dan670844

[quote name='chrisd24' post='863851' date='Jun 10 2010, 11:25 PM']I recently played at a jam night with some lads im in a band with and i played through an amp owned by the pub the jam was at, it looked like an old peice of sh*t but sounded....well...really oomphie! I know im probably not making sense here but the stack i use had no where near the presence and clarity of this bashed up old 150 watt combo, so now im thinking of changing my cabs/amp or maybe both as this had really done my nut! any suggestions on how i can give my own amp and cabs a lift (peavey tour 450 head, 2 x yammy 2 x 10 cabs) or maybe suggestions for what new gear i might possibly buy next would be most appreciated.[/quote] Alright All the suggestions advice is pretty good stuff so far . But what no one has mentioned is where the little 150 watter was at the gig? If it was in a corner of a room, it will make a very big difference to the largeness of the sound. If the amp was on a false floor etc it will also make a big difference. Another point is how high was this combo? if it was off the deck on a solid surface it will also make a big difference. Bass is a funny if you can get your little amp to be in a corner of a room it will sound so much bigger and be much louder. It makes a such a big difference. Another point is the fact that with a big stack the bass power is developed much further out from the amp. It might sound weedy and thin and not very loud/ muddy/ terrible close up but ten foot out plus and you might be popping people's ribs. D

I use a Little Giant LG1000 for rehearsals with a superfly 48 cab. I have always loved the cab, for the size its amazing, lots of punch, volume and very warm. The LG sounds pretty good too as its voiced for this cab (it sounds pants through anything else I have,). The only issue is that I have some problems with preamp gain when using my old jazz basses there simply isn't enough. Anyway our singer has a cheapo revalved ART Mic Pre £37 from Gak (the valve one). I hooked it up to this set up and was blown away, the tone is amazing, warm fat and very well defined. Just thought I would share it with you!! So if you are stuck with a LG1000 or 350 that you think is too quiet and you think its a little harsh / thin, Give one of these dudes a go, but change the valve! £50 quid all in to make you like it can't be bad! D P.S. He has changed the tube to a Harma 12AX7 as the chinese made original was not that good, and it died pretty quick

[quote name='urbanx' post='859745' date='Jun 7 2010, 12:29 PM']Hey, I know this has been bought up before, but it’s a re-occurring problem. We have a gig on Sunday, four bands, we’re on third. I’ve been asked to bring all my gear to share, because [i]“One of the bands has a guitar amp” [/i] WTF!! So among the other SIX guitarists, and THREE Bassists only ONE of them can bring their amp!! How do they practise? I have lent my amp out once before. And it got broken. Not dented or scratched. Fried. Not sure what they put in it, but it completely killed two Hartke 210XL’s and my Hartke HA3500 Head. I went out the next day and had to buy all of my gear again. £887. I lent it to two bands, so first band said “It was working when we used it” and second band said “wasn’t working when we used it”. Thus both avoiding blame. I really don’t want to bring my nice amp on Sunday now. But then again it kills me to have all this nice gear sitting at home, and here I am considering buying a crappy amp just to lend out at gigs. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I’m going out my mind here![/quote] Yes this really really annoys me................. Noobs turning up with either no amp, no guitar even, and assuming that they can just borrow / use anything. I don't let anyone use my gear at all anymore. The last P@@k who I let use my stuff didn't like it when I came on stage and adjusted his eq mid song. The t@@@@r boosted the lows i.e 20 - 50Hz right up by 12db and had the time honoured smiley face eq to such an extreme he cut all the mids out and prob wondered why he couldn't hear himself. Just stand your ground and say no........ or to avoid bad feeling say you gotta run / leave and won't be coming back even if you don't (and you gotta take your amp) it always works, or C say its an endorsment rig and you are the only one aloud to use it hehehe!!!

[quote name='lojo' post='856542' date='Jun 3 2010, 08:51 PM']doesn't matter what we do, the guitarists will also find an extra bit on their dial! But yes, we seem to be louder as far as pubs/clubs are concerned, or am I just older? I used to get away with a 160w combo in some gigs, that would be out of the question these days[/quote] Yep, very true, but you can always unscrew one of his power valves before he lights up, the advantages of open back getard combos!!!!

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='857043' date='Jun 4 2010, 11:50 AM']I modded my Jap Jazz about 18 months back with 84's and love em. I now want to mod my old US 97 Jazz and I am considering some Hammers? I like a bit of dark growl, but will it be too dark? I play rock, pop, indie, phychodelic country, middle of the road gumph covers band. everything really. I'm leaning on getting some Hammers at the moment just for a bit of variety. It all goes through my MarkBass SA450 and 2x12 Bergs. Any thoughts appreciated as always. Cheers Mr F.[/quote] I have 64's and 84's in my jazzers, the scatterwounds, I prefer the sound of the 64's the 84's are too deep for me. But the 84's get used, both are amazing pickups. I think the 64's and an Audere preamp are an amazing combination

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' post='852293' date='May 31 2010, 01:26 AM']For about a year, I used an Ashdown EB180-18 Combo paired with a P Bass I modded the living hell out of Use to gig the pair together week in, week out and absolutely loved the tone from it But when I got hard up for cash, I sold EVERYTHING apart from my beloved Tobias bass (18th Birthday present, serious sentiment levels) After I got money again, I got the Trace Elliot head and Marshall cab Don't get me wrong the Trace Elliot is one of the best bass amps I've ever used but when ever I watch old videos back of when I was in my old band, I can't help but go "ohhh, I do love that bass tone..." Basically, is there an Ashdown out there with a 12 Band EQ slider on it? Or are there any Ashdown heads you guys can recomend that will give me a really thumpy low end and a real trebley punch? I know you guys are in the know on this sorta thing so let me know! Stevie.D[/quote] ASHDOWN MK500 is basically like an old Series 6 GP12 Preamp (My opinion the best) You can get any type of tone you want from it From Steve Harris to Mark King. It uses a massive (over spec) torriodal transformer so has got a big dynamic range, so it never runds out of low end juice, just like the old traces. check it out. Its not for the faint heart though its flipping loud, if i wasnt a rack mount geezer these days I would go for one.

[quote name='walbassist' post='856478' date='Jun 3 2010, 07:53 PM']I'm using one. It's very light and has the potential to go very very loud. Seems to be usual PV reliability so far.[/quote] What I am really trying to ask is what is the transient response / dynamic range like. I know class D / H stuff can be loud. I tried one of thoose little shuttle dudes and have an LG1000 Superfly 48 rig for rehearsal, but both of them have hardly any dynamic range. I.e. difference between digging in and not. The only heads that have this these days is Genz Benz GBE750 or an Ashdown MK , Marshall DBS. But I guess most people don't like this! and I wanna use my preamp!

[quote name='dood' post='856322' date='Jun 3 2010, 05:30 PM']Hey Dan, if I can sway you 'digi' wise. I think with a decent D-Class (Or H,or the other varieties) there is no reason why they can't be as good as or better than 'non digi' stuff. I hate the term 'digital' in reference to D-Class gear, as it *isn't* digital, but that's a rant for another day lol. I've heard good things about the IPR gear, though not used them. If you want to get some reviews on how power amplifiers perform driving deep bass in to huge subs and which are the best (which I think is a pretty good test for us bass players) go here: [url="http://forum.speakerplans.com/"]http://forum.speakerplans.com/[/url] I'm really pleased to see that a power amp I used to own is at the top of the pile for superior performance. That's anything by Powersoft - and they are all D-Class, 1 unit high and pushes out a real 2KW RMS. That's a good dynamic range for- well - any situation![/quote] Cheers Dood, Hehe I know what you mean about class D H stuff but if you start saying stuff like switch mode power supply, you rapidly get the old glazed look. An ideal solution would be two 1U power amps one bridged for the my lows and one the for a stereo top. Then I can split if one goes down in an emergency. If you think the powersofts are up to it I will check them out Cheer Dan

Hi is anyone using a Peavey IPR1600 in there rack? I am using Crowns at the mo, have these got enough guts to drive the lows? enough puff. I am using Crown Torroidal tranny stuff at the mo (lots of spare juice) . I have not been impressed with this new wave of digi stuff so far. I like a big dynamic range at my fingers see, when I am playing. Ta Dan

[quote name='merello' post='855337' date='Jun 2 2010, 08:25 PM']Indesit not good enough? [/quote] He He you profile pic is the funniest thing Have seen in ages............

[quote name='ironside1966' post='854759' date='Jun 2 2010, 12:49 PM']Thinking of getting a Line 6 LowDown 110. I need to rehearse with a few different bands I am not expecting miracles but I do not want to work with bands that are not sensible with the volume. Will this amp work for and are there any better alternatives? Size, it needs to be small as it will be stored in my studio and there is far too much stuff in there already. It needs to be light I cannot lift much because of health reasons, size is more important. Price I don’t want to spend more then £400[/quote] To be honest for £400 you could pick up a second hand ASHDOWN LG350 and either the 2104H 2x10+horn or if you prefer old school the 15" cab. Everyone goes on that these heads arent loud enough, but if you use em with the superfly cabs they are very loud, and the eq really makes sense with the cabs as it is voiced for them. My rehearsal rig / warm up rig is a LG1000 and a superly 48 cab, I use it almost everyday, its great, everything is stupidly light and compact, the 48 and the 15 are very loud bassy cabs. The 2104 is more your rock / mark king type stuff. I played a gig at someones party outside with the LG1000 and 48 this sunday gone, as i didnt have anything else to hand / couldn't be arsed and it was pretty loud enough at 10 oclock. The heads go on fleabay for knowt (£100) as most people try and use em with other cabs the 15 cab is around £300 brand new. Its an awesome uk made job. You will get a very clear high fi sound with this and a very warm tone Otherwise I would consider the Hartke Kickback 12 or 15 or the LD300 (its not that heavy) or even the Nemesis EN15, or some of the Laney products (very underated stuff, it sounds good) or if you can stretch to the Nemesis NS210 (£600) you won't go far wrong this is a great little amp. As the previous poster said, the Little lowdown is nice but will get lost against a drum kit and a couple of guitars even at volume regardless of watts available a single 10 just won't cut through, but shop around you ideally want a 2x10, 12" 15".

[quote name='ironside1966' post='854807' date='Jun 2 2010, 01:22 PM']Good point well made I do suspect that they massage the figures to make them more consumer friendly. Power amps are now rated at 2 ohms but only the best will not overheat after a few minuets . Compare a Vox AC 30 to a Laney S S amp what a difference[/quote] But also Laney valve amps are nice the new nexus valve and FET range is very good, but can you find anyone who stocks it! hell no

[quote name='henry norton' post='854948' date='Jun 2 2010, 02:54 PM']Yes I am a bit sad to let it go and if it doesn't reach reserve I'll quite happily hang onto it. I can't really justify having two amps kicking around at the moment but if it does go I am quite excited at the prospect of finding something completely different. (I've been following the purple chilli thread). You're right about the Bassman though - problem is the few things that [i]are[/i] in them are mostly made of iron! If only aluminium was magnetic....... Thanks for all the suggestions by the way - I still like MarkBass but haven't tried a Genz, Little Giant, Eden yet so there's still some testing to do, and that's [i]if[/i] my old amp sells.[/quote] Little Giant is a good amp if you use the superfly cabs if you can find a superfly 48 cab and pair it with a LG1000 they sound nice and warm and are really light and loud or a LG350 and the 15 cab. DON'T buy one if you can't find any superfly cabs you will be disappointed with it, i.e. it won't be loud enough, sound to toppy. The superfly cabs are very good, but the combination is a little expensive! cheap amp expensive cab. For my money I would be looking towards a Genz shuttle 600 with a valve pre and the Neo 212 you will love it

[quote name='cameltoe' post='854882' date='Jun 2 2010, 02:22 PM']Should I be using an 8 Ohm cab or a 4 Ohm cab? It says 'speaker output 4 Ohms' I might connect up the 4x10 Hartke drivers from my combo just to see what it can do, but I don't want to blow anything up by connecting the wrong Ohm cab[/quote] I would assume that the internal driver is 8 ohms in which case you can connect another 8 ohm cab this will give you 4 ohms and max output. sometimes combos have a 4 ohm speaker already fitted so you cant add another cab. If your Trace combo has two outputs for speakers on the back then you can put 8ohm cab on it. I would be careful connecting the speakers from the Hartke as it might be a 4ohm cab already, in which case..............bang. Better of getting an old 1518 trace cab me thinks

[quote name='Gust0o' post='854887' date='Jun 2 2010, 02:24 PM']Boiling bass strings? Thoughts people? This is a new one on me; I've heard of people cleaning strings, or treating them, but not boiling them.[/quote] Tried a tested way of getting a few more gigs out of some ropey strings if you are down on beans. If you like the bright sound of new strings etc and its useful if you are down on beans etc and your strings won't intonate!! as they are full of grease and bits of your fingers!!!!

[quote name='ironside1966' post='854759' date='Jun 2 2010, 12:49 PM']Thinking of getting a Line 6 LowDown 110. I need to rehearse with a few different bands I am not expecting miracles but I do not want to work with bands that are not sensible with the volume. Will this amp work for and are there any better alternatives? Size, it needs to be small as it will be stored in my studio and there is far too much stuff in there already. It needs to be light I cannot lift much because of health reasons, size is more important. Price I don’t want to spend more then £400[/quote] I did a gig with a LD300 once, I thought no......... have I got to play through that................. I was pleasantly suprised, whatever anyone says the tone was ok, as long a you don't mess with the eq, it really doesn't work so well. The presets were nice and useable. I guess the 110 uses the same digi front end. Enjoy its a very versatile amp, the amp I mentioned is now one of the rehearsal amps at a rehearsal room, so has put up with a good few years of abuse, it still works great. You could also check out some of the Hartke combo they are cheap and good workhorses the 12" kickback thing produces some nice bass. Its a bit dumb though it keeps falling over!!!

[quote name='ironside1966' post='854807' date='Jun 2 2010, 01:22 PM']Good point well made I do suspect that they massage the figures to make them more consumer friendly. Power amps are now rated at 2 ohms but only the best will not overheat after a few minuets . Compare a Vox AC 30 to a Laney S S amp what a difference[/quote] He he 2 ohms cheap power amp no names mentioned but it begins with beh 4 ohms great 2 ohms nooooooooooooo!! moral buy a peavey or a crown!

[quote name='ironside1966' post='854735' date='Jun 2 2010, 12:37 PM']Are old amps louder or are bands playing louder nowadays? In the seventies and 80’s very few bass had above 200w but few complained. Is it that the old gear was big and heavy and more efficient? I understand that some people want Hi tones which take up more head room.[/quote] Its all to do with speaker efficiency and the amount of surface area you have on the speakers. You can easy gig with 100 watts if you have speakers that are sensitive enough and you have enough surface area. That was the era of the massive stacks (i.e. lots of speakers). High sensitvity speakers need less watts to move so are much more efficient with the power, the problem is they are expensive to make and tend to blow quite frequently. Another point is how the RMS figure is measured. Most modern amps have there RMS quoted at 1Khz for example. A lot of older stuff in Particular the old Trace / Marshall/ Ampeg stuff the RMS figure is quoted across a frequency range. Which means that they can deliver their watts down as low as 100hz or so. This is why noobs are always amazed at how loud an old AH300 is. There is a big difference between 300watts at 100hz and 300 watts at 1Khz as the low freq takes a lot more power to create. Noone can ever say that an old SVT with its puny 300watts through its high sensitivity 8x10's isnt loud. It will literally take you head off on full bore and would be far too loud, and I cannot really see a call for so much volume in any application these days with house sound. Also everyone wants deep full bass from tiny little boxes these days, that you can do but you need a lot of power to get these modern long excusion drivers moving enough to generate the bass that you want at a sensible Db rating. The 60's and 70's era rock band was loud and I mean spine tingly hurting loud, you will never see that level of heavy bass again due to health and safety!!! A few years back I saw Black Sabbath at a private warm up gig in Aylesbury civiv centr, as it was a closed show Geezer had his old SVTs cranked, that was so loud it literally made you ribs rattle, if anyone else made it there they know what I mean! ................nice

[quote name='dan670844' post='854677' date='Jun 2 2010, 11:43 AM']By the way this is what a Fujigen-Gakki body looks like bare!! this is a 95 one, one of the last, you can see no bad joins, filler, This one was black I had it refinished in CAR like the other one.[/quote] oops wrong pic!! that my Red Alder /Alder / Red Alder experiment!!!

[quote name='KevinJazzBass' post='852842' date='May 31 2010, 07:03 PM']Hi guys, I have posted this in the general discussion but then I realised it might be better here. I'm really interested in getting myself a JV Jazz bass because I love jazz basses and I've heard about how great these basses are to play. I think that alot of sellers set their prices way too way high based upon reputation, condition and how rare these instruments are becoming, up to £1200 if you want one from our German ebay friend or generally between £600 and £950 from private sellers on ebay and on here. However I have been looking around in the internet I and I cant seem to find much evidence of buyers ever paying much more than around £550 and most basses not selling because of the seller wanting too much. Am I missing something?? I guess the real question is, is the bass really worth it once you have played it. Im going to try a JV jazz tomorrow. It is a 1983 in real nice condition and I have managed to knock the seller down to £750, however I cant help feeling i still might be getting ripped off. Am I really be able to sell this bass on without losing alot of £££ or will it even go up in value? What do you guys think? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks Kev[/quote] By the way this is what a Fujigen-Gakki body looks like bare!! this is a 95 one, one of the last, you can see no bad joins, filler, This one was black I had it refinished in CAR like the other one.

pics

[quote name='dan670844' post='854644' date='Jun 2 2010, 11:22 AM']Here is my main bass its an 86 MIJ. It is lovely to play, why? the answer is the neck, its a work of art. The necks where made in Japan for Fuji by a company called Atlansia, it has a very thick curved Brasilian rosewood fingerboard like an original Fullerton job. Would I pay £XXX pounds for it, would I pay £XXXXXX pounds for a original one..................... hell no!!!!! Its an immotive subject but, all Fenders are mass produced instruments! yeh the old ones that have made it, and the JV play great, why? because they have been fettled and refined over the years and used most probably by a pro who know how a guitar should play. Yes the necks are pretty special on these ones, but you can get Atlansia to make one to fit your bass, whatever they are luthiers!! You can also get a luthier to make you one that plays amazing out of the box for less money than a old un. Just get your guitar set up properly, get the frets profiled properly, truss rod adjusted and pickups, bridge intonation all present and correct. Get some scatterwound pickups for your jazz forget, SD Antiquities , blah blah blah they are all machine wound the original pickups were handwound by old ladies. scatterwounds sound a lot better and catch a lot more sound...... i dont know why!!!. Give Andy a ring at Wizard pickups he will do you a set for £70!!!!!![/quote]

[quote name='KevinJazzBass' post='852842' date='May 31 2010, 07:03 PM']Hi guys, I have posted this in the general discussion but then I realised it might be better here. I'm really interested in getting myself a JV Jazz bass because I love jazz basses and I've heard about how great these basses are to play. I think that alot of sellers set their prices way too way high based upon reputation, condition and how rare these instruments are becoming, up to £1200 if you want one from our German ebay friend or generally between £600 and £950 from private sellers on ebay and on here. However I have been looking around in the internet I and I cant seem to find much evidence of buyers ever paying much more than around £550 and most basses not selling because of the seller wanting too much. Am I missing something?? I guess the real question is, is the bass really worth it once you have played it. Im going to try a JV jazz tomorrow. It is a 1983 in real nice condition and I have managed to knock the seller down to £750, however I cant help feeling i still might be getting ripped off. Am I really be able to sell this bass on without losing alot of £££ or will it even go up in value? What do you guys think? Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks Kev[/quote] Here is my main bass its an 86 MIJ. It is lovely to play, why? the answer is the neck, its a work of art. The necks where made in Japan for Fuji by a company called Atlansia, it has a very thick curved Brasilian rosewood fingerboard like an original Fullerton job. Would I pay £XXX pounds for it, would I pay £XXXXXX pounds for a original one..................... hell no!!!!! Its an immotive subject but, all Fenders are mass produced instruments! yeh the old ones that have made it, and the JV play great, why? because they have been fettled and refined over the years and used most probably by a pro who know how a guitar should play. Yes the necks are pretty special on these ones, but you can get Atlansia to make one to fit your bass, whatever they are luthiers!! You can also get a luthier to make you one that plays amazing out of the box for less money than a old un. Just get your guitar set up properly, get the frets profiled properly, truss rod adjusted and pickups, bridge intonation all present and correct. Get some scatterwound pickups for your jazz forget, SD Antiquities , blah blah blah they are all machine wound the original pickups were handwound by old ladies. scatterwounds sound a lot better and catch a lot more sound...... i dont know why!!!. Give Andy a ring at Wizard pickups he will do you a set for £70!!!!!!

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='854580' date='Jun 2 2010, 10:43 AM']Well, until you adjust the truss rod to compensate for the change, chances are the string change [i]will[/i] have altered the curve of the neck, due to differences in tension. That (combined with the recent changes in weather) could have caused your troubles. I know the recent hot spell has caused a couple of my basses to need truss rod tweaks. That's where my knowledge ends, sadly. But seriously, every time I change strings, I check the neck relief (and adjust if required), saddle heights (and adjust if required) and intonation (and... wait for it... adjust if required). I rather enjoy the ritual. I'm looking forward to doing it tonight, actually. (Why's there no "massive nerd" emoticon on here?)[/quote] If the tech says there is a twist and its not so bad they can reprofile the higher frets on the low strings to compensate. All the old jazz basses I have suffer from a bit of twist on the E and A string, to a certain degree, its a design fault of the original necks, a little bit of fettling usually brings em right. But do not try this at home................

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='854584' date='Jun 2 2010, 10:45 AM']Thanks guys. Will try some new strings a re-set it up and see if that helps I think. I am slightly concerned about the neck though. Will have another look at it this afternoon as it was only slight. Hopefully with another set up it would work itself out but if not does anyone know what can be done about it? It's a thru neck design so new neck isn't really an option. Will adjusting the truss rod sort out the slight twist? I've not adjusted the truss rod before [/quote] If you have put heavier strings on it. You will def have to adjust the relief on the neck.!! My advice get it set up properly by a shop. Then you will know what it should feel like when its set right. Then you have a reference point to make your own adjustments.