EBS MicroBass II or Radial ToneBone

[SCT1422]

I've been using a Presonus BlueTube preamp/D.I. pedal into my IP-153 and it sounds great... But I recently started bringing out a NS Design CR-5M Electric Upright as well along with the electrics and I also want to add just alittle more flexability to my rig.. I've used EBS pedals before and they have always sounded great and have tried the MultiDrive pedal which was one of the best Bass distortion pedals I ever heard... Opinions please... Thanx...

[niftydog]

The way I see it, if you've got piezos, you're mad not to go for the EBS. I know it's expensive, but it also has more features.

I compared the two and frankly I was very disappointed with the Radial - the EQ section was weak and the features were very limiting. If you didn't like the sound of the contours, too bad! I felt like I had completely explored everything it had to offer in about 20 seconds.

The EBS is the hub of my entire rig. I also use it when recording.

[SCT1422]

Thanx Nifty... Bump for more replys..

[Marcus Willett]

Originally Posted by niftydog

The way I see it, if you've got piezos, you're mad not to go for the EBS. I know it's expensive, but it also has more features.

Agreed...very nice unit. You won't regret it if you go that route.

[kirkm24]

I got the EBS and I like it's feature set but I had some difficulty recording with it. I am going to mess with it a little bit more and see if I can't dial it in.

[bassspielplatz]

I have owned the EBS Microbass II for quite a while, and frankly, I'm disappointed.
I use an EB Volume pedal as part of my signal chain, which is run thru the effects loop in/out. When I take the vol. pedal all the way down, I still get sound coming from my bass, which immediately defeats the purpose of a volume pedal. Imagine trying to do swells with delay and a bit of distortion, and still getting that sound exactly where you don't need it? Ouch!
Adding to that the constant loss of gain, the signal dying out on me in the middle of a show..., last saturday my patience really got tested with that pedal. I opted to remove it and running directly from the bass into the pedals, and then into the amp, and the volume pedal worked perfectly, no soud with the heel all the way down, the way it's supposed to be. Too bad, of course, because the original reason why I bought it was to use the A/B switch (I also use a fretless on stage, besides my fretted 5 string), and the effects loop, of course.
I used to use the Bassbone before, which I replaced with the Microbass II, because I thought it would be a better choice.
I've been told that I can operate the FX Mix knob to get to a "sweet spot" whre the vol. pedal will work just fine, but that spot doesn't seem to exist.
Since everyone here seems to have mostly positive opinions on this pedal, I would kindly appreciate your input on this.
Take care!

[niftydog]

Originally Posted by bassspielplatz

When I take the vol. pedal all the way down, I still get sound coming from my bass...

So what you're saying is that the blend never quite reaches 100%, right? I'd imagine many blends might suffer from this depending on the circuit.

Originally Posted by bassspielplatz

Adding to that the constant loss of gain, the signal dying out on me in the middle of a show...

Can you expand on the "constant loss of gain"?

Usually intermittent loss of signal comes down to power supply or patch cable problems - it's rare that a pedal itself would be the sole cause.

Originally Posted by bassspielplatz

running directly from the bass into the pedals... the volume pedal worked perfectly... the original reason why I bought it was to use the A/B switch...

...which you can still use provided you give up on the idea of the FX loop!

Originally Posted by bassspielplatz

FX Mix knob to get to a "sweet spot" whre the vol. pedal will work just fine, but that spot doesn't seem to exist.

Hmm. Where is the volume pedal in the chain? Is it directly at the FX loop send or does it come after the other pedals?

To be honest I never use the FX loop, basically because I don't require blending for the majority of my pedals. But I have noticed that it's not a very "respectful" blend - it takes something away from the FX in the loop.

[slaerts]

I find people call the tone bone whimpy or weak. I suspect they expect it to be very coloured similar to the sansamp and sadowski pre-dis's. I simply find that it is quite transparent and allows for minor tonal adjustments. If you have crap gear it will splat out a crap tone if you have better gear it will give you better tone where as i like my sadowski wehn i have one of my crap basses as it makes it sound so much better. As for the pre-sets on it, on one channel it has two preset eq's and a flat eq the idea is to use the eq on your amp or guitar. The other chanel has adjustable eq. I have found it quite good for jumping quietly and effortlessly from one bass to the other.
Just my 2 cents on the tonebone. I have never owned or used the ebs gear so wont commnet on it, but people speak very highly of it.