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Well I'm the very very happy owner of an SA450 which came with rack ears (got mine for £475, not from Mark: lets say I haggle hard ) Also got a Berg AE410 off Mark, and the pairing is absolutely outstanding. Haven't gigged it yet, but at a rehearsal in a live venue space it was just amazing. Cant say enough good stuff about it to be honest! Unless you fully intend to dent the wallet dont go near Mark's lair - really And if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd have the Wood & Tronics 4 string off him on the same day! And order a matching 5 too....

[quote name='Murph_Orpheus' post='166112' date='Mar 29 2008, 09:14 PM']Just wondering if anyone has any advice on the best compressor to buy for a rack system? I'm building up my first rack so I'm slowly learning about it all! I've been advised to get the Alesis 3630 Kompressor so far. Anyone know if its any good? Cheers. Dave.[/quote] Focusrite compounder is very clean, check this page out though.... [url="http://www.ev-b.com/compressors.html"]http://www.ev-b.com/compressors.html[/url]

[quote name='Harrythebassdawg' post='161971' date='Mar 22 2008, 08:58 PM']Is the SA450 the same as the little mark II, just with more versitile EQ and twice the size?[/quote] Also has 2 Neutriks on the back, and pre post switches, and line out level control. I think thats all the diffs The eq was enough for me to go that route on its own, I do like a semi-parametric eq me....

Got on efor my son for Xmas. Utterly blown away, nothing like the tone from practice amps way back when I was in college. Heartily recommended!

Oooooheeerr! I could sell the car - or the kids,

Has anyone heard the VINTAGE BASS VB1 envelope filter yet?

[quote name='bassbloke' post='97914' date='Dec 3 2007, 07:42 AM']Get a second 2.5XLand stick rubber feet on the side of each cab and stack them end up to give you a 4 vertical driver arrangement. These will have pleny of oomph, you'll get a better sense of air being shifted behind you and you'll have a much lighter and more portale rig tat still delivers. Trust me.[/quote] Could he not just turn his existing 2.5 on its end and have it higher up to achieve the same result??

Just to put a small damper on that. Just because the output electrically from the amp will be evenly distributed doesn't mean the output volume will be evenly distributed between two cabs. That is a function of the cab sensitivity measured in dB per watt at a specific distance from the cab. If cab A has a 103db/W @1m sensitivity and cab B has a 100db/W @ 1m sensitivity then A is twice as loud as B! If the distances are different then you into the inverse square law to try and even it up, which is more trouble than its worth IMO! Of course I fully expect somewhere with more knowledge to come in here at this point and show up any flaws in what I just said

Ran 2 4x10's for a decade, either side of the drummer, stereo amped - loverly for stereo modulation fx (I had a stereo tremolo patch that made the drummer look left->right->left->right->left->right->left->right - hysterical!) really broadens your sound, and punters _do_ notice. Down side is up high they lose some connectivity with the stage and hence some bottom end. Plus side is you can get them right against the backwall of the stage then get an amplitude 'bonus' of upto 3dB which can really help. Occasionally I ran 2 1x15's and 2 4x10's with the tops in stereo and the bottoms mono. Huge sound, I never noticed any comb filtering - but then my ears were bleeding and all my internal organs were fighting to be best pals with my sternum

[quote name='crumpet_tramp' post='91995' date='Nov 21 2007, 09:07 AM']Haha, seems like everyone likes to start off with! then moves away form them when they get better, it'l probably happen to me to! I am going recording around xmas time with the laney i'l show you what it can do![/quote] My first 'proper' rig was a Laney 300w (150w a side stereo/biampable) job (G300 I think) Kicked arse for 10 yrs before succumbing in a damp flat. Ran it thru 2 4x10s. Sounded fine to me at the time. Since got a MB SA450 which thru the same cabs gives a ton more punch, actually making me question any doubt around the cabs, they are very road worthy indeed. The head was OK in hindsight.... Looking to upgrade to Epi/Berg/Schro cabs as soon as I can afford it though.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='91367' date='Nov 20 2007, 11:57 AM']I'm guilty of going with the general euphoria of MB stuff and earlier this year purchased (new) both the LMK and the SA450, I'd sold them within 6 months. I have to admit that they had a pleasing instantly likeable tone but for my gigging needs they tended to come up short. So I'd advise trying the MB (or any amp for that matter) in a live setting if at all possible.[/quote] Wow. How did they come up short? Not evangelising, I want toknow, I recently got an SA450 and havent gigged it yet (lots of studio & rehearsal use though, not enough practice unfortunately). Seems to be fantastic for me, but I've not used it in anger and would like a heads up as to what was wrong in our opinion on a gig. What cabs were you using? I would suggest an SA450 to the OP since I got mine for £470 new

I used a '94 Laney G300 stereo head for years. The preamp was pretty average, although it did have a 15 and graphic and biamp & bridge outs, so really not too bad, but the power amps were definitely HH (at least in their 'DNA') and they were fine. Having said that it did die after being stored in a very damp flat for a while, but so could anything else. Replaced it with an MB SA450 recently and to be fair that blows it away.

A friend of mine bought a marbass AC101 (?) acoustic amp from them for a monitor for his tuba. No problems. Watch out that the item explicitly says it is actually in stock now. Mention of a delivery time by the item is their expected delivery to them, not you (I think it is rather misleading, but maybe I'm a dolt). I would have bought my MB sa450 from them but it turned out they couldn't get any until November so I spent £40 more and got it from my local shop - this site provides a powerful 'haggle-angle'! Si

Markbass SA450, the additional sweepable eq would give you more control over that mid-hump - someday you might not want it there. As for volume, its as loud as an Eden WT800 (some say louder on TB) so that really shouldn't be an issue!

[quote name='skywalker' post='80799' date='Oct 29 2007, 01:44 PM']The things you learn doing this also come into play in other genres, so suddenly a bass line that you thought sounded a little bit wooden comes to life when you throw some of these chromatics in (they come naturally after a while), and your playing becomes better all round.[/quote] That's precisely why I'm bothering. realistically I'm never going to be playing jazz, cos it just doesn't float my boat. However I do really appreciate the harmonic knowledge involved in walking well, and want to learn to be able to dip into those sounds compared to the more straight ahead funk/rock/blues type of thing that I would normally play. I use a fair amount of chromatic walk ups in the funk stuff I do as its such a generic part of the style, I just want to find some other note choices though, and be able to run through chord changes in any particular style without always resorting to the root note on the one.

I rake, 3 fingers, RMIRMIRMI, cheat any which way I can to remove any unnecessary motion. As far as feel goes, I don't have an issue with timing, and I use left hand muting for staccato; since we are talking about descending lines this is simple. Also use RH muting using next finger in line and recommend playing open strings ultra staccato using RH muting only at low BPMs since it helps build speed, feel, and muting techniques. Absolutely horses for courses. Oh and 3 finger RMI means I have to be able to start almost every groove on any finger, thats pretty much a given... (only exception I can think of being heavily triplet based like 'Violent & Funky' by Infectious Grooves) There is always a battle to maintain the 3 finger technique and callouses such that there is no really discernible triplet accent in there, but that's another story. Alternate if you think it helps you, not doing so just hasn't stopped me expressing the feel that I want to....

Try Fingerboard Harmony For Electric Bass by Gary Willis. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fingerboard-Harmony-Bass-Gary-Willis/dp/0793560438/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/026-0119841-2384429?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193660988&sr=8-3"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fingerboard-Harmon...0988&sr=8-3[/url] I'm still practising the third exercise, he does not waste any time getting challenging! If you crack this book you'll be well set up to walk over almost any changes you'd be likely to find. It's a slightly different way of teaching the concept, may be, but deals with 4, 5 and 6 string basses for each exercise and covers a lot of theoretical ground too. I've been a funk/groove player for ever and subsequently I walk like a fish, yeah i can swing no problem, but creating lines through chords that dont always start on the root, and use passing tones and chromaticism to flow on the way is the real deal and turns my blood to ice Oh and he exclusively uses crotchets and quavers, no rhymic stuff between you and the harmony. Good luck!

Could also (depending on the combo) wire a socket direct to one of the combo speakers (the one you dont ike the preamp of) then just run that as an extension cab.

[quote name='poptart' post='78551' date='Oct 23 2007, 10:11 PM']Just to let you guys know that I have the full range in at the moment. PM me if you are interested in a demo or want any info. Regards Mark[/quote] No chance you bringing them down to Brighton for me to have a listen to is there? Nah didn't think so!

[quote name='Machines' post='78084' date='Oct 23 2007, 10:43 AM']I'm trying some out at MusicLive with BassDirect next weekend, will let you know .[/quote] Excellent chap, I couldn't get along - long old drive from Brighton. Really interested in the HS210, would love to know how loud a pair of them get, I reckon I'd stack them end on end to get a staggered vertical stack since it would make hearing them a doddle I reckon. Shame there isn't an HS115 though, that may well be my ideal rig. Cheers.

Has anyone tried Bergantino cabs? Specifically the new HS210's? Just got my MB SA450, and its totally blowing me away. Now I want to get the 'right' cabs to go with it (my very ageing Laney 4x10's sound fine, but they are very big and very heavy!). I heard great things about epifani, schroeder and aguilar, now I want to know if anyone here has tried these new berg cabs as they sound like they might be ideal for me, since i want a lot of volume from modular rig that can sound anything from old skool to modern hi-fi. Any thoughts?

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='64573' date='Sep 24 2007, 12:26 AM']i have never managed to make a peavey rig i have used sound nice to my ears. but then thats just my ears[/quote] +1 In their defence I think every practice space I've ever been in has had a majority of Peavey bass gear. It's only for two reasons:- 1) Its very cheap for what you get 2) It tends to just keep going Its not the best sounding, but by gum can you thrash the n*ts off it for ever.

My advice - get a pair of PZMs (pressure zone microphone). You can record huge volumes with them - the design means they are always in phase regardless of room placement. You stick them on the wall and they use the entire wall as a sounding plate. Tandy used to do them cheap - they were about £30.00 a pop - which were much more expensive capsules that didn't quite come up to spec, and without doubt the best cheap recording mic solution I have ever heard. Needless to say they are very few and far between now, but keep your eyes open! Si

[quote name='ZPQ' post='52876' date='Aug 30 2007, 04:55 PM']The price has now gone up - these were on offer last week... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320128838258&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=011[/url] Cheers John[/quote] Top find! Thats about £30 cheaper than anywhere else I've seen it.