Chienmortbb

A nice little package sped it's way from middle earth, well Derbyshire> My latest two packs of Newtone strings arrived this morning. Sorry no pics as my phone is flat but they are Platinum Round core 40-100s. Feel better under the finger than any I have ever used except the old Picato Groundwounds from Treorchy.

You could pop along to the South West Bass Bash in a few weeks and try many of these cabs.

I have to make compromises, being in a 5 piece especially as the band leader, although the youngest, is also the most tech averse or maybe averse to losing control? If I had my way we would use them but it’s not worth breaking up the band for YET. Even if you do use them it does not necessarily mean that you ditch your rig. There is a space for a hybrid solution if your PA is not up to scratch.

Some people are just anti-iem our BL refuses and I suspect that at least one guitard would as well. The drummer who is the eldest by far, is all for it. The BL supplies the PA, a powered mixer with no outputs other than the two speaker outputs. I have offered to use my digital mixer and active speakers but BL says no.

It’s proved then. We are all mad!

From memory the consensus was that the LFSys was the best, the GR was the least liked of the three brands but hopefully others will chime in. As am LFSys user and friend of @stevie I could be accused of bias, however I am trying to reflect the consensus.

I did that with my Site M2 but to be honest I am not sure I could sell it with those pieces of scrap metal fitted.

This was really my point. The same room, same speaker and cabinet. The difference was a lower powered amp and a few months in between hearing sessions. It is well know that the ear/brain has no memory for sound or at least comparing sounds but this was very noticeable. In future is I ever quote the 10 times the power for the doubling of volume, I will qualify it in some way.

A very unscientific accident has made e wonder how true the rule that 10 times the power equals a doubling of volume. I recently fitted an ICEPOwer 50ASX50 module to the modifies After Eight Combo that I described in another thread. As is my wont, I keep fiddling with things and ended up taking out both the +15 volt power supply and the ICEPower module. So both were replaced and to my surprise the combo was much quieter. Now the sleeping cat usually heads for the cat flap at my first note but no. Then I remembered that the ICEPower module needs a link changing to run BTL giving the full 100 watts into 8 Ohms. With the link as shipped the module only gives 30 watts into 8 Ohms. With the modified module, the room shakes and it certainly feels like more than a doubling of power. Of course no measurements were taken. However any rule of thumb should be taken as s guide and not an absolute.

It does say sound power, without any other info (acoustic watts?) its hard to know what that means although the principle is largely true.

Bands like the Sweet and to some extent Slade were looked on as "Pop" bands in the UK and somewhat looked down on by snooty rock fans. It is only recently that Planet Rock have started playing Slade rather than cover versions by famous US bands. You also reminded me that we used to play Ballroom Blitz in one of my early bands and the singer could never get through the intro without laughing.

When I started my first amp was a Selmer Zodiac Twin 30. Superb amp but eclipsed by the AC30 in popularity. had two of the legendary original Celestion G12s. The bassist at the time had an AC30 Bass. How times have changed 60 watts between the two of us...

I have some Hipshot machine heads going on mine so I am also guilty..

Expensive upgrade for a lor cost bass?

I am still having trouble getting the string height/action down far enough. The truss rod adjusts well so no worried on that score but its way to high to play for long. I have filed down one of the saddles, as advised above, but it is still too high. The individual bridge pieces are no taller than any others so replacing them is not the answer. I will try various shims next week to see if that works.

I have used several pedal board and clip on tuners and far and away the best for use on stage is the Zoom B1Four’s. It has two ways of showing the correct tuning but the LEDS are so fast and only need a glance. I realise this last night when I did a stripped brown rig, leaving my B2 Four at home and using the B1 Four on batteries. Easy to see even with out my glasses and so fast. At the price it is worth it for the tuner alone.

That is what it is all about for me.

Victory have made inroads in the Valve Amp market as have Friedman. There are also more niche makes like Two Rock. In my opinion both Marshall and Fender can be improved. The Fender combos are often described as “good pedal platforms” to my ears they are timeless unless they have a pedal or two in front of them. This is made worse by using Fender guitars. The Telecaster bridge pickup through a Fender should be illegal. Many, but not all Marshalls are difficult to get a clean tone from. Especially with a humbucking pickup. If Ashdown can nail clean and dirty channels well in one amp they may do well. However I suspect the main reason for selling guitar amps is the smaller outlets reluctant to stock brands with “ limited” ranges.

I don’t have experience of either but in general the higher end of any market offers little extra. It really is the law of diminishing returns.

https://www.lfsys.co.uk/bassguitarproducts @stevie is a regular on here so you can message him on here.

That was what I was thinking about as I also have a Monza.

Yes any copper shielding must be connected to the ground/sleeve terminal of the jack. It is usually easy to solder to? Lovely bass by the way.

Weight and neck dive are related, as are the position of the strap buttons. One of the biggest culprits are the machine heads. These are 4 or 5 lumps of metal on the end of a long lever (physics is your friend here). For example Gotoh's standard GB2 range of Fender style machine heads are just over 110gm so 550gms for a set of 5. The GB640 res-O-lites are just under 63gm so approx 330 gm for a set of 5. That is 7.8 oz or just shot of 1/2 pound in weight. now find something weighing that much and hang it from the headstock of you bass then take it off. Hipshot also do Ultralites and the smaller modern sealed tuners can alps be replaced by lighter ones The things that mitigate neck dive are 2x2 or 2x3 headstock or ... headless bases. The only thing you can do to both reduce the weight of a bass is to change the machine heads, saving 0.5lbs and helping improve neck dive. Of course you can also alter the strap buttons. Be aware though that this is not a cheap upgrade, usually costing in the region of £80-120, depending on the size and number of machine heads. However I do it to all my basses.

I used to have a T25 sometimes called a Taurus 5 or Taurus 25 and it was a budget instrument but superbly made. I sold it as I was not good enough then to handle a fiver. I also still have a Washburn Acoustic. Again superb value. Picture below is stock but its exactly as I remember it. The bass was unique as Soundtech, the then UK distributor wrongly advertised them as Active on their website. I told them and rather than just thank me and correct it, they fitted the preamp from the range above (sorry I do not know the model). I still don't play 5 strings but if I did I would have one of these in in a heart beat. Yes the neck really is a through neck laminated.

As much as weight is important, also consider the handle, how they are place and how they balance when carried. The other thing is to get a decent trolley. The Wolfcraft TS 660/850 range are excellent, When I bought mine it was £70 but they have gone up somewhat since. I tried several others but this has lasted really well.