Two Notes Le Bass Players Club

[Hypercaffium]

After reading most of the impressions here, I still have some doubts.
From what I've read, the most discussed "problem" with this pedal seems to be the cab sim, which is mandatory at high gain settings but sounds too muffled and dark with the clean channel.
Is it possible to upload a different cab sim into the pedal? If not, you can just turn it off and use a dedicated cab sim pedal, but I hear it can be a little bit unpractical.

Another complaint I've read is about the EQ and its lack of full mid range control. Honestly, I still don't understand how each channel EQ section work. I guess they're different and just one of them have a mids control.
If the pedal's EQ is somehow limited, I don't think I'm gonna get one.
My rig consists in a passive P into an (optional) pedalboard into a BDDI and a BB800 set flat. The preamp EQ should be versatile to match my current needs.
I've read of some people using another preamp or an EQ pedal before the Le Bass but like I said before, it's unpractical imho.

 

[kasbrey]

I now run the Le Bass clean using Channel B and the cab sim into my Quilter XLR in. The lack of bass on Channel B works perfectly with the Cab sim engaged (not dark at all IMO). The bonus is that B has a sweepable mid.
I don't use the Le Bass for anything but clean sounds though.

 

[Hypercaffium]

I now run the Le Bass clean using Channel B and the cab sim into my Quilter XLR in. The lack of bass on Channel B works perfectly with the Cab sim engaged (not dark at all IMO). The bonus is that B has a sweepable mid.
I don't use the Le Bass for anything but clean sounds though.

You mean the "Line in" in the back?
Channel B lacks bass and Channel A lacks mids? It seems a nightmare to me.
I wouldn'd run it completely clean, at least not always. I want to get some tube grit at least and this pedal seem to sound great at high gain settings.

 

[kasbrey]

You mean the "Line in" in the back?
Channel B lacks bass and Channel A lacks mids? It seems a nightmare to me.
I wouldn'd run it completely clean, at least not always. I want to get some tube grit at least and this pedal seem to sound great at high gain settings.

Yeah the line in on the Quilter. Although Channel B lacks the bottom end of Channel A you can easily mix in Channel A using cold fusion if you like. The cab sim, however, adds in the perfect amount of bottom end on channel B. I've also been running Channel A with a Broughton HPF to curb the excess lows although turning the bass and treble down to zero and using the gain to thicken up the tone works for me too. No need for the Broughton using the cab sim though. To me Channel B and cab sim is the way to go if the amp can take the Le Bass XLR out.

 

[Cuzzie]

If you actually take stock of all of this, many things you are seeing are minor gripes and work arounds for people to really tinker ‘their’ sound.
You won’t find one pedal to rule them all.

Does the A channel have a fat, nice punchy sound to express your bass and it’s pick ups - absolutely.
Does the A channel not having a mid control adversely affect this - not really IMO.

Can you dial more mids in but keep the A channel fatness, maybe give it a bit more clarity without distortion - absolutely - use it in Cold fusion with the B channel set to achieve this., and it stacks with other pedals.

This is just something that can be achieved

There are a heap of sounds on this and a heap of opinions on how to use it. It reacts slightly differently to different basses, but they have different pick ups, so that is to be expected.

You won’t get a bad sound out of this, you will like the pedal, whether you love it or not and it becomes a keeper is personal.
Over 2 years in and I am still finding nuances in tone

 

[Hypercaffium]

Just a quick question.
Is it possible to use some sort of Windows app to load some cab sims? Not into the Le Bass (I guess it's not possible to replace the default cab sim), I'd like to use different cab sims without using a phisical pedal in the send return of the Le Bass.
The only "flaws" of this pedal are in my opinion the built-in cab sim and the lack of an aux in for practice. The first one is easily solvable in many different ways, the second doesn't. I don't care since I use a mixer at home when practicing, I prefer to manage things on PC instead of my phone.
I've read some posts about a somehow limited control of mid range but honestly I see both mids and sweep knobs in the B channel and listening to the demos I think EQ controls on the pedals are all active so mids can be cut or boosted.
Of all tube preamps I'm eyeballing this one seems to be the winner in terms of EQ flexibility, which is why I like to use a preamp in the first place. Drive sounds are massive with the B channel while is possible to get pristine cleans (even with channel B I hope).
I'm starting to think that this one can work for my needs.

EDIT: I just ordered one, I'll report back asap.

 

[Kijuer]

Hello! Purchased one on Reverb just minutes ago, can I have a #?

Anyway, forgive me for asking something for which the answer is surely lying here somewhere, but: has anybody tried to find the "flattest possible" setting on Channel A in order to start from there building your own sound? I'm pretty sure no real "flat" sound can be achieved since it colors your tone, that's why I'm asking for the flattest "POSSIBLE".

Thank you, and happy new year everybody!

 

[kasbrey]

Just a quick question.
Is it possible to use some sort of Windows app to load some cab sims? Not into the Le Bass (I guess it's not possible to replace the default cab sim), I'd like to use different cab sims without using a phisical pedal in the send return of the Le Bass.
The only "flaws" of this pedal are in my opinion the built-in cab sim and the lack of an aux in for practice. The first one is easily solvable in many different ways, the second doesn't. I don't care since I use a mixer at home when practicing, I prefer to manage things on PC instead of my phone.
I've read some posts about a somehow limited control of mid range but honestly I see both mids and sweep knobs in the B channel and listening to the demos I think EQ controls on the pedals are all active so mids can be cut or boosted.
Of all tube preamps I'm eyeballing this one seems to be the winner in terms of EQ flexibility, which is why I like to use a preamp in the first place. Drive sounds are massive with the B channel while is possible to get pristine cleans (even with channel B I hope).
I'm starting to think that this one can work for my needs.

EDIT: I just ordered one, I'll report back asap.

It comes with a 16 cab license for Two Notes Wall of Sound plugin.

Hello! Purchased one on Reverb just minutes ago, can I have a #?

Anyway, forgive me for asking something for which the answer is surely lying here somewhere, but: has anybody tried to find the "flattest possible" setting on Channel A in order to start from there building your own sound? I'm pretty dure no real "flat" sound can be achieved since it colors your tone, that's why I'm asking for the flattest "POSSIBLE".

Thank you, and happy new year everybody!

Channel A is flattest with both Treble and Bass completely off.

 

[Hypercaffium]

It comes with a 16 cab license for Two Notes Wall of Sound plugin.


Channel A is flattest with both Treble and Bass completely off.

So A channel have just treble and bass boost with no cut, while the B channel have a classic active EQ? With Channel B everything at noon is flat?

 

[kasbrey]

So A channel have just treble and bass boost with no cut, while the B channel have a classic active EQ? With Channel B everything at noon is flat?

I wouldn't call Channel B flat in any arrangement of the controls. You'd need to add Channel A in cold fusion to achieve that.
Channel B appears to be high passed around 160hz (to my ears) so adding in more bass on the control doesn't add "low" lows. Those lows are added back onto the DI out when the cab sim is engaged but highs are attenuated then. The controls on Channel B are cut and boost and would be fairly flat were it not for the high pass which is deliberate given that Channel B is the drive channel and adding distortion to those lows wouldn't sound as good.

 

[MattNY]

I certainly agree that the flattest setting when using channel A is bass and treble set to zero.

 

[Hypercaffium]

I know that the pedal imparts its own voicing on both channels, but tet me get this straight: channel A controls are passive, so cut only? If so, 0% on the knobs is your bass natural tone (flat) while 100% is full treble or bass cut?
Channel B controls are active, so the same result can be achieved with EQ controls at noon?

 

[kasbrey]

I know that the pedal imparts its own voicing on both channels, but tet me get this straight: channel A controls are passive, so cut only? If so, 0% on the knobs is your bass natural tone (flat) while 100% is full treble or bass cut?
Channel B controls are active, so the same result can be achieved with EQ controls at noon?

Having re-read the spec, it would appear that Bass and Treble are passive on both channels but mids on channel B are active.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Well, I'd say that there's lots of confusion (for me at least) regarding how the EQ controls work in this pedal. I've asked about that many times in this thread for that reason. Clearly it wasn't enough for me to understand and I've made the mistake to NOT read the manual before ordering this pedal.
I preferred this specific tube driven pedal over another just because I felt the EQ controls were more flexible, but at the end of the day both have passive only controls and the other one seems definitely smaller and full packed.
My bad.

 

[kasbrey]

Well, I'd say that there's lots of confusion (for me at least) regarding how the EQ controls work in this pedal. I've asked about that many times in this thread for that reason. Clearly it wasn't enough for me to understand and I've made the mistake to NOT read the manual before ordering this pedal.
I preferred this specific tube driven pedal over another just because I felt the EQ controls were more flexible, but at the end of the day both have passive only controls and the other one seems definitely smaller and full packed.
My bad.

Regardless of whether the controls are passive or active the eq is very powerful and simple. No confusing tone stack on the Le Bass .

 

[Socobass]

Active Passive the pedal sounds great!

 

[Hypercaffium]

Regardless of whether the controls are passive or active the eq is very powerful and simple. No confusing tone stack on the Le Bass .

Well, a passive EQ can't boost any frequency, it's cut only. If your bass doesn't have enough top end or bass, you can't do anything with a passive EQ to adjust your tone. At least, in my experience.
If that's the case, I wouldn't call this kind of EQ powerful, nor effective/versatile.

Active Passive the pedal sounds great!

I agree, but didn't test it personally yet.
If all controls except for mids are passive, there's at least one better pedal to get, imho.

 

[kasbrey]

Well, a passive EQ can't boost any frequency, it's cut only. If your bass doesn't have enough top end or bass, you can't do anything with a passive EQ to adjust your tone. At least, in my experience.
If that's the case, I wouldn't call this kind of EQ powerful, nor effective/versatile.

I didn't realise that both channels were passive until this morning. The treble and bass controls on channel A are very exaggerated in the extreme settings and the channel B controls have as much control as most active bass amps.
What you are saying about not being able to boost top end or bass does not apply to the Le Bass.

 

[Hypercaffium]

I didn't realise that both channels were passive until this morning. The treble and bass controls on channel A are very exaggerated in the extreme settings and the channel B controls have as much control as most active bass amps.
What you are saying about not being able to boost top end or bass does not apply to the Le Bass.

I absolutely don't want to start a debate, but what you just described in your last post doesn't match the pedal's specifics. I didn't write the manual.
"Exaggerated" settings with passive only controls? Not possible in my experience, sorry. It's the opposite, really.
If with "exaggerated" you mean exaggerated CUT up to "no cut" position, it makes more sense. Still, not a powerful EQ by any means.

"What you are saying about not being able to boost top end or bass does not apply to the Le Bass."

Ok, I want to believe you, so explain. Please, I'm all ears.
Don't talk about "boosting bass frequencies using the cab simulator" because we're talking about EQ.
Thanks.

 

[kasbrey]

I absolutely don't want to start a debate, but what you just described in your last post doesn't match the pedal's specifics. I didn't write the manual.
"Exaggerated" settings with passive only controls? Not possible in my experience, sorry. It's the opposite, really.
If with "exaggerated" you mean exaggerated CUT up to "no cut" position, it makes more sense. Still, not a powerful EQ by any means.

Ok, I want to believe you, so explain. Please, I'm all ears.
Don't talk about "boosting bass frequencies using the cab simulator" because we're talking about EQ.
Thanks.

I think you'd better just try it. There's more to the unit than just specifications. The default voicing of the channels has clearly been designed with the EQ style in mind.


I've been interested in the other preamp that you mentioned but I haven't been impressed by the demos in comparison to the Le Bass.