Wolverinebass

What about the cabs? Are the powerhouse series worth it? Having never played them, I've been offered a Powerhouse 4x12 for a quite nice deal, but as even at that it's still a massive wodge of cash. Is it worth it? Has anyone ever played one? Are they transparent or heavily coloured cabs? Any info would be good if anyone has it.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1380894323' post='2232063'] Played with one for a couple of hours at the SE Bass Bash - they are monstrously loud, my measely 500w MB sa450 head into one literally emptied the hall with the other 30 or 40 bass rigs, because no one could hear anything whilst we played with it. Once again apologies to everyone who put up with my getting very excited with filter sweeps into brown note territory at extreme war volume. Apparently you can jam 1600 watts into one all day and it will just turn your internal organs to jelly... It sounded fantastic, effortlessly loud, but more than that a great tone. Killer cab... [/quote] I happened to play through 51M0n's rig into the Big Twin 2. I think 2 words can be used to describe it - limitless brutality. I've never played anything like it. I'd never seen anything have speakers which move so far and yet still work afterwards. Never had I played a bass rig which had such low frequency extension. Might put some off, but we had the Markbass at 10 for all of a minute and it just ate the power and continued to just get louder and louder as we turned up. I'm sure that people were being turned into some sort of strange fleshy liquid in far off countries when we played it. I did favour the treble end as hey, that's what most important to me and I went for the "full treble grind." Just ate it. That new waveguide horn is brilliant. Biting, but smooth and not shrill. Si used some evil octave, filter and fuzz fx. It just took it without even breaking a sweat. At the volume it was being played at and the notes being produced with the octave, I didn't think it was possible. The whole off axis thing was ridiculous. I played the same figure as I walked in a wide arc of almost 180 degrees in front of it. The sound stayed virtually constant. That's another one I've never experienced. Furthermore, I used to honestly scoff when people say "it's a one hand lift." I always thought that the people who said that played rugby for New Zealand and were made of solid muscle. I picked the thing up with one hand and I'm only 5 foot 9 and weigh in (dripping wet) at a portly 9 stone 4. It really was like it was made of.... well, nothing. They're not cheap, but nothing good ever is. It's not for everyone I don't think as the bass extension was just soooo monstrous, but I thought it was the best cab I've ever played. Directly before that I'd played 51m0n's Bergantino 4x10. That was the best 410 I'd ever played. Brilliant.

Am I the only one who when they read "a certain pickup manufacturer" immediately thought SGD? I would never, ever have bought anything that SGD had done. Not because I doubt the inherent quality of the work, but because when you read the 5000 page thread on talkbass "Won a wal pickup on ebay," you realise that every 6 months he said "soon" it's either never going to happen or it'll be a total car crash of customer service. Crap. Sorry, just total crap. I did toy with getting some stuff from Warmoth and bunging those pickups in, but decided that if I wanted a Wal, I should just..... get a Wal. Shock, horror of realising the total bloody obvious. For anything similar I'd get an ACG. I suppose I've never really had a custom build. My Alembic was off the shelf at the Bass Centre in Wapping, the buzzard was pretty much standard. My 8 string was custom in that I chose every single part myself. Pity I didn't figure out how amazingly heavy it was going to be and that I'd be a foot shorter after wearing it for 4 hours at rehearsal. Oh dear. However, it's like everything else. Roll the dice and take your chances.

This is the most insane thing I've ever seen!! Get in!!

Loved it. Top quality in every way. Was brilliant to meet people and put faces to names and try out some of the most amazing gear I've ever seen. Fantastically good fun.

Typical. Another good brand that Fender have killed. Surely GB would have been making money?

Will be popping along. As I don't have a car I'll only be bringing one bass. Probably either the Alembic or the Buzzard.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1375365780' post='2160339'] I recall a quote from John Entwistle saying the opposite was true of him, cos he thought picks sounded better, but fingers looked cooler. I may have imagined it though. [/quote] Partially true. He said a pick looks less flashy. It's on the hot licks DVD. Plus playing with a pick meant folk thought townshend was playing his bits as it wasn't so obvious what he was doing.

If that was me I'd be having my name off it right away. If it's not me, it's not me and that's the end of it. It's a difficult one, but I wouldn't care if my playing got substituted with Jaco Pastorius. I'm not taking the credit for something I didn't do. If I had a stinker at the session, I wouldn't have been bothered about having my playing removed provided I had a conversation about it. Someone removing your playing unilaterally is totally wrong. The fact that the playing has been based on what you've done is somewhat of an insult as well. Say something now or forever let it eat away at you....

[color=#222222]I generally hate sound engineers. All of them have tended to make my gig experiences less enjoyable than they could have been. I used to use a pod but then I used to get undermixed despite how nice/polite I was about hearing myself properly. Plus they quite often used to do frequency pans on me. Xillddx says there is more control. In an ideal world, yes there is and it's the perfect solution. Except when people set out their stall to screw with you, because [i]they[/i] have the control over you. Even after the original Bass Pod being more than 10 years old most of these lobotomized “sound guys” still don’t know what to do with it. I put that in inverted commas as I know that there are good ones. Pity I’ve only ever met 4 of them.[/color] [color=#222222]Another belter I find is what happened to me last time I played up London. At this particular gig I was assured that there would be an Ashdown amp as part of the house backline so bringing my own gear was uneccessary. “A 4x10?” I ask. “Yes” came the reply, so I presume that you can see where this is going. I get there and it's a 40W Perfect Ten. Great. That’ll be punchy if I was playing in a matchbox.[/color] [color=#222222]The band before us were playing dual guitars through 2 4x12s at devastating volume and both of these cabs were mic’d. When I asked the sound engineer if he'd mic this miniscule practice amp, he said "no" because “the bass would spill all over the stage” and that this 1x10 behemoth was "more than enough" for me to hear myself. The bloke despite my increasingly agitated and progressively less polite assertions that this was utter bollocks refused to budge, nor let me put it up on a table so that it’d be closer to ear level. Then just to mess me up even more I hasten to add he then didn't put my DI'd bass through the PA into the wedge. So I couldn’t hear anything. [/color] [color=#222222]To make matters worse, after 3 songs of silence when I looked down at my fingers he turned the bass on but without any content under 350Hz. Even if you don’t like Alembics, imagine that your bass sound was reduced to that of a clicky banjo because some moron didn’t know what he was doing and was exercising his own power trip. I was beyond any level of enraged and were it not for the timely intervention of a few of my close friends I was going to probably have done some serious physical harm to this imbecile.[/color]

Townshend isn't bleeped on the DVD, but to be honest it's a reasonably rose tinted view of Entwistle's life. The manner of his death is completely glossed over, as is his almost stupid shopaholic/alcoholic/cocaine addict nonsense. What I wouldn't give for someone to write a decent biography like what Tony Fletcher did with Keith Moon.....

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1369218662' post='2086354'] He went after Hipshot for daring to make a compatible bridge that worked properly. [/quote] But that was because the tail lift was a "registered trademark." Not to mention the intonation and saddle adjustment problems. But hey, come on, that's worth paying for isn't it?!!

[quote name='Hamster' timestamp='1369213528' post='2086253'] It may be much easier to make Basschat a totally 'Rickenbacker Free Zone' so the admins don't get any more[i] bullsh1t[/i] emails and live under constant threat of legal action. [/quote] Fixed it for you my dear boy. On a serious level though, enough is enough. I agree with Happy Jack in terms of saying "...'moan then!!" (said with my own Scottish accent). I'm sick and tired of this bloke threatening everyone and anyone. It's become beyond silly. How many more things are going to get sued on? Don't DiMarzio offer replacement pickups as well? Why not copyright maple wooded basses? That's only ever been used by them. Obviously. How ridiculous can we go here? How about the black jetglo colour or even the specific pots for volume and tone? STOP. IT. Every time he does this he's making people refuse to buy his brand. The reality will probably be more along the lines of what BRX has said about going after the weakest point and all that. Erase every single post/thread/piece of content on this site that relates to his infernal brand. Leave only the porn threads for fakers as being active. Just for a wind up. They're not for sale!! Unlucky. Then we can see him set up his own anger management/lawsuits anonymous therapy group. Ha!!

That's it. I'm never buying a Rickenbacker bass. If I want something similar, I shall be taking up Mr Foxen's more than generous offer to get..... a FAKE one!! Woooo!!! What you going to do about that? What's next? Will Mr Hall try to sue the manufacturers of the screws used on his pathetically awful tail lifting bridge? That's a trademark surely of Rics? Or maybe the triangular neck inlays? When does it stop? The answer is simple. When this bloke goes out of business. I had really thought about getting myself something nice for my 35th a couple of years ago and toyed with the idea of getting a Ric. Then I played one. I then suitably re-considered. His posturing and threatening I truly hope ruins that company as has ruined their reputation and any smidgeon of goodwill associated with it. It's just the icing on the cake for some people, but he's never going to see one penny of my hard earned cash. See ya Jonny boy, I'm buying a Wal!!

Thanks chaps. I appreciate the replies. You are both quite right there isn't any MCPS registration on this stuff on the other hand I wouldn't put it past the other lot to do this and then play difficult afterwards. However, I wonder about that though. Does that mean that in theory if I were to go and see a random band tonight who weren't signed I could rip off their stuff with impunity because they could prove anything meaningful about it? Obviously, I'm not going to do that!! It's a hypothetical question. That does seem somewhat bonkers. Though I can see the logic. As for the stuff being part of a personal context, naturally that’s true. It’s not pride though. My friend went through a horrifically bad year or so and the songs deal with some very personal issues to him, so to see them getting messed up is more than a tad annoying to say the least. The fact that his ex-guitarist has an inferiority complex the size of Antartica and delusions of talent which don’t come under the Jaco Pastorious mantra of “it ain’t bragging if you can back it up,” make it all the more tragically comedic really. Personally I think that we do the songs better than them. It’s just a pity that we haven’t played them live in a new format. Something that I really wanted to do first. They’ve taken something that sounds like A Perfect Circle and turned it into a cookie monster vocals sludgefest. I’m happy to let you hear a before and 2 afters if you’re interested. I have nothing against thrashy metal I hasten to add. As for the fisticuffs, I wouldn’t want to comment as to how much I’d enjoy that…..

I'm looking for a bit of advice from those of you who have some experience in this. About a year ago one of my friends was singing in a band. In it he was the singer, so although he didn't write any of the music by playing it, he arranged what was there and wrote all the vocal melodies etc. Fast forward through some very unpleasantness to now. In a musical project I'm doing with him, he wanted to record 2 of the 7 songs that his ex-band had written. However, this is where the plot thickens somewhat. His ex-bandmates have re-recruited their old singer and have been recording a "new" album less than 6 months later. I'm sure you can see where this is going. The other night I noticed that they were playing not that far down the road from where we live so I said to my mate that maybe we should pop along if he was concerned that they had ripped stuff off. Sure enough, they played a “new” song which although didn’t utilise any of the previous words, there was certainly a bit of melody overlap and the arrangement was slightly different, but still notably similar. I thought that they’d have used at least 4 songs which we found out to be the case after a chat with them. The sum and substance of this was, my mate asked if they were okay with us recording the songs with altered guitar/bass/drum parts as it were to which the answer was of course “no,” however, obviously they wanted to be able to use the stuff in any way they saw fit that was okay. It definitely came across as somewhat hypocritical, but I couldn’t figure out who is actually right or wrong at all. Whilst I don’t think either band will make loads of cash, my friend said it was his intention to put the guitarist on the writing credits as he wrote the riffs per se (even though they have been altered and in places the structures have been altered). I assumed that this was reasonable, but it was totally rebuffed as “robbery.” Now, I was under the impression that lyrics and melody were about half a song, but what of arrangement? If it’s been changed (slightly or otherwise) what does that do to this situation? Is my friend wrong for thinking that it’s okay to record the stuff even if he gives a writing credit to his ex-guitarist? Is it okay that they use the stuff? This is really, really messy and for those of you with a bit more of a legal background and/or experience of this kind of nonsense, I’d certainly appreciate your viewpoints.

Well, whatever Mr Hall would do, it sure as hell wouldn't be what Jesus would do.....

The last time I deliberately played a gig without specs was in 2007 and it was a struggle. After being out of the game for 2 years I took a dep gig and was actually told to not wear my specs by the guitarist due to image reasons. The fact that I learned their entire 10 song set in an evening then had a quick rehearsal before the gig obviously didn't cut it. It was horrible. As I'm very markedly long sighted and very short sighted in different eyes, everything is half blurred all the time. When I was younger I used to be able to tell how drunk I was by how long it took me to pull focus. Not any more. I couldn't even shut off the eye I didn't want to use. I don't mean shut it, I mean choose to ignore what your brain sees. Most people with this type of problem do this subconciously and you can train yourself to master it, but once your eyes move away from each other in prescription terms just that bit too far.... you are in serious trouble. I had a splitting headache after 2 songs. I thought for a few minutes I was having some sort of stroke. The second I came off stage I put on my prescription sunglasses (which are so dark that you can't see anything unless it's ludicrously bright), sat down outside the bar (it was 11pm) and took 6 very, very strong painkillers and had a few cigarettes before crawling into a taxi. During the ride, the painkillers kicked in and I was getting woken up by the driver when I got out. I resolved to never go onstage without glasses ever again.

It's the sort of thing that people live for. Getting cloned Wal pickups and a circuit. That thread on TB has been going on for about 5 years. It'll never happen. For those moaning about Wal not selling the pickups, why should they? If they did, I bet they'd sell a lot less basses. However, that's another story. Had this come to fruition I did toy with the idea of getting a neck and body from Warmoth and splatting the clones in it. In the end I realised that was pointless regardless if SGD had managed to do it anyway as it wouldn't be a Wal. If you really, really want the pickups there's a bloke on TB called MPU (based in Finland) who made some 8 coil pickups for some bloke to put in his spector. I believe they were in EMG casings. Dunno how much they'd be. Then you'd have the fun of trying to track down a comparable circuit. Good luck with that. I don't consider £4000 too much to spend on a great instrument (providing you have the money for it). But thereabouts is the cutoff for me. I'd never get a Fodera as even though they're great, it's just too much. Besides what with the buzzard I'm already an instrument insurer's wet dream anyway. Whilst I don't have the cash now, I shall be saving to get a Wal. Considering that there's something ludicrous like a 2 year wait, I could probably have ordered it tomorrow and managed to save up in the intervening time. However, I digress. If you want the sound, get the real thing.

Hi All, This is my trio band's first gig. For those of you in "Sarf East Landan" it's free to get in as we're going on before the open mic night. We'll be starting about 7pm and it'd be good to meet any local Bcer's who fancy having a chat and telling me that my playing sucks. Assuming we don't go down like the Hindenberg, we'll be playing there every 2nd Tuesday. Our stuff is on "The Book of Faces," so feel free to listen and like us should you wish to.

I'm not frustrated. For a time in my very early 20's I wanted to be somewhat rich and famous. Insane really considering I wouldn't compromise myself or my playing to do it. I passed on loads of bands who were signed and learned very quickly that wasn't what I wanted in my musical life. In the situations I'm in I fit well and my aims are modest. Just play original music I enjoy with people I like. My one musical ambition is to play a gig (only one!!) where every single song was mine. I haven't done it yet and I think that I probably never will. I'm certainly not frustrated with my playing or gear or anything like that.

I must admit despite shouting "NEVER!!" I'm feeling the urge to raid Warmoth for a 72 styled P bass.... What is happening to me?

Opinions sought on my bands new stuff. Whether it be production, bass playing or whatever grateful for you views peeps. [url="http://soundcloud.com/smokehouse-blackout"]http://soundcloud.com/smokehouse-blackout[/url]

This is a crime. The only thing I could think of that could be more insane would be someone selling a Status having removed the neck and replacing it with a neck from a squier precision and still thinking they'll get what they paid for it....

About 8 years ago I played through an ASS 1x15 and ASS 2x12. That was monstrous. I find it such a pity that they're not made any more. Either by Ashdown or ASS. I found them to have more in common with putting a pod through a PA rather than a bass rig. The articulation in some of the flanging effects I was using at the time was insane.