Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Back top the original topic - I tried out my Bass Trainer tonight and was pleased. It sounds much clearer than my Pandora/Sony Discman setup. Plus, the tempo feature sounds less garbled than the Pandora. It's nice to have the trainer and CD in one package, although I like the Pandora's clip-on feature. I'll probably keep the Pandora for quiet practicing and use the Bass Trainer for copying lick from CDs.

$20 for AC adapter?!!

damn!

Got mine online it doesnt work,my bass cuts on and off changed cord and basses its the machine....

Chris, I got to this thread late, but I'm glad you were pointed to the cd/bass balancing controls.

And I'm with you with regards to trying out new gear: If you have to resort to the manual to do something as simple as get the balance right then there's a big problem with the user interface design of the unit.

I too just got the beast, and I like it. And it has a stupid interface. Tascam equipment normally doesn't suffer from "The Roland Symptom", but even after you add unfriendly UI into the equation, I think it's still a worthwhile purchase for the money.

What it does well:
* Provides a headphone amp for you to practice bass through
* Provides a CD-player
* Allows you to change CD-audio pitch in whole tones or microtones or both (ever tried to play along with "Lovely Rita" in standard tuning?)
* Allows you to change the CD-audio tempo without affecting the pitch (sure, you get more and more artifacts the more radical the departure from normal, but it's a practice tool, not a recording preamp.)
* Allows you to change both of the above simultaneously
* Allows you to apply a highpass filter on the CD audio, letting you hear your bass more or less in place of that on the CD. (and that feature's on a nice discrete pushbutton for easy switch back and forth)

Those are the features I've made good use of.

What sucks:
* Not an intuitive UI: need to check out the manual a bit and try things out to get the hang of it (not so bad after that)
* Although it has "effects" built in, they all suck. I managed to get a mild room reverb but it still annoys me a bit.
* I'd read about the need for an AC adapter before I purchased. The place I bought from had a deal going on at the time in which they both undercut the going price by $10 or $20 USD, _and_ threw in an adapter. To be honest, I don't think this thing should be expected to last very long on battery: it spins that disc constantly so that your practice isn't constantly interrupted by lengthy seek times. It should be an AC-only device. Get the adapter.

What I'd Like to see:
* better UI
* fewer "toys" (get rid of the effects section, in favor of a more friendly UI if possible)
* a CD reader that can read MP3 CDs as well as CD-Audio

All in all, a useful device at the price I think.

my buck two ninety eight,
-G

Oh yeah, i also made decent use of the A-->B loop function to practice a section over and over. A good feature that I wish was a bit easier to use.

Sorry, I should add that I have the Mk.II, not the Mk.I.

Bought one a few months ago, only way I can figure out some of Squires stuff! I have found all kinds of little mistakes I have been making on songs. I don't read music so this thing is just the ticket for me.
Worth every penny.

Randy

I've been pleased with mine so far. I've only scratched the surface of its capabilities, but it's revealed parts I had a hard time figuring out before. I'll be doing "YYZ" before you know it (yeah, right).

The one part I improvise on in YYZ is the second solo even slowed down its a garbled mess, sounds good fast though.