NancyJohnson

Just moving on a year, it's all still good, no discernable fading and it doesn't come off when I'm playing. (Obviously) the four string hasn't had a lot of use in the last twelve months (plus, pretty much all my studio work has been on the five string). I've got a John East incoming for Christmas, so suspect the four string will get a bit more use in the the next year with Lizard Sweets.

I loved mine, I really did. It was pretty much clank right out of the case. If you want some convincing as to why you don't need one, I'd only cite that I gigged it twice and I was lucky enough to stop someone nicking it on both occassions. They are too high-profile. Interestingly, I now play a five string that cost me nearly six times as much as the 4003 in the photo below and nobody so much as bats an eyelid as they don't know what it is.

I've got the AO900 head and since it's arrival I've run it through a variety of cabinets (15/6, 1x12, pair of 1x12s, 2x12, 8x10) and am pleased to report zero issue. Just remember that you can turn off the on-board distortion/bit/growl options and run it clean and, if need be, you can also just route outboard gear through the effects return and just utilise the poweramp side. It does go (very) loud; I rehearsed in the big room at Brighton Electric last year, pushed it through an Ampeg 8x10 and doubt I went past a 30% output. While desired tone is somewhat subjective, my only criticism is distortion circuitry takes a while to dial in and I've found that it responds very differently from bass to bass - if I was going the Sansamp BDDI/VTBASS/dUg, it would generally be a case of plugging in and my tone would be there almost immediately, but the AO900 seems to require a little more room to room tweaking than just going stompbox>powerstage. The head also seems more adept/alive with active basses. It's lightweight, easily fitting into one of those padded Gator 12x12x5.5" mixerbags (along with power/Speakon leads). While I'm unsure of how full the box is (and given how small clip-on tuners are nowadays), the only thing missing is an onboard tuner.

Are you Sir John Redwood MP? Come on, admit it.

Here's something for you to sit on.

I had a pair of SL112s for a short time. I can't remember what I was feeding into them...it was definitely a Matrix stereo power amp, would have been a Sansamp BDDI or the dUg feeding that. They looked the nuts and I'd concur with you in that if you're looking for loads of low end from a small enclosure, then the Aguilars have that in spades. I wondered whether the tweeters were working at one point...they were, but they were very, very subtle; the output just didn't seem to go high enough within the overall cabinet output for me (if this makes sense); they could have been a bit louder. I used them for one rehearsal, went back to the Barefaced and sold them on.

Comparisonwise, I'm obviously more tuned to comparing this against my existing kit (Barefaced Big One)...I purchased a pair of Aguilar 1x12s a couple of years ago and didn't like them so much, they were very whoompy, not much highend; the HF unit on the DG seems way better tuned to my desired tone (even with it virtually off, the enclosure sounds brighter than the Aguilars). The cabinet is very light, 25lb or something, build and finish is top notch...so long as you look after it, it'll look after you. Quickly ran through everything in my armoury. A/O head, the dUg pedal into the return, active/passive basses, fours/fives. The Darkglass kit certainly seems to favour active basses, my Spector sounds beautifully crunchy. So, nothing negative to report at this point, I won't know how well it's going to perform in a band environment for some time.

I saw this performed at the Albert a couple of years ago. Wonderful.

We've recorded 39 songs since June; once you get over the tech issues, it's dreamy.

And this my friends, is why I will never play in a cover band. If you suffer from Photosensitive Epilepsy, you might want to just look away and enjoy the music. *I've removed the link. If you've swung by expecting a horror show, you're too late.

Yep. The plan is to go with 2x 1x12s.

Birthday gift from my wife. I never fail to appreciate how much manufacturers are able to cram into ever smaller enclosures.

I'm off today. Today I'm in a Dead Combo groove. They're Portuguese...it's an odd combination of Fado, the Cure, slow New Orleans jazz. I only found out about them last year when we were in Lisbon (their music was playing in a place we were eating at; I'm glad I asked).

I really like this.

We have stuff played regularly on New Music Saturday. It us a buzz to hear someone else playing our music.

It's funny reading this thread...I commented 12 years ago. I don't own any of that kit anymore and (to a degree), I still sound pretty much the same.

Here we go, then. I've never owned one, but I've played a couple quite extensively and I've owned about a dozen regular IVs. Bare in mind this is a more of a no-frills Studio model rather than a five string IV. Personally, I don't really like them visually. You lose the traditional headstock design (with the raised frontage) and IMO the extra machine just looks odd, that said I always felt the Thunderbird wouldn't translate into a five string so I don't know what they could have done to improve the clumsiness of the (Studio 5) design. (My Lull has a reversed 1&4 configuration; B on top and E-G on the bottom; Gibson could have gone with the Reverse headstock and done a 4&1, which may have looked better.) Neck profile was somewhat chunkier than a regular IV (it's like comparing a wider Precision neck with a four string Jazz neck). Couldn't tell you what the wood was (probably mahogany) or what the neck contruction is/was. You lose the raised centre strip on the front of the body and the pickups, knobbage and bridge are simply loaded onto a slab body. Pickups are just standard 2000s TB ceramic HB soaps, no different from the standard IVs. While the bridge looks way more functional that the four string three-pointer, it looks pretty horrific; it's a huge slab of chromed brass/steel and I always felt they could have done something better/sleeker. I'll admit the chamfer around the body was a bit rounder and more comfortable to that of the regular IVs, so a little more easier on the right forearm. Balance was OK. It felt heavier than any of my Thunderbirds were. I would just say in closing, EVERYONE please stop comparing Epiphones with Gibsons. In every personal review I've seen, it seems that the glowing reports are more down to people being of the belief that they're getting a lot of bass for less £££, rather than the fact the Epiphone is simply a transitional model en-route to a Gibson or because they couldn't afford a Gibson. I can't stress any more that just because it looks similar to a Gibson Thunderbird, it isn't a Gibson Thunderbird, even if you put a Gibson truss-rod cover on it.

Have just awoken to hear the news that the Oxford vaccine is reporting a 70% success rate. Maybe its just the scepticism that lives in me, but I felt that with the rush by US businesses to bring a vaccine to market first was (in part) driven by share price and $$; just watching the CEO of Moderna on TV conjoured up images of dollar signs kerchinging in his eyes. Moving along, trust. We don't have a clue how these vaccines will work in the real world; what's the betting that Pfizer/Moderna will start knocking percentage points off their 90/95% claims? This will be in little notches, so as to defer the feeling of failure. Finally, the BBC website is writing up the Oxford vaccine as some kind of disappointment. Let's not forget the annual flu vaccine has a sub-50% success rate (although this is subjective; I've never had a flu jab and I've never had flu).

I've been taking in UFOs 'Strangers In The Night' superdeluxe. God, it's brilliant.

...in that delicious ten or fifteen minutes before you hit the stadium stage, what would the playlist be thundering from the PA prior to lights out? My wife posed this to me earlier and I profess I became somewhat giddy thinking about this and wished I was 25 years younger and playing a 5000 seater. I ummed and aahed a bit before saying, 'Girl band stuff.' For a guy who's played in punky bands for his entire life, I guess this was an eye-opener for me as well as my wife. So here goes. You've paid your money for a Lizard Sweets ticket, sat through a dreadful support band (or two): Pure Shores - All Saints, The Promise - Girls Aloud, Stop - Spice Girls, and finally, Up Town Top Rankin' - Althea & Donna (lights off about a minute from the end, keep it playing to build expectation), and we're off. Let's hear yours!

Today it's....The Bonzo Dog Band. I've always loved Gorilla. Dialled up an extensive Spotify playlist, and we're off. Brilliant.

I played Thunderbirds for about ten years, about a dozen went through Chez Johnson. Because I'm a strapping chap i never suffered this neck dive people keeping going on about; sure if I took both hands off the bass it would rotate on it's axis, but then every bass I've owned has done this. You play with both arms/hands on the instrument; if you're having difficulty controlling the balance of an instrument that weighs less than 9lbs, most of which is carried by your shoulder, you probably need more protein in your diet.

I'm listening to Howard Stern interviewing Wolfgang Van Halen. Strong stuff.

When I had my Hartke deal, I had three LH1000s. They went plenty loud enough, but man alive, they all suffered from the old angry hornet syndrome and they had a horrible aroma when they got warm.

Blimus! That was quick!