la bam

Hi all, I thought id share this here - as im pretty appalled at what a lot of us may be falling victim to. Did you know, that when sending an amp or speaker via a courier or courier comparison site, and you pay for your amp and/or speaker to be insured for its full amount for peace of mind - that you are actually only covered for 'upto' £200 damages - not its full value ? Its in the hidden prohibited and restrictions list in companies such as dpd. Im appalled as they actually ask you to follow there proceedure and insure your parcel for its full value, which you do - and pay handsomely for - and they then confirm to you that its fully insured for its full value - only to find its not insured to anywhere near its value once theyve taken your cash and you have a legitimate claim. Its a terrible con - and i urge everyone to thoroughly check before sending ANY amp, speaker or cab via courier. Judging by how many amps and cabs are for sale on here, and how many offer postage for high price items, i thought id let people know. heres DPDs sneaky page: https://www.dpdlocal-online.co.uk/prohibited-items amps and cabs are in the not mentioned special provisions items section at the bottom. oh! - and just done a double check - GUITARS (and basses) are only insured for £100 - and must be sent in a hard case. i certainly wont be sending anything ever again.

As I've got older I've fallen into the if I don't gig it I don't keep it camp and tried hard to get rid of any sentimental attachment to any item. So I only use what I can easily and cheaply replace. My bass cost on average £100-200 each, the cab £300 and the most expensive is my amp head at around £600. Obviously id be gutted if the basses got nicked or damaged, but I know they could be replaced cheaply, without any major financial crippling or loss of quality.

I have a relic vintage v4 icon that I have as a backup bass. I love it as it's the same style as my main bass, (my main isn't a relicd) but I can get it bashed, caught, dropped, scratched and leave it out of its case permanently so I can just grab it when I fancy a play. This means my main stays in great condition and the backup can get dented all it wants - despite them being essentially the same bass.

Joe Rogan is a successful stand up comedian and TV presenter. He has years of experience and to be fair a lot of charisma. He also has very interesting guests, a script (although you'd never realise because he's that good) and a information internet and audio visual helper. The way he does his podcast though is top notch. Not at all 'traditional presenter' like or false.

Should be fairly easy to fill a few segments too - just see what the most popular contributed to posts have been on basschat and discuss them.

If I'm honest - there's an ampeg svt3 and 8x10 cab at our practice room. I plugged in once before the rest of the band arrived, as I've always wanted to try one. I gave it 2 minutes before I decided it must have been thrashed to death or broken. Awful fuzzy sound, no real punch or warmth. Really disappointed. Sounded like an old gorilla amp. So I used my own amp instead. Then a few weeks ago for whatever reason, I couldn't bring my amp so I had to use it. I had a little eq and drive play around and it was still sounding pretty poor if I'm honest. Way too much drive not to get in the way of what the rest of the band were playing. Imagine a nice standalone bass tone then whack a thin sounding guitar distortion pedal on full over the top and that's what I was getting. Then, the band turn up, and as soon as the drums are playing ..... Wham!! The bloomin thing comes alive! Punchy, tight, warm ..... and errrrrr where has the awful overdrive gone? I don't know. I know it's still there, but I can't hear it. I reckon it turns into magic bass dust and just makes the whole rhythm section that little bit better. I don't know why I'm surprised, every rock band for 40 years has had those svts or similar on stage, but for some reason I thought I knew better. I didn't.

Yeh, it's john deacons sound I was trying to emulate. Much more overdriven than you'd think.

nar....that went years ago! i only play vintage v4s now.

morning all, after years and years of looking for that fantastic smooth, warm, well rounded rich bass tone ............ ive found it was a pointless task...... the actual best tone for me is exactly the opposite to what i was looking for - its a rough, edgy, overdriven valve sound .......... which only becomes that rich warm bass sound i was looking for when in the mix of the rest of the band. has anyone else ever come round to this conclusion? Its amazing how that overdrive just blends in when in with the rest of the band, and how it fills any space without being obtrusive, really helping the sound of the band. i only came to it when i started listening to isolated bass tracks of my bass heroes (and the bass sounded terrible), then i copied it and played to backing tracks and it sounded glorious! then i put it in our band live and it had the same effect. so for me, its ampeg svt, or svt emulators (via my markbass evo), or similar all the way from now on. ive been playing 20 years and ive only just worked it out!

How about a flyrig? Loads of sounds, equipment and FX to play with including a great di.

Ok, heres my real world experience of using x3 types of set up this year. First Set Up - markbass 500w evo head & barefaced super compact gen 3 (giving 8ohms - so approx 300w). gig types: - a couple of large functions - 200 people + and a few smaller gigs - all with pa support. opinion: firstly the portability is phenomenal. believe the hype. you can easily carry in one hand. foot print is small and cab can go anywhere. i was able to get some gorgeous tones out of it, as well as some really nice gigging tones and volumes. Only occasionally on some songs did the volume become an issue and i had to really dig in to hear. I was convinced this was my set up for ever. the amp was running fairly full on, with a little headroom, but i didnt really need much more volume. Second Set Up - markbass evo head and 6ohm markbass 610 - so approx 400w. gig type: my current set up - did beer festival in fairly large social club - around 300 guests. i picked his up on a whim at a bargain price as our band was starting to do much bigger gigs, and i always fancied a 610. So .... i was 100% happy with the super compact, this 610 was just going to give a bit more volume.... WRONG!! Once i hit the first note i just sounded SO SO warm, full, powerful and suddenly lifted all the band. Volume nowhere near half, and everyone could hear it crystal clear without it being loud. I think the thing is, the super compact is perfectly acceptable, brilliantly portable and loud for what it is. However, the 610 is just back to what bass is about - full, warm, powerful, punchy and never needing to be over loud. Suddenly the super compact had been brought back down to earth. Fair enough - its not meant as a competitor to a 610 but the difference is there. Think of a soloist compared to a choir - just so much more full and nice. Third Set Up - ashdown evo 900w head and ashdown 8x10 4ohm cab. gig type: one off large out door festival. large stage. large pa support. rig supplied by the festival. i used this at the weekend - and i swear its a wonder the whole band didnt get blown 200 yards into the crowd. Absolute ridiculous power. Ridiculous. i think it was on half volume and i had to turn my bass right down and still all you could hear was bass. Not a particularly nice sound, but thats more to do with we only had a 10 minute window to get set up. I cant even compare how the super compact would have been in comparison. Probably a whisper to a scream. In conclusion, it doesnt take a genius to see that thicker, better constructed wooden cabs, with more speakers have a phenomenal effect on everything - volume, tone and presence. However they also are x amount heavier, bulkier and more awkward. In my opinion, can a super compact compete with an decent 4x10? - only just, and thats if the band dont need you playing full out. If your a smallish pub band the super compact is the way to go, absolutely. /itll be great for you. Just as loud as a 4x0 in a small space, nice sound and SO easy to move around. However, in a medium sized gig you can cope with a super compact, but dont expect it to have great presence or much headroom, regardless of whether you are using pa support or not. It becomes more of a monitor. In a large venue its 4x10 upwards all the way.

The point being having a punchy amp head through a 1x15 isn't going to be much more punchy than a less punchy amp through a 4x10. But a punchy amp through a punchy cab is a much better idea - if that's the sound youre after.

You'd be happy looking at something with a really comprehensive mid range eq. I'd also suggest going for more 10" speakers for punch. Rather than say 1x15.

Ahhhh.....crewe hall.... Did you keep having the lift shut on you and nobody around to tell you the code? And load out through the scary dungeon kitchens and plastic butcher doors! Its a spooky place!

Id say: 1. Ibanez. 2. V4 maple. 3. Yamaha. 4. V4 with rosewood neck.

Just thinking out loud, but those disappointed with class d - what cabs are they using? 1x10s, 1x12s? Sometimes for thaat heft you need more than one cab/speaker to get the sound youre after.

My 500w markbass evo gives out around 300 class d watts when used with my 8ohm Barefaced Super Compact. It sounds loud when up and running. It copes with a full band fairly easy, but starts to run out of headroom when really full on. However, put it through my markbass 6x10 at 6ohm - and itll rock the walls and rattle the tables!! Its not neccessarily class d watts - more what you power with them. Id always took what id heard about more speakers meaning much more volume with a pinch of salt - but its SO true. Itd be interesting to try an ELF with a 4x10, 6x10 or 8x10. PS i saw something interesting on youtube today regarding the elf - someone said there was a warning sticker on it saying not to touch the jack lead at all when in operation - is this true?

Ashdown After Eight packs a punch for around £30 second hand. Nice and compact but with a real bassy sound.

i tested this out at practice tonight. flippin eck - loud! such a powerful rich sound though. best sound ive ever had. smiling all night! - cant wait for sundays gig.

ive just bought a 6x10 sealed cab. its an amazing sound. really rich and full with no excess on the low end or high end - just smooth power. best cab ive ever used by a mile. having heard it i cant think why some cabs are ported (like every other one ive used).