jimmy23cricket

If anyone is at a loose end this evening, come check out my band! No Comply, on at 8:30 https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/battle-of-the-bands-the-horn-tickets/11575545?REFERRAL_ID=tmfeed Some other quality bands to boot after us.

Laney. Nexus range. Both AB and Full valve stuff.

Erm, ignore me. Just counted again….only 5 blocks with one pre-assigned! Note to self, learn to count.

Glad its going well! Interested though. As far as designated 6 effects blocks, the EQ on mine is the only one you can't switch out. So that leaves 5 assignable blocks to any effect. Is yours also assigning one block to a compressor/dynamic?

Well, what can I say! A couple of months in and I can report its still a good bit of kit. I have created four sets of patches that form my main pedal board now. 1 compressed/clean, 1 driven (nice tubey growl), 1 distorted and one dry. All have options to switch in various modulation effects where needed. Most of my other pedals are now defunct. My chain is now Korg Pitchblack tuner (also acts as a killswitch) -> Pod Go-> X2 Ditto Looper (find external loopers easier to use on the fly) and that's it. Other than adding a good synth down the line, I cant think of anything that the Pod couldn't do well enough to warrant any additional options. The tones are outstanding, I really cant complain and it suits my needs perfectly. Band has commented favourably on bass sounds...whatever that's worth 😁! On board amp sims are good for recording too. Sound really good and are infinitely tweakable....some might say too many options actually. Haven't quite go around to recording a dry and wet signal simultaneously yet either, but I haven't felt I needed to. I did download some free impulse responses mostly for guitar use. The process was pretty straightforward and its been good to have some additional options. I must add that the IR's definitely added something to the guitar sound.

Ok, I'll play. I have always had a hankering for a custom 5. I like the idea of a reverse thunderbird type shape, with slightly softer lines and angles then the originals. Body would be swamp ash, with a figured top of some kind. Nothing too fancy, just something with a nice grain or flame. I would then want the facing coloured with a blue/turquoise burst or fade and then a demarcation line on the facing. I would then like to have a trans white stain over the back and sides of the body showing up the grain of the swamp ash nicely. Pickups would need to be quite hot and quiet as I play hard rock with a fair bit of dirt on my tone. So EMG X's or maybe Nordie big blades. Definitely either a soap bar layout or PJ. A nice top end 3 band EQ would also be nice, but I'd take a 2 band too. Hardware to be black or chrome. Babicz or Hipshot with through string. Neck could be either through or bolt on (depend on cost of course!), but neck would be roast maple (birsdseye if possible) with a roast maple fingerboard. Pearl white block inlays with luminlay side dots. Quite like a fan fret too. I wouldn't need a matching headstock, quite happy with roasted maple. Shape do be determined by tuning key layout, although a "fender-esque" is what I'd probably go for. Hipshot Ultra lights by the way. That's it really 😁

I have run 2 for some time in a heavy rock band. I run a Ashdown ABM 600 through them as my main amp and also a Laney Nexus Tube as an alternate. In my opinion they sound bloody marvellous. They are loud, relatively light and cheap (especially if picked up second hand). Switchable impendence is also a really handy feature too. I also have a 6x10 Ashdown cab, and I find it easier to get a usable tone with the two 1x12 cabs and I can confidently say that they can keep up with the 6x10 volume wise.

Wait, that's a Hand Pan....not a Tongue drum! Apologies 😂 Still impressive craftsmanship though.....

There is some amazing videos on you tube on the handcrafted ones. Astonishing craftmanship which justifies the prices.

I grew up in South Africa and if you think they were expensive here, they were off the scale back there in the 90's! You could by a 2 bedroom flat for the price of them! 😂 But man, they were good to go look at (and wish for!)

Most of the bass specific effects have a blend parameter which does the trick. And as @Stingray64 points out above, you can always use the multiple on-board EQ options to boost whatever frequencies you may feel are lacking. For real world live application, you need to ask yourself are you realistically going to need parallel routing? For me, live, I just don't see it being a requirement and practical usability on the fly is more important a feature. Where it may come into its own is recording, but then the both units do allow you to record a dry and wet signal on different tracks simultaneously which then you can re-amp/add effects as necessary.

I opted for the Pod Go purely because I think it’s more functional for live use with the more foot switchable options. Sure, the Stomp XL is dropping soon, but is suspect it will be quite a bit more costly then either the units you mention. I don’t think the slightly reduced functionality is that much of an issue between the Stomp and Pod, especially for bass and especially live. What it ultimately boils down to is do you really need parallel effects routing? If you do get the Stomp, if not, get the Pod.

So, 3 days in and.... Ease of use - Super easy. I was pretty confident in creating patches and navigating within 20 odd minutes of getting it set up. Probably haven't found all the features yet but I would be happy using this live today if I had a gig (Ha!). The editing software is particularly useful makes patch navigation and set up even easier. Sound - So, this was ultimately to replace a Zoom G3n and potentially and upgrade for by B3n, so I'll mostly comparing to these 2 units. I also liked the idea of one unit for both applications. The G3n was particularly underwhelming for recording and for live sounds (IMHO). The B3n is perfect for my live use and I found marginally better for recording. The Line 6 is definitely a cut above sound wise over both Zoom units. It blows the G3n out the water on all fronts. For bass, the amp and cab sims sound good direct into a DAW and the effects are definitely of a higher quality then the Zoom. The higher DSP does mean more chain options, however if you like to have infinite tweaking options, it may not be for you due to the pre-assigned blocks. Personally, 6 FX in a chain is more than enough even if one is pre-designated to an EQ type. I think where this unit will really start to shine is when you get into the world of Impulse Responses. Practical usability - Its much bigger than the Zoom units, however you can access 4 patches per bank versus the Zoom's 3. Also, the snapshot feature means each patch can be set up in 4 different ways and accessed easily. So in effect, each bank could be of 16 patches. That's plenty for live use I think! I've pretty much ignored the expression pedal so far, so the value of that is yet to prove itself. The stomp mode on this is also much easier and quicker to use then on the Zoom. I'm currently trying to get my head around IR's. I'll report back once I delve into that black hole.

Nah, not a massive requirement for my needs. Quite happy with the Pod....

So took the plunge on one of these. Went for this over an HX Stomp as I prefer more footswitchable options for live use. Also wanted the amp sims for recording, so also ruled the HX out. So far, its an impressive machine. Still learning, but its pretty intuitive.

I had one a while back and all my basses run active with EMG’s. I found the best place to start was here..everthing up full and then small tweaks down. As mentioned, not necessary most times!