CliveT

10 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Thanks for the Sennheiser 206 suggestion ( my knackered cheapo crackly Sony ones have been an annoyance for ages now )

 I just grabbed a new 206 set for £15.99 from evilbay... looking forward to plugging them in without having to wiggle the lead each time !

Look forward to your thoughts on them 

2 hours ago, Rageofklugman said:

I picked up a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M20x headphones a few months back for a bit under £40 and have been very pleased with them.

I looked at those too and they are on my shortlist.  

I've been looking at the Sennheiser HD 206 headphones too for home hi fi and bass practice.  Are they as good as anything else in this price range?  

The MXR bass overdrive is worth a look, and they come up used well under £100 

I'd love to try the Markbass and for around £100 give or take it's not overpriced.  I haven't seen one come up on the used market yet.  

It wasn't featured here but the MXR Vintage Bass Octave's big brother, the Bass Octave Deluxe, can regularly be found well under £100 used, from £70 ish usually so that's a good option too.

Great shootout, thanks.  I thought they all sounded good to be honest.  I love the simplicity of the Markbass 2 knob layout and thought it stood up to the rest well.

I use the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe and would be been great to hear that too along side what you have, especially to get the OC2 sound.

15 hours ago, BassAgent said:

Took a little gamble, found this here in NL for a great price so let's see what's what. I ordered it after consulting my pedal wizard

Had one in the 80's.  Great pedals and nice find if all working OK

It's a great sound 😊

To be honest any decent chorus pedal should do the job.  I've used a Boss bass chorus in the past and currently have the EBS Unichorus.  Both work well with fretted and fretless for me.  I'm sure the others you mentioned along with MXR's bass chorus deluxe would be good.

I've been using the EBS flat cables for about 18 months now with no issues.  I also use the EBS flat daisy chain as I use 2 MXR pedals and the flat right angle plugs mean you can still place them close together.  

Just come across this and Rocco has great tone and feel.  Ignore the dancers and just enjoy the music

I'd also be interested to know what's on his pedalboard.  Watching a few other video's too he likes an octave pedal, sounds great.  

16 hours ago, iamtheelvy said:

Any other recommendations for OC-2-alikes...?

Yes, the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe comes pretty close to the OC2 I think.

On 05/07/2020 at 10:18, three said:

Bobby Vega. Just ‘cause he’s Bobby Vega Really. Not particularly instructional, though instructive nonetheless

Loved watching Bobby Vega at the London Bass Show a few years ago.  Great talent.

There was a YouTube video, showing Bobby playing a J bass, and his Modulas fretless, I think advertising EMG pickups but I can't find it anywhere now.  Did I imagine that or is it still about? 

I bought the Spectradrive recently and it's great for headphone practice.  It's quiet, the aux in works well an the preamp was good too.  The compressor and tube sim worked well too but I couldn't find a drive I liked really.  In the end I returned it because I already have a Markbass and didn't see the need for another preamp but if you want a preamp pedal with headphone out it'll do the job well.

I now use a VOX Amplug and for the money it's great.  Simple and light, good tone and drum patterns.  It can be a little hissy but turn the tone down a little and it's fine, and once you play along with the drums or the aux in track you wouldn't notice it.  

I had an 80's Boss OC2 many years ago and I could never get a decent level out of it.  I realise now of course that it would have needed a 12 v PSU 🙁

Now I use the MXR bass octave deluxe and have no issues.  I don't find it noisy and with the growl and girth, and mid boost I can get any octave effect I want.

No. 

Sometimes I use pedals, sometimes not depending on the gig, but I always leave compression to front of house as they see fit.  I know they will compress a little to help me sit in the mix.

This looks interesting.  Guitar and bass modes.  Not heard about availability and price in the UK but $69 so not too pricey. 

Yes, the basic sound of the Spectradrive is very good and with the DI useful when there are gigs I don't need to take an amp, and when I do I have a backup preamp/DI now too.  

If it were just home use then the Zoom would be fine but I want something I can gig with too.

The drives aren't a big issue for me as I can't see me using them much anyway.   

Could the issue I'm having with some of the drives, ie, Natural Drive be the tweeter in my Markbass combo?  Can't turn that off of course.  I'll have to try that with a PA in the comings months.

Having said that, is there a better preamp, DI, with headphone out and aux in for the same price with this many features that I could actually gig with and not just leave at home for practice only?  If so I'd like to know  

13 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Yep, as I said earlier, the clean boost is the best of the lot, and only one I found a use for. 

Sorry, yes you did 😊  Turning the gain up high does add a nice break up.and it certainly retains the low end.

I was about to give up on the drives but trying the Natural Drive with a low gain starts to get n the right ballpark.  

Then, I watched a few TC demo videos and they showed the Clean Boost toneprint.  With the gain high and volume low it sounds great.  Just a touch of tube style breakup with no low end loss.  Can't wait to try this at band volume!

Had more chance to play with the drives and not really finding many I like.  Natural Drive just doesn't sound natural to me.  The Default drive sounds best, feels like it's losing some bottom end but haven't been able to try at gig volumes yet.

Still a very good headphone amp and backup DI or preamp/DI for when I don't take an amp.

On 05/06/2020 at 19:31, sshorepunk said:

I use the EBS ones, seem decent quality 

T

Thanks, yes went with the EBS and just the ticket 

9 hours ago, greghagger said:

Thanks, glad you liked the video. 

I mostly use the default Drive and one called ‘Natural’ I think.  TC could come up with better Drive TonePrints in my opinion. But I mostly use a clean sound and I love the pedal for this. Perfect to boost my passive P-Bass and also sounds great with my Active J-Bass too. 

I've only just got this pedal so only played around at home but I agree, the Default and Natural Drive toneprints sound like they would work in a mix.  Default tends to lose bottom end on the E string though which Natural Drive manages to keep.

Not had chance to try that with the band yet of course.  Quite like Fizz Off too if I need fuzz but in reality not sure when I would use it.  

On 23/04/2019 at 20:53, greghagger said:

Yes I love the overall clean sound, and the sound guy is always complimentary about the sound I give them. 

I don’t use Drive all that much, but I did manage to find one TonePrint that sounded pretty good. 

Enjoyed your review Greg.  

Which drive TonePrint did you like ?  I quite like the default though it does seem to lose a bit of bottom.  

4 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I’m still umming & ahing about the Spectradrive, they just don’t seem to come up used so looks like I’ll have to shell out for new.

Yep, I came to the same conclusion.