight high pitched whine from my rig when the treble is boosted - similar to what I get on some of my other basses e.g. Spector Euro 5LX, but completely disappears when set to ‘neutral’ or cut. It has no problems in belting out a meaty low B - entirely consistent with being a 35" scale bass. Comfort, design and playability The first thing I did was to weigh the Marquess because some HB 5ers have been known to weigh more than some minor planets, which would be a deal breaker for me. I had a good feeling about this one as it didn’t feel too heavy in the box and that was confirmed when it weighed in at just 4.2kg (9.2 lbs). Yaaay! The strings are 17mm spaced at the bridge which I’m very used to as it sits between my Ibby SR Premium at 16.5mm and Yamaha BB at 18mm and is, in fact, actually the same as my Spector Euro LX – but I appreciate that 17mm may be too narrow for some folk who prefer a 19mm spacing. The bass is comfortable to wear, but has a fair bit of neck dive which can sometimes be a feature, particularly of 5 string basses where the neck : body weight ratio is higher than on a 4 string due to the broader necks on a 5er. But when compared to my recently acquired BB 2005, which is a little heavier at 9.9lbs but which has almost zero neck dive, this is probably the Achilles heel of the HB for me. The bass was well set up straight out of the box with a very comfortable action and no noticeable fret buzz. The dusty end of the fretboard going up to the 24th fret is very accessible. Comparison This new bass reminds me of my Spector Legend Custom with its similar 2 band EQ set-up. I liked the Legend a lot and it gave me the confidence to upgrade to a Euro 5LX that I absolutely love. Except I prefer the Marquess to my former Spector Legend (which was a little too heavy for me and I ended up moving it on). The HB is both lighter and has punchier electronics; the Legend Custom’s EMGs always felt slightly anaemic, certainly in comparison to the pups on the HB Marquess. IMO, other than the neck dive issue on the 5 string, HB have delivered a very decent product particularly at the price point.

For pedals, just get yourself a Zoom B1-4 and be done with it. Fits very nicely within the new "basic as possible" regime! 😁

I have to disagree with @Mudpup that a 210 won't be able to cut it live - if its got sufficient power handling capability (and efficiency, articulation etc), a decent 210 should be absolutely fine with a full band, and that was certainly my experience with my former VK210 LNT.

Wot I previously said 😁 Cheers John!

True - but compressing a sine wave will change the amplitude (volume) but shouldn't impact the frequencies (i.e. the pitch)? I mean YT clips generally don't sound out of tune or pitch-shifted compared to a Spotify recording. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me if I've got that wrong. Besides, I was adjusting for amplitude in any case by altering the volume as I was going along.

SM - what we should both consider doing do is to play that YT clip through our bass cabs (BB2 and GR 212 Slim respectively). Be interesting to see how much low end comes through and where the cabs top out and I'll also A/B it with RCF 310A and maybe @jrixn1 could do the same with his 732As?

Paul - that's a seriously impressive BIG sound from a 3 piece!

These are my "creative" pedal boards for home use: And I just take this one pedal off to give me everything I need for live work! 😄

This is always informative and fun through a decent pair of headphones: I can definitely hear the low B and E on the bass as an indistinct "rumble" at 31 Hz 41 Hz respectively with the volume pumped up through a decent quality headphones. Their first harmonics at 62Hz and 82Hz become "notes". I then have to reduce the volume considerably through the mids and treble before progressively increasing it again as I get to the high treble, and then my aged ears top out at around 13kHz.

John - does the RCF 732A Mk4 handle a low B well? I note that it has a frequency range floor of 50Hz, so should be able to cope with the first harmonic of the low B (i.e. 62Hz) comfortably and I'm cool with the sub 40Hz boom-ville / sub-audio range not being prominent anyway. We've been using RCF 310As, since we started up, for vocals, sax and acoustic guitar. It's been great and very lightweight and compact. But if the 732A can handle 5 string bass, we could stick the bass and electric guitar through the PA and use the 310As as monitors and get a better overall balance to our FOH sound. Might even start making use of our RCF 702 which we got shortly before lockdown and which has had a very easy ride of things since then!