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When I lived in a flat, one of the previous downstairs neighbours liked to play his music a bit too loud. After a short while, I decided to play bass along with the songs at a decent volume (decent enough to make walls rattle). Didn’t always play the same notes as the songs, as I could just hear the beat.

I think he’s always wanted to play bass & thought he could widdle up the neck.

Got home from work at about 8:30 last night, 2 cats come running up to say hello, I go over to the Mrs & one of the cats puts his butt towards my bass (which was standing up) & did a full on parney. Filled up the bridge pickup & soaked the body, strings & strap. Chased the cat away & then spent the following hour & a bit stripping the bass down & giving things a good clean with dettol wipes. It even got underneath the bridge! The strap is in the washing machine along with a guitar gig bag that he managed to include. Anyone else have such fun with their pets?

My church has a Behringer X32 desk. All the musicians download the X32 app on to their phones & there's a loom goes across the back of the stage where each instrument has a DI & a headphone jack. The app gives each musician their own mixer to balance the instruments/turn down bad singers. The downside is I'm one of 5 bassists, each like their own volume mix (there's one who basically has bass, MD & click, nothing else), so I can spend a bit of time trying to get a decent sounding in ear mix.

Been listening to Anderson Paak’s Ventura album. Some fantastic bass playing on it.

It’s a good idea, but I don’t see enough synths in the “Other musical items” marketplace section to make it worth doing.

Quite liking this girl’s current album. Good mix of styles & she has an interesting voice.

Here's mine. Played the lead line & fx on the Roli Rise.

Cool. Was the first thing I noticed when popping on the desktop site.

I had one of those. Truly 💩 I gave it away to a spoons player.

With amp modelling, it’s easy to recreate the valve pre. So this makes a valve pre is just a bit of bling (& there’s nothing wrong with a bit of bling). Amp modelling does struggle to create the sound of an output valve. They sound different to S/S amps (there’s nothing wrong with how S/S amps sound either). My choice would be a good amp modelling preamp pedal & a power amp. Not overly fussed if valve or S/S, as long as it sounded good. If I were going for hybrid, I’d probably choose one with a valve power section rather than valve pre. But, like is said above, get the amp you like the sound of & if that’s one with a valve pre, get it. I have an all valve amp just now & my previous amp was class D & no valves. Both have gotten compliments from other musicians.

Who’s Shane?

I don't comment on much in the For Sale sections. Most recent was a Roli Rise, only because I have one & the seller was letting it go at a bargain price. I like reading comments on things for sale, especially if it's from someone with experience of the item.

I'll get a listen soon. I nearly had my track done too, but the month passed me by.

The other thing to take into account is the watts from the amp is not a constant. If you plug a cab into your amp & play nothing, then you have a minimal amount of watts going to the cab. You can plug any wattage of cab into your amp & it be fine... Just use your ears & don’t start at high volume with a new amp/cab until you know it’s limits (the signal from your bass will also have an impact on this too). Alex of Barefaced once said that he blew a larger watt rated driver with a relatively small amp. Watts in a speakers rating are the thermal measurement for the voicecoil (how much heat it can take).

With amps, it’s usualy the case that 8 ohm = @ 2/3 of the watts of 4 ohm. There may well be exceptions though. With most manufacturers, the guys putting the specs isn’t always the same as the guys who make/design things.

From what I know (& I could be wrong), a 4Ω load is always going to be a 4Ω load (or there about). Even at lower volumes, it's still not going to be an 8Ω load (I think you got that bit). At home volumes, I can see where you're coming from. But at rehearsal & gigging volumes, the current supplied to get the same volume is going to be greater through the 4Ω cab. Yes the dials on the amp will be lower, but the lower load means that the current travels greater. The difference in volume is only a small amount (as you know). It's not the difference between the amp being at 1/2 volume Vs full volume. More like on a scale of 1-10, the amp volume being at 8 Vs 9 (taking an approximate guess here, as it really depends on the amp & cabs as well as the bass). So this is why I would normally choose an 8Ω cab. Though I do know that most 2x12 cabs are 4Ω & if it were the cab for me, then I'd happily use it & get the extra amp services if it was required.

I think you're looking at my analogy wrong. 😂 I wasn't relating it to volume, decibels or watts. Just ohms. Watts are not a measure of volume, decibels are. I used to use a 50w amp for PA through 4 15'" full range cabs & another 50w amp to run 2 subs. That was a loud rig. Your 2nd sentence is correct. Ohms is in relation to how much current is being drawn through the circuitry.

I only chose the 4Ω as I needed something large for the amp & couldn't find a decent 8Ω in my budget at the time. It does sound rather good though, but rarely gets used. The reason I would choose 2 8Ω cabs is because most of the time I would be running just the 1 8Ω cab. Ohms don't work the same as watts, as in the amp will be running at the same load regardless of volume. I wasn't suggesting that todays Class D amps are wilting snowdrops, but like all good electronic equipment, they age & require servicing. I like vintage synths (unfortunately, I don't have any) & they need regular servicing too. Car analogy time. 😀 You're building a car & now have the gearbox options. Are you going to put a 4 speed box in & have the engine running close to the redline, or are you going for the 8 speed box & keep things well below the redline? It's fine to go up to the redline, but the more you do it, the more the engine will need a regular service.

I'm not sure what they mean by "Breathe", Alex, Steve or Bill might be better suited to shed light there? The other thing that you need to consider when using a 4Ω cab, is that it will put extra wear & strain on the amp's components, as there is an increase in current going through the circuit. This could mean that you need to get your amp serviced more frequently, which could also lead to it's life expectancy being reduced. I would always choose an 8Ω over a 4Ω cab of the same, as 1, it allows me to add a 2nd cab if the one cab isn't enough for the bigger gigs & 2, it means that I'm not always running the amp at it's min load. Saying all this, I have a 4Ω EBS 4x10 that I bought from the OP a couple of years ago plugged into a 60 year old Radiovox valve amp. 😂

Sorry Al, this likely isn't the issue. Watts work in an "up to" kind of way. With an 8Ω cab attached to a 500w amp, the amp will send up to 350w, but that's if the amp is being fully pushed. There'll also the possibility of spikes which exceed this. Changing the cab for the same one, but a 4Ω version is going to give about a 3db increase in volume, which I doubt is going to result in things going from "no trouser flapping" to "trouser flapping". I used to have a MarkBass 2x10 8Ω, which was plenty loud enough to keep up with a loud drummer & 2 loud guitars. It wasn't trouser flapping like a big sub, but it sounded good & had plenty of punch.

What about a good 2x12? Other idea would be to get an active sub to add to any cab of your choosing?

What is it with guitards & 4x12s? Last band I was in with a guitardist, he would go stereo through 2 4x12s in the rehearsal room. Sounded bloody awful. The 1 gig we did, he played through a 1x12 combo & it sounded really good.

Don't get caught up in watts. You can put a low wattage amp through an efficient cab & it'll be loud. If I were buying, I'd probably go for 2 1x12 cabs. I can use just one in the house & for most small gigs, then add the 2nd for when I need more volume. Saying this, I used to have a MarkBass 2x10 which got used everywhere. From in the bedroom, to Beer Festivals.

I love how this thread has gone from Al Krow asking a typical noob question about Ω, to debating fundamental frequencies. All in less than 5 months! Isn't it great what BC & it's members can teach one another.