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Tube amps sound louder since the tube circuit will compress the input as it reaches saturation. Since the saturation is very musical, pleasing and so on, you can push a tube circuit harder at input before you perceive real overdrive or distortion. This means you are getting several dB of compression at the input stage, this is also true of the input to the power side of the amp too though, upshot is you are getting a fair few dB of added gain due to compression that will make the amp deliver more volume for a given input. Result is it sounds louder. A watt is still a watt though... You can do the same kind of thing with a really good rack compressor into an SS head in terms of perceived volume increase if you know how to set it up - ultra fast attack, very low ratio, very low threshold, medium fast release will get you in the ballpark...

[quote name='Muzz' post='1129679' date='Feb 16 2011, 02:23 PM']Yep, I can completely see why there might be just too much on the thing for some - I'm a bit like that with basses - more than 1 pickup is pretty much wasted on me: it took me a loooong time to get on with my P/J setup. I could honestly live with a bass with one pickup and an on/off switch* - actually, I wouldn't need that, because the RH450 has a mute on its floorboard. * As long as the sound was there, natch...[/quote] Best not get me talking on the subject of single knob amp mounted compressors either (shudder)....

[quote name='Muzz' post='1129662' date='Feb 16 2011, 02:11 PM']Simon, I think it'd be better if you'd actually used the RH450 controls before commenting in such (incorrect) detail - the shift key doesn't need to be held down, once it's pressed, the para EQ mode is on, press again, it's off. You can then play a note and turn a knob. I'd consider it an advanced feature - the normal EQ works just fine, too. The input gain is the main function of that particular knob (its default), the other is the compressor, which is so effective I've found it to be pretty much 'set and forget'. All details, and really neither here nor there. Yes, it is all subjective, but to be honest, you need to use one for, ooh, five minutes before it (might) become apparent that the controls are actually pretty intuitive. Perhaps the manual doesn't read very well - I couldn't comment, I've never read it. [/quote] I dont think I worded my response very well. I was trying to point out the two possible uses of a shift key, latched or unlatched, and how both have issues. If you re-read my post with that in my that you'll see what I was getting at (I describe the problems with both systems). I admit it was typed hurriedly though! Changing the frequency of a sweep eq is not an advanced feature, its the point of the eq. However they are really saying this is a standard eq, but you might like to tweak the frequencies sometimes, then leave them alone. Its different, not massively, but nevertheless you need to use more controls to achieve the same goal (fine tuning the eq) than with a system with dedicated gain and frequency controls, where you wouldnt need to keep on reacing for the shift button. I tend to set my eq for the room as much as the bass/rig, and therefore I rely on instant acces to eq frequency points to do this efficiently. It comes from a background equally involved in sound engineering as bass playing. Honestly its not an issue if you dont find it an issue, I dont know of any amp manufacturer that you couldnt take potshots at (F500 a case in point). I come from very much the old school console interface as being the best way to do it. Nothing compares to the speed you can get with a full on hardware console, and that ethos applies to all control systems. I spent a good half an hour trying an RH450 when they came out, and thought it to be an admirable contender in the micro amp market, I am not having a go at the amp per se, but the point I am trying to make is that when you load that much functionality into that few controls then somewhere you make a compromise, in this case its overloading controls, in the case of the MB F500 its stacking controls. Neither is great, and personally I'd rather run with an amp with a better interface (ie the sa450 rather than an LMII) even if the functionality is absolutely identical. Then again I may be something of a zealot in this regard!

[quote name='Muzz' post='1129412' date='Feb 16 2011, 11:31 AM']Can't see the RH450 as "off the scale bad", despite having got a lot of features into a small box. The 'shifted' features (which I'm presuming you mean by the multifuntion controls) are really fine tuning stuff, like the semi-para EQ and the compression, the rest is straightforward - the presets can help there. Want to add compression? Press Shift (it lights up), turn the knob. Want to increase the input gain? Press Shift (the light goes out), turn the same knob. The head's about as hard to use as a car stereo once you give it 5 minutes, and pretty intuitive. Having said that, there's a lot of folk who can't work their car stereo - my Mrs included Horses for courses, but then I know people who've no idea what VPF and VLE are, either If you've only got one amp, then unless you're DIing, you're stuffed if it goes down, whether it's got lots of features or none. By your 'single box' reasoning, I guess you'd have a power amp and a pre, then? [/quote] Well, in terms of a single control does a single job, you have just explained with great detail exactly how much of the functionality of the amp is not given a dedicated control. In terms of interface design this is not as good as a single control. Obviously their desire to make the amp very small, yet have many inbuilt functions led them to this, however compared to an interface with a single control per funtion (ie the MB heads) it is off the scale bad, (IMO). Nothing against the sound of the amp, and if it works for you fine, but I cant easily play a note, hold down a shift key and turn a knob at the same time, so I cant very easily set up the parametric eq frequencies properly. Of course as soon as you have a latched shift knob then you are providing a possiblity for a control to be changed when the other control was intended to be chnaged. LIghts or no lights, its just not as good an interface as a single control per knob. Also the frequency shift on a semi parametric eq is not a secondary function, its equally primary to the function of that eq as the gain, some might say the frequency is in fact the primary control even. To put it into the interface as a secondary control (ie the one you have to shift to reach) just shows how poor this semiparametric was actually thought through IMO. Same goes for compression, its not a secondary function of my rig, its of equal primary concern to me, otherwise I wouldnt have got a decent compressor, and learnt how to use it properly. I didnt know the input gain was a shift related control though, thats just bonkers IMO. Its the single most important control on an amp, closely followed by the output volume. If it is set wrong you either overload the amp, or adversely affect your signal to noise ratio. Set just right (in the sweet spot of that particular circuit) the amp will perform at its very best. Thing is this amp is trying to be all things to all men, a simple amp with a simple 3 or 4 control eq, and a bit of dirt, and at the same time a complex properly tuneable eq system, with complex compression, and fine tuneable controls, with a tuner built in, and memory storage of the parameters, all in a box that weighs nothing and is tiny. Its an admirable effort, but something has to give, and in this case it is the interface. Whether you can get on with it or not is immaterial, and in fact subjective, the mere fact that many of the controls are overloaded is the key point, and means that as an interface goes its very complex to use compared to a single control per parameter interface. Smaller too though. I dont have a seperate pre/power amp, I do have a seperate amp though, which I can easily hook up to my compressor and tuner. The MB stuff isnt perfect either, for instance the sa450 mid eq controls have the frequency where the gain should be and vice versa IMO, highly counterintuitive, and something that still catches me out to this day. But other than that its bang on. The key to a simple easy to use interface is orthogonal control systems, ie everything works the same as everything else, and ultimately the more parameters you can give a seperate control for the easier that is to achieve. Again the MB heads fail here slightly in that it is not clear enough that the off for VPL and VLE is fully counter-clockwise, whilst for the eq gain controls it is dead center. Nothing is quite perfect I guess!

yup, absolutely!

MB is definitely not old hat. They were pretty much the first to get a great sounding ultralightweight head that hit really big though, and have continued to innovate. The LMII sold more than any other lightweight head for a good long while. However since then a lot of other manufacturers have come on board the market, and so there is bound to be a lot of people moving their current amp on to try something else out. Personally the TC never did it for me, I guess I'm old school enough that I want a single box to be a really good single tool, so if it goes wrong I'm not totally lost? I also hate multi function controls - comes from doing a lot of UI design, a single control should ideally have a single function. MB isnt perfect in this regard, but TC is off the scale bad for overloading controls as far as I can tell...

Dont entirely rule out the [url="http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/soundblox/tri-mod_phaser.php"]Source Audio Trimod Phaser[/url], yes its big, and digital, but it does have a lot of varying phae sounds to play with, ranging from very very mild to utterly bonkers, it can run as an envelope following phaser too, which is quite neat (esp with some grind) Just a thought...

[quote name='wesfinn' post='1128032' date='Feb 15 2011, 09:49 AM']I did get some tapewounds for it, but personally i don't like the feel of them. If I decide to sell this after all I will put them on if the person wants them.[/quote] Not surprised, they do feel really really odd dont they!

Got the H4n, and they are brilliant, been recording drums for a mate with it, snare, kick and the device itself as an overhead. I swear I've heard way worse results from studios....

Nice job Wes! Are you going to get some tapewounds for the real Herbie vibe though?? Honestly never heard anythiong else sound like his bass and I reckon its mainly because no one else uses those strings....

2 basses (5 & 4 string fretted), but I share a third (fretless) and fourth (shortscale) with Plux... No gigging band, just a band that writes & records occasionally at the moment, no sign of that changing right now, too busy!

If it was between Ampeg and Berg I;d go Berg every time (but I've never been convinced by any Ampeg gear I've heard) My ae410 has proven its worth on enough gigs, it sounds superb, the low B of my Roscoe is perfect through it, and I wouldn't call it overly aggressive at all, it has some bite, but its easily tame-able if that is what you want to do (either eq-ing your amp or turning down the tweeter, no big deal). IME too much deep low end on a gig is a recipe for disaster, very very few rooms really cope with it at volume, tending to leave a lot of mud and boom and very little clarity. That was a reason for going with the little ae410 (its about as small a 410 as you will ever find, which is cool), and I've not wanted for low end with it ever. I would add that turning the tweeter off complettely leaves a really superb 'old school' sounding cab, its ace like this!

The other thing I love about the Lexicon FX units is the chorus/flanger stuff, the chorus is just, well, lussssssshhhhh works wonderfully on bass, and if you push it it really does enter flanger territory, whilst backing the flanger right down it sarts to sound like a fat chorus, which is really how these things should work, but often dont. You may well find a use for it when tracking fretless which will make it double the value!

[quote name='Beedster' post='1123400' date='Feb 10 2011, 11:29 PM']Hello mate Thanks for your reply. It's for monitoring and live, I'm putting together a rack I can use for both. Lexicon stuff does seem to have a decent rep so I'll take a look at those you've mentioned Cheers Chris[/quote] For those purposes then IMO literally any lexicon unit I've ever used will be fine, they are simply great reverbs IME. You can pick them up for silly cash for the quality these days (especially taking into account the difference in quality between them and the ubiquitous alesis effects of the 90's for instance).

[quote name='alexclaber' post='1122474' date='Feb 10 2011, 11:55 AM']Get your drummer to use hot-rods for rehearsals, damp the kick more and turn down everything: Nothing short of two feet thick concrete surrounding the rehearsal space will contain the lows![/quote] +1, and very big deep one at that. Low end energy is baaaad news, and you have a rig that can deliver it, and a drum kit that means you need to. Alex is not overstating the 2' of concrete. Mass is all that will stop low end, mattresses are going to do absolutely nothing to attenuate those frequencies at all - total waste of effort. On the other hand they might slightly improve the sound in the room if there is a lot of bare walls surface area to reflect top end in a nasty way....

I've had 4 basses in my life. Two were Arias, and pretty plop, sold them to get the green Vester (been with me for 17 years) the other is the Roscoe. I see absolutely no reason to get rid of either of the two I have. If I need another (cant see it happening at the mo, hardly playing currently) then I'll get one...

I've played with all sorts of stuff for mastering, and keep going back to ReaXcomp, BootsyEQ, Density II, Ferric TDS, Rescue AE and GMix. Sounds complex, but does exactly what I need (ok sometimes use ReEQ if I want to get a bit surgical, and have even stooped to a smidge of de-essing with spitfish on a particularly nasty sibilant vocal track). Its 90% monitoring quality, you simply have to know your room/monitors or all is lost! I reiterate that the above wont touch a real mastering studio, but it gets me 'close enough' to get an idea of what the real thing would sound like....

Beedster, what exactly are you planning on using the verb for? Is it going down to 'tape' or is it for the vocalist's monitoring? Makes a diff about the quality you can get away with. Personally I'd get the best second hand Lexicon unit I could find and be done with it. Even an LXP-1 can sound fine, although an MX200 is a better device. What is your workflow though? How much of youyr mixing is ITB (in the box - done on a 'puter using a DAW) and how much is going to be off a desk to a 2 track recording device (OTB - out of the box - not using a computer DAW to mix - ie old skool)? If you are working ITB, and going to use a hardware reverb just for a bit of 'feel' during trackoing (but arent actually recording the reverb) then I would recommend several great plug ins, Epicverb and SIR (a convolusion engine), both are free and sound fantastic. TAL II and TAL III are great plate verb plugs too...

Dont believe the hype....

She just plain rules, doesn't she....

[quote name='DazBoot88' post='1114064' date='Feb 3 2011, 04:14 PM']Wanted to put Bootsy Collins - Under The Influence Of A Groove but could not find a video so will instead go for some Funk Factory [/quote] Love this in Pauls Boutique, sped up a tad IIRC....

Lots of options really. Cabswise one of the cabs from these Barefaced, Schroeder or Bergantino will almost certainly hit the tone thats in your head, or surpass it even. I also think Markbass amps tend to amplify your bass rather than colour it. Largely anyway, certainly not far off a flat eq. The LMII SA450 do have a really nice very subtle warmth, whilst the F1 F500 class D amps are incredibly clean and clear. Anyone preferring the sound of a Markbass amp with the VLE all the way up would do well to buy some flatwound strings and a cab with no tweeter I would think. Not a criticism at all, just that the VLE is a very peculiar tone control, its a fixed dB cut filter, when you turn the knob up you are lowering the start frequency of the filter, at its highest it gives something like -9dB to everything above 200Hz IIRC). The TC head is a superb bit of work too, might be a bit of a space shuttle to you (million and one flashing lights and too much functionality in a tiny box) or you may love having all that processing power. Then there are the Shuttles which are another set of timbres again. The new Mesa gear sounds amazing too. You are really going to have to get yourself off to a place with all this stuff to try for an afternoon. Its all great gear (and thats a tiny subset of what is actually available)

I'd also suggest its worth looking at the MXR bass auto Q (M-188). It doesnt do anywhere near as wide a variety of sounds as something like the Discombobulator, or the 3 Leaf, however what it has going for it is that is unbelievably simple to set up and get a pretty darn good squelch. If you arent too used to setting up filters it can be a right old dingdong of a learning curve, and that pedal definitely flattens that curve considerably.

Surely you mean this....

Short answer, you cant with that head. LMII has the following EQ/Filtering:- LOW center frequency: 40 Hz; level: ±16 dB LOW MID center frequency: 360 Hz, level: ±16 dB HIGH MID center frequency: 800 Hz, level: ±16 dB HIGH center frequency: 10 kHz, level: ±16 dB VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) center frequency 380 Hz (cut) VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) frequency range 250 Hz-20 kHz (cut) But before you starting trying to get rid of 100HZ (very important for warmth and punchh it is) get rid of it in the kick drum. and guitars first. Really. I do this a lot with FOH in a big enough room, +3 or 4dB for the bass at 100HZ, -the same in the kick. Doesnt half help them 'gel' without the bass going all tubby.... If you had an sa450 you could have done what you wanted, assuming you can hear where 100Hz is....