MartinB

I'm too cloth-eared to hear any meaningful difference between solid-state, hybrid and valve amps that I've owned. But I like seeing that other people are getting such enjoyment out of valves!

They're not the best modern surf band, but they're good at promotion and social media - e.g. they had a Britney Spears cover that went viral with millions of views. So I think folks in the surf scene generally feel positive about them, even if they're not necessarily fans.

I'm guessing the truly innovative stuff that suggests no influences is probably unlistenable, and rightly stays in underground scenes 😆 But I'd argue that dubstep (mid-2000s) transcended its influences enough to feel like a "new" genre, not just a variation on an old one. And in particular, the US bro-step (e.g. Skrillex) that grew out of it around 2010 - that definitely crossed over into the mainstream enough to appear in adverts and film trailers. That's usually a good sign of something that sounds novel to the average person (and also that a genre has become creatively bankrupt and all the originators have moved on 🤣). I'm pretty out-of-touch with popular stuff now. I understand that trap has peaked in the last decade, but from what I've heard that's heavily influenced by eighties electro, so not that new - a bit like neo-soul compared to soul. I'm probably making myself sound ancient here!

Yeah, absolutely. But I'm also confident that if new music was outlawed tomorrow, there'd be enough stuff from the past ~70 years for me to spend the rest of my life digging into without ever running out.

If you're thinking of changing your amp head, it may be worth doing that first. To my way of thinking, the head determines what kind of cab you're looking for. If you can get the sound you want using just your head, then it's best paired with a cab that's fairly flat/neutral/transparent (more like a bass-capable monitor/PA speaker). But if you need a voiced cab to shape the sound the right way (and you normally mic your cab on stage), then you want something more traditional.

Blimey, that's (comparatively) cheap! I've seen the equivalent blacked-out Jaguars for pre-order in a few places at £749 - how can an extra four inches of neck cost £260 more?! 😆

I've got a few other Joyo pedals (which are great), but the only Ironman I've tried is the Wow Wah envelope filter. I couldn't seem to dial it in exactly the way I wanted. But when I replaced it with a far more expensive MXR, I couldn't get that to sound right either - so it's entirely possible that both pedals are perfectly fine and I'm the one at fault 😆 Love the form factor though! For pedals that don't need adjusting mid-gig (which for me is most of them), having a lid is a really neat idea.

Looking at it the other way round: if I won £7000 in a competition, I definitely wouldn't spend it all on a vintage bass. So it's definitely a "sell it" from me!

Last time I bought GHS flats, it was cheaper to order them from Amazon US than anywhere in the UK/Europe. The import duty was pre-paid, so I didn't get stung for the the Royal Mail £8 "handling fee".

If you're happy with small pads for finger drumming, you've got options from around £45: Akai LPD8 (also has knobs!) Korg nanoPAD2 But if you need something large/sturdy enough to be hit with a drumstick, things get unexpectedly pricey - especially for an all-in-one solution. You can buy a spare drum pad for an electronic kit (or do a DIY conversion on a practice pad), but you'll have to pay through the nose for a drum "brain" that converts the electrical pulse from the pad into a MIDI signal. If you're up for some soldering and programming, you can build one yourself using an Arduino or similar.

It's hard to find a bad setting! The automated attack/release timing seems to be just right. I've used it in the following ways: As a hard limiter (∞:1) at the end of my signal chain, so that it only catches the peaks from slapping/popping and barely touches normal fingerstyle playing - great for songs that have a mix of both styles. Also useful for taming envelope filters and phasers that can unexpectedly vary in output As a compressor (≥ 4:1) before an overdrive pedal, so I can get a nice mild level of drive, and still dig in without it getting all farty and fizzy. I'll never own a vintage tube amp, but to my ears the combination of flatwounds -> compression -> drive gets me close enough to the sounds I love on 60s/early 70s records.

Oh boy, another chance to mention how much I love my Keeley Bassist! 😄

You can tell how a speaker's going to sound by its size

Now they all sound great 😆

I'm hoping we might get some of this in the planned video with drive/distortion examples. You'd expect them to sound as painfully fizzy with the HF driver on full as they would through the DI. I'm interested to see what the BB2 with the HF driver partially on has to offer beyond what the SC can already do.

The Level knob on the Spark goes below unity (because it also has a Gain knob). I don't know about the Spark Mini. If you want a solution in a single box, it might be worth getting in touch with a UK pedal builder. I'm no electronics expert, but a single-knob clean boost with a balanced output doesn't sound like it should be all that complicated. Off the top of my head: Bright Onion (https://www.brightonion.co.uk/) Orchid Electronics (http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/index.htm) RayGun FX (http://fuzzboxes.co.uk/) I'm sure there's plenty of others.

It's really interesting as a demonstration of how the different cabs respond to the same input. I think using it to draw a conclusion about which one you prefer is missing the point a bit, since that depends on whether you like the sound of that particular bass to begin with 😆

A Spark or similar clean boost takes care of the gain, but if you want a balanced signal you'd have to put something like this afterwards: https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/na2m-j-tx Are you sure you need a balanced signal though? My understanding is that the kind of interference that might cause an issue for instrument/mic-level signals isn't really noticeable at line level.

I saw the Skatalites a few years back, and the bassist played one of those. I was surprised!

I don't have a B1 Four to test, but the following patches on a B1on appear to behave the same: - Bypass (no effects) - Ba Squeak (Rat) with Bal set to 0% (i.e. fully dry) - Ba Squeak (Rat) with Bal set to 100% (i.e. fully wet), but bypassed So that suggests that it's functioning as a clean blend. It does look like there's a slight reduction in output below ~50Hz and above ~3kHz, but that's present on all three patches - so it could be a characteristic of the Zoom as a whole. Maybe that's what Al is hearing? I don't know how noticeable it is without a separate clean signal parallel to the whole unit for comparison. If anyone fancies doing a blind test, I could do some sample clips. I'm on furlough, so I've got time for such nerdery! 🤓

That's odd - pretty much all of the drive pedals on the older B1on had a blend control. I wonder why they removed it on the new version? 🤔

You may find you have more options if you get a basic USB audio interface, and then plug your pedals into it when you want to record.

I don't think you'll regret it. I've got a Reface YC (the drawbar organ one). It's really solidly built, extremely portable, and sounds fantastic! , I've been very very tempted recently to pick up a CP (electric piano) as well. The mini keys feel fine to me, but that's what I'm used to - I've never played a full-sized keyboard. 🤷‍♂️ One-handed stuff is exactly what you need in most band contexts anyway. We all know that the keys player shouldn't be intruding on the bassist's frequency range... 😁

Yep - there's a 3.5mm stereo socket for Aux In