bnt

The modelling / Librarian app is ToneX CS - not Amplitube, which is a standalone system that works with any audio interface. In ToneX CS, when getting started with the One, I recommend you use the Librarian only and set the app's audio inputs to "None" in Settings. That way you can be sure you're hearing only the pedal, whatever you do. When you get better, you can try creating presets in the app, which requires the settings changes I've mentioned a few times already! The factory bass presets are kind-of limited, but then you have loads of free community models through ToneNet. I'm trying out a JHS Colour Box model at the moment, which is a kind of vintage mixer channel that can be pushed in to distortion. The ToneX CS interface is just bad, frankly. I'm getting better at it. When the pedal is connected, you have three sections on the right, top to bottom, and can drag & drop between them. The pedal's slots (3 on the ToneX One). The presets stored on the pedal (20 on the ToneX One) The app's presets or tone models, depending on what you have selected in the left side column. It can be Presets or Tone Models, with a Preset being a Tone Model (stomp gain / amp / cab combo) plus the extra bits (gate, compression, effects etc.). You filter the contents of the bottom box using the bottom left e.g. Bass for just bass presets, "Owned Only" to not show anything you don't already have. The Colour Box model was classed as "Owned" after I downloaded it to the app.

Another iteration of my "big board" (by my standards at least) for home practice. I'm trying to keep it simpler by using the Complicator* as a preamp / cabsim only without anything in the loops. It's still doing split processing, I can blend between a clean tone (with LPF) or a preamp tone for some grit. I wonder if I can modify that box to make the blend externally controllable? After that I brought back the Boss MD-200 and added an expression pedal to control effect depth. Out of that in stereo in to the t.mix, where I can add music over Bluetooth and attach headphones. In a live setup I'd probably take DI from the Complicator and use its FX loop with the JHS 3 Series Phaser (which is working again for now). Signal path: Peterson StroboStomp Mini -> Orange Kongpressor -> mxr bass octave deluxe -> T-Rex Diva Drive -> Complicator -> Boss MD-200 -> t.mix Micromix * The LY-ROCK clone of a DSM&H Simplifier, top centre. The board is the Harley Benton Spaceship 40-B, with the built-in battery. It also provides USB power for the mixer and my wireless headphone adapter (not shown). When that's all working, I have only the cable from the bass in to the board and monitor through wireless headphones (TV type, not Bluetooth, so there's no lag).

Silver Lining - David Gray

It comes with the 20 slots filled with guitar presets. In the Librarian you can move and overwrite them with others, but you can't delete or disable them as far as I can see. If this was a problem for me, I might fill slots 4-20 with copies of #3, or maybe create a special blank preset with volume set to zero. Let me try that quickly ... it seems to work if I set the noise gate threshold as high as possible, then nothing gets through. I think.

PS: a trick I just discovered: if you set your three presets in slots 1-3 in the Librarian, you can easily get back to them if you get lost on the pedal in Browsing mode: Cycle between 1-3 and turn each knob up in turn Cycle between 1-3 in order and turn each knob down all the way. The result will be presets 1-3 on the three knobs in order. If you have turned only one knob, turn it back down all the way, and it should be back to its correct setting e.g. if 1 and 3 are correct and you turn knob 2, turn it back down all the way to get back to preset 2.

Are you talking about Preset Browsing mode, manual pg. 21? I completely overlooked that until today. I'm trying it now, and you can indeed switch between three presets in order. The manual even says: If you use that, it will be the three presets you set in the app. Unless you turn the knob, which chooses from the 20 presets stored on the pedal by colour - so something you probably shouldn't do on a gig!

Watching You Without Me - Kate Bush

Chase Bliss has already closed orders due to the demand, so if you were thinking about it, it looks like you’ll need to wait a year! I’ll post about what I get after the box arrives, which won’t be this year. It should contain one of their current pedals, all of which look like fun. Which would I like the most? Onward Mood Mk.II Blooper Reverse Mode C (not much chance of that TBH)

It performs very well as an interface to my Mac Mini, no issues there. I haven’t tried it with Windows yet. But see my previous post for some incompatibility I found with iPads, which I believe is due to sample rates.

Maybe the ToneX Pedal version, then - the One is the little brother of that. Both handle the same presets, software etc., and it's a matter of form factor.. The single footswitch limits us to those two modes.

You can switch between Dual and Stomp modes on the pedal, to access the 3rd preset, but it's a bit of a faff: hold down ALT for 8 seconds, then turn the first knob. Not something I fancy doing between songs on a dark stage. However, on my pedalboard I can add a bit of crunch with another pedal e.g. my Mosky Silver Horse "Klone". PS I should mention that the pedal also has a tuner that uses the LEDs on the knobs. Very basic, but handy.

And here's a screenshot of the Home page where you edit Presets. In this example, Modulation is active while Delay and Reverb are off. If you click on Modulation you can set that up e.g. I'm using the Rotary effect on this preset. So the workflow is basically to create and edit presets in the app, then add them to the pedal. The app and pedal are supposed to sound identical, as long as you watch out for what I mentioned above: you can have your sound being processed by the pedal and the app at the same time, which doesn't sound right. You want either/or, not both.

A preset can contain as much or as little as you want: any combination of an amp, cab, modulation, delay etc. These are blocks that you can turn on or off, any combination works. An amp model can be anything amp-like e.g. it can be a full amp or a SansAmp, a fuzz pedal, whatever you have a model for or can capture. Then once a preset is saved, you drag it to one of three slots on the pedal: two for Dual (A/B) mode, the third for Stomp (on/off) mode. Here's a screenshot I just took: in A and B I have The Fridge with and without a Phaser. I put a B15 Rotary preset in the Stomp slot. All slots take full presets. There are loads of modelled devices from other users free on ToneNet in the amp. That's where I got the Ampeg B15 model, while The Fridge is a factory model.

It's the latter - bypassed, no amp model. If you want to switch between Amp and Amp+FX, you use Dual mode.

I’ve mostly switched to plectrum playing now and have settled on light plectrums after hearing Nolly Getgood talking about how they help him get a more even sound. If you pick too hard, he says, the plectrum bends accordingly and you avoid peaks. The 0.58mm ones from Harley Benton (Thomann) are working for me. They have a parchment-like finish for a bit of grip.

I wish at least that they could make the ToneX CS app and a pedal work better together. It is both a preset tone editor and a librarian, and those two functions require different setups when I use the ToneX as the audio interface too: When working on presets in the Home page, I want to hear the preset in the app only, so I have to disable direct monitoring on the pedal and enable the app audio I/O settings. When loading and checking presets in the Librarian page, I want to hear the preset on the pedal, so I have to reverse the above changes manually. if I don’t, I both the pedal and the app process the audio I hear at the same time. Once I got my head round that, and got the pedal registered again, the software … OK. Despite that, I will say that the ToneX One has been well worth what I paid for it, for The Fridge (SVT) amp & cab models alone, before any of the other bells and whistles. The tone is seriously flattering to my playing, and I’ll probably end up using two variations on that as the presets on the switch. I kind-of wish I had gotten the larger Pedal model - something I haven’t ruled out, since you can use the One as a on/off pedal in Stomp mode too. £118 is a bargain, add a couple of cables or string sets etc. to get free shipping if over £149.

Thomann currently has the One on sale for £119 or €139.

After a little back and forth, they sent me a new serial number for the registration, and we're back in business. The Modulation effects work as I expected: you add them to a Preset, save it (use a new name if you're modding a factory preset), and transfer to the pedal in the Librarian section. The lack of Modulation effects was an odd omission before; they're pretty standard but are nice to have.

On a Mac you can also get Apple’s own MainStage for about £30, which is basically made for live use. It’s pretty powerful, maybe even too powerful with some complex MIDI control options that operate at different levels.

Well, I’ve gone and done something that might be bloody stupid or turn out positive: signed up to get a Chase Bliss Mystery Box: They’re promising that for €299 I’ll receive one or more pedals & goodies with a value of €399 or higher, but I won’t know just what in advance. Chase Bliss pedals tend to be weird things that you don’t really need as such, and the prices have put me off a bit, but this might be worth a punt. They do hold value on the market too.

Suffer In Truth - Meshuggah

After a bit more time with this pedal, I'm liking it more. The description on their website doesn't mention bass and undersells the pedal a bit. Clip Mode is a misnomer: it's more of a higher compression mode which makes clipping a possibility. I had Level set quite low to match the bypassed level, and with Blend and Sustain on full, I get just a little clipping - just a slight change in tone. To get more clipping I had to crank up the output level, which is not what I want. I don't need Sustain on full anyway. The outcome of all this is that the controls offer enough scope to set up two usable tones: one clean with moderate compression, one a bit less clean with a bit more compression. I saw one review on Reddit where the guy complained about some loss of bottom end with a Telecaster. On bass I'm not getting anything like that. I don't hear it adding noise either, though it will compress any noise coming in, of course. At the low price I think it's a great little musical compressor.

IK Multimedia have just added Modulation and Delay effects to ToneX presets. You can add them to Presets in the ToneX CS software then transfer the Presets to your firmware-updated ToneX devices. With the ToneX One, so far, it looks like you’ll have no control over them on the pedal itself, and all you can do is select between Presets that have the effects or not. It’s still a nice update, though, and can really turn ToneX models in to a one pedal solution. I’m not able to test this at the moment, since the IK software has “lost” my ToneX One hardware registration, and so I can’t use the Librarian side of the software. If I try to re-register the serial number, it tells me the pedal is already registered to another account. I’ve logged this with the IK Support people, last weekend, and heard nothing back yet.

I thought I was building a mini board for mainly Bass VI, but I can fit on more mini pedals than I thought I could. On the way, it's turned in to an "affordaboard" where I'm trying out cheap mini pedals: Changes since the previous iteration: Boss MD-200 replaced by my Lekato Loop Auto and a new Donner Mod Square II. Not the greatest modulation effects but I'm not a heavy modulation user. I've never had a Flanger before, and am trying that at the moment: Flanger I is milder than Flanger II etc. The legends don't align with the knob and it's more "set & forget" for a bit of flavour. I did a NBD post about the NUX Sculpture, which I quite like so far. Very clean in Normal Mode, definitely provides smooth sustain. I haven't felt the need to dial back the Blend, on full it's not taking anything away. The Clip mode is mild and wouldn't even be called "overdrive": it colours the sound slightly, at least the way I have it all set. Could be handy in combination with the Mosky Silver Horse also doing a mild overdrive. The ToneX One pedal is still great, I currently have The Fridge (Ampeg SVT) and a Fender Bassman into 1x15" as the two switchable preset models. I won't use this if hook the board to an amp. I'm having problems with my IK Product Manager account, though: it's lost the pedal registration and so won't let me use the Librarian any more to load the pedal. I'm on to support, will see what they say. What next? I might put the Mooer Soul Shiver back on as a second modulation stage. Or I might look for a mini octaver for the space up front, though I don't think octave works as well on Bass VI. I might put the larger T-Rex Diva Drive on this board in place of the Fuzz. The Marks & Spencer Curiously Strong Mints tin for plectrums doesn't really fit. How am I supposed to show off my middle class credentials if I can't have that?

I actually have a SpectraComp, kind-of: it’s half of my SpectraDrive, which is OK. I’m putting together a small “affordaboard”, though, so after thinking a bit more I ordered the Sculpture and it arrived today. First impressions are that it’s a very clean “sustainer” type compression, it reminded me of a Boss CS-3. That’s in normal mode, while the clip mode adds a tiny amount of hair, becoming more noticeable if you engage more gain after it. A little grit on the attack. Not a huge difference but another flavor that I can see myself using. Very good for the price, nice and quiet.