Unboxing / Build thread

Gear
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Glad you solved that mystery. Please don’t keep saying good things about it, cuz then I am gonna end up with one…and I have almost decided I don’t need more CAB IR capabilities LOL.
I have the ability to load them into my DarkGlass Alpha Omega Ultra, but only Cab IR’s, no Amp Sims. I have some amp sims in my Zoom MS-60B, and I barely use them, IDK if this is a rabit hole I want to jump down right now, because it will send me looking for different IR’s all day long, every damn day.
LOL, glad you are both happy now.

@PamPurrs, you are gonna need to find a good structural engineer and have him reinforce your music room soon. Especially if you get that EUB blaring thru the Tube Screamer and those marvelouse amp / cab sims. :rofl:

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I took my Ray34 to 13th st Guitar Shop today for a Plek. I will get it back next week. I left the set of EB Slinky cobalt flats with it for the re-string / set up.
I am excited to get it back and see how nice this PLEK is.

I found a video that shows pretty in depth what the PLEK machine actually does.

there is some fluff going on in the video prior to getting to the plek machine, you can just scroll to the good stuff.

I am actually amazed how cool this thing is. you first put the STRUNG guitar or bass in the machine and it measures EVERYTHING while it is under string tension.

It measures the frets and fretboard, it measures the bridge for each string and the nut for each string, it measures each string checking the gauge of the string and its position.

It maps this data out on the computer screen so you can see the actual string, the nut and bridge height, the fret height and the fretboard. It also shows the ideal place for the string (with an acceptable range above it, and the ideal height for the nut and bridge saddle.
Then it does the same with the strings off (the frets, fretboard, nut and bridge saddles, not the strings obviously)
It calculates the differences so that when it does the cutting, it cuts the guitar / bass in the stringless position, but cuts it to where it needs to be when strung.
There are alot of options the operator of the machine needs to put in, based on what the person wants from the plek / set up, so it is not something that you just put the guitar / bass in, and press a button and walk away.
Well, it is, but you have to do more then just press a button, you have to select options in the software to let it know how to do the work.

anyway, I know @Pampers and others have inquired about the plek, and I just wanted to share this video because it answers alot of questions, and further excites me about my bass being pleked.

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Hey @terb, I know I asked about this before in another thread and I don’t remember where it is, and I figured since it is my thread it doesn’t matter if I go off topic a little.

The Line 6 Bass Pod line.
I showed you a floor mount unit, you said it was not your favorite, which is fine, I am not interested about that one here.

There are a couple on local market, looking like good shape and good price, so i was wondering A- which one you like best, and 2, if price sounds inline with a good, or ad least decent deal.

The Bass POD - $70
The Bass FLOOR POD - $100
The Bass POD PRO effects and amp modeling processor $85

The Bass Floor POD is not the same as the Bass POD XT live which I showed you before. You probably already know this, but I wanted to make sure.
Also, i am sure you are familiar with the models, but I can show pictures if you like.
Thanks

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excellent preamp, the price is “normal”

this one is a complicated case : it’s awesome but for a very limited use, it has a very few models and few settings possibilities. the Bass Floor POD is pretty rare so it’s expensive, considering its place in the Like 6 range at the time. $100 is a good price considering all this, but that’s not the first Bass POD I’d buy.

my favorite (I own two, and that’s the model I use 99% of the time) and the price is excellent. Il your list, that’s the one I’d choose.

no, not at all the same

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Yeah, I was telling you I was not talking abou the same thing as last time. :wink:

Ok, I will get it, he said he had it, and he is close, and I also saw them selling for as high as $450, so my first thought was this must be a good price. He says it works fine, and the photo’s show a unit in excellent condition.
I don’t need this at all, but it could be fun, price is right, and if for some reason I don’t like it, or want to keep it, I am sure I can flip for my money back, or even a profit.

I may even get this just because.

When you say AWESOME, is it like STAND OUT AWESOME? like it does some things the other ones DO NOT do, or can you get the same awesomeness from the other two to where, if you had one or both of those there would be nothing this has to offer above them?
Oh, and my price was wrong, I forgot to change it because I saw another for $80. not a huge difference, but as the saying goes. “twenty bucks is twenty bucks!” :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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a Bass POD (bean) is just a cheaper version of a Bass POD Pro so if you get the Pro, the bean won’t do anything else. except it sounds almost the same in a more compact format so it’s more portable.

yes. The Bass Floor POD is the preamp section of the LowDown amp series, it’s not really a POD. in fact the Bass Floor POD has very fews models but those are not the same models than on the other PODs. I love the SVT model on this one because it has way more gain than the SVT models on other PODs. it’s also more agressive, more “low fi”, it sounds more like a SVT-CL to me than a SVT-VR (which is often considered as the graal in the SVT range ; but I like the CL anyway).
The second model I love is the synth , it’s not a typical bass synth, it’s more like a REAL synth with a ton of controls and the bass instead of a keyboard.

as I said it’s awesome but specific :slight_smile: I’m very happy to have one but it’s impossible to recommend this model over the Bass POD (Pro or Bean).

$80 is cheap for a Bass Floor POD. those things are pretty rare.

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Ok, I misread your last post, I thought you were saying that $100 is not a great price, but when I re-read it, i realize you said that it would not be the first of the three you would buy.

if $80 is such a great price, and if it is in good condition , I may get it for the resale value alone and if I don’t like it so much or find it more complicated to use, then I could flip it for a profit.

Thing is, on Offer Up, people are selling to music people AMONG the general public, and don’t always know the value, and most may not be aware of Reverb, and I have had luck taking things that I bought cheap on Offer up, and taking to reverb to make money, so what I will do next is check Reverb and see what going rate is, and see weather the market is saturated with them or not.
If it is not, and the going rate is a bit higher than $80, I will probably pick it up too.
Thanks for the help, but plan on answer questions once I start using them :wink:

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the Bass Floor POD is not complicated at all, it’s way more simple than a “real” POD in fact. it’s really a Line 6 with a plug-and-play approach. perfect rehearsal gear, if you like at least one of the few tones it can do !

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I got the Bass Pod Pro rack for $80.
I got home and played it thru Headphones. Very cool, lots of great sounds, particualrly the Amp models and the Effects / Cabs. As far as going thru the menu’s and getting deeper within the module, I think I will need to find a manual to be able to actually know what I am doing. Some of the pre-sets are really cool too.
I got it from a Studio, and they used it for the clean channel out for recording, it is in really great shape, but I noticed one toggle it broken, the one for Digital Sync, so if I need to use this, I might need to find a toggle and replace it.

there are two floor POD’s available, both for $70, one is local and one needs to be shipped for an extra $10, but both look to be in great shape.
IDK If I need one, and they have both been listed for several months, so I am not too worried about them both getting sold.
I am moving this weekend, so I don’t want to get more stuff right now and move it, but after that I may look into it.
Thanks for the info

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I just got this little optical compressor. I’m gonna hook it I to my pedalboard later and see how it does. It was only $35.99 on Amazon, so what the heck. It’s got good reviews.

IMG_20200923_062334
IMG_20200923_0623343024×4032 2.42 MB

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URGGGGG, Has those tiny little knobs that I hate.
LOL

What the heck, could be cool.
If not, The SAN JUNE is back in stock, and it is only $66
But if you like that one, all good. it is all about what you like.

Level, Tone and Compress I assume (is that what the big knob is for)

What are the toggle positions switching between, I can’t see it

Compression pedals are commonly noisy when ON and you are not playing. Optical’s are usually a little quieter, but if it has some white noise, that is sort of common.

Sometimes simple pedals are better for compression, sometimes not.

It sort of depends on what the internal settings are for attack and release and ratio. if they are set well internally, then you don’t need to have them as an option.
As far as I know and from the experience I have had with Donner, they are pretty good. my only complaint is the tiny dials on the mini pedals, but otherwise, they seemed to be good, so chances are they might have good internal settings.

Optical compression is slower then the Dyna Comp, so it might take some getting used to, to hear where the compression is, and when you can get a feel for it, it can sound more organic because of its slower speed.

But again, bottom line, if you like it, its good, and if not, send it back and live without compression, or get the SanJune

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I have been without a compressor or a few weeks ever since I sold the DynaComp on Reverb. I decided to get another one after I added the Mooer Radar and the pictures on my walls began rattling.
The small knobs don’t bother me that much since I don’t plan on fiddling with it that much after I find my “Sweet Spot”. I haven’t gotten into it yet, so I don’t know what the toggle does… I’ll let you know when I do.
I’ll see how I like it. If not, I may get that SanJune one.

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I looked up on Onvilabs, and this is not on there, but I looked to see if there was a Mooer pedal, and there was this Mooer Yellow

IDK if Mooer and Donner are the same, but they have a LOT of similar pedals.

Onvilabs had this to say about the Mooer Yellow. It is not really a BAD review because when he writes BAD reviews he flat out says DO NOT BUY THIS IT SUCKS
He does not say it is bad, and says good things like “it has relatively LOW NOISE”, and his biggest complaint was about the Tone knob not doing much, and that it looses bottom end. So, take the review FWIW and just pay attention to if you lose bottom end on it, that will be the thing you probably won’t like about it if that is the case.

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What made you decide to get another one btw? did you sort of get used to having it when you had the Dyna, and after getting rid of it you missed the compression a little? or something else?

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As I said in my comment above, when I added the Mooer Radar the pictures on my walls started rattling. I’m unsure of how a compressor fits into that, but I figured I can’t go wrong just having one.

BTW, I first looked at that Mooer Yellow you mentioned, since I’m so happy with the Mooer Radar, but then saw the Donner for half the price, and it seemed to be fairly similar.

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So far, I’m not overly impressed by this little Donner compressor. I have a SanJune on the way, and will see if I like it better. One of them will be going back to Amazon.

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The big difference to look for is that you still get your bottom end and they are not rolling off.

Optical compression can sound very subtle, and if there are not enough on board controls, you may not achieve what you are looking for.
The SanJune does have a light that flashes and grows brighter the more it compresses, like some of the more costly compressors like the MXR M87 and Boss BC-1X. not a series of lights, but at least it is something.

I will tell you some settings that I like my San June.
Set unity gain by setting the Level AND Gain to a level that the volume of your bass is the same with the pedal on as it is with the pedal off.
Slope which is Ratio - 8:1 or more
Release - around 1
Attack - around 5
Compress around +4 to +9

When you set the unity gain, leave the compress at 0 and the Slope at 1:1.
to set this it is similar to setting your amp. Level is volume and gain is gain.
The more gain, the more white noise, but the stronger the sound, so start with the gain down, set the level to about 75% volume and then increase the gain til it reaches full volume. you can adjust this while the compress is zero and slope is 1:1 until it sounds the way you want it to.
IME, it doesn’t really color your sound, and the gain just gives a little boost to the standard volume (level), and this is one thing I love about this pedal.
If you feel the bass is not punching thru, you can increase the gain a little.

The nice thing about options in a pedal like this are you can really dial it in how you want it.
the terrible thing about options on a pedal like this are that there are so many options and you can start to feel a little lost within the settings, if you don’t think you are hearing the compression.
This compression, when you turn it up , it is a soft compression and does not just sound like you put blankets over your speakers.
It is nice to have the light to verify when the compression is subtle, you can keep the compression down (to the right) and move it to the left until you see the light go off while you are plucking an open string, then you can just turn it up a little until you notice it.
Then play some octavos and play some hard strokes with soft strokes in-between and see how it limits the notes and brings up the softer ones.
This is where I like it set, as a soft limiter / compressor with no tone suck or coloration.
I know Ratio is high, like 8:1 to infinity to 1, which is 3ockock and beyond.
Attack quick, so about 8-9 oclock and release around 12-1 oclock.
compress
Set volume

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Yeah, while I am perfectly willing to believe that a super cheap Donner compressor is garbage, could you post why you don’t like, it, Pam?

Optical compressors are generally mellower and more subtle in action, and actually often do not act as pure limiters (i.e. ever hit infinite compression ratios).

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honnestly the Bass POD Pro (BPP) is 1000x better than the Bass Floor POD (BFP). the BFP is more a collector/nerd stuff.

not much menus on the BPP :grin: and that’s something I like over the (way more complete) Bass POD XT line

but the manual is one Google search away from you, very easy to find.

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My guess from the Onvilabs review on the similar Mooer model is that it drops off the bottom end and may even cut the highs a bit. But that is just a guess, and the Mooer may or may not be similar to same, that is a guess based on the companies and similar pedal design (with the Donner having a toggle to increase treble, from what it looks like)

@PamPurrs This review of the Carl Martin Comp Limiter (not the one Howard has, or optical) really does a good review on the controls and what you can get out of the compressor similar to the SanJune. Just note that Threshold (is Compression on the SanJune) and Comp / ratio in this review is Slope on the San june. Mostly it is a good review about the Gain and unity gain and the low noise with conservtive unity gain settings and the added noise with the gain up.

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