PinkMohawk

Have a look at Pedalnetics, they make the dual footswitch that mounts on the Stomp, but they also do a lot of other stuff, they might have something appropriate for you?

Can any users confirm the actual power requirements? Listed is 2A, but then the HX Stomp lists 2/3A, can't remember which. Considering a board rearrange to move from a Stomp XL to an Anagram, but I'd like to know how much more of the board will need to be rearranged to accommodate it. 

22 minutes ago, ardi100 said:

Thanks, they look perfect, but how do you scroll through patches?

The little black buttons that surround the switch. I really don't like it as an interface, but I also have size 13 feet and only wear Doc Martens, so, I may be a little biased there. 

3 hours ago, ardi100 said:

Hi everyone,

 

It seems my Boss Gt1B has died (I haven't ruled out it being fixed, it could be simple, but - GAS . . .) and I'm considering what to replace it with.

 

When I was in a Madonna cover band I needed lots of synth-type sounds that I could (almost) replicate on the Boss multi, but it did have limitations of effects blocks. I'm now playing in a rock-ish band that doesn't need much more than a bit of valve-like grit. 

 

I would like (but don't really need right now, but who knows into the future) octave, filter, some modulation, fuzz, and delays/reverbs - basically all multi effects' lists. I feel like I could get away right now with a valve pre/DI that wouldn't have to be actually valve based. Oh, and my budget is tiny to not really existent!

 

My one big question is how do people manage single pedals when you need different sounds out of the pedal within or between songs? I built patches for each song on the Boss and then just flicked through them at will. How do players manage a complicated pedalboard with multiple sound changes live?

For just the basics I'd do a cheap Zoom multi, I have the B1 Four X on a little board with a Joyo Sansamp clone, that covers me for quick and dirty covers and rock stuff. My main board has a Stomp XL, which in future I'm planning to swap to an Anagram when I've got the money. 

As for how you manage big, complex boards live, it's usually a MIDI controller. More and more pedals have some form of MIDI control nowadays, which allows a user to program a foot controller to switch pedals on and off, change presets, etc. all with one footswitch. Prior to my current board, I was running a Source Audio Aftershock and a Line 6 M5 as well, along with some other non-MIDI pedals (Pitchfork and a couple of others). I used a loop switcher that was MIDI enabled to control it all, switching sounds with a single press of a switch when I needed to. Great live, but the caveat is that you need to spend quite a bit of time setting up your sounds beforehand. 

11 minutes ago, soulstar89 said:

Hey peeps. A little update. I went to Anderson’s to get the behringer mini headphone amp. The assistant was adamant it wouldn’t work and the returns is a hassle so we left it. He was extremely helpful. First time to Anderson’s and my lord is it great!!! 
  Picked up the Yamaha sessioncake in the Yamaha store. Really helpful staff again. Bought two but didn’t like the sound all that much. 
 

I'm just going to pick up a mixer and headphone amp so we can both hear what is coming out of the mixer and adjust volume independently. My question is mackie and behringer of the same standard? 
 

This is a learning curve for me. 

The low end stuff, sure, it's all basically equivalent at that kind of price range. 

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knows how I'd go about modding a DD-3 to take an expression pedal to control the delay time? Looking at the schematic, I think I've got a loose idea how to do it, but if anyone has any actual experience, that'd be preferable to me taking a blind stab at it and screwing the pedal up. 

Every time I've messed with the mod shop configurator, I just find out how ridiculously limited it is. I get that it's just them bolting together whatever spare parts they've got kicking around the warehouse and probably charging you extra for the privilege, but the least they could do would be to add a few special options, no?

Ohh those lipsticks look sharp, I like that a lot. Personally, I'd be looking at a two piece bridge, LP shapes with typical bass bridges always look off to me. I recently picked up an LTD bass that uses a two piece design, just feels right on this shape. 

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

In my experience, sometimes the supplied allen key with basses is of dubious quality (and dimensions) - use a decent one which you know is 1.5mm or 2mm or whatever you need.

Yeah, think the only tool I've ever trusted that came with a bass was the metal stick you sometimes get when you've got a truss rod with a wheel adjustment. Anything else, I use known, high quality tools from my days on job sites. Wera makes up most of my travelling tool kit, though Music Nomad make a tidy little kit, though it's a little pricier than most might be willing to spend for a small kit. Handy in a pinch though. 

Something like that Behringer is probably the best move. Regular mixers tend to only have a single headphone output, intended for whoever's operating the board to be able to solo channels. 

One caveat to keep in mind though, it looks to me like you can only have one pair of headphones listening to one of the inputs at a time. In your case, this is fine, since your wife would come in on the L of Input A, and you'd be on the R on Input A, so you can both hear each other no problem. If you have any thoughts of inviting other people over and using this though, or even playing along to backing tracks, you'll be out of luck. You could very easily pick up a cheap little analogue mixer though, take the two outputs into the headphone amps inputs and then you'd be able to add more people/tracks easily. 

I find it with a lot of companies, screws and other fixing hardware are an easy place to cheap out and save a few pennies for them. Odds are good you'll have some kind of fixing hardware specialist in your general vicinity, as I do, so in the event that I'm buying some hardware that needs screws, I'll go to them and see what the closest they've got is. A small expense for significantly better screws. 

31 minutes ago, Tech21NYC said:

It's really sad to me that playing live has become this. While I do "get" that in certain instances for a "show/performance" like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga etc this might make sense. For the most part much of it comes down to inexperienced sound techs and musicians that don't know how to differentiate between a live performance and a studio recording. It's also part economics. For smaller acts that can't afford to travel with their gear it provides an option.

 

Think about this. You have a live drum kit that has no volume control. It's typically the loudest instrument on stage and yet the instruments with volume controls like guitar, bass and keys are all direct? I can turn down my 100 watt guitar amp to a quiet enough volume in my living room while watching TV, can the average drummer play that softly? While the plexi helps reduce the volume (I use an attenuator as well as plexi shields with my guitar rig) but even at that a loud drummer will still be loud no matter what. 

 

For myself their are only a handful of situations where I've agreed to not use an amp. Musical theater gigs and certain studio situations. I play better when using an amp. That's the point of the gear. To allow you to play and perform your best. It doesn't have to be loud to work. 

 

 

I 100% agree. I'll even offer up an alternative perspective. Currently, I'm doing the Sound, Light and Live Event Engineering course at Derby Uni. One of my lecturers is a guy named Jon Burton. You might not know this name, but odds are good you've heard his work, he's spent the last few decades as The Prodigy's touring sound engineer. He's also engineer for Biffy Clyro, and a number of other acts I won't bother naming because I haven't got the time. 

Last year, we as a class went to have a look at the Biffy Clyro shows in London, where they were playing their first few albums in full, a different album each night. During his explanation of what was going on, the guitar tech started checking the guitar rig, and you would not believe the amount of volume coming out of the cabs. Simon Neil runs three separate rigs, and when he wants to add more intensity, he doesn't swap to another amp and cab, he simply adds them to what he was already playing through. 

Naturally, we all wanted to know "Why are you using amps when you could just use modellers and have a quiet stage?". He told us they'd tried it, and they hated it, but they persisted for a while because they thought that they had to. Until he came in and said "Well, if you hate it, just use your amps, we'll figure it out at the desk." 

Anyway, moral of the story is, the right engineer can work with you to make sure that you're comfortable on stage, and that you're sounding your best, even if you want to drag your big rig with you everywhere you go. He intentionally sacrificed a little vocal clarity to make sure that the performers were as comfortable on stage as possible, because he knew that it'd make the actual performance that much better. 

I do think there's a visual loss with the move to modellers over traditional amps. Unless a lot of time and thought has gone into a stage design, to the point that having your amps and cabs on the stage would actually take away from the overall look of things. But, on the other hand, as Red says, it's now also a lot more possible to get to gigs in smaller vehicles, less vehicles, etc. which is a big money saver for a lot of people. Perhaps the middle ground is venues buying cheap empty cabs to fill the back wall of the stage with? 

That's got to be the most phallic headstock I've ever seen that wasn't just a cock. 

Some of you may remember Verellen Amplifiers, the guy who made the Meatsmoke, and other such good and tasty valve amps. Well, seems like he's not been idle since shuttering Verellen Amps and has formed Verellen Devices, which just popped up on my Instagram feed with this post: 

Quote

Introducing a creation called Octal by new company, Verellen Devices.

For the last two years I’ve been banging my head against this idea partnered with some heavyweight electrical engineers.

Octal is a reliable and readily available alternative to the power vacuum tube, delivering a cleaner tone and a boost to the available output power of your tube amplifier.

Please see website link in bio for more info and to sign up to be amongst the first to try out this technology.

Patent pending. All rights reserved. Suckers get served. 👊💥

Given his past work, I'm inclined to think this might actually be quite an interesting item, at least for those of us who are still running valve heads and feeling the sting of the constantly shrinking availability of said valves. 

10 minutes ago, eude said:

4 years and it will all be over, one way or another

Gives Peavey plenty of time to get all this stuff right.

Yeah, assuming he doesn't throw a tantrum and press the big red button because he didn't get his way. 

You're right, hopefully the US market will really pick up on these, frankly any of these new releases and not just the bass amp, will show them that this is the right move to make, and keep them going. 

8 hours ago, eude said:

I actually think that their gear was so well designed and built that perhaps they had to change things to try and get folks to buy new gear? Sadly they just went in the wrong direction.

They could really do something here though, if they keep this 70s, 80s and even 90s look going with reissue style products, built with modern features. Sadly, Peavey don't currently seem to be able to do anything quickly

For obvious reasons, hopefully, I'm not going to be buying anything new fro the US any time soon, but hopefully in 4 years time there might be some cool stuff to ponder.

You know, that's a good thought actually. We all know how bulletproof the old Peavey gear is. 

Yeah, you're sadly right, I spoke to the guy who came up with the idea of reissuing it, according to him it took a good year to get some movement on the project, and even then it took another engineer picking up the project and working on it before it got OK'd. I imagine the pedals were an easier sell, but hell, even the Decade reissue, that video of Josh Homme bringing it out as the secret weapon was a couple years back wasn't it? If it took them that long to bring out a guaranteed money maker like that, it doesn't fill me with hope. 

Likewise, I'll not be sending my money across the pond, no matter how much I might want to (Damn I want one so bad) but sometimes, you just have to stick to your principles. 

1 minute ago, ebenezer said:

I was a big fan of Peavey back in the day...they were massively ahead of their time...my first amp was the "combo 130" fitted with 15 inch black widow, parametric mids, ddt limiter, this was late 70s!!.....later came the 450 watt database combo, even smaller, but more brutal,  digital amp and processor controlled low end with an excursion filter....come on Peavey, stick it to the other manufacturers,  we know you can do it.

 

Old Peavey gear was something really special, I've got a lot of love and time for the old gear, from the aesthetic to the sound. Them moving away from those old designs was disappointing, though I suppose that, in the US at least, they were so ubiquitous that everyone was just tired of them. 

I do hope that this is the beginning of a move towards that older school of design that made them a staple though, with a modern twist since they do need to cater for the modern audience. After all, there's only so many doom players willing to drag walls of amps to gigs anymore. 

For anyone wondering where to get the kind of battery box that has the integrated contacts, I believe you'd be looking for the Gotoh BB-02 for a press fit box, BB-04 for a screw in box, and the BB-04W for the 18v (2x9v) box. Other manufacturers may make their own, but that's the one that came to mind. 

18 hours ago, Bilbothebassplayer said:

I have been using finger ramps on my basses for about 6 years, but every time I have used one, I have had to build my own. As it's only been recently that I have seen them start to become popular. I know Gary Willis has used one for a very long time and seeing some of his stuff on YouTube gave me the inspiration to start using one myself.

 

 <- Cort A5 SC                                   <- Fender American 2019 

 

 

I love how it makes my right hand (plucking hand) feel and how easy it is to float over the strings. Since I started using finger ramps I moved from anchoring my thumb to floating thumb instead, similar to how Gary and a few other of the fusion players do. This has allowed me to start using my thumb for plucking along with the index and middle and it makes string jumping a breeze. 

 

There is a reason for this post and not just an excuse to show off my dodgy woodwork. I have a question for anyone who uses one and or builds them. 

 

Currently the only way to attach a finger ramp I have found, is with double sided tape. For my basses this has worked fine but I wonder if there is a way to adjust the height after installation? similar to how the Gibson bridges on guitar are. I don't really want to drill into my bass haha. 

 

I have recently been to a guitar luthier who is currently building me a new on for my Cort bass, the new ramp will follow the radius of the fretboard and is Ebony, which will look nicer than my black painted bit of cheap B&Q wood haha. 

 

Saying that a drum tech friend of mine had a go at me for using cheap wood as he believed that the type of wood would change the sound. Is he right or wrong? I have no clue haha. 

 

For anyone who wants to build a finger ramp to try on their bass, this is the video from Gary that I learnt how to do it. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKffNbWXRfQ

 

Apologies if there is already a topic about this subject, I couldn't seem to find it. I have only been on this site for about a week, so I'm still wet behind the ears. 

Your drum tech mate should stick to tub thumping. Slapping an extra bit of wood to the front of your bass isn't doing anything for the tone one way or the other. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that any tonal difference due to wood selection is minimal anyway, but that's another can of worms. Either way, taping a bit of extra wood to the front isn't going to make your tone suddenly crap. 

NS-2 was my gate of choice, and I ran a lot of gain. The separate input for your instrument, while keeping the gain pedals in the loop is a game changer. 

7 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

Sounds quite nice in this snippit.

 

Looking better on the leg than it does isolated in photos, though I couldn't see the whole body at once due to the vertical phone screen editing for Shorts like that. Definitely sounds good though. 

29 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

 

Oh aye, I'll never forget the first time I tried to drag the provided 2x15 BW with 400 series head on it across our rehearsal room.. it wasn't going anywhere without a fight, so I can only imagine what the 3620 must have been like to shift!

Hahaha yeah, I ran one of the old 2x15's for quite a while. I got so sick of the crap wheels they'd included on it that I went and bought some big and smooth ones from Blue Aran. Good lord it was so much more pleasant to move around after that. 

And just in case anyone is wondering, the ideal wheel replacement for an Ampeg 8x10 is using skateboard trucks, not wheels. Makes a great place to grab hold of when you're humping it up stairs too. 

3 hours ago, Ed_S said:

They look absolutely excellent. The cab wouldn't be practical for me, but I'd have the amp head right now.

To be fair, impractical cabs is a very Peavey thing to do. The 3620 was a Peavey creation after all. 

4 hours ago, eude said:

I'm really happy to see this.

I loved Peavey stuff back in the day, even the 90s stuff.

I really hope they keep running with this homage effort. They've re released the Decade and there's a handful of new preamp pedals, all with the classic 80s and not so classic 90s styling.

Likewise, I realise it's not the same, not really, but that classic style and design language is something special. I've spoken with the guy who made the push for this to happen, he thinks of it as something like his baby, getting this made. With any luck, we'll see some real numbers move for Peavey with these throwback releases and they'll start making a move back to the classics. I've still got a pair of old Century Bass heads in storage that need repairs, but I loved those amps when I had them working.