Upgrade Day! Anyone Else Upgrading?

@T_dub yes, if you have the funds jump on the BQ 500 the extra power will be great when performing live. They are the same amp except for wattage. So if you have it go for it. I bought the RH 450 for live sets but I do not have it yet shipping was delayed

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Not sure that will ever happen, but in the off chance it does, I may as well have the power. I have a 4x10 cab I could use with it, and since it is 8ohms it may only get 1/2 power, but it would be worse if it was only 1/2 power of 250 watts.
I do have combo amp and add on speakers in the 200w range now, and another older Gallien Krueger 200 watt head as well, so if I am gonna get another amp, I am gonna step it up a notch.

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@T_dub also they only use the Speak on cables to connect to a cab so you may have to buy a new cable to connect the speak on to 1/4” I am not sure what your cab has on it

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Yes, wi will have to either get an adapter, or a cable with one of each ends. my cab is an 90’s SWR

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that’s great ! love it !

it looks very clean, very neat, very classy and the design itself looks very smart and effective

congrats ! :star_struck:

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Thats exactly what I thought too

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Thanks terb.

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Thinking to upgrade my DAI.
My Zoom U-22 is good, and really simple and easy to use, but too simple for my needs. i really need the HI-Z to be on a switch where I can turn it off, and this one does not do that.

I found [this unit and it looks promising, and for the price I may try it out, unless somebody here knows a reason NOT to.

Some, like PreSonus and M-Studio offer a ton of DAW packages and plug ins. Is there any reason to buy one of these to get a specific DAW, or am I fine with Garage Band for life, or for a good long time that is?

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If you didn’t already have Garage Band, it might be worth it to try out some different software. Since you have Garage Band, you’re already set really well.

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edit: scratch that, I thought its second input and headphone output were 1/8". They are 1/4", so much better than I thought. Would prefer a second XLR combo in like most DAIs have, but this is cerrainly workable.

Might be ok. Limited outputs. Never heard of the brand or model, no idea about quality. Certainly is inexpensive.

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It has the instrument in, with a Hi-Z on / off switch. About all I need, but it still has a Mic in / XLR / Hi-Z pre amp in too. I am not looking for midi, and it is double capacity to what I have with more features then what I have.
That said, I do not know name or quality, which are the things I am concerned with. It gets great reviews on Amazon, but that is all subjective, so…
But feature wise, it would be plenty for me.
Also, for $40 more, I don’t mind getting a Pre-sonus or Focusrite, and paying for a well known brand, but the ones I would get have equal or even less features then this one.

The one thing I did like was the USB 3.0 tho

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Thinking about it a little more, because it IS Amazon, and because I have ability to easily return it, and cuz it is pretty inexpensive, I might give it a test spin and do a review.
I may end up returning it for a Focusrite or PreSonus in the end, but it may be worthwhile to get it to play with.

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There’s a pretty decent looking behringer int his price range too.

Makes sense to try, sure! You can always step up to a Zoom U-24, FocusRite 2i2, or others later if you want.

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Yeah, I saw the Behringer and it has the same that i want, and is only $79, even comes with a DAW, and XLR cable and a 1/4" cable and some other mic looking thing.
Something about the compactness of this box strikes me.
I like the U-22, but the other ones they make are ugly IMO. I know the quality is there, but I would go to a Focusrite or Presonus over the Zoom upgrade just one the ergonomics alone.
If Zoom had a specific quality over the other two I mentioned I might consider, but thinking they are same quality wise, I choose the other one.
I don’t need, and doubt I ever will need midi

Yeah, the Zooms are designed for convenience, not aesthetics. Common theme across their product line, their audio recorders are the same. The reason the U-24 and -44 are like that is that when it comes to connectors it’s exactly what you want if you use a lot of them - everything is on one side facing up. A lot of mixing boards are designed this way for the same reason, it’s just much more convenient. For example, this the current version of the classic Mackie that nearly everyone bought in the '90s:

image

Same idea, everything right there for ease of access.

When you have a lot of ins/outs this tends to be much better than having some on the front and some on the back. Usability over beauty :slight_smile:

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I’ve some plan for the futur :slight_smile:

This is now:

This is what should come in a month or two:

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Tonight is going to be my upgrade day for my recording equipment.
As a reward for me finally getting an apartment for my daughter and I to live in, and now that I have the relief of knowing we are going to be homeless, AND because I now have better place to set up my studio, and display my basses on the wall and all that good stuff, I am getting that amp and a new DAI.

I was thinking to get the BQ500, so I could have one amp to do the two things you are doing, one for studio, one for live, with the 500, I could do both.
But I decided against that, and to spend the difference in money to get a new DAI. i am looking forward to having one that has a dedicated instrument in, with the ability to lower the impedance by turning off the HI-Z.

So, yeah, i am gonna buy that amp and DAI tonight, it will be here by Thursday, and I move on Saturday.
I am 100% certain that amazon packages are safe here, and although I am moving to a good location, I have experience with Amazon delilvery in that large apartment complex, so that was the decider to go ahead and jump the gun and get it now.

I have $125 or so credit on Amazon, so I only have to pay about $140 when all said and done.

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@T_dub that sounds awesome man. Congrats on the new place to live and the new equipment

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@T_dub I got this
PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 USB Audio Interface - 25th Anniversary Edition | Sweetwater

It comes with Studio 5 Artist DAW which has the same price of the DAI

https://shop.presonus.com/Studio-One-5-Artist

I find Studio5 easy to use.

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I don’t want to see you spend the money on a new DAI if you don’t have to. The Hi-Z input shouldn’t matter to a line level output. It should drive it all the same. If for some reason it doesn’t the Zoom automatically goes Hi-Z with a mono 1/4” plug. A 1/4” to XLR adapter would release it to low Z.

If the input to the DAI is getting overdriven, it’s possible to try turning down the level of the active electronics in the bass or on the gain of a pedal.

It can seem kind of silly to set the input level of the DAI to 1, but since it has a combo mic/line input that preamp has extra gain in it for the mics. There’s no quality lost in setting the input low if you are maxing out what it can handle.

The last thing to try would be to put a compressor before the DAI with a fast attack and a high compression to stop any sharp spikes from overdriving the input.

The Zoom allows the same input level as other DAI, so if it’s a problem, the problem may still exist with a new one, unless the new one has some analogue limiting on the input.

All this is assuming you still have the digital distortion problem on the DAI input. Otherwise, happy shopping!

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