xgsjx

Yes. According to the website, you can run a 4Ω cab on amp A & an 8Ω cab on amp B. Bear in mind that the 8Ω cab is gonna get 375 watts & the 4Ω 600w. Edited to check: It is the S Max 12 you have?

Only advice I can give is "try before you buy" & by that, I mean try one with your gigging rig (including any other effects that you use). I tried a few & the only one I got on ok with was the EHX White Finger (but without any other FX in the chain). I tried a few different ones from my two guitarists & I got too much noise going on from the other pedals for any to be worth adding (I must admit that I had a lack of time to have a proper long play about with them & see if I could set them up better).

Welcome to the forum Deb. That looks like a good combo for the money & with Thoman, if you don't like it, you can send it back within 30 days for a full refund (less postage). Always worth keeping an eye in the "For Sale" section on here too as there's often a good combo for a good price.

You could always pop to rubber feet on the top of the cab, or better still, get a piece of foam that fits round the handle for the amp to sit upon. Have to agree with Bozzie, go & try a few out & see what You like the sound of.

Black insulation tape FTW!

Unless you play something very bass orientated (like a bass solo or play in a DnB outfit), none of the audience is gonna come up & say they noticed the bassline, let alone any effects. If you dropped the bassline, it would be noticed. Same with effects (unless you're using them wrong).

I'd look at a small 2x10 rig that can be used out of the house (for when the time comes). Best advice I can give is get to a couple of decent shoppes & play away. What I like, you might not.

[quote name='pietruszka' timestamp='1335296341' post='1628956'] 20?! Thats just a shop isn't it? Im not out to tell people they're wrong or to not use effects at all, as already agreed by several; if you know what you're doing then great. But it's when you use up valuable time getting plugged in, set up, got your settings just right etc etc. I've used pedals live several times before, but it's pointless as it has no noticable affect on anything. IMHO if it doesn't make a difference that people will hear then why bother? I'd personally be happier being able to play gear I'm very lucky to have than worry about whether I have my pedals textures right. Dan [/quote] Have a listen to this & then do it with just a chorus (mind hit the bypass switch )... [url="http://ourhelicalmind.bandcamp.com/album/analogftw-ep"]Our Helical Mind[/url] Just a drummer & a bassist to provide all the sounds. There's a lot of other bands that use effects to this degree too. The bass is just used as the tone generator for what is an analogue synth.

If it was I, I would do what Shep suggests & split your signal, putting one as a sub channel & the other for your FX & then sum them back together. It's what I do as well. You still get to hear the clean sub & the dirty overtones as two separate sounds (your compact will play more than one sound at a time). There's loads of different ways to split & sum. I use a Moog Bass Murf to split & a home built 2 channel mixer pedal to sum them together (with a bypass switch as well). Then instead of buying another amp & cab, you can just get another Compact if you need it.

The debate on whether the guitarist needs the 16 pedals or not is pointless, as we don't know what is played. I'm sure there's a lot of us would find our own stuff a but lame without certain effects. Yes I agree that 6 different distortions are probably a bit pointless, but a guitarist might want a muffled drive for during the verse & then something a bit more aggressive for the chorus/solo. Pedalboard should only take a minute to set up though (as quick as a multi fx unit).

What's your gigging rig? Maybe a 1x10 version of one of your cabs with your existing head? I use my 2x10 combo for home, rehearsal & gigging with, that way I have the same sound everywhere (makes sense).

Could Active pickups be designed for passive basses that have enough room to squeeze a battery in there to power them, but not enough room to fit active circuitry? To change the battery in the Ibby, I had to take the backplate off (4 screws).

It depends on how many folk are in your band. You could go for a bit of overdrive & a low pass filter with a pedal to open it up if there's only one guitarist, maybe even a little slow thick chorus on those slow blues numbers? At the end of the day, only You know the answer. Now go & have fun playing with effects.

It would put out "up to" 250 watts to each cab, but it should be fine. I would stick the 200w cab on top of the 400w so you can hear if the amp ever needs to be backed off. Why not get 2 of the same cab? Makes more sense.

If you're always using PA & playing covers where the bass blends in to the point of no one knowing it's there, then anything as a stage monitor is all you need. Whether it be that Behringer or just an active wedge. If you play venues where you need your own rig to provide the low end, that's when things can start to get interesting. Whether it be going for a rock tone, something for DnB or anything else, there's a whole load of rigs to choose from at all prices. First thing you need to do is stop thinking like a guitarist! Do you think like a drummer when you go to play keys? It's about finding the gear that's gonna move things the way you want them to. As you're going through PA, then you'd probably be wiser spending your money on Basses and FX. Personally, I like that my rig allows me to deter the guitarist from becoming too loud with his AC30 or Marshall 1/2 stack (I don't get what the interest in these things are when you can do it all with decent pedals & keep a sensible volume) & it's nice to have the lows available if there's no adequate PA.

Cheers Al, I'll take a look at the active ones. I'm probably gonna add it into my black box.

Al, your pedals look awesome. I'd love to spend some time learning about electronics & how to properly read a schematic, but everytime I start googling things I just get overwhelmed! I know how to wire up lights & lighting systems & how to solder fairly decently, but I just can't get any further. I'm wanting to make a simple version of a LPF, is it as simple as getting a 100k pot & a 0.047uf capacitor & wiring it like a bass' tone control? Still haven't made my "footlight" yet, haven't gotten hold of a bit of perspex but I have everything else.

Why do you want to make it a 4Ω cab? You most likely wont notice any difference in volume unless your amp is a 2Ω job. If so, sell your cab & get a 4Ω (or add another 8Ω cab)

Vinegar will get rid of the majority of the stickers & goo.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1334905115' post='1623128'] I get the feeling that amp makers have started to realise this and are moving away from that design philosophy (TC Electronic and GenzBenz being cases in point). [/quote] One company who might have labelled their inputs more accordingly was Carlsbro. On my old Cobra head it said "Low Gain" & "High Gain" as opposed to the usual "Passive" & "Active".

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1334873951' post='1622883'] so, for example, if you're having a chat with a bunch of people it's possible to close your eyes and still be able to point to each person very accurately. [/quote] Unless like me, you're deaf & don't know when anyone is talking until they hit you!

Having looked at some schematics, I found that Fender appear to use 250k pots for passive & 100k pots for active (all they do is tap a 9v battery into the signal). I've kept my pick ups at the same height as they was when it had active circuits. It's actually working better with the moog stuff! I wish it woulda broke 2 years ago!!!

His site appears to be down.

Have you got a DAW on your computer (such as Reaper, Garageband, Cubase, etc)? If so, load an audio file (.wav). Now when you look at it, it's jiggedy up & down & all over the shop (whether that be a single instrument or Metallica with a 40 piece orchestra). This is what is converted to audio & pushed out by the speaker. You don't look at the file & see loads of instruments, you see something like this... & that's what the speaker sees as well.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1334778080' post='1621234'] if you are getting a signal with active pickups not being powered they aren't active pickups. [/quote] Could it be an active bass with passive pick ups? It's an Ibanez SR1000 from 1989. I like the idea of not having to worry about flat batteries, but it's only ever been an issue once in it's life as an active instrument.