Muppet

XLR out normally to XLR in of a Barefaced FR800. The cab has no external volume control!

I have three, Downtown Express, Spectradrive and the Fly rig. Each has pros and cons ( I tent to use the Fender for ease of use) but the trouble I have found on all so far is that going direct in to a FRFR the signal isn't hot enough, even cranking the Speaker volume to max. The Helix wasn't a problem as there was bags of gain available but on these pedals there isn't. Not sure if anyone has a solution to this.

In the past, I had an early VMT pedal and then a B3K and sold them when I went down the Helix route. Bands change and the Helix was overkill so I moved back to a traditional format but missed the Darkglass pedals that I used to have. I tried the Alpha Omega Ultra pedal and whilst it was absolutely brilliant (and beautiful to look at) the circuits were very much distortion where I was looking for something else. I did know this to be fair, but I wanted to try it anyway. I know, I know, I should have bought a Stomp. I probably still will. Anyway….. So, I bit the bullet on the M900v2 and so far I’m very pleased. The new additions over the M900v1 are really nice and these are as Al Krow sets out earlier so I won’t go in to all of them here but some I’ll cover. There are still two channels – clean and microtubes, with the microtubes channel split between the VMT circuit and the B3K circuit, so you can think of this as perhaps three channels. Especially if you have the Super Intelligent footswitch which allows you to switch between all three. The compressor can be applied to the clean channel, the VMT circuit and the B3K OR any variation of these. The default is on for all three, but you have to change it through the Darkglass Suite software, you can’t choose from the head unit alone. I have left it set on for all three at the moment. It’s a really nice compressor although I am far from an compressor expert and I can set it easily to get a very pleasing tone. The cab IRs are a nice touch and the three slots can be loaded from the Darkglass Suite in the same way as the Alpha Omega Ultra pedal. You can load third party IRs too so you’re not stuck with the Darkglass defaults. The little switch on the back is fiddily and there are tiny lights to let you know which slot is active. The IRs are only effective though the headphones and the DI out – The headphones have a volume control and a ¼” input. Professional. So back to the drive circuits. The VMT as the description says, introduces more mids. It’s more pronounced than I expected but can be controlled effectively with the blend knob and the excellent EQ section. The B3K circuit is more pleasing to my ears. Both of these are much more subtle and less defined (you could argue woolly) than the Alpha and Omega circuits, which is perhaps what you’d expect. You cannot blend the circuits like the AO. The LEDs are lit in blue when the VMT circuit is engaged and change to red for the B3K. They stay red or blue even if you switch from the microtubes channel to the clean channel. This is a nice touch to let you know what circuit will be effective when you switch on the micortubes engine. There’s no bite or growl button, instead you get a tone knob. I bought the four button super intelligent footswitch. No real point. This is because both circuits share the same tone shaping options and I don’t feel that there is enough of a difference between the circuits, all settings the same, to warrant switching them on the fly. I may want to switch between circuits BUT I’d want to change the settings as well; just swapping from one to another doesn’t offer enough variation. The supplied footswitch is more than adequate – single press switches from clean to microtubes, long press engages mute, short press disengages mute and returns to either the microtubes or clean channel, whichever you had initially engaged. In summary, It’s expensive, very loud, has lots of useable features rather than gimmicks, and a superb clean tone. It looks very pretty but not the smallest or lightest class D head in the world. It comes beautifully packaged with footswitch, USB cable and power cord. I’m scared of scratching it. I need a bag for it. It sounds fantastic with my Barefaced SuperTwin. I’d love to A/B it against the AO900 and as Al Krow says, it’ll just come down to preference of overdrive/distortion circuits. I much prefer the blue colour of the AO!

BF Super Twin. I'll write my thoughts on here similar to yours so that anyone comparing the two doesn't have to bounce between threads!

Here you go https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Am-Dlx-Dimension-Bass-V-Hh-Control-Assy-Board-PCB-Pots-2HK-Blue-IV-V/323933269665?hash=item4b6bed6ea1:g:aXIAAOSwfPFbRe2A

Fender will find it difficult to help as they don't list parts for the pots separately. The part number 770019100 is for the PCB and the pots. That's the HH version..... You will probably be better off sourcing the complete PCB - there was one on eBay just the other week. I have two Dimension Vs and keep an eye out for parts as Fender really struggle for supply of some of the more unique items.

Should I create a different thread for this?

@mrtcat this sounds like a gig for you!

Full disclosure - I am selling something in the marketplace that I am about to recommend and it's not because I want to sell it by recommending it here! I used to be in a similar situation. I opted for a Markbass CMD 121P, based on size, weight, portability and sound. To augment the sound when needed, I added a NY121 cab which is exactly the same size as the combo. Both stacked together makes a compact but loud 2x12 setup. This is a really good and powerful rig. I also have a Rumble combo and I'll admit I prefer this for the music I now play, but it's nowhere near as portable and compact as the Markbass.

I find DRs (specifically Sunbeams) to be better that D'Addario's

I have the Gator Pro and I love it. its really well padded and hardwearing, with lots of storage don't use the shoulder straps, I just use it for carrying from house to car to venue. I used to use two bags but I much prefer this solution. If I were travelling on the tube I might not want be carrying this on my back, but then again, I wouldn't want to be carrying two gig bags either.

I think therein lies the problem. The 701s are open back reference headphones - I'd class them as studio headphones - with an impedance of 62ohms so they need driving pretty hard and obviously the elf isn't up to it. I'd change to different headphones to be honest if you can.

What headphones are you using? Some headphones need more power than others to drive them. The green light flashing is ok, it will flash red when the gain is turned up and compression is automatically applied.

I'm pretty sure I've a bag of spares that TC sent me once. I don't have the amp anymore, message me your address and I'll stick em in the post.

Yes it's not bad. I compared it to a Darkglass Alpha/Omega Ultra and on that pedal I had to engage the growl button to retain the same amount of low end as the Fender had. Remember that with the TC you can hunt around for a Tubedrive toneprint that'll give you what you want and load that up. With the Fender you're stuck with that particular OD circuit. It's just as shame that you can't create a custom toneprint for the TC and load it on (well I don't think you can anyway, I only ever have the option of selecting a prebuilt one)

I've got both. if you need the aux in and headphone then the Spectradrive will always win. I find the natural sound from the Fender to be better and it's easier to tweak all the components on the fly whereas with the TC you're reliant on connecting via Toneprint. Then again, the number of toneprints available means you're likely to find something that works and the standard spectracomp setting are pretty good anyway. The fender is bigger, heavier and has a greater current draw. It doesn't have a power supply, the TC does. The Fender doesn't have an unaffected 1/4" 'thru' output like the TC does. You can switch the effects order around on the Fender and specify whether you want the FX and EQ to be output through the DI. The lights are nice on the Fender too! With the Fender you have more options to switch items on and off (EQ, Comp, OD). So, both have pros and cons - the TC offers much more flexibility in connectivity and also in compression and drive settings IF you plan ahead. It also has a bit more flexibility in the EQ section. The Fender is better if you want more traditional (albeit limited) control, especially in a live environment. I use the Fender more, purely because the default voicing is more appealing to my ears (in the same way as I prefer the Fender Rumble sound over the TC RH750 sound)

yeah this, and Helix to Amp Effects Return!

Good point - I think most of the third party IRs are also modelled on classic cabs. Worth noting is that the IR block function has parameters covering low and high cut, level and blend so if it is too dark you have plenty of options available.

Guys, check out the 3 Sigma Audio IRs. Remember with IRs, they are sampled, so if you buy an IR you will get many different samples, based on microphone and microphone positioning and sample quality - the differences are subtle but there. I get good results with both the Mesa and Orange cabs. The Ampeg 810 IRs I always find too muddy. I do split my signal too and for live work I send a non IR affected signal to the PA, effectively simulating taking a DI out from an amp head, as this is far more common nowadays that actually miking a bass cab. My second path actually has an IR in it and this is the one I send to my FRFR cabinet onstage, in order to emulate an 'on stage' sound. If I were sending to a traditional amp/cab setup for monitoring (as opposed to my FRFR cab) then I'd not use the IR.

I rather like the EHX Bass Clone as a cheap option which is like the small stone but with the added HPF filter switch too.

It's a long thread but this is the best places to start if yu've got a couple of days....!