Osiris

I'm trying, take the hint

Something like this perhaps? The word on the street is that it's looking for a new home...

3 pages in and I'm surprised that nobody has yet pointed out that you can get lots of pickups that are ostensibly the same e.g. a split coil P, a humbucker etc. That are voiced very differently. Compare a Seymour Duncan SPB-2 to the SPB-3. Or the stock Fender jazz pickups to the equivalent Hausells. Kind of renders this whole thread a bit pointless, doesn't it???

I have a PJ Mustang that I regularly gig and I love it! If you want classic Fender tone and feel with a short scale then look no further. You may also be able to stretch to a Japanese Mustang with your budget, it's the same body and neck as the PJ but with a single unique pickup that is similar to the P but with its own twist. It also has its own unique bridge design. I tried a couple of the Gretsch short scales after hearing good things about them on here but the ones I tried had had their necks finished with treacle, the finish was so sticky that I'd guess it'd be virtually unplayable on a sweaty gig. I don't know if all of them are like that or whether I just managed to get a couple of duff ones but it's something to keep in mind if you go for one.

Same here. There's something about the sound of a passive circuit that I just cannot get out of active circuits. I still own a couple of active basses but their sound just doesn't put a grin on my face like the passives do.

Looks interesting. I've been gigging the LD MEI1000G2 for several months now, I paid £200 new for it in the black Friday sales. Despite a few warnings on this thread not to bother with budget wireless in ear systems I have to say that I have no regrets. It has excellent sound quality, is very clear sounding and doesn't lack anything in the lows, indeed there is a good sonic weight there, or sound shrill with the highs. I'm using the obligatory KZ ZS10's with it. Wireless in ears for less than £250 I'll write a more detailed review when I get a chance but I can very highly recommend the MEI1000G2. I'm interested to hear what the new u500 system has to offer over the MEI1000G2 and if it's worth potentially upgrading at some point, although I'm so pleased with my set up that I feel no real need to upgrade!

Cheers @LewisK1975 that's exactly what I wanted to hear! I'll order myself a copy shortly!

Just went to purchase a copy of the album and PayPal looks like it's working fine for me. The only question I have is that it's not clear from http://www.whiteknightrecords.co.uk/ what format it is, I assume it's a CD? Hopefully it's not vinyl as I no longer have a turntable!

Just had a listen to both the Coverland video and the album preview and I think it's awesome! When I saw the Prog mention I was expecting something more self indulgent but the music is intelligent without being pretentious and varied without turning into musical masturbation. It's very accessible and there's some great playing throughout. Just one observation form the Coverland video, the drummer doesn't look like he's beating the kit to within an inch of its life. Where did you find him? Are there any left in stock?

Another vote for the Protection Racket bag here. There's also the Protec Contego bass case. I have both and would happily recommend them both as they are both sturdy and well made and offer good levels of protection without the bulk of a hard case.

Compression is topic that regularly crops up on here and there is great deal of misunderstanding about it as well as a few urban myths associated with their use. You really need to understand what a compressor does and how the various controls available to you do in order to get the best out of them. When used correctly they can transparently smooth your dynamics, or add some controlled squash, make the bass big, consistent and punchy sounding or even add some pleasing tonal colouration to your sound. When used incorrectly they invariably choke the living daylights out of your sound. If you want to get the best out of a compressor it's definitely worth the time and effort to do your homework first. One of the biggest misconceptions about compression is that people expect to hear it as an obvious effect like a distortion or a delay. You can set it to be an obvious effect but that is almost always going to be detrimental to your sound. Some folks set it up so they can hear it squashing their sound but by then you have usually gone too far. Less is more with effective compression. My advice would be to first and foremost do your homework. Read up online and see what the controls do and how people are using them. You might be better off trawling the sound engineering type forums rather than basschat if you want a more objective opinion on the subject!!! And it'd be wise to avoid any opinions that contain the usual gripes about compression killing your dynamics (which it does if you don't what to do with one) and the reasoning that some folks can completely control their dynamics with their fingers (which is to misunderstand the effective use of compression). As part of your homework, a great and cheap way to experiment with several different compressor types is to get the Zoom MS-60B multi-fx pedal. This unit has several different compression models in, each with their own flavour and all usable in their own way, my personal favourite is the model of the dbx 160 which is adds punch and a touch of darkness to your tone - just how I like it! Have a play with them and see what they individually offer. Play with extreme settings as well as more subtle ones in order to get a feel for what they are doing to your signal. Compression is usually more apparent in a band mix and at a reasonable volume than just messing about at home, so if you play with other musicians, take that opportunity to apply what you have learnt and use it in a real world situation. If you don't want to do your homework buy the TC Electronics Spectracomp as it does all the thinking for you and gives you a great, versatile compression pedal for a modest outlay!

I should probably point out that I don't really use any effects myself other than occasional low gain drive, always on compression and high pass filtering. All through the front end and I've never had any issues doing it this way. By all means experiment to see what works for you but my personal experience has taught me to leave the sexy and flashy effects to the guitarists and keys player, it might sound boring but I've found them to be mostly detrimental to the bass in a band situation. But see what works for you!

Do you actually need an effects loop? Can't you just run any effects into the front end?

The fan is dead silent to the point I wondered if it actually works - and it does! Even after playing a 2 and a half hour set with a 4 ohm load, the amps have never been any warmer than ambient temperature. So efficient as well as silent.

No problem. It's definitely not Niagara falls noisy! It's not totally noise free either, but then again I'm yet to hear an amp that is completely silent when pushed. But used under normal circumstances the background noise is not at all noticeable in my experience.

Thank you @TonyMontana I've not had a problem with background noise or hiss with either of my Magellans. I should probably say that I tend to favour passive basses and use a relatively flat EQ setting and I'm not one for using super bright sounds. My cab has a horn but I tend to keep it turned down low, around 20-30% of full whack. The usual caveats will apply though depending on what else is going on in your signal chain; if you use an active bass with the treble boosted, apply compression with a high threshold, have a bass that isn't particularly well shielded, use loads of pedals including additional pre-amps and or distortion, have a cab with a cheap horn etc then obviously you risk introducing additional noise into your rig. But the amp itself does not have any additional inherent noise that is obtrusive. There is a very slight touch of background noise if you turn it up very loud as you will get with any amplifier but at sensible volumes I don't notice it and I doubt if anyone else would either. There's no noticeable noise or hiss through the DI either. Hope this helps!

But that's not the point of what I am trying to understand! I do occasionally read these type of threads but what I want to understand is when someone states that Product X is the best bass/amp/pedal/whatever few people actually say why, or explain how they arrived at that conclusion. And that's what I want to understand. Maybe it's the scientist in me but when someone makes a claim I want to see the evidence in support of that claim, to test the validity of it. Otherwise it's just an unsubstantiated opinion. As Christopher Hitchens once said "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence". As I said in my previous post, I have no doubt that the two amps you have chosen are great. But why those particular two? What were your selection criteria? Why didn't you include some of the other suggestions in this thread? How and why are these the best? I'm not trying to be difficult, no more than usual anyway, and I appreciate that this is all a bit of fun and that maybe I'm just over thinking the whole thing. I just want to know why and understand some of the claims. I'll just sign of by saying that the Mini Metro is the greatest car of all time.

I'm always slightly bemused by these 'best of ...' type threads. How exactly do you define 'the best'? What criteria and metrics are being used? I've no doubt that the 2 amps in the original post are superb, but are they 'the best' because they among the most expensive class D's available? Or because they have an impressive and unique feature set? Or for some other reason? Some specifications have been quoted as have some of their unique features, but no-one yet seems to have mentioned their respective tones and flexibility, which for me personally help me decide what 'the best' amp is - for me. For example, I was tried out the Mesa Subway D800 (I'm guessing an amp that shares much of its DNA with the WD800) and it was a fantastic sounding amp, but I found it very limited in what it could do. It went from shouty and aggressive to REALLY SHOUTY AND AGGRESSIVE. Now, I'm quite partial to a shouty and aggressive bass tone, but at other times I want something more subdued, but I wasn't able to coax that from the D800. In the end I plumped for the Genzler Magellan because that could do shouty and aggressive too, but it could also do subtle and mellow, warm and vintage, bright and funky etc, and it could do all these with the conviction that the Mesa delivered its aggression. Out of the 2 the Genzler was the 'better' amp for me because it was way more versatile. But if I was playing in a punk band the Mesa would likely have been 'better' for my needs. One mans' treasure and all that.

@Cuzzie, I've already started digging a hole under my patio for you.

Yesterday Graeme and I met for a dodgy deal in a motorway services where I purchased a Mustang bass from him. The bass was in great condition and was at a fair price. I'll happily recommend him as a trustworthy guy to deal with.

I believe the technical term is Turd Chromatography. It's a big thing in certain dark corners of the internet, apparently.