Dan Dare

A guitar player I used to play with had volume issues, so we took it in turns to turn down his master volume whilst he was not looking or away with the fairies on one of his solos. He spotted us one night and there was an almighty row, after which we agreed to part company due to "musical differences" :-)

I would have thought there would be little difference if the differences in gauge are in the order of .05".

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1484345585' post='3214920'] If it's a piezo you can't use an LPad. Read this: http://www.baysidenet.tv/catalog/pdf/piezo.pdf Note that not all piezos are alike. [/quote] Didn't know that Bill. Thanks. May have been being unjustifiably cruel to piezos.

I'm afraid the buyer, Whiney Pooh, is talking self-serving nonsense. Strings are not part of a used instrument. If you get a decent set, that's a bonus. The claim of buying off eBay "to save the seller fees" is rubbish, too. Buyers benefit, too - they can negotiate a lower price from a seller if the seller isn't paying Ebay fees (I've had people contact me plenty of times when selling on the 'Bay asking what I'd accept to sell direct to them - they always want to pay less). No doubt you did the same. Oh and if you did buy outside eBay, you can't ask them to recover your money. Was Whiney P buying the bass in the hope of re-selling it at a profit, I wonder? I can see no other reason for being reluctant to treat it to a new set of strings. That's the first thing I do when I buy a used instrument (or a new one, for that matter - I use flats, so had to buy a set for my P Bass Special that I bought new). Caveat emptor (and don't take the piss).

If no crossover, tweeter has to be a piezo. They're about the only ones that are immune to low frequencies and can be used in that way. They're also cheap 'n nasty in the main. I second Bill's suggestion, altough you may have to do a bit of experimenting to find the right capacitor/resistor values. Unless you're pushing serious current into it (which you won't with a low powered combo), you don't need to worry about overheating. Obviously, you need to use sensibly rated components - 100v or so.

If you like the Genz Benz sound, have a look at Jeff's latest, the Magellan. It has the added advantage of being at least £100 cheaper than the other small super class D jobs. You should check out the bigger GKs as well if you like the sound of the MB200 (I don't own one, but borrowed one once and found it a splendid little head).

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1483722099' post='3209604'] That's all great in theory, and I appreciate you are correct. But we're not talking about taking it to court. We're talking about the facts that can lie under the surface that can be the reason for bad service. After all, would you take a seller to court, possibly costing £x,000 for a £200 bass? Yes, you might get your costs back. But there is the risk that you won't. You might also go to a lot of cost in the preparation only to have the seller post you a cheque or issue a basic refund on the cost price. That said, making reference to the law when talking to them usually gets them thinking. [/quote] Wouldn't cost you £000s to pursue the value of a £200 instrument. You can use the small claims mediation and procedure - see https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1483693164' post='3209261'] Agreed; they should keep their promises. There's no excuse for them giving bad service in that respect. To avoid that; always take the name of the customer service person. If he lets you down, then call and talk to the Sales Manager and report the name of the person who didn't call you back. After all it's not Gear4Music that's giving bad service it's the Customer Service person. As someone who's worked in sales for many years, I believe that honesty with the customer is always best. If you get poor support from a supplier - tell the customer. Tell them the procedure that needs to be followed to get the best response from the supplier. [/quote] Under the Consumer Rights Act (and the Sale of Goods Act that preceded it), your contract is with the retailer who sold you the goods. Whilst you might be sympathetic to a retailer who has problems with its suppliers, that is not and should not be your problem as the end consumer and you should not lose out over it. Your contract is with the retailer and it is up to them to reimburse you, not the supplier. If they wish to secure recompense from their supplier, that's up to them. However, it shouldn't affect what happens to you.

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1483460926' post='3207313'] I'm old. I'm overweight (slightly) I'm bald. Why on Earth would I expect to be taken on by a band of 20 year olds who all look like Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissor-hands just because I can play well? The same reason my tight leather black jeans have remained in the wardrobe for 17 years. I don't fit the bill (or the jeans) It's not ageist, sexist, racist or any other ist. We're just not what they're looking for. [/quote] This. By the same token, I wouldn't hire a player who was obviously out of sympathy with what I'm trying to do (dad rock). Horses for courses. It ain't bigoted, just realistic.

Remember you're part of the rhythm section, not a soloist. If people notice you, you're overplaying. Keep it simple.

2 x Phil Jones C4 1 x Phil Jones 4B 1 x Epifani 310UL mk 1 (favourite cab) Basswitch pre Two RSE power amps (500 and 900 w) Carvin B1000 head. Can cover most situations.

Time to move on unless the issues are sorted? Find a new band for the new year? They'll have problems finding a bass player with a PA who stores (and presumably transports) it. Not worth playing with idiots who are intent on deafening everyone. Been there, done that. Your hearing is worth far more.

Great musicians. Dave is a hot bluegrass banjo player, too and a fine craftsman, as well. Some years ago, I saw an old horse drawn travellers caravan he had restored at a country fair. Beautiful job. An extremely talented man.

Classy photo and pose. Shoes like dead pigs' noses, to quote dear old Ian Dury ("Blockheads"). Imagine one puffing and blowing in your earole...

What's important, imho, is employing correct lifting techniques - using the back and body properly. When we lift weights, we follow proper techniques and take care to do it right. The we go out to a gig and try to drag that heavy cab/amp out of the car boot at full stretch, bending over to reach it. Even a light object can do harm lifted wrongly - see Twincam's post above.

You appear to have answered your own question. If you love the sound of your MB 102HF, add another. Pay no heed to us on here with our "advice" - we're all biased in favour of what we like/use... It's your taste that counts.

Re. the talk of "learn your parts", etc, there's a world of difference between an amateur band that has its one or two sets - possibly 30-40 songs - that it plays regardless of where it is and a function band, which can have a potential repertoire of hundreds, even thousands of numbers. It simply isn't possible to keep that much material in a state of constant readiness (That's why orchestral, big band, etc musicians use music). What counts is the end result.

There was a pair of Ashdown 4x8s on evilBay the other day. Worth a look?

Got to be a spoof. If you apply, you'll probably end up on You've Been Framed (or whatever the current equivalent is). Lenny Kravitz hardly "newer stuff"...

Why buy one? Versatile, excellent pickups, very nicely put together (in the Cort factory, I understand), great tones. I could go on. I had a L2000 Trib. Astonishingly good for the money. The only reason I sold it was because I've played J basses for 30 years and just couldn't get on with the wider, flatter neck. I did persevere with it, because the instrument was so good, but in the end, I tried a P Bass Special and marginally preferred it to play, so bought it, even though the sound isn't quite as good. If the G&L neck suits your hand, go for one.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1482402662' post='3200174'] Part of the problem is that there's a large amount of bass players who think the answer is more bass. I play at a church, big stone building, modern glass wall at the back and massive resonance down low. We have no backlineand a IEM system and the FOH. PA folk often end up with a massive mush in the bottom end. Its taken me a year and demonstrating that turning on the desk's HPF on the bass guitar cleans up the sound no end. I only have to suggest they do the same on the acousitic guitars, keys and kick drum and we may one day get it sounding good! [/quote] +1 Luke. Relatively few appear to realise that less often equals subjectively more when dealing with low frequencies. Quantity vs quality and all that. And as others say, little point in wasting amp headroom on subsonic mush/rumble.

There's an interesting parallel with hi fi amplifiers in that some with apparently low wattage output can deliver much more oomph than those which should, on paper at any rate, be more powerful. Some say that it's the amount of current an amp can deliver (and how long it can sustain that delivery - i.e. more than a few milliseconds burst) that determines how powerful it will sound, not simple wattage measurement. Could sustained current delivery be the way to measure "heft"? When I need to be louder, I use a preamp and bridged PA power amp that is stated to deliver 900w and which sounds a LOT more pokey than my class D head (also claimed to deliver 900w). It has a hefty power supply - massive toroid and reservoir caps like bean tins. Could there be a connection?

Bill's right (as usual). I don't have the option, as my head only has one Speakon out, unfortunately.

I've used a piece of foam ever since my old TE 350 was nearly walked off a 2x15 cab by the vibrations (I turned round to see it teetering, fortunately and repositioned it before it actually fell off). Now I use a lightweight head on an Epifani cab (which, being lightweight poplar ply, vibrates quite a bit), I always make sure I take my foam. You can get a suitable offcut from one of those foam cut to size shops which will do the trick. Go for something reasonably dense so the head doesn't squash it too much. I like Bill's idea of using a piece of camping mat, although some are a bit thin. I reckon an inch or so is a good minimum thickness.

I think the Wharfedale name, as have many from the halcyon days of British audio, has been bought by a far Eastern conglomerate. Would imagine the bass stuff is generic Chinese fayre under the hood.