NancyJohnson

It's been a very slow burn for me. Loved Steve Priest, Geddy, the punk thing...tonally great, visually nope. I'd even considered buying the guts of a 4001/4003 and putting it into something else. I borrowed one for about an hour and I was hooked, ALTHOUGH my Thunderbird obsession got the better of me, but I've decided it's now or never. Hopefully in a couple of weeks. Emails have been exchanged etc. p

Long thread over on the Hamer Club that Mike Shishkov, one of Hamer's master-builders has set up shop independently. He's starting out with a limited run of chambered bodied Standard models (that's a Gibson Explorer copy to you and me ), but he looks like he's taking enquiries for other builds. The font on his logo seems very familiar: http://www.shishkovguitars.com/ P

50m of bubblewrap in the house. Cabinet should be heading north in the next few days. For anyone interested, the 65 Amps cabinet sounds freaking awesome. And soooo pretty. P

Cheers lads. Bedtime reading! P

I have some serious GAS for a Rickenbacker at the moment, but in a market flooded with fakes, I'm wondering, Ric owners, are there any identifying things I need to look out for to determine the possibility that I'm not about to pick up a faker? Anything I need to look for? P

I live in Crowthorne...a couple of minutes from Sandhurst. Where has the cabinet got to end up? The good people of Basschat could team up and get this to it's new owner!

I will echo my now trademarked comment for things of beauty and awesomeness. Ahem. [i] 'I just did a bit of jizz.'[/i] So, so beautiful. P

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1401089216' post='2459817'] I used an RBI into a Crown XLS1500 for a while. Obligatory grainy phone-camera picture included.. They're great power amps, but sadly they need to be driven with more oomph than my RBI could ever put out, so whilst it was a loud rig, it was always running flat out to try and keep up. I ended up dismantling the rig, using the RBI for recording and the XLS to power the PA tops. Guess what I'm saying is whatever you choose, run the numbers and make sure that the sensitivity of the power amp input is right to match up with the pre-amp output. [/quote] One of the options I'm looking at is/was a Crown Drivecore XLS1500, with the Sansamp as the front end. I got an email from Harman who say my cabinets daisy-chained will be 1500w/4ohms and the XLS1500 (running in bridged mono) is the minimum I should be using to drive the speakers to their best capacity. Apparently (this was inferred by Harman), it's OK to run a higher output amp (XLS2000/2500) for more headroom...official specs say these two amps will deliver 2.1KW and 2.4KW respectively in bridged-mono, which frankly is overkill. The more I read, the more confused I'm getting. I just want a lightweight amp, that delivers a decent amount of volume when required. Our (new) drummer is a very hard hitter and while my guitarist is (only) using a 120w Bugera 333XL head into one of their 4x12s and it's painful loud. I guess I just want to buy something that is fit for purpose. I mean what's the point of upgrading if things aren't right when you do? P

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1401098573' post='2459930'] I'm pretty sure I tried the lot, but the setup as pictured was going into the front of the RBI with the DBX in the loop and out to the XLS over XLR-XLR. Wow.. that was a lot of TLAs! The other problem I found with the RBI was that it's not the quietest (or least noise susceptible, maybe) pre-amp out there, so when I tried going jack-jack instead of XLR-XLR and putting a clean boost (MXR MicroAmp) in the middle, the electrical hum was just too prevalent. Edit: forgot to answer the last bit - I ended up with the power amp full-up and using the level on the RBI as the master volume, even though that doesn't appear to be the case on the picture. [/quote] It's been trial and error here too. I've been looking on Talkbass - consensus seems to be that the RBI doesn't seem to have any issues driving a poweramp - someone from Tech 21 posted on one thread that they recommended running the poweramp on full and using the RBI level knob to control the master volume. Interestingly, going back to my set up, I'm presently running the RBI through the effects return on an Ashdown ABM EVOIII racked head, effectively bypassing the Ashdown pre-stage and utilising just the poweramp side of the amp. I've never run the Ashdown with the master volume (or in the power amp sense, accentuator) maxxed out, so this might be worth trying too. That said, good or not, it's still going to weigh a ton and that's part of the issue for me to look for something lighter. Personal choice of (Class-D) power amps seem to increased somewhat over the last 48 hours...Peavey IPR2/2000 (£400-ish), Carvin DCM2000L (£499) and the Crest Pro-Lite 2.0 (£549). P

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1401089216' post='2459817'] I used an RBI into a Crown XLS1500 for a while. They're great power amps, but sadly they need to be driven with more oomph than my RBI could ever put out, so whilst it was a loud rig, it was always running flat out to try and keep up. [/quote] Can you clarify from memory how you were using the RBI/amp together? I've heard/read so many conflicting methods of connections (jack to jack, XLR to XLR), going into the front panel RBI or the rear one. Power amp full up and control the overall output with the RBI level knob. And so on.

Get your cables from Dave/OBBM. He does great stuff. P

I know this might sound stupid/simple, but have a look (online) for an image of the back of the head; there's bound to be images somewhere. If it's got a Speakon out, then use a Speakon! That said, most new Speakon sockets are also wired to accept a 1/4" jack. P

I'm pretty happy with my front end choice of bass/processing (Thunderbirds/Sansamp RBI or Sansamp BDDI), but as the years roll on, the sheer weight of my backline is killing me...my cabinets are on castors and are manageable, but the weight of my 4U rack literally feels like it's going to yank my arm from it's socket. Recently, I've been looking at replacing my racked amplifier with a [b]Class-D [/b]power amp. The main draw is the neutrality of the output aligned with the increased power output and most importantly a drop in weight. (For the record, I run the Sansamp into the effects return of the head bypassing the pre-stage.) I've done a bit of personal research and as of yesterday, I was leaning towards a [url="http://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/703/118436/IPR2%26trade%3B%26nbsp%3B2000"]Peavey IPR2/2000[/url] - not on sale here until next month. Looking at US prices and comparable amps (Crown/Yamaha/Crest etc.). I'm probably looking at a purchase price of c.£400.00, which is fine. Peavey gear seems to have a reputation for being pretty much bombproof and this amp will deliver 600w into 4ohms, weighs under 4kg and is 10" deep, so it'll fit in a shallow rack. Yesterday, I demoed a £500 Carvin DCM2000L (550w into 4ohms) at Bassgear, Twyford and was mightily impressed. (I didn't even know Carvin outboard gear was available over here.) So advice (and please don't muddy the water with regular amp postings...try an keep it to Class-D power amp content). What are you using as a pre-stage? How reliable is it? Problems? This isn't a vanity project; I'm certain that there's dozens (hundreds) of members here who are in the same boat as me and I'm sure we could all do with some clear advice and recommendations. Thanks Paul

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1400266357' post='2452506'] My observations, I see 2 things here. 1- Your guitarist is playing through a 4x12. Why? A 1x12 should be more than ample for the majority of gigs unless he's playing outdoors with no PA support. 2- It appears like you want to sound like the guitarist & he wants to sound like the bassist. Have you thought about swapping instruments for a song? I hope that didn't come across as having a dig. It most certainly wasn't meant to & as it is, having your bass with a more mid to high tone & the guitar with a bassy tone may work really well & give your band it's sound. At the end of the day, it's how the whole band sounds that is important, & if the audience think you sound great, then that's a good thing. Edited to say, I prefer 10s. They have a nicer, more aesthetically pleasing curve to the diameter than all other sizes. [/quote] I honestly don't take offense, so don't worry. We sound [i]great [/i]live and generally people are complimentary. Why a 4x12? It's his choice...he has talked about going with a 2x12. Hell, he's happy, he's a lovely guy and that makes me happy. Me? I just like my tone. I'm a more than adequate guitarist, but I prefer bass. Easier/sexier. P

[quote name='Mr.T' timestamp='1399748600' post='2447323'] I hate it as well, but it seems that most Guitards just swamp the sound with mush!!! When I used to gig with my Status, I had an amazing solo sound..... But am finding a Fender (Fitted with TI Jazz Flats) sits in my current bands mix better. ..... Sad, but unfortunately true! [/quote] OK, perhaps I didn't put that right, so let me put things into perspective. The guitarist in Nancy Johnson plays with a tone at the very phat end of the frequency - so much so that live there appears (to my ears) to be significant crossover from both our instruments. I have tried to go the route of 'owning your frequency', but we always tend to be to differ...I've twiddled with the knobs on his amp (SG/Bugera head and 4x12), but there's s fine line between full on rawk \m/ and AM radio coming out of his set up. If anything, my desired tone (a kind of Geddy Lee/Jean Jacques Burnel grunt/fuzz hybrid), sits in a higher and wider range than the guitar. I can hear everything without issue, but find the guitar muddies a lot of the nuances of my technique/sounds. Incidentally, the official technical spec of the cabinets (Hartke Hydrive 1x15 and 4x10 enclosures) gives that the 4x10 potentially delivers 10Hz more low end than the 1x15, which i find a little unfathomable, but I suppose reflects why the 4x10 gets nights out and the 1x15 tends to stay home alone. P

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1399714297' post='2446862'] Not sure if this has been linked elsewhere but I just read this: [url="http://www.iguitarmag.com/news/2014/05/wilko-johnson-undergoes-cancer-surgery/"]http://www.iguitarma...cancer-surgery/[/url] [/quote] I used to work for Hollister (not the clothing company)...we were (and they probably still are) world leaders in colostomy/stoma care. If the surgery has resulted in removal of his small and large intestines, he's going to end up with an illeostomy, dependent on where the surgery terminated the small intestine. It's a pretty unpleasant thing to live with and he'll need to wear an illestomy pouch for the rest of his life, but if there's a silver lining, he'll be alive, which let's face it, is better than being in the ground. Hope we see him up and about soon. P