Sugden

Hey chris hows things? When did you get that traveler cab hows it going? I have been after that tube sund for quite awhile now I can quite happily say I've been through and have in my possesion a number of ways of acheiving it. First port of call I tried a DHA VT2 Dual thought it was ok nothing to write home about (later to be told it must have been damaged before I got or during transit as the person after me had it fixed and said it sounded stunning, I should have spent more time with it) Then moved onto trying a trave V-type pre amp into the markbass LMII sounded nice gave the valve warmth but never realy gets the power tube overdrive edge of distortion sound. I also at the same time got a DHA VT1 Purist now this was a lovely little pedal and did in my view a better job than the V-type pre so I sold the V-type and kept the Purist. Then I spotted a Mesa boogie walkabout on ebay snaped that up and that became my favorite tone over the LMII and purist. But it wasn't quite on the edge of distortion tone I'd changed my mind slightly and favoured solid again but ti was a short lived thing. But Purist went with my big pedal clear out (silly move no job and a summer ment it had to happen) Then I went in search of a valve power amp to drive things an a new preamp failed couldn't find anything. As a result of searching got put onto DHA again so I ended up ordering a DHA VT5-400 which is his new amp. Im hopfuly about to write a full review after this weekend and sit down and look at the amp in more depth and do some proper comparisons between the LMII, MB walkabout, a Trave elliot V6 and the DHA VT5-400. But it does the valve drive and power and pre drive better than anything else I have tried at low volumes you dont have to push it super hard to get the drive. But the DHA purist was a good way to get 70% there without changing amp. Im told the EBS valve drive does the same job with more powerful EQ. Also the warwick tubepath 10.1 is ment to be of similar design and idea. So thats my path to where I am now on my search for valve drive/warmth with a sweet clean tone. Lovely story resulting with this in my living room:

I acctualy need to get around to writing a review on this bass I always get side tracked. I'll do it while doing afew other reviews I'v promised. I'm glad you liked the bass I adore it. Tbh letting others try it without my constant supervision was more down to trusting alan than anything else when you see a man smile quite so wide at seeing most of his creations in one place you can trust him to look after them all. I got alot of nice comments during the say about both my basses. I did say to my self earlier I wouldnt hang around too much think I might have got a little over protective. Plus helping alan to show people how good his basses are is more than enough reason. He's a great guy to work with very helpful and always willing to talk to you through silly mind changes, think he got a little talked out on sunday. Ortho funniest thing was quite happily when I strolled over picked up my recurve and walked away with it to try the DHA amp. Couple of people gave me some pretty stunned looks. Think they must have thought I was making a runner with it for a second.

They sound fantastic don't they. Can wait to get my project off the floor tbh I need to sell all these excess amps before I can really get going lol. I played through a set at steves, he's a great guy and had a good day the cabs really left an impression on me.

Hey nope Im picking up the amp at bass day so Im sure more than my self can see how it does. The omni's are simply bits of wood at the moment ortho if I get all my work done tomorrow Im hoping to do all the 45degree angle cuts I need to do so I can begin construction next week. Some foolish mans letting me have a week off uni so I may have to hit the workshop. Plus of corse work on my other uni work too....

[quote name='Brave Sir Robin' post='83883' date='Nov 5 2007, 10:53 AM']I'm also toying with the idea of pushing the MM pickup at the bridge further towards the neck, in an attempt to capture more of a Stingray vibe. Then again, I'm not sure if 1) it will actually make a difference and 2) it wont mess up the thing. Nothing drastic, something like 1 cm, or 1/2 inch. Note that I will have a slim humbucker at the neck, with coil tapping option. So if you guys have any thoughts...[/quote] I dont think you will mess it up moving the pickup foward I moved the front pickup back on my recurve mainly for more area to slap and it didnt seem to effect the sound. But I dont think you have quite gathered how powerful the pre-amp is. Mixing together the front and rear pickup and playing with the filter controls can quite easily create a musicmanesk tone where ever you put the pickup I would have thought. I can certainly get close to the musicman sound even with the normal pickups on my recurve and the harlot I have I think gets there even easier. I would certainly suggest one of alans musicman style pickups they sound huge. As for moving it forward I dont think it makes too much difference.

I'm pretty sure Dave has replied somewhere else that he isn't going anymore. But Im not certain and I'm sur ehe will correct me if I'm wrong.

The peavey Microbass I have is great but that doesnt have a cd input. The new Peavey Max 126 has all you need plus some new fangled things peavey have put into it including a tube.

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='76751' date='Oct 19 2007, 09:54 PM'][url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribal-Planet-electric-guitar-gx15e/dp/B000NIRIOU"]Right here![/url] These certainly look nice - I might get one myself if I have to keep carrying basses around...[/quote] Dont buy this one!! Its the guitar version and also only the gx15 now I think thats the lighter model but Im also sure the price isnt that different from the GX40 so it depends what level of protection you want. But you want the (if you want the strong one) GX40B Strangely the B stands for bass...

I agree with bassBod. I've never been to a shop with an actual good aray of gig bags especialy for bass. Plus near gloucester no chance nearest I would say is PMT in birmingham or soundcontrol birmingham. But then again dont remember there been a large range at either. Onlines the way forwards. Id go with a tribal planet GX40.

Thats a great video cheers.

I think you have to realise that not acctualy that many basschatters have BFM cabs. Its mostly finnbassers who have them about to try at this point in time. I'll shortly be building a pair of omni 10.5 cross fires (no backing out now woods been ordered) so once they are done more than happy for anyone around manchester to try them. Think this may have to stay here for awhile if you want a serious response while more basschaters own them or finish building them.

I think you made the right move. I'll be having far too much fun after bass day I'll have 4 amps to play through to write a nice review comparing them all. Markbass littlemark 2, Mesa boogie walkabout, and a trace elliot V6. Also just ordered the wood to start building my omni 10.5 cross fires. I saw you were getting steve (thumper) to make yours?

Sounds like an intresting control should be fun. Cheers

Loving the front dave thanks alot exactly what I was after. I'll have endless hours playing with all the configurations of controls. Im pretty sure I know what all the other controls do except what does the colour section do? Cheers Sug

Your bridges are just something else love the design. Does it have any other advantages over just looking damn good?

Hey hey I dont want this turning into how many strings a man can have thread its been done to death. Plus its all personal prefrence there is no right nor wrong. A person may play a bass with how ever many strings he sees fit. I choose 4 string others may choose any number makes no difference to me. If anyone has the nerve to say my choice is wrong they are stupidly narrow minded and shouldn't be allowed on an open disscusion forum. No matter how good the player they are bassing that fact on is, lets face it you arent them get over it who cares. Now if someone said as they have in this thread they'd prefer it with more strings thats fine by me. Infact I'd love to see another all blue and purple harlot in 5 or 6 string. Now Im going for a pint with a drunken fretless play to follow.

On the strings situation I like 4 so I got 4 simple as lol. Wasnt ready for 6 and I dont think 5's are worth it. If I went for more strings I'd move to 6. The bass is stunning I love it. Its darker than the images show but I think it looks stunning under stage lighting i think it will be something special. Fretless playing is something pretty new to me so I'm still coming to terms with that but I love the bass. I played a jazz gig with it in London beginning of last month and it was fantastic. Nothing bellow the 12th fret so it was pretty easy to get to grips with in the week I had it before hand. Its fantastic the necks stunning, and the over all finish is up to alans normal very high standards. I dont think I'd be able to call it between the harlot and the recurve they are both quite different ortho with some tweeking a similar sound can be had from both. The new pickups sound HUGE they have such a full sound its stunning. I'll have to sit down and write a full review but I'm going to be hopfuly doing some recording with the band Im in at the moment soon so I'll wait for some sound clips. Theres a song I think it will just work wonders for. So you could say Im rather happy with my pair

The markbass 102HF gets my vote unless you are up for building your own cabs then in which case I'd build a set of BFM Omni 10.5 cabs. Or a tad more dosh and get someone to build them. The markbass cab is the best cab I've tried on the market for weight, price and sound.

Thats a pretty serious looking transformer. Looks like some serious hours gone in there. If i knew what I was looking at Im sure Id be saying fantastic work. Theres some lovely looking 3 teir circuit boards.

Quality valve amp or not these things go for about £250. They are nice and sound damn good but if i paid £350 for one then saw another go for the normal £250 I'd be abit gutted.