dincz

My budget rack on top of my Compact. Normally run through a BDI21 for a touch of grit. [IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/P1010011_zps5d509e98.jpg[/IMG]

Doesn't seem to be having any effect over my way

If it's anything like my Cort, there should be a small grub screw in the knob you can loosen with an Allen key. [IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/P1010018_zps2f80b92e.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/P1010016_zps788e62a7.jpg[/IMG]

My main worry is that both the pre and power amp are only 1U, so there must be a fair amount of strain on the ends of the front panels - particularly the preamp as the panel is aluminium and quite thin. Although the power amp is heavier, it's all steel and the panel is much thicker.

I know Boschma cases are quite popular with BC users, so I'm hoping one of you can set me straight. Just received one of these today. It's light and looks well made - like this in fact: I wrote to Boschma previously to make sure the case had provision for rear support. They replied: "All our racks have on the front and on the rear support rail in the profile, so you can assembling your preamp also on the back from the case." I can't see anything like a rear support rail - see photos below: Am I missing something? EDIT - I have written to Boschma but as it's the weekend, I don't expect a response until at least Monday. Thought I'd try my luck here.

[quote name='JMM' timestamp='1362651697' post='2002669']With my very little understanding of electronics, the power produced must go somewhere and 500 watts is quite a bit! [/quote] It can't produce 500 watts with no load connected. Closer to zero in fact. A bit like turning off a tap.

The worst thing is that my hands can't play the brilliant stuff that goes on in my head. Next is that I'm a much better singer than bass player

An ace of bassists

Oh! I thought someone had hijacked the name of the element as a brand name. But why?

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1360966289' post='1979320'] 29 posts and no Cort yet! Cracking basses, not at the very lowest end of the market but quite cheap and exceptional value for money. [/quote] Dead right. It's a mystery why Corts aren't more popular.

"Ruthenium is a chemical element with symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table." A bit exotic for a knob!

The only negative I've heard about the XLS amps is their input sensitivity is fairly low i.e they need about 1.4V from the preamp to drive them to full power. As long as your preamp can provide that then you're set. 1100W bridged into 4 ohms, or even 700W into 8 ohms seems like plenty of power to me. It's possible that those who found it not loud enough were not giving it enough input level.

Same family, same factory - was very pleased with a Samson power amp I used for a couple of years. Not sure if they use exactly the same power amp section but they look almost identical. Great build quality and reliability.

Certainly possible and it could be good but from my reading of reviews of the Trakmaster, its EQ seems to be a bit limited. There are other channel strip options that offer more versatile EQ sections. I picked up the (used) channel strip in my sig and am very happy with it. You can pick them up for £50 - £60. There seem to be a lot of happy users of the Art Pro Channel

"A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it" - Sir Thomas Beecham

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1358788432' post='1945018'] Ah Melodyne, what would we do without you? [/quote] We'd probably have to rely on Autotune as an emetic Having said that, the videos posted above contain some of the most legitimate uses of pitch correction I've ever heard.

Thanks for all the suggestions. There certainly is some nice kit around but each seems to lack one thing or another. Strangely enough, I'm coming to the conclusion that the humble V-Bass as a programmable preamp is probably as near as I'm likely to find - and has the added advantage that I've already got one. The quality of the effects is another matter but that's not a priority anyway.

Apprentice. I've tried to learn to read several times but I give up too easily I always found the process of looking, naming and then finding the note on the instrument a bit of a long way round. Kind of like translating Russian to French and then to English. Ideally I'd like to be able to look at a note and then play it - naming it would be nice touch I could add later. Has anyone ever come across a piece of computer software which presents a written note on-screen and then recognises whether or not you've played the right note? Probably easier to do with a midi keyboard than a bass with its ambiguous harmonics. EDIT: Just noticed the previous post about Victor Wooten's website.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1358107252' post='1933299'] Boss EQ-20? 9 storable banks that you can scroll through with your feet, plus graphic sliders to tweak the called up patch on the fly! [/quote] That's impressive! But (there's always a but) I'd love to be able to put it on top of my amp at a comfortable tweaking height and select patches with an external footswitch. A great option would be modular construction so the footswitch section could be split from the (optionally rack-mountable) processor box.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1358105232' post='1933252'] What about something like the programmable Sansamp? Floor unit, 6 presets you can store (or 3 per instrument if you use 2 inputs) and big fat knobs to tweak of it doesn't sound right! [url="http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/bassdriverdlx.html"]http://www.tech21nyc...sdriverdlx.html[/url] [/quote] Thanks for the tips - much appreciated and sorry if I'm wasting your time. The programmable Sansamp gets close [i]in principle[/i] to what I'm after but the lack of a mid EQ isn't ideal. I've played around with a BDI21 (which does pretty much what the BDDI does?) and found the EQ a bit limited. I'm probably dreaming of something that doesn't exist

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1358104489' post='1933226'] So what exactly do you want on top of what the channel strip already give you? It's looks like quite a comprehensive EQ section. [/quote] Yes, the EQ is great but would be even greater if I could hit a footswitch to select a preset combination of EQ settings. (Imagine motorised pots and a midi interface!)

A picture is worth a thousand words so here are the front panel controls on the channel strip: [IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/LA1_zps31f3714a.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/LA2_zpsb664d9bd.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/LA3_zpsee6a638d.jpg[/IMG] The EQ section offers pretty much everything I could wish for but of course the analogue controls aren't programmable. The V-Amp, although it's programmable, doesn't allow the same range of control.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1358097264' post='1933057'] analogue approach with easy on-the-fly adjustment (like the knob per function you mention) and no real need to access menu's etc...? [/quote] That's pretty much the ideal - programmable presets as well as on-the-fly adjustment. Effects aren't really important for me.

I don't use effects much so this is not exactly an effects question - but not really an amp question either. I use a channel strip to drive a power amp and I love the range of tone I can get from it. 4 band eq including lo-mid and hi-mid parametric. I also have a Behringer V-Amp which also gives a good range of tone control and the added advantage of having programmable presets. What I don't like about the V-Amp is the lack of dedicated physical controls for every parameter - I have to delve into the menu to get at them whereas the channel strip allows me to reach for a knob and instantly tweak the tone. I guess the same would apply to most if not all multi-effects. For example, the Zoom B3 looks like a very capable box of tricks but has even fewer dedicated knobs than the V-Amp. Maybe I'm just too old school, having grown up with all-analogue gear with a separate knob for each parameter. Is it just me and is there anything that would offer the best of both worlds?