JPJ

The current crop of drivers we have available are far superior to anything we had in the 70's and 80's, unfortunately main stream manufacturers still choose to put these drivers in aesthetically rather than acoustically designed boxes. But some are catching on, hence the popularity of relatively new brands such as Barefaced or TKS who are placing these drivers in suitable boxes.

T-nuts are the answer, easy to install and allows the handle to be firmly through-bolted without needing to mess around inside the cab with a spanner. Same things most manufacturers use to secure their speakers in cabs. My SWR Goliath Snr has tilt back wheels and a centre located rear handle. Word of caution, always pull this behind you, never push in front. I learned this the hard way after doing the equivalent of a Fosbury Flop over said cab when the wheels caught an uneven paving slab

I bought one of those damaged gear 4 music ones (damaged round back plastic) off eBay as a donor for a project I'm working on and honestly, when you look inside, I wouldn't recommend one. Yes they are only £99 but I can't imagine them lasting very long and the quality of the body is, well I guess what you would expect for £99. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/6819B490-38A8-4894-9F71-8807F5105D05_zpskerlt9dz.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/16189442-6B2D-4401-B8BF-0A88AC1D5357_zpsuiesvp9o.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/8064419C-BFB4-4E5C-9333-CB5035D8FA05_zpslxnl6s0y.jpg[/IMG]

no experience with the bass stuff, but bought the daughter one of the low end HB electric violins at Christmas. Needed to set it up like any new instrument (rosin on the pegs, adjust the micro tuners to mid range etc.) and we changed the bridge because we had a better one lying around off one of her old acoustic violins but other than that, it was playable straight out of the box. Really authentic sounding amplified too and well worth what we paid. My only concern with five string acoustic basses is that unless the body is humongous, the B string suffers from a serious lack of acoustic volume. I've tried a few, and even the high end ones can't overcome the basic laws of physics :-)

Didn't he at one time use a certain brand of american bass that isn't mentioned on here which he swapped a precision for with Glen Hughes of Deep Purple or did I dream that (I have strange dreams)

Phil Jones Bass (PJB) Bass Buddy, its the Rolls Royce of headphone practice amps, and also a really good little recording preamp too :-)

Whichever one you decide to use, think about placement on the stage. The boundary reinforcement (i think that's the correct term) from placing your amp close to a wall or in a corner can make a small rig 'sound' massive compared to the same rig sat in the middle of the stage.

I'd start by checking the pickup heights. If they are too low then it will lead to a loss of output. I'm not surprised that your having to drive the preamp harder with passive pickups, but I wouldn't have expected you'd have to drive the master as well just to compensate. Another thought, have the pickups been wired in correctly - if they are out of phase then it could lower the output. Final thought, I don't know that amp but check that there isn't a pad engaged on the preamp input.

Wow, that's a first, an Ashdown I actually like the sound of. I will be checking these out when they hit the shops.

I have two SWR Goliath 4x10's and a Goliath Snr 6x10. I bought the senior because the 2x4x10 is overkill in most venues and, imho, the SM1500 needs to be hooked up to a 4 ohm cab to sound its best. Sure the Snr is a beast to lift (I can manage to lift it into the car on my own, but only just) but the sound it produces is worth the pain! It is different from the 2 4x10's, tighter, more focused with a bigger bottom end (not that the 2 4x10's lack bottom!). The Snr and one of my Goliaths still have the original PAS drivers, the other Goliath (a series II) I upgraded to Eminence Deltalites a couple of years ago when I blew two of the drivers (the series II cabs were only rated at 500w). Other than that, I've had no problem with the PAS drivers. I haven't tried a Megoliath yet, but I can't imagine it would give me sufficiently more than the Goliath Snr to make the additional transport problems worth while. In fact, the Snr is performing so well, I will probably sell off the two Goliaths soon and buy either a Redhead combo or a smaller single 4 ohm cab such as TKS or Barefaced for those small pub gigs.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1390850081' post='2350402'] . . . except that, using the 'big iron' criterion, you might as well argue that those new-fangled toroidal transformers just don't have the grunt of a real laminated transformer. [/quote] Personally I find the more circular nature of the current produced from the toroidal transformer is much better suited to bass than the squarer current that you get from the older laminated transformers.......

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1390843583' post='2350228'] so what is it? we cannae tell from the pictures. [/quote] That's the innards of my SWR SM1500

I'm with WoT - give me big iron every time [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/IMG_0785_zps2d111b8e.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/IMG_0785_zps2d111b8e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Depends, if I'm mixing or I know the engineer, then I'll go pre and let the PA do it's job. If I'm not mixing, or I don't know the engineer or I don't like the look of the PA, then post.

I'm afraid the v2 chinese made SRM's have a bit of a reputation for tripping out on thermal overload.

The main problem with the class D stuff is the lack of real umph. There is no other way of describing it but all the class D stuff I've tried is missing that real 'weight' to the sound. I do want to try the Aguilar Tone Hammer as allegedly this amp suffers least from this issue, but until someone brings out a class D module that sounds the same to my knackered old ears as a good old a/b design with huge transformers, then I'll keep the SWR and continue to be on first name terms with my chiropractor

[quote name='gillento' timestamp='1390558218' post='2346713'] Well, in the meantime I got back my bass. Dave did a great job! Here it is: the black one: [/quote] Wow that looks stunning! I did see a couple of progress photos of your bass that Dave posted on Facebook - I knew he wouldn't let you down!

Before I say too much, I should declare that I'm a huge fan of John's work, having a J-Retro in my Overwater J5, a combination of his mid-stack and BTB controls in my self-built P5, and having a spare J-Retro that's destined for one of my next build projects. I recently traded a Musicman Stingray 5 for an Overwater Perception Deluxe 5 with our own Rumple (I should also say I'm a huge fan of Overwaters). Whilst this bass was great, it was almost too polite for me. I had deliberately gone for a Perception rather than a Progress as I know from past experience that I don't get on with thru-neck basses, but still the Perception didn't appear to have the 'grunt' of my J5 and no amount of knob twiddling on the stock Overwater/East three-band circuit could rectify this. A quick call to John and a talk through my requirements resulted in an order for a custom U-Retro, five knob no switch variant with an active blend control. The preamp duly arrived last Saturday and I immediately got to work installing this in the bass. The installation was slightly more complicated than a straight swap as I had to open out two of the existing pot holes to accommodate the fatter shaft of the dual-concentric pots but once this was done, the rest of the install was very straight forward. I should also say that I adapted the control layout to suit my personal taste (top row is now volume, bass/treble, mid/mid frequency, bottom row is pan and passive tone). Anyway, once installed - wham there it was, the missing oomph! I know that both the stock J-Retro and the U-Retro have a in-built bass & treble boost and having opted for the stock U-Retro, albeit with an active pan control, as against a flat response U-Retro that John also offers, I was expecting an improvement but the new preamp has blown me away. Something that really has surprised me is the passive tone control. I have an old 1980's Ibanez RS fretless that has a similar two-band active circuit with passive tone, and this never seems to do much on that bass. However, on the U-Retro, it gives you a quick 'tweaking' control meaning that you don't have to adjust your basic tone setup mid-gig to either highlight or remove a bit of additional top end. Very useful control to have, and one I can actually see myself using frequently in a live gig situation. All in all, I'm over the moon with the improvement the U-Retro has made to the Perception. Its turned this bass into a keeper and plans are already afoot to have her professionally refinished to make the most of the wonderful flame maple top and back [b]Edit 27-Jan-13:[/b] I gigged the Overwater with the custom U Retro on Saturday night. With the pan slightly favouring the neck pickup, the bass rolled off a little from the centre detent (still a boost as the bass is boost only) and the passive tone about halfway open I found my personal tonal nirvana! Big solid bass with a lovely musical mid-range that helped me cut through the rather noisy on stage sound. The gig reinforced my earlier assessment and showed just how useful that passive tone control is in partnership with the active bass, mid & treble.

Supertwin and a '69er, at the same time? That's not a bass rig, that's a demolition engine Seriously though you don't like the HD350, you said so yourself, and if my millionaire client would just pay his bill instead of faffing about , I'd help you out by taking it off your hands

Thanks for the input guys, hmmm do I or don't I? [quote name='ebenezer' timestamp='1389890086' post='2339179'] hey kev.....have you got money burning a hole in your pockets? [/quote] Haha Mark, not quite but I do have an ache in my back

I have serious gas for a new 'smaller' amp for smaller gigs. My main rig is an SWR SM1500 into either a Goliath Snr or 2 Goliath 4x10's. This is a killer rig but its actually overkill in some small pubs and I'm thinking of building up a second rig for smaller gigs thats a little more user friendly and easier on my ageing back. My main issue is that in both the bands with whom I regularly work, the guitarist uses a 100w Marshall valve amp and matching 4x12. That is a lot of guitar to live with and add in Animal on the drums and you will see why I use the SM1500. Also, we don't tend to put the back line through the PA as its more of a vocals only PA rig. I have tried smaller form factor class D amps (including the Bass Terror) which don't cut it for me as I, like many others, find there is some 'authority' missing in the fundamental class D 'tone' that no amount of EQ'ing can compensate for. I'm tempted (sorely tempted) by the EBS HD350 that's for sale on this very forum but do any HD350 users use theirs in a similar situation? I have heard it said that the HD350 is actually "louder' (theres that subjective term again) than the 350w rating suggests but is this just a myth or is it fact? I'm thinking that if I do go for the HD350, I'd probably build a nice 2x12 to go with it - any thoughts? Any advice/guidance will be gratefully accepted

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1389631870' post='2336342'] That's the one. I bought it from a local guy who in turn bought it from John. When my old singer said to me, "give us a hand putting this in the car" after I had put it outside the front door, I told him to lift it up himself. He laughed like a fool and said something like, "those Germans are nuts, how did they manage that?". [/quote] You've just got to hope the helium doesn't leak out because then it will be as heavy as my SWR

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1389617258' post='2336094'] I use a Techsoundsystems 6x10. It weighs 66lbs. 5.3 ohms and handles 2,100 watts. Needs loads of juice to make it sing but when it is in its zone, there is nothing that any other single cab can do to touch it. The low end response is incredible. The mids are its strength and the top end has a very comprehensive tweeter that does the business. [url="http://www.tech-soundsystems.com/eng/10er/610.html"]http://www.tech-soun...g/10er/610.html[/url] [/quote] I remember seeing our very own Warwickhunt pick one of these out of the boot of his car one-handed, I thought he was some kind of superhero until I lifted it myself - these things are stupidly light compared to most 4x10's let alone 6x10's :-)

[quote name='winterfire666' timestamp='1389611014' post='2335998'] i always liked the SWR Goliath 6x10 for rock and metal and you can get em fairly cheap 2nd hand, just spotted one on this very forum. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/214937-swr-goliath-senior-6x10/page__p__2329755__hl__swr__fromsearch__1#entry2329755"]http://basschat.co.u..._1#entry2329755[/url] [/quote] Yep, I grabbed one locally late last year to pair with my SM1500 and I can confirm what others are saying, the 610 format works so well. I'm also lucky enough to have 2 Goliath 4x10's and there really isn't a lot of difference between the two rigs, and the 610 with its wheels is a lot easier to move around. I've never found a single 4x10 to be enough in a band with two guitarists using 100w valve heads and 4x12's but the 610 keeps them in check and then some :-) [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/IMG_0864_zps17e5864c.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1389382958' post='2333759'] whichever bass had the single piece sounded ballsier, whichever bass had the monorails sounded a bit too polite. [/quote] That confirms my suspicions and is a much better description of what I feel I'm currently missing! :-)