la bam

I received this last week. Sonic Silver Peg by One Control. Tiny pedal (think spectracomp) very nicely built. Modelled on the Ampeg V4. Through headphones its sounds awesome. Plenty of different sound to go through even though there is just 3 dials. Vol, Tone and Mid. However, it is explained that they work in conjunction with the tone dial on your bass - and they do. At low levels through my barefaced super 12 it's a lovely rich sound. Vol on the pedal down for a clean tone. 10 o'clock for a real punchy tone. In all honesty any combination of the dials sounds great. I would easily put it up there with the best pedal and pre amp I've ever had. So, I finally got chance to drive the barefaced super 12 at volume in conjunction with pa speakers playing backing tracks. I ran the silver peg into the fx return on my ashdown abm iv, so in effect the ABMs pre amp and controls are bypassed. I swear down it's the best sound I've ever had in the mix. Hands down. Playing to some indie backing tracks (without bass) it sounded rich, really rich and did that ampeg thing of spreading the bass over the whole area rather than just coming from the cab. It had depth without mush, drive without becoming messy and lifted the songs. Plenty of playing with the dials, and the settings that really stuck were vol at 10 o'clock, tone and mids off, and vol at 10 o'clock and tone at 10 o'clock and mids very nearly off. That gave that lovely thick ampeg quality to the tracks and really was lovely to play. It was thick and rounded, but also really cut through when playing the higher notes. Now, I thought just for balance I'd remove the pedal and test with the ashdown on it's own. Honestly the sound was nowhere near in comparison. Thinner and didnt sit in the mix as well. So, after 10 minutes I tried just the pedal again into the fx return and it was lovely. Really lovely tone with the other instruments, added warmth and sounded more musical. I found (unlike the last 20 years of playing) i sounded better edging towards the tone off side on my p bass, rather than tone fully open. The sound on it's own live and loud (like ampeg) isnt great, and isnt going to inspire you. A bit messy and rough. But put it with a drum kit and a track and it's absolutely lovely. Best pedal and best pre amp I've ever bought. If it works as well with the full band (when we can practice) at the same volume it did with the pa speakers, it's my new number 1.

No. If I take the dummy jack out nothing works. No preamp, no volume at all. When I plug it back in everything works again.

Mine works fine doing the following: Bass into preamp IN. Preamp OUT into amp RETURN. Dummy jack lead or jack plug into input on amp. That defeats the eq etc but volume works fine.

I'll have a look at mine this afternoon. Have you tried the send and returns, and both at once?

I think that's standard on the ABMs. Either a headphone jack plug or cable. I think that defeats it's own pre amp?

In fact, you may be right - it may be a very light pale mint green scratchplate.

The hard case is one of my old ones. The pickguard is a kind of faded white colour.

Ah yes, hadn't noticed that either! Thanks.

Picked one up this weekend. What a bass! Superb build quality. Lovely playability and sound. Great weight - substantial, but not heavy. Balances very well. This seems to be either a custom build or an anomaly. It's an orange body, with a maple neck, labelled power bass. From what I can tell, they never did the power bass in an orange finish, and never did an orange body with a maple neck? Anywho, it's such a lovely bass. It just feels right.

The G&L l100s are really good quality. Heavy, but sit perfect. Probably the best balanced bass I've ever had. I've just got a power bass today. They're really good. Excellent build quality, excellent sound and great look. Very easy to play too.

Haha, I do if they want £500 for it!

I saw these. They look great. Was considering adding one to my abm for live work. But the advertising i saw just seemed to mention studio work?

Would make more sense. Take from germany, dump it at customs and go home. Once customs have finished with it parcelforce pick up and take it onwards. Having ups doing everything from start to finish would create big delays maybe?

Yes, maybe its trial and error until they're happy? Maybe they use a german courier to britain, then one in britain for britain? Maybe that's more efficient?

Well....its just arrived! Came with a customs paperwork attached, but nothing to pay (under £130).

Just little alarm bells. The fact it's from a mobile number instead of a short number. The fact they dont know where its come from. Even 'Germany' would make more sense than 'German'. And the options to reply to them. I can understand in an app like dpd, but not replying to a standard mobile numbers text. Also, the last delivery was from UPS. But, we'll see if it turns up.

Well, I ordered another pedal from thomann on tuesday afternoon / evening. Got a sketchy looking text this morning saying delivery is due today, and gave a one hour time slot. Supposedly from parcel force, but sent from a mobile number, and included a tracking number. It mentioned the place I had ordered it from as 'German' not 'thomann'. It also gave a few options to reply. No thanks. So, it looked like a scam text, but I copied the tracking number and put it in parcel forces own tracking system, and it came up as legit, and from the correct place in germany ordered from and to the nearest hub to me - so maybe it is legit. It gave the delivery time as between 10 and 11, so we'll see. I'll be mightily impressed if it gets here so quickly.

Westone Thunder I. Great first bass. Easyish to play sounded nice. Fender USA precision sunburst (90s). Felt massive compared to the westone. Really wide neck. Sounded good though. Westone Quantam Headless. Quite small and compact to play. Decent sound. Looked good. Bitsa jazz. Spent a fair bit on this. Lovely colour, a reddish sunburst type. SD quarter pounds. Heavy. TTfunk logo on the headstock. Shine white jazz. Cheap, but ok back up. Rockinbetter Rick copy. Played this in a function band. Decent sound. Looked cool. Arbiter double neck guitar and bass. A rare find. Way to austentatious to play live though. I quite liked the humbucker sound. Couldnt play guitar for love nor money, so a pointless purchase. Shine telecaster bass. Horrendous neck dive. So bad it couldnt be played. Yamaha BB424x metallic red. Loved it. Looked real cool. Sounded great and had a number of great sounds in it. Yamaha BB424 black. Not as cool as the 'x' version, lacked a bit of mojo, but nice bass. Vintage v4bl in black. Great value. Converted it into an all black and gold p bass for a tribute band. Sounded good. Vintage V4 icon sunburst relic. Very light. Good pick ups. Looked ok, but obviously not relic'd. Just painted on. G&L l100 natural. Great bass. Heavy ish but quality. Good sound. Would last forever. G&L M2000. I found it very hard to play as I kept hitting the humbucker as I was used to a p bass. Sounded real nice. Sold because if the batteries went the bass stopped working altogether. A bad design fault imo. Fender FSR 70s precision midnight black and gold. A work of art. Looked beautiful. Sounded amazing, very raw and bite like. Very light. Slight neck dive, but easily manageable. Sire v7 burgundy. Lovely bass in every way. Looked stunning. Sounded stunning. Had a wealth of controls. Worked passive and active. Sire v7 lake placid blue. As above. Sire p7 sunburst. Did not like it and had to return it. Even though it had been set up it had neck buzz issues eventually making it very annoying. Knobs felt flimsy. Sound wasnt brilliant. Shame as I so wanted it to be as good as the v7. Burns bison black. Great looking, heavy bass. Completely unique sounds in it. Certainly not meant to be a plodding along type of bass. I had a strap pin fitted into the point of the bull horn as the standard one on the back of the body made the bass fall away from you when playing. Slight buzz issues in some settings due to the tri pickups, but not heard when playing. I'm just not sure it would stand up to long term touring. Also it's a standard neck length, BUT, the neck isnt fitted deep into the body like other basses so you're about 2 to 3 frets out from the normal position, making it a longer stretch to get to the first few frets. Fender Player precision sunburst. Fantastic bass. Very comfortable. Great looks. Great sounds. Great price point. Westfield purple sparkle precision. Love the finish on this. It's a rare sparkle purple finish which would cost twice as much as the entire bass and a black pickguard. Parts are fairly cheap but useable. Eventually I'll add a geezer wiring loom and pick ups and give it a whirl gigging. Harley Benton pb51. Picked this up a bit worse for wear as a cheap 2nd bass for gigging in dodgy venues. Added a logo. Added a white pb51 scratchplate. Looks good. Sounds ok. Cost next to nothing. Spector legend 4 holoflash. Genuinely, I think the spectors are the best built basses I've ever gone near. They're just a work of art. Beautiful design and the build quality and finish is devine. Lots of different sounds available and very very comfortable to hold and play. This holoflash finish is so different to anything I've ever seen. Spector legend 4 black cherry. As above. But less flashy! ------ So... out of that list the ones I have a little yearning for, considering the sound, look and mojo, and would buy back in a heartbeat are.... Yamaha BB424x metallic red. Fender FSR 70s midnight black gold. Fender Player P bass sunburst (still have it). Both spectors. Sire v7 in burgundy.

Hi all, Any experience playing these? They seem to be quite highly rated at a decent price. Decent colours and spec too.