ProfFrink

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it actually doesn't have guitar/bass-to-midi functionality, but don't really have a reference right now, so idk.

BTW, there's a centi-thread on TB where apparently the original developer of the Deep Impact is going to come out with a sort of "reissue" called "Future Impact". The thread has been going on for a while now and there are no demos or pricing information, but it does look like availability may not be too far off. AFAIU it's really a digital re-design, so there's no way to know how it will sound like, but at least the starting point is known to be solid and it's supposedly made for bass... Edit: Checked it just now and it's actually a kilo-thread by now...

I like messing around with synths and synth-like sounds, and this unit seems very well made and seems to have almost immaculate tracking (as far as can be divined from the demos, which can be very misleading), but there aren't many demos of it on-line and the ones I've seen (which are all above) are sort of meh. Sure, it's tempting with all the tweakability and with what seems to be great potental, but I'd like to hear a few really convincing bass sounds going out of this before even starting to contemplate paying this kind of cash...

I only have the 60B. You can do 1 using the LineSel effect (which will take up 1 "slot") but 2 you can only really do with one song. The way to do this on the 60B is using the A/B method (where you select a subset of presets to rotate through using the footswitch) BUT, in order to change this subset you need to fiddle with the controls. So, if you want to cycle back and forthe between patches X and Y for one song and then Z and W for a another song it's going to be difficult. Also out of the models you mention I like the amp modeling (mostly use the SVT) the big-muff clone is great for fuzz and the octave seems to work well, but I couldn't really get usable overdrive or synth out of it. I'm still searching for a good discrete overdrive pedal (trying out the b3k) and for synth I have a much easier time with a cheap Behringer BSY600. I couldn't work the synths on the 60B at all. They seem to have almost uncontrollable high gain with my setup.

Your options are:[list] [*]Lookup the section titled "To add or remove patch memories to a list that the footswitch cycles through" - page 11 on the English manual. [*]Use the "LineSel" effect (it basically shuts all the effects after it in the chain) [*]Use an external loop bypass. [/list]

[list] [*]I obviously don't knwo anything about your amp or your setup, but are you sure the noise is coming from the amp? Cabinets tend to act like low-pass filters, so it's possible that the noise is somewhere else in your signal chain but is just more pronounced in your DI out. [*]It seems like "dirt" sounds are extremely subjective, and also depend on your setup. Try to rely less on what people are saying and more on your ears and try to test pedals before buying, or be prepared to shuffle a few of them before you find the "right one". [*]Of the ones you mention, I sort of have the b7k, because i have a b3k, which is the same only without the EQ and DI parts. It seems like some people swear by it and somd don't connect. For me, I've had it for only a few weeks and it seems like an acquired taste for me. When I just got it I didn't understand it at all and couldn't find a usable sound. Now I start liking it more and finding sounds that look like something I can use. The EQ controls on the b7k seems sort of "normal" but the EQ baked into the dirt circuit is pretty weird (I think you're getting both on the b7k). Also if you plan to buy used, take into account that there are a few versions of this circuit out there. The main difference seems to be in the switches. [/list]

Arguably I'm just a beginner so what do I know, but I actually have both the Ernie-Ball Jr and a less-known pedal called "EWS Subtle Volume". It's basically a big knob that you can operate by foot which has a taper that gives you finer control over the higher volume range. I actually haven't got round to installing the EWS on my pedalboard yet, so only did a few short tests with it, but it looks like if you want to do volume-swells (which I never do) you want the EB Jr and if you want to make small changes to volume near that top of the range, the EB is a bit too fiddly. I think once i have time the EWS is going to get a permanent place at the back of my chain.

I'm not from the UK, so don't know much about UK customs and can't combine... Sorry mate :-) The BTPA site seems to have Paypal checkout. This gives some level of assurance because IINM Paypal has some sort of money-back guarantee or disputes system (luckily never had to test this). However this will only help for catastrophes, not for shipping and tax costs.

Funny, I was just looking for the same thing. Best-Tronics seem to have a few options which seem nice. E.g.: [url="http://btpa.com/MIDI1R-XX.html"]http://btpa.com/MIDI1R-XX.html[/url] They have right-angle and straight, and the right-angle have an adjustable angle vs the orientation of the pins. I've found them while browsing the 'Disaster Area' site. They also recommend and sell these.

Maybe I just lost track of the discussion, but are there any effects in current production that have a sampling rate of less than 44kHz? For effect pedals, it seems to me that the more difficult issue may actually be the bit-per-sample, because these pedals need to be able to cover quite a wide range of input signal levels, so unless they employ some fancy analog circuitry to counter this they are bound to sacrifice some of the bits in order to have enough headroom for the full range of levels they need to support. In any case, we know most of these effects sound good, and regarding tape, various tape-emulations seem to be pretty popular and will often be added to your recording anyway in the final mix.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1444133005' post='2880513'] The sampling rate frequency (44kHz / 96kHz) and the frequency response of the speakers are not to be confused. They have the same units but mean completely different things. You need a high sampling rate to make sure your analogue to digital conversion doesn't lose any audible information (google the Nyquist sampling theorem to find out why). The frequency response of your speakers just tells you the range of frequencies your bass amp operates over. [/quote] [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1444139974' post='2880597'] You won't hear the sampling rate directly, but the sound quality of digital playback depends on the rate. Listen, on t'web, to samples done with an 8khz rate, and compare to higher rates (often multiples of 8, such as 16, 32, 64 khz etc...). Above 48khz won't have an audible difference, but could affect later treatment. It's a bit of an audio equivalent to pixel density for photos. [/quote] I'm pretty sure the OP is right for all practical purposes. I dare anyone to distinguish a bass-only recording done at 44kHz vs any other sampling rate. The only exception may possibly be recording with a lot of fuzz or similar effects that add a lot of high-frequency content, but arguably, since most of these are just crud addition of harmonic content and noise, any small difference is going to be negligible and/or can simply be attributed to "the tone" of the recoded player.

Yes. Monitoring is a huge plus for a compressor, especially if you're new to this effect and don't yet know exactly what to listen for. I actually had the MXR and wasn't hugely impressed by it. Yes, it's a bit expensive but the build quality doesn't seem to match the price. Also the controls are a bit fiddly and I found myself often having to max out the input. It worked, but was not a very satisfying experience... I guess it's a reasonable compromise but if you can afford to go a bit more up-market and/or you're the kind of person (like myself) that these types of issues will really bother you, I suggest you look into the offerings from Keeley, Darkglass (if it's out yet), and Empress. Big +1 for Ovnilab reviews. Me, I've just got a Keeley Compressor Pro to replace the MXR. I don't yet have enough playing time to say much, but it does look like top-notch quality, and it also has a nice display.

You didn't specify budget... The Zoom MS-60B (which I have and love) and the B3 are very well loved around here and are relatively cheap. Zoom also has even cheaper options with similar models, but less robust construction. Line-6 M5/9/13 are options. Just started trying out the M5 and relatively impressed. State-of-the-art are Fractal-Audio Axe-Fx, FX8, and soon to be released AX8, but these are a different price ball park. I'm not sure right now which of the above have USB recording. Possibly only the B3, but a decent audio interface isn't very expensive. The few bass-oriented reviews I've seen of the Rocktron were not favorable.

See if the Cioks Adam or DC5 give you enough juice. They are specifically designed to be mounted on the underside of a PedalTrain. I'm just not sure whether you need to raise your PT model a little bit - they have very detailed mounting instructions on their site. I have the Adam and the Schizophrenic mounted under a PT classic-2 (bigger than your PB and doesn't need any raising) and they work great. These power-supplies are built like tanks, and have a very intelligent overload protection mechanism where the LED corresponding to an overloaded circuit will turn dim. Probably less relevant to your situation, but some of the Cioks models (the bigger ones from the "link" range) are also designed to be chained, so this provides a relatively painless upgrade path.

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1302957470' post='1201797'] Yeah, I threw caution to the wind and undid the screws and it turns out that they're only small and go back in without any problems if the feet aren't there. I don't think it's mentioned in the manual so I hope this helps someone. [/quote] Yeah! Resurrecting this old thread after 4.5 years to mention that this has indeed helped me. Will do the exact same velcroing procedure later today and seeing this hands-on account makes me much more confident doing this :-) As for the pedal itself, I bought this as an experiment, mostly because I wanted to try incorporating more expression-pedal into my playing and the expression-pedal implementation on this thing looks superb (can control virtually any parameter or combination of parameters with any kind of sweep you can think of (straight, reverse, partial). I've only had a chance trying it for a few minutes yesterday night but I must say that it is positively overwhelming. Some of the effects need a fair amount of tweaking to work well on bass (being primarily designed for guitar), but I was surprised that most of them work quite well and the variety is huge. Cheers!

[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1443861258' post='2878181'] Unless used correctly. I find the most common problem with compression not to be raising the existing noise floor rather than killing off your attack/dynamics. Is long as your using it as a compressor, not a limitor, set the relevant envelope settings, and are careful with your gain structure/power supply you should be fine. I use my compressor early in my signal chain, to even out my playing/ volume across strings so that my pedals react in more of a predictable way. Others use a compressor towards the end of their chain, taoming undesired volume spikes that could occur. I am also thinking of getting a (second) sidechained compressor for after my dirt pedals to sidechain the kickdrum to. [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/"]http://www.ovnilab.com/[/url] is THE place to go for compressor info/reviews. I'd definitely give the site a read. [/quote] I wasn't suggesting that compressors can't be used for bass, and in fact I believe compression is one of the most commonly used effect for bass, and I absolutely agree. However, the OP isn't planning to use it for the same purpose as you but rather to smooth the difference in gain across different effects, and IMHO this is not a good use of compression. If you have gain issues you should address them directly by fixing your gain.

In general compression is not the best way to fix signal-chain gain issues, mainly because this will completely kill your dynamics, which is often not what people want. OTOH pedals that don't preserve unity gain are indeed a PITA, because if you don't leave them always on you really need some sort of looper in order to tame them. I suggest you try something like a Boss LS-2 for this. It's relatively cheap and has a million uses.

Oy vey. The GAS... The octave sound sounds great in the demos, but I'm not sure I totally like the fuzz part (totally personal thing of course). I also really dislike internal trimpots, because my OCD won't let me pass the chance to use them and I'll end up spending the rest of my life taking this apart and back together just to try different settings. Also, it's a bit big. Pity they don't do just the octave in a dedicated pedal. I might have gone for this if it sounded good in a few more demos...

Don't know much about delays (never used one with any seriousness), but just as a coincidence I was watching some Digitech Timebender videos today and this thing is a beast.

[quote name='rmorris' timestamp='1442491055' post='2867305'] But the 'ground loops' can pick up mains interference radiated from the transformers (or other frequencies from any switch mode supplies used) and so not having mains transformers etc near the pedals etc can be an advantage.[/quote] That's exactly what I thought when I was shopping for a PS, but most of the big-name PS's actually do have the transformers right inside the main PS box, and people told me that they never had any issues. I eventually did something which could be considered even worse, and bought 2 PS's - Cioks link Schizophrenic and Adam - which are linked by what seems to be an non-shielded adaptor, so I basically have 2 short runs of exposed 50Hz radiation right on the underside of my pedaltrain (the main cord to the Schiso and the link to the Adam) and at least 2 transformers (though these seem to be heavily shielded) but still no noticeable hum...

For buying PSs the things to consider are:[list] [*]Voltages [*]Currents (mA's) [*]How many isolated outputs if at all (yeah, it's hard to tell which pedals need it and which don't before trying) [*]Form-factor, mounting options, and port accessibility (it's easy to overlook this but it's actually sort of important) [*]Input voltage of course [/list] The problem with looking to spend as little as possible is that if you don't really know what you need you may end up spending more. E.g. in order to economize you may think that it's best to get the smallest PS that will power your existing set of pedals, but then if you buy one or two more pedals you need to replace the whole PS or add another one. I'm sort of in this situation (or will be soon) with my Cioks.

What are you looking for in a jazz bass? The Fenders are great-sounding and (obviously) classics, but I've never been able to go past the ergonomics, so now actually looking for something that will sound similar but have better ergonomics...

I don't know much about fuzzes, but actually really like the Muff model on my Zoom MS-60B. It's relatively cheap and will give you much more than just the fuzz...

There's a bunch of manufacturers who do all kinds of loopers (not in the play-replay sense but in the loop-in-the-signal-chain sense) and switchers. Most/all of them will have kill switches or A/B switchers, with various features: loop-master.com American Loopers GigRig Bright Onion pedals One control decibel11 Boss (obviously) Sound Sculpture Switchblade Carl-Martin Octa-Switch Moen Swift Pedals this1smyne Wee Lush

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1440184084' post='2848987'] god ...im crap i keep gettin 50.[/quote] Not sure if you're being serious but if you are - look at the top of the page after you're done, not at the bottom. Got me confused too... It's a nice game, and the nice thing about it is that I actually got better at it after a few goes. So it's both fun and educational