Lozz196

All this is very much about John Deacon, NOT! To get back on track a bit, I`ve just re-read the article about him in this months Bass Guitar Mag - turns out that he refinished one of his Precisions as and when he felt like a change, rather than buy a new one. I think that`s quality, sure he probably had enough money to buy Fender, but keeping with the bass he liked to play/how it sounded, just with a fresh coat of paint, nice one.

I`m certainly no techy expert, but the majority of the cabs I`ve liked the sound of have been sealed. And I far prefer my Ashdown ABM410 now it`s sealed.

Quality, nicely tongue-in-cheek, well done.

A few weeks back I saw The Last Resort at Bedford and JJ, their bassist was using this gear - the event was sponsored by Blackstar I believe. Not sure about on-stage but out front it sounded great, and not that dissimilar from his usual Ampeg SVT.

Why not contact Ashdown and ask for their opinions - give the workshop a call, Dave who works there is a gem, really helpful and should be able to offer the best solution for the cab.

None at all, makes sense to me. Surely any country supporting its own jobs and industry is in principle a good thing. And that row in Wetherspoons above, well I don`t see many there that looked like they`re contenders in the next boxing/martial arts contests, most couldn`t punch their way out of a paper bag.

I have a Cooperstand, link below. Folds up nice and small and is pretty stable when the bass is on it. I don`t really get to play many gigs where I need it as it`s usually 15min turnaround gigs, so bass is last out of the case/first in but always nice to have it just in case it`s needed. https://www.cooperstand.com/products/ecco-g

The bassist in The Cockney Rejects uses one of these, he gets a great sound from it. I think a lot of people associate the Darkglass products with gain/metal sounds but having heard said CR bassists tone they`re capable of some quality tones as well as the gainy stuff.

That`s what I was going to suggest too, quality bits of kit. If the Sansamp tone isn`t for you then maybe a Zoom B3/B3n - similarly you can set up patches for each instrument.

Thanks Paul, didn`t think of on-line, doh. Just read it and far from a character assassination I think it portrays him as a fairly ordinary, genuine man, who was in one of the best/biggest bands in the world, and a man who was devastated by the death of a mate. Also seems pretty grounded and down to earth, which must have been rather hard to keep a grip of, being in Queen, the most flamboyant, over the top band ever.

Not read it, and won`t. Nothing to do with the hysterical hate the mail ethos, it`s just that I don`t buy the paper, and no-one at work today has a copy either. I`m pretty much in agreement that JD from the tv show last night seemed the most grounded, and from what I understand his reasons for slipping away from the public eye seem to be pretty sensible to me.

I bought my first ever Sansamp BDDI from there. An added extra thrown in was being taught how to play Down In The Tube Station, by The Jam when the sales-guy was demoing said BDDI.

For a small footprint tuner the Pitchblack Mini is good, and unlike many of the smaller ones it runs on batteries so no need for PSUs etc. Nice an accurate too.

OBBM for speaker leads, Fender for instrument leads.

From the isolated track, especially on the slap bass I’d say yes, in all likelihood a P-bass. Not sure if the distortion/gain is pedal or valves being pushed but s nice sound in the mix.

Pretty much the same for me, I prefer a chunkier.

It will be fine with the single 8ohm cab, as above it just means that you`ll be sending 275 watts to the cab, rather than the 450. Sounds a lot but in terms of decibels probably not that much difference.

Def, I`ve been through similar to the OP, had the lightweight gear but have gone not quite full-circle and ended up with Ashdown ABM amps/cabs. Not super-heavy but nothing like as light as some of the gear I had, however as per the quote above, the sound is more important to me - at present. At some point it`s inevitable that the ABMs will become too heavy as I get older, in which case step forward the Ashdown RM range. A quality lightweight range of amps & cabs that are much lighter but in all honesty don`t sound that different until you get on a very big stage, at which point you notice the weightier presence in the sound.

I think it looks great, if I had the transport and roadies required I’d have something similar tho have to admit the only gigs I (seldom) do where such a rig could be used provide the back-lines anyway. But my large Kemp style rig would be 2 x Ashdown ABM600s with 2 matching 810s. Oh for regular gigs that could warrant it.

I’d say the easy answer to this, in respect of being a bassist in a band is playing what the songs require, with a sound that fits what the band requires. Much like Cliff Williams as mentioned above. Of course there are many other aspects but getting these right to me have to be the priority.

Ashdown RM, Fender Rumble, TC Electronic BG, all should be plenty for pub gigs unless you have a shed-builder on the drums.

Years ago I had a bigger collection of both basses and guitars, nowadays it`s only basses, currently 6, of which 5 are US 2012-16 Series Fender Precisions, and a backup Vintage V4 Tony Butler Precision. I`m offloading one of the US ones simply as 5 is too many. I know that 4 is too really, but 2 of them are for gigs then 2 are home use - 1 maple fretboard, 1 rosewood. I`d like a Jazz as I always feel the need for one when I don`t have one, but in real terms it`s something I don`t need but would like. The only bass I have that I don`t use is my Vintage V4 as it`s a backup. Once however it`s been given a new coat of paint it`s going to be my flight-bass, so I don`t have to take an expensive Fender with me on those darn planes.

They`re good cabs, the Retro 210s, need a tad more high-end on the amp due to one of the speakers only doing the lows but they really have a good warm sound to them - and if warm is desired then the pairing with the Ashdown RM (well any Ashdown imo) is really gonna make sense & smiles.

I must admit having had a few 70s Fenders that I`m amazed at how people really look down on them. Maybe I lucked out but mine were fine, one was rather heavy, one was very light, and another had simply the most aggressive tone I`ve ever had in a bass. But all played well enough to make me think that either I picked the only three good ones or that someone else was unfortunate enough to pick the only three bad ones.

It did indeed, and in the Precision challenge the winner was RW as well.