Bassman Steve

I used the Sovteks once and was very happy. I would think of tone first as a new set of valves will last a long time. Certainly long enough for you to get fed up of a sound you know isn't the best.

7 years? Sting would approve of that total.

+1 for Stewart at Award-Session. They are Klotz wire with Neutrik connectors and very well put together by him. Good postal delivery service too. His cable has outlasted a Pete Cornish lead by years.

Very impressive site. Copnor, who'd have thought it! :-)

Huge fan of the Kent Armstrong Vintage P. I recently A/B'd against my old Precisions and there is actually more depth and clarity from the KA. Not very expensive either. I would just caution that the design has the magnets proud of the cover so you have less to hook your thumb onto if that's your style. Bit of a bu99er that but they're great pickups.

Jeff Smith in Waterlooville, Steve Johnston in Hilsea (was deemed good enough to repair Mark Knopfler's 'Romeo' guitar), Graham Wheeler in Worthing (ex Roger Giffen, used to do Clapton's guitars). All done work for me to a very high standard. Jeff lives not far from South Downs.

I wonder if it's significant that I played in goal in the days when I played?

I suspect the singer may be left on his own after the meeting - or he should be.

Sad to read that illness has ended Malcolm's playing career. Replaced by his nephew. In many ways his guitar playing was exactly what made that band what it was. Hope his health returns even if he can't play any more - a dreadful thing to contemplate for any musician.

I have bought from them with no problem at all. excellent packing and very good communications. You'll be charged VAT and some Duty (about 25% in total).

Someone was paying attention at the SE mini bash!!!

I may be being a little unfair because my immediate comparisons are my main stage basses which have Kent Armstrong pickups or my older Precisions. The Aerodyne is a more slender beast too. See if you can try one maybe? Whereabouts are you?

I have a couple of the Aerodyne Precision variants. Lovely basses but I have changed the pick-ups as I did find them a little lacking. Don't let that put you off, they are great instruments with all the build quality that you get from them. The Precisions also come in more colours - the Jazz is just black I understand.

I should point out that you can use the Bass 400 as a pre-amp without a speaker load but follow the instructions in the manual. I know it requires the master volume set to zero.

Interesting to see Mesa branded valves. I wonder if they are the originals still?

Also remember the 4 ohm output means that. You plug two 8 ohm cabs into the two to get the 4 ohms - or a single 4 ohm cab into one.

Bought a USB keyboard from Ian. Dead simple with lots of comms from him. Pleasure doing business and would happily do so again. Steve

I hate a show-off!

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1410886122' post='2554343'] Ahh, the ol' bone flute eh? [/quote] I thought Peter Cook's 'pink oboe' was rather a good alternative.

Just be sensible. Set the master to something like 4 and wind up the channel (1 for actives and 2 for passives) to suit. I suspect your ears will give up before the speakers!

The attitude of the two who are complaining would be plenty enough for me to walk. If you're not enjoying it then that provides another very valid reason to leave.

No idea but you'll see plenty of people telling them to start making them again on Boogie forums. The 400 came from the D-180 and was then superceded by the 400+ (which is more powerful and uses 12 power valves). Not sure when they changed but your amp will be at least 20 years old - but they are awesome amps.

Then I'd say go out of your way to make the Bass Bash. You'll get to try out all sorts of rigs the shops won't carry. The recent West Sussex one was a tiddler but had a huge variety of stuff to have a play through.

Good price then. A little less power than a 400+ but you'll not notice that - cheaper to re-valve too. I use my 400 all the time. As I've said earlier, it may take a while to get the sound you want because of the way the tone controls work with each other. The manual is on the Boogie site and is the same as the 400+ manual - all the features are the same. Remember, as the manual says, take the master above 5 and you won't get any more volume, it just starts to add colour. Mine has never needed to go above 5 on the master and 4 on the channel.

You've got a what?