...And I'm trying out a couple of new-to-me pedal preamps (Tonehammer and VT DI). I'm "in charge" of sound for this band and am soundchecking the band from out front listening to the FOH sound. (We use IEM's so no amps on stage. Even the drums are electronic. We use a Mackie 1608 board which runs off an iPad. Makes it easy to run sound which is good 'cause I'm no soundman!)
Got the BBITW (Best Bass In The World), my L2k, in series/active/both pickups, plugged into the Tonehammer which leads into the VT DI which leads to the board. Plan is, at that point, to toggle between the TH and VT and see which one sounds best on the recordings I'm making of the gig. TH for the first set, VT for the second set. I've already go the two pedals at the same level and sounding pretty similar to see which one will have that "inherent tone" that I like the best. The only "FX" I'm using on the Mackie is a HPF set at around 100 hz to sit above the kick which is centered around 80 hz.
I start with the TH for soundcheck. DAMN!, but my bass sounds good! Real good. Signal is little hot so I have to reset the Gain on the Mackie, but DAMN!, the TH is killin'! Or so I thought.
After soundcheck I set down my bass and look over at the pedals and both pedals are turned off! In my haste to do sound I forgot to turn on the TH. My bass was just going straight to the board with no colorization or EQing or ANYTHING coming from the pedals. Just a HPF set at 100 hz. Volume and tone wide open on the bass. And it sounds killer!
Moral of the story? My bass IS the Best Bass In The World.