Leaderboard

Real. it’s the body, the sound, the feel....the sweat, the pain, the expense, the awkwardness, the difficulty....but oh the sheer joy!

For obvious reasons, there's always a steady stream of topics on here about amp/cab pairings. Obviously, this issue is by definition subjective but I particularly wanted to flag up how totally chuffed I am with my latest Mesa-cum-Barefaced rig. When the amp arrived on Wednesday, I first tried it flat through my pair of BF One10s - but the sounds were a bit too dark/vintage/moody. So I hooked it up to my Super Compact - and KERRPOW - instant gratification and grinning from ear to ear! Since then all I've changed is to dial the high mids down to between 10 and 11 o'clock and bring the voicing in at 9. To put my comments in context, I'm playing classic covers and my bass is a Maru' Elwood 4a with Haeussel P/JJ with Delano 2-band. I'm not posting this to suggest that it must be right for everybody just because I like it, but to endorse a couple of things that others have already said: the Mesa is an incredibly good amp; and you won't get that excessive 'darkness' that some complain if you pair it with the right cab. Along similar lines, seem to remember McNach reporting that his 800+ (with additional high-pass filtration and bright controls) sounds great through his pair of Two10s.

Baggage handlers would be dying in strange, almost Final Destination type "accidents" if that had been my instrument.

I like to leave the negative comments so everyone can see the poster for what they are. At least they care enough to post a comment. I enjoy the whole process and that's all that's important for me. If other people like the music that's a bonus. If they don't, there's plenty of other music on the net they will enjoy.

I would be going to a different retailer next time! What an attitude to customers

I can see how the poor design leaves that chunk of wood vulnerable. I'd point out to them that if you had caused the damage then you would have just bolted it back together and sent it back under the distance selling rules and they'd be non the wiser rather than highlighting the problem.

I actually think the headstock design is nicer on this than that of the original it's drawn from.

I am your Grandad............

Mine turned up half an hour ago, quick tune up and straplocks on balances nicely on a Comfort Strapp. I ordered a case with it, the headstock just about fits, which I suppose is just enough really.

It's good for spotting and thus avoiding posture problems too, i.e slouching or playing with badly bent wrists, the kind of thing that can cause health problems, bad backs, carpel tunnel etc.

Yeah... I hate it when threads are ruined by discussion, too.

Ta Ped, gosh I look popular....

Thank you very much everyone for the advice! I have managed to source a second-hand SR300 I'm looking forward to getting started with it. Saxondale

I've owned a Euro4 and a couple of Legends, so already very much a fan. Have underlying Spector GAS constantly. Only one thing to do about that, really.

Just to clarify, I’m not the horse referred to in the OP’s title....👍

What makes old *anything* more desirable to some people / more valuable / worth preserving? In a word I’d say it’s ‘heritage’. Today we can generally manufacture products to a far higher standard than in the past: be it dining tables, buildings or even bass guitars. What we can’t do is imbue these items with history and heritage and authenticity... only time can do that. And that’s ultimately what the antiques market is based on. A skilled joiner can build a Victorian style table to the exact same standard as his Victorian counterpart; just as a skilled luthier can replicate a ‘66 Fender Jazz right down to the pickguard screws. But the items will have no true heritage. And heritage is something we humans hold dear - not just in dining tables and bass guitars, but throughout all of our many different cultures. You won’t boil the value of heritage down to a clear and convenient answer in this or any other context (suffice to say it’s part of the ‘human condition’). But it makes for a fun discussion

In a passive cab (so, anything we're talking about here), if there are multiple sockets, they are wired in parallel. There ARE exceptions... but they are very rare. Always worth checking but I really don't know of any modern cab that's not wired in parallel. If an amplifier has multiple speaker outputs, the same story. So you can treat all the sockets the same. Connect your amp to one cab, then use the spare socket in that cab (or a spare socket in the amp if you had one) and connect that to a second cab. Everything is in parallel.

Looking good. I made one like that then decided to re-do it. Turning out ok, finishing touches when I finalise my pedals. Power cables all run underneath a panel that sits in a recess.

This is my 1991 Gibson Thunderbird, but who knows. I'll never know what the difference is unless I play the Benton. Blue

Got one on order with the new SL-2

Those are actually mine 😁, but in trying to figure out what to ask for them I found out they were making them again, so posted that info here.

Probably! But I don´t like 10´s. Twelves and even better - 15" is the perfect match for me. But I´m not looking for amps/cabs. I´m totally home with my gear. It´s still lightweight compared to the Sunn 300T and 2 JCM800-cabs.

Years ago I got a Genz Benz STL-10T. *Slightly* smaller than the One10 and about the same weight. Prodigious output, but not enough for a loud band in a big venue (surprise). If I were buying now, I'd probably go for the One10. The Midget might be more capable, but it's bigger, heavier, and double the price. The extra weight alone could well preclude it from your target use. I use a laptop bag for the head (TC RH450) & gubbins. That makes everything a manageable carry - bass on the back, laptop bag over the shoulder, and cab in hand. For the first time in my life, the bass was the heaviest item and the cab was the lightest....

Have to agree with the above, it looks amazing. Well Done!

Although the Hartke HA3500 is an old amp, it's definitely a good one to go for, as you'll find good ones on the second hand market.

If you go to the Marketplace, all the information you need is there. It'll cost you a small amount for either a single item or a slightly less small amount for a whole year of adverts.

Hi, what does +3 watts mean please? Can't seem to find it....

As an aside, yes they are. In a test that was done with a real Stradivarius (and other classics) and high end modern violins, the concert violinists picked out the modern violin as the better one. When they later redid the test but told the players that it was a real Stradivarius, all of them preferred it. Shows how powerful the mind is over the senses. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/million-dollar-strads-fall-modern-violins-blind-sound-check

Surely it depends what caused the output transistors to blow that is the key here. The blown trannies might by the symptom of the fault rather than the cause...

After some more thinking, I think it must’ve been the output socket. I had previously tried what @Woodinblack suggested above. Unfortunately, that didn’t help, which is why I concluded I didn’t like the pickup - although I thought it was a bit odd. Quite an expensive case of trial and error, I’m afraid... but at least I’m happy with the result. Looks like there’s an expensive pickup going onto the marketplace soon. Thanks again for the helpful replies!

You haven't met me and my rather bulky stature HJ - the aforementioned instrument would be reduced to matchwood if I sat on it.....

do you use your jazz elite in active or passive mode?

When it comes to craftsmanship, things don't necessarily improve. Are any of today's violins better than the ones Stradivarius made, or any of today's painters better than Michaelangelo, or playwrights better than Shakespeare? Genius is genius. What will have improved is technology. Today's pups will, 9 times out of 10, be an improvement on stuff that was around 40 years ago and the same for the electrics / pre-amps. And if I was to hazard a guess at what the two single most important factors on bass tone on the bass itself (as opposed to the rest of the signal chain), I would go for (i) the pups and (ii) the preamp. So give me a modern well designed bass (whether based on a classic body shape or not) made from decent woods, without fear of a warped neck that time and low B string tension have taken their toll on or flaky electrics, and with some great pups and I'm pretty sure I won't be yearning for a better past.

I had the Blackline for a while and whilst it sounded good with my cabs I found it a little underpowered. The extra speakers with the TC combo will certainly give you more volume paired with your cab as you are moving more air. I like Hartke stuff and for the genre you're playing it will sound great. Also check out the Hartke LH500. These are built like tanks, very loud and sell quite cheap at the moment. They also have very basic controls so easy to get a great tone with the valve preamp.

Well the TC 208 can connect up to an extension speaker, giving you 250 watts in total, positives being a 1x15 and 2x8 giving a (probably) fuller sound due to more speakers. Only downside is pairing different speaker sizes can sometimes not work too well - especially if not the same brand. That said, I`ve always lucked out and never had an issue with it myself. Worth taking a punt on that, you can always send it back if it didn`t work, providing you chooese the right seller and return within their specified tim.

Good question by the OP...I've often wondered this same thing too

I agree with you, I lasted six months before ordering a DB after getting my Stagg! I think the clumsy Stagg neck is a good introduction to the awkward real thing if you go that way later.

I used photo booth on my MacBook for the video and recorded the sound at the same time in Logic Pro. Then just import the video into Logic, it’s quite simple to align the two, just drag the video until it aligns with the sound.

yeah I agree to be fair. I think for me either the Psilos or Gelfins Mouradian. Psilos for workmanship (although there is incredible workmanship on the Mouradian) but the finished Mouradian is a bass I could see myself playing. It's a coinflip between them.

A Stagg sounds perfect to me for what you want, I still think the Stagg is good if you want to move onto an acoustic upright later as the neck is fairly deep and the finger board arched, a fretless bass on it's end it ain't!

Got to agree on them being superb quality for the money. I got this a few weeks back (brand new) for £412

When I start recording a video I always snap the G string onto the figerboard. All cameras have their sound recording on and I record the proper sound for use in the video on Cubasis. Doing this gives me a point on the sound track from each camera that I can line up in the editing software. I then group all the tracks together so I can't move any of them out of sync and edit from there. It's a bit like the use of a clapper board used in shooting a film for cinema. Nothing really more complicated than that for me.

Not a fan of the mojomojo as an overdrive. I bought it after reading reviews saying it was good as a bass overdrive but it’s definitely more of a distortion pedal. I have found it impossible to dial a nice subtle overdriven sound. But fine if you want the more distorted sound.

Almost.... its in the same ballpark... It' a great bass... sounds great in passive and active...

Hello all I just wanted to share my new bass with you, a Sirius fretless, made by Xaver Tremel at Franz Bass Guitars in Bavaria. As many BC folk know, I play fretless almost exclusively, and have searched for many years to find "the one". I've come close a few times, most notably with a Veillette Archtop and the ACG Recurve I'm selling at the moment, but with this bass, I truly believe that my search is over The body is walnut, chambered and very slightly curved, with a "thermo" maple top. My understanding of the "thermo" process is the wood is heat treated, which apart from changing the colour also makes it respond in a way that is more typical of older wood (i.e. more resonant, better sustain). The through-neck is a nine piece combination of "thermo" ash, with walnut stripes and what look like maple stringers. The neck has an asymmetric profile (thinner on the treble side than the bass) and also features carbon fibre reinforcement. The fingerboard is ebony, radiused from 10" to 16" and extended (to what would be 32 "frets") all the way to the pickup, so it also makes a great ramp. Scale length is 34.5" I wasn't sure about the end of the fingerboard shape when looking at the pictures initially, as I'd have preferred to see the fingerboard either echo the pickup shape or just have a straight end, but it actually works really well. The hardware is all top notch: Gotoh tuners, and ETS 3D bridge with a lovely ebony-block to pass the strings through the body. The pickup is a Delano Xtender twin coil in line humbucker, with passive electronics of just volume, tone, and a switch to change the output between humbucker, single coil and parallel. In terms of ergonomics, the bass weighs 8 3/4 lbs, but balance is perfect. It's [i]beautifully[/i] put together, and finished in an oil wax finish that feels wonderfully tactile and organic. The carving is smooth, gentle curves, all executed perfectly; you can tell that Xaver trained as a cabinet maker! The neck is amazing. It's thin, front to back, and there are no dead spots anywhere. Every note rings out loud and true - the bass sings - and with the rigid neck and chambered body the sustain is wonderful. String spacing is set at 19mm, so there's load of space, but it can be adjusted up or down should you wish. The electronics are simple but effective. The tone control is useful at every position, unlike on some basses where anything less than "full up" results in a quacky sort of thump. The pickup switch also gives three very different flavours to the tone, so lots of variation on tap at the flick of a switch. Xaver's basses are not cheap, but the minute you hold one you know it's a piece of exquisite craftsmanship Gareth