LukeFRC

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1403719004' post='2485632'] You sound like you need this thing in your life! [/quote] if I had the money handy I would be talking to you about if you want to pick it up for me!

Ashdown being british (like Barefaced) means that the lovers tend to show lots of love around here, and the haters do the british thing of really really hating one of our home grown companies. Instead of secretly being quite pleased that us in the UK can have one of the top amp makers here in Essex we knock them down cause we don't like the sound the build quality or so on. I wouldn't mind so much but I don't really see it happening with other US or EU based brands. In my mind Ashdown make a product - like the other great Essex amp builders Trace Elliot - that has a distinct sound, and you might love it or hate it. I've played old Trace rigs and been blown away, I've played other trace rigs and sounded awful like I walked straight out of the 80's... Some Ashdown stuff is brilliant, some sounds muddy and indistinct.... but that said I've never tried a Ashdown head with a non ashdown cab - and I've a suspicion that they're better at designing amps than they are cabs... Mind you if you gave me a choice between a Ashdown or Markbass rig I would probably go for Ashdown if I was playing a festival, and mark bass if I had to fit it into the back of my saxo...

if you look down this forum theres a thread i started about a ESP 800 series for £300 inverness way.... I realise that it's maybe too niche to have it's own thread and should be in here.... though not exactly at the crap end of the range of japanese interments!

[quote name='Fionn' timestamp='1403716952' post='2485612'] I'll be driving through Invergordon this weekend, if anyone wants a bite at this and needs a trusty eye. [/quote] why you tell me this... It's a 800 series ESP btw - like the custom shop version of the 400 series

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/esp-4-string-bass/1070562744#photo-content this. If I were closer I would be buying it. I don't have the money but I would jump on this!

headphones - when I was looking for my last set I kept finding internet reviews where the packaging was a fairly large part of the deal - I think headphones must be considered really important by some people in the same way sneaker-freaks will have lots of different nikes, all kept pristine in the box - crossed with Hi-Fi guys spending £3k on a set of cables. They are supposed to be good phones but if I were spending £1000 on some phones I would get some custom moulded ones...

I don't often venture into effects-forum world - and then had to google about to work out what you were talking about... do short cables with screw in terminals on the jack sound any different than short cables with soldered jacks? if so how? and if you are going to make your own cables why not just buy a soldering iron? ...and if you have a need for a signal buffer/line driver ... then different cables aint going to make any difference and seeing as the bass in your profile pic is an active one, what's the line driver for? yours confused Luke

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1403621358' post='2484614'] The Peavey T40 is always my first recommendation for many questions , but there are other very versatile and unusual basses to try out. [b]Yamaha BB series are pretty useful,[/b] and I've got a thing for high-end Ibanez, like the SR1200 VNF. [/quote] actually this (it seems great minds think alike ) I've seen secondhand BB414 go for £200 or so - a bargain at twice the price

Until the last line I would have said a Fender or Squier type PJ bass... unique and stand out.. is more down to personal preference. There's not that much a peavey T40 can't do tonally... and that would stand out...

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1403300311' post='2481726'] If both head and cab are very neutral sounding maybe you could borrow an amp/cabinet modelling pedal or valve pre-amp pedal if possible and see how that fits in with your rig; if you're close to a decent store (PMT?) then maybe give them a ring, ask if you can take your gear in and try what they've got - at least you ought to be able to play pretty loud in there at approximate gig volume. [/quote] thats a good idea, Dood's zoom pedal he's got for sale is quite tempting too! [quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1403346971' post='2481983'] Agreed, Id definately have another go with a modelling pedal. The zoom B3 seems especially highly thought of. With such a good full range system you should have a good play around with EQ as well, its possibly for instance youve just got too much bottom end so could experiment with eg-ing in a low roll off to simulate a more traditional cab. Certainly a lot cheaper than buying one. ... The ACME is the benchmark hi fi style cab don't see much mileage in going for another hi fi style cab unless youve got a volume/effeciency problem (which is its only weakness). [/quote] [quote name='bjelkeman' timestamp='1403387615' post='2482360'] Yes, but with LukeFRC saying that the ACME going really low and the mids not sounding right, then I think something like the TKS S2126 could be great. Not as much low end emphasis, great mids and easy to power. But, it is just a suggestion. [/quote] I think that maybe more playing with Eq might be the answer first, the Hellborg's EQ sounds great but it's not the most precise system I've ever used (from my sound man days I love sweepable frequency points - I've never really used one but it's something that makes the whole Eden/SWR/Thunderfunk family appeal and I came this close to buying a RH450 when they first came out cos... well flashy lights and sweepable EQ! wool). I kinda agree with both of you - there's no point going for another full range hi-fi cab - the ACME does that- and with the right gear I should be able to mimic a higher roll off like another full range cab would give.... and if that's what the solution is then a new cab, TKS, or possibly a fearful or simplexx would be a good move. Oh and another thing, slightly OT.... but tested out the effect of the subsonic filter built into the ACG preamp in my Streamer compared to the old EMG type design in my thumb..... utterly stops the big wobbles of the cone!

looks great - and so cheap too looking at the US prices

you have a mesa walkabout in your sig, not sure if that's the big or small rig.... but don't they have a radiator on the bottom. Physics would suggest that vertical should be better.....

sorry that was a long post! :S

Hello! So I've probably bent a few peoples ears asking for advice via PM and thought I would throw it open to a wider audience... Started playing... used to rest the headstock of the bass against a wardrobe to hear it... the went bought a Vox T25 practice amp, Joined a band and needed a rig, ended up with a H&K Quantum 600 and a Techsoundsystems 2x12 which was the Schroder type angled baffle job- which was quite nice set up. Not massive sounding though. I swapped the cab for a Tecamp M210 which was louder, clearer and punchy as hell, and let the H&K amp go (somewhat stupidly in hindsight) and got a nice matching Puma 1000 amp - which was great! And that was my rig for years. I stuggled with some things sound wise, esp at louder gigs, and always put them down to my basses... which possibly wasn't the case and now think it was the cab design.... About this time we started practicing at a church and put the bass through the PA using a HK D.A.R.T. monitor for me to hear myself... and it sounded great... it had a fairly high roll off at the deep end (-3db at 80Hz) but it seemed to have more bass than my tecamp cab and an amazing flat sound... for the first time in years a P bass sounded like a P bass, a Jazz like a Jazz and my streamer like a streamer - brilliant..... so I started going towards a more clean "PA" type sound... At which point a sold my cab and bought a brand new barefaced big baby 2 - and used the 1000w the Puma put out to drive it and it was tone nirvana.... Nope That's what I should have done! but I didn't I bought a roland combo, which was nice not what I was looking for.... I sold the cab and bought an ACME B2 - which is brilliant, very clean sounding and clear - but a very very low roll off on the low end. Picked up a ashdown power amp ... and traded my Puma for a Hellborg preamp as I wanted to try the thing out.... and it's outstanding sounding..... But the ACME and Hellborg really don't match up well at all. The Hellborg is very very flat and clean sounding, I love it via in ears - and in a more traditionally voiced cab sounds great, but something about the low end being so low, and something about the mids just don't sound right... The ACME is also great - it goes low, you need to throw a bit of power at it but it's very flat sounding, very articulate and its.... I could imagine putting anything into it and getting out what I'm putting in.... the thread about using an iPad as a preamp has made me think about modelling stuff again (dabbled with a Pod years ago, didn't get on amazingly) and I would imagine that different amp models and even cab would work quite nicely the ACME. So I want to change something to make it all work better- up to now the preference would be to sell the Preamp as it's worth the most and would free up money to try different heads. But I've been reconsidering that - it's been up for sale for about half a year with not a lot of interest... and I've been using it, and esp the IEM only gigs... it sounds superb and the DI send comes through great through the FOH So I'm now reconsidering that and wondering do I need to look again at different cabs? Or different preamps or what? What would you do?

I saw this on the recently added threads list - and for a split second thought it was a for sales thread...

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1403119132' post='2480027'] Must be loads of bass-playing Jim Elliotts in London mind [/quote] swimming in them, can't get down Denmark Street without meeting at least 2 or 3.

With a version of the hellborg s pre in it or is it look,more than sound you are after?

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1403021201' post='2478946'] Re underpowering: If you ever stopped playing, then your cab would be underpowered if such a thing existed. [/quote] crap, better keep playing...

I'ld love to buy this... can't till my preamp shifts though