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[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='485148' date='May 11 2009, 04:06 PM']You see, that's it in a nutshell, that doesn't do much for me at all, and I have a couple of Manring CDs. It's all about opinions. It doesn't necessarily mean anyone's right or wrong. I suppose we're all right. This is as much to me "self indulgent nonsense" as some would put it, as Victor's "slappity tappity" is to others.[/quote] Fair play mate, I wouldnt suggest its for everyone at all. I doubt anything out there ticks everyones boxes... Self indulgent it may be, but that is the nature of solo playing that pushes boundaries, if not its very definition! Otherwise we'd all be doing it and it wouldn't be pushing boundaries.... But its definitely very musical, and definitely pushing boundaries of what the instrument can be considered capable of, which is so often the argument supporting the VW stuff. And extremely valid for all of that. Personally I'd rather hear that and its ilk than another doublethumpathonic masterpiece. Not knocking Vic, but I think that whole side of his playing has been artificially blown out of all proportion. IMO his groove playing is fabulous, and in fact what he's best at. I love the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones stuff.... Interesting point to note, how many people have you heard or seen imitating VW's double thumping thing in shops, on youtube etc etc? How many have you seen even getting close to Michael Manring's stuff??? Which is better, I dont know, which is beyond your reach (and nearly everyone elses), well if you answer to the above question is the same as mine, then MM's music is significantly harder to emulate. Doesn't mean its in anyway better or worse in my opinion, but I do think its interesting. If everyone were ripping MM's stuff, would we all be whinging about the number of kids out there worrying about changing their tuning all the time rather than learning how to play the instrument as it was traditionally intended.....

[quote name='WinterMute' post='485103' date='May 11 2009, 02:48 PM']rofl No, don't get me started on over compression....! I've been mixing and recording in protools at -14db for several years, certainly since I started habitually using 88.2Khz 24 bit. My mastering engineer is Sean McGee at Abbey Road, he's always commenting on how much better for him it is to have mixes that aren't crushing the transients in the digital buss and already compressed to buggery. The masters I get from him are quite as loud as anything short of some "maxed to 11" pos, but they have space and depth and movement, qualities all but forgotten by modern production.[/quote] You have no idea how much better that makes me feel mate. Any time you want to shoot the breeze about this stuff and you are in Brighton gimme a call (PM whatever). A beer will be coming your way just cos you are fully in the industry and actively ignoring the louder is better hype

[quote name='WinterMute' post='485003' date='May 11 2009, 12:47 PM']Yeah, I guess thats what you get for playing rock and recording rock and metal for a living! There is a general inability to discern dynamics anyway, due to the over use of compressors in mixing, my point is that in the bassists I've seen who employ a compressor in a live rig they tend to do exactly what you suggest they don't, i.e. smash it flat with a very low threshold, tons of ratio and as much gain as the system will allow. Every note at exactly the same volume regardless of the input energy on the string. Guitarists do this all the time, although in my experience a guitarist will also know when to turn it off. Using a compressor the way you describe requires an understanding of the mechanics of the system, and some experience in using a compressor to enhance your sound, not merely bolster your level. Of course it's entirely possible to employ a compressor sensitively to support an instrument in an ensemble, it's done all the time, my point is that most players will stack one on the live rig and let it do the job that their ears and fingers should do, hence "lazy". Lots of players owe their sound to the compression effect to some degree, whether that is amp or effect compression, I wasn't suggesting every bass player who uses one is lazy.[/quote] I think bassists are their own worst enemy, I was into sound engineering from the minute I picked up a bass. Maybe I'm weird, but the first time I got into a local studio to record something (all be it in retrospect something utterly cr@p ) I was completely entranced by the desk. Went on to do several private courses on the subject and some higher education stuff too. Not to mention sound engineer for all sorts of people. In all the time since the first time I went into a studio I've only met about 6 people who could listen to a bass, and set a compressor up for it to make it do specific things to that sound without just stabbing in the dark. None of them were bassists predominantly. Guitarists are no better (often worse) with understanding compression. Compression isnt easy to 'get'. But a few hours of fiddling with several examples and a good understanding of the theory, and anyone can learn enough to set a good comp up for gain riding versus punch verses squashing etc. Most bassists use nasty comp pedals that have most of the controls preset to 'suitable' settings. These settings are usually pretty shabby, mainly cos they are average settings for average bass situations. They rarely have decent monitoring lights to tell you how much gain reduction you are getting, so as far as most bassists are concerned the comp isnt doing anything unless they can hear it doing stuff to the sound. Which usually means they have got the comp button dimed, which will be a combination of lowering the threshold and upping the ratio and makeup gain to staggering levels. Sure you can hear it happening now, it just happens to sound cr@p, chokes your tone (so more eq please) and kill your dynamics to a very noticeable amount. To me, thats not using a compressor, thats getting used by compressor manufacturer's marketing t("our product will make you sound great like Joe Bingbaldy the great bassist for WeSuck") and not bothering to RTFM or learn how to use the tool. Don't get me started on overuse in mixing - I thought I was as bad as the next for that, until I heard a recent mix from a friends studio in which everything was so unbelievably squashed I couldn't tell where anything ended and anything else started. It was an amazing sound, but not nice IMO. I like to get the bass and drums sat together, and maybe a rhythm guitar or two with a couple of group comps, bass normally with the drums. But nothing too over the top, just a tad of 'glue'. Same for BVs, and Lead vox (seperate comps though). Limiting in tracking is important (esp on drums and bass) but I try and mix without a limiter anywhere - then master afterwards. I know people who just ram everything into the red on ProTools with the safe button engaged and say 'Ta-daaaa loudest best-est mix ever' - sounds like cr@p though!

[quote name='WinterMute' post='484564' date='May 10 2009, 08:26 PM']I'll limit a bassist on the recording phase, just to stop clipping, but otherwise will attempt to reproduce the sound he already has (unless it's crap). If the player has no dynamic control, I'll suggest a compressor on his rig, I'll use a dbx 160 usually, if he has a preferred unit, I'll play with that a little, again it;s what the guy sounds like that's important. Compressors in the mix are an entirely different proposition, often they are employed to "set" the instrument into the mix, not to alter the characteristic of the sound, however a Urei 1176 or a Joe Meek Opto will give a good warmth to the sound. Rupert Neve's 9098 compressor by AMEK is my weapon of choice for hardware, followd by an LA 2A or a Focusrite RED5. Plug-ins can be a pain, but the Sony Oxford Comp/lim is very good, as is the standard Digi Comp/lim 3, Guitar rig and Digi'd 13 are good for a bit of tine shaping too. I used to use the 160 live, it's essentially invisible, there a decent opto-compressor in the Line 6 110, which I use lightly now. [b]What compression really does is makes you lazy in the observance of your dynamic control, and it robs you of the ability to use volume as expression[/b]. Now, if your in a balls to the wall metal band, that's irrelevant, and a compressor is essential for a skull crushing sound, if you're a slapper compression makes your technique a little more sloppy, as all those triplets will be audible regardless of whether you catch them. If your a jazzer, I'd think you'd want to be in control or every nuance of your playing, and automating the volume would be limiting your expression. I'm no jazzer though, and many jazz players I've recorded will compress at amp or pedal board. My name is Richard, I play rock, I use a compressor... [/quote] Other than the highlighted statement I think this is a great post. Unless you set a compressor to an unbelievable extreme then the statement:- [b]What compression really does is makes you lazy in the observance of your dynamic control, and it robs you of the ability to use volume as expression[/b] is hogwash IMO & IME both live and in the studio. You are saying here that no matter how light the touch a player could not make the result quieter if a compressor was on. That is not the case. With sensible/normal compression settings on a bass (even for fairly obvious or heavy compression) the player still has the ability to back off the volume from their fingers to below the threshold that the comp is set at. Since no one ever sets a threshold at -infinity db. It just is not done. Now anywhere below that threshold dynamic control is as if there were no compressor. Up to that threshold you have to back off by the ratio setting more than otherwise. In reality with any ratio I've ever used up to about 10:1 this is not even hard to do. It just takes a couple of minutes of playing around to find the required amount of gentleness to get the effect you are after. So you can in fact play with dynamics when you have a comp engaged, especially if its set to do some sensible levelling. Also the perceived loudness of a sound is not just as a result of its volume, but also its envelope and timbre and while a compressor has an effect on both, playing more gently will still have a huge effect on both even with a comp engaged. IMO & IME both live and in a studio.

The warehouse is down the road from the shop a little way. They can (and used to without too much hastle) go and get stuff from the warehouse into the shop. That doesnt go the other way though (obviously really) Their website as an online store not having a stock quantity is pretty lame for a retailer their size. But that kind of thing requiresa a level of warehouse competence, prcedure and software that I dont see them getting into anytime soon to be honest. The shop has always stocked a gazillion Warwicks, the chances are that they will have a BO T in there. Phone the shop before a visit to check, ask for Mark (he posts on here sometimes, nice fella).

Yeah, I think you'll struggle here for free. I would make one suggestion on the whole getting my fingers to be faster and so on thing. Get a hold of Michael Manrings old VHS video. He concentrates for the first 3/4 of the video on finger conditioning. He goes into a staggering amount of depth and provides a huge array of well constructed exercises. No they wont change anything overnight, but if you actually do them for 6 months you wont believe the difference they make! And they are very focused on not damaging yourself and good warm ups etc. There is virtually nothing he cant do with his fingers on a fretboard, so I'd say take his advice - it helped me no end.... As for a wide range of styles, thats not my bag at all, although I've played in many styles of music (though not jazz - bleeuugh!) and done fine, and can write a b-line to fit most stuff (my walking is so shocking that we wont go there), I certainly wouldnt say I can jump from style to style and be completely convincing these days. But I could at college (again jazz excluded) because I was in about 12 bands at one point. I think you need to really get into a band in every style you are interested in. The quick way to do this is to learn five songs in each style with as different sounding b-lines as you can find. Preferably the five classic songs in each style. Then go get the bands. Be that bass whore for a while and get in a cover band in each style you want to play in. It will very quickly get you good enough in each style. Other than that listen to a lot of each style. Have a week of evenings where you pick a style and work on that feel exclusively. Then move to the next style for a week, after going through each style a week at a time have a week with a different style each evening, then an evening with a different style each song. I did this to a certain extent when I was in college (instead of getting my reading and walking together I'm afraid) and it definitely works! Afterwards you can stylistically jump ship at the drop of a hat and be convincing. The ones than I think can be very hard to get right (and again I am not including jazz cos thats a world of pain in and of itself) are reggae and funk. Country is pretty easy to cop, cos the b-lines are generally really simple, and the feel is like a 2/4 halftime thing. Rock can have a lot of notes, or not, but the feel is generally pretty easy, its more often than not slightly ahead of the beat and pushes the down beats with emphasis on 1 and 3. Punk is the same but simpler and more aggressive - even more ahead of the beat. But funk and reggae are a real struggle for some people. Its the laid back thing and the syncopation. My advice is to immerse yourself up to the gills in the stuff for a couple to six months and learn all the classic songs you can find. Play along to everything. Eventually it becomes second nature. Some people do this really fast and some people arent convincingly funky ever, however hard they try. They can play funk lines note perfect and sound completely unfunky. The danger with funk and reggae is that they are crystal meth for bassists, I got into funk and never got away, really. Everything I write now has a hint of funk in it, and most of the reggae I try and come up with sounds like ska Its is a powerful addiction! If I weren't ridiculously busy though I'd have a jam and offer some pointers, but I don't do structured teaching anymore, time etc etc....

Vic is great in the early Flecktones stuff, I think he got the mix spot on on Three Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - one of my favourites. He is a product of his own success now, in that he gets paid to showcase - all the time - and every solo record has to be flashier to keep that income in to a certain extent. Vicious circle I reckon. Personally his solo records have never done it for me like Manrings stuff does. I'm not a huge fan of jazz, but Michael Manrings' Drastic Measures is just awesome. And IMO this is the finest solo bass piece I've ever seen (although its not in any way conventioanl bass playing) I defy anyone to say that isn't staggeringly musical, and taking bass beyond the role of support in a completely convincing fashion. And no widdly slappity tappity stuff anywhere, its mainly great big long whole notes over a drone....

Dunno what you all talkin' 'bout. Low action is where its at for me. Not such that it buzzes if I dig in, but I might get some fret noise, which I think is a really good sound. Having said that my digging in is where most people start.. High action just wastes energy, I dont like fighting my basses. I thought my old bass was sorted action wise till I got the Roscoe, but that has without doubt the best action I've ever played, its not just low, its incredibly consistent across the board. Personally I've been trying to play lightly and evenly for years now, and its pretty much just how I play. I do sometimes catch myself digging in a little more than I would like, but only if I'm not plugged in. I'm not in Gary WIllis' league on this and I dint use a ramp, but it just seems sensible to not waste energy or stress my hands any more than I have to (RSI is a real indicator that you are over doing it). I certainly dont have a weedy tone as a result though, its all in the fingers! As for slapping, well as long as the notes dont choke its fine. I've found that the lower the action the less welly you have to give it to get the same tone, and you can more easily bounce back with a low action than a high action, plus muted left hand slaps are easier, and sound more like muted right hand thumps if your action is low, which is a good thing in my book.

Totally depends on the song dunnit... First time I picked up a bass I was taught Hey Joe in ten minutes flat, and could play it just fine thank you. But its completely trivial. Now Rhythm Stick on the other hand.....

An on/off switch A mute button A gain A DI (Possibly) an FX loop But I want it to sound exactly how I need it too in any and all situations, and better than anything else, with no other controls at all, just automagically (hence I may not need an FX loop since it should handle that too) Oh and it must weigh less than a fart in a teacup (without the teacup) and cost no more than £20.00 inv VAT (with free p&p).

I would have to say an ae410 wouldn't I If you want it to sound a bit more old school, just turn the (fabulous) tweeter all the way down). I dig old school as much as anyone and this nails it for me. Its earth shattering for its size, and IMO sounds every bit as good as an HS410, and weighs significantly less.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='482010' date='May 7 2009, 02:17 PM']GILF? Give her time. Her kids are only teenagers. I thought she might be a bit up her own arse, but she was genuinely really, really lovely, and spent a fair bit of time with the choir backstage and in rehearsals. [b]A bit too obsessed with her own rack, but lovely nonetheless[/b].[/quote] Me too, I wasn't happy till I'd built bespoke interconnects for mine using only premium grade components and absolute minimum line lengths, seems completely natural that she would view hers in the same way to me.....

The reason its different is because its a shelving eq with a fixed db reduction that you sweep the frequency of. That is different from (most) passive tone controls (at least as described to me at college) as they tend to be a very wide bell that you apply more and more cut to such that the bell effects a wider and wider range of frequencies, but the center freq gets massively more cut (even though that center freq may be as high as 20KHz) Not sure how different the perception of the two is, although the VLE to my ears does tend to leave more detail in than my 4 string's passive tone control, that bad boy will send the brightest strings straight to tonal mushville without any probs.... I'm more than happy to be told I am misinformed re passive tone controls though, this is merely what I have been led to believe....

Joe Osborn - criminally neglected session player:- [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Osborn"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Osborn[/url] He played on some pretty massive tracks throughout his career!

Anyone still interested in the difference in real terms between 16 bit and 24 bit needs to read this fairly comprehensive study over at Recording Review forum. [url="http://forum.recordingreview.com/f18/bit-depth-wars-10872/"]http://forum.recordingreview.com/f18/bit-depth-wars-10872/[/url] Interesting stuff....

Having demo'ed Alex's Compact in GAK the other day (by pure chance) I'd atest to it laying absolute waste to any similar sized cab I have ever tried. Massive low end, lovely grindy mids, and enough top for clarity - really, I whipped the old thumb out for a bit of tasteless nonsense and the top was all there. Fantastic cab, if you want a one cab solution, and having heard what you like I would recommend this or even more Alex' Big One (has a smoother mid range, and hence even more clarity) and an LH500 on top of it. That would be you sorted, for ever (OK you could put 2K through the Big One if you wanted, but you dont need too). 'Nuff said.

[quote name='leschirons' post='480128' date='May 5 2009, 05:25 PM']This is really sound advice. I would just add that in this situation I would also get them into the easiest song that they would actually like to play. I gave a local young girl some guitar lessons a couple of years ago and her choices were all bands like Dragonforce so I was on a loser. Luckily, she was also into Greenday so we started with Basket case. It's all a matter of holding their interest and being able to achieve something no matter how simple although [b]you'll know how keen they are when you get to lesson No2 when you see if they've practiced or not[/b].[/quote] +1 and tp be honest if you are really lucky 5 out of 10 will have, and after 6 months 1/10 will still put the work in. Having said that, that 1 can make the rest worth while. I've been lucky enough to so far have 2 students out of I don't know how many who really wanted to put the work in, and they just improved so fast it was amazing. The rest of the time people improve at a much slower speed, and sometimes they never do. I once had a student for 2 years, she swore she practiced, yet she never improved at all. I told her mum (quietly and privately) that I didn't think bass was really the right thing for her (after 3 months) and her mum just said that she "enjoys the lessons" must be my animal magnetism, cos it wasn't bass playing!!

[quote name='wulf' post='476477' date='Apr 30 2009, 10:51 PM']Tonight I finished off my practise time by investigating [url="http://www.noteflight.com/"]Noteflight[/url]. This is a notation editor but with two big distinguishing features from most of the competition: 1. It is free to use 2. It is an online product which you access via your web browser. I found it relatively easy to pick up and it did everything I demanded of it tonight (rough bass transcription including some triplet runs and a couple of bits of text to mark key points). I have only scratched the surface but suspect there are plenty of things it can't do (I didn't notice an option for cross noteheads to denote ghost notes, for example, although I didn't need them tonight and so didn't look) but if you do like to write notation but find you can't read your scribbles back when it comes to use them, it is definitely worth a look. Wulf[/quote] Nice one cheers! You can definitely change the note head to a x just did it. But I'm not sure how I did it (all a bit hit and miss playing about with it at the moment) OK found it. Select a note, see the orange box with options, it has a down arrow on the bottom edge, click that - it opens up a bundle of extra options for that note including an x note head. Still sounds like normal if you hit play though....

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='480053' date='May 5 2009, 04:26 PM']Now that's an incredible skill. If you want to take this music lark seriously and make a living from it, I can see a small benefit in learning to read to an average standard, but a huge benefit in learning to sight read a gig. Its something that I will never be able to do that's for sure![/quote] +1 and BBC thats the most sensible post you've ever made I think - whats going on?

[quote name='Linus27' post='479931' date='May 5 2009, 02:19 PM']A lot of what you say is actually really really interesting. The point you make about dialling the VPF up is in your opinion what other amps are flat especially. I usually run my Ashdown and infact most amps flat. I hate mids and so keep things either flat or turn a little bit of treble and bass on or the mids down a little. I really do mean a little. When I plugged into the Ashdown ABM, I just set it flat and it sounded perfect right away. So its no surprise I liked the VPF filter What I should had done was tried the Little Mark with the Ashdown ABM 4 x 10 like you say. I think, the fact I was in there for 2 hours playing and had the whole room to myself, I kind of felt I overstayed my welcome. Still, I should had tried it.[/quote] Absolutely. To be honest I went through a whole mids epiphany when I got back into playing. I used to be definitely of the opinion that a 'little' scoop was always right. But since getting much better kit the mids actually make the sound for me. No I dont boost, but I run everything absolutely flat. And lo and behold in a band mix it just sits absolutely spot on in the mix in a way that it never used to. 2 hours to test out nearly a grands worth of kit (maybe more). No problem if you are going to splash the cash, being a t#sser if you're not. When I bought the ae410 Mark at bassdirect let me play for over 2 hours, we tried the ae210s against the ae410, we checked what I could get in my car, we went through about 12 basses that I wasnt going to buy just then etc etc As a result he's got all my custom for new purchases since (bar my rack tuner cos he doesnt do them). He understands that it is in his best interests to let you fiddle, let the gear sell itself to you - he doesnt really involve himself in that process beyond answering questions and offering advice when asked. As such he is the most dangerous salesman I know - visit him at your peril Fortunately most other shops dont 'get' this at all!

I 'kin [b]HATE[/b] tear down I've been in bands where I ran the PA and was bass bod. I'd end up tearing down with my girlfriend (nothing to do with the band other than wanting to get home) whilst every other b@5t@rd in the band got the beers in and had a chit chat with their mates. I was livid! Nowadays it should be better, but again the vox and keys typically have to get going the moment they come off stage, and we're left doing the hard work. Drives me right up the wall!!!

[quote name='Linus27' post='479897' date='May 5 2009, 01:49 PM']My current rig with one cab only puts out about 180 watts. With two cabs I get 300 watts. My band has a very loud argentinian latin loving drummer, a percussionist and two guitarists and 3 vocals. At the rehearsal rooms, the 300 watt combos (which must be pushing out 180) have struggled. I also want to go down to one cab (thus the question about a single 2 x 10 or possible 4 x 10) and a larger head, something thats going to push out about 300 watts at 8 ohms and 500 at 4 ohms. 300 should easily be enough but I also have the scope to expand if I ever need to.[/quote] LH500 over a berg ae410 will win that battle....

[quote name='Linus27' post='479890' date='May 5 2009, 01:43 PM']OK, I'll try my best. It was running through the Markbass 4 x 10.... ....I don't think there is really anything wrong with the Markbass Little Mark head, its just a case off only finding one setting I was happy with tonally and any other setting really did not suit me. It may have even been the Markbass cab letting it down. I had high hopes for that also as it only weighs 25kg where the Ashdown weighs 36kg.[/quote] Seems like you gave it a decent work out then! I think you are probably bang on about the cab though, the MB 4x10 doesn't shy away from the mid range at all, and a lot of people dont like its sound as a result. I dont think it accentuates them particularly, I do think most cab manufacturers tend to try and engineer in a little dip in response in the mids to clean thing up a bit, or the crossoveer does it. I think the MB cabs definitely colour the sound, whereas with a more neutral cab I prefer the output. Hence me going for Berg (once I heard it it totally convinced me). To be fair the VLE did exactly what it says on the tin though, And it does it in a slightly different way from a more conventional treble IMO, but if you dont like that kind of sound it will never ever be for you. Its good for dub, blues, old school rock and roll or any time when you cant get to the tweeter attenuator. VPF upto 9' O'clock is IMO like dialing in the head to where a lot of amps consider themselves flat - any more than this and you have lost so much mid info that you wont be heard anyway IME. I would say that the EQ is definitely as powerful as any non-sweepable out there, although I think the choice of 40Hz for the low shelving is nuts, 80Hz would be more appropriate for most situations, and again I personally think this is a bit of a reflection on the cabs... If Ashdown floats your boat then congrats for finding the sound that does it for you! Would have been interested to hear what you thought of the LMII into the Ashdown 4x10 though....

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='479840' date='May 5 2009, 12:57 PM']I have a theory about this - the absolutely ideal personal "sound check" is to play one note. If it sounds good then shut the **** up!! If you need to do more then keep it to the absolute minimum. [b]Showing off your licks while setting up should be a sackable offence[/b] !![/quote] I helped run a big funk band in college. 18 or 19 piece. After one rehearsal that rule was laid down in stone. Next week we fired one person on the spot for the first transgression (the rule had been reiterated). Never got another unnecessary peep out of anyone for the following 4 months till we folded the band up. Good rule to work with. And to lay down at any audition.

[quote name='Linus27' post='479215' date='May 4 2009, 06:45 PM']HAHA rumbled :) It was more a case of sticking with what I know best. After trying in Andertons The Markbass Little Mark II, Warwick Profet, Ashdown ABM and Ashdown MAG back to back, I found the MAG (which I already own) sounded great and suited my tone but the ABM range was just so much more tonally and much more adjustable. So it is the perfect upgrade from the MAG. [b]The Markbass just sounded horrible and very limiting tonally[/b]. The Warwick actually sounded pretty good but worse than my MAG. I think the Ashdown tone just really suits me. I am very fussy and struggle to get a nice tone out of the Stingray and so far the Ashdown tone has been the best. Saying that, I borrowed an Ashdown Little Giant and despite sounding very good, did not sound better than my MAG. It had less scope tonally. So, yes I could try the Hartke but I thought it would be better to try some of the others out first rather than waste Paul's time. If the Ashdown ABM sounded no better or worse than my MAG then I would be trying the Hartke for sure. As it sounded better, then like I say, just sticking with what I know.[/quote] Errr how on earth did you manage to conclude that an LM II is tonally limiting???? Really I cannot imagine how you came to that conclusion. I expect the filters werent off, but maybe the amp was bust. Honestly, I've never heard a better amp for my needs so to hear someone dismiss it like that is pretty weird to me, the eq section is super powerful, and the filters are a great solution to 90% of player's needs. I'm certainly not trying to suggest you should all be using MB gear but I am interested to find out why you thought it was so poor, in what way was it tonally limited? My son gigs with a Berg HT210 vertically, with an LH500 on top, works a treat.....