Dood

Very sad news. Grrrrrr!!!!! Definitely gets pics out to all the local 'trade' shops like Cash Converters and guitar shops ASAP. Fecking pond life make my blood boil!!!

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1008359' date='Nov 1 2010, 11:50 AM']Nice one Dood....and nice little plug for the site at the end too I subscribed to this site yesterday. Good article[/quote] Hell yeah! BassChat definitely gets a plug! Best forum on the web bar none!

Here's the link to the interview! [url="http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2010/11/biscuits-bassment-a-bass-musician%e2%80%99s-review-spotlight-on-dan-veall-aka-%e2%80%9cdood-on-bass%e2%80%9d/"]http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2010/11/bi...-bass%e2%80%9d/[/url]

Beware of some of the lower priced (usually chinese origin) power amplifiers - especially if they start looking a bit like more well known amplifiers! All that glistens is not gold and quite a few have ridiculous power outputs which they attempt to achieve in ways that are akin to thrashing the pants off a Nissan Micra around Brands Hatch. Those who have a bit of techy know how have spotted ICs under the lid that would not be able to produce the specified output and whats more - a cooling design that would be ineffective if the amp was running really hard. There's some great reviews and inside shots of amplifiers over on this forum [url="http://forum.speakerplans.com/"]http://forum.speakerplans.com/[/url] along with some rather surprising 'shoot outs' with some amplifers doing better than you may expect powering the likes of massive subs! I guess 'stick to the names you know' is always good advice to start with.

[quote name='fretmeister' post='1008010' date='Oct 31 2010, 11:26 PM']I really need to find a LH to try!!![/quote] Where are you based? There might be a friendly 'chatter nearby with one.

[quote name='fretmeister' post='1006506' date='Oct 30 2010, 04:55 PM']I'm currently using a Mark Bass F1 with a TecAmp S210. It's a great rig. But I do keep thinking about my old Hartke gear. All the time. I had a HA3500 and a Pro2200 2x12 cab (actually I had 2 of them, but had to use another amp as they are 4ohms as the 3500 won't do a 2ohm load). A Hydrive 410 seems a bit of a no-brainer choice - but what about the heads? a 5500? Or a LH500 / 1000? I haven't tried the new heads yet and I'm suspicious about an amp without an input gain control!! Maybe I'm a luddite! Or - for the moment sell the TecAmp and get the Hydrive 410, but loeave the amp until the Hartke Kilo comes out??? Has anyone tried all the above and come to any conclusions? I think Dood has / had a Hartke and F1 rig at some point - so any opinions welcome![/quote] Hey buddy! Here I am! Yeah, I reckon the Hydrives are the easy bit - they do sound different to the 4.5XLs and BassCat, Stag and I have had a proper A/B session with them! - Gotta say though, there is defintely added 'warmth' in with that lovely Hartke character. I think you'll like them. I do miss the porting of the 4.5XL - but that said - they were only 400W RMS and the HyDrives are 1000W - so it's probably just in my head! I'm defintely quite excited about the Kilo head as the adverts say it will do bridged, dual mono OR STEREO! which is exactly what I want right now! - I think the EQ on the LH heads is brilliantly simple and clever - it just works! That's all it needs - though if you are Graphic heavy, you may miss the ablity to do the harsher EQ settings. I love the LH1000 - it is monsterously loud and never runs out of breath. Don't be suspicious of the lack of gain control! To be honest when you look at the simplicity of the preamp design - a better way to describe the topology is actually a lack of master volume and the preamp schematic is more like the first critical stage of other preamps where the gain control would feed another section - what I mean to say is - that it's kinda like the volume on the amp is a gain control and that the would be 'master' is at 100% all the time. The result is a very clean and defined amp. No it doesn't do filth - but I have plenty of outboard shennanigans that do instead, so I'm happy with that. Hope this helps!

I'll be interested if you decide to let the F1 go - give me first dibs on a price! - I'll be back later to give you a better reply re: Hartke gear - but a quicky, I have the LH1000 and no, you won't need a gain control as the heads are clean and juicey all the way up to 'OMG THATS TOO LOUD'

[quote name='Dandelion' post='1005877' date='Oct 29 2010, 10:55 PM']Note the winking smiley...[/quote] Actually, it reminds me of a story in Guitarist magazine (I think) were they had an interview with the guitarist from They Might Be Giants. He challenged all the great guitarists to play the [i]slowest[/i] solo ever. I like his style!

[quote name='Dandelion' post='1005877' date='Oct 29 2010, 10:55 PM']Note the winking smiley...[/quote] Indeed! ;o)

I think the tongue is firmly in the cheek there, cos that ain't tha' fahstest lick in da world.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='1004601' date='Oct 29 2010, 12:20 AM']I changed my trace's original valve for a [i]EHX 12AX7 electron tube[/i] - comes in a black box - and my sound improved a lot! The valve pre (named as valve drive) in my amp comes after the SS pre and has a on/off switch. Does your ashdown have the same switch? Try and turn it off to see if that hiss desapears...[/quote] The OP is refering to a Hartke head with hiss issues. - The Hartke unfortunately does not have a valve bypass, as the circuit uses the valve exclusively for amplification - as opposed to the Ashdown and Trace Elliot design of using the valve more as an 'effect' like drive.

[quote name='Wilco' post='1004369' date='Oct 28 2010, 08:56 PM']Many thanks for your posts guys. Dood - tried your process. Connected active & passive basses into their respective inputs (separately obviously!) & amp hissed way merrily. Put a good instrument cable in the effects return socket & the hiss went (mind you, doing that muted the whole sound - was that to be expected?).[/quote] Yep, exactly. Good stuff! [quote]Unplugged both basses & the hiss was still there. Didn't actually try it previously with nothing plugged in the front end - the hiss was quieter, starts getting noticeable at about 5 on the volume control, but to me, still way to loud at 7 (although will I ever need to have it that loud is another question.....). I think the basses are a contributing factor, particularly an active one, but as a couple of the other posts are saying their LH500's are silent I'm thinking I have a noisy pre-amp. As you say, possibly the valve is the guilty party. I've mentioned it to the retailer & he was going to get some advice from the distributor so I'll await their response & take it from there.[/quote] Ok, interesting stuff. Well in the design the master volume control is placed before the effects loop but after the valve. So if the hiss progressively gets louder as you turn the volume up without a bass plugged in - and the hiss is pretty loud, then I deduce you do indeed have a noisey lil valve! - It's a ECC83 / 12AX7 in there and very lilely to be one of the Sovtek rebadged valves such as 'electroharmonix' or you could even have a JJ valve in there - but any 12AX7 will be ok (though I'd recommend getting the best valve possible to go in that slot!) - The distributor is Korg and they are brilliant - it's likely they will pop a preamp valve in the post for you, which is dead easy to swap out. I and many others on the forum are here to help you should you need assistance

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='1004141' date='Oct 28 2010, 05:49 PM']One white haired, arthritic bass player says to the other; "Do you remember, before we started collecting our pension, there was going to be an Anglia bass bash" ? "Huh" ?[/quote] lol, sadly I'm not in a position to do the arranging for the immediate future so if you fine peeps in the Cambs area are able to rustle up some possible venues, that'd be reet greet. Anyone have any updates?

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='1003976' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:14 PM']Is your power chord connected to a socket with ground connection? 99.9% of the hiss and static cases are caused by this! Make shure you have ground anywhere you plug your amp![/quote] The UK mains supply is in general pretty clean and it is actually unlikely that 'hiss' is caused by bad earthing. Hum can be caused by earth loops or bad earthing in an environment, along with strip lighting near to the equipment. A quick tip for helping to isolate where the hiss is coming from:- With your gear plugged in normally (so that you can hear the hiss) get another good guitar lead and plug just one end of the lead into the 'Effects Return' on the back of the LH500. Does the hiss go away? If it does, then the hiss is caused by either the preamp or whatever is plugged in to the amplifier (e.g Bass). If this is the case AND the hiss doesnt go away when you unplug your bass - it's liable to be the preamp causing the issue, not the bass. The LH500 has a very simple preamp and I would then suspect a possibly noisey valve. If the hiss *does* go away when you unplug your bass, there's the culpret!

Infact, with decent earplugs in (like ERs) - I've been to a few gigs where you could hear how rubbish the PA mix actually was when the volume isn't tearing your ears to pieces! - I always wear my plugs at gigs, unless of course the volume isn't a problem!

Brilliant stuff Gareth!