dmccombe7

Back in the good old days Anderson and Wakeman were always gonna be a hard act to follow and i thought TH did an ok job. Then again i'm not a mad fanatic for YES so my opinion is not coming as a fan of them but more of what i thought the Yeggles sounded like as a band. Anyone that was a genuine YES fan were always gonna slate the replacements no matter whether good or bad. Anyone that can front Buggles with Video Killed the Radio Star has to be a good frontman Dave

Never been a huge fan of YES but i liked Close To The Edge and Going For The One. I think i prefer Going For The One these days tho. Saw them as Yeggles and thought they were pretty good. Never managed to see the original line up tho. Dave

How do you add someone's tag like you've done.

Nice meeting you last night Billy. Sorry i couldn't talk more but had an early rise this morning to get to Aviemore Harley rally and headed off soon after getting changed and loaded last night. Got quite busy for the Quo band. Hopefully catch up with you again as we might be doing some other joint gigs with the Quo guys. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your night. I've heard the moothie you did with them went down well tho. A man of many talents sir. All the best Dave

Oddly enough our singer and drummer have gone in-ears for monitoring mainly the vocals to be fair. I'm not informed enough to know how all the in-ears stuff works within a band context. I get how the singer is using it tho but no idea how your in-ears work with the bass and how it conects the rest of the band. Do you feed the full band into your in-ears or can you adjust the bass itself kind of thing. Wonder if there's a thread on this. To be honest i like having my rig behind me plus i use the smooth hound wireless and i know there's a strong debate on BC that wireless bass plus wireless in ears causing a significant latency issue. Dave

Think the lightweight cabs might be worthwhile buying but its the amps i've never had great success with on the lightweight route. Tried Genz, Markbass and EBS and they seem to lack something altho on hindsight my Genz Streamliner was pretty close to what i like and the designer from Genz is the same guy who designed the Subway amps so maybe i need to try one first. I'm liking my Mpulse and 212 cab so much that even the attraction of lightweight isn't quite strong enough yet to make me change but as i get older who knows. Dave

Brilliant. Good to know someone was reading my post My laptop has some issues with double letters for some reason. Its probably getting old like me. However that description does seem appropriate in a weird kinda way. Dave

That is absolutely gorgeous sir. Such a simple rig too but your tone was so nice. Thanks for sharing.. Much appreciated altho i now have severe GAS for a Limelight again. Dave

Few yrs ago i was in a "friends" of Deep Purple tribute band covering anything that was related to DP incl Whitesnake, Rainbow, Sabbath etc. Band were forever arguing usually guitarist and keys player and i decided i'd had enough and left. The band went thru about 5 or 6 bass players in 6-9mths and eventually persuaded me to come back. When i played with them at the next rehearsal the guitarist made a comment halfway thru that has stuck with me. "that's what Dave brings to the band" What he meant was the drive commitment and energy to play the songs. I was quite chuffed with that. Many many yrs ago while trying a bass out in our local music store a couple of guys came over and said they "wished they could get a bass player like me" Both those comments were about 30yrs apart so i guess i still have it. My current band recently told me in a roundabout conversation that bass players of my calibre are hard to find but maybe they were just smoth talking me. Either way i'm taking every compliment i can get. Dave

Yep think the Mpulse is the amp i've been waiting on for many years. I downloaded the manual when i bought the amp on BC and i started off with the pre-sets as you said but i was really happy with just the passive EQ but i'll try little changes on each gig or rehearsal to see what effect it produces. I've been using it for about last 3 months at rehearsals and the few gigs i've done so far with the new band. Its just such a full warm tone that i can't get enough off so it would really be a bit stupid to change a rig that's working for me. Dave

With the Mpulse i generally don't use the para EQ and if at all its just to get a cut at low end frequencies to reduce any boominess. The passive EQ has so far been enough for me altho i 'm still experimenting with it a little at rehearsals and gigs. Think i'll hold off with a new amp and just stick with the Mesa rig. Its the first rig i've had in years that i can actually feel the bass surround me without being too loud or heavy on the low end. Its a hard thing to describe. Maybe once we get a trade deal with US the Mesa WD800 might drop in price. I won't hold my breath on that one tho. Dave

Cheers Pete that's my big worry about going lightweight again. The Handbox amps lok good. Think it was Wateroftyne that did a review on them a few yrs back. Might have a lok at them again. To be honest the Mesa rig i have is giving me the tone i like and i'm not 100% sure i want to risk losing that tone if i change to something else. Every lightweight amp i've tried seemed to lack something when playing in a band. I currently have the EBS Reidmar 750 as a back up amp and its been ok but doesn't have that warm tube sound but will do as a back up. Dave

For those that have the Limelight P/J how are the controls set up on them ie VVT or VBT I have a Fender PJ active and a Sandberg P/MM that i bought from Mark and the Fender is either P or J if you move from centre position. The Sandberg is a little better than that but still seems to be quite a dramatic change when moved from centre position either way. I still have a notion for a Limelight P bass but always like the idea of having the J pick up for a little more punch when needed. Can it be done with a 3-way pick up selector kind of thing and still remain passive Dave

Only just catching up on this thread so my apologies if already asked but could you post a few pics of your bass. The VID sounds fantastic but there's a guy in front of you and can't see the bass clearly. Tone is superb. What rig are you going thru. Dave

I changed over from Ampeg SVT4 Pro and Bergantino HT322 as my main rig to the Mesa set up mainly because the Ampeg kept breaking down and i wanted more reliability. I also had a Markbass rig but just couldn't take to it for some reason that i couldn't quite put my finger on. Originally i started looking at the new lightweight Subway range but at Circa £3k for a full rig it was out of my current budget. The heavier Mesa gear was however dropping in price and as people changed from the Powerhouse to Subway range there seemed to be quite a few Mesa items for sale on the market. Read lots of reviews on the various Mesa range and decided on the Mpulse amp as it was a more tube sounding head than some of the others. I waited until i had used the rig at rehearsals and gigs before writing this review.The amp itself is run almost flat with just a touch of bass to maybe 1 o clock setting at most and the Mid set between the 12 o clock and 1 o clock settings. Treble is flat. The para EQ i generally leave off but switchable to bring in a little 30-40Hz cut if stage is boomy. Comparing this rig to the Aguilar AG500 or EBS HD360 thru Ampeg 810 in the studios i found that the Mesa rig had more depth and you could feel the bass as well as hear it nice and clear. The full band commented on the Mesa rig as soon as we played the first song on how much more depth the band had. I found the tone surrounding me as well as hearing it. I've not experienced that in an amp since my old Marshall stack days or my other full valve amps. At the gigs the stage sound was more full and everyone could hear and feel the bass. I did have to boost the mids to the 1 o clock position and might need a little more to cut thru the mix a little bit more for my liking. The band is a 70's Glam Rock covers band and i wanted that old tube sound without the weight of full valve heads. The Mesa gives me that in droves. Its a warm and full sounding rig. The amp is racked with my tuner and a mute switch added to the front panel of the rack rather than a footswitch which is just far easier for me. Its heavy but i can lift on my own without too much trouble. The PH212 cab is the 8ohm version that i got from Guitar Guitar in their half price sale and its in mint condition. Its 600w but the amp is only running at 300w because of the 8 ohms cab. Master volume sits around the 12 o'clock position with the Gain at 1-2 o clock position depending on how much valve overdrive i feel like having. I just like to hear it overdriving a little to give more of an edge. At rehearsals i've tried making various adjustments to EQ settings and the bass is mega booming when increased if thats what you are looking for while on the other hand the mid and treble will give you more than enough edge or bite to cut thru any mix. Its taking me a little trial and error at gigs to get the tone just spot on for what i need at the moment. Changing bass from Jazz to Sandberg VM4 also thru a curve ball as their tones are quite different and i had to re-adjust my settings a little bit. The PH212 cab is reasonably heavy altho i can lift it on my own its more the dimensions that make it difficult to carry up and down stairs but i always have bandmates to help with any gear.So far i'm more than happy with the Mesa gear and i'm now a total convert to the Mesa brand. The build quality is 2nd to none for me. I've tried the Mesa head thru my Berg HT322 cab and it also sounds amazing although it has a sharper feel with the 10" speakers just giving it that little bit more bite. I'm now thinking of going down the lightweight route after all with the WD800 head to start but still contemplating at the moment as no-one seems to stock them as yet. Would have to say if you've never tried a Mesa rig then do it now as the heavier gear is relatively cheap at the moment on the 2nd hand market and the overall tone you get is just unbelievable warmth and much tubiness sounding. It fills out the bands sound more than i ever expected or imagined Dave

I drove down from Glasgow area circa 250 miles each way.. My wife went with me and we just made a full days outing stopping for lunch and then dinner later on. Was well worth a trip even if i only ever do it once or twice. Great selection of basses and was well looked after by Mark. Was looking for a good 5 stringer and ended up with a Dingwall NG2 which wasn't on my original list to try but Mark suggested trying one and i was hooked on it. Sold it on couple weeks ago as i am mainly playing 4 stringers now. If you haven't been before then its def worth a wee day out. Go on ......you know ya wanna Dave

When i was younger late teens maybe but it just looks a bit daft now at my age.

Job Done 😎

Is that a Parker bass as well. What's it like to gig with ? Dave

By-Tor and the Snow Dog is a personal fav track from the early albums but the early live version was brilliant in its day.

You just come across as someone who knows his stuff. It had to be thru experience and i just wondered how and where you learned it all. I now know who to ask when / if our band decides to go wireless and i'll need to upgrade my Smooth Hound. Appreciate you sharing your background. Its always good to know where someone is coming from and you are the man by sounds of it. Thanks Dave

Hope you don't mind me asking but how do you know all of this. You seem very clued up on electronics and radio frequency stuff.(that's meant as a compliment and not sarcasm) I'm just curious if its just an interest or a hobby you have or its part of your job in real life. I guess i'm just nosey Dave

Forgot about All The World's a Stage. Yep that was a fantastic live album. Dave