Mine was delivered yesterday but I had a gig last night so I wasn't able to try it out. I've spent about an hour with it and I thought I'd share my impressions.
First some context.
Why did I buy it? Let's start with my current pedalboard.
This thing is large and heavy and can be a PITA to carry around. Sometimes it's the difference between one or two trips to the car at load in/out. With the exception of the Bass Synth Wah which is pretty much it's own animal, the Fly Rig has equivalent functionality for pretty much every pedal on there. The idea of having a mini version of my current board in a tiny package that could fit in my gig bag was too good to pass up. It could be great for short one set gigs, rehearsals, very small stages or the very occasional fly in. Also, I like gadgets and I've been gigging a lot lately so I have some extra cash.
Expectations
This is important. This is a $300 all-in-one vs. approx $1500 worth of very good specialized pedals, pedalboard, power supply and cabling. My expectations were that it would hopefully perform each function moderately well with an understandably limited amount of tweakability. The one exception to this is the SansAmp section. I expected that to be just as good as any stand-alone SansAmp pedal.
Impressions
It's good for what it is. If you can imagine a use for a great preamp with an ok compressor, good chorus, a boost, and a tuner, then buy it. Don't expect it to replace or be as good as a full pedalboard. That's simply not feasible at a price point of $300 with today's technology.
I like it. I'm keeping it. It's going in my gig bag and I'll use it in the right situations.
If there's a V2 of the Bass Fly Rig I would strongly encourage Tech21 to replace the OctaFilter with functionality that does one, or at most two, things. A better Octaver or an actually useful Filter would be much more valuable than what is there now.
First some context.
Why did I buy it? Let's start with my current pedalboard.
Expectations
This is important. This is a $300 all-in-one vs. approx $1500 worth of very good specialized pedals, pedalboard, power supply and cabling. My expectations were that it would hopefully perform each function moderately well with an understandably limited amount of tweakability. The one exception to this is the SansAmp section. I expected that to be just as good as any stand-alone SansAmp pedal.
Impressions
- First the SansAmp: No surprises there good or bad, it's just what's been advertised. Very close to the VT Deluxe. That means it's awesome.
- Comp: It's a one knob compressor with a level and a tone control. All in all it's not bad at all for what it is. It's not particularly versatile, but it's good at basic compression. I like the tone control.
- Boost: It's a boost with a range of 10db. Basic, useful and a nice touch. Maybe my ears are farther gone than I think but I noticed little to no difference in the sound between the Pre/Post settings. Still, it's useful.
- Chorus: I was pleasantly surprised by this. Chorus is the one effect I've used consistently since the early 80's and I'm picky about it. The chorus on the Bass Fly Rig is shimmery and full and the single knob affects the signal in a very useful, musical way. Good on ya, whoever engineered it.
- OctaFilter: An all in one Filter, Octaver and Fuzz. Getting stand alone pedals to do any of these right is tough. Doing all three at once is just asking too much. I would imagine anyone capable of engineering that would probably have a PhD, a couple of post Docs and be heading a team at the NSA designing spy satellites. All this is to say that this is where looking at the Bass Fly Rig with realistic expectations is important.
So with reasonable (low) expectations from the OctaFilter, what did I think? I was still disappointed. The Octaver does a passable job at producing a frequency one octave below the note it's fed. It doesn't sound anything like the source signal but it's there. Tracking isn't horrible. The divided signal level seems to fluctuate. I'm not saying I won't use this, I will. I'll just be very discriminating about it. The Filter isn't very good. Let's just say that no one will ever hear this filter and think "Bootsy!". A decent filter sound makes you want to play with it and experiment. This just made me want to turn it off. I will say that the "Filtered Octave" setting from the manual is ok. I'd use it for say Uptown Funk at a bar gig or a rehearsal. Which brings us to the Fuzz. Others have touched on this. It's not...good. In any way. At all. It's a weird gated thing that turns a bass signal into a noise that even Thurston Moore couldn't find a use for. My wife thought it was the dog was throwing up.
Fuzz can have a participation trophy I guess, but I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Rig this is a competitive league and your boy Fuzz is spending the season on the bench. He is not going out onto the field. Ever. He'd only embarrass himself, the team, his family, his country and species.
Harsh? Not if you heard it.
- Headphone output. Cool.
- Tuner. Nice, I love that I can see it very clearly but *** is up with displaying F#, C#, G# and Eb? Sharps or flats. Pick one.
- Big bright LED lights. Thank you.
- XLR out. Great if you rehearse or gig without an amp. If not then you won't need it. Until you do and then it's a Godsend.
- Construction is solid. Metal housing, super sturdy feeling switches. Tech21 excels at build quality and the Bass Fly Rig is no exception.
It's good for what it is. If you can imagine a use for a great preamp with an ok compressor, good chorus, a boost, and a tuner, then buy it. Don't expect it to replace or be as good as a full pedalboard. That's simply not feasible at a price point of $300 with today's technology.
I like it. I'm keeping it. It's going in my gig bag and I'll use it in the right situations.
If there's a V2 of the Bass Fly Rig I would strongly encourage Tech21 to replace the OctaFilter with functionality that does one, or at most two, things. A better Octaver or an actually useful Filter would be much more valuable than what is there now.
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