mcnach

Never tried one... but for that money and knowing some of the other stuff they and Behringer do... I doubt it'll be terrible. I have owned and played a few Behringer bass amplifiers and they all did the job pretty well. Bugera is supposed to be a little better, if anything. Just don't pay much attention to the 1000W thing in the blurb. It isn't. But it doesn't matter. It's probably a 100-250W combo, which is very reasonable for the format.

And a better protective case, for not that much money... here: See thread here: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/331800-amplifier-case-mesa-d800-here-but-others-too/

Looking for ways to better protect my amplifier when being loaded in the van with everything else... I came across this plastic case for around £22. https://cpc.farnell.com/unbranded/17051n-079-gpb/plastic-case-515x415x135-black/dp/SG33316 They come in various other sizes, and colours... I went for the black one. It has two layers of foam inside, and I bought an additional 6cm thick block of foam, with precut squares, to allow perfect fit of anything else you want to put in there. Total £34. It arrived today. First impression is good. Not the sturdiest thing (hinges and catches will not last a lifetime), but considering the light-weight of these amplifiers, I think it's a good match. Very light too. It'll fit the amp, cables... and there'll probably be space for a bit more. Pictures to follow...

It helps, but this kind of thing is better fixed at source.

A while ago I had a lovely Tanglewood with that issue. I went to buy nail varnish... and I could not decide whether to buy clear one, or coloured: they had silver, black, metallic purple... The male assistant came to see if I needed help. I very casually told him what I needed (fast drying) and what for... he didn't seem surprised and showed me a range that were cheaper, fast drying, and came in a range of beautiful colours. I even bought a red one to retouch the body of a guitar as well. You can do that... or ground the polepieces, which is what I ended up doing. You just need a bit of foil (or that copper tape with conductive glue, that's really handy) to touch the polepieces from below, and connected to ground. The static noise I see you dealt with already. Just make sure that everything (that needs to be connected to ground) is connected to ground solidly.

TE sounds old fashioned? Meanwhile we play basses largely designed 60 years ago... edit: to add the question mark I missed

Ah, it looks like the SA Tap-tempo switch can be used to toggle between 'channels'... so if you set up a preset using two different overdrive engines on each channel, in parallel, then you can select to alternate between them, or (I think) even rotate between one, the other, and both combined. Now that's worth a look

Received it on Friday. Looks pretty good in person. NOt sure about the bag. It's functional, but I'll probably end up getting one of those plastic light cases (Kinsman and the like) to offer a bit more protection in the future. I don't think I'll but the optional panel. It's a nice idea, but unnecessary. There's enough space below for a 4-way strip, which then allows multiple power supplies, as it may be required if using a few large draw pedals... so I think I'll just keep it as it is and find a way to fit a multiway underneath instead. Light and solid. Good call @cLepto-bass!!!

We used to play a version of "Ghostbusters" with Sea Bass Kid... the downsweep filter was perfect for it. Maybe we'll bring it back

Same here. I like the old SA BEF for all kinds of filter sounds... but you need to tweak to change sounds. The idea of having a couple of little cheap pedals, each with its own 'preset' is very attractive. The Donner is really cool on guitar. I like it more and more. I love those leads like at the beginning of that video, very smooth Satriani-esque in a way... and the Donner Dynamic Wah works very well for that, especially with a stratocaster, but my P90 Les Paul style guitar also sounds great. On bass is a bit limited compared to the BEF, but I like it a lot. It's not easy to get those long decayed dirty sticky sounds like in Sir Psycho Sexy (with an overdrive), but it produces good sounds nonetheless, and it keeps the bottom end, which many others lose, or boost the midrange crazily and just sounds too different from the non-effected signal. Let's see how the TC-61 works out. It's supposed to arrive in a week or so.

Played first gig with it last night. Well lit stage! Still... I did find it a lot nicer to use. Happy with it.

They didn't have them!!! Seriously, a warm yellow/orange with black markers... I would have at least bought a few to test. But I never found them. I saw some close, but with white markers which made them harder to see than the original knobs... Recently I replaced a set of black knobs on a black pedal with yellow chicken head knobs... it works, and the MB resemblance was pointed out

eBay shop: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pointer-Knobs-for-Instruments-Effects-Pedals-Amplifiers-Guitars-Projects-Knobs/263958159865?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=563457262971&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 I chose the cream ones, as the white ones were a little too bright. You planning to do the same?

Having the limit light come on does not seem to indicate what it seems to indicate... if I got it right when reading about it on "the other" forum. There's a gigantic thread about all things Subway and the thing about the limit light comes on often. The designer of the amp is there so he tends to answer those questions. I'm afraid I have not listened well enough to give that answer here The MB800 was an amp I wanted to try before I got the D800+. I've heard nothing but good things... but I'm very happy with the D800+ plus Two10 cabs. It's certainly done every gig I needed without PA support without pushing it a little bit. But I don't play with Motorhead Re: loudness... before I had this, I borrowed a D800 for a bit and tested it side by side with a Streamliner 900 and a MarkBass LMIII (rated at 900 and 500W respectively), using up to 4 TKS S112 cabs together (I had a little series/parallel box to allow certain combinations). The Markbass did not seem a lot quieter than the D800... although the D800 seemed "bigger" somehow. I think that whether we see 500, 700 or 900... the differences are not going to be enormous, but the voicing probably has the largest effect.

If I make mistakes, I make them thoroughly

Aha! Indeed. Yes, if I had intentions to use other midi-capable pedals then fine, but it doesn't look like I am going that way. So... I'll just bend over and use the switches manually and/or get a second or even third Aftershock. Glad I realised this before I bought a Gecko. I had not even thought how they connect together I assumed USB.

Even if a cab is rated thermally for X, there are limits as to how much air a cab is going to move, and people will have the tendency to try to push harder just because they can. Boosting the low end is one way people try to push the limits you find when not having enough speakers. The cab may not get much louder after a certain point even if you put another 100-200W into it... and you keep pushing until... You're clearly safer with a higher rated cab, but not immune.

Sorry to derail this a bit more... but I've just realised something: How do you connect the Gecko to the Aftershock? You need the SA Neuro hub, right? If that's the case... that's getting too expensive and too many extra bits to add on the board... it would be simpler for me to buy a second Aftershock

I'm very surprised to hear that... I mean, it's possible that the MB800 is louder all other things being equal, I don't know... but I'm surprised it can be that much louder that you'd notice a big difference. Unlike a lot of amps out there... the Mesa keeps on giving, the volume knob continues to work. You may need to use it at 1 o'clock as opposed to 11 o'clock on another amp... but that means nothing: you can still turn it and get louder while the second amp will probably have nothing left once you reach the 1 o'clock position. The operation of the master volume on the Mesa is a lot more sensible than in many others out there, and clearly designed to be useful, not to impress people in the shop "look, I barely moved the knob and it's so loud, imagine how much louder it'll get when I turn it all the way!" Another thing is, it depends a lot how you use the adjustable HPF / voicing / bass controls. They have the ability together to make your bass go from Woody Allen to Dwayne Johnson... and everything in between. I used to use a pair of BB2 in the past too. They're good but they're not magic. If you think you're running flat out with a single one, I think you are simply reaching the limits of what a single BB2 can achieve (and be damn loud too), and you're probably treading dangerous territory where you must be close to damaging the speaker... the Mesa has enough power in store to obliterate a BB2 if the controls are not use carefully.

... yeah, still loving it, but I hadto do something. Black on black looks great, however it's not the best for visibility. So I did this. The look is growing on me, it's not my favourite, but at least I can now see the settings clearly and quickly

My issue disliking TE amps was that they were common on rehearsal rooms around here... but typically old, battered things, abused, with speakers in bad shape sometimes... When I've used TE rigs belonging to individuals who looked after them, they were good. The best two were the same combo, a 210 (I forget the actual model), one by itself as stage monitor, and another with an extension cab (a 115 or maybe another 210)... and I really enjoyed those.

As Beedster said, it's more to do with playing style... but the right strings also can help. Not all tapewounds are the same. The Rotosound TruBass are the most doublebassy strings out there, I think.

And I've just ordered the Eno TC-61, which can do up as well as down-sweep... watch this space.

Of course that the context is very important... but to say that you can't judge anything from listening to it alone is just not right. You can't tell *everything* from listening to a bass in isolation, but you do get a lot of information. Furthermore, with experience, you develop an ability to 'educatedly guess' how a certain bass sound would or would not work in a band situation. It's not a black or white thing.