Latest gear you've acquired.....

[Colorblind]

FWIW, the tech 21 VTB is really good also; a lot of guys at talkbass apparently use it on their boards, but I find it great for recording DI, and it can be Ebogged for less than a hundo.

I like all of the "character" pedals, tho', and even their clones (ex., Joyo).

But the one I want is the "Tech 21 Programmable Bass Driver DI" - it sounds really good in the demo vids.

I've been looking at these SansAmp pedals as well, but I'm undecided on which one to get. There's a YouTube video of Tchad Blake getting some pretty wild drum sounds out of the GT2.

[vvv]

Just picked up (cheap) a Dr. No Octadose, which is pretty good - likely great live (did I post that already?) and a Aguilar Twin Filter which is very simple to use and will be great live, sounds great on all settings.

I actually broke a rule and paid more than a hundo (105) for the Aguilar, but that was near new and shipped, and I've been looking for one under US$150 for at least a year.

[trodden]

A SansAmp Bass Driver. I've only wanted one for over 20 years!

I scoffed at them for so long. Then on my last pre-covid lockdown project, we were tracking bass direct with the intention of re-amping later on... I split the signal, one dry DI, one SansAmp (just so it wouldn't sound so boring to the dude tracking). Then lockdown came before I could get my hands on a decent bass rig so I ended up just mixing with the SansAmp and it worked great. I shouldn't have been surprised, it's a time tested thing, but I was. Added in a bit of that Massey THC plugin (my new secret bass weapon) and blammo.

TOTALLY.
My studio that's being slowly built will be the SMALLEST one I've had in the last 20 years, but at least this time it will be mine and I won't have to worry about a lease/landlord. at 450 square ft, tracking a full band will be tough with the LOUD I work with and to avoid having amps blasting into drum mics and cabinets taking up physical space in the room while 3-5 people are working, I figure I'll be doing the same as you mentioned. Track a Sansamp track, along with a clean DI. Re-Amp the DI later, blend as needed.

Plus, I started playing bass again, and found myself without an ACTUAL bass amp, since i sold two of them the last two years to fund pressing our last record. Told myself that the next bass player will have to have his or her OWN gear this time and I won't be outfitting whoever that will be.. well... turns out, i'm going to be the next bass player... ahahhaha.. Due to the state of the world, we're just going to write another record as a three piece, with both the guitarist and I doing synths and keys, and if and when or if ever, we actually play out again, we'll just figure it out how to make the synths happen as a three piece or just find a fourth body to do either bass or synths for live shows. ANYWAYS, I have a near mint condition Peavey Mark III Musician from 1978, which is technically a Guitar/Keyboard head but can "work" for bass and then my Verellen Kalaloch which is what I've been using for my key/synth rig. The Kalaloch is basically a very VERY loud, clean, stereo head that works for guitar, keys, and bass, but ideally a pedal board player type of amp. Both amps were just missing something when it came to plugging a bass into them, but now with the sansamp in front of them, they both sound MUCH BETTER.

[trodden]

Report back and let us know what you think!

I had one on loan for a bit and it's really nice so I bought one. this has a M7 style (pvc) capsule. It has a very "vintage" sound to me, which I know is hard to describe. almost like singing on a really nice ribbon mic. it's smooth on top but not really missing anything and certainly not the ice pick to the forehead. bottom end is full. used it as a room mic for drums and the person I sent the tracks to wanted to make sure I would have the same mic setup for the next tune... I don't know if that's really what he was hearing, but I can say it does capture a nice full picture. tried one on acoustic guitar too, but then it had the standard capsule in it, so I hope to try it again with this one soon. can't wait until I can use it on other people too! Damn covid...

Damn.. sounds like i need to add this one to "THE LIST".

[trodden]

Report back and let us know what you think!

I had one on loan for a bit and it's really nice so I bought one. this has a M7 style (pvc) capsule. It has a very "vintage" sound to me, which I know is hard to describe. almost like singing on a really nice ribbon mic. it's smooth on top but not really missing anything and certainly not the ice pick to the forehead. bottom end is full. used it as a room mic for drums and the person I sent the tracks to wanted to make sure I would have the same mic setup for the next tune... I don't know if that's really what he was hearing, but I can say it does capture a nice full picture. tried one on acoustic guitar too, but then it had the standard capsule in it, so I hope to try it again with this one soon. can't wait until I can use it on other people too! Damn covid...

Damn.. sounds like i need to add this one to "THE LIST".

Only $300 more than the WARM 47, which i figured would be the ONLY "47 style" mic I'd ever possibly afford. Not bad.

[joninc]

I’ve been selling odds and ends around the studio to fund some new toys. Sold a few old pedals that I never use and picked up a few new ones. Got 2 Meris pedals - The Polymoon (delay) and Mercury 7 (reverb). Pretty impressed with both so far but the reverb (ultraplate mode) has really blown me away this week. Tracked it on a ton of lead vocals and misc keys and guitars as an aux send off the board on an ep this week. Wow. Maybe the best plate sound I have in my arsenal now and I have a lot of great reverb plugs and a very nice outboard spring reverb too. It has that perfect mid range Density that so many plugs don’t quite get right .. there's some really effective eq and mod you can dial in but not a million options or settings... this will get a lot of use and it's so satisfying to track the effects on the way in and bring up just the audio tracks with no plug ins and have it sound awesome.

[digitaldrummer]

I guess I should mention I've had this tube mic too. I've actually had it for several months and pre-covid, it was appearing on almost every recording project. Vocals, acoustic guitars, percussion. Sounded really good on almost anything.

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[kslight]

I’ve been selling odds and ends around the studio to fund some new toys. Sold a few old pedals that I never use and picked up a few new ones. Got 2 Meris pedals - The Polymoon (delay) and Mercury 7 (reverb). Pretty impressed with both so far but the reverb (ultraplate mode) has really blown me away this week. Tracked it on a ton of lead vocals and misc keys and guitars as an aux send off the board on an ep this week. Wow. Maybe the best plate sound I have in my arsenal now and I have a lot of great reverb plugs and a very nice outboard spring reverb too. It has that perfect mid range Density that so many plugs don’t quite get right .. there's some really effective eq and mod you can dial in but not a million options or settings... this will get a lot of use and it's so satisfying to track the effects on the way in and bring up just the audio tracks with no plug ins and have it sound awesome.

I’ve looked at Meris a few times over the years but what kind of bugs me is the secret button presses...ive never been able to try one in person (without purchasing) to confirm my fears. What do you think?

[losthighway]

Red Panda Context reverb pedal

[drumsound]

I've got a Useful Arts tube DI here for review. Schedule has gotten goofy, so I haven't used it as much as planned.

[joninc]

I’ve looked at Meris a few times over the years but what kind of bugs me is the secret button presses...ive never been able to try one in person (without purchasing) to confirm my fears. What do you think?

I don't think they are that intense - the reverb especially is pretty straight forward. The Polymoon is a little deeper but basic functions are simple to access. Also I have no issues with labelling stuff with tape to make it easier the ALT function of each knob

[shedshrine]

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This is waiting for me at home. No secret button presses, but it does coil split.

[kslight]

I’ve looked at Meris a few times over the years but what kind of bugs me is the secret button presses...ive never been able to try one in person (without purchasing) to confirm my fears. What do you think?

I don't think they are that intense - the reverb especially is pretty straight forward. The Polymoon is a little deeper but basic functions are simple to access. Also I have no issues with labelling stuff with tape to make it easier the ALT function of each knob

Yeah I can see how the reverbs wouldn’t be too complicated. I was looking at Enzo and Hydra.

[digitaldrummer]

I've got another Hairball Audio "copper" preamp kit on the way. also just picked up another used Nady TCM-1050 that will be modded to pretty close to the same specs as the Advanced Audio CM47 (not sure if I will replace the transformer yet, and have to see how the stock capsule sounds). And just received an order from Redco with some parts to build a couple nice XLR's and one nice tube mic cable with Gotham GAC-7 and GAC-2 cable...

[losthighway]

Red Panda Context reverb pedal

This thing made my EHX Holy Grail totally obsolete. I never realized what a crummy reverb pedal I was living with (for like 10 years) until I tried a better one.