molan

I'm surprisingly booked up in June already but if I'm free I'll come along and help Mick

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1426593686' post='2719582'] This made me smile, as my favourite line of his is this one, which goes up the dusty end with those double stops. This is a personal opinion, but I find myself listening to this looser, groovier incarnation of Weather Report more often than the Jaco stuff. [/quote] I'm sure this will have me branded as a heretic but I much prefer his playing with WR to Jaco's. I saw the Jaco incarnation live once and just found it all a bit over the top. I admired the technical prowess but found it hard to actually 'enjoy' listening to the music

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426589796' post='2719513'] It's not that BF cabs accentuate the mids, its more that they don't hide them like so many other big brand cabs do... [/quote] Just 'voting' with my ears rather than measured responses. I don't particularly dislike mids but when over-compensated for they can sound very harsh and brittle

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1426590076' post='2719521'] Nice attitude re playing style. [/quote] To be fair he did play a lot of lovely solo stuff higher up the neck later on in the session - just no 'money' up there

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1426588860' post='2719503'] Which exact ones have you heard? [/quote] Ones I can remember off the top of my head are the Super Compact (a few times), Super Twin, and Midget. Also heard one at the BassChat SE Bash in Autumn 2013 which was very mid-forward when demo'd through a MarkBass head. Can't remember which model this was but seem to recall it had new drivers - maybe the Super Twin.

I saw him at a clinic a few years ago and he was great. Railing a little at bedroom and YouTube players and telling people to get out and play with other musicians. Made a great speech about how there was no 'money' beyond the first five frets and that he'd never earned anything of note playing further up the 'board He played a great groove staying down low just to demonstrate

All the Barefaced cabs I've heard tend to have very pronounced mids so if you don't want these then you might want to look at other alternatives as well.

Not sure if this helps but we import Sadowsky Metro basses direct from Tokyo using Japan Post's EMS service. Costs £115 per instrument (£145 including UK taxes). They hit the UK really quickly but can be held at customs for about a week for clearance prior to delivery to a local Parcelforce depot. After that you pay the taxes, duties and an £8 service charge.

Maybe going for one really nice bass and a quality amplification setup will be more inspiring? We often get visitors to our shop who have 4-5 basses that they've gradually acquired and then realised that no single one is particularly 'calling out' to them so they've got a bit disenchanted with playing.

Although I've replied elsewhere one of the posts above reminded me about a friend who loaned out a nice Eden rig a while ago. One driver totally blown in a cab (maybe two), long delay to source replacement and no recompense from the person who borrowed the cab

The only one I've found that tracks really well is the MarkBass. Quite happy playing down low which works really well for that 80's synthy sound

[quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1426141225' post='2714802'] That's a very kind offer - thanks! [/quote] We sold ours before I could weigh it! Have ordered another though I've spoken to Some people about this and have heard that an early batch of the Indonesian ones may have been heavier but they are all now back to the previous weight (which seems to be borne out in comments above) We should have the next order in early next week so will try to weigh that one!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1426205984' post='2715779'] I did it once, GK 200MB combo strapped to the pillion seat, headless cricket bat bass, bag of leads, and sleeping bag all bungeed and cargonetted to the rack on my Tiger. Tamworth to Maidstone and back... [/quote] Slightly more upright position on a Tiger. I tried it on my old SV650 with clip ons - because my head was already tilted forward the neck, and headstock, was literally forcing me to stare down at the front wheel. Had to ride most of the way one handed with my body skewed sideways on the bike, lol.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426257665' post='2716258'] Thanks for contacting Aguilar Molan - but the answers reveal that something might have been slightly miscommunicated... 1) With the gain knob on zero there is still volume! 2) None of my basses are "superhot" - and none of them (other than my Status, which I haven't yet used with the TH500) have onboard preamps. The three I have used so far are all passive J basses I have tried all available combinations of gain and master settings. Gain on full and master on low gives distortion, yes - but not much more than I seem to get all the time! Gain on [i][b]zero[/b][/i] and master up high reduces distortion, but not by all that much. I don't use the "drive" control at all as I am trying to get a clean sound first before I colour it up deliberately! So thanks again for your input, but I'm not sure I'm really any further forward! [/quote] He's saying you can still get volume with gain on zero. However if it's distorting with gain on zero and master on a low setting then either there's a cab problem or something wrong inside the amp. Given how light the amp is I'd get down to your nearest guitar shop and try it through any other cab. That will immediately tell you if there's an amp issue

All the way from the amp's designer himself: "Regarding your questions: 1) Yes, the input gain doesn’t go to “zero”. To turn the volume off completely, turn down the gain knob. It was designed this way so head would have a great gain structure in the preamp and a low noise floor. 2) If his bass is superhot and he turns up his onboard preamp all the way, he could add 20 to 30 dB of gain to the input of the amp. That could cause clipping of the input stage. No damage or shutdowns; but it might sound more gritty than he wants it. In that case he may want to use the input pad switch. Also, he should be using the input gain and the master interactively to get the cleanest (or dirtiest) sound. Lastly, the drive knob adds gain, and hence distortion. For the cleanest sound he can turn the drive all the way down." Hope this helps

Some amps do have volume if gain set to zero (mine does but it's a master volume only and a valve pre). We've sold out of TH amps in the store but I've written direct to Aguilar for you to ask about the zero setting delivering volume. They are in NYC so might take some time to respond. Just to check - is this happening with both drive and gain set to zero?

I remember Alex saying he liked the Carvin B2000 (which runs at 2000w at 2ohms) with some of his cabs because they needed lots of power to make them work well. Have you tried the Aggie into another cab? That would be a simple test if it's working Ok.

The TH500 will run very clean at high volumes and really shouldn't be distorting. I've heard, and used, them at all sorts of venues and cranked pretty hard. You can get them to distort but not if you're careful with both gain and drive controls.

[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1426021282' post='2713593'] Do you use it with anything else? I hear people raving about this thing, but I'd be using it alongside an overdrive. Worth it? [/quote] I have one in a small board with an envelope filter and an octaver. It works fine with both of these and seems to help the octaver track a little better (but mine is an Aguilar which seems to track very well anyway). Feels like both the Diamond and the Demeter warm things up a little and get a slightly fatter, richer, tone, especially on passive basses. I don't ever set the compression really high though.

[quote name='graham1945' timestamp='1426101112' post='2714445'] Anyone interested in more "snaps" from the show can access them here:- https://www.facebook.com/graham.bowman.16/media_set?set=a.10205349805398137.1073741836.1038584556&type=3&uploaded=16 Hope it works! Enjoy! Graham [/quote] There are some great pics here Graham!

Also, try not to 'over-think' everything. You need to get a strong focus on your playing but if you're continually thinking about every note then it can effect your timing and you can start fumbling over your lines. Doing some loosening-up exercises and getting into the groove of playing can work wonders. Once you get going things will just fall into place and you'll be totally hooked on playing live. Just one of the best experiences you can have and playing with your daughter will be the icing on the cake