Lw.

Ha - that is a classic Bass Direct story!

Let's not even get started on the number of fish-fingers in a box!

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1478536925' post='3169692'] The dollar was worth 1.50, its now 1.20. It crashed on June 24th. It's got a lot to do with it surely ? [/quote] Not in this post-truth society - "the people" are fed-up of experts telling them things they don't understand, they just want to take the power back :-/ Not that we're talking about that or anything. I just bought the US election into it because I'm going on holiday next week where the currency is kind of USD - so was unsure as to whether either person winning would make the dollar fall or rise. It seems no one knows!

It's almost all down the the thing we're not allowed to talk about - shame really but it's something we're going to have to get used to. Depending on what happens tomorrow that's either going to get even more expensive or you might get lucky & the $ will crash back down again (a bit).

Best at what? What drew you to those brands and not the others?

The current popular choice seems to be two 1x12" cabs - you can take one for small gigs & both for bigger ones. They're mostly light weight & pretty small box-sizes, especially compared to what you'll have used in years gone by. I chose the TKS ones because of the tone but there are plenty of other brands available; Bergantino, Vanderkley, Barefaced, even Ashdown apparently make a good one (I don't like the sound of their heads either, though their cabs have usually been fine). I really like those Orange heads - you can get some cool sounds out of them but they're really not anywhere near as light as you can go now if that's what you're looking for. Almost everyone seems to make a lightweight head now - I have no idea how you'd choose one (I haven't bothered yet - I'm torn between wanting super light class-D & super heavy full-tube!).

I'd give that a play. I'd look ridiculous but I'd give it a go!

GAS is GAS is GAS. The CMD121P is the standard go to combo suggested for hundreds of situations like yours, I think someone just wants to spend some money. Honestly, just turn it down - the whole overkill thing only really applies to tube amps, for SS/class-D the volume knob is all you need.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1477151817' post='3160202'] They do 1x12" and 2x12" guitar cabs with Celestion Vintage 30s for about the same amount you'd pay for the drivers alone. Are those the ones? [/quote] That'll be them. Sound good to me!

[quote name='chrisd783' timestamp='1477093897' post='3159884'] The guitarist in my band used to use Harley Benton cabs a while ago, and he's very picky with his gear. He replaced his drivers as seems to be the norm... [/quote] That's interesting because one of my guitarists uses the HB 2x12 guitar cabs because of the good drivers they come with (making the cabs great value for money)!

Yikes - when were you last playing bass, I thought DI had been the major signal source for the PA for the last 30 years! I think it depends on the venue & the band - if the venue is small enough to take the bass amp supplying all the volume then it's still nice to have a good amp set-up. Plus there's recording, I always mic the cab for recording.

Although, to be honest, I'm just happy when my guitarists use a tuner at all.

Don't most bands try to use the same brand of tuners or is that a practice that has faded away - I'm sure some brands used to tune to ever so slightly different frequencies so the logic was that if you wanted to all be the same you needed the same tuners. Having a tuner in your amp would make that difficult. Plus it'd be annoying to have it on top of your cabs as it's difficult to see - maybe as an lcd screen on the switching pedal but that's making it more technical again...

Obviously it's your choice/your money etc... but size of speaker is really a less than ideal indicator of what a cab will sound like; unless your previous cabs were exactly the same as these ones then they're going to sound different. Thomann have a decent returns policy; I would probably buy one of each & try them out - if they sound nice together keep them both, if you prefer the sound of one over the other return the one you don't like & buy a second of the good one. It's one of the joys of distance buying.

[quote name='MarkG3' timestamp='1476891409' post='3158186'] Yea I thought that too. In easy to understand terms, which would move more air? [/quote] Hard to say without seeing the specs for the actual drivers, not just the basic specs for the cabs. Also - it's only moderately recent logic that would tell you not to mix speaker sizes, 10 years ago nearly everyone was using 10's mixed with 15's - it was completely the done thing. In fact many, many people are still doing this & sounding great.

The Thunderbird-esque one looks like it'd be a fun bass to gig with but damn, that's pricey!

Niiiice. Nothing wrong with black, black, black!

I played on one of those Ibanez artcore ones; pretty nice to play - the relicing isn't the most convincing but they are decent basses. I'd love a Warwick Starbass too!

Cheeky gets. Next time you're in London head down to Denmark street - it's littered with bass & guitar boxes every day!

Modern funk/soul or the retro stuff? What don't you like about your current set-up (so something similar isn't suggested)?

I was in a similar position to you recently & went with 2x TKS S112 in the end (well I bought one & then a second a couple of months later due to "cash flow" but similar circumstances). When I was testing things out I used my own gear & everything set flat on my (old solid-state, 300w) amp: The SL112's were nice sounding but very much aimed at the "vintage" market IMO - more bassy than the TKS but slightly less focussed. The Barefaced one10 wasn't available when I started looking & I didn't consider the two10 because of the 4/12ohm option thing - I understand that using two 12 ohm cabs would sound the same for most as two 8 ohm cabs, but for various reasons, I want two 8 ohm cabs (I can't be bothered to go into them but sometimes the customer just has to have what the customer wants). I've tried some 12" BF cabs (borrowed from other bassists, not bought then returned) too but their sound & appearance weren't for me. The TKS S112's were naturally the least bassy for me, though a small boost on the amp bought them up to level (though I don't think that kind of bass is useful for a lot of my band situations) - they did have the most interesting tone & a nice focussed sound. One on it's own not being pushed has a nice kind of mellow woody tone whereas two being pushed a bit by the amp take on a somewhat aggressive tone (some won't like this). If you do go for this option don't be worried about the cloth grill not offering as much protection as the metal grill as they glue the cloth to the metal grill giving it a vintage look but still decent protection. Honourable mention should go to the Phil Jones 4x5" cab (I've forgotten the model name); really surprisingly loud for the size & a decent tone out of it too.

Oh yes - when I say they're not the loudest I don't mean they are quiet, they can go very loud & I can't see a need for anything louder for me (in fact I'd like to be at a gig where people feel these cabs have ran out of oomph - I just can't imagine the situation). I just meant that it is possible to buy cabs that have the ability to go louder, be that due to box size or speaker design - but it's all swings & roundabouts they those cabs [for me] either aren't defined enough, are too harsh or are too heavy!