Q: Can I use any two basses with the Bassbone?
  
A: Yes, the Bassbone is designed for use with all types of basses. You can use both active and passive basses, fretted or fretless and so on. You are not limited to basses either, in fact any instrument with a pickup can be used in your bassbone setup – guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, dobro, etc.

Q: Do I still need a direct box with the Bassbone?
  
A: No… The Bassbone has one built-in! A balanced XLR output is provided to send your post-Bassbone sound to the mixer. This is cool because if you do not have a soundman, the bass EQ and level can be controlled by you. If the sound engineer prefers to get the sound of your bass ‘direct’ before it goes into the Bassbone, one of Radial's fine direct boxes will work best.

Q: Will the Bassbone alter the tone of my bass?
  
A: When using Channel-1 with the CONTOUR switch set to 'Flat', which bypasses Contour entirely, the original tone of the instrument will pass through the Bassbone unaltered.

Q: Can I use the tuner out to drive another amp or effect?
  
A: You could, but it is not really ideal to drive two amps this way. It is best to isolate the 2nd amp with a transformer in order to avoid ground loops.

Q: I have an active and a passive bass. Which should be used where?
  
A: Both can work in either channel. If you are a purist, you may want to have your passive bass in Channel-1 and set it flat. This would allow your amp to control your EQ for this bass. If you want to beef up your passive, then Channel-2 will give you more control.

Q: Are there any manufacturers that make multi-power supply bricks for Tonebones?

A: Yes; The Cioks DC10 and AC10 both have 15V outlets for Tonebone pedals.

Q: Can I use the effect send to drive another amplifier?
  
A: Technically ‘yes’ but be careful. We produce a device called the Radial JX2 Switchbone that is designed to do this properly. It is outfitted with an isolation transformer that will eliminate noisy loops while the Bassbone does not. Be careful! Some older amplifiers are not equipped with proper U-grounds and could cause an electric shock. Please consult a qualified technician before combining amplifiers.

Q: Can I use the XLR balanced out for another amp?
  
A: Yes, but be aware that this is a mic level output. This means that the impedance and level has not been set for typical instrument inputs.

Q: Is the Bassbone a true bypass pedal?
  
A: No. the Bassbone is a preamp. To work properly, we buffer the signal so the Bassbone can drive two channels, the tuner and the effect loop with no signal level loss.

Q: Can you explain 'true bypass'?
  
A: In real terms, 'true bypass' means that when disengaging an effect pedal, the switch completely disconnects the signal path and PC board from the pedal. The intent of a true bypass switch is to ensure the bass signal does not get affected in any way by the effect pedal circuitry. Although great in theory, true bypass switching generally introduces an annoying pop during the switch process, which can be devastating during a performance.

Q: Is the D.I. out of the Bassbone Active or Passive?
  
A: Answer: The Bassbone's DI output is active! .

Q: Can the Bassbone be used for guitar instead of bass?
  
A: Yes! The EQ on the Bassbone follows the path set by Leo Fender. The
Fender Bassman amplifier was the original amp that lead Marshall and Fender to create all of their wonderful guitar amplifiers and many top guitar
players still prefer to use the original Bassman for guitar sound today. The
Bassbone sounds great with guitar! Very clean and natural sounding!

Q: Can I use a distortion pedal in the effects loop insert on the
Bassbone?
  
A: Yes, you can use the effects loop on the Bassbone for distortion.
But most bass players find that when the add distortion, they prefer to
retain the bass sound and then mix in distortion. We create a devise
specifically to do this call the BigShot MIX. The Tonebone Classic will give
you more of a growl distortion like an old Ampeg SVT while the Hot British
distortion will create more overtones. Mixing in the distortion using the
MIX works really well for this.

Q: Is the Bassbone effects loop wired in series or parallel ?
  
A: It is in series... so 100% wet or however you set your effects

Q: I've noticed a significant drop in volume level on both channels compared with bypass mode. What's up with that?
  
A: The Bassbone is a unity gain device. This means that when you turn the
levels up to full, they should play about the same level as when connected directly. Because the Bassbone buffers your signal, you will be able to run longer cables without added noise, thus allowing the Bassbone to be used at a lower level, while your amp is set slightly higher. This design approach seems to deliver a good balance between headroom and performance.

Keep in mind the EQ is extremely powerful... so your overall output level is hugely dependent on how it is set.

Q: Which pedal would you recommend for use switching between acoustic and electric guitar?
  
A: It depends on what you are trying to do:

For a simple selector, the BigShot i/o has two inputs and one of these has a level control to attenuate the signal. If you do not need any control for feedback or tone, this one works great. I would connect the acoustic guitar which is usually louder using the channel with the level control so that you could turn it down to match your electric guitar.

If you want a bit more control, the Bassbone is a good choice. I would use the electric guitar on the 'flat' channel so that it can feed your guitar amp with the original signal. I would use channel two on the acoustic where you would be able to control the tone.

For the most control over feedback, the PZ-Pre will let you adjust the filters to help the acoustic, but these settings will also affect the electric.

Most purists would use the BigShot i/0 as it is very simple and it also costs less!