molan

[quote name='Lee-Man' timestamp='1477567770' post='3163004'] Agreed. I've got a couple of them (AC 121 lite) for when I'm flip-flopping gigs. Occasionally I use both at the same time. Lovely sound. One by itself is a beast. I can do a one trip lift from the car with two basses in a Mono bag, amp and another bag of bits/pedals no worries. Also it takes pedals quite well. For example when I want a more Ampeg tone I can pop a VT Bass in the front end and it sounds great. The AC feels like a nearfield studio monitor, but much louder. [/quote] I own one of these as my 'go to' combo now. I'd been toying with getting one for quite a while and tried lots of different alternatives from all sorts of brands. Never really found one that offered as much as the AC for lots of different situations

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1477490690' post='3162561'] Shame the 12 Bar had to go though. . Last time I asked when they'd be taking over the hairdressers. [/quote] Is that where the lead guitarist demos will be held?

I'd still advocate giving Joe a call in person. Often a lot easier to understand what's going on by speaking direct than relying on email

We don't use them but it wouldn't bother me so long as the core band sound is live. As a side note - we once auditioned an X-Factor vocalist who'd got fairly far in the competition. He simply could not sing in time - turned out he'd been singing 'live' for a few years but always to a complete instrumental backing track. He had no idea how to 'listen' to a live band and work out his timing. This was on really, really simple stuff with relatively sparse arrangements.

A friend of mine used to have a great haggling technique for his used car business. He'd advertise stuff on a fixed price best offer basis. If anyone tried to haggle him down he'd respond by haggling up. E.g. He'd off something at £5k, potential customer would offer £4,500 and he'd go back with £5,500. Drove some people away but was actually really successful in the long run. He became known as a guy that just offered a fair price for things

Makes a lot of sense for a retailer to just quote a genuine price instead of wasting time haggling. In the haggling marketplace all most people do is stick 10% on the price and then 'allow' the customer to haggle that 10% back off again. In fact it's not uncommon for some people to add 15% on the price they need to sell at and if they then knock 10% off they are better off than simply selling at a genuine price in the first place.

I genuinely have no idea of how many basses I own at the moment but there's three that are my 'go to' instruments for gigging. #1 is unquestionably my white Ritter Cora with alder body and maple board. It's under 8lbs so that helps for longer gigs, pretty flexible tonally and, with the slightly shorter 33.3" scale, it's really easy to play. #2 is a tobacco burst flame maple Sadowsky NYC with a chambered swamp ash body and Amazon rosewood board. Again it's very light weight and it just 'works' really well in a live band setting. #3 is metallic gold flake Lull P. Alder body (I think) and maple board. Only passive bass of the trio and the 'showiest' because of the gold sparkly finish. Probably 2nd lightest after the Ritter and another one that just sounds good in a band mix. After these three there's a few others that get gigged, especially recently as I've been using a pair of Fenders - a Flea J and a Clayton CS P. The Clayton has more low end punch than the Lull and is also gold sparkle so may grab that #3 slot soon. At home I tend to grab a Ritter R8 or my Fodera Monarch. The Ritter because it weighs nothing (6.5 lbs) and sits really well on my lap and the Fodera for the super clean and clear tone

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1476879163' post='3157998'] I wouldn't bother 'debating' with someone with so little intellect. [/quote] I must admit that I gave up the conversation after he inferred the only reason I didn't want to gig with a huge Ampeg stack was because I've had back problems in the past. Oh, and something to do with not being to cook like Gordon Ramsay - I got a bit lost with that one 😂

For those of you only using minimal PA - any of you using an SVT Classic with two large cabs as your bass backline?

I've been 'debating' with another bassist on the merits of using a PA for all gigs. The conversation started because he believes that the answer to a decent bass tone, in any venue regardless of size or room acoustics, is a monster Ampeg valve head and a huge speaker stack. His reasoning was that many venues he plays at don't have a decent PA so it's better to just have a massive rig and jack it up really loud. From what I can make out his guitarist does the same thing and drums are just 'acoustic'. He said his band never use a PA but I'm assuming his singer doesn't try to just shout over the lot of them without some sort PA support This all sounds wrong to me on so many levels. With decent modern PA being available at OK prices I just can't understand why anyone would want it have so little control over what their audience is hearing? Of course their are venues with poor house sound systems but it wouldn't take a lot to build a small system to complement what you might be presented with or to just use as a standalone setup. I've played the odd venue where use of the house system was compulsory but it was always of a decent standard. I have this horrible vision of his band with a bass that is crushing people at the back of the room, a guitar shredding people's faces up front, drums that sound dull and thumpy at the low end combined with someone hitting a tin can with a spoon whilst the poor vocalist is desperately trying to get himself heard over the massive on-stage cacophony surrounding him. . .

I asked exactly the same question about a Gallien Krueger head last week as they also say that individual heads are set to either European or U.K. Voltages. Their tech people said it was fine to use their MB heads anywhere across Europe and UK.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1476765276' post='3156994'] Now that I think about it "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" always gets me. Blue [/quote] The first or the second version? Personally I think the second

I've got a vague feeling we found a random tension strap in a store cupboard when packing things up at BassGear a couple of weeks ago. Not exactly sure where it went though Bung me an email at the [email protected] as a reminder (I'm currently out) and I'll see if I can find it.

I saw them at Hammersmith Odeon at their peak of fame. Full orchestra on stage with them I seem to remember. Fabulous live sound, one of the best I'd ever heard at the time.

Having got round to using a Flea signature Jazz at my last gig I thought I should go 'all out' and use a Precision at the next one. Decided to stick with my 'artist signature' theme and used a Custom Shop Clayton P this time around. It was always going to be an interesting comparison because I own, and have gigged a lot, a Lull P that was built for Adam Clayton in a gold flake finish. The Fender CS is visually quite similar apart from the flashy pearl blocks instead of the plain black of the Lull. It was a bit of an odd gig because we played a huge hall to a decent number of people but had a very serious volume restriction in place - the organiser actually jumped on stage during the first number and insisted we stop playing until we turned down (and we're really not that loud!). Anyway, the CS P was great fun to play. It has a J nut but the neck is way chunkier than the Lull and deeper than almost anything else I own. Action is set low and the tiny vintage frets made it a breeze to play. I was able to confidently play stuff without thinking that I often have to concentrate on. The Abigail Ybarra pickups have a lot more low end and overall power than the Lull and balance from strong to strong is excellent. I sometimes find low notes on the G string are too thin and reedy but the CS P was really full and meaty I used the same Monique, Demeter, Bergantino rig as last time with the Flea but the CS P had a lot more depth and punch - felt like I could hear every note really well, especially any mistakes, lol. It's definitely been a fun experience using Fenders live after years of owning them but only rehearsing or playing at home. Will definitely try the P again at the next gig where I'll be able to jack the volume up a bit - plus the gold glitter finish makes it just such a great stage bass Edit - for anyone who hasn't seen the AC CS Precision, here's the full package:

I've played a couple of these and really liked them. Should fetch £600 easily.

Seem to go for anywhere between £1,800 to £2,500 from what I've seen (sorry that's quite a big gap!). Quite a few specific models hitting the higher prices E.G. The Steve Howe signature.

Could be that I'm too old but I wouldn't want to haul any of the three cab combinations up 3 flights of stairs. Both the DB212 and the DB410 are fairly 'serious' lifts and lugging a DB112 in each hand is going to get you a set of gorilla arms pretty quickly Not too bad with the DB112 if you make two trips (which I'm guessing you'd need to anyway to carry bass, amp cables etc). The new Aggie SL410 is a great cab and fairly easy to shift around, although any 410 is going to be a bit bulky in a tight stairwell. Unfortunately it's over £1,250 so quite an expensive option vs a DB410. We had a customer recently who tested a Streamliner into SL112's, DB112's and a pair of TKS112's. He found the DB's didn't pair brilliantly given the sound he was after and thought the SL's still sounded a bit too 'neo'. He left with the TKS (in a very funky snakeskin finish). I think your stage volume is an important consideration here. If you're in the PA and only using cabs for monitoring and partial foh sound then the DB410 is overkill. Conversely the TKS cabs are going to run out of steam at very high volume because they are relatively small, lightweight, boxes and the drivers have a lower rating. Going modular with a couple of smaller lighter cabs will do wonders to preserve your back in the longer run though and give you options for small gig/rehearsal situations too.

I thought this was going to be a TC Electronics thread - how do they still get away with claiming nearly double the power output for their amps!

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1476041426' post='3150772'] one word: Brexit morons [/quote] I so agree with this. I've lost count of the number of customers bemoaning the price increases on imported instruments and amplification since the £ started plummeting post Brexit vote. It's quite common for people to try and blame us, as a retailer, for price increases. One potential customer last week wanted us to sell below cost simply because prices have risen so much recently!

I never use the pad, always feel it's just putting another 'effect' in the signal chain that you don't really need - just turn the gain down