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NPD Southampton Ictineo

#663
simongpaez said:
Do you have have experience any noise or hiss? I have read that can be an issue but I have personally never played one. Really tempted by all the positive comments
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I've been using the Ictineo for years live and for recordings and have never had an issue with extraneous noise no matter what bass or environment.
 
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#664
tedsalt said:
How does the Southampton Ictineo fare vs the Broughton Silver Deluxe? Does the Ictineo do everything the SD can and more?
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You're really comparing totally different devices even though they do both function as preamps. The Silver Deluxe takes it's design from the Fender/Alembic preamp channel clean tube gain stage and tone stack simulated with JFETs. The Ictineo is
tedsalt said:
How does the Southampton Ictineo fare vs the Broughton Silver Deluxe? Does the Ictineo do everything the SD can and more?
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To me they feel and sound different the Silver Deluxe* is like a vintage amp where the Ictineo is more like an vintage studio console or mic preamp. Even the original Submarine gave me the same feeling but Fuzzrocious's BDPG is a whole different beast.

*I have one of JohnK's FET-F2B preamps for comparison.
 
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#666
simongpaez said:
Do you have have experience any noise or hiss? I have read that can be an issue but I have personally never played one. Really tempted by all the positive comments
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Do it! Do it! Doooooo iiiiiiit!

I read the comments about hiss as well and was concerned before I got it. But I wasn't that concerned, because I have seen the Ictineo on so many boards around here from people whose opinion I respect highly.

I can say that just from playing with headphones, I heard none. And that's saying something, because I live in an old house with ungrounded, noisy, two-prong electrical outlets. It's notorious for noise. But I got none out of the Ictineo. I would know, because I'm pretty sensitive to that stuff. I hear every nuance in the headphones. Every tiny bit of noise, hiss, clipping, etc. Trying to think back to last night, I think there might have been a little bit of hiss when at one point I cranked the tone knob to the max and ran the tone on my bass wide open just for kicks, but that would be expected. And I don't think the Ictineo was generating any hiss itself at that point. Just amplifying and EQ-emphasizing what hiss the rest of my pedalboard created.
 
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#667
tedsalt said:
How does the Southampton Ictineo fare vs the Broughton Silver Deluxe? Does the Ictineo do everything the SD can and more?
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FWIW, the gentleman that I bought the Ictineo from on Reverb said that he was selling it because he landed a Broughton SV-Pre, and they were very similar. I've never used the Broughton myself.
 
#668
I love the Ictineo. It makes the tone shinier and more polished. It really is like comparing the preamp in your Mackie or interface to a real studio preamp. I like the deep switch followed by setting the HPF higher than you might otherwise. that's nice for a duo gig with just guitar/singer and bass. You can play minimally and not get in the way much.
 
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#669
tedsalt said:
?
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That was incomplete posting that I had meant to delete. I am not qualified to speak of the circuitry or the intent of the designers, that is why I went with the feel and sound in the revised statement.

I claim late night migraine ramblings after three doses of heavy medications and no sleep for 50 hours. Mea culpa.
 
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#671
(FWIW, this is cross posted in the testing compressors thread, but it also fits here)

I got the chance to play out with a few new toys this morning. It was an interesting study in contrasts. On the one hand, I was really unhappy with my sound most of the set. And yet after the service, it was the first time that the church sound guy, who is also a bassist and a long-time friend, said I sounded really good. But I’m not sure what to attribute that to. Today I had switched out my Fairfield Accountant for a Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compresor, and I also replaced my Tech21 VTBassDI with a Southampton Ictineo, using the VTDI only as a passive direct box for FOH and running into the effects return of the stage amp. In addition, I played my Yamaha BB1025x for the first time, replacing the Lakland jazz that I’ve used for the past couple of years. So the perceived improvement to my tone by the sound guy could be due to any or all of those factors.

But I will say this, despite liking the Saffron better than the Accountant in some ways when using it in my headphone rig at home, once I got the chance to use it live today, I feel like it totally robbed me of my low end thunder. That might be good in some respects, as it tightens up the overall sound, but when I wanted to go to the low B for those powerful moments in worship songs, it did not have the same dramatic impact I am used to where it shakes the room. Time will tell if that’s a good thing or not. But I think next time I play I’ll go back to the Accountant and leave everything else the same, and see how that feels. The Ictineo sounded great, from what I could tell. It gave me a strong, strong signal to send to the FOH. I didn't even have the boost on, volume around 11:00, and it was clipping out the sound board. But I expected more low end out of it with the bass boost engaged. I think the Saffron was filtering out too much of the lows before it even got to the Ictineo. We'll see how the next time goes.
 
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#672
jacoby75 said:
(FWIW, this is cross posted in the testing compressors thread, but it also fits here)

I got the chance to play out with a few new toys this morning. It was an interesting study in contrasts. On the one hand, I was really unhappy with my sound most of the set. And yet after the service, it was the first time that the church sound guy, who is also a bassist and a long-time friend, said I sounded really good. But I’m not sure what to attribute that to. Today I had switched out my Fairfield Accountant for a Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compresor, and I also replaced my Tech21 VTBassDI with a Southampton Ictineo, using the VTDI only as a passive direct box for FOH and running into the effects return of the stage amp. In addition, I played my Yamaha BB1025x for the first time, replacing the Lakland jazz that I’ve used for the past couple of years. So the perceived improvement to my tone by the sound guy could be due to any or all of those factors.

But I will say this, despite liking the Saffron better than the Accountant in some ways when using it in my headphone rig at home, once I got the chance to use it live today, I feel like it totally robbed me of my low end thunder. That might be good in some respects, as it tightens up the overall sound, but when I wanted to go to the low B for those powerful moments in worship songs, it did not have the same dramatic impact I am used to where it shakes the room. Time will tell if that’s a good thing or not. But I think next time I play I’ll go back to the Accountant and leave everything else the same, and see how that feels. The Ictineo sounded great, from what I could tell. It gave me a strong, strong signal to send to the FOH. I didn't even have the boost on, volume around 11:00, and it was clipping out the sound board. But I expected more low end out of it with the bass boost engaged. I think the Saffron was filtering out too much of the lows before it even got to the Ictineo. We'll see how the next time goes.
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I suggest trying the Ictineo without a compressor because I personally find that it already does just a touch enough on it's own most times and I am not alone. The Bass Boost is not as dramatic as most expect but it is generally enough in a mix.
 
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#673
bassbrad said:
I suggest trying the Ictineo without a compressor because I personally find that it already does just a touch enough on it's own most times and I am not alone. The Bass Boost is not as dramatic as most expect but it is generally enough in a mix.
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I believe it was “Justnick” in his video review who likewise suggested that with the Ictinio compression might be rendered superfluous. Maybe. I use compression pretty subtly and rely on it primarily for adding sustain during long, slow, drawn out worship songs where sustain comes in handy. I think part of the problem is that I always try to fill my needs on a budget, and after trying 3-6 cheap . . . say . . . overdrive or cab sim pedals in the past, or compressors in this case, eventually I realize I won’t be satisfied with anything but the real thing and wind up ponying up the money for something better. Might have to just suck it up and invest in a better compressor to get me that sustain I’m after.
 
#674
jacoby75 said:
I believe it was “Justnick” in his video review who likewise suggested that with the Ictinio compression might be rendered superfluous. Maybe. I use compression pretty subtly and rely on it primarily for adding sustain during long, slow, drawn out worship songs where sustain comes in handy. I think part of the problem is that I always try to fill my needs on a budget, and after trying 3-6 cheap . . . say . . . overdrive or cab sim pedals in the past, or compressors in this case, eventually I realize I won’t be satisfied with anything but the real thing and wind up ponying up the money for something better. Might have to just suck it up and invest in a better compressor to get me that sustain I’m after.
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Proof is in the pudding as is said, sometimes simple but quality, frugal, ingredients, tools and techniques win the day.
 
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#675
jacoby75 said:
Disclaimer: Thus far, I have only used it in my "ampless" pedalboard into a Rolls PM50 setup. I'll get a chance to use an actual amp and play with it live on Sunday. That being said . . .

By the beard of Zeus! This thing is unreal! It's a game changer for me, for sure. Probably the most "professional" sounding/functioning pedal I've ever owned, and one that will make a significant difference in my tone for the better. I say professional, because to echo what someone said earlier in the thread, or maybe in "JustNick's" demo video, you can't really get a bad tone out of it. Tweaking everything, even to the extremes, just yields different varieties of awesomeness. And to echo what someone else said, I have a hard time deciding which sound I like best. I'll flip a switch and turn a knob and be like, "Ooh! That's it!" And then I'll make a couple of more changes and be like, "Ooh! No, THAT'S it!" Etc, etc. It's all good. And then I engaged the boost, and darn near crapped my britches. So fantastic. I finally have that power behind each note I've been looking for, but it's not muddy and flubby like the Tech21 VTBass can sometimes sound. And to answer my own earlier question, I do not miss the cab simming capabilities of the VTBass at all when using overdrive. The VTBassDI is now relegated to glorified, bypassed DI status. I also recently picked up a DSM Subatomic. The combination of that, my also-recently-acquired Saffron Squeeze into the Ictineo is pure tonal bliss. Grindy heaven, or disengage the Sub-Atomic and it's powerful, pristine tone. The sample settings for the Ictineo are a great place to start. Particularly the "sweet fingers," and dial it in from there. I can't wait to use it live on Sunday and blow everyone out of their seats.
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Would , say, a way to store 3 to 5 settings be useful? With a way to switch through them via footswitch?

Any interest? Asking for a friend lol
 
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