So, is THIS then the ultimate gizmo or really just an abomination???
I am totally lost here… and their webpage is a bit of an eyesore 
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man thats a terrible web page
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wouldn’t it be more logical to invert the SCR-DI and the B3n ? in theory the cab sim should come after the gain stages ! did you try this order ?
different gear will change your sound, and that’s often why we get new gear 
about “taking your sound with you”, in my mind it doesn’t mean that you will get always exactly the same tone, it’s more about not being lost with an unknown amp or something like that.
The idea of having a preamp in your pedalboard is that, since a big part of the sound is shaped with the preamp (and other elements in the pedalboard like a compressor, overdrive or other pedals if needed) it will be relatively easy to find a tone close to the one you are used to, in more or less any situation.
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Thought about it but the DI has to go last. Also I am running the other effects there and I’m pretty sure you want modulations like Chorus before the gain stage.
But now that you bring it up, if we want to talk complexity, I have also been considering one of these:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LS2Boss--boss-ls-2-line-selector-pedal
That thing is just cool. Not as complex as other switches, but it would still allow for dropping out either of two effects paths (or running them in parallel). And it also has a power supply for the other pedals.
Also, I learned that there is literally no end to how complex you can make your switching. There are some seriously complex switches out there. Some of them you simply plug all of your pedal in/outs into the switch and then create arbitrary effect pedal chains. One had 800 preset paths.
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yes and in my opinion it is a trap ! in my case I try to keep the things as simple as possible, I prefer a compact and reliable pedalboard over a complex thing that can do everything, weight a ton, and of which I would effectively use 1% of the possibilities 
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Yeah that is one reason I love the multi-boxes. Right now I have literally just two things to cart around. That’s nice.
I was looking at the Boss ES-8 and was thinking “damn. I would screw that up so badly in any situation where I needed it.”
The reason I like the idea of the LS-2 is it is so simple. Basically for me it would be just a bypass to drop the B3n in or out, though, which is why I won’t be getting it. It would eliminate a few power cables for me though.
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That looks interesting @howard. Does it also serve as a compressor? I’m looking for what should be my very first (and perhaps only) pedal.
Also, are you happy that you decided on the other pedal instead?
Thanks for all the great info.
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My pleasure!
So the SpectraDrive is a very versatile pedal with a preamp and two effects - a compressor and an overdrive. It looks like a really nice pedal. It won’t color your sound in the same way as the SCR-DI will, but it has more controls and effects.
Another really interesting thing about it is that it has an app where you can download a ton of different overdrive and compressor effects in to it. Basically it’s a pedal with a large library of compressor and overdrive effects, a very clean preamp/EQ, and a nice headphone amp. With a DI out.
I’m happy with the SCR-DI but I would have been happy with the SpectraDrive too, maybe more happy. Basically I got a killer deal on the SCR-DI used. No regrets.
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Compressor pedals came up in another topic and I mentioned that they can be subtle and non-obviously useful until you know what you should look for, especially for normal playing. So I thought I would upload a couple examples.
Here’s a riff uncompressed, just clean bass:
The tone is nice! But you can tell the attack vs the sustain of the notes are noticably different levels.
Here it is with some light compression:
The difference is subtle but the tone in the sustain of the notes is richer and fuller. It’s also more even-leveled overall.
My compressor is more or less always on.
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Thanks for posting these sound examples - this is like training for my ears. For me, the differences are still more than subtle - I would agree with you that the compressed version sounds “better”, but I would be hard-pressed to explain why…
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same here. I use subtle settings (compression set to “2”) and at some point it’s more about the playing feeling than for a very noticeable tonal difference for someone who’s listening, but the overall tone is fatter and more detailed. Also I use the level setting on the compressor (which is #1 in my signal path, just after the tuner) to manage the different output levels of my basses.
Also it’s interesting to note that the buffer on the FX84 is not very transparent : even when the pedal is off, it changes a little bit the tone … and it sounds better than when the pedal is not plugged ! (a very little bit 
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@joergkutter if I remember right, you have a modeling amp. You might want to know that a modeling amp has less dynamic than an analog amp, and there is some kind of mandatory compression due to the fact that the preamp is digital. It’s not always a good thing, but in the case of a bass amp it can be interesting even if it’s more a technical side effect than a real feature ! And to be honest, this “digital mandatory compression” (which is more like a compression on a DAW than like a compression pedal) is one of the reasons why I like using a modeling preamp for recording. The signal level is more predictable, it’s comfortable.
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Yes, correct, the Rumble Studio 40 Thanks for explaining some of these “subtleties” some more… I just ordered the Boss GT-1B in order to have more control over my tone and sound when playing through the SVT in the rehearsal room (or anywhere else where the Rumble wouldn’t be enough). This multi-FX unit has, among other things, compressors and pre-amps, but, they are all modeled (digital), I guess. So, is that “bad” or just the way it is with these types of devices?
I guess instead of one analog device dedicated to one specific purpose, I get “more” from these digital multi-effects devices…
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that’s true, (way) more quantity for the price, but the real downside is that you can’t select one by one each part/element of your sound, you have to do with the built-in effects and you can’t add another one. but there are a ton of effects and you will very likely find more or less what you want, so I’d say that those multi-effects are good musician’s swiss army knives.
Maybe later you will find that an particular analog effect sounds better for you than the equivalent built-in effect in the GT-1B, this day you will maybe add this analog box to your signal chain, but anyway, it will still be good to have an all-purpose swiss army knife.
It’s not a bad investment in my opinion.
hard to answer otherwise than in a “yes and no” style I’d say a modeling circuitry feels less lively, less sensitive, less responsive. but it does not mean it sounds bad, and the reduced dynamic range can be an advantage if that’s what you’re looking for (for example, when I’m recording, I see this characteristics as an advantage, that’s what I said earlier).
The big thing is that modelisation today sounds amazing for a very low price. You get a lot of great sounds for very reasonnable prices. I’m sure that this point is not a bad one
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Thanks, @terb! I really need to dig down into what these things can do! It is kind of ironic, but on the Rumble (the modeling amp), I mainly use one preset, which is a vintage studio amp that gives a rather clean signal without a lot of effects and tone shaping. Whenever I start fiddling with it, I just feel I am turning knobs without actually knowing what I am doing… In the end, I will let my ears guide me 
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that’s always the one and only rule when we talk about music and sound 
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Cool! Looking forward to hearing how you like it. You can get your F Chopper Koga on
She rocks that thing.
So the compressor models on the Zoom boxes were good in my opinion. I bet the Boss will be good too. Though they were more noticeable to me as limiters (another function of compressors).
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Me too! Mine has a great, transparent neutral boost that is super useful. Plus both input gain and output level knobs. Mine’s an optical comp so the input gain basically pre-warms the bulb and serves as the thresh for compression when you dial some in.
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She sure does! I wish I’d understand what she is saying… I’d swear at times it feels like she is giggling and saying “what a crazy-ass sound effect” or something like this
You are very well informed… I really didn’t want to go there, as this seems to muddy the waters even more. From what you say, a limiter is not the same as a compressor!? Nathan King (Mark King’s brother) seems to think they are one and the same in this video (around the 6 minute mark):
In any case, they seem to be pretty close in what they do…
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Haha, this whole passage might as well have been written in Japanese… Oh, boy, I am so ignorant when it comes to these things - and I probably react like others do when they hear someone explaining dominant seventh chords 
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