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Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig v2

I was thinking about trading my GK plex for a fly rig v2. The main reason is I want a better compressor. When I run my own sound I use the compressors in my ui24r and they are great. Tonight we have sound support so hopefully our engineer will add a little extra to the signal. I'm playing a p bass tonight. That sucker likes to bark and grunt. How do you like the fly rigs compressor?

I'm not sure you'll be gaining anything. To be fair, I've not used the Plex but I do have the BFR v1 (comp w/ tone control). It's functional / passable but not exciting IMO.

Riis
 
I was thinking about trading my GK plex for a fly rig v2. The main reason is I want a better compressor. When I run my own sound I use the compressors in my ui24r and they are great. Tonight we have sound support so hopefully our engineer will add a little extra to the signal. I'm playing a p bass tonight. That sucker likes to bark and grunt. How do you like the fly rigs compressor?

It's fine, if simple. Not a lot of knobs to fiddle with. If you want to be able to fine tune anything, you'll be frustrated with it. If simple operation is your thing, you may love it.
 
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Just got mine
i am surprised by the way the fuzz works.
- Even with the knob “Q” set to zero, I hear the envelope filter working.
- when I let a string resonate, the sound is abruptly cut off, like a hard noise gate.
Have you noticed the same thing?
Thanks
I've noticed the same thing with the fuzz. I makes a cool effect with some of the stuff I mess with. You really have to play around with the octafuzz to get it sounding good, and use the comp with it. What I've noticed is that it's all very touch sensitive on your attack and muting.
 
The comp on the bfr2 is usable by itself when I run it alone into my focusrite, but when I'm running through my rig I'll use my mxr comp with it. Bfr2 comes first with a little comp to control my guitar, then patch in my drive, wah, and envelope filter through the loop. Pretty much just use the octafuzz as a octave divider when running on the rig. Then have the bfr2 run into the mxr comp to control all the effects, to my lpf to control the boom in the room to my amp. I use an ag700, so its a real neutral amp and I dont dial much eq from it, and just get most of the tone shape from the sansamp. The bfr2 isn't bad or great, but it makes a good tool for different situations.
 
I got one. Octave is very glitchy with all my basses: MTD KZ6, Lakland 55-02, Dingwall Combustion. Does not track well; fast playing - forget about it: just squeaks. Tried both, active and passive outputs with all basses.
Is this something other folks have seen? Or might the unit itself be defective?
 
I got one. Octave is very glitchy with all my basses: MTD KZ6, Lakland 55-02, Dingwall Combustion. Does not track well; fast playing - forget about it: just squeaks.
Is this something other folks have seen? Or might the unit itself be defective?

The octaver is generally not good on its own, your unit is working as designed. Use it with the envelope filter and fuzz, and you can cop a pretty nice synth bass tone. But that's about all it's good for unfortunately.
 
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That indeed is very unfortunate! Sometimes I want synth; but other times - just an octave, esp playing vintage 80-90's tunes (Jackson's Black'n'White comes to mind).

If I had a routine need for an octaver, I probably would have gone with a different multi-effect or a modular route. If you really like the other features of the pedal, you can also get a separate octave pedal - I did this with a fuzz because the fuzz on the Fly Rig isn't quite my cup of tea.
 
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The octaver is generally not good on its own, your unit is working as designed. Use it with the envelope filter and fuzz, and you can cop a pretty nice synth bass tone. But that's about all it's good for unfortunately.

Reading these types of experiences from time to time kinda bums me out as I feel that they did themselves a disservice (twice mind you) by marketing this section as ALSO being a separate octave or fuzz effect on their own resulting in some scathing reviews and ultimately deterring future buyers.

It's totally fine as either an envelope filter or as a synth section, as you can certainly dial in more than one tone of each of these effects. The Octave or Fuzz on their own though need to be dialed in so specifically to one or maybe two settings for example that brushing the range knob can turn the gated fuzz to an unusable harsh fizz with zero fine-tuning available.

I love my unit as it does exactly what I expect it to, then I read a myriad of 1,2, & 3 star reviews on various online retailer sites and they're all thrashing the octave and gated fuzz as being useless trash... Totally fair for them to comment that way as they are cheesed off, but others will read this and miss out on all the other great things this unit can do for its size/price, Tech 21 loses a potential sale, and we potentially don't get a V3 down the road as a result when V1&V2 could have just been marketed as an EnvF & Synth section only.
 
If I had a routine need for an octaver, I probably would have gone with a different multi-effect or a modular route. If you really like the other features of the pedal, you can also get a separate octave pedal - I did this with a fuzz because the fuzz on the Fly Rig isn't quite my cup of tea.
Thought of that, too: a small strip + modular replacements for what I don't like.
But: FlyRig + good octaver + good dirt = already lots of pedals. What's left of FlyRig? :) "SansAmp" and chorus; combined they are the size of FlyRig itself; I'd rather have the originals.
 
Reading these types of experiences from time to time kinda bums me out as I feel that they did themselves a disservice (twice mind you) by marketing this section as ALSO being a separate octave or fuzz effect on their own resulting in some scathing reviews and ultimately deterring future buyers.

It's totally fine as either an envelope filter or as a synth section, as you can certainly dial in more than one tone of each of these effects. The Octave or Fuzz on their own though need to be dialed in so specifically to one or maybe two settings for example that brushing the range knob can turn the gated fuzz to an unusable harsh fizz with zero fine-tuning available.

I love my unit as it does exactly what I expect it to, then I read a myriad of 1,2, & 3 star reviews on various online retailer sites and they're all thrashing the octave and gated fuzz as being useless trash... Totally fair for them to comment that way as they are cheesed off, but others will read this and miss out on all the other great things this unit can do for its size/price, Tech 21 loses a potential sale, and we potentially don't get a V3 down the road as a result when V1&V2 could have just been marketed as an EnvF & Synth section only.
Politely disagree with "scathing" and "trashing" part - here at least I don't see any; just objective stuff.
IMHO if a well-known manufacturer went for an all-in-one - those "all" need to be up to par; even mediocre would be okay. But in case of FlyRig - some parts of it just don't cut it, I think.
 
Politely disagree with "scathing" and "trashing" part - here at least I don't see any; just objective stuff.
IMHO if a well-known manufacturer went for an all-in-one - those "all" need to be up to par; even mediocre would be okay. But in case of FlyRig - some parts of it just don't cut it, I think.

I agree. I didn't say on here, nor from you, I said on, "various online retailer sites", which I will not point to as this is unnecessary. I merely referenced yours, and others' politely pointed-out disappointment/experiences for certain sections of the unit in this thread (and other threads here on Talkbass for that matter) as bumming me out while making my separate point about marketing choices as being a potential cause for said disappointment. As I stated, I love mine, and I'll still be in line for V3. I just hope it happens as I'd imagine V2 needs to sell well for Tech 21 to greenlight V3.
 
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I got one. Octave is very glitchy with all my basses: MTD KZ6, Lakland 55-02, Dingwall Combustion. Does not track well; fast playing - forget about it: just squeaks. Tried both, active and passive outputs with all basses.
Is this something other folks have seen? Or might the unit itself be defective?
Try putting your comp at about 8oclock, level at unity, then the fuzz off octave on. Q needs to be all the way backed off, blend at 11oclock, and range somewhere around 10-11oclock. The sound i get from my stingray and jazz is pretty sweet. I don't do any super fast runs with it, but when you do some pocket grooves it sounds pretty sweet. Don't get your hopes up super high. This isn't a pedal to rule them all, but for a small "this is all the room i have/want to bring on the gig" unit it does great.
 
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Pairs up very well with my Orange Crush 100 combo. I like the compressor. Simple and don’t really need to push it past 9 o’clock. The chorus and envelope work well for my taste. Kick on the sansamp bddi character when I want a little tube like beef and grit. All I need.
 
Just got done reading through 8 pages of comments here. Thanks everyone for contributing and sharing your experiences. I've had the Bass Fly Rig 2 for about 2 weeks now. I have a Zoom B1 Four which I was using for effects, but wanted something with knobs, so I am giving the Fly Rig a try. As Tech 21 recommends in their videos, you need to spend time with it and really get to know how it works, and how the different knobs and effects interact. I generally don't have use for effects like Chorus or Octave or Fuzz, but I appreciate that they on on the pedal, and are fun to play around with. I've gotten comfortable with the Octafilter section, and as some suggested, it may be best to find a sound you like from it and keep, whether that be as an envelope filter, octave, or fuzz or some combo. I like the simplicity of the comp and always keep it on - comp at 9 o'clock and level at 10, o'clock. I don't care for the bite switch, too much high end added. I like the versatility of the character button. All in all, for the price, it's a really good little unit. But, it does take some time to get the most out of it.
 
I recently picked up BFR2 and I'm very impressed. I'm using a EMG equipped Fender American Elite Jazz Bass or a Passive Squier CV bass. I mounted it on a Pedal Train Nano and am powering it with a larger Anker battery going into a VHT Vooster 9v converter. I like being able to not be tied down to a power adaptor and I can get days and days worth of juice from the Anker. It packs nicely into my Mono Tick bag.

Just a touch of the comp is all I need to smooth things out. It's easy to dial.

I like the Sansamp options, very flexible with the character switch and nice to have a grindy option with a touch more volume. The controls are very wide ranging, and it took a while to get used to the adjustability. I can get a nice SVT tone and beyond. This is the best part of the pedal. Very useful, versatile and solid option.

I see a lot of folks complaining about the Octafilter. It's not that bad, especially with the compressor engaged. I'm discovering plenty of usable tones. Tracking is as stable as an analog unit can be with an accurate touch and clean playing style. The fuzz is nasty and sustains forever.

The tuner is working fine for my 4 string, not too much bouncing around and easy to see in low light. I have not tried tuning a 5 string.

I'm not a big chorus guy, but if I ever need it it's there and useable.

I can take or leave the speaker sim when I'm just running it through my amp. Direct to my DAW it sounds balanced and natural. Super low noise floor. I haven't had a chance to use it in a gig situation yet, but venues are starting to open and I look forward to booking some shows and putting it through its paces live.

As a reference point, my old board was loaded with a BOSS TU-3W Waza Craft tuner, Strymon OB-1 compressor (bass mod version), Darkglass Vintage Microtubes, EHX Bass Microsynth, Death By Audio Fuzz War, and a Noble Preamp DI. It sounded great, but was big to haul around and too much for gig applications.

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This has been my experience as well. I had a BFR 2 for about a month and sold it and after several weeks, missed it, so I bought another.