SumOne

14 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

 

That thought then just made me wonder how common filters are on pedal boards? We're probably going to agree that drive/fuzz will be be the most common effect, but would filters come in second? Or get pipped by chorus and octavers? Dunno!

(I'm not thinking of EQ and compression/limiters as being "effects" in this context).

I think Envelope Filters are quite niche, even within Funk and Pop, and very rare for Bass Players within Rock, Metal, Punk, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Country etc. They are good fun though so I expect they are used a lot at home, or sit there on boards just waiting for the day they can be used live for a small part of one song!

I was talking to someone the other day about pedals and he didn't know what an Envelope Filter is, and he's been playing Bass in pub bands for about 30 years. 

I'd guess pedal popularity goes something like: Tuner, Drive, EQ, Compressor, DI/Preamp, Chorus, Octaver, Phaser, Loopers, and Envelope Filter pretty low down - just above things like Synth, Delays and Reverb.

There was a video from somewhere like Scott's Bass Lessons years ago that stuck with me though: it said the first pedal anyone should get (after tuner) is an Envelope Filter - not because they are useful, but because they are fun, add a different dimension to your sound that keeps you interested in playing, and they can teach a lot about playing dynamics.

On 04/05/2024 at 22:27, Tandro said:

 

Byron Lee. Iconic for me in particular as I am only familiar with his stuff on the Soca scene. I only knew him as 'Byron Lee and the Dragonaires'. My dad had a record player, but only like 3 records  I just remember two. One was a Salsoul Christmas record, and the other a Byron Lee (my initial interest had nothing to do with the album art as a young boy of course 😜 ). And some of those Soca tunes are ingrained in us, play that in any Fete and the crowd will just feel it! 

It's sampled from a Victor Lewis Smith prank call.

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

I feel as soon as I’m getting bored with music I play with other people and inspiration returns.

 

While some may enjoy music as a solitary pursuit, I’m not one of them.

 

If you’re anything like me, I bet your mental health has improved too from being out and being creative. 

I fully agree with this.

My first love of music is electronic stuff, but sitting at home listening to drum loops for hours and thinking about the finer details of which hi-hat sample to use just doesn't fill me with much joy. Meeting up with a few people who enjoy playing music is a lot more fun, getting their different viewpoints (and leaving the hi-hat nerding to the drummer!), and I find that having live gigs to look forward to (even if they sometimes turn out to be poorly attended) gives a focus that you don't get by just doing practise sessions. 

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

 

I, on the other hand simply plug my multi-effects unit into my FRFR cab and hit the footswitch for the Preset for the first song and I'm ready to go. For one band I have now programmed all the patch changes into the computer that is also our drummer and second synth player so when I call up a particular song my multi-effect unit automatically switches to the correct Preset and changes Snapshots as required as the backing plays.

Many of us struggle to find the right USB cable though, let alone all that stuff.

Unfortunately, these are the trials of multi-fx, lots of potential, but lots of potential faff too! 

The last gig I did was delayed as there was some very odd noise which we eventually tracked down to being because of the lead guitarist's multi-fx. And our last practice session was interrupted by the rhythm guitarist's multi-fx unexpectedly playing a drum loop. Another band I was in had trouble with a guitarist forgetting that a preset had a pitch shifter applied. I've tried to turn on the tuner of my Boss GT 1000 Core before (double footswitch press) but ended up just pressing one footswitch and changing preset to something inappropriate.  All these hassles are possible with individual pedals, but they usually seem more intuitive.

I'm sort of sold on the concept of Multi-fx, they can be great, relatively cheap, small, powerful tools. But they can also be a real headache. 

I saw the Orb play live last night, one of the highlights was 'Towers of Dub' (from the excellent UFORB album)

The Bassline that kicks in at about 3m what really makes it.  It's the same bassline as the Revolutionaries 'El Bamba'

......and that is a reworking of Jackie Mittoo & The Skatalites 'El Bang Bang' (but that doesn't have the same bassline)

Thanks @MrDinsdale, you're right - it just needs the Divider to be directly in front of the Input and can then have it set in 'Single' mode as a switch between L and R inputs, can then map that channel select function to a knob or footswitch. So no need to use the Send/Return inputs for this (but could also use them 100% as 'Return' to have upto 4x inputs).

What I like about the Core is that it clearly has a big brain! It's not always the most intuitive to find these things but it really can do a lot of processing. e.g. The Divider can also be set in Dual mode to apply dynamic filtering/sensitivity/cutoff frequency for L/R, and then can have multiple divided paths and map multiple switches to one footswitch or knob (and can add 2x expression pedals or extra dual footswitches). 2x inputs, 2x FX Loops that can be used as inputs, 3x dynamically divided signal paths, 20+ blocks of effects, midi in/out, and then different output signal routes means the possibilities are pretty huge but all within a pedal that fits inside my Bass gigbag front pocket.

.........I still haven't managed to get a decent envelope filter sound out of it though!

If you still have all the rest of the band why not continue but with a new singer? 

Has anyone found a good way of having a Bass in Input R and another in Input L and being able to switch/mute between them?

As far as I can tell, there are all sorts of options for splitting the effect chain signal and different outputs, but not so obvious how to split L/R inputs and mute one of them.

My solution so far is Splitting the path and using the 'Return 1' for one Bass (Send set to Zero) and Return 2 for the other (again, Send at Zero), then the 'Mix' block can go from 100% / 0% for each side of the split.

Is there a simpler way by switching the Input L/R though? 

The question is a bit like 'I can only have one pair of shoes, which ones should I get - Wellies or High Heels?' (not that either one of the pedals mentioned fit those descriptionsl!), so the annoying answer is that it depends on what your needs are. 

Saying that though, if I was only getting one pedal and the budget was about £100 I'd get a Zoom B1-Four. Then you have a Tuner, Compressor, EQ, Drive, Modulation, Octaver, Synth, Delays etc, and a decent practice tool with drum loops/metronome and can plug headphones into it, and can be battery powered. If you really need a XLR DI (which I've found is only really needed if you are doing long cable runs to a mixer/PA and you can't do it from your Amp XLR out) then there are seperate passive DI boxes like the SubZero for about £15.

Protoje & Zion I Kings 'Weed and Tings' 

Zion I Kings remixed all of the Protoje 'In Search of lost time' album, to 'In Search of Zion', and all have dub versions too. Worth checking out. 

Saw Johnny Osbourne and Horace Andy at Komedia in Brighton a few weeks ago, both were excellent, so were the bands (Dub Ashanti Band, and Upper Cut Band), the venue was good too - sold out and busy enough for a good atmosphere but no queing, could get right up close to the stage, and could even get a decent pint easy enough. 

9 hours ago, TRBboy said:

I'm sure Peach guitars had good reason. There's very little markup on musical instruments compared to other retail products (typically 35% from trade price to full RRP inc. VAT). Having worked in MI Retail for years, the top two reasons that spring to my mind are: 

 

1) They were offered a discounted price from the Distributor, possibly for buying a certain quantity, and have then passed that on to the customer to have the lowest price around and win sales above their competitors. 

2) They've sold for the cheapest price around BECAUSE of the popularity. Knowing that it's a hot item and having the lowest price increases traffic to their website, and even if prospective customers don't buy it, they're 'in the door' as it were and may buy something else. It's a very common tactic in retail generally, supermarkets do it a lot. It's known as a 'loss-leader': you take a hit on a popular product to get customers there and buying other stuff too, which you WILL make profit on.

 

Yeah, I guess. Perhaps they push for the upselling - they advertise a Plek setup for £175 with the Bass, perhaps they hope to also sell an Amp/Cab/cables etc. Still though, GAK, Guitar Guitar, Gear 4 Music all sold out at £750 (Bass Direct £700) so selling for £600 seems to be shooting in the foot a bit. I wouldn't hold my breath they do it again in the short term. Good deal for whoever got it though, I'm a bit jealous I paid £700! (mine is green though, which I prefer, Peach only seemed to sell one or two Grey ones).

On 24/04/2024 at 14:58, Dazm66 said:

This is one of the things that worries me. I like the look of it and the spec etc and the reviews are all pretty good but can't get hold of one locally to try. Peach can order one but it's a 20% non-returnable deposit for an order. 

If I were Peach I'd regret discounting a new in in-demand Bass for £600 while pretty much every other UK shop sells for closer to £750 and are sold out everywhere. It's not like they needed to put that discount on to sell (unless they were B stock or something). Most price match though, so if Peach happen to do that deal again you could try with another shop that has them to try out.

It's a good Bass, my thought process is what are the alternatives for a well balanced, 5 string, lightweight, relatively cheap Bass?

The closest non multiscale 5 string alternative is probably the Ibanez EHB 1005  which is about £1k. (and doesn't appear on the Ibanez website anymore so I think it's old stock, it seems the 1505 is the new - more expensive version). The Ibanez its better in some ways (sweepable mids, passive tone control, s-locks, a bit lighter, saddles can move strings sideways, rounder where forearm meets the body) but I'm not sure it's worth £300 more, and there are a few things I prefer on the Cort (colours, zero fret, non-slanted back, non-locking jack).   

It's funny how a small thing like a non curved body where your forearm meets it (I tend to play quite far forward - pluckng in front of the neck pickup) can become an issue. Well, it does for me anyway, but perhaps I'm overly fussy. 

Personally, I find this can make playing uncomfortable. Which is a shame, as surely it would cost next to nothng to round it off. If be tempted to sand it down a bit myself but it'd look a mess. 

14 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

I agree there's "better" tech out there but this probably sits in the middle: great sound quality but physical controls so you don't have to be programming for hours on end. I can see the appeal of both.

I think I wouldn't mind that 'what you see is what you get' too much if it kept to that - but I assume that as it has presets and programming, each time you go to a new preset potentially none of the controls are actually in the positions where they are physically set, which I think could get really confusing. I suppose you could never change presets though and that'd solve that.

£345 from Andertons and GAK etc. 

I suppose it fills a niche, it is good to have physical controls, it looks tough, and the DI XLR could be useful.

Not for me though, I think things have moved on from these sort of designs - something like the Boss GX 100 (£449 from Bax) gives a whole lot more control/editability in a similar sized and priced unit. 

Yeah, as others have said: I'd prefer stage left. To be the same side as the snare & hi-hat, and it means the Bass headstock is pointing away from bandmates that could knock into it, and away from the crash cymbal. 

11 hours ago, tauzero said:

Just noticed that the Cort is down to £649 at Thomann.

Yeah, but not available for a couple of months. I wouldn't be suprised if the price goes up once in stock - I've seen shops do that before. It dissuades you buying from elsewhere in the meantime. And I think for the sake of £50 it might be worth avoiding international shipments with customs checks, my last Thomann delivery took about 2 weeks to arrive.

Arrived! First impressions are good. 

• Sounds good.
• lightweight at 3.64kg (although I think my Ibanez EHB 1005 MS was even lighter at 3.4kg).
• Perfectly balanced (can sit with it on the lap and take hands away and it'll stay in position).
• Low action without fret buzz, no noticable things like dead spots and the strings all feel part of one instrument (I've had 5 strings where the B feels quite separate).
• Nice neck - satin rather than glossy, quite shallow but quite wide, some might find it a bit too wide but I like it (19mm string spacing and a bit more space on the edges than some fretboards give)
• Nice colours, it's a dark purple on the backk and there's more purple blending through on the front than pictures pick up (it is matte that seems that it'll scratch and dent easily though).
• Seems decent quality control throughout.
• Decent gig bag (weak point being a bit of a flimsy feeling zip).

If I was being picky (which I am!)

• One thing I'd check if you're getting one: The bridge saddle for the G is pretty much as far forward as it can possibly go (less than 1mm forward movement left), so very little room for manouver if it needed going further forward for intonation. But that isn't an issue on mine as all the strings are intonating correctly without me adjusting anything. 
• There seems to be no tone control in Passive mode.
• It'd be good if the volume and pickup blend knobs had white position markers on them (like the EQ knobs have).
• I would prefer more rounded edges where your forearm meets the Bass body.
• I'd prefer EQ with sweepable mids like on the Ibanez EHB or at least being able to internally switch different EQ points like Lakland do (perhaps there are internal switches for this - I haven't checked yet).
• Those plastic covers for the Battery that lots of manufacturers use seem like they're from a cheap toy, they could at least be flush with the back, I think I was spoiled with the Digwall system for that though. 

But these are picky/personal preferance things and comparing with Basses double or 3x the cost.  Overall, it seems a great Bass, especially for the money. But even if money wasn't an issue, I think it gives the Ibanez EHB series a good run f

I've sold via commission through them before, and once it sells there is something like a 2 week wait until you get paid in-case their buyer returns it. So I assume they offer buyers returns/refunds easily enough if something is wrong. 

3 minutes ago, Sibob said:

For sure, they're quick enough in Instagram....just not sure how to get photos from them now haha.
I wonder if the ordering emails are again from a different system to what @Woodinblackmentioned?!

 

Si

Yeah perhaps it is from a different email and that's the issue, the ones I've received are automated from [email protected] 

27 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Has anyone ever had any issues with emails from BD not arriving? Either to Gmail or Hotmail (Outlook)?
They seemingly receive mine, bit responses not arriving to either account, very strange!

 

Si

I've just bought a Bass from them and quickly received a series of emails (order received, order complete, feedback request) to my Hotmail account, no problem (but they do automatically go to Junk mail until marked as 'not Junk'). And the Bass I bought pretty much immediately then changed status on their website from 'available' to 'preorder now'. I also phoned up earlier and got a quick answer and helpful response. 

Photos/info from Bass Direct: https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/2009-fender-american-standard-jazz-bass-3-tone-sunburst-pre-owned/

And my high-pressure sales pitch: I expect somewhere like Bass Gallery could sell this for at least £1k, they take 15% commission (so I'd get £850). So if no takers here soon, next time I'm in that neck of the woods I'll go for that fairly hassle-free (and possibly more profitable) option. Or the lowest hassle option is another shop has offered a straight purchase of £800 (I expect they'd sell for at least £1k). So get on it soon if you're keen as otherwise I'll go for those easier options which potentially get roughly the same £.

Bass Direct just received a Green one which I've just purchased (perhaps a bit rashly!, I almost always like to try a Bass first, and usually go second hand). My Bass maths to justify it is that I've got a Jazz up for sale which should sell for more than the Cort, so it's not a cost - it's a saving!

Exciting times. Now the waiting game (which I hope is quite a short game - next day delivery). Will report back.

Edit: After I'd bought from Bass Direct I had been speaking to Guitar Guitar and they mentioned they price match. Bass Direct are now sold out of the Cort Space for the time being (£699) but Guitar Guitar have them  in stock for £749, so you might be able to get £50 knocked off that price, although perhaps they only do it if other shops have them in stock and available to buy there and then. Thomann have them listed for £655 but not in stock for months - I've noticed a tactic is sometimes with long wait times they have a lower price while it's not in stock to keep you hanging on and not buying elsewhere, and then when it is in stock they put the price up.

Another Edit: Grrr Parcelf*cks! 'Unable to locate address' It's a residential street with nothing out of the ordinary, the house shows up on google maps etc. No attempt to call me to try and find the address if that's really the issue, just an automated 'not happening today' which makes me think the driver just can't be bothered. And Parcelforce customer service app/call seems almost designed to wind up customers, but at least I could confirm that the correct address is on the package, so it is slackness from their side.