Dan Dare

Mr Bill he speak the truth. Don't trust your pal to fiddle with things unless he's prepared to pay to put it right if he messes up.

Where to start indeed. Around 1975, got my first "proper" set-up, a Sound City head (Remember them?) with a 2x12 (bought an empty cab and added drivers). Added another home made 2x12 later. Used that for a few years and then got fed up with the weight/bulk, so sold it and got the inevitable Carlsboro combo. Never liked it a lot (less good sounding than the old rig, but a lot easier to get in the back of the car. Followed that with an Ohm combo and additional power amp and cab for more volume. In the early 1980s, walked into my local music shop and saw a Bassman 135 and 2x15, used but clean and reasonably priced. Tried it and had to have it. A couple of years later, one of the drivers blew, so replaced both with Peavey Black Widows, which made it sound pretty fab. Then we all went Trace crazy, so sold the Bassman head (wish I'd kept it at the prices they fetch now) and got a Trace AH350. That set-up served me well for a few years. Eventually, wanted something a bit more transportable, so sold the cab and got an Ampeg SVT 4x10HE and 1x15HE. Next step was a bi-amped rig - stereo power amp (RSE 900w) and BBE pre. This was probably the nicest sounding rig I've owned. Smooth, fat and had endless clout and the BBE eq was very effective. Followed that with an EBS 350, which I never really got on with. Loud, flexible and easy to schlep, but always sounded too aggressive for my taste. So back to a separate pre/power - Basswitch (which I still have) and the RSE power amp (which I kept). Then went shopping for a small combo and discovered Phil Jones cabs. For their size, they are pretty astonishing. Ended up with two C4s and a B4 and sold the Ampegs. Drive them either with the pre/power or a little Carvin class D head. They do the job, although I still hanker after the old Ampegs occasionally. However, my advancing age (63) and the fact that it all has to come up the stairs to my flat at the end of the evening means that's no longer an option. Sorry to go on.

Mixer with direct outs may do it, but they are pre-EQ, so you'll only get a basic, flat signal for each instrument. However, you should be able to edit/deal with all that once you have the material on the computer.

Try Jack's Instrument Services in Manchester (Google will find him). He custom makes just about any size/shape in a wide selection of materials, can do the vintage look and is very reasonable (I paid just over £50 delivered for a plate for my bitsa P Bass - it has the rare 14 hole Squier body, which won't accept standard Fender plates). Quick turnaround, too. Can't go wrong.

Genzler Magellan a very similar circuit, by all accounts and employs the same B&O Icepower module as the Subway (which is reputed to have been designed by an ex-Genz Benz employee, so hardly surprising). Also, the Magellan is about £150 cheaper in the UK. A pal has a Subway. It's very fine, but over-priced, imho, at £800+.

[quote name='ryancowell25' timestamp='1478030375' post='3166229'] Have you not considered the Hellborg Pre-amp?....... I have one and they are stunning..... always wanted to try it with the poweramp [/quote] +1. The obvious choice. PS. There's film on YT of Larry Carlton's son playing through the full Hellborg set up and his tone is epic.

Mexican PJ - Swiss Army bass - followed by my '72 Jazz.

Can only agree with my BC colleagues here that this fellow sounds an obvious chancer You sound like a conscientious chap. Don't allow your decency to cause you to think you owe him anything. You don't. As others say, he should at least have contacted you first if there was a problem with the instrument before getting any so-called repairs done.

Just as many good/bad drummers as any other musicians. It's just that you notice more when the drummer makes a mistake -- it's harder for them to hide their errors. The fact that most get it right most of the time is to their credit. Almost all the drummers I've worked and work with have been/are grand. Now guitar players are another story...

Caveat emptor. T'was ever thus.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1477325961' post='3161449'] There's no substitute for serious power supplies. The lightweight switchmode one in my QSC PLX 3002 allows that power amp to put out enough real power to demolish an SM1500 - but it's still a 21lb 2U power amp, it isn't the side and weight of a paperback book! My previous power amp weighed twice as much and had a big iron power transformer - it was feeble compared to the SMPS driven QSC. There's a 'law' in cycling known as Bontrager's law - "Cheap. Strong. Light. Pick any two!" That pretty much holds true for bass amps and power amps, if strong equals having Real Power. [/quote] Spot on Alex. Keith Bontrager's right and his saying applies to much more than cycling componentry. in the case of amplification, you can't beat a stiff (oooer) power supply. I have two old RSE power amps that deliver serious poke. Look inside and you find a high quality toroid and reservoir caps the size of bean tins. The larger one easilybetters my QSC RMX1450, despite a similar power rating. Can't be a coincidence.

A band member, who was a terminal scruff, turned up to a wedding gig in an expensive West London hotel dressed in jeans and stained tee shirt. 5 minutes before we were due to start, he was still wearing therm. Me - "Better get changed. We're due on in 5" Him - "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Me - "It isn't really wedding attire" Him - "This isn't a fashion show. They come to listen to the music" Me - "No. They came to get married. We're just part of the occasion, like the catering, flowers, photographer, etc. It ain't a concert and we're not the main event. Now get changed" Him - "But this is all I have with me" Me - "Well stand at the back and stay out of the light"

On turning up to a venue to find a space about 3 metres by 2 metres for a 5 piece band, with drums, PA etc. Me - "Just not practical. We'll have to give it a miss. I'll speak to the guvnor". Guitar player - "No. We should play" Me - "Where? How?" Guitar player - "We'll do it without drums" Me - "What about PA?" Guitar player - "We'll do it acoustically" Me - "Have fun See you"

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1476787737' post='3157184'] Firstly NICE BASS!!! I have found with any P bass I have owned over the years that I love the sound live, it seems to just sit perfectly and like you, I can hear the notes so much clearer. The issue I always find is that for some reason I hate the sound in rehearsal rooms and when I practice and play at home. I think the ideal for me is to have a nice PJ that could do the P thing live but then dial in some bridge pickup for home and rehearsals and more disco type stuff. [/quote] Nice bass indeed. Agree with NJE. Out in the room, where it counts, a P just seems to sound right. I have a Mex PJ, which is more versatile, but it doesn't quite do the classic P sound. Close, but not quite there.

How fitting. Go Harry.

Agree with Elias. On the P, the vol is always up full, but on the Jazz, I like to roll off the bridge a little.

Yep. Charlie doesn't need any of this Class D nonsense.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1476879163' post='3157998'] I wouldn't bother 'debating' with someone with so little intellect. [/quote] +1. I assume the character concerned, with his massive Ampeg rig, is playing in an instrumental-only band. Either that or his singer has leather lungs and a stainless steel throat...

I think the short answer to the question "What are you worth?" is "Whatever someone is prepared to pay you on the day". I'm very cheap on a Tuesday evening, because offers tend to be thin on the ground. On Saturdays, when I'm more likely to be able to pick and choose, I can be "worth" more. It's all down to good old market forces/supply and demand. As someone else has said, even full on pro's (I have had spells of being that) can be found playing in their local social club. A guy I work with occasionally plays (and is MD) for a very well-known outfit. Not my place to say who, but they are pretty famous. He still does the clubs, etc when he's available. He likes to play and earn, enjoys the craic and it keep his fingers in trim.

A pal has a Subway and it's a wonderful little head, but the retail prices for Mesa in the UK are a scandal. I'm not knocking Mesa, but their UK importer appears to be taking the p***. US retail price for a Subway 800 is around 700 bucks (and that's including US sales tax - check out a few online ad's from dealers in the US). So why is it the best part of 900 quid here? By comparison, the Genzler Magellan, which costs similar to the Subway in the States, retails for £650 here. Seems to me the prices here for Mesa kit here are more to do with the margins of whoever imports the brand into the UK. They must be slapping on a serious mark-up, I reckon.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1476544693' post='3155121'] I like sound of flats, on a P especially -- who doesn't? -- but I absolutely HATE the feel of them. That smoothness feels almost slimy, it really makes my skin crawl. Eucchhh. [/quote] I think that slippery feel is to do with the anti-corrosion coating firms like D'Addario put on them. I always clean them with Duraglit before putting them on the instrument. Seems to help.

Fender are advertising their wares on the sides of some London buses. Saw one yesterday.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1476357306' post='3153563'] This has been discussed a few times over on Talkbass. It does look likely that Fender flats are made by D'Addario, but there are some differences in the materials and construction between the two. So there's probably some family resemblance but they're not simply re-badged Chromes. I'm using Sadowsky flats, which likewise are made by LaBella to a slightly different recipe than their own strings. Those have a reasonable balance between old-school thump and clarity, but are a couple of steps darker than Chromes. [/quote] Thanks for the heads up re. Sadowsky. I've not seen them, but will try to locate a set. I tried Thomastik and liked them, apart from the over-light A string (only .70), which was just too slack (and had intonation issues - I couldn't move the bridge saddle far enough forward to get the octave in tune). I replaced it with a .80 Chrome, which matches quite well - they're on my Jazz at the moment.