Sean

Class D versus big iron? Valve amps versus not valve amps. I've got a GK Fusion 550 and a GK MB Fusion 500, same preamps, different power sections. I've got some big boxes of bottles too.

Is this plus Stevie's post, the seed of a Bass Bash talk? There's a lot of quick win handy hints for the gigging bassist.

Bang for buck, I highly recommend Toltec pickups https://www.laverackguitars.com/toltec-pickups You can phone up and have a proper conversation with Lee Laverack about pickups and all things techy. He handwinds pretty much whatever you want. He's done a few for me. He's very reasonaly priced too considering the quality of the parts and workmanship. He also covers the pickups for life. He's based near Leeds and is a gem. I reckon £110 for a pair of J pups done to your exact spec/liking. I've got a set knocking about here if you'd like to try them out. Not for sale but happy to let you borrow to try.

I'm bringing my ebony board 4 to the SE Bash if you want try it. The ebony makes it even more gritty and zingy.

Gorgeous. I've dropped similar wedge on something else with EMGs, otherwise I'd be booking a ferry ticket! 😀

It was behind the PA tower, band members, monitors and had a wall 12ft in front. This is all really useful. I'm making notes and putting them in my gig notebook. Thanks chaps.

Great insight. Thank you, Phil. I was asked to swap sides with guitarist on the night. I'm always stage left, high-hat side but was swapped on the night. My cab was placed for me, although saying that, there wasn't much choice with position.

First Gig Report We knew it would be challenging. It was a pub gig at The Monument in Newbury just in case any of you know it. A really tight space, even for a 4-piece. Full PA (tops, bass bins, monitors) plus backline. Ceilings between 6'4" to 6'6". Heavily damped pub, curtains, carpets, packed full of raceday punters enjoying the "refreshments". The Monaco was placed in a corner against two walls. I've tried to represent it with the sketch and photo below. The sound was much better than I expected but I'd like to understand more about how this placement against the walls and the low ceiling affects it. I could hear myself well and never once felt like I was "driving blind", like I have in the past but it wasn't like Monday's rehearsal. Obviously environment and placement play a part. The sound was exacerbated by the "dancers" knocking the cables out of the front monitors and us losing those a few times during the set. Would raising the cab have helped? I didn't take my platform as I had such a good experience on a Monday, I didn't think I'd need it. What insights have we got? Any advice, folks?

Maiden voyage for this setup tonight. It's a tight space with low ceilings.

It's the gateway drug to the current range of LFSys. I have to say that in reality, I could probably live with it for 80% (or more) of what I do. In blind testing against the Monaco and the Mesa cab, the "listener" correctly identified each cab every time. The Monaco punches harder and has even more clarity on the top end (compared to the BC112). The Monaco was effortless with the Laney (8xKT88 400w) and 400+. With some feedback from Stevie I modified the BC112 to accommodate the full speaker excursion. I added some 6x11 bead under the grille, Stevie gave me some of the 10mm cushion tape. What I found during the testing was that the Mesa 400+ was making the speaker cone hit the grille. This didn't happen with any of the other amps. I remember an amp builder telling me that the 400+ is designed in a way that enables it to do this (I can't remember the details but it's something to do with the big caps in there. I'm keeping the BC112 for the foreseeable future. It's off to Monty’s Guitars along with my Laney 400 to help with some pickup testing work for a while. After that it'll probably end up living in a rehearsal space and/or being used as part of a guitar rig with an EHX 44 Magnum (D Class pedal amp) and HX Stomp. Edit: I think it's worth noting here the Mesa Walkabout "cab" (i.e. combo without the amp in it), although it came in 3rd place to the BC112 and Monaco, it's really good, especially since it's a design that's well over 20 years old and is a long time discontinued. It's a high-quality product, well-engineered, light and is capable of producing some great sparkle that many modern coloured cabs can't/don't. It has a passive radiator rather than a port and can bring the thunder. So, both the Steviecabs had a quality contender and came out as superior with the Monaco taking top spot on the podium🏆

Well, I'm bringing Matt and probably his #1 to do the video of his talk. Then there's all the unconfirmed guests and traders. It's three months away, there's a lot of Basschatters within an hour of it and bet a few quid on us busting 50 easily. How big is the hall? Do we need a venue with multiple rooms? I've never done a bash before, so have no reference point.

I'm bringing my Japan-exclusive ebony board one so it'll be interest to compare the two.

I've not got quite as many miles on the clock with my Monaco as @Pirellithecat but I dropped @stevie an email following my first full rehearsal with it and I'll post that below. You can read my previous posts on this thread for context but what you can't see is the journey. I picked up a BC112 recently as a stop gap and I also used a Mesa Walkabout (without the amp in it) while I was waiting for the Monaco. Stevie exceeded expectations with lead time estimates and must be commended for that. The BC112 (I won't go into the history but I'm sure most of you are familiar with it) was a huge step in the right direction and I spent a lot of time A/B/C testing it against other cabs. I've now got the Monaco and have done one full band rehearsal and have two gigs over the coming week or so. Based on just noodling at home and the rehearsal with a Class D GK (not my main gigging amp but close enough) I sent Stevie an email on Monday. It goes like this... Hi Stevie I used the Monaco at a full rehearsal on Monday evening. I used my backup gigging amp, the GK MB Fusion 500 Class D and that's near enough in sound to my #1, the Fusion 550 analogue beastie, for comparison. The difference was night and day compared to the now-departed TWO10. There's an extra dimension there now. Xxxx, the guitarist commented that he could hear all the sparkle and grit of the Spector [Euro 4 with EMGs and LHZ-03] as well as much tighter low punch. Xxxx, who is a pro drummer and runs the studio sat through a few songs and got very interested, asking if I was playing through a PA top! "What is it!?". She also said that if she could hear bass like that at the jam nights she runs, life would be so much easier. They use an old Peavey Nitro 410. Some changes were needed, as expected with the amp. I tweaked my Treble and High-Mids back from 1-2 o'clock to flat. It's like I'm not forcing the amp to compensate for the tonal limitations of a "coloured" cab and lack of high end definition anymore. One thing that I had to tweak quite a bit was my chorus. I've got an Aguilar Chorusaurus (analogue) pedal, which needed some reigning in. It's like it's come alive now whereas before it seemed like quite a subtle pedal [at the settings I was using]. I use chorus on about 10-12 songs out of 24 currently and with the Monaco has made that much more transparent to the point where I'm dialing it back. I found that I came right back on the Intensity (like an HP/LP filter setting) and the ratio (wet/dry blend) knob. It makes sense inasmuch as it was always there but now the Monaco has the capability to make those higher "chorused" frequencies heard whereas they were just lost before. It'll be doing its maiden gig on Saturday at a venue that has a low ceiling and is acoustically challenging so, it'll be a good test. All good so far. Actually, beyond what I thought possible. My advice to anyone buying one would be to make sure you set up your signal path for it first before gigging, it's such a radical change that most people's settings will need some revision. Although, that's coming from a tweeterless TWO10 user, so it's a big shift in spec/tech/design. Hopefully, there are some useful nuggets here that might help others. I'll give you some more feedback after Saturday's gig. All the best Sean I intend to do an update after the bank holiday weekend by which time I'll have gigged it twice in very different venues.

With and without a Thumpinator would make an interesting comparison for a Bass Bash. I've got a Microthumpinator v1 and a v2 that I can bring along.

I'd love to try that EMGx + Darkglass combo if this bass makes it along to the bash in November 🙂

Good News - Guest Update I have confirmation today that Matt Gleeson of Monty's Guitars has agreed to come along and do a chat, demo and Q&A session on Monty's bass pickups. He'll also be telling us about Monty's future bass products (really exciting stuff) and will be listening to all your feedback on needs and wants regarding bass pickups, preamps and anything else. There'll be some Monty's booty in the raffle too. There'll be a couple of Monty's-loaded basses for you to try out and we'll be offering a pickup fitting service on the day if anyone wants to buy some and get them fitted there and then. Donation to charity £TBC for pickup fitting. We've agreed to do the demos through a couple of different amps (full valve, hybrid analogue, Class D) using an LFSys Monaco @stevie so that we get as transparent and as full a sound as we can from the pickups.

What about a chat on the practical use of compression for the gigging bass player? Some compression chats can get overly technical and alienate some folk.

Anything that's not a Spector, Mesa or GK. YFKI.

There has been a development 🤠 I'm going to keep it under wraps until 15th September 🤐. Just because I'm un poco supersticioso 🤫

Although it's a trek for me (Gloucester to Guildford), I use Surrey Amps aka The Amp Hospital https://surreyamps.co.uk/ Stan and Jack really know their stuff and are always so genuinely intersted in your gear. Just brilliant all round and a pleasure to deal with.

Print off this quoted post, hand it round to those that need their "penny drop moment". If the penny doesn't drop, or if there's no penny there, wave goodbye. [Don't say "goodbye", they won't hear you.]

I bought another one recently and it arrived with a weird issue. Max sorted it out straight away, no fuss, just on it and returned it within a couple of days. Fantastic service. The v2 of the MT is designed to velcro to the underside of a pedalboard so it doesn't need its own footprint. It's always on so it's fine under there. I'll be taking mine to the SE and SW Bass Bashes if anyone wants a demo.

If it's not a band where you can have a sensible discussion about things like volume, then it's not a band to be associated with. I was approached to join a band that I'd seen play live a couple of times and politley turned them down because they always played way too loud.

I probably should have said "fretting hand". I'll edit that now.