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Double Bass Radial Tonebone Bassbone OD vs Bassbone V2

RMacBass

RMacBass

Bass Commander
Supporting Member
Jun 2, 2003
98
71
Victoria, BC, Canada
rossmacdonald.com
#1
Hi everyone,

I use the original Radial Tonebone Bassbone for doubling between electric and upright with a pickup, and have often wondered why Radial didn't add:
- more comprehensive separate EQ on each channel
- mute for both channels
- HPF for either channel
- higher impedance input for one/both inputs
- ability to blend two signals

Last year's entrant, the Bassbone OD, solved all of my gripes pretty solidly, plus it added overdrive. :bassist: This year's Bassbone, the Bassbone V2, is _almost_ as full featured, but for some reason just won "Best in Show" at NAMM... Was that only because the OD didn't win it last year? (or did it? Maybe I just didn't notice?) From my vantage point (lurking on the web), I can only see a real improvement between the two when using the V2 with one instrument--it lets you activate the second channel's EQ with a footswitch.

I prefer 2-band EQ on each channel (as per the OD) to a single channel with 3-band EQ and a "preset" on the other channel (V1 and V2). Every other comparison between V2 and OD seems so similar I don't know why there are two different products.

Worst thing about both pedals: Both only work at 15V DC ( :)??? ), and don't work with batteries. This has been the reason I generally don't bother taking the Bassbone V1 on small gigs. [In the real world, the guitarist and I both might forget to take a power bar, and stupidly might only have one of those dumb extension cords that has three outs.]

I know this is not a particularly opinionated or enlightening post, I'm just wondering if I missed something about the V2 that's amazingly different/better than the OD. I'm still doing research on a couple of other switchers.

Aside #1: a competing product, the RMI Basswitch IQ works with DC power from 9-20V. OMG. This could be the most compelling feature of any gear, ever.

Aside #2: The OD has an 1/8" headphone out (sweet!) yet doesn't take batteries? "Finally, a built-in headphone amp with 3.5mm output lets you use the Bassbone on the bus for those long drives between gigs." Riiight.
 
#2
Seems both products are worthy to me. I use an original bassbone for doubling too, and have been lusting after a Bassbone OD for a while now. But with the introduction of the bassbone v2, it seems to cover what I wish the original bassbone had.
The V2 being about $100 cheaper that the OD has a big part to play in my decision, and likely many others.
 
#3
Comparing the Basswitch with the Bassbone isn't really fair. At $600 you might expect it to have more features than a unit costing $250 less. For that money I'd like to see EQ stages for both channels...I've never really understood how any 2 channel preamp with only 1 EQ section is supposed to be useful without adding a second outboard EQ. Running on a wide range of AC or DC is nice but it doesn't run on batteries so you still have to remember a wallwart of some sort. I'd rather see the PSU onboard with a standard C13 receptacle. For the same $600 the Acoustic Image Flex with separate identical channels with high pass filters, 48V phantom equipped mic inputs, phase reversal and independent parallel loops seems like it would be more useful to more different doubling players.

I doubt Radial thought batteries would be practical for most users and I'd agree. It's nice to have gear that covers your ass but when you forget something where's the line between your basic responsibility and the gear's? I'd think always bringing all the cables you need is a reasonable expectation. No one expects power amps to run with no cables or speakers to work if not connected to the amp. My solution is having dedicated gig cables that never get used at home.

Oh and they're talking about 120V equipped tour buses. You might see not running on batteries as a design flaw but a lot of people see batteries as an unnecessary expense that directly pollutes the planet and are a pain in the ass when there's readily available 110V AC. If it's that big a deal to you get an old Raven Labs PMB. It's a great preamp and it runs on two 9V.
 
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#4
I just got the OD last week and so far I am happy with it. I don't mind not being able to use batteries as I have a pedal board with 9v for everything else and then plug the pedal board ac and the OD ac into a power strip. it's one more ac adapter but that's OK because I'm kind of anti-battery as they tend to die during gigs. So I keep an couple extension cords and a power strip, 3 prong adapters, etc in my gig bag. And I am no electrical engineer but I think they can design a better preamp if they do not have to limit it to 9v, or at least I've heard that. I think it they made the power supply internal (to either) the units would get huge. The additional eq is mice but the main reason I bought the OD was because I did not want to have to wait some indeterminate length of time for the v2 and I figured the additional eq would be worth $100. (I double, mainly using my NS Design NXT4.) I will probably use the headphone jack some, which is a plus and I don't know if I will use the OD much. As I understand it, the v2 has a switch that controls either the boost or the mute but not both. I don't have much use for a boost function so if I had gone with the v2 that would not have been a big deal because I think you can use it just as a mute. That said, however you get it, a mute is super handy at gigs.

So I think Radial was trying to incorporate the Pz switch for upright users into an updated v2 while keeping it at the same lower price point and in the slightly smaller footprint. I read somewhere in their literature that they had difficulty making the original bassbone fit in it's footprint and that was why the second channel has less eq, because they needed to take some features out to save some space. They must think that of the people who want a two channel preamp, a significant portion probably use a DB and of those, a lot of DB players are going to be turned off by the whole idea of an OD function.

So to answer your real question, yes it seems like a lot of overlap between these two products but it seemed to me that there was a good deal of overlap between some of the other Radial products as well. It is kind of like everything else in life these days, tons of choices and tons of information and you really have to do more research to figure out what will be best for you.
 
#6
Basswitch user here on electric bass. (before that: original BassBone)
I am trying to imagine the BSW with two identical 4 band eq in a practical enclosure.... How big/large would that pedal be?
I am using my BSW with both passive and active electric basses (no DB for me, I reckon) and it is perfect for this.
I think the BassBone OD has another application alltogether, more of an added effect.

The BSW simply has a cleaner/purer sound and the better/more useful eq.
 

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