PYPB XL: Midlife Crisis

[Jean Baudin]

Originally Posted by behndy

urg. that thing..... is big. maybe TOO big. yikes.

TWSS!

[behndy]

leaaaaaaaaaaninto it. deep breathes.

BITE YOUR LIP.

[kozmikyak]

I don't remember whether I posted on this thread before, but here goes:



At the lower right, is an AABB switch. It gets two inputs from my E-cello, one pickup pair for bowing one for pizz. The footswitch makes _one_ of these active at any given time. The rig is split into the bottom half (lead) and the top half (bass).

The bottom half is used for lead cello, mandolin, and guitar. Signal goes through the hum debugger, then through the ADI21 (turned on for cello, turned off for guitar). Then through the Tech21 drive pedal; the left two distortion patches are used for cello, the rightmost one is leveled for guitar. Then into the little passive volume box; when on, the signal is attenuated according to the knob, when off the signal goes through full strength. Therefore I can turn the pedal _off_ for lead boost. Then into the Digitech RP355; I switch banks in this unit depending on whether I'm playing guitar or cello, and have an additional distortion, mod, delay, and wah available there.

The top half is used for electric bass guitar and cello-bass. There is room on the board for a second hum debugger, which I haven't added yet. The signal goes to another ADI21 (on for cello, off for electric bass). Then goes to a dual-band compressor, then into the Digitech BP355. It just happens that preset 1 on the BP355 works just about perfectly for me, so I've not gone far into the programmable options. I do have a gentle chorus and a tube-screamer distortion set up on it, for doing bass leads.

I might remove the dual-band compressor and add an EQ pedal to give me a clean lead boost; I like to boost the mids and highs when doing solos on the bass.

I have another pedal not shown here, it's a dual-channel passive mixer. I take 1/4" outs from both the modeling units into this pedal, and then into a PA power amp and my Acme Low B2 cabs. I can set lead and bass volumes separately with the passive mixer.

XLR outs go from each modeler to the board. That way the engineer can set separate channel level and EQ for my lead and bass roles.

There's a 9V power supply on there to power the 9V pedals and the LEDs in my passive switching pedals. The modeling units and the hum debuggers, unfortunately, require wall power. I could get by powering the modelers with one of the Voodoo Labs AC power supplies, but there's nothing out there that will also power the hum debuggers. I just suck it up and made a tree of short extension cords to plug into the various AC adapters.

[MSUsousaphone]

Originally Posted by behndy

yah. looks cool and all, but to give up that much pedalboard real estate, i'd want MOAR.

does look like it has some cool features though.

That's the wretched thing about phrase samplers. The small economical ones have bad signal quality or not enough features. And the hifi ones are waaaaaaay overpriced and take up half a pedalboard. And they're all butt fugly.

[insomniac2295]

Originally Posted by MSUsousaphone

And they're all butt fugly.

Nah, just the Boomerang

[fivestringgecko]

+1 to the comments about loopers... I had a Boomerang+ and got rid of it because it was too big (and noisy). Got an RC2 and while it was pedalboard friendly, not enough easy control. I miss my Boomerang+ and have wanted a Boomerang III for quite a while now!

5sg.

[Jean Baudin]

When I first got into solo bass, I was doing the looping thing - I had an Gibson Echoplex, and 2 RC-20s... I had several long conversations with Yoshi (the lead designer at BOSS) which lead to the development of the RC-50, but by the time it came out (I had one about six months before it was released), I figured out a way to make my solo music without the use of a looper. For now, the 25 seconds on the Timeline is all I need.

[Vlad5]

A guitarist friend o' mine has a Boomerang III and loves it. It's the last 'effect' pedal he owns (has an Axe-FX II and PA system now). It is really quiet and the sound quality is noticeably, not a lot mind you, but noticeably better than a Timeline....

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by MSUsousaphone

That's the wretched thing about phrase samplers. The small economical ones have bad signal quality or not enough features. And the hifi ones are waaaaaaay overpriced and take up half a pedalboard. And they're all butt fugly.

What do you think about the Flashback (not the x4)? The loop time isn't that long but I think for the available features compared to overall quality and price; it's a winner.

[Jared Lash]

For live playing my looping needs are incredibly minimal. I used it a lot when I was doing ambient dub (definitely miss that band) because I could loop the bass line and then add synthy or atmospheric sounds on top of it. while having the option of dropping the bass and bringing it back at any time.

I almost never layer loops so a simple looper works for me. But I've never found a small, simple looper that works for me.

And while I'd never subject other people to it I do a bunch of layering at home for practice and to work on my playing.

Honestly if the normal flashback were double it's size with a tap tempo (and thus two switches for looping as well) and had a knob for loop control it'd be perfect for me.

[BassIsFun17]

Originally Posted by behndy

urg. that thing..... is big. maybe TOO big. yikes.

i think for all the features you get with it, its a comprisable size. you get 3 delay presets. so its like having 3 delays on your board. and you get the tap tempo. and the looper is just great, which also allows delay function. so its like 4 pedals in one.

[fivestringgecko]

I'm STILL stuck with my larger board and what to put on it. What do you guys do when you hit that wall? Any tips?

5sg.

[BassIsFun17]

Originally Posted by fivestringgecko

I'm STILL stuck with my larger board and what to put on it. What do you guys do when you hit that wall? Any tips?

5sg.

maybe fuzz and delay?

[behndy]

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

What do you think about the Flashback (not the x4)? The loop time isn't that long but I think for the available features compared to overall quality and price; it's a winner.

i love the Flashback OG. Dan is purty'in up one for me now. it sounds good, simple, and more than fulfills the minimal looping i want to do.

Originally Posted by BassIsFun17

i think for all the features you get with it, its a comprisable size. you get 3 delay presets. so its like having 3 delays on your board. and you get the tap tempo. and the looper is just great, which also allows delay function. so its like 4 pedals in one.

so, i'm not trashing it, it's an interesting pedal. just saying FOR ME it would feel like a waste of space. it's the same size as the TimeLine, and the TL does soooooo much more. the looper/delay being on a switch is a little silly too. that's why everybody else has the choice mapped to holding the tempo footie down.

speaking of bad interface choices - i forgot how truly awful the design is for the Pitch Factor. i love the 2 or 3 things it does that i can't find another pedal for, but only bank up? through 20 banks? ASS. and no patch naming? DOUBLE ass.

annoying.

[In Air Bassists]

I couldnt use any of the factor lineif it were not for my t1m aux switches. Soooo useful

[behndy]

yah. T1M's kinda gone bananas lately though. if i wasn't trying to jam it onto a tiny board, i'd look at an aux switch and like a notepad to tape down. ****ing ridiculous to not be able to name the patches.

[behndy]

oop. spoke too soon. my bad Eventide. the v3 of the update software lets you name patches. that helps a LOT. off to update my arpy buggerererer.

[behndy]

guh. i should read docs before i bitch about stuff. v2 of the update lets you click the footswitch for bank up, then spin the Save/Main Encoder to bank up or down fast.

[fivestringgecko]

Originally Posted by BassIsFun17

maybe fuzz and delay?

Not bad ideas. My secondary board would be a good playground for stuff I don't normally use. I've only tried a couple fuzzes, so maybe it's time to explore that effect a little further. Hmmmmm. Thanks!

In the meantime, preamp woes on the main board, so version number... Oh h3ll, too many to remember. Lol

5sg.

[mc_muench]

Upgraded from carpet to wood plank...

Modded (Monte Allum kit) and rehoused my ODB-3...

Otherwise same old, same old...
TU-2->Mojo Hand Colossus->ODB-3->Correct Sound Eclipse