[Accept2]

For guitar I sometimes run through a Roland V Guitar system, the VG8. I was thinking of picking up a V Bass system as well. Anybody ever use one yet?..............

 

[james on bass]

I've never tried one. Maybe someone else here will chime in. Oh wait, I'm by myself.

 

[bassgirl9]

I never bothered with the V Bass due to a bad experience with the Basspod. Sorry. No help here either.

 

[4string]

There was a review in one of the old Bass Player magazines, it didn't say anything that caused me to get excited about it (and I'm a gear whore).

 

[oddio]

The VBass is only an effects unit, at least until you bolt a GK pickup onto your bass. The current pickup doesn't track too badly, but this is the real problem with most bass guitar pickup systems. If you seriously want to invest in one of the expensive piezo-based pickup systems you'll end up dropping a fair bit of coin, but it will be more than just a toy.

 

[epy33]

i have not heard anything great about it. but on the other hadn i havnt heard and bad about them.

 

[oddio]

I can fill in a little more detail here. I do not have extensive experience with the VBass, but many of the Roland units in concert with their GK pickup (which I do have experience with) cut off below a C note on the A string. This is also likely to be true of the VBass. Sampling only half of the waveform as Roland does yields faster response times for bass but becomes imprecise below that point.

One combination folks constantly rave about tracks precisely below low B on a five-stringed instrument. That's the Axon AX100 MkII controller used with RMC pickups. The RMC piezo pickup system is pin compatible with the Roland gear and their 13-pin DIN connector. You would pay more for this system and need to have the pickups professionally installed.

 

[Accept2]

I'll have to look into that Axon thing. If the VBass system is as good as the VGuitar system, it should be a blast................

 

[oddio]

That was my thinking too... I did a lot of scoring work and used a number of different bass MIDI controllers for that purpose. You always have to remember that it is much, much easier to precisely track a guitar. When you get down into the bass frequency range the time required to sample each note is considerably longer (eg. orders of magnitude). Also, things like bends do NOT translate well at all. Nonetheless they are a lot of fun if your expectation is realistic.

 

[Accept2]

I have realistic expectations, as I just want it to add a bit of flavour. Bass frequencies are funny. I have a bass with a piezo, and I've been told if youre not careful, the frequencies can shatter it. Not sure if its true, but it makes me wonder why so few piezos out there in bass land...............