andruca

I first owned a Korean Gravity Deluxe 5, then added a Chinese Gravity Deluxe 5 (circa 2005 IIRC). Both were bolt-on (this was some years before they issued the neckthru' version. I preferred the Korean one. Looked and felt better. And also the neck pickup position in the Chinese one was a little recessed (pickups were closer) and I don't liked the tone much. Still a solid bass. Wouldn't pay more than 200$ for one of those used these days. Can't speak about the further (and current?) neck-thru' version, haven't even seen any of those 'round here (Spain).

COOL! What Zoom model does that Z-Bottom come from?

FYI, I have a 5 string Star Bass that already came with a nicely fitting gig bag. But it accidentally ended up in one of my thomann gig bags, to my surprise. A Star Bass fits perfectly inside one of these. I've played some Jack Casadys but can't determine from memory if the body was any bulkier than my Star Bass'. https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag1_ebass.htm

Yep, it did freak me out the first time I set my Jake 5a up. Found this setup video by Adrian himself with a warning about that (8:20 on). Made very sure to let the new owner know when I sold her.

You probably can customize the firmware in your A1 Four to have FX from either the B1 Four and G1 Four (bass and electric guitar models). Start here... https://github.com/Barsik-Barbosik/Zoom-Firmware-Editor The A1 Four is not mentioned, but being that the hardware is exactly the same as the B1/G1 Four it should work (just probably wasn't out at the moment the guy developed this app).

Do you have a sample of the octave up/poly mode with bass chords? Not specifically covered in bass demos of the pedal around. Thanx!

Just a couple toys...

I've owned a B1XFour (while owning other previous generation gear). B1on/Xon is better, sounds better/fuller (B1Four sounds boxy in comparison) and less noisy. Equally functional, same 5 simultaneous FX, drums, looper. Widely available used for dirty cheap.

I converted a 4 string cheap kit P into a 5 string PJ (then a fretless). The P pickup was no problem, sounds balanced in all strings. Now the J, well, you couldn't notice with both pickups on, but definitely could when soloing the J. I swapped it for a narrow 5 string J (cheap, from AliExpress) and it works way better.

Me halaga, muchas gracias!

Just this past weekend I scored an immaculate barely played PB-20 with a gig bag, 2 cables, a strap and 2 tuners (one regular Ibanez, one thoman clip-on) for 80€. After some setup (lowering the nut and action, intonation) it plays great and sounds as nice thick P goodness should. Also plays and sounds better than any Squier Affinity I've played, at less than half the price either new or used. Unbeatable P for the price.

I've had this happen with a 500mA power supply from Thomann. It seems to work OK when going pedal to amp, but when I use the output with headphones (i.e. on my G1Xon) it gets noisy. The noise goes away as soon as I switch to a Zoom branded power adapter from another pedal. Don't know if it's some design flaw or it's just plain poor quality of the Thomann 9V adapter.

I hate fuzz, all of it, either on bass or guitar. So I couldn't tell what's wrong with a Muff, other than... being a fuzz.

I have an MS-60B. Sadly, even tho' I make a living out of software consulting and development, I'm ignorant about most of what you're talking about. I'm fluent with all Zoom functionality and custom firmware, just have rarely used librarian software with my Zoom gear (either Zoom's own or 3rd party). Still I think with precise instructions I can test whatever you need, for sure. Just frop me a line, no problem, real happy to contribute.

According to this YT vid it's just the latest firmware and a collection of 50 patches built around the different synth models (calling it "reprogram" or "software update from scratch" is a little pretentious). I'm deep into the custom firmware rabbit hole for this generation and no, they haven't created any new effects, it's just a collection of patches you can perfectly do on your own if you know what you want and understand what each effect/parameter does.

With just one Zoom device you won't be able to independently process the "guitar" part (needs different EQ, heavier distortion, etc.), no parallel processing, even with the latest B6 model. But you can do that with 2 of them, and I've done just that with previous gen cheap ones (you can get a B1on/G1on used for 30€ or less these days). The cheapest I could get away with was <100€ (more like 70-80€ if you toroughly scan the used market) with any 2 of Zoom's MS-60B/50G/70CDR/B1on/Xon/G1on/Xon (firmware can be customized to have guitar FX on the bass model and viceversa) and any cheap ABY pedal (got mine for 20€ new). Explained in the video description. You can hear bass first, then guitar (made stereo with added stereo chorus), then both. Probably not suitable for a 2 piece like RB but for sure gets the job done, i.e., in a 3 piece, to cover some space when the guitar guys does a solo. I've set it up so I can do just octave or octave+harmony (usually a 5th up). I'd usually use the one with the most FX slot capacity for the guitar branch, as it usually needs more processing than my usual crunchy bass tone (usually just BassDRV + 160Comp). EDIT: when using only 1 amp I'd use an easy passive Y/attenuator I've made with a box I already had, 3 jacks and a pot. One input is wired directly to the output (the least loud), one goes thru' the pot (the loudest). Guitar goes mono when doing so. Sorta' ghetto, but does what's needed.

It's too in your face for my taste. And I appreciate it being the argument of many who, in the end, give up on them (without sufficient band experience). You can roughly "tame" a Stingray, but if you want a "polite"/"delicate" tone out of them that's harder to achieve. OTOH it's a different instrument on flatwounds, I have 2 indeed, one is permanently on flats and happens to be "polite" enough for solo recreational playing.

Agree. Yet, a P is a bass you can play on your own and sounds good, despite the "primitive" nature of its tone (there goes another funny adjective). According to statistics I'm making up just right now, 99% of people who ditch a Stingray do so in frustration after playing it too much on their own. There lies the usual "either love it or hate it" narrative around Stingrays. Should instead be more like "you either love it in a band setting or only play it home on your own and end up hating it".

I've owned several of those 3 "paradigms" and what I hear matches my experience. Jazz Bass? More detailed and "refined". Stingray? In your face yet the most mix friendly (pretty "rustic" when playing on your own really, not that pleasant, but shines in any band mix). BB? Scooped in comparison (and a bit nasal in the OP video). Nice vid, nice playing, nice tones. 👍

Wow man, thanks for taking the time. I do IT for a living and am fluent in Python so if you need a helping hand just let me know. OTOH I'm totally ignorant as to how Windows binary resources (such as Zoom's firmware installers) work. I'm giving this resource hacker a try, just in case it helps me understand it.

Even tho' LTFs are my flat of choice for fretless, I bought this some months ago to try these Magma Ultra Flats (.040"-.120") strings in one of my SR5s. Overall soft and warm, probably a bit brighter than my beloved LTFs. https://www.magmastrings.com/1_1_2_ultra_flat_process_stainless_steel_round_wound.html# You can hear them here...

I usually go drop D on my Jazz with a .045"-.105" gauge set and beat the crap out of it. I know drive and compression maek it easier, but still .I'd confidently use a .050"-.110" set for drop C# tunning.

Can't find anything in search engines. Still, "my" custom firmware (based on version 2.1) is right now working OK in my MS-60B. It consists of stock stuff excluding... Ba Detune MarkB Ambience Bomber ModDelay PhasedDly Spring63 St Bs GEQ TapeEcho3 Z-Organ with these effects added from the MS-50G (guitar) model (mostly guitar amps)... BG CRUNCH DZ DRIVE BGN DRIVE Z MP1 MS CRUNCH VX COMBO FD COMBO HW STACK MATCH 30 TANGERINE VX JMI Z Dream RedCrunch Aco.Sim

Mine is dead quiet too. In fact, I went back to my MS-60B after ditching a B1XFour last year. The MS-60B was noticeably less noisy (also sounded fuller, B3n/B1Four/XFour sound BOXY in comparison). I only use ZNR past a certain amount of drive (the nature of the beast, I guess, even my SansAmp RBI gets noisy as I push the drive knob). Not necessary for my "clean" tone (which is not as clean really). Don't fear the ZNR if you're going high gain, it's a great noise gate indeed. I use it at the end of the chain and set detection to GTRIN. Again, my sound is sort of "binary", either I sound full blast or am not playing, so my threshold can be set pretty high.

Not into effects really since mid 2000s. I own a B3, an MS-60B and a G1Xon (with custom firmware with all bass relevant stuff from the B1Xon). All three sound identical to me. I mostly go BassDrive (SansAmp emulation) -> 160comp (dbx160 emulation) in a variety of gains... ... and occasionally add a BaSqueak (blendable RAT emulation) plus some BassPEQ to get a more DarkGlass tone...