Gareth Hughes

Folks - thanks for all the food for thought. More experiments will continue. I like the bypassing the amp pre and going straight into the power amp idea, but the Streamliner pre really is lovely. There's a softness to it that I'm loving after a lifetime of being a solidstate user. And for that reason I'm finding the Markbass LMK a little too dry sounding now.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1368273925' post='2075173']... That would make me think that the amp is to blame as much as the cabs. The Streamliner has very limited EQ and has a big "pillowy" bass, as do Epifani cabs, therefore all this low end is probably overpowering what mids there are. [/quote] Yep, and that's the conundrum - wanting to use, and not have to replace, my Epifani cabs because they work great in some regards but with the Streamliner not so much. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. And not end up with a pile of different cabs!!!

Mr.Foxen - you're right. Ish. I love the cabs for my electric basses, and with my Markbass head, but for my upright bass and the Streamliner they just seem to have a blanket over them. And I'm reluctant to sell them because they work in so many ways but one. And then the geek in me wants to get another neutral cab, but then it feels like a case of having a cab for Monday, a cab for Tuesday, etc...

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1368268888' post='2075101'] Usually you cannot put back what is not there. However, a graphic before the amp may allow you to cut the frequencies that you have too much of & maybe even a slight boost to where the missing frequencies are could help too. [/quote] Yep, that's the problem. And cutting the lows to accentuate the mids seems to result in a bit of an anemic sound.

Hey folks - I'm hoping some of you more technically minded people can help me with this conundrum: I have a few Epifani cabs which I love for the most part. The part I don't love is that they can be mid-shy with certain amps, in particular my Genz Benz Streamliner. So my question is this - rather than selling these cabs and buying ones that are reported to have more mid-range emphasis, like some Gallien Krueger cabs or the Genz Benz Focus cabs, can I use a parametric DI to bring the mid-range back to life or am I trying to shine a light on something that isn't there in the first place? I have tried using the extra EQ approach, and it seems to work for the most part, but the downside is that it alters the DI signal a little too much, so it's fixing one problem but creating another at the same time. Any help and advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

OK folks - I'm ready to take these off and send them so who is next? I think I screwed the order up on the first page, so is it p_w_m or someone else? Review to follow!!

Sadly piano scores are more frequent that I'd like - which is a real pain when there's a repeat of several pages!!! One way to get used to it is to practice them on a five string bass as these below-the-stave notes are (with the exception of Bb and A) all found on the B string up to the fifth fret.

That's something about a train station, right?

NIce one. Go for the original black. I had a late 70's one that was as sexy as all get out. Were it not for my short arms I'd have happily kept the beast.

Hey Chris - and welcome. Mainz is a good place, did a good gig there once in the SWR studios. I've just come home from a five week tour of Germany. Been touring there since 2001, about 10 tours by now, and sadly the most I can say is 'Ein cafe zum mit nehmen' and I'm sure I've just spelt that wrong. Anyway - welcome and enjoy!!!

A Boss TU-2 does the job fine for me (and has a handy 1Mohm impedence). Try plucking the string close to the bridge or the nut - can make it easier for the tuner to read the note. Or the octave harmonic.

You know you need a tester for your Meatball clone And for the SFT clone too

NIce one.

Think Thomann sell the volume pedal version of this. Yep, here it is: http://www.thomann.de/gb/amt_llm_1.htm

9 pages of feedback?!?!?!?! It's because the bloke is a legend. Just bought a GK MB500 amp from him. We're at direct debit stage now. Buy with supreme confidence and lust. (For the man and the gear, in that order.)

Fraid not Milty. Haven't been to Nutt's Corner in a lifetime - back in the bootleg gigs on cassette's days.

Knees get done because that's what we do!!!! Rally really well. And riot loads. We all thought your London riots were sooooooo cute. Make it a yearly thing and well swap secrets about which tyres burn best. I jest everyone. Just some black humour from the black North. Welcome Electric Wizard, and bout ye!!!

Best bet is to write to the Genz Benz engineer that's on Talkbass a lot - agedhorse. Or email GB directly. Usually pretty quick with their responses.

If you have any Boss pedal handy, try it first before spending any money on a new preamp. Boss pedals have a high enough impedance that works well with piezo pickups, IMO. Worth a try. I used to run my pickups into a Fishman Dual Parametric DI first, because it had a really high, 10 Megohm impedance input - thinking that the higher the better - but it ended up resulting in too much low end coming thru. The lower impedance of 1 Megohm on the Boss pedals seems to filter out those nasty low's perfectly for me.

Bring a book!!! There's more down time than you'd expect. Oh - and hello, don't think we've officially met but I play with Farriers. See you around.

The strings that came on it are more than likely little more than what are affectionately known as bridge holders. A good set of strings can cost £80-100 which is steep compared to electric bass strings, but the difference they make is worth every penny. Another thing might be to have your bass looked at by a good luthier. Ask your nearest orchestra to find out who does their repairs. It might cost the guts of another £100 to have a fingerboard dressed and your bridge height adjusted, but in hindsight I would pay ten times that to have made my first bass more playable. Being ignorant about the benefit of a good set-up or strings when I started playing, I suffered the most horrendous bass for about three years before learning that life could really have been a lot more simple.

Don't forget to dampen the afterlength of your strings (the bit between the bridge and the tailpiece) as they can cause feedback too. Took me ages to figure that out.