DGBass

I was involved in an original music band project where the guitarist insisted on drop tuning in some weird and wonderful keys. He used a Digitech Whammy pitch shift pedal. I bought an EHX PitchFork for the bass to try and match what he was doing. Neither pedal impressed me and the Pitchfork never managed to track everything but mostly did a reasonable job. The sound quality was never great either in my opinion. It aded a sort of metallic resonance to the notes and I could definetly hear latency. In the end, even our guitarist gave up with his pitch shift pedal and settled on an extra instrument already detuned so he could swap guitars on stage when needed. For bass I just used my fingers to transpose keys on a bass tuned to concert pitch. That was a few years ago and I guess Pitch shift pedals might have moved on somewhat in processing power and sophistication but I could say it was the least used effects pedal I've ever owned!

Yes,  but reluctantly on my part. Discussions on doing crowd pleasing xmas tunes never go smoothly in our covers band when a gig set list is being drawn up. The only good thing is that we haven't needed to play xmas tunes since December 2019 just before the pandemic! We collectively settle on a medley so as we don't have to suffer playing xmas tunes all the way through. Pubs and clubs are decked out in their xmas glitter this time of year so its almost expected in venues that you get musically festive at some point in the set.

Not in order:

Run Rudolph Run

Santa Claus is coming to town

Merry Christmas ( Slade of course!)

Yep, direct from the horses mouth is often the best source of information and although i've never had cause to contact Orange about stuff, its good to know they are approachable🙂

I'm not familiar with your kit but the principal of a single input into the return would bypass all of the front end of the amp so you wouldn't likely get the use of a control in the pre-amp chain. The LBT blurb suggests the compressor is a front end effect rather than an output compressor like Peavey's DDT feature. Most compressors on amps are front end these days. Out of curiosity, I tried doing the same on three different amps. An Ashdown ABM, a GK and a Markbass. All were the same, none of the pre-amp controls functioned going direct into the return. One other thing is that using the return means your input source will need enough level to make the most of the power amp section. A Sansamp should be more than capable of supplying a hot enough signal. I suppose best option is to try it out and compare the two setups.

Just for info, the folks at Polar were quite approachable and I suspect relished the chance to get away from their desk to rummage around in the warehouse looking for NOS rack kits. Unfortunately there wasn''t anything available for my ask. However this may be of interest to owners of the old school RB800 amp. Polar still have some NOS 3U rack ear kits for RB800's available, so if you are lucky enough to own an RB800 and fancy racking it...give them a shout.  

2 hours ago, Chaddy said:

Triggers Broom?

I've had as many ABM's of all shapes and sizes pass through my hands to have a reasonably good idea of what is fairly original. The two cabs (4x8 and mini 15) are stock MK1 ABM Minis. The JJ ECC83S I fitted to replace a no name valve is not original but everything else appears to be. One thing Ashdown did with amps of this era when they built them in house was date the components they fitted, a bit like what TE used to do back in the day. Whoever built an amp initialed and dated a component part as well which is a nice touch. Little things like that give you a good idea as to what you have. I suppose you can never really tell for sure with twenty year old amps of any make but this particular one is the most original of this era i've ever come across and the best condition by far. The serial number says Nov 2002, the transformer, an original XTE1 model Oct 2002, and the power module 24/10/2002 which all seems right. I remember reading Ashdown's manuals of the time which rattled on about their "ABM Design Philosophy"  to build a "minimum service, high quality, long lasting powerful bass amplifier." A clean out and a new valve every twenty years seem to fit that philosophy! Sounds lovely as well and very quiet and controlled in operation for such a powerful old amp, its definetly not had a hard life. I suppose there are a few Triggers Broom's out there as these amps are super easy to repair and maintain and always look the part even if the internals may not be as they left the factory. This one though is definetly a cut above the rest🙂 

5 hours ago, Tim2291 said:

Ah, this is the age old question though, would it have saved you any money or would you have actually ended up with something else? I would argue that your years of experimenting with other instruments developed your taste to the USA Standard, whereas if you had started with the USA Standard your tastes may have developed to a different instrument! 

With the P-Bass, I'm sure it would have saved me money tbh. I knew it was a keeper the day I bought it, it just felt quality. If that had been the case when I was starting out I'm sure I wouldn't have strayed off the path as much or suffered attacks of GAS( I had a major affair with EB and pre-EB stingrays for a number of years ). I also have an American Standard Jazz Bass, its only ten years old and I also knew that was a keeper the day I bought it. Again, it just had that quality feel. I would say in its case, it was probably more years of experimenting with other JB instruments to find a keeper( i've owned 8 jazz basses of various makes and as a lefty there is a more limited choice anyway) That journey eventually developed into an American Standard Jazz. It took a while, but I have two really nice reliable, great sounding and comfortable to play quality USA Fenders and I have no desire to own anything else.  I also don't need anything else tbh as both instruments cover all my requirements really well. I can tell you thats a very happy place to be 🙂

Something I've been restoring recently and haven't yet had the chance to gig. A cupboard find that had been locked away for over ten years and had a few issues due to lack of use. It's now fully restored, fully operational and pretty much mint condition. The EVO500 amp head is quite unique for amps of this vintage. Its UK built as are the ABM Mini cabs and they all have consecutive serial numbers. The amp has the old school EVO 500 front panel but has the newer EVOII rear panel with a speakon jack. The power section has the later bipolar 500 watt output stage and not the earlier 400 watt mosfet board. All the dates check out as November 2002. Looking forward to trying it out at a gig.

To answer the OP's original post, ie. where is the value in a USA Fender I can only add that there is just something extra built in thats worth it, especially in the standards. I can't speak for every model year however my own experience of buying a USA Standard  as it was called back in the late 90's has been exemplary. Fender got back to their roots about this time after a few odd tangents in the eighties. The build quality on my USA standard is superb, materials, finish, playability and tone all make for a great and very reliable bass. I've owned it for nearly 25 years now and the neck has never moved, its only needed one fret level in that time and I'm told by my tech the frets will last for sometime yet. I never thought back then i'd still be using it to this day and its become my go to bass for gigging and almost and old friend. 

I've owned squiers, players, antoria's, ibanez's etc over the years and while I've never owned a bass that wasn't giggable, none have felt so comfortable and reliable as my late 90's USA Standard. For me the investment back then was well worth it and if I was starting out again, I would save up and grab an American Standard without hesitation. If I'd got one to start with, it may have saved me from years of being lost on a gear quest before I finally got my USA Standard, and of course a a fair bit of cash🙂    

I found out I had a nickel allergy a few years back and had to stop using any nickel alloy strings. I switched to cobalts which cured the problem until my cobalts started to rust after about half a dozen sweaty gigs. Rusty cobalts also now irritate the tips of my fingers from a sort of black corrosion the cobalts develop. I'm back to using stainless flats which seem to agree well with my finger tips. I never use picks either so its always hands on playing.

Thanks, I did look at the UK Distributors (Polar) web shop which does have lots of rack stuff for other brands they deal with but nowt for GK amps of the era I'm intersted in. Worth a direct approach perhaps as well as asking here.

Rack ears for end of production amps are never easy to source. Just thought I'd ask the forum if anyone has a set of GK rack ears to fit Backline / RB heads gathering dust in a dark corner somewhere that they would consider parting with for a reasonable amount?  It's just the black metal parts with or without screws. The chrome RB hoops aren't necessary if they come from an RB but I would take them if they came as a package. I've considered hacking a set from steel angle strip or pattern ears from online but to be honest I'm useless at metal craft. If anyone can help, drop me a PM please. Many thanks.

D 

There was a time where I couldn't see past my pre-ernie ball Stingray. Mostly because it suited the grindy punk/metal tones I was so used to playing back in the day. I always had a good p-bass and a jazz bass in the wings but they were only used every now and then. I eventually sold the Stingray ( a regret when I gave up playing for many years) but retained the p-bass and the jazz bass. As an older player these days, I've really come to appreciate the merits of the p-bass and the jazz bass as super versatile for just about anything I need to play. I've owned two p-basses and eight jazz basses over the years so it's easy to work out where my allegiance is.  I've always felt supremely comfortable with a Jazz. The slimmer neck profile and tonal variation just work well with almost any style I need to play and as its mostly covers bands I play in these days, the Jazz ticks all the boxes. Saying that, I've owned my p-bass for 25 years now and if ever I need to rock out and generate some serious thump, you can't beat a real deal old school Fender USA standard Precision. It's a serious chunk of wood body wise and neck wise and is physically demanding to play. Thats why it comes second to my American Standard Jazz.  I did own another newer Stingray for a while and while it was a pretty astounding bass quality wise and tonally, I just never got back into the Musicman sound and have switched permanently to Fenders.   

I owned a BC212 and the way the ratings work is that the original drivers are 100watt 16 ohm custom eminence bass drivers. The horn is a very high quality Eminence ASD1001 compression driver rated at 50 watts RMS and is 8 ohms. The cabs have a proper crossover circuit board installed to split frequencies between the bass drivers and the horn. This equates to a rated power handling of 250 watts RMS @ 8 ohms. The original 100 watt 12's are fairly fragile and its not uncommon to see these cabs with burned out voice coils as they often get paired with much higher powered amps.  These cabs will easily handle much more power as they are well ported and can punch way above their weight with the right drivers. I installed a pair of Eminence Beta 12A2 drivers in my cab which gave a rating of 500 watts RMS and the cab handled this amount of power with ease and sounded killer using the original crossover circuit. There are probably a few other options as regards drivers but it will depend a lot on what you intend to use as an amplifier and what sort of power you might be pushing through the cab.  

Same as it ever is... at the last gig and the next gig. A long chassis ABM, a P-Bass and a big high power folded horn cab for venue shaking bass 😁 

On 25/09/2022 at 18:14, stereoplayer said:

This rig absolutely sounded great the last 2 nights.

 

OOOH! that is some serious bass overhang. My OCD is flaring up. Saying that, a dual 2x10 Markbass cab setup is something I've secretly fancied. Bassamp v2.0 sort of vibe. How do the dual stacked 2x10's sound? 

On 04/07/2022 at 20:46, jezzaboy said:

After a brief flirtation with a pre/power amp set up, I recently picked up these. Cab is a RM 414 and the head is a MAG 400 which is a MAG/ABM mash up according to the seller. The head is in great nick for something 15 to 20 years old.

 

On 04/07/2022 at 20:56, Merton said:

Nice!

Yep I think those early red-face MAG heads used the exact same power amp as the ABM 👍🏻

Yes these amps used the same ABM power stage as the ABM's of the time used. I know this amp well and it's history. It was purchased new in 2002 by a dude called Nick from Wales and he used it in his band, Welsh rockers "Clipper" for nearly eighteen years without a single issue. It travelled all over the UK and mainland Europe in its gigging life. It ended up coming north a few years ago and was fully rebuilt/serviced and is quite possibly the best example of a MAG400 head in the UK currently. I used it as a rehearsal amp and gigged it briefly (between ABM's.) It's a cracking amp!      

I owned one of these heads for a while and it sounded awesome with any cab option. These have the 400 watt mosfet power amp board as standard and depending on what transformer is fitted will be rated between 400-500 watts. You won't get much grind out of the valve input mix knob but it does add a glassy sheen to the tone that is quite something and not available on later ABM's. Enjoy! 

I must admit the ABM 750 really peaked my interest as the latest incarnation of ABM's. It appears to be a bridged under voltage version of the old school ABM 900/1200 amps but running 'cooler' and safer at 750 watts RMS. I'm sure it will be ultimately very reliable in use and the idea of a quality, British made BIG power class AB amp that's not running over voltage or stressed to the max to satisfy the sales reps power stats really sounds like Ashdown are on to something good. Saying that, I recently responded to a mail shot by Ashdown asking what my three favourite Ashdown products were and also what I would like to see Ashdown produce in the future amp wise. My three fave products were ABM's, ABM's and ABM's. I also specified a compact class D Ashdown Digital Magnifier  or ADM if you like in the 500-800 watt range, with the ice blue paint job of regular ABM's, a standard ABM tube tone stack and comes with rack ears for rack mounting as standard 2U size. Hey, if Markbass can do a tube 800, why can't Ashdown do it better?  I'm sure there are a ton of bass chatters waiting for such an amp. Anyway, until I have the option of a coolio lightweight ADM I will stick to my faithful old skool ABM EVO II 300 & 500 heads that despite the weight, do everything an ABM should, ie supply copious amounts of HEFT😁

My LMIII is quiet from start up and even at full gig performance never seems to get very noisy fan wise. It's difficult to tell though when I'm running it into a 4 ohm load at high power and things be shakin' all around. If your fan rev's up to full speed at power on, I would suggest getting it checked out just incase there is something amiss. It may be a symptom of impending doom! 

My "lo" wattage gig rig. 1978 Peavey Bass Combo MKIII Series amp. I mostly use Ashdown ABM 300's and 500's for gigging so this is comparatively low wattage. Saying that it grinds up there with amps allegedly way more powerful than 130 watts RMS 🤔

from the mouths of babes...my daughter recently commented on my "stack" of ABM's in the front room(an ABM 500 EVO II, ABM500 EVOIII and an ABM 300 EVO II) as pale blue perfection. I showed her the new ABM750 EVO V on the Ashdown website and she shrieked aloud " thats just like a MAG200!"( she knows her Ashdown's) She wasn't impressed at all with the black finish. When I asked her what her preference was, a pale blue ABM750 was the preferred option...or...mystic red metallic to match my Fender Jazz🤔 I wonder if Ashdown would do that for me? 😁

I've gotten back into ABM's of late and my current favourite versions are the EVOII models. These are generally well built in my experience whether UK built or PRC built models. There are some nice quality features like metal DI sockets which disappeared on later evoIII and beyond models. They are also fairly inexpensive if you can find a decent one. I picked up a non working( faulty TD0531 transformer issue) ABM500 EVOII big chassis model for £45 recently. The good folks at Ashdown supplied a replacement transformer (one of their new Euro build XTE1 types) to get it working and it has been gigged successfully since and sounds huge and works perfectly. There doesn't seem to be much love for the big chassis models, probably because of their weight but they do sit nice on a bigger cab like a 4x10 or similar. The big chassis models also seem quieter to me than comparable normal chassis ABM's. All in, a near mint and now fully operational EVOII 500 for a whisker over £100 seems ludicrous for the performance an ABM provides. 🙂

As far as schematics go, the old MkII and MKIV GP7/11 versions don't seem to be available anywhere I can find. The Power amp chassis though is pretty much the same as in the more readily downloadable (online) MKV AH250/350/500 schematic so that at least will make any maintenance on the power section possible. I rebuilt a MKV AH250 during lockdown and the amp section does hang "upside down' normally and there are three cables from it to worry about. The main power amp signal cable and power feed for the GP11 front panel pre-amp which is usually a square plastic multi plug that can only fit one-way and the two 110V blacklight connecting plugs. I messed about with trying to fit mine all in a 3U or 4U flight case but it was easier fixing up the original 3U wooden sleeve despite it being damaged. The power sections are heavy beasts and the 4U case I intended to use wasn't structurally heavy duty enough to cope with having the power amp chassis bolted in upside-down like it is as standard. I tried and it rattled in the case a lot. 3U cases seem much harder to source these days except if you are willing to pay a bit more for one or to have your AH250 GP11 professionally installed in a custom made rack case. They are killer amps and nothing much goes wrong with them apart from worn graphic sliders especially if they are the earlier white plastic ones. The blacklight doesn't usually give much problem either as long as the 110v tube starter is replaced periodically and of course the blacklight tube does wear out eventually after 30 or so odd years of service 🙂 I suppose cosmetics don't matter too much as long as you are happy with the performance aspect. It's always good though to see one of these on stage with that blacklight glowing away and illuminating the green goodness of the pre-amp. You know you've arrived when you feel one of these AH units behind you on stage.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more reviews here for the benefit of lefties. It almost seems mandatory to review one of the icons of universal bass history here to ensure no lefties are oblivious to the wonders of said instrument. Yes I'm talking about the Fender USA Standard Precision bass Left Handed. If you haven't played one, you've missed out. If you've found a great example then you'll be aware there is nothing really that can touch it for versatility in either live situations or a recording session. As was once said on this very forum, you just pick it up, plug it in and play. it's that simple and with careful adjustment it will fit into any mix. My review is based on my 1998 Fender USA Standard Left Handed that I've owned from new and played in bands from rap metal, to punk, new romantic, indie, 70's rock covers, 80's NWOHM and so much more. Here goes.

The review example was top drawer leftie material back in its day. A three colour sunburst model, with rock maple neck and a sublime piece of dark rosewood for a finger board. It's 34 inch scale with 20 frets. The body is Alder and is two piece with a beautiful figured grain on the front and the back. The pick guard is stock three layer white. Hardware consists of heavy duty open gear chrome Fender stamped tuners, medium jumbo nickel frets, USA standard P-Bass pickup measuring 10.5K, CTS pots and Switchcraft jack. All high quality components as you would expect from Fender's flagship standard P-Bass. The original bridge on these models was string through only but on this review example, a 2010 Fender Deluxe P-Bass bridge was fitted to allow top loading. The deluxe 2010 bridge fits exactly and has the same small block footprint as the original string through only unit. The neck on these late nineties models also incorporate Fender's carbon fibre struts in the neck construction to maintain neck stability and tuning. In practice this means the tuning on these instruments is rock solid and the neck needs minimal adjustment over long periods of time assuming you maintain your string gauge.  In use, these basses are fairly heavy as they are much thicker than modern American standards. The heavy weight of the massive open gear tuners also means there is a slight neck dive on some basses. Saying that, if you get the angle right, these basses are quite comfortable to wear for several hours at a time. The body has the usual Fender contours and the neck profile is medium chunky which I like very much. The strap buttons were as standard equipment fitted with Schaller locking units. These are very good but over long periods the strap buttons can work loose as the fixings are fairly light 3/4 inch screws. After ten years of use, I replaced these with one and a half inch screws fitted very carefully to not split the body/wood. They haven't moved since and a small tip is to lubricate the strap locks on your strap with a blob of petroleum jelly to limit the strap locks binding on the locking nuts and causing rotation to loosen the screws over time. The general build quality on these late nineties P-basses is exemplary. It's a big solid thick piece of timber and that translates into a very resonant tone that is rich in deep low mids and surprisingly bright highs. The nut is natural bone and on this example was cut very well to give a low and very playable action. Intonation once setup is solid as a rock. String alignment and spacing is also wonderful on these models as the Fender Hi-Mass bridge has quite extensive adjustments so you don't end up with strings either hanging off the fretboard or all bunched up like with some lesser versions of P-Basses. 

The pickup is very quiet in operation and there is no hum or interference of any sort. The standard pick guard is foil lined on its rear to help with this. These basses just sound better over time and modern string choices mean you can get all sorts of tones from them. My recommendation is to use good quality flat wound strings to get the best from them. Rounds sound killer for rock music and punk but will quickly eat the nickel frets away. My strings of choice are EB Slinky cobalt flats. They give a great long life and balance between lows and highs in my experience. Long term, these basses can also suffer from lacquer crazing on the back of the neck, usually near the heel but its minimal and doesn't affect playability. The review bass was gigged heavily for ten to twelve years from new and then much less in the next ten years. It had its first visit to a luthier just recently( 2021) for a fret level and polish and the fret ends were rolled to make it even smoother too play. That was its first service in over twenty years and the frets still have plenty life left in them. These late nineties and early noughties P-Basses have real quality and are professional instruments that will last a lifetime. They also age very well and on the review example, the maple neck has yellowed nicely over time and the three colour sunburst gets more vibrant as time goes by.

To sum up, you can't really go wrong with a good quality lefty USA Standard P-Bass and its always going to work for just about any style of music. A wise sage once told me that if you want to ace an audition or get the gig, then a good P-bass will see you through. I can vouch for that!  This review bass also came with a G&G Vintage Fender badged case as standard however some units shipped with a Fender badged SKB case.  What did it cost new? Well doesn't sound a huge amount now but in 1998 this bass cost £700 with a G&G vintage case included.  You'd be lucky to get a MEX P-Bass for that now and the thing about investing in a professional quality Fender P-Bass is that it will last and you will get your money's worth out of it if you maintain it it in good condition. If I was starting out again, my first choice would be an American Standard lefty P-Bass  There are many imitations, but there is no substitute for the real thing. IMHO!