hamfist

Need more info. Do you want small and light, yet still giggable, or is a big, heavy cab going to be OK ?

My 5 piece function band is insured. The money sounds about right, from memory.

Instead of starting a new thread I thought it best to resurrect this one. I've been through a lot of amps over the last year, trying to settle on "the one". These include a Little Mark III, ABM500 EVO III, GK 700RB II, Ampeg 7Pro, Genz streamliner, GK MB800, GK MB fusion, probably plus others I've forgotten about. Anyhow, after finally deciding that I couldn't make the Streamliner work for me I sold it and ordered an MB500 and an Ashdown Spyder 550 to try out. THe MB was quickly returned as the channel select switch was broken and the whole sound was just too brittle. A lot of background noise too. That brings me to the Spyder, a week and a half later I can think of no reason to reject it. A cracking amp. Unusual EQ, but still effective once you get to know it. A very clean amp. Like others I can get no break up at all, even on full gain with quite a hefty clean boost before the amp. THis is not a deal-breaker as I tend to get my dirt from pedals these days anyway. When I played it for the first time I just loved all the mids I could get, which the streamliner always struggled with. Certainly enough low end for me also. A real attack and punch to each note. THe top end is especially pleasing. It seems really easy to get just the right amount of bite without any harshness. The EQ centre of the treble pot is perfect for me. Really am enjoying it. It's a porky beast though at nearly 14 Kg. Although still a one hand carry so that's still OK. Playing through an 8 ohm GK 212 neo II, seems to put out plenty of volume, at home. Will be rehearsing it later this week, but I will be amazed if it has problems volume-wise. Those mids will punch right through, I predict. It's funny but I tried one of these out 6 months ago and it just didn't work for me. I think part of it was that I didn't understand the EQ well enough at that point. Also, I was set on getting at least some OD from my amp, and was disappointed at it's lack of drive. I think I slagged it off online in a couple of places. Oh how I've changed my mind about it !

[quote name='JamesC' timestamp='1352638033' post='1865377'] Hi, It's a way of being much more aware of your tensions as you play or sing so you ditch some of the bad habits. There's some good evidence mounting up, but none specific to musicians or singers - the evidence is mainly based around pain reduction, for example six sessions reduced low back pain by half in a big study. I put some evidence here recently... [url="http://www.northwestalexandertechnique.co.uk/evidence-base/"]http://www.northwest.../evidence-base/[/url] and a load of other stuff here: [url="http://alexanderplus.com/"]http://alexanderplus.com[/url] I teach it myself, shameless plug, and I got into it to get rid of RSI. A lot of good music schools and colleges have it on their curriculum. [/quote] Yes, that is the evidence I was thinking of. The lead author of the latest MRC study is actually my brother in law, so I'm pretty well up with all the financial issues holding back more decent research funding into the effcicay of AT. ONe of the key things to remember is that it is NOT a treatment. It is a technique that needs to be learned. We all develop bad habits of inappropriate muscle tension as we mature and it's all about relearning how to use our bodies correctly again without that Excess tension. I have a rather odd connective tissue problem involving my upper limbs, which has given me years of problems with my wrists and shoulders. In fact I lived in 2 wrist splints for several years, and was on the verge of having to give up my job. Using the AT I realised that I was clamping my arms/shoulders in to my body all the time with much too much muscle tension. SOmehow this was aggravating my condition hugely. Over time, I have (re)learned how to use my arms/shoulders in a much more normal, relaxed fashion. THis has revolutionised my life and with sensible use, I can now use my arms/hands in a fairly normal manner. Work is now, no longer a problem. It has been a life-saver for me anyhow. And, sorry Skej21, but your statement of "However, been proven to have very few applications for musicians as the alterations for posture are more 'common sense' and correcting bad habits. Outside of a few minor adjustments, it has been proven to be mostly ineffective in terms of long term practice (and in some cases) has actually made some issues worse for musicians, as the postures suggested conflict with correct instrument postures. It was even proven that the initial development (for respiratory and breathing issues) was not applicable to musicians who were dependant on breathing to produce a sound as they already had good breathing techniques, making the Alexander technique redundant." What a load of old tosh. I would like to see your source and evidence for that. My sister teaches AT to orchestral musicians at times and, although of course, far from all find a benefit, many do and it aggravates no-one. THe "postures suggested by the AT" is a ridiculous statement. The AT merely allows the body to regain the appropriately relaxed posture that the body was built to adopt. Exactly the lovely upright, balanced posture that you see most pre-schoolers use, as they have yet to learn all the bad habits that twist and distort our bodies as we age.

Just noticed this, but am literally straight out the door to work. My mum and sister are both trained teachers of the AT, and I have been using it for well over a decade, so I'll have some input laters !!!!! It's all good stuff though, and there is certainly some decent evidence these days, at least for back pain. It's not something that funding councils want to put much oney into researching. It's not quackery at all though, and has a good logical scientific basis (although some of it's practitioneres have been known to spout other mumbo jumbo, nothing to do with the AT, unfortunately).

Made a "pedal for pedal" trade with Stephen. All went uber-smoothly. His pedal was packed really well, and sent promptly. Much appreciated .. Thanks bud !

Excellent. COngrats on a huge upgrade from your old amp !

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1352386631' post='1862441'] V1 seems to be the valve in which I'm most interested as its the over-drive valve (V2 and V3, I understand, drive the tone control). If I use a lower gain valve will this also reduce the level of the signal to the rest of the amp, ie give the impression of a loss of power or will it still give the same signal level but with less over-drive? If so, this is what I want. (£30 is probably more than I want to spend to try that out though!) There are three 12AX7 valves, if I replace V1 with a 12AU7 (apparently ~50% of the gain) or a 12AT7 (apparently 70% of the gain) what's likely to be the effect? [/quote] If you stick in a lower gain valve in V1, then yes you will reduce the potential output from that gain stage (or gain stag[u][b]es[/b][/u] as there are 2 in each 12A*7). However, the streamliner pre-amp is designed to have more than enough extra gain at other stages in the pre-amp to compensate. My actual experience with the streamliner, with the 5751 (70% of the gain of an AX7) in V1, was that I did not perceive any drop in volume in the amp at all. It ALWAYS had way, way more than I could use. The 5751 also enabled plenty of OD in the pre-amp if that was wanted.

I put a NOS JAN Philips 5751 into V1 of my 900 (now residing elswhere). Definately made a positive difference. It made the (huge) low end a little tighter and more controllable. Also lowered the, already low, noise floor a tiny bit. The valve was about £30 from Watford Valves. Never tried changing any of the others. V1 is always the most important though as changes at the beginning of the signal are amplified all the way through.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1352360118' post='1862047'] I've decided to hold off. I'm not desperate to sell or trade, there will be other opportunities. Thanks everyone. Geoff [/quote] Good decision. Lets hope the potential trader reads this thread and realises his/her mistake.

+1. Expensive but worth it. One of the few pedals I regret selling. I suspect I will pick up another one one day. An essential weapon for a scoopepd amp IMO.

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1352292133' post='1861112'] I only have a corsa so probably not about to transport a 4x10 weight isn't an issue either so peavey seem a good option how much would I have to pay for a cab and head? I'm happy to buy used as well by the way. I can't really go over 300,if I'm honest. [/quote] I can't imagine getting a 4x10 into a corsa will be much of a problem with the back seats down. You'd be amazed at how much extra grunt you will get with extra speaker area. I would also advise getting 10's instead a 15" speaker. Cheaper 15's do tend to "flub" out earlier, despite their rated wattage. A 4x10 usually can take a lot more wattage too, due to the ability to spread any power between all 4 speakers.

A 200W amp really isn't that much noticeably louder than a 120W one. Perceived loudness is not directly propertional to wattage. You need 10 x the wattage to double the perceived volume. But it's not quite as simple as that, because the same wattage with a larger speaker cone area (more speakers, or larger speakers) will increase volume also. Are you open to buying used ? Is weight an issue ? A used 4x10 should be possible to pick up used for not much more than £100. THere's a range of 300-500W (ish) amps you could buy used for £200-£300. That would provide a fairly hefty volume increase over your current rig. However, can you transport a 4x10 ? THings that might suit in the classifieds at the moment are ... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/191209-fsft-ashdown-abm-evo-ii-500-combo-w-flight-case-l350/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/191209-fsft-ashdown-abm-evo-ii-500-combo-w-flight-case-l350/[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/191126-ashdown-550-touring-115-combo-fsft-l350-ono/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/191126-ashdown-550-touring-115-combo-fsft-l350-ono/[/url]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1352049461' post='1858162'] Personally, i'd opt for the Focus 112. [/quote] +1

I'm sure you've done the right thing, whilst also having given them a chance to do what they said they would. For me this is another reminder of how carefully one should quiz new potential band members about exactly what they want out of a band. It's all just as important as musical ability. Good luck with new ventures !