alexa3020

Theres a pretty nice GK 410 RBH on ebay at the moment located in Brandon - Nothing to do with me, but it did catch my eye.

Sweet set up! With the amount of knobs on the Shuttlemax, I would of thought any tone is possible? Have you given up on the Markbass cab? - I was quite tempted by one myself

I suppose you can also ask can there be a foo fighters after Taylor's death. There was obviously a foo fighters without Taylor when they first started, but I couldn't imagine one without him now.

You may have a point, although a lot of decent players use them. I only use one with my passive basses. My active stingray sounds and feels bit compressed already.

I don’t think I’d use 2 different basses at the same gig. I’d just pick the one I wanted on the night. I do often switch between my mm & p bass depending on my mood. They’re completely different beasts. I like my to add a bit of compression and drive pedals to the p bass and a slightly scooped eq. The MM I generally go straight to amp with a flat-ish eq on the amp and control the eq from the bass. thankfully (for my wallet) GAS has subsided on the active jazz bass - for now

I do like a compressor. It’s not necessarily something you hear. Your bass feels better when you play with one - tighter and less dynamic range

I bought 2 x Barefaced 210 cabs, and decided to sell one, because one on its own was loud enough most of the time -Also when running 2 I had to set the cabs at 12ohms. I bought an Ashdown ABM Evo 2 15inch cab for cheap, for the rare occasion I might need an extra cab for extra volume. Surprisingly I really preferred the Ashdown over the barefaced - I really didn't expect to, but I did. So I soon sold on the other Barefaced cab and got another 15inch Evo 2 Ashdown Cab and am really happy with them. I'm not knocking Barefaced here, I think the 210 wasn't to my taste and if a super compact comes up for sale near me, then I'd be pretty tempted by it. What does surprise me is some of the hate that Ashdown gets on here. I wonder if its because they're fairly popular in rehearsal rooms and the amps are pretty battered most of the time. That said, I don't really rate the MAG series, but the ABM stuff to my ears is great.

Pat Finnerty’s a funny dude!

This one isn't doing much for me. Perhaps its a grower!

Have to admit, when I first heard it I thought the same - bland. But Im really digging it now after a few listens

Another new track - Pretty good I think

Thanks for explaining. Interestingly I’d never think to use a preamp pedal in front of an amp or cab, as I’d use the amps eq (I’d just use it to send signal to FOH). But I have no problem using an active bass and the amps eq. I guess my perception of how you should set up is a little off.

That's good to know. I did wonder as active basses just seem to have a sound that is sometimes difficult to achieve with standard EQ - to me they seem to have a bit more top & bottom end. Perhaps something to do with caps on the pots of a passive? With the John east preamps, I believe you can adjust the cap values to suit the bass.

In my everlasting quest to improve bass tone, I have recently stumbled across the John East J Tone preamp. I have to say I'm really tempted to add this to my MIM jazz bass. I am wondering if there is any significant advantage of this over a preamp pedal in terms of sound? I do have a MM stingray & really like the active EQ at my fingertips. I really like the idea of an active Jazz bass - been quite tempted by the Sire V7, but I'm wondering if its a better move to modify my existing Jazz bass. Any help is greatly appreciated. Alex

This has peaked my interest more than anything they’ve done since stadium - intrigued to see how the lp turns out. BSSM is easily their best work. Enjoyed californication & mothers milk too. Frusciante is an amazing guitarist & if one of his note bends is a little sharp, I suspect he means it. while we’re on RHCP I can’t stand ‘can’t stop’ how that bass line always gets voted on of fleas best I’ll never know.

Is it a keeper then?

I had a TC BQ 500 - Which I think is similar to the BH800 without Toneprint. It was definitely loud enough, but not necessarily good. At louder volume, I definitely think there was some compression going on in the background, the notes would feel unnaturally long and you would lose dynamics. It felt really odd playing in a band with it. It probably (and unfairly) put me off Class D, so I have moved back to A/B.

Mines on pre-order with Andertons. February definitely won’t happen.fingers crossed for March

Looks like most retailers are expecting late February/early March. I’ll probably pre order to try and guarantee I get one

Thanks. guess I should’ve searched ‘oc-5’ instead of ‘oc5’

I recently acquired a TC Nether octave pedal. I like the pedal a lot, it was cheap & the octave is a bit dark/muddy sounding (octave 2 not used)- but it is definitely passable in a live situation. I know now that I would definitely like an octave pedal permanently on my board and I’m considering upgrading to the boss oc 5 and using it in vintage mode only. Apparently it’s super close to sounding like an Oc2 my concerns are: it’s digital not analogue (I think) - this probably shouldn’t matter, but for some reason it’s putting me off. volume - apparently the oc2 had a volume drop. I found the same thing with the EHX multiplexer and although it sounded cool, it was basically unusable without some sort of boost pedal in the chain. I’ve heard the oc5 is loud enough - can anyone confirm? it’d be great to get any other thoughts on this pedal thanks

At least its a single trip from the car with 1 cab I have an Ampeg 410 which is a great cab but heavy as hell (40-50kg I would guess) & just not practical. So I stick with My ABM evo ii 115 compacts - which are heavy, but not too heavy. I think I prefer 15's as a rule.

Bit heavier than the ashdowns though?

Had a play with the pedal tonight. I’m cautiously very pleased as It was a really good mix tonight anyway. It seems to warm and fatten the sound exactly as I expected. What surprised me was how good it made the valve drive sound on the Abm (is that due to gain staging?). I still preferred to use the compressor to even out the tone