Jazzneck Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1421155810' post='2657709'] Had a bad experience where the house engineer got blotto the night before we played, and he hadn't noticed that someone had pinched most of the DI boxes. He had a few old DI boxes, but had to reuse them for each band. Come our set, he plugs our rack of synths and samplers into them - only problem is that he left them on the Mic impedance setting rather than switch them over to Line. No line check, and as we start our set I can't hear the drums or keyboards as the engineer yanked their levels down since the output was so distorted. Audience look perplexed as well. I ended up playing the whole set looking at the blinking metronome on the sequencer since the engineer was too useless to realise what he'd done. Thankfully the venue sacked him shortly afterwards. [/quote] I could say "Serves you right for not using real live musicians in the band", but I won't......................... Runs away at the speed of light .............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_the_bass Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Set up effects - check Plug bass in to effects - check Plug effects in to amp - check Plug amp DI in to recording interface - check No signal being received at interface! All powered? - check Unplug bass from effects and plug in to amp - signal at interface. Plug bass in to last effect and remake connection to amp - signal at interface Repeat process back across the pedals - signal at interface until I get back to back to original setup when there is no signal at interface! Take tuner out of mute and look rather embarrassed - double check! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Brecon Jazz Festival late 1980s. Massive Trace Eliot stack (AH250 plus two of their refelx bass bins). Did first set fine. Went to start second set; dead. After the normal lead twiddling, I went around the back to find that some toe rag had nicked both of the speaker leads. Spares available so all went well but, if I ever meet the t***..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1421157312' post='2657750'] ...if I ever meet the t***... [/quote] tart? toot? tree? ...Er... tits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1421157398' post='2657752'] tart? toot? tree? ...Er... tits? [/quote] To what do you allude..? [size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoham Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1421029466' post='2656425'] IMHO, bass effects for live performance is still a pedals game. Multi Effects units are fine for rehearsing at home and maybe for bedroom recordings but not on stage. I would also stay away from Zoom. Just my opinion. Blue [/quote] Regarding both multi-effects in general and Zoom, I would have agreed with you a few years back, however today's Zoom multi-fx are light years ahead of where they were. I recall having Zoom 505 (when I was guitar playing teenager) and the 708 a couple of years later when I moved exclusively to bass. Build quality wasn't great, parameters were difficult to edit and the sound was passible at best. (This was in the late 90's, early 2000's) Up until recently, I'd been using individual pedals, but I found my board expanding more quickly than I liked - with some pedals not seeing much use! (I play in a function band, and I would say, add an octave pedal to play one song, then a chorus for one more, then add a second distortion to save me messing with settings mid-set) For the past year or so, I've been exclusively using a Zoom B3 (I belive the B1Xon mentioned by the OP shares the same sound processing chips). It does everything I need it to. It's solidly built, easy to edit (even on stage!) and sounds great - you'd be hard pushed to notice a difference in sound between this and what it digitally models. It works just like three individual pedals, and they can be combined how you please. I never use more than three effects on an an invidual song, so I just have a couple of patches that switch between. It covers all bases for both my function band and my originals band, both live and for recording (DI out with great amp sims). It's certainly not a bedroom toy. It's genuinely the best money I've spent on any gear - ever. Give one a try if you can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Steve Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I was on tour and playing a 2,000 seater in Germany (I add that to give an idea of the scale of my difficulty). Did the sound check and all was fine. Did the usual, throw the standby and wander off to the restaurant before going back to get changed and watch the support band. I go on stage and the bass is there but very quiet. I can hear it's in FOH but that's all. You will already have guessed I didn't throw the standby again!! It took me 3 numbers to figure it out while I was prancing about trying to look as though everything was ok - as it was to the audience. No-one else noticed on stage because the monitor levels were so high and I didn't have a wedge of my own. The drummer was on a riser with the bass in his monitor so he was ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Badderer Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Being bass player in my band with a decent sized car, i normally ended up being the one who carted a lot of the band kit around. Went to play an outdoors gig, remembered all the band gear and my stack. Drive to the gig and help unload and spend the next couple of hours helping to get the drum kit in place and get my stack sorted, monitors and FOH all sorted. During this time the rest of the band turn up.... I mention that I've been here helping for an hour or two like a martyr and that if they'd got here sooner we could have had a good hour of sound check and sorting the set nice and relaxed.... we then go to sound check.... and I remember that I have left my two basses propped up by the door of the rehearsal room 30 mins drive away because only an idiot would walk past his 2 basses on his way out of the door to get into his car..... It was a very fast round trip back to the rehearsal rooms to get back with enough time to soundcheck much to the amusement of the rest of the band! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswareham Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1421156599' post='2657727'] I could say "Serves you right for not using real live musicians in the band", but I won't......................... Runs away at the speed of light .............. [/quote] They'd need to be able to play at the speed of light to do some of the synth bass parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barneyg42 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) [quote name='geoham' timestamp='1421159017' post='2657784'] Regarding both multi-effects in general and Zoom, I would have agreed with you a few years back, however today's Zoom multi-fx are light years ahead of where they were. I recall having Zoom 505 (when I was guitar playing teenager) and the 708 a couple of years later when I moved exclusively to bass. Build quality wasn't great, parameters were difficult to edit and the sound was passible at best. (This was in the late 90's, early 2000's) Up until recently, I'd been using individual pedals, but I found my board expanding more quickly than I liked - with some pedals not seeing much use! (I play in a function band, and I would say, add an octave pedal to play one song, then a chorus for one more, then add a second distortion to save me messing with settings mid-set) For the past year or so, I've been exclusively using a Zoom B3 (I belive the B1Xon mentioned by the OP shares the same sound processing chips). It does everything I need it to. It's solidly built, easy to edit (even on stage!) and sounds great - you'd be hard pushed to notice a difference in sound between this and what it digitally models. It works just like three individual pedals, and they can be combined how you please. I never use more than three effects on an an invidual song, so I just have a couple of patches that switch between. It covers all bases for both my function band and my originals band, both live and for recording (DI out with great amp sims). It's certainly not a bedroom toy. It's genuinely the best money I've spent on any gear - ever. Give one a try if you can! [/quote] Yup, all of the above really! I ended up in a Floyd tribute band as well as my main pub band and the BCB pedal board didn't have enough room for all the effects I needed. Dropped the Floyd band and I realised with the lack of room in most pubs from having that great big board in front of me I'd go back to multi-effects. Now just to say the main problem with the sound was because there was no bottom end as the Compact (1x15 for those that don't know the brand) and the 2x10 which on it's own has a reasonable bottom end, was sat on top about 2 feet in the air. When I wasn't pushing the bass the little pedal sounded pretty reasonable. It's got many amp sims and you can chain 5 pedal/amp sims in any order, very easy to edit as I found out trying to sort my sound! All will be sorted at the weekend, unless I make some other stupid equipment mistake!!! Edited January 13, 2015 by barneyg42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerstodge Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1421102079' post='2657280'] I guess I would say I'm older, I'll never be old. And my age has allows me to observe about 50 of I'm a gigging guy and I have experimented with multi-effects devices for live performance and for me they don't have the mojo I need. I"ll continue to employ my pedals. [size=4][font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000][b]Blue's Pedal Board [/b][/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Line 6 Wireless Relay[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Korg Pitch Black Tuner[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]MRX Bass Octave[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Boss OB3 Overdrive[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]MRX Phase Shifter[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Boss Synth Bass[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Dedicated Delay[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]EBS Multi-Comp Compression[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Chorus[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Hall Of Fame Reverb[/color][/color][/font][/size] Blue [/quote]i could have double that amount of pedals and i still wouldn't be happy with my sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonestar Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Oh and another senior moment a few years ago: I usedto play g**tar (there I've said it) in a blues band which had the good fortune to rehearse in the back room of a Cambridge pub. After one such session I was chatting in the car park, for a bit, said good night, jumped in my car and drove home, some twenty miles away. Got home 11:00ish and heaved the Fender twin from the boot, opened the rear passenger door only to see a big space where my guitar case should be and felt a little bit sick realising I had left my usa fender strat in the dark carpark and drove off. It was the longest 4 rings in the world before the barman picked up the phone and before I uttered a word said "its OK Mike I've got it behind the bar;you can pick it up in the morning". Oh how we laughed. Not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1421175614' post='2658096'] Oh and another senior moment a few years ago: I usedto play g**tar (there I've said it) in a blues band which had the good fortune to rehearse in the back room of a Cambridge pub. After one such session I was chatting in the car park, for a bit, said good night, jumped in my car and drove home, some twenty miles away. Got home 11:00ish and heaved the Fender twin from the boot, opened the rear passenger door only to see a big space where my guitar case should be and felt a little bit sick realising I had left my usa fender strat in the dark carpark and drove off. It was the longest 4 rings in the world before the barman picked up the phone and before I uttered a word said "its OK Mike I've got it behind the bar;you can pick it up in the morning". Oh how we laughed. Not! [/quote] Yes, we did that loading the tour bus for a 300-km trip. We'd done about 50-odd kms when the 'phone went. We'd left the guitar flight (Mesa 2:90 Simul-A, G-Force, MIDI module etc...) outside the rehearsal room, on the road. A kind soul (a fan...) offered to catch us up with it. Oh, how we laughed. Not! [size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1421158008' post='2657765'] To what do you allude..? [/quote] Could be anything. I'm trying to guess what Bilbo's 't***' is. Edited January 13, 2015 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1421177505' post='2658139'] Could be anything. I'm trying to guess what Bilbo's 't***' is. [/quote] To what would you attribute this..? [size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1421177697' post='2658145'] T' w'at would you attribute this..? [size=4] [/size] [/quote] Very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1421186693' post='2658309'] Very good. [/quote] [size=4] [/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 [quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1421172062' post='2658027'] i could have double that amount of pedals and i still wouldn't be happy with my sound [/quote] To be honest the most used effect on my board is the Boss Overdrive. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 [quote name='geoham' timestamp='1421159017' post='2657784'] Regarding both multi-effects in general and Zoom, I would have agreed with you a few years back, however today's Zoom multi-fx are light years ahead of where they were. I recall having Zoom 505 (when I was guitar playing teenager) and the 708 a couple of years later when I moved exclusively to bass. Build quality wasn't great, parameters were difficult to edit and the sound was passible at best. (This was in the late 90's, early 2000's) Up until recently, I'd been using individual pedals, but I found my board expanding more quickly than I liked - with some pedals not seeing much use! (I play in a function band, and I would say, add an octave pedal to play one song, then a chorus for one more, then add a second distortion to save me messing with settings mid-set) For the past year or so, I've been exclusively using a Zoom B3 (I belive the B1Xon mentioned by the OP shares the same sound processing chips). It does everything I need it to. It's solidly built, easy to edit (even on stage!) and sounds great - you'd be hard pushed to notice a difference in sound between this and what it digitally models. It works just like three individual pedals, and they can be combined how you please. I never use more than three effects on an an invidual song, so I just have a couple of patches that switch between. It covers all bases for both my function band and my originals band, both live and for recording (DI out with great amp sims). It's certainly not a bedroom toy. It's genuinely the best money I've spent on any gear - ever. Give one a try if you can! [/quote] I will, however, you haven't sold me yet. If there is any of that thin generic medicinal qualities in the Zoom B3 it wouldn't be a match for what I need to hear and feel. Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 (edited) [quote name='geoham' timestamp='1421159017' post='2657784'] For the past year or so, I've been exclusively using a Zoom B3 (I belive the B1Xon mentioned by the OP shares the same sound processing chips). It does everything I need it to. It's solidly built, easy to edit (even on stage!) and sounds great - you'd be hard pushed to notice a difference in sound between this and what it digitally models. It works just like three individual pedals, It covers all bases for both my function band and my originals band, both live and for recording (DI out with great amp sims). It's certainly not a bedroom toy. It's genuinely the best money I've spent on any gear - ever. Give one a try if you can! [/quote] I have to back up a little here, so you are saying that the Zoom B1Xon which is a $76.00 multi effects processor is no different than what I get from my pedals. Not that price means anything, but $70.00 wouldn't cover the cost of one of my pedals. I am having a hard time with how this inexpensive $76.00 Zoom B1Xon can provide the same or better "mojo" than my pedals. But like some of you guys say, I'm old and probably don't know anything. Any of you older guys want to chime in on this? [b] [size=3]Zoom B1Xon Bass Effects Pedal with Expression Pedal[/size][/b] List Price: $89.47 Price: $76.00 Blue [size=4][font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000][b]Blue's Pedal Board [/b][/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Line 6 Wireless Relay[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Korg Pitch Black Tuner[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]MRX Bass Octave[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Boss OB3 Overdrive[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]MRX Phase Shifter[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]Boss Synth Bass[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Dedicated Delay[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]EBS Multi-Comp Compression[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Chorus[/color][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=#0000FF][color=#000000]T.C. Electronics Hall Of Fame Reverb[/color][/color][/font][/size] Edited January 14, 2015 by blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 Back when I was a teenager, one of my friends decid to take up guitar (he was a drummer), so bought himself an acoustic guitar. Not long after, he came to me with a distortion pedal in his hand asking "how do I stick the distortion on my guitar". "Duck tape" wasn't the answer he was looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UglyDog Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 [quote name='blue' timestamp='1421215324' post='2658465'] I have to back up a little here, so you are saying that the Zoom B1Xon which is a $76.00 multi effects processor is no different than what I get from my pedals. Not that price means anything, but $70.00 wouldn't cover the cost of one of my pedals. I am having a hard time with how this inexpensive $76.00 Zoom B1Xon can provide the same or better "mojo" than my pedals. But like some of you guys say, I'm old and probably don't know anything. Any of you older guys want to chime in on this? [b] [size=3]Zoom B1Xon Bass Effects Pedal with Expression Pedal[/size][/b] List Price: $89.47 Price: $76.00 Blue [/quote] Isn't using something's cost as sole indication of its sound quality rather like judging someone's talent by their popularity? ("One Direction MUST be really talented brilliant singers, because they've sold loads of CDs" etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 [quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1421225211' post='2658514'] Isn't using something's cost as sole indication of its sound quality rather like judging someone's talent by their popularity? [/quote] No Blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 (edited) [quote name='blue' timestamp='1421215324' post='2658465']... Any of you older guys want to chime in on this?... [/quote] Many more multi-FX are available. Our eldest uses a TC G-Force to great effect; far better than the pedals we had previously accumulated (some boutique...). There has been much progress since then, too. A Rocktron Midi-Mate on the floor and all becomes possible, just about. Yes, it's a bit more expensive than a humble Zoom (which are, however, excellent in themselves, and even more so given their price point...), but there's not much it can't do. Have you actually tried any of these more recent multis yourself..? Not that you have to change your set-up; it's just odd, to me, to imagine that the world has not evolved. Disclaimer: I'm 64, and play mainly drums. What would I know..? Edited January 14, 2015 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 I'm younger than 60 and therefore a genius. I have about 60 individual effects pedals which I love. If I were to ever start gigging on bass again I'd try to replicate my sounds using one of the larger multi-effects units (and I like Zoom) and I wouldn't anticipate any problems But then "mojo" is not quantifiable, and I've proven on more than one occasion that people's eyes influence what they hear in their mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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