Dood

I'm just running out the door now, but I'll try to remember to post back here later on chap. I've done the head vs rack components thing to death so will be happy to give you my experiences from over the years. My secret weapon these days in a two channel pre, the Ampeg SVP-BSP. I foolishly sold my first one so was very pleased when a second one came up on BC. It has a clean channel and a dirty channel, but the two can be mixed together, similar to the MXR M80. The clean channel is a very simple Fender/Alembic/Vtype/Hartke LH passive tone stack path with a few extras, which means it is clean and pure. The dirty channel will do a mild grit all the way up to a reasonable facsimile of Hysteria by Muse in terms of distortion, thanks to it's cascaded gain design. I've upgraded the valve in it too and it sounds great recorded and is happy plugging in to a number of different devices such as power amps etc. It's also a way of keeping things simple as it is a self contained unit with a number of connection options. I'm hoping the Hartke Kilo head will be able to do similar when it finally reaches our shores in September!

What a lovely idea guys! If you need a mod to edit the post after it has 'gone live' - I know that any of us would be happy to do that, but include me and I will endeavour to help. I can pin it or close it so that we have a clean post to refer to - Maybe even post it in the BassChat Wiki guys! Doooooooooooooooooooooooood

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1335755' date='Aug 10 2011, 09:45 PM']LH5000? Jeez that must be loud Seriously though, enjoy! I'm keen to try one of these out so may take the plunge when i have a little more dough![/quote] The LH5000 will be the Dood signature version ha ha!!

Thinking of you my friend. 1 year today

Hi all! My good friend, guitarist and 'Guitarist Of The Year' finalist, James Peach is putting on and running this benefit gig for legendary guitarist Jason Becker. For those who don't know who Jason Becker is, his introduction is at the bottom of this post in his own words from his website. [quote][b]An evening of virtuosic guitar music from Guitarist of the Year 2011, Rick Graham and the remaining four finalists; James Peach; Conrad Harpham; Steve Kelly & Nick Andrew. [/b] All proceeds from ticket sales are being donated to legendary guitarist, Jason Becker to assist with his medical expenses. Guitarist Magazine are right behind the event and will be in attendance and will faciltate a raffle &/or auction to help raise funds. Ticket availability is limited so get yours quickly! Tickets are £5 each & are available through: www.peelmuzic.com 0208 255 8104 www.jasonbeckerguitar.com[/quote] Time [b]08 October · 20:00 - 23:00[/b] - Doors I expect will be 19.00, but check with the venue. Location [b]The Peel, Kingston[/b] [url="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Peel-Kingston/142405665833447?sk=info"]http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Peel-Kin...5833447?sk=info[/url] The event is also on Facebook, here: [url="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161138117297363"]http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161138117297363[/url] [quote]Hey homeboys and girls. ... As you probably know, I am a guitarist/musician. You also probably know I have had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) for over 20 years. In 1989, doctors told me I would probably die in 3 to 5 years. What you probably don't know is why I am still alive, and why in the past four years I haven’t gotten any worse, only better. I have gained at least 30 pounds and three muscles, and this is with a few months here and there of getting off health food and treatments.[/quote]

[quote name='Toasted' post='1330044' date='Aug 6 2011, 04:41 PM']Apparently they've switched to the B&O power module which I am a big fan of.[/quote] Ahhh interesting! I know they were using the Powersoft modules for the Puma 1000 which are extremely good and yes the B&O power amplifiers are higher regarded too.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' post='1332014' date='Aug 8 2011, 01:24 PM']Slowly! ...serious answer: Started off as a guitarist. Bought a bass for messing about with and learned entirely by ear/tab/youtube. Joined a band as I "had a bass". Realised I liked playing bass more than guitar. Started to practice more. Just started lessons. [/quote] Ahh good point actually - I'll add that too! I stopped Bass to play lead guitar in a shred band for 5 years! - The low end called me back though. (I can hear the voice of a certain green Star Wars dude uttering something about the force, right now!)

I think my votes break down like this: A friend - I had loads of friends playing in bands all the time, so used to feed off them for ideas often. Lessons from a classroom teacher - Well, in as much as I started with GCSE music!! Notation Tablature Internet video tutorials - yes, although before internet video, I used to beg and borrow VHS videos and try my best to learn them inside and out before I had to hand them back!!! By ear - this is definitely my main strength. - I've developed my methods for learning long gig sets in the shortest possible time, especially for dep gigs etc. But for particularly difficult music and songs, I have a bunch of PC tools that I use for weeding out the individual notes of niggley runs! but would add these too: Insatiable urge to pick up the instrument all the time - I mean, all the time! - I don't mind admitting I'm a fanatical geek! ha ha! I guess I was a bit introverted as a kid too, which meant I spent hours with my bass, but not computer games or anything like that! Playing with as many different bands playing different genres of music at all levels - beginners to professional players. You can, even as an accomplished musician learn loads from even a beginner. It helps me analyse my own technique and helps me to describe them to my students, because I can see where they are coming from.

[quote name='charic' post='1330837' date='Aug 7 2011, 12:17 PM']Ha! Will have to msg Dood[/quote] I'll do that now...

Mike has just taken a nice shiny set of DR Strings off my hands - great comms and speedy replies - a very smooth transaction! Thanks Mike!

Speaking of Tec-Amp Joe, whilst I was perusing their website I spotted this: I'm pretty damn interested maself, as one of the big factors that will sway me in the competition of the small amps, is whether it will fit in a 1u rack slot. I think, along with the F1 and F500, this one is a winner, 900W at 4 Ohms [url="http://www.tec-amp.com/index.php?id=234"]http://www.tec-amp.com/index.php?id=234[/url]

Yup, count me in if you need help, I'd be happy to do a clinic/workshop too if time permits. Drop me a line nearer the time and I'll have a chat with my people who will talk to your people about those people; see if we can get an A lister to show up. I've a few names in mind.

You'll be happy to hear that BGM will be making available digital versions of the magazine to buy online, according to their website. I'd recommend buying issue 67, there's this guy.. Who errr, is on this forum.. And he was like, well wrote a 4 page article and it was ermmmm great! Oh, if only I could remember his name!!!!

[quote name='lollington' post='1324744' date='Aug 2 2011, 07:41 PM']I've used my LH500 for around six months now. Sounds brilliant with plenty of power. The volume knob is a little unusual; output is pretty relaxed till 1 o'clock when the power jumps up.[/quote] You could call it a side effect of the preamp's design, but again given the pluses of the amp, I'm not fussed!

[quote name='daz' post='1323795' date='Aug 2 2011, 03:51 AM']The only thing im wondering about is why they price the less powerfull HA3500 at £100 more expensive ? Is it just because of an equalizer and built in compressor ? Also i dont understand how if they both have a tube pre amp that only the HA has the ability to swap between tube and solid state.? Err maybe i should wait for a second hand 3500 to pop up (i love the ones in the solid tolex cases) [/quote] Yep, i reckon the HA amps are simply more expensive because they have a lot more under the hood. I really believe the genius behind the LH heads are their simplicity,nwhich in turn leads to a great clean and powerful tone. The preamp has few components in comparison to say, and SVP. I feel sure that the result is less noise and a clearer sound. As for why the HA heads have a solid-state mix, well the LH doesn't have a solid-state preamp section.it's not really needed as it's just a single valve on it's own and it's designed not to overdrive.

Moderator in the house! Guys, these threads can be very informative and helpful and would really like them to stay that way. I know that it can get a bit heated, by all means exercise your collective brains to benefit but please, keep off the low-blows and inflammatory comments.

[quote name='daz' post='1323277' date='Aug 1 2011, 05:12 PM']Whats the difference between the HA and the LH series ? (i am trying to buy an HA 3500, 5000 or a LH 5000 but keep missing them)Is the[/quote] Hey Daz, there's a few clues visually between the two models! ;o) The HA heads have a graphic, variable compressor (limiter) and both tube and solid state signal paths. The Tube signal path as a 'pre curve' built in and you have the ability to mix to taste. The HA heads currently come in ~200 (2500), 300 (3500) and 500W (5500) versions. There were also some old units that featured dual power amplifiers, such as the HA5000 (2x250w) and the HA7000 (2x350W). The LH i think is a genius idea. The LH500 features a 500W power amplifier and the LH1000 features two 500W amps that can be run separately (and balanced for levels) or bridged for a stonking 1000W RMS in to 4 ohms. The preamp is all valve with a passive tone stack EQ. As has been mentioned many times on the forum, the amps are designed to stay clean and punchy all the way up the volume control. I like that alot. They don't run out of steam like many amps that I have owned!! Another great plus for these heads is that each module will run down to 2 Ohms, which I believe gives you the rather daft option of being able to run 8 x 8 Ohm cabinets off one LH1000 in parallel mode. Can't say I've tried it, not that i'd need to - my 8x10 Hartke stack with the LH1000 on top is truely a beast. Dave Ellefson, Hartke endorser is very right when he says that they are incredibly loud and powerful! Whilst I am talking about the LH heads, I'd like to bring attention to the guff being spouted about the 'lack of gain control' on these amps and how you can't control the input gain. The LH heads seem to have a real nod towards old 'non-master volume' valve heads of yesteryear. There used to be a time when amps didn't have a master volume - the preamp was wired directly to the power amplifier. You'd use the gain control to attenuate the signal going in to the amplifier. When they were designed, distorting and distortion wasn't something that the manufacturers wanted and used the single volume (gain control) on the amplifier to keep the input stages from distorting. Eventually some bright spark realised that actually the sound of valves distorting was actually quite nice for their style of music and thus started cranking these single volume control amps up really loud to get them to distort. Story short, as much as it was great to have that distorting tone, the volume was a bit too much at times and thus the 'master volume' amplifier was born. The ability to drive the preamp section in to distortion and then back the master volume control down to near bedroom levels made the sales of amplifiers rocket I am sure! Ok, so - back to the LH heads - that volume control on the front is as good as the same as the gain control on any other amplifer and it's best to imagine that the master volume, if it had one is constantly locked on 10 (or actually 11 if you know how loud these heads are!) One last little test, which I feel is a real credit to the design - if you have an amp nearby and a cab with a tweeter, turn the gain to zero and then wind the master volume all the way up (no noisegates please!!). Does it get really hissy and noisey? with the LH head's gain all the way down, I'm willing to bet that with a like for like amplifier, it's dead quiet in comparison ;o)