Osiris

I've owned and gigged both models before and know them well. I still have a Genzler amp although I gig with in ear monitors these days so don't get to use it in anger often. Personally I'd keep the Genzler, it's the bigger and punchier sounding of the two and is the more versatile. But it's also probably going to fetch a lot more than the TC so if there's a financial consideration then maybe sell the Genzler and keep the TC.

Another vote for @Chienmortbb. I've also used Custom Lynx and Deignacable and can't fault them but I recently dropped him a line enquiring about a 10 metre XLR cable and he was around £5 cheaper than the above and was using the same quality components (Neutrik jacks and Sommer cable).

I'm gassing for an Atlas at the minute it looks to be THE one compressor to rule them all. But as I said earlier in the thread, compression is a very much misunderstood subject. To get the best from any compressor you really need to understand what they do and how to apply them. Again, this cannot be stressed enough. My guess is that a lot of people assume that it's a fancy effect like a phaser or synth pedal and that they will notice a huge difference in their sound. But that's not the point of them. If you think of it in terms of shaping and controlling your tone (think more along the lines of EQ and HPF) and think more like a sound engineer or producer than a bass player, then they will make a total sense and - IMO - prove to be far more useful than one of the flash effects that you might use for one song on a 2 hour gig.

Does the Boss impart any character or tonal magic? Or is it more on the transparent side? It's one on my short list of units to try. I'm still using the Boss LMB-3 which I absolutely love, it's only a simple pedal but I love it's aggressive edge and the punch it adds to the mids, it's possibly the punchiest unit I've ever used. It's cheap and dirty. Like me.

It depends on what you want from your compressor, are you looking for something transparent? Or something that will give your sound some added character? Are you looking for another optical compressor? If you weren't overly enamored with the BBE maybe look at a different compression type, for example something FET based will feel a lot different to an optical comp, more immediate and aggressive. The new Source Audio Atlas compressor looks intriguing and should do anything and everything you could ever want from a compressor. I'm thinking of writing to Father Christmas to ask for one myself this year...

After the recent complaints about the numerous inaccuracies on their website, bass direct have decided to rebrand themselves.

Just received a custom spec XLR cable from John. The cable is made with quality components (Neutrik connectors with Sommer cable) and was cheaper than the online sites I've used for years. Quick delivery too!

You just need to set the threshold so that it works in conjunction with the amps gain control. Just bear in mind that if you swap basses you'll likely have to tweak the threshold and possibly the amp gain too. Or if you have an active bass and make any adjustments to the onboard preamp you'll probably need to fine tune the settings too. Once you've set things up right you might find that your driven tone is more consistent too.

Some pedal comps can reduce the low end on bass especially if they're designed with the guitar in mind. Dyna comp style circuits - of which there are a million variants are notorious for low end loss. This is why dedicated bass comps, multi-band compression and side chain high pass filtering have been developed as they help reduce any low frequency loss. With a multi-band you can have separate compressor that deal with the lows and high working in unison, that way the lows don't swamp the highs and you have independent control over the low end makeup gain (amongst other parameters) so you can boost the lows more if you want to, the TC Spectracomp is a decent multi-band unit. High pass filtering is a technique where the compressor is 'tuned' to react less strongly, or not at all, to bass frequencies, the Cali76 Compact Bass and DG Hyper Luminal both have adjustable HPF's, for example. While this might sound counter intuitive (to me at least) it actually increases the low end weight of the compressed signal. A fair assumption for a lot of pedals but not when it comes to compressors. This is where having a good understanding of compression will start to pay off, you need to understand what the Threshold control does in order to set it suitably - this controls the point at which the compressor applies the compression. There's no single answer to where you set the threshold as there are a number of factors to consider such as bass output level (a hotter bass will require a lower threshold, for example). A comp with decent metering is really helpful for setting the threshold just right. Set the threshold too low and you may not trigger the compression, too high and you'll obliterate your dynamics. My preference is to set the threshold at the point where it catches the signal peaks (unfortunately I'm only human and therefore lack a totally impeccable technique ) to keep the bass signal even when digging in hard but allows me to retain dynamics when playing softer. The importance of the threshold is probably where most people go wrong with compressors, IMO. This is easily doable with a suitably set threshold and when set up properly it would make the change in sounds easier as well as potentially saving your fingers from having to dig in so hard! It's all about the threshold.

But that's exactly what a compressor does! See the previous links I posted. Anyway, nobody has to use one. But when used properly compression makes the bass (and all other instruments, vocals, drums etc) sound more consistent and allows them to sit together more evenly in the mix while still retaining dynamics, transients, overtones etc. As a result the whole sound is improved, so why wouldn't you use one? I often leave my EQ set flat but would never consider telling anyone they should never use an EQ on their bass. It's the same principle. Any decent sound engineer, and we all know they're a rare breed, and certainly studio engineers use compression all the time. But just because some bass players don't or won't use one it doesn't invalidate the idea or make it pointless. I use them all the time and if someone wants to believe it's like riding my bike with the stabilisers on I'll just have to learn to live with it 🤷‍♂️

But if you were to use a compressor it would remove those overtones... 🤣🤣🤣

Making sure your technique is consistent as is humanly possible is fine, but how do you deal with playing the same note in different parts of the neck? For example, if you were to play a G on the 15th fret of the E string, it will have sound more dense and weighty than playing an open G string. Same note, same pitch but one contains much more energy than the other. How do you control that? Play the 15th fret G quieter? In which case it could get lost. Play the open string harder or maybe pluck it further up the neck?

Can I respectfully ask you to read this - it's a different link to the one I posted before but from the same website, and written, as before, by an authority on the subject of compression. The first main paragraph is the main point of interest. http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/howto.shtml The first main paragraph is the main point of interest; "A compressor is just an automatic volume control. At a basic level, it reacts to volume spikes from your music, and turns down the volume a bit as your input levels go up. That's really all there is to it."

I use D'Addario Nickel 50-105 guage. They're 34" scale strings but with the through-body stringing it's only really another wrap of the string around the machine head post thingy. I've been doing this for years, only because I have a job lot of 34" strings, and have never had any trouble with intonation or strings breaking.

Try some rounds on the JMJ, it makes a huge difference compared to the stock flats IMO. I don't really like flats in general but the ones that came with the JMJ aren't as lifeless as some that I've tried... But once I put a set of rounds on the bass really came alive, you still have that rubbery low end things but much more clarity and articulation in the upper mids and high end. Much more of a classic Precision sound 😎

I don't think they're being singled out as such but speaking from personal experience of BD as well as making a sweeping generalisation based on some of the posts in this thread, it seems to me that BD's unique take on customer service is arguably more variable than most shops, be they selling music equipment or anything else. In my own experience the level of customer service I have received from them has varied from excellent through to condescending, to apathetic incompetence. IF you go to one of the big box shifters and deal with the 12 year old Saturday boy on minimum wage then you might adjust your expectations accordingly. But when you go to a specialist shop like BD you, or at least I do, expect service that's a little more consistent. I neither want nor expect some fawning sycophant to blow smoke up my exhaust, but a little respect and common courtesy goes a long way.

And of course, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Ars

Have we had Bruno Ars yet?

Not the design but the finish. Sunburst and/or tort are disgusting enough on their own, but when combined they are truly hideous 🤢🤮 Just add gold hardware for the holy trinity of awful bass aesthetics!

Can I respectfully ask that you give this a read - Killed my tone (ovnilab.com)

Compression is very much a misunderstood concept, you really need to understand compression to get the most from it and to apply it correctly. That cannot be overstated. When done properly it's often invisible, in so far as it's not obvious, although it can be. The subject has been covered many times on BC already so it's worth doing a search if you want to know more, although there is some ongoing misconceptions that keep cropping up. Better still, take a look at sound engineering sites online as you'll get a more objective overview. I've never heard of compression reducing overtones before, I'm not sure that's true. Compression is for controlling the overall waveform as well as signal spikes on the signal, including but not always the transients. As for the guy on YouTube with his acoustic guitar, it sounds like he didn't know what he was doing 🤷‍♂️

That's what I was wondering too. Are you going for that scooped mid range sound, i.e. lots of lows and highs but with not a lot going on in between? If you are then I suspect that's where the problem lies. While a scooped sound can sound great when it's just the bass playing it's often the last thing you actually need to get the bass to be heard in a band context. Most of the audible frequencies of the bass are in the mids, so that's where you need to shape your sound. IME the sounds that work best with the band are not usually very exciting on their own but you need to be able to sit in the mix with the other instruments for the bass to work as part of the whole. And from memory - so I'm happy to be corrected - the bass control on the Tone Hammer is centred at 40Hz which is a very low frequency, and if you're boosting the bass control lots all you are doing is putting a big strain on the speakers, especially a single 2x10, and not really getting anything audible, or of much use, out of the speakers.