Oh Greg, you've really started a monster thread now.

We love to talk about our gear!

Here's my current rig that I use both live with my band "Storm Kings" and in the studio.

Stickup

Bass- Rane SP-13 -- DBX1066 compressor ---- VF-1 (just for light reverb) setup as an aux send with stereo outs going to Roland line mixer

Melody- Rane SP-13 -- DBX1066 compressor ---- VF-1 (same as above)
GK-3 melody side - goes into VG-88 and parallel into GI-20 midi interface which for the live setup talks to a Roland JD-990 rack synth with vintage card in it.

Everybody's output remains in stereo and gets combined in the Roland line mixer where it is then bussed to a Boss RC-50 looper. The line mixer feeds a Mackie 1400i amp which powers an Acme LowB2 cabinet (a second one of those to be purchased soon).

I also have a Roland PK-5a pedal board at my feet which I use to play drone notes and fx off of the JD-990. All midi patching is done with a MOTU MTPII.

I think that's it.

Jim

Jim- how do you like the ACME B2 cab.?

Marty

Love it love it. I won't repeat all the cliche comments about how people can't believe all that sound is coming from one cabinet, or about how much power it eats. All those things are true. What I can say is that it's built like a TANK. Lightweight, and actually represents the Stick well. The attenuators for mids and highs on the back come in handy for those fine tweaks to fit your current environment.

I ordered mine direct from Andy at Acme. He's very nice and helpful.

+1 for the Acme Low B-2 cabs, they are great! I use a B-2 and a B-2W in my big bass/Stick rig, with a Thunderfunk TB-550 amp, and it's really nice and clean. I kinda think (and have heard) that the B-2W (no mid/high-range drivers) is a bit too much of a sacrifice, so I'd probably recommend using two full-range B-2s if you need power and portability. I did test-drive a B-4 and that was even better sounding, but a touch big and heavy.

Haven't yet had a rehearsal with my new Graphite P4 through the big rig, but it should sound AWESOME!!!

Cheers,

EG

I don't know why I haven't tried this before, but I plugged my Stick into each of the preamps I own and listened carefully to just the dry signal to see if I could tell the difference in sound quality.

This includes:

PreSonus BlueTube DP
PreSonus Firestudio interface
preamp on my Acoustic Image Coda
Boss GX-700 multi-effects built in preamps

All of them except the BlueTube had a similar sound... the BlueTube had noticeably less high end detail but maybe more full in the midrange, so I would have to conclude this is the least "transparent" of the bunch. Engaging the tube path didn't make a noticeable difference until I cranked the gain enough to cause mild distortion.

The differences between the other three were extremely subtle, and perhaps the Acoustic Image had the slightest edge in terms of richness of sound, but I'm not convinced this isn't more psychological than objective. Also, I was comparing all these signals through headphones on my mixer, but the overall sound of the Stick sounds much better through the Acoustic Image speaker system than through monitors/headphones... much more depth of sound (not sure if this is just some kind of midrange enhancement, or influence of the class D power amp design and/or three way speaker system... the AI website seems to indicate the amps are supposed to be transparent and even in frequency response).

All these preamps have 1 Mohm input impedances. Perhaps the PASV-4 isn't as sensitive to input impedances as the Stickup (since the PASV-4 apparently puts out more voltage than even the ACTV-2)

I would be fascinated to also compare the StepAbout and even borrow something really high end like a Millenia TD-1 or Avalon to see if I can tell any difference.

BTW, one tidbit about the VG-99... I was wondering if the 2.2 Mohm input impedance reflected an improvement in preamp quality, but one of the guys on the VG-99 forum said the first input stage is a NJM2062 Op Amp (apparently average quality).

Doesn't this usually just switch an extra LED on somewhere?

Well, the LED is right under the tube, WHICH MAKES IT GLOW!!! Now that's what I call tube warmth!

I got a few of those.

Hands up who turns everything on and plays in the dark because it looks pretty?..

...just me then

Well, I tune my instruments in the dark because my scrobe tuner has pretty lights!
I guess we are not alone in the world then!

All the volume and tone controls light up under the knobs of the POD X3 Live...that's pretty cool. And that's my setup sofar, w/ the drum machine and eventually the Nord Lead 2 into an Alesis 2 mono 2 stereo mixer, which eventually go into a stereo power amp and a couple of those ACME B2's for live application...and of course my imaginary friend to carry it all...or the big russian mail-order bride.

Marty