JapanAxe

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422830545' post='2677394'] [size=5]Bwaa-ha-ha-haaah-haaah-haaaaaaaaahhhh!!![/size] [/quote] This new band thing has gone to your head hasn't it?

Shop trade-in prices will never be great, and no surprise that the salesman immediately works on lowering your expectations. As for image, one of the reasons I didn't buy a Dingwall was that the look would not have worked with a band dressed up in Western wear! And that is yet another reason why every bass player should own at least one Precision...

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1422788029' post='2676683'] Sorry, but that's only valid for a product category that already exists and is clearly defined. [/quote] That, I am afraid, is a complete non sequitur! If I plug into a B Social, I might go 'meh', I might whip out my credit card on the spot. The point is, I just don't know. Full disclosure: I was an Ashdown user for about 12 years but vastly prefer my current setup, so no axe to grind on behalf of Ashdown!

I agree, those plywood LP copies were utter cack. EDIT: I blame the magic word [b]Japan[/b]!

[quote name='Ashdown Engineering' timestamp='1422631135' post='2674901'] Sorry but when you have been building bass amps for 34 years and spent 2 years on developing a truly groundbreaking product to then read some of these ill informed comments is quite upsetting. Especially when none of you have actually seen, used or heard the product... ... How about you actually have a play with one before you decide if its any good, Is that not fair? [/quote] This. Any 'judgment' based solely on a product's feature set is no more than speculative. Nobody knows whether a product will work [i]for them[/i] until they get out there and try it. There are plenty of products (e.g. AER Amp One) that are 'aspirational' on Basschat, with people saying 'I would love one of those if I had the money, but for now I will make do with X.' How does anyone know that the B Social won't become one of those? Here's an idea: Lock this thread, then re-open it in a year (with suitable fanfare) and see what we all think then.

Hey phaty, welcome to Basschat! Although it is a UK forum, we have plenty of members from other countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA - well, you get the picture. Nobody will mention the w@r!

Anything Bruce Thomas played with Elvis Costello & the Attractions.

I've just gone back to a hard case. I bought a Mono dual gig bag last year but have never really got on with it. I now have a Fender/SKB hard case which holds the other stuff I need and stays where I put it without falling over. If I take a second bass it goes in a Hiscox Lite Flite. The trouble with bass gig bags on your back is that you can't get through a door without genuflecting - not a word you see often on Basschat! I prefer to sling my Streamliner over my shoulder and carry my bass in my hand.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1422397836' post='2672291'] Combine two fairly mediocre instruments to make a useless [s]third[/s] turd [/quote] Fixed.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1422437591' post='2672517'] looking at some of the demonstrations that manufacturers are putting out , Why does the person doing the playing feel that they have to let everyone know how fast or clever they are at playing. [/quote] They hope you will think that ownership of the gear in question will confer the same playing skills upon you; conversely, failure to acquire the kit will condemn you to a life of pedestrian plodding.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1422260599' post='2670302'] Open Mics are a bit Marmite (you either love em or hate em Blue) I love the idea of musicians getting together just to play music and everyone doing a 'turn', but i'm just an old hippie really. If I'm on holiday in the UK I'll look out for them as an excuse to have a fun evening in the pub chatting with local musicians. We even got invited to appear on the local radio station last year after playing at a pub in Penzance The music standard is so variable, but I love that. I really enjoy watching people progress from their first song in public through to an accomplished set a couple of years later and my experience is that musicians are a pretty supportive bunch. Round here in the Dorset/Somerset area a number of open mics are run under the banner of Howl Open Mics. Pretty much acoustic and I was about the first to take a bass along I think. A lot more since then though. We used it to get a set together, learn three songs at rehearsal then down to the pub to try them out on an audience. Elijah the host is pretty fair in trying to get everyone who wants up on stage, there's a bunch of regulars who he'll manage to fill the gaps and/or lift the show but there's priority to get new people on and lots of support for nervous performers. Good musicians will often accompany others but it's generally more about people doing their songs than a jam session. We got gigs out of it and I played a couple more with a band formed from people I met at the open mics. I get along to fewer now because of band rehearsals and gigs but it's great to get started or to get back into music after a break and I miss the camaraderie a bit. Open mics vary from a house band doing their practice in public with a couple of mates singing a song or two through an open jam session to a series of acoustic guitarist/singers doing corny covers. You just have to go along and take pot luck but I'm a fan, and any chance to play, well I'm still keen. [/quote] Yay! Went to one of these a couple of years back whilst on holiday in Axminster. I took along an acoustic and got a 3-song slot plus a part inthe grand finale. Great fun. That was at the Ax Inn I think, and the next night they had an excellent acoustic duo (West & Black) performing - to get a decent seat you just booked a meal.

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1420531742' post='2650249'] Not knocking the views of previous posters but I engineer at a bunch of venues and the sight of a band loading Line 6 Spiders in the door makes me want to cry. Maybe it's user error but they invariably disappear in the mix. are fizz city for high gain tones and don't convince for low gain edge of breakup stuff at all. Not a fan. [/quote] Just as well the OP is only looking for an amp for practice then!

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1422198416' post='2669748'] Indeed............ and I would have said that Ampeg SVT was the bass rig standard but I don't think that is so true anymore... [/quote] Second-most-spotted pro rig on live stages and TV shows would have to be Ashdown ABM. Not bad for a 'woolly-sounding' amp!

Is there no protection for those speaker cones?

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1422108899' post='2668777'] No bass type GAS at the moment but I do fancy a Fender Super Champ X2 for my guitar GAS (although the Roland Blues Cube with Eric Johnson plug in is also verrrry interesting). [/quote] Oo-er! I had to use an X2 at a recent low-level rehearsal, and I thought it sounded shocking - made the guitar sound very thin.

Downloaded and donated!

Mods: maybe merge this with the Hipsters thread?

This will require individual practice, and possibly group rehearsal, just like any other part of your performance. OTOH I recall an interview with one of the modern-day Stooges (might have been Mike Watt) where the interviewee said that Iggy was so manic on stage, it just wasn't safe for other band members to be leaping about!

I thought it was the PF500 that had the cutting-out issues - never heard of such problems with the 350.

0:38 - 'footswitchably defeatable' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_p8PgcxLCw

10kg is really not an issue. My 3 Pro weighs 12kg and is perfectly manageable, my Streamliner weighs less than 2kg, so it sits somewhere in between. If the basic sound is as sweet as the 3 Pro then it could be a contender, except for the shocking omission of a mute switch!

You could easily spend hours just mucking about with it. So, not like a bass at all.

Well played! I'm guessing that the solo section (mostly above 12th fret) was left for the player to improvise, as at that point you clearly were not reading.

Guitarist reviewed the skinny-string version at £99 and gave it 5 stars. Review [url="http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/mono-guitar-sleeve-613878"]here[/url].

Time for a new cab then. Loads of choice out there, and plenty of used cabs in the BC marketplace.