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[quote name='leroydiamond' timestamp='1354270137' post='1884229'] Must keep an eye out for that RHCP double vinyl album. One of my favourite bands. Flea is the man really [/quote] Now there's a man who knows how to use effects to good effect.

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It's the same up this way. If I was a teenage metaller then I'd be fine. Serious shortage of musicians.

Another great album that has a crap bass mix is The Real Thing by FNM. Brilliant basslines that sound like they've been played by a skeleton in a biscuit tin. Always needs a bit of EQ to sound 1/2 decent, but I agree that nothing I do can make it sound good. They should get a decent producer to remaster it.

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1354098553' post='1881950'] I would certainly consider a multi-fx during this period of 'not knowing what you want/need'. There are some great pedals to be had second hand for only a little more than your budget. Boss ME-50B's often sell for around £80-90, and that's more than 20 different, good quality, effects easily. The Line6 M5 gets awesome reviews, Zoom stuff is coming back up. Good luck Si [/quote] I went to see a David Phelps gig a couple of years ago & the bassist was using a Sadowsky into a ME50B to a SWR Super Redhead. Had a great sound.

I started off a keys player, then harmonica, tenor horn, trumpet, guitar, bass, violin, drums, banjo & most recently tin whistle. My fave instrument to play in a band setting is bass. On my own it's probably keys & programming.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1354202206' post='1883519'] If you switch to Talkbass, the Baer 112 cabs are getting stellar reviews all the time. Apparently the treble in 'just right', and the mids are stunning. [/quote] But what about the bass??? That's the bit that bassists really need.

Sorry, I've no suggestions for a builder. If it was I, I'd build it myself. I've been considering building a BFM Titan just for the lows.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1354192322' post='1883297'] Well, the Promethean and I have gone through my CD selection and we've decided on Joss Stone's latest CD. We're going to play that this afternoon through the CD player on the TV and then I'll use the combo for the first time. Is that what you meant?! [/quote] I would have chosen more than 1 CD for several hour's listening myself. Though with my Markbass combo, it was just several hours of me playing my bass at home & then off to rehearsal a few nights later.

IIRC, Ampeg suggest playing pre recorded music (such as a CD) at a reasonable volume for several hours before first use.

fEarful 1212/6/1?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1354102279' post='1882001'] In truth, I've never heard either Beck or Page playing bass so I can't really comment ... [/quote] Can't find any JP, but here's JB... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDgkbLw4qkw

I used to play in church with my Markbass 2x10 & wasn't going through the PA. 9 o'clock on the vol was more than ample (that's not much more than home practice volumes!).

51m0n, you make very good points, none which I can (or would) argue with. My point isn't so much about trying to fix the sound with EQ, but most people's listening rooms are not dedicated to just listening to music & designed around their hifi. It's usually something like you just described where there's furniture & reflective walls & having a quality hifi is more of a luxury to add to the room. So if you're sitting in your "optimal" position given the surroundings, then wouldn't being able to reduce any overpowering areas of frequencies be better than having to put up with something like having a harsh top end or sounding boomy around to 100-200hz area? I would never suggest adding any treble or bass, as like you said, it won't fix the issue. I agree that a lot of hifi comes with inadequate EQ. With the technology available today, it wouldn't be hard to make a good digital 20 band parametric EQ (a la VST stylee), though getting people to use it properly would probably be another task.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1354028950' post='1881074'] <Oar-In> Now this whole using EQ to fix the room thing.... Its a bit of a myth actually You cant fix issues with room nodes with an eq, since regardless of the settings on the eq the issues prevail. The issues are more often time and frequency decay issue, whereby certain frequencies (due to ringing) may be louder for longer in one place and quieter in another than other frequencies. If you turn the eq down for one frequency you can fix the issue for one, tiny place, but will change the problem elsewhere (thats the nodes) but you wont fix the ringing (as seen on a waterfall plot), and you cant fix every multiple of the frequency (which you need to) without ruining the sound everywhere. And hi-fi has never, ever come with tone controls close to complex and comprehensive enough to even make a stab at fixing an acoustic. </Oar-in> As for True bypass vs Buffered? Use an active bass and stop worrying about it [/quote] Very true, but most dedicated audiophiles have their optimal sitting position, therefore EQ allows tailoring for that given position.

Having no tone controls to get a "pure" sound is baloni. The amp's pre & power sections & the speakers are going to colour it to some degree, as is the positioning of the speakers & the furnature in the room. Having an EQ of some sort means that if there's too much of something, you can roll it off. EQ/tone controls should be set flat & then adjusted to suit the room. This goes for any amp - bass, hifi or PA.

[quote name='leroydiamond' timestamp='1354018153' post='1880798'] I agree. Working in a covers band demands that I use effects. The difficulty is that when you want the pure tone from your instrument (which is what I require 80% of the time) my abiltiy to access it is hampered by the very fact that I am using an effects unit. The Hi Fi analogy might be an interesting comparrison. Many high end HI FI manufacturers no longer offer tone options on their amps. The goal here is to get the signal from source (eg CD player) in as short and clean a path as possiible through the amplification process and outputted to the speakers in order to acquire optimum sound. It may be the case that the same might be true for musicians if they are after the true tone of the instrument. [/quote] It depends on the pedals, power & cables that you're using. If you get good quality fx, PSUs & cables, then there's no reason why you can't get a pure tone fro your bass. I prefer the sound of my bass going through the non-true bypass on the Moog LPF as it has a slightly fuller sound, but if I want the sound bypassed, I can via a looper. The main point of having tone controls on an amp (even for hifi) is to tailor the sound to suit the room acoustics. Your hifi will sound different in your bedroom from your living room. My opinion of those who leave tone controls off amps is it's for marketing to the uneducated audiophiles (I'm not saying audiophiles are uneducated BTW).

It really depends on what type of music you're playing. Some songs won't sound right with just clean bass, other's sound guff with wads of effects.

Have you thought about one of these bad boys?

I'd say 2x10. But go on holiday to somewhere with the gear you want & try out as much as you can.

Tomato ketchup is also a non-Newtonian fluid, but I haven't tried it yet (other than on food).

[quote name='Ultima2876' timestamp='1353949793' post='1880136'] I hear ya; if you don't mind my asking, why not a Mini 15 as the cab with a 48? I thought that they were designed to work together. I would have thought that two Mini 48s would have a weak low end due to their frequency response not covering < 70 hz? Or is there some physics wizardry that gets around that? [/quote] One of the reasons that I wouldn't choose the Ashdowns. The best thing is to find a cab you like & add another identical one if you need more volume. If you do a search on here, you'll find quite a few threads on the perils of mixing driver sizes. It's not always a bad thing, just unpredictable.

I'd play with some FX on your pod & see what you find you use. There's no right answer here. I'm another that doesn't have a tuner, pre/di or compressor & probably never will have (though that could change). I find octave, dirt, filter & chorus are the main basic pedals I use, but you might not need any of those either.

The main reason I wouldn't go for the Mini 4x8 is that you could get a 2x10 that would outperform it in every way for similar money. If you do go for it, the matching cab isn't the 15, it's another 4x8. I'd try a few different cabs from different manufacturers (inc the Ashdown 2x10) & use your ears.

I think you've got the wrong info on the ABM500. I'm sure it's 575w at 4Ω, though I might be wrong. I wouldn't go for a 4Ω cab. If it's not loud enough, you're stuck. I wouldn't go for the Ashdown minis either. He above say's what I was going to. Great minds n' all that!