mcnach

A G&L would be sweet. They don't make a bad instrument. That red one looks amazing!

Good call. I've owned a handful of Vintage instruments, and while more than half had some minor cosmetic faults they were very nice to play.

Very nice! And £150??? that's great! The Thinlines certainly got my eye, although I really want standard Tele pickups, so my finish choices are reduced. But this one is not bad:

Indeed, I have my eye on those too but my experience with the Affinity range has been quite variable. That's why I'm leaning towards the CV range, as every single one I've tried was nice. The guitarist in one of my bands has been using a CV for years, natural/maple, classic looking, feels and sounds great. But the Affinity is attractive too. Some cool colours as well (bright red and orange), although with rosewood fingerboard...

This is exactly what I did. I was at Guitar Guitar and explained to the assistant what I wanted. I got the bass specs as close as possible on the configurator, which produces a string of characters defining that particular configuration. Then at the shop I went through every departure from the one in the configurator. The assistant got to Sandberg, we discussed a few of the alternatives, agreed on a price, and the order was placed. Pretty easy.

Just that. Since the lock down I've been playing guitar more and... I keep wishing for a Telecaster. Instead of that, I bought a PRS SE I found locally as I was missing the dual humbucker thing (I sold all my guitars except for a Stratocaster and a P90 Les Paul type).... and I still want a Tele. I think I'll probably get a Squier Classic Vibe, but there's a few other cheaper alternatives and I'm wondering if any of them are decent. In particular the Harley Benton ones look good and people seem to like the basses. Any experiences? Gotta be maple fingerboard, ideally lacquered/tinted, but definitely maple regardless. November 2020 edit: Metallic red SX and metallic purple Classic Vibe Squier ended up being the winners... but quite a few other cool alternatives out there.

Classy! Well done

I'm a bit like you: I try an amp and I want it to be close to what I want with the EQ set 'neutral' (I was going to say flat, but I just mean with the knobs around the middle), so that I only need minor tweaks. If an amp needs me to cut or boost something a lot, I move on. The Marcus Miller MarkBass is what I wish my LMIII had been but it wasn't available then. Not complaining about the LMIII, but I think the MM is nicer too.

ok, glow in the dark snot green then

Interesting. I find I can get the Mesa D800+ to sound very very similar to the LMIII if I have the voicing control set close to anticlockwise. I don't find the Mesa aggressive (although you can make it be). A while ago I took a Streamliner 900, a D800 (not the plus) and a LMIII with 4x TKS S112 speakers that I connected in various ways, either single speakers, or a pair or two pairs when possible, to a rehearsal room with one of my bands. I fully expected the LMIII to be the weakest, but it was not at all. First of all, when it came to sheer volume, there was nothing much between the three amps. The D800 sounded a bit 'fuller', but of the three I preferred the LMIII slightly. I prefer the D800+ because it's a bit more versatile and I really like the interplay between the adjustable HPF, the voicing control and the bass EQ: full fat bass with good definition and no mud/boom. I use a pair of 4ohm Barefaced Two10, so the Mesa is my go-to amp as it can be used with a 2 ohm load (in addition to the HPF etc etc ), but the LMIII doesn't have anything to feel shy about.

I'm going to find where your next gig is, and replace your cables with pink ones when you're not looking.

I agree. I'd prefer a Marcus Miller version if I were buying a new one, but it's not a big deal (to me).

It is to me. Admittedly I use mostly a Mesa D800+ these days, but I keep an LMIII and I use it at home and take it to some gigs. I have no intention of letting it go: it sounds good, it's small, light and powerful enough. It may not have some of the bells and whistles that other amps have, but it's still a great sounding amp and the built-in VLE/VPF filters are pretty cool.

I think this sounds to a Spanish ear like those bagpipe rock music CDs in Edinburgh's Royal Mile shops must sound like to real scots (not a fan, sorry )

Same here. I met Stewart (ClearTone - Award Session) many years ago and used to buy all my cables from him. I still have some I bought... in 2001-2002.

+1 Good cables, and a choice of colours too, which can be handy: I have 'lost' a few black cables over the years, but since using coloured ones nobody has taken home one of mine 'by mistake' anymore.

I had a Sweet Baby years ago, I liked it on guitar but not on bass. I can't remember what it was exactly about it. Maybe I just had another I liked better, as I remember I bought a few in one go just to find the one I liked best. I do remember liking it on guitar. Ah, so many toys, so little time!

Best get an adjustable one. The Thumpinator is good but it's designed more as a speaker protector, removing frequencies that won't get reproduced well by the speakers, and sounding pretty transparent. An adjustable one allows you to do the same, and more. By turning up the threshold frequency you can empirically find the best setting to remove excessive boom as well. Also, there's something really cool that happens when you combine turning up an HPF's frequency while simultaneously turning up the bass EQ. It sounds counterintuitive, but experiment with it, it allows you to dial in a fat low end that retains definition very well. I 'discovered' that interaction by chance and was a real eye opener.

True. In fact, in cheaper instruments I'd prefer a bolt-on as it gives me a chance to adjust it a lot more than a set neck would. Actually, I prefer bolt on instruments anyway.

If it works for you, great. But not all graphic EQs have a shelving type at the lowest band, and when they do they don't have a sharp slope like an HPF does. They do some of the job, but not as well. An adjustable HPF is even better still. If you could do the same with a graphic EQ nobody would waste their money with HPF units They're close like delays and reverb units are. A delay can be used as a kind of reverb, but very limited.

That was the idea. It would fit in a gigbag's pocket with a couple of cables, strings etc. I mean, small amplifier heads are not rare, but this is another kind of small. I've played with it a bit longer... it's actually pretty nice. No, it won't replace my Mesa D800+ but I'd be happy to play any gig with this. Let me say it again... £119! Why couldn't we have these things when I was a poor teenager starting out? It's strictly clean, 'though. If you want to be able to warm up the sound a bit then the Elf would be a better option. Having said that, the Joyo American Sound pedal or the TCE Spark Booster are very good with the BAM200...

The TCE BAM200 arrived today. This thing is tiny! Tiny, but oh it gets loud! It's definitely a clean amplifier, not like the Elf that you can get a bit of grunt from as you turn up the gain. I was playing it side by side with a MarkBass LMIII, and I have to say I prefer the MarkBass, the BAM200 appears to have a bit of a mid-scoop going on and enhanced lows, with the EQ knobs all at 12 o'clock, but if I turn the mids up a bit and the lows down a bit, it gets to the same ballpark as the LMIII. I am amazed at how loud this thing can get. It may not be my favourite amplifier, but for £119 you get a perfectly useable amplifier that is powerful enough to save a gig, in a package that is barely a bit bigger than a couple of Boss pedals. What's not to like? I think sound-wise I would have preferred the Elf, however the fact that the BAM200 stays clean means I have access to clean bass at any volume and I prefer that. If I want a bit of dirt, I have a selection of pedals I can use for that.

+1 The original USA SUB uses the same 2EQ electronics as the full fat 2EQ Stingray of the period, so whatever the Stingray used would be suitable.

As stated above, bluetooth will have too much latency for recording. However, many (most?) bluetooth headphones allow you you use them with a cable too, so you could probably find a pair that sound good and use them with cable for recording and enjoy the wireless for listening?

Nah, I know what you mean... initial glowing reviews often turn a lot less enthusiastic after a while. The thing with the OC-10 is... it's an effect I was already very familiar with, so unless it physically breaks I'll still like it. Tiny knobs that are difficult to see exactly where they're set to in low light situations, but other than that it's a pretty nice octaver if you want that dirty synthy type of octaver, like an OC-2.