I just got one of these from MF (List is $299, regular price is $199 and they're blowing them out for $79!) and it's incredible! I've been using a Behringer V-Amp, and found all of the patches and effects to be unusable. This is much quieter and better sounding with patches that you'd actually want to use in a song. I got to use it with the band at church last night and everybody was blown away. Here's a quick review:
It's got 99 presets and they're actually musically useful!!! You can also store 99 of your own. There are drive/fuzz/distortions, reverbs, delays, eq's, modulations, and only two really weird patches, (Jet Machine and SpaceBass) but even those are fun and useful. The Behringer that I've been using has more patches, but the effects just sound bad and it takes all kinds of tweaking to get a usable tone out of the thing. The Yamaha's effects, presets and overall quality of sound are so much better and most of the patches are usable with little or no tweaking. It sounds very clean and polished and seemed to sit really well in the mix.
The controls are really simple. There are three switches (On/Off, Patch Up, Patch Down) and four Knobs. One knob is a dedicated Volume, while the other three are assigned to the three most important parameters in each patch. There is also a Store button to save your changes. Deep editing is done on your computer using the included software and USB cable. I haven't had time to play with this yet, but what a cool idea! A high/low input gain switch is located on the back of the unit to accommodate active or passive basses. I was a little nervous about the limited onboard controls but, as I mentioned before, the presets are already very usable so it shouldn't be an issue.
There is one input - sorry, no "jam-along" - Left and Right 1/4" outs, a mini plug headphone out, AC in, and USB port. I really like that the headphone out is mini rather than 1/4" because I always lose those little adapters. I/O options, like onboard controls, seem limited compared to the Behringer, but I think the simplicity actually contributes to the Yamaha's superiority. The Behringer has all the midi I/O and all that bull crap that seemed cool, but I never used it and it doesn't have the USB port, which actually is useful. This is a much more user-friendly setup.
One small gripe I have is that the Magicstomp didn't come with a nice little case like the V-Amp, but it's made of metal where the V-Amp is plastic so, whatever. The bottom line is this: The Magicstomp is a great all in one tool, especially for a bass player going direct into a PA. It's infinitely superior to the V-Amp and, for the moment, less expensive. BUY ONE.
EDIT - I have now gotten to play with the patch editor on my PC and it's incredibly cool! The software includes the Guitar and Acoustic Magicstomp patches, which you can copy into your user patches - very useful for multi-instrumental folk. So, I say again: BUY ONE!!!
It's got 99 presets and they're actually musically useful!!! You can also store 99 of your own. There are drive/fuzz/distortions, reverbs, delays, eq's, modulations, and only two really weird patches, (Jet Machine and SpaceBass) but even those are fun and useful. The Behringer that I've been using has more patches, but the effects just sound bad and it takes all kinds of tweaking to get a usable tone out of the thing. The Yamaha's effects, presets and overall quality of sound are so much better and most of the patches are usable with little or no tweaking. It sounds very clean and polished and seemed to sit really well in the mix.
The controls are really simple. There are three switches (On/Off, Patch Up, Patch Down) and four Knobs. One knob is a dedicated Volume, while the other three are assigned to the three most important parameters in each patch. There is also a Store button to save your changes. Deep editing is done on your computer using the included software and USB cable. I haven't had time to play with this yet, but what a cool idea! A high/low input gain switch is located on the back of the unit to accommodate active or passive basses. I was a little nervous about the limited onboard controls but, as I mentioned before, the presets are already very usable so it shouldn't be an issue.
There is one input - sorry, no "jam-along" - Left and Right 1/4" outs, a mini plug headphone out, AC in, and USB port. I really like that the headphone out is mini rather than 1/4" because I always lose those little adapters. I/O options, like onboard controls, seem limited compared to the Behringer, but I think the simplicity actually contributes to the Yamaha's superiority. The Behringer has all the midi I/O and all that bull crap that seemed cool, but I never used it and it doesn't have the USB port, which actually is useful. This is a much more user-friendly setup.
One small gripe I have is that the Magicstomp didn't come with a nice little case like the V-Amp, but it's made of metal where the V-Amp is plastic so, whatever. The bottom line is this: The Magicstomp is a great all in one tool, especially for a bass player going direct into a PA. It's infinitely superior to the V-Amp and, for the moment, less expensive. BUY ONE.
EDIT - I have now gotten to play with the patch editor on my PC and it's incredibly cool! The software includes the Guitar and Acoustic Magicstomp patches, which you can copy into your user patches - very useful for multi-instrumental folk. So, I say again: BUY ONE!!!
If it only had a drum machine like my B2, it would perfect.
