Bassman68

Had a blue strip on my pedalboard for a while now…

Providing it’s all operating on the same frequency, I can’t see there being a problem? I’ve used alternative brands…Sure,Sennheiser etc together before now & (providing the channels/frequencies are the same) not experienced any issues.

You could do a lot worse than considering the Zoom B3n in the classifieds I have one myself & find it easy to navigate, a whole bunch of good effects as well. The only thing lacking is a XLR output but nothing a cheap d.i box can’t solve..

Purely personal opinions but…. Black basses with white scratchplates (mostly Fender style) - Just look too ‘Cheap catalogue’ to me? Green coloured basses - Would never choose green out of choice & even some of those blue stains over maple/ash, seem to turn green if the wood is too yellow? Bad headstock designs, be it poorly located machine head position or string splay.. Bass collection springs to mind, where they’d reverse certain tuners to keep the string splay straight…And the winner of most obvious bad ergonomics go to…

Never really felt the need for them on my basses? I think it boils down to playing technique & right hand positioning.. A bit like fret wraps, they just seem an accessory to me?

I have the original rackmount version, which I got not long after they first came out. I decided to take it out on a couple of festival dates last year & all performed as expected, the only issue being quite a low d.i signal, no matter how I turned it up? The problem for me has always been the amount of variety/options available, as I originally got it as a recording tool.. Live I generally stick to one sound & vary from my basses. The biggest issue has always been kidding myself that the sound being modelled is that of the original sources instead of just letting my ears decide what sounds good to me? Does my signal path sound like an original Acoustic amp running through an Ampeg 8x10 etc? & what are the audience perceiving through the PA (& do they actually care?) This did it for me & ended my amp modelling journey.. Still nice to dig out on occasions as an alternative to a pedalboard & my I.E.M’s

Cousins, VM Precision, CV70’s Jazz

A little fly-rig I’ve put together for some work in Europe next month, I wanted something that would fit in my suitcase, that’d keep me out of trouble. I’m quite happy with the result..

My Harley benton power brick has a usb output, also I usually run an extension power lead which has usb outputs as well as plug sockets, which I use to plug any pedalboard into as well as a mini-fan I can clip on my mic-boom on those hot/sweaty nights…

Tsssk, Chips with everything these days? 😄

They do….It’s called the Rogue

It’s taken ages, but after years of muti-effects, I find myself using individual pedals more as I don’t require much in the way of effects. Over the years I’ve collected a multitude of different pedals, having given away a few (regrettably now?). So, I decided to make up a pedalboard for what’s left over, much better than collecting dust on shelves…My collection goes from cheap & cheerful to more collectable items, I’m looking forward to using the board soon with my occasional rock band, I used to love the dirt with the EHX bassmuff…

The recommendations above are spot on, KiOgon makes some lovely replacement looms.. I have a couple of volume,pan,tone looms for my jazz basses, very simple to fit with solderless connections. A good preamp pedal is another good option however, if the sound isn’t there to begin with, what are you hoping to boost? Another option would be a replacement preamp, such as a J East retro, it will give you bass/treble cut/boost as well as passive tone control options. Just check the dimensions of the cavity in the bass to make sure everything will fit (including battery)? Dimensions are on the East website (I think?)

Each to their own, whatever gets you through the gig? At the end of the day, it all boils down to … A Bass A lead An amp powering speakers Mine just involves a bass, a lead (going into my transmitter), a receiver going into some effects (via more small leads), going to another lead sending DI signal to a desk, going into an assortment of poweramps, going into another assortment of PA speakers? Not a lot of difference, just on a larger scale?

41 years in for me.. I appear to have gone full circle, as my first bass was a very nice Jap Jazz bass copy, followed by a Squier P-bass, My main gigging basses now are Jazz & Precisions for my main band… Admittedly, due to being in a tribute band touring theatres,clubs & festivals, my working basses have got to look the part? I’ve been through (and mostly kept) a plethora of basses in that time…Vox,Hohner,Status,Musicman,Warwick,Alembic but find the more boutique brands far too delicate for the rigours of touring life, with the exception of my Musicman basses which still get a regular airing with my Pub/club work with my other bands.

The only thing that bothers me about those A frame stands is that I predominantly play basses with off-set bodies, like Jazz basses & they don’t sit right? I do have a couple of these stands but they have the addition of a neck support, with arms that swing up & latch together… Unfortunately no-one seems to make these anymore?

They’re a great pedal aren’t they BDDI’s? I nearly got one myself when I wanted to upgrade from my Behringer copy, I found myself in the position of needing a preamp & DI instead of backline as the band I’m in use IEM’s.. I used a multi-fx for a while as I needed some effects but not loads, so wanted to build a small pedal board. I settled on an EBS microbass3 because not only did it have a tuner/compression/overdrive, it also had an FX loop allowing me to patch other effects in. For the vast majority of the time all I needed was a touch of chorus on certain songs to go with what was already provided by the preamp, I did have my OC2 octaver there as well for a while but found I didn’t use it that much, so the space on my PT nano+ was utilised by my wireless receiver instead, giving me a very compact travel rig. Since then, I have been building a larger pedal board to house all the other effects pedals I have acquired over the years & have found a home for said Behringer BDI at the end of the effects chain, as an overall DI to send Front of house, should I ever use a bigger board at gigs, My chorus/modulation effects come after tuner/comp/drive chain & I haven’t heard any issues with having the pre-amp last? Thinking about it, when using backline amps, my pedals have always gone inline from bass to amp so chorus has always been pre-EQ, and then DI’d from amp…Never heard any issues in my time? Only option to that has been when recording & have had chorus applied to the already recorded bass-line, never noticed a big difference?

Wowsers, He gets about that pill(sorry) punter? He used to come to about 75% of all the pub gigs I played, wherever I went? 😂😂

Ok, I’ll play… Started off in 1983/4 with a black SQ Precision, my first gigging bass. Added a Jazz bridge pick-up & eventually stripped it & refinished it, even defretted it…Played lovely as a fretless but I bought a Stingray fretless & moved on the Squier. 2012 needed a Jazz bass for the function band I was with…The two guitarists had purple Strats, the closest I could find was a Burgundy mist Squier infinity that I had to import from the US as it wasn’t a European listed colour at the time? 2021 saw me with a hankering for a P-bass again, but I wanted a white one with a maple board…The Squier affinity PJ fitted the bill perfectly.. 2022 The call for Sunburst & blocks was strong….The VM 70’s answered 😄

I have three Squiers that are my main touring instruments.. A 10yr old Infinity Jazz in Burgundy mist (Betsy style?) that I imported (It didn’t seem to be a colour available in Europe at the time? And the colour was important at the time for the band I was in?), An Infinity Precision (PJ) in white (I wanted a maple fb, black dots showed up better on dim stages) & a CV70’s Jazz in Sunburst (love the look). All have been tweaked with different bridges, looms, pick-ups etc. but I regard them as my working tools. They’re out & about 60-70 gigs a year, either travelling with me in my car, in the crew van or flown & have never let me down. I use the Squiers as opposed to anything more expensive due to worrying less if they get knocked or damaged on the road, Most excesses for insurance would cover the price of replacements? I don’t care what it says on the headstock ( although the bm jazz has got a Fender decal? ) They all sound like the basses they are? Let’s face it, as long as it’s a good piece of wood that’s stable & holds tuning & action, you can upgrade most of the parts to make it a better instrument without paying through the nose for the Fender prestige?

I use Gator pro go gigbags, both a double & single depending on the gig & how many basses I need. Within these I have spare sets of strings, Strap, Ipad, IEM’s,Guitar transmitter & a small ‘take-away portion’ size tupperware that contains tools,alan keys,batteries etc. I also use a Pelicase style wheel-along case in the 1510 size which contains 2 guitar stands, 2 5m leads, Ipad bracket, drink holder for mic-stand, 3 power supplies & my Pedaltrain nano+ in its bag. I like to keep things compact…

In order… I like the overdrive, it’ll go from subtle to fuzz but don’t expect ‘Darkglass’… The tuner just works, registers a low B on my 5 strings, I like the mute facility between sets.. The compressor isn’t overpowering, nothing complicated (just one control) but it evens things out, even on my passive J-basses..It’s not noisy, the way certain comp pedals can be? l like the EBS tone, so much so I’m looking to sell what’s left of my existing backline to get a Magni 2x10 combo to handle gigs that require an amp.