selta
Power User
So, yesterday I hosted my annual Pacific NW Bass Player's Get Together. It is an event that I put together to bring the local community together to meet with builders, manufacturers, and other players to try out gear, talk about setups and just generally hang out. Each year, it draws anywhere from 70 to 100 bass players, and anywhere from 6 to 18 or so different vendors. If you think of it as a micro-NAMM, you're pretty much correct.
Anyway, this year I had a good opportunity to showcase my Axe-Fx II and AX8 setups. In part, people were interested with the setup because of the Dingwall basses, but by large and far, the shiny, blinking lights and green screens were drawing folks over.
I gave a few group demos, and also gave quite a few one on one time with various bass players. A few of them were "Bass -> Amp -> Cab" players, so even the AX8 would be over kill for them. But, a lot of players were very into the gear and the possibilities from both magic boxes.
At one point, a guy brought his (admittedly killer) pedal board, which a few of us spent a good amount of time A/B'ing.
It took a bit of tweaking, but we ended up emulating 75% or so of that just in a few minutes of monkeying around. We did it mostly with the AX8, and once I told folks how much the AX8 costs (especially compared to that pedal board), there was a LOT of "oooh" and "ahhh" going on.
Then I plugged into the Axe-Fx II and really drove through a lot of the bigger presets that I have and use with my bands.
Overall, there was a lot of interest in the gear. I of course got asked about various things that these units don't have (various amps and pedals). I said yes, there is a distinct lack of bass specific gear in here, but with some out of the box thinking, they can likely dial in their tone, it just won't be as simple as it can and should be.
It was good to put this gear in front of "my" own people, especially people in this area. I'm already looking forward to next year, but also the new event that I host every 2-3 months dedicated to these in this area as well. It sure is nice to see people's eyes light up when they start to "get it" and start to put together all the new possibilities open to them.
Anyway, this year I had a good opportunity to showcase my Axe-Fx II and AX8 setups. In part, people were interested with the setup because of the Dingwall basses, but by large and far, the shiny, blinking lights and green screens were drawing folks over.
I gave a few group demos, and also gave quite a few one on one time with various bass players. A few of them were "Bass -> Amp -> Cab" players, so even the AX8 would be over kill for them. But, a lot of players were very into the gear and the possibilities from both magic boxes.
At one point, a guy brought his (admittedly killer) pedal board, which a few of us spent a good amount of time A/B'ing.
It took a bit of tweaking, but we ended up emulating 75% or so of that just in a few minutes of monkeying around. We did it mostly with the AX8, and once I told folks how much the AX8 costs (especially compared to that pedal board), there was a LOT of "oooh" and "ahhh" going on.
Then I plugged into the Axe-Fx II and really drove through a lot of the bigger presets that I have and use with my bands.
Overall, there was a lot of interest in the gear. I of course got asked about various things that these units don't have (various amps and pedals). I said yes, there is a distinct lack of bass specific gear in here, but with some out of the box thinking, they can likely dial in their tone, it just won't be as simple as it can and should be.
It was good to put this gear in front of "my" own people, especially people in this area. I'm already looking forward to next year, but also the new event that I host every 2-3 months dedicated to these in this area as well. It sure is nice to see people's eyes light up when they start to "get it" and start to put together all the new possibilities open to them.
