It’s back from the dead! The TB Mega Thread.

[SmallEQ]

Aesthetics of pedals really don't bother me. Even though I like to post pictures on the board nobody going to give a shit on the gig. I like the etching stuff for the extra layer personalization, with the exception of the Markbass Octaver (the one in the penguin enclosure), I don't think anything I've had etched was ugly enough where it had to be etched and even then it was mostly for fun. As long as I like the functionality and sound I'm rather nonplussed by the looks of individual pedals and amps for that matter.

On the other hand, instruments are a completely different thing. I would never play a bass that I didn't like the looks of no matter how good it sounds. Might be shallow, but that's the main thing people are looking at when you are playing and there are too many good sounding basses to play and ugly one.

[Jwar]

New bass day (Friday). Mike Browne Gnome 5. Took a chance on a small luthier that used to work for/with Carl Thompson. Mike only made around 20 basses under his own brand. So let's say this is super boutique? lol. It is fucking amazing! I absolutely love the tone, feel, look, weight...everything about it. Works perfect with my MTD, so I don't have to re-eq my fucking amp between playing different basses or adjust my pedals. Just gorgeous and fun to play.

[bigchiefbc]

Aesthetics of pedals really don't bother me. Even though I like to post pictures on the board nobody going to give a shit on the gig. I like the etching stuff for the extra layer personalization, with the exception of the Markbass Octaver (the one in the penguin enclosure), I don't think anything I've had etched was ugly enough where it had to be etched and even then it was mostly for fun. As long as I like the functionality and sound I'm rather nonplussed by the looks of individual pedals and amps for that matter.

I actually agree with you on the pedal looks thing. I really couldn't give a damn how my pedals look. My problem with the SA stuff wasn't the looks, it was that the two I tried just didn't do anything for me, sound-wise.

On the other hand, instruments are a completely different thing. I would never play a bass that I didn't like the looks of no matter how good it sounds. Might be shallow, but that's the main thing people are looking at when you are playing and there are too many good sounding basses to play and ugly one.

Sort of agreed on this one, although I still put the sound ahead of the looks. I'd play an ugly bass that sounds awesome before I'd play a pretty bass that sounded meh. But no compromise needed with the Ric.

[D.o.S.]

They look very Fischer Price to me. And it's totally a knee-jerk, bypass the frontal cortex thing, but if I don't dig how the pedal looks, I'm going to be unmotivated to use it.

[Deltaphoenix]

New bass day (Friday). Mike Browne Gnome 5. Took a chance on a small luthier that used to work for/with Carl Thompson. Mike only made around 20 basses under his own brand. So let's say this is super boutique? lol. It is fucking amazing! I absolutely love the tone, feel, look, weight...everything about it. Works perfect with my MTD, so I don't have to re-eq my fucking amp between playing different basses or adjust my pedals. Just gorgeous and fun to play.

Da Fuq?!??! How many basses have you owned in the last 4 months?

[Mudfuzz]

New bass day (Friday)

You need to get it refinished in black or silver

[elevenstrings]

If I'm going to spend more than $100-200 on something, it better look (and of course, SOUND) fucking cool. Yeah, the audience won't see it - but I have to look at it everyday. If it looks like a kid's toy with bright yellow, green or purple or has a stupid picture of barbwire, Billy Sheehan or Amy Winehouse, I'll look elsewhere. The sound it creates is the most important thing - and with the variety of pedals available today, I'm sure I can find something with similar sound/features that doesn't look like ass.

More annoying to me than aesthetics are the other design decisions - weird power requirements (pigtronix), huge horizontal enclosures with side inputs (pigtronix, ehx, etc.), super complex pedals that don't have presets I can save, end of chain pedals that aren't stereo - but again, fortunately with everything out there now, I can find what I want with the features I need.

jwar - sweet bass. I met Mike at one of the NAMM shows and played his AG bass. Great guy and the bass was fantastic. Wish he was still building.

[Mudfuzz]

Maybe it's cause they're Swedish or something...

NSFW: show

Nope. We usually have much higher aesthetic values then EBS. Makes me think EBS is a bunch of Danes who've spelt Denmark wrong in the PR schtick.

Seriously, no-one uses them here either.

They lost all meaning to me when they put out a bass tremolo.. I mean... just… what? why? too many bad drugs? not enough bad drugs? The idea is just sooo dumb...

[SmallEQ]

Sort of agreed on this one, although I still put the sound ahead of the looks. I'd play an ugly bass that sounds awesome before I'd play a pretty bass that sounded meh. But no compromise needed with the Ric.

Wouldn't call your bass ugly, its more like utilitarian. That's how I feel about the finish on my Dingwall. Also would never play a bad sounding bass no matter how good it looks.

If I'm going to spend more than $100-200 on something, it better look (and of course, SOUND) fucking cool. Yeah, the audience won't see it - but I have to look at it everyday. If it looks like a kid's toy with bright yellow, green or purple or has a stupid picture of barbwire, Billy Sheehan or Amy Winehouse, I'll look elsewhere. The sound it creates is the most important thing - and with the variety of pedals available today, I'm sure I can find something with similar sound/features that doesn't look like ass.

Understandable. The functionality, variety, quality of sounds and compactness I'm getting from these three pedals with the Midi support can't be beat short of setting up an AxFX or something. I'm not quite at the point where I need all those options for my band and will likely never be, but that's why the PT Jr. board makes a lot more sense than the PT2 setup I was running before. For instance I have little doubt that something like the Mobius would give me more options and may possibly sound better than the Orbital, but it's also almost three times more expensive and physically bigger so their are always tradeoffs.

The gig last night was a shit ton of fun even though the sound setup there was horrible. The place was pretty packed. The Diabolik is just awesome live. It seems so loud and unusable at home, but it cuts raunchily through in the perfect way live.

[bigchiefbc]

Sort of agreed on this one, although I still put the sound ahead of the looks. I'd play an ugly bass that sounds awesome before I'd play a pretty bass that sounded meh. But no compromise needed with the Ric.

Wouldn't call your bass ugly, its more like utilitarian. That's how I feel about the finish on my Dingwall. Also would never play a bad sounding bass no matter how good it looks.

You mean the G&L, not the Ric, right?

The G&L is an interesting beast, because I don't usually like the coffee-table wood finishes on basses. But I didn't like any of the painted color options on the L-2500 either, so it came down to either the Maple or the Walnut finish. But the look of the huge black buckers against the wood grain has grown on me now. Probably because it kinda sorta looks Wal-ish.

If you meant the Ric, well ... I think the Ric 4001/4003 is the sexiest bass ever made.

[Mudfuzz]

If you meant the Ric, well ... I think the Ric 4001/4003 is the sexiest bass ever made.

[ChetMagongalo]

that bass looks super wicked jwar, nice pickup

[jasonmitsch]

Aesthetics of pedals really don't bother me. Even though I like to post pictures on the board nobody going to give a shit on the gig. I like the etching stuff for the extra layer personalization, with the exception of the Markbass Octaver (the one in the penguin enclosure), I don't think anything I've had etched was ugly enough where it had to be etched and even then it was mostly for fun. As long as I like the functionality and sound I'm rather nonplussed by the looks of individual pedals and amps for that matter

[behndy]

..... i super care what stuff looks like. but, since Danno can take things that look like turds and make me all giggly to look at them, i don't care much what pedals originally look like.

hell, he took one of my Rusty Boxes and put it in a slightly bigger box because PRETTY.

Jean nailed it. i spend a LOT of time staring at my board trying to figure out music parts or what the hell i'm doing, it's way morr for me than an audience.

I STILL THINK THE SOURCES LOOK BETTER WHEN THERE'S A BUTTLOAD OF THEM THAN ONE. DEAL WITH IT.

[excane]

New bass day (Friday). Mike Browne Gnome 5. Took a chance on a small luthier that used to work for/with Carl Thompson. Mike only made around 20 basses under his own brand. So let's say this is super boutique? lol. It is fucking amazing! I absolutely love the tone, feel, look, weight...everything about it. Works perfect with my MTD, so I don't have to re-eq my fucking amp between playing different basses or adjust my pedals. Just gorgeous and fun to play.

WooaaHhhh...

Never even heard of that dude, but it looks pretty sweet. Do you know the string spacing on it?

Those look like Nordstrand fat stacks or big splits too. TASTY.