JPJ

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1352325655' post='1861839'] £20 for a brocolli sandwich..? Does it have an OHSC..? What year is it..? Trade for a Mars bar, little used..? [/quote] My thoughts exactly! But the new layout does look good mind

Horses for courses. Behringer gear is pretty good for what it is (a clone of something else) at a very attractive price point. I bought a pair of their PA tops (clones of a Mackie SRM450 from what I can tell) and they performed brilliantly considering that the pair cost less than one of the Mackies. Some of their stuff is a little to 'noisy' to use to record with, but other than that, I'd say they are pretty good value for money.

If I was using IEM's, especially a decent set that feature sound reduction, then I'd want a 'band mix' coming through the earpieces and not just my bass signal.

It's not that difficult a job ONCE you get the old covering off. Maplin used to sell the replacement material and you just need basic tools (screwdriver, straight edge, stanley knife) and a can or two of spray adhesive that you can get from most carpet shops. The hardest part is cleaning off all the old material and glue before you start refinishing.

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1351258406' post='1849364'] I had a fantastic experience with PJB & Synergy (who were the uk distributors iirc) when I had my sixpack, it was a superb amp but too chuffin heavy for me to lug up and down stairs for my back to stay happy! Rather than get the combo I'd get the M500 head and a cab or two! If you love the sound they're amazing amps, seriously bomb proof construction and outstanding quality! [/quote] Cheers for that, but I've got a separate head+cabs setup and I just loved the 'turning up with amp in one hand, bass in the other' approach to last night.

I've owned a PJB Briefcase combo for a couple of years now. She sits under my desk in my home office and serves as my practice amp. In all the time I've owned her she's never ventured out of the house as I've always thought she'd be to little to be of any use elsewhere. However, last night I was going to a 'house practice' for one of my bands. The format was two guitars, drums, plus singer and I was loathed to lug the SM1500 + cab so I took what I considered to be a chance and loaded the PJB instead. Both guitarists were using 1x12 combos, the drummer had full acoustic kit and the singer had a small vocal PA and guess what, the PJB kept up with them all. With the eq flat, and the volume at about one o'clock on the dial she produced a righteous tone at a volume level more than enough to keep up with the drummer. Sure, one or two notes dived under the assembled cacophony but she did admirably well even amplifying the low 'b' with some authority. In fact, she did so well I'm now hankering after one of her bigger sisters for all rehearsals/small gigs. Just goes to show that size isnt everything. Oh and while I'm on, PJB must have one of the best customer service teams of any company.

Hi all, Looking for recommendations for pickups for a fretless passive P bass project I'm starting. The finished article will be in the style of the Fender Tony Franklin bass with an unlined ebony boarded neck (thanks to our very own petergales). The intended use is in a rhythm and blues power trio/quartet so will need to 'cut through' with a healthy dose of mid-range snarl, burp and mwahh. I'm tempted by the Wizard P/J combo as I've heard good things about these pickups but I'm open to all other suggestions for a balanced pair of pickups in the P/J style.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1350939375' post='1845435'] Big power stages = big tone. Sad but true. [/quote] Amen brother (from an SM1500 user with a chiropractor on speed dial)

Oh, and while I think on, have a chat with the Overwater boys, I'm pretty sure their extra longscale strings will fit yours perfectly.

Well done, that's quite a project and you've achieved a stunning result. Not a fan of the antigua finish myself but yours is nice an subtle.

I own three fiver's. The first and my primary bass is an Overwater J 5 with 35" scale. Lovely balanced tone/volume across all the strings, sounds like a Fender jazz due to the combination of DiMarzio Ultra Jazz p'ups and John East J-Retro circuit. Second bass on most gigs is a MM Stingray. This time a 34" scale but again well balanced tone/volume across all strings. The humbucker plays a big part in getting a full sound out of the low B as is best demonstrated by the single coil position on the switch where the B string just thins out and almost disappears. MY third fiver is a home built 34" P 5 with the same p'up config as the Fender Stu Hamm basses (bart pickups and East T&B and Mid Stack circuit). On this one, you really need the P pickup engaged to get a good tone out of the B string, and there is a noticeable latency on the development of notes on the B string (same as my now sold Fender Jazz DLX 5). I don't think you can isolate scale length as being the sole contributor to a good B string. I believe its more a combination of factors and is heavily influenced by the pick-ups, circuit and ultimately your amp & cabinet setup. Going back to your original post, if I had that sort of budget available I'd be off to Carlisle to spec an Overwater

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1346797146' post='1793512'] Hmm, I don't know JPJ - I'd hazard a guess at cost and difficulty to machine? Wood is easier to throw in to a CNC and cheaper. Wow, that'd be a pretty ultimate Hartke cabinet! Aluminium cones and aluminium cabinet! but that's one too many 'alooominums' for my liking! heh, ey Larry!! [/quote] Well you machine it with a standard router with a carbide cutter, granted you would need some sort of frame to attach it to, but all the jointing is done with adhesives so no nasty fasteners required. Fill it full of wadding (like any good cabinet) and polish the bejesus out of the rest of the cabinet and you'd have a thing of undoubted shiney lightweight beauty.

The Promethean was on my wish list after trying WoT's out, but I got an unbelievable deal on a used PJB Briefcase that does everything I need in a small combo and has (so far) been uber reliable.

So if rigidity of the cabinet is the goal, why is nobody using ultra lightweight aluminium honeycomb panels? I can vouch for the rigidity of this stuff and you can get it foam filled so no nasty voids to excite.

What we need is a standardised Basschat 'loudness' test. I'm guessing that 80% of Basschat members play the pub/small club circuit (10% play bigger venues, 10% play in their bedroom) so our test chamber could be the 'Dog & Sproat with an audience of 5 - 50 punters (including wives, mothers, girlfriends). Next we need what we're up against, and judging from the NE scene we need 2 x 100w Marshall equipped guitarists who genuinely believe they will damage their amp if they play at anything less than 10 on the volume knob. Then add a loud drummer with poor/no technique (think Animal from the Muppets). Then we need a 'standard song' and without wishing to be to controvertial, if you've played in bands for any length of time you will have played this one, so let's say choose the timeless classic 'Mustang Sally' (north eastern members may substitute 'the Hunter'). Then we need an unbiased way of measuring loudness. We could faff about with spectrum analysers/noise meters etc but it would probably best to use another bass player (unbiased) to stand at various locations in the venue and see if he/she can hear what the bass player is playing and report his/her findings on a scientific scale of say: 1-25 Inaudible in most passages; 26-50 detectable but needed a trained ear; 51-75 sat nicely in the mix; 76-100 completely overpowered all other instruments (just the way it should be) This is just an outline proposal. Please feel free to add your own suggested improvements.......

How hard is it to actually measure the output of an amp? I thought you had to have an acoustic chamber and a hugely accurate reference tone and all that malarkey?

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1346452806' post='1789572'] I think I saw a review of the orange terror that had it putting out a little over the stated watts, I'll see if I can find it again... [/quote] I can believe this, mine was insanely loud even into an 8ohm load.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1345222389' post='1775246'] Just to give you some options Kev... I have a Warwick Hellborg 1U rackmount preamp that you can borrow. I know it isn't 'exactly' what you want but it might be worth experimenting (I have a power amp to go with it but it isn't one of the uber-light ones). [/quote] Cheers John, sounds like its time for a mini-bash round your place [quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1345224257' post='1775270'] Peavey used to do a 1U light-weight power amp that wasn't class D; added to which I think it is manufacturers of bass amps building down to a budget which is what I personally think is giving the resultant tone that I don't like with those style of switching amps, I'm 'hoping' that a dedicated power amp may not have been built down to a price and as a result might give me what I want! [/quote] I know what you mean. I've been trolling around the interweb trying to find a decent power amp using this lightweight class D malarky that can put about 900w in 8 ohms 1500w in 4 ohms. Can't believe that there isn't a dedicated mono musical instrument power amp available like this. If Orange can do a 1000w Terrorbass that is basically their front end in front of a B&O power amp module, surely somebody somewhere will have thought of using a similar amp module to produce a decent mono power amp?

Howdy folks, Bit of a narrow question but, does anybody on here own an SWR Marcus Miller preamp? I'm current using an SM1500 which is a little bit heavy for my ageing back. I love the sound/power of it though and wouldn't really want to compromise too much on that, so I'm thinking about replacing it with the SWR MM Preamp and a lighter weight power amp. Before I push too far down this road, I'd like some advice from a MM user, hence the question!

1978 First amp I used was a Customsound Trucker combo that the local arts centre used to hire out to bands. It was a pucka valve amp, probably around 45w and a 1x15 (or possibly 1x12) speaker. 1980 First amp I bought was a Ohm GB80 1x15 80w combo, H&H speaker, five band graphic eq but knobs not sliders. 1981 Then I bought a FAL solid state 100w amp head and built a 1x15 cab to use with that and used to stack the FAL on top of the Ohm on top of the home made 1x15 for a mega 180w stack 1988 Then I bought a Carlsboro Stingray Pro Bass 300 head and an old Hiwatt 4x12 (which I only sold recently) 1990 Then I took a hiatus from gigging (got married), kept the Carlsboro and the Hiwatt and bought a Laney G120 120w 1x15 combo for use in the house. 2005 And I'm about to return to the gigging scene, so I sell the Laney and buy an SWR Black Beauty 300w 1x15 combo and very quickly add a workingman's 2x10 to fill out the sound. I become addicted to the SWR sound. 2006 see's the Black Beauty combo replaced with a 750x head, Goliath 4x10 and Son of Bertha 1x15. 2008 see's the Son of Bertha replaced with a second Goliath 4x10 and tonal nirvana is achieved. 2010 see's the 750x replaced with the SM1500 and a Schroeder 21012 added to the mix for smaller gigs where two 4x10's might actually cause structural damage to the venue. In between times, an Orange Terror Bass 500 popped in (and out again) and I've now got gas for a Markbass Randy Jackson head to pair with the Schroeder for something different.

So does this mean that the marketing stating that the full 500 watts into either 4 or 8 ohms is a complete fabrication then? The impedance switch is merely there to ensure the correct filtering load for the class D amp?

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1344295430' post='1762542'] I thought the Terrorbass was a valve amp? [/quote] Nope, 2 valves in the front end, class D solid state power amp