dave_bass5

The Aux in does go to the output jack, not the XLR

Nice one. I did the same, although it was just a rehearsal. Not much to go wrong really. Hope you enjoy it.

I came across this on Talkbass (im spending too much time there lately) Its a free program for Windows/Mac that allows us to go deep in to pedals like the 60B and edit the tones in real time. Looks pretty cool. I should say ive not yet tried it myself, but will do at the weekend. http://tonelib.net/ Original TB thread here https://www.talkbass.com/threads/free-editor-for-zoom-pedals-b1on-b1xon-ms-60b.1334064/

Yes and no. You get one knob per tone print, and at the moment at least, you cant edit these using the app/software.

Agreed. I got a much nicer OD last night. Although i have no idea whats going on under then bonnet of the tone print, i found the Gain control makes a huge difference to how the OD knob works. Backing the gain off made for a smoother OD, and one i could see me going forward with as an always on tone.

Ah right, but if its secondhand its not a New amp :-)

Yep, aware of that, although I’d probably not worry too much about that side.

I promise you i will not be buying a new amp at any point. Ive had my MarkBass F1 too long to stop using it. Believe me, ive tried. I am seriously thinking about trading my MB800 for a BH though. As i dont use the GK i wont lose anything if i dont like the BH, and ill stil have a back up to my F1 (which is also red).

Oh I’m sure it is. It looks high end. I’d take my Q/strip over that mid knob though. I was only commenting on the BH heads as i like the EQ in my SD, and this has come from the BH EQ. I’m not actualy looking for a new head as such.

Hmmm, doesn’t really appeal to me. Thinking about trading my GK MB800 for a BH800 now though. That will be the only way i will get another head. I need to get a few more rehearsals or gigs (more like the former) under my belt with the SD first though.

Yeah yeah, and John Taylor uses them as well, which really doesnt help the GAS. Luckily i have that EQ sorted already, so my money is safe........for now.

We need to stop talking about the BH heads right now. I dont need a new head, as I already have one too many, but those BH550/800 heads do look attractive now i know what they are based on. You all know how GAS works lol

Just got tracking info from G4M. My new TC power supply will be delivered tomorrow. Thats very good service. I think the PSU alone costs abuout £29. I feel a bit guilty as I doubt I’ll ever use either of them, I’ve been using my 1 spot at home, but it’s nice to have the correct PSU I guess.

Amen to that.....

Dont get me wrong, im not knocking the Cali, just making a point that no one NEEDS to spend that much to get a good comp, but we are willing to pay what it takes for something we want. If it doesn't workout, then we can sell it on, but we have to give it a go first otherwise we will never know....Mr Krow lol. The Cali has a good rep, and because of its heritage i think people take notice of it so do try it Some move on, others dont. I dont think the SD will ever achieve cult status, or possibly be used by 1000's of people (although web forums are not a true indication IMO) like, say the Sansamp stuff, but there must be 1000's of pedals out there that people spend a fortune on, that wouldn't suit the majority of us. £185 is a small price for me to pay for the conveniences ive listed. Your right, i have spent a lot this year. i work it out at around about £800, just on pedals alone. I have a drawer full of 'mistakes' that i really should sell (no, not the draw itself I would assume there will be a Spectradrive owners club over on TB, they like that sort of thing, and if not ill start one lol. Cheers. All those points were just relative to me. I must admit before getting it i was hoping for, if not better, different to how its turned out. My first post on here about it said i wanted it for home practice. This still stands and for this i cant knock it. My comments about the B3n were just observations. Im 100% happy that the SD does what it does. I cant really mark it down for not having something its not be advertised as having. Battery would be nice, digital effects other than tone prints would be nice, a bit of reverb on the headphone out would be nice, lots of missing things would be nice, but then we are talking about a different box. The things that impressed me the most were how much better my basic clean tone sounded, and how much better my other boxes sounded after it. This, to me is its killer feature for live use. It can colour the tone by using Spectracomp and OD, but even with the SC turned right down, and the EQ set almost flat (if that exists, maybe it doesn't) the low notes had more clarity, and the higher note more punch, than with the box bypassed. I even found i was backing the Low off a bit, and rather than just having less low end, it seemed to be more adding clarity to those notes, without losing the heft. Again, this is all how it sounded to my ears and its only the one rehearsal. The fact that all this takes up one space on my board means it works for me. I can guarantee i will still have this box at the end of the year, along with my Aftershock.

Just saw this over on Talkbass. Im not sure if it goes in this forum or the Recording one, but it can be moved if needed. https://neuraldsp.com/products/darkglass-ultra-plugins/

Oh, just heard back from G4M, they are sending out a UK PSU for it.

Not quite. The comp is the same, but allows me to still have in on my board along with something that gives me more EQ options, and a second mild OD (once i get to grips with it), The drive doesn't suck, its just that so far ive not found the right setting. Compared to my AS yes, its not as good, but the idea isnt to replace the AS, its to work with it. I now have two dirt boxes on my board. one for very light drive, and one for proper dirt. Agree that the EQ doesn't add any colouration, but then i have the AS for that. Nothing really does BDDI other than the BDDI and BDI-21. I was never going to try and replace that. I do now have better EQ than any time before, other than the Q/strip. the SD does replace the Q/strip as far as offering me EQ that i can actually use without colouration. im very happy with the EQ, and it seems be based around freq's that work for me and i can get just as much usable (for me) variation from it as i can the Q/strip. The headphone out doesn't have any digital processing like room ambience, mic placement, etc. That was obviously going to result in a flatter tone. When i use my B3n with my pedal board i dont have any amp or cab sim on the B3n anyway. I just use it in bypass mode most of the time. This means no EQ unless its on the board. Although i cant get the headphone tones i can from the B3n, the output from the SD's headphone jack seems more solid. Never used the Aux in and line outs on the B3n at the same time. The only time ii would ever use the Aux in is to play with headphones. I wouldn't use my B3n live, i just cant get on with the foot switches. Its over kill and if it didnt fit on my board, id have to get a much larger one. The SD fits, brings a lot of what i want to the board, and really does sound good, even without the colouring i was used to. I love how less complicated the SD is over the B3n. Its much more immediate. Proper knobs, no level issues between patches etc. It has a XLR out, the Aux in sounds less processed, its smaller, it fits on my board when i need it to without me needing a larger board, fits in the front pocket of my gig bag if i only want to use that one pedal (which is what ill be doing tonight when i go to a mates house with it), and honestly, all that is worth £185 to me. Its a jack of a few trades, and in no way master of anything, but it fits the billl for me. Didnt you just buy an expensive Comp to replace a much cheaper, but more than usable one. Not many people fork out that much for a comp ;-)

The DG implementation does seem even more pointless to me, but both DG and TCE seem to tout the headphone out for private practice, which i guess both do well (the SD more so IMO), but none are as versatile as even something like the cheap Zoom's for recording.

No reason to really, but i always try and get an idea of what a box can, and cant do before i get it. The PR blurb always makes things sound perfect, but my experience tells me there is always going to be a small feature that doesn't work quite as expected and can make the whole thing unusable.

To be fair, it states that in the manual, so i was well aware of that before i got mine. I think some people are expecting more from this box. I cant personally see why its a problem as you can take a line out from the headphone jack anyway, and get the speaker emulation. If you had the Aux in going to the main out it would be mono only, so not sure how useful that would be.

Ive just tried it out on headphones, and i like what i hear. Its not got the depth of tone that my B3n has, but i can get some very usable tones. The bass sounds a bit more natural, and close if that makes sense. No ambience added. I wouldn't say the speaker sim is doing much, i suppose its just a slight tone curve after all, but it doesnt sound harsh or thin. The Aux in works well, and it actually sounds better than going through the B3n. I guess its not getting processed like in the B3. I actually prefer the stock OD tone, and with the correct use of the Gain knob its sounding quite close to my AS as far as drive goes. All in all, very happy. Its not perfect, its not going to repace any of my dirt pedals, but it has replaced my Q/Strip and Spectracomp, and at home my B3n. Time to get some for sale ad's up. It will be more than 3 months before i decide to sell it :-)

Pretty much spot on. I think the OD needs a bit of coaxing, but im sure its in there. The EQ is nice, and i like the fact that turning the knobs to the left lowers a different freq's compared to boosting to the right. The set Freq's seem to be just right for me, although i never turn EQ knobs too far either way. Ive still to test out the headphone side, but im hopeful. The foot print is a lot smaller than my B3n, and although the SD cant match anywhere near what the B3n can do, i like the idea of a basic tone (which is all iuse the B3n for anyway) in a smaller footprint. Just a shame it wont run off batteries.

I think the one knob OD wont be to everyone’s tates. It seems quite limited. Ill try the other tone prints tonight and see if they are any better. I can see me using it if I can get away from the tone shift when engaging it, I thought the OD wasn’t bad as such, it just wasn’t my tone with OD on top like I got when engaging the AS. I could get a good dirt tone if I re adjusted the EQ once I turned the OD on, but that’s not practical in a live situation. If it didn’t have the Spectracomp in it I wouldn’t bother with it for live use, but the box as a whole worked well. It’s a lot more set and forget, even over my BDDI, and I like that. I didn’t feel the need to keep tweaking it like I do with my other Preamp boxes. It reminded me of the Prok Loin when set to fully clean, only with more EQ. It was never going to replace my AS, and I still have my BDDI, VTBass DI and one or two other boxes for colour if I want more of that. For now I think ill keep the board as it is, it seems simpler now.

Just got back from rehearsals, so these are first impressions only., From the moment I plugged it in everything sounded just a bit better. It was still my tone, only with a bit more definition and punch. It might be the fact that I had the comp on, but whatever it was, I liked it a lot. The EQ is pretty subtle, but it seems to be just at the right frequencies. It’s no Q/strip, but it more versatile than my BDDI and VTBass. The drive section wasn’t quite as positive. Kicking in the stock tome print I lost the fullness and low end. Beaming the Natural tone print resulted in a nicer OD, but nowhere near as nice as the Aftershock. In fact the AS sounded really nice after the Spectrdarive, better than it has ever been. The two work really., really well. The Spectrcomp sounds exactly like I remember from the standalone, so no complaints there, and its nice to have it integrated. The ‘issue’ I have with it though, is, like the Q/strip, its not going to colour my tone like I’m used to with the BDDI etc. This isn’t a bad thing as such, nor a negative, just that I will still need to use other boxes to add the colour. Tonight ill test out thei headphone side, cant wait as that was the original reason for getting it.