ART Nightbass SE

the screen is alittle hard read and there is not a list of all the presets in the 4 banks. i think there's like 500 presets you can choose from, but you can only get 115 at one time unless you change the preset.. besides who uses more than 50 different sounds...when it first came out if was more complicated then most guitar processors besides the art sgx2000 se..i love that you can assign cc to every perimiter, it has omni midi or 1-99 channels. the only real hard thing for me to use is the tuner the symbols are confusing to me.

i love the sound of this thing. you can go from clean tube, which they call bright; lite distorted, which they call smooth; or solid state. on top of that you can turn the 2nd eq on and off for each preset, very flexible. it can be very clean no hiss or add tube saturation and presto growlin bass tone. the modulation effects are deep and just amazing. the pitch transponder is very versitle as well and really cool. the delay is limited in length 1.5sec. the envelope filter is weak, so i have a mxr auto q. the effects on this unit are very flexible and have lots perimiters....

i've gigged with mine for around 7 years now, and no problems on stage...once at pratice it lost all preset data and won't save any. after factory reset and reload of data no problems...that was about 5 years ago. i believe it was caused by voltage drops and spikes at the storage unit we praticed at. bought a conditioner, it will shut down at 92 volts

called once for the above mentioned problem. very helpful and waited on the phone to see if it worked. not bad for support on a piece of equipment that hasn't been made for 10 years at the time....

for what they go for now days used they are an amazing. back in the 90's a lot of guitar players were afraid of bass players having effects let alone a completely midi functional processor capable of thick, modulation, delays with distortion....amazing solos with the x-15 footboard. i use the behringer rip off....i wish art would come out with an updated version, longer delay times and the ability to use chorus and flanger at the sametime. for bass players this is an amazing tool. if mine goes i'll be very sad. i've had the line 6 rack and the behringer rack processors and the art nightbass beats them all. I LOVE THIS THING! it is my rock, the foundation of my rig. i've been playin for 20 years i've played music from grunge/metal to funky/space it does it all.

Some great factory presets. Once a person can get get behind the brains of the person that designed the interface, programming is fairly easy.

Great sounding effects, from Marshall-sounding distortions (not bad for a bass effects unit), to clean and sweet, nice reverbs and choruses. I particularly like the reverb settings that can 'locate' the person hearing the sound at different places in the concert hall. I've used it direct into a PA system, direect into a recording console, and to various amps, tube and solid state.

The XLR outputs are a bit hot, too hot for some mixing consoles. Also - the outputs in general are a little noisier than some others.

So far so good. The display illumination failed after a few years, and I've replaced the tube, but everything else is still sweet.

Very good support when the unit was still in production or just past production. Now that it's been a few years, I don't know if any support (parts or otherwise) is still available.

I play a variety of styles, from reggae to jazz to rock, so I need a unit that could "get 'er done". This was it! I used it with the X-15 controller, which was very cool, but the foot controller was a bit big. Now the unit resides in a rack, with me manually controlling any needed changes.

I rate the NB as a ten. First, let me say a couple of things to clear the air about buzz. Are we not talking about a "TUBE PREAMP" people? what makes you think the NB should be at all quiet? It is a preamp! Use it like one and stop whining! The buz does not exist if you tune your sound, a tube is the first thing you must understand before you flame it. The nightbass actually uses the tube and if you don't know how to set your channel settings, you are your own problem when it comes to your sound and distortion. The envelop filter is not a wah peddal, it is an envelop "FILTER". Look it up if you don't understand. You don't use a delay peddal to get distortion!

The sound quality is a vast and far reaching thing that can be manipulated in just about any direction you want if you know how to get there, or you might just stumble on it if you dink around long enough.
I love the sound quality, I use my NB for guitar, so I will never use it to it's potential, but my bass player got one after hearing mine and the quality of his bass gear with the NB is stunning. If you are whining about noise and such, learn how to use the NB properly and stop whining! After hearing it on an actual bass, I love it even more and will be for every show!

The only thing I have seen the NB really need is a rechargable battery inside. After a few years, I understand that it needs a new battery to operate the memory functions and other things, but after changing that, it rocked as if brand new! I have watched Line 6, Peavy, Digitec, Fender, and others bounce down the driveway after they died and no one would touch their own product or sell me what I needed to fix it, but the nightbass has been here through all of them, and still runs strong.

I have called them before to get a tube, where I found out that it was not the tube that was bad, but the CMOS battery that was the problem, but they offered to buy back my tube, I told them thank you for the spare!

I play a hard metal style, Classical metal, Progressive and will dive down to a Jazz. There are many different setting that I may have to call on to get the job done. I have been playing for over 15 years. I have had one nightbass stolen, but no tears, the second one I have now works better than the first one did(Probably because of the new battery.)
I love the nightbass ability to be versital and clear, I however hate that the footswitch is slow to change in that mode, I don't have an X-15. I chose the NB because it was the best one in the group of gear that has come down the pike, and it is alive when all of the others are dead. I wish it had a twin!
If you pay more than 200 you have paid too much, I got my last one for $117 including shipping from Ebay......Tah Tah

First off, mine is the original Nightbass with the SE 1.04 upgrade. I also have the X-15 foot controller that I purchased with it. I found some very useful tones from this unit with nothing more than playing with the knobs on the front panel. The editing at first seemed complicated but after about a half hour it was rather easy. Ofcourse, the factory manual and the little laminated "cheat sheets" made it easy by describing how each parameter was changed.

OK, run this unit in the effects loop of my Trace Elliot RAH350SMX head which sends it out to a Trace Elliot 2x15 cab. Input is handled by either my '90 BC Rich Innovator or my Schecter Stiletto Elite4.

Unlike the others on here, I haven't had a problem with noise at all. I wonder how many are using this unit on a cab with a horn? The only down note here is that I think that some of the presets are very similar to another, but thats it. I have also heard alot of people say the distortions are useless. Well, I strongly disagree! I have used three of the preset distortions with minor tweaking in several tunes. I guess one mans "useless" is anothers "just perfect" :-) The chorus, flange, and reverb effects are also equally good.

Overall, I absolutely love the effects and tones that can be created using this processor. I only give it a 9 because of the similar presets.

I have been using this unit for almost two years now. The only hickup I have had is when the unit would get to hot. I moved it off the amp in my rack and added a fan blowing on the heatsink and all has been well ever since. BTW, it gets very hot here in Tucson, Arizona! I have no worries over it being my only unit at a gig.

Never had to deal with them.

I use this unit for punk, old school metal, Nu-metal, and even classic rock stuff. I have been playing for 14 years and have played tons of rigs, basses, and effects. I know what I like and I love this unit. I don't have to deal with effects pedals anymore, yea! I also found this processor to be better, in my opinion, than the Behringer V-amp or the Line6 units. For what you can pick these up used in near perfect condition, this is the best bang for your buck out there!

I got this used, so it didn't have a manual, making it difficult to really learn the finer points of the preamp. It is actually quite easy once you sit down and just play with it for a while. I can get a decent sound right out of the box, but i created some of my own patches to really make it sound extra good. editing patches is easy, once you learn how.

I have ran all my gear through this box, including a squier jagmaster and an essex jazz bass, and it really enhances the sound (in my opinion) I did have some problems with buzzing, but i make my own presets and they don't buzz at all. my amp is a behringer bx1200, but in addition to that, i mainly use the nightbass as a recording preamp, stright into the mixer. as for getting the sound of my favorite artist, i probably could (i haven't tried to get an RATM sounding patch yet) but some of the presets are already moeled after some of my favorite bassists, like tony levin and Chris Squire. the NB also has guitar presets, modeled after greats like clapton, beck, and iommi (sorry for the spelling, lets just say the black sabbath guy).
Some effects are better than others, the distortion is a little extreme, i also have a boss odb-3 for distortion, so no worries there. The flanger is awesome, the envelope filter is lacking, it doesn't really do anything. the rest of the effects are cool, not bad at all

I think it is dependable for what i do with it. i would gig with it, even with no backup. some of the presets buzz a little, but i wouldn't use them, i would make my own patches.

I haven't dealt with them, i did mention i didn't get a manual with it, and i could order one from their website, but i don't want to spend the 10 dollars for it. in addition, i haven't heard anything about the custiomer service at all, only further supplimenting my rating of no opinion.

I have been playing bass for five years now, and i have to say at least the value for this is incredible. the NB, and x-15 foot controller and a midi cord for 125 dollars, i am impressed. I play almost every style of music and i can make a patch to match it. if it were stolen or lost, i would cry. i wouldn't replace it, because they are discontinued and the ones going around on ebay aren't the same model as mine. I can't tell you much about the history of ART, but i have the black one with purple writing, and the ones on ebay are with pink words. I love this box. the only thing i wish i had was the manual, but i'll get by.

The NB is very easy to use. I use it along with ampeg rig and can get killer sounds out of it. Alot of presets (400 or so), and I really like the LEDs that tell you what effect is on what patch...

I use a Yamaha BB5000 and A Peavey Forum Plus and they both sounded great thru it. The delays and reverbs are nice...the detune seems to lag slightly between striking the note and actually hearing it. I tried to get a decent 8 string patch going but couldn't get the notes to sound in tune...even with adjusting the fine tuning. But there's plenty other effects to be had...the flanger and chorus, along with the phaser sound great. Tube sounds are awesome, and the solid state sound is steady, but a little processed. I tried recording direct with a guitar and couldn't get a good strong guitar sound out of it.

I've had my NB for about 4 years and the only thing I can complain about is the number of tubes I've gone thru. It's currently on it's 3rd one, but I attribute some of that to heavy gigging, temp extremes, (I live up north), and cranking it. But there's nothing like that tube sound.

Never dealt with them.

I play rock/alternative and this rig is good enough to get some great sounds out of it. Never had a problem with noise, some of the bars I'm at have way noisier wiring the the nightbass. I've recorded direct into my computer with an acoustic and a chorus patch and it was totally silent. If it were stolen, I'd suppose I'd get another, but just because I'm so accustomed to it. I love the wide range of effects. I wish the sampler were a little longer. Doesn't give you much time. I wish I had the X-15 foot controller...there's a number of patches built just for it. It's worth a look...

Very powerful unit ART logic programming are a bit unusual but if
you understand it, this is a very very easy to use machine.
Manual available on ART site for download

Great. Like any digital unit you must be eliminate any kind of
distosion with excerpts of analogue ones.
Great reverbs and chorus, much better than any other lexicon unit
Compressor use tube and are very very good sounding you can't obtain
distorsion from it but compressor isn't a distortion unit.

no trouble. Main transformer are very noisy but no strange sounds arrive to speaker.Mine is used for live and studio recording,
I never had any trouble

Very good support on e-mail worst support from italian importer.

For me the best bas unit that market have seen you can have any kind
of sound, of course it is not easy and you must know how you can obtain it. Remember that this unit is very powerful and it is very
easy make some mistake if you haven't any idea of what is " the sound"
In other case (like some previous reviews) it is better to you to buy an "only preset" unit a stomp box or a new jack cable !!!

it is easy to program and very strait forward

it has ecceslent sound quality and an increadible amount of flexibility for every effect

I got mine 2nd hand and have had it for 2 or three months and never had any problems

never had to use it

great worth the money if u can pick it up second hand I would not spend more than 3 to 4 hundred dollars on it

Pre4tty easy to use, especially with the presets. However, the pre aranged order of effects and ARTs idea of what can and cant go together is really annoying. I mean, if i want to get a nice volume swelled delayed phase, i should be able to damnit!

Talk about extremes. There is a thing supposedly called an envelope filter on it. bull! it barely does a damn thing. but then the phaser and chorus are not too shabby. compression is useless. expansion only works for volume swell stuff. distortion is a joke, but reverb and delay are groovy. so all in all sounds ok. but then there is that damn noise! my god my engineer almost threw the damn thing out the window last time we recorded. at shows it sounds like someone has an am radio tuned badly. i had to re set up my rig without graphic eq to get rid of alot fo the noise. read below to find out what really wnet wrong.

most undependable piece of crap ive seen. twice in the middle of gigs it decided to just completely fry. no sound no nothing. the first time i had to reset the damn thing and re program all my patches. The second time, it woudlnt even do that. i just hit it alot and yelled at it till eventually it turned back on (no kidding) with all my presets there. but then the tube was broken, again. so i replaced the tube to find that, while better, there was something wrong with the whole digital routing through the tube. which means i had to reprogram my entire rig and patches to get the same sound without using any effect that routed through the tube. needless to sayu a royal pain, and if it werent for the tube in my hartke 5000, i would be royally screwed opn tube tone too.

dealt with ART once when it died the first time. they seemed helpful but rather unsympathetic that their product crapped in the middle of a show.

If I had known about all the crap id go through at the beginning, i woudlnt have bopthered. but as it is, i have created alot of patches that are very distinctive and 100% integrated into my bands music. unfortunately it will take me alot of time and money to collect the equipment to recreate all the effects without the nightbass so for now, im stuck using it. But slowly i am amassing an arsenal of dependable sturdy analog effects to take its place.

Once I poked around at it for a few hours, it became quite easy to program. Editing existing patches is simple enough, but making your own from scratch is a little more time consuming and at times downright frustrating. The manual could be a little more "idiot friendly" and in simple english, it seems as though it was written for someone with previous experience with this type of effects unit, not someone like me who has a lengthy history with stomp boxes and Morley Wah pedals. Considering my lack of techno/gizmo knowledge, I'm impressed that I'm getting some excellent out of it. Anyone with a history in MIDI stuff, I'm sure will have a breeze with it.

I have two Ric 4003's, an EV 4-10 cabinet, Ampeg SVP-Pro preamp, and an Ashley 1000 watt power amp. I play in a Metallica tribute band (just a hobby, but alot of fun). I run a slightly distorted sound anyway, so any noise that everyone else finds so annoying doesn't give me a problem. Plus, I have found that even with my limited knowledge, if you tinker with the program long enough it isn't too hard to find the right combo of effects you want without getting too much or any hissssss. Also, I have yet to play in a club with decent wiring, so what is the difference where the hiss is coming from? My pre-Nightbass rig was dead silent at home, but throw it in a skanky bar and it would hum any tune you wanted. ANYWAY, I'm very pleased with the tone and flexibility, I've been able to get a great standard tone (the Ampeg SVP is the star here), a great Anesthesia knock-off, and after a little playing around, I even got aspecial treat....I set it up so I no longer have to tune down for D or E flat tunes anymore...all I have to do is hit a button and a pedal and BAM no loose strings, no changing basses, just nice clean pitch shifting. I've heard complaints about the tracking, but I haven't noticed any. With the pitch-shift/distortion/chorus/eq, no problem....this little trick was worth the price in itself. I got a dead-on Cliff Burton tone for Anesthesia, but other than that, I don't try to get anyone elses sound since in my band, we only have the one guitar player, so my sound has to be pretty "filling" and I would say my overall sound is a Burton/Lemmy/Tool/Joey DeMaio mutation. I'd have to be honest and say that for certain sounds by themselves (just distortion for example) a good stomp box may be the better ticket, but I'd say that most of the effects are adequate and the adjustability and blending possibilities make up for any individual shortcomings.

Seems to be made quite well, I'll know more once I spill a beer or two on it and someone throws up on the X-15 foot controller. No problems yet, but I haven't had it that long and it wouldn't be fair to say anyway since I bought it used. If it broke, so what, my SVP-Pro is still in the rack, I'd just lose the effects.

No dealings with the company.

Just to clarify, the $400 that I spent included the X-15 Ultrafoot.
Like I said before, I play metal (in a Metallica tribute....also mess with other covers-Pantera/Zombie/Motorhead/etc). I've been playing for 15 yrs. and I enjoy playing as a hobby, I'm not all serious and don't freak out when the sound guy gets drunk and screws up my tone, and I don't have a perfect musical ear....I like what sounds good and this thing does the trick. People complain about a slight hiss (which I've been able to eliminate in most patches....BTW, my Ric's hiss more than the Nightbass, it's character), or a "click" here and there, or a minor delay when switching patches, my response is "Who cares????" Deal with it!!! "It makes more noise than the Eventide"....well spend 5 times as much and buy the Eventide, then complain that that cost too much and "something" is still buzzing.
What do I love about it? Most of it (especially the de-tuning that I mentioned above). What do I hate? Nothing (except the "tech-head" manual). As far as a comparison to other products like this....show me one, even for twice the money. Good buy, very glad I bought it, should have bought it sooner, would certainly buy it again.