Gwilym

[quote name='leftybassman392' post='728095' date='Jan 28 2010, 08:47 PM']I'm sure VGS can speak for himself, but I've got a feeling that's not really what he means. The various components used in preamp circuits are made within certain tolerences, which means that different examples of the same circuit can vary slightly in their 'sound'. This makes it hard to call them identical to the point that you can eliminate them as a factor. Not saying you're wrong about the sound of your basses - just that it isn't quite as simple as it looks. And with great respect, I'm still not so sure about the 'acoustic tone translating to amplified sound' argument.[/quote] i think that, in your own words, the same circuit in the same bass might "vary slightly". All I'm saying is that in my experience with my two basses, the tone between the two differ to an extent that I can only reasonably attribute that difference to the different woods used in the construction, rather than any slight dfferences due hardware and electronics, which are identical. Of course this is not a controlled scientific experiment, nevertheless it's my contention that tonewoods do have an effect on the sound of an instrument. Whether or not this effect is to a greater or lesser extent than the effect of electronics and pickups, I don't know, but it certainly makes a difference.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='727044' date='Jan 27 2010, 10:55 PM']Have you swapped electronics between the two to see what happens? One problem with most of these anecdotes is people often assume electronics are identical and that's far from the truth. It's easy to see wood is different but electronics look the same so we assume they are identical. Another way to test this is find 2 basses with the same woods and notice they don't sound identical. If the wood was responsible for the tone that would not be true.[/quote] hi, the electronics are identical, but the same tonal differences are apparent acoustically when I hold my ear up to the bass bodies, so I still don't believe it's the electonics - not in this case anyway. cheers G

my 2 cents. tonewoods (or just woods) make a distinct difference. I've 2 identical basses, apart from woods. both strung with nickel strings. One ash/maple, the other poplar/wenge Tonally, they sound very different. Whilst I don't dispute that hardwear and electronics are all part of the equation (to a greater or lesser extent), but to my ears woods make a difference.

the problem with a lot of the 1 unit amps that I've seen is that what they lose in on dimension they gain in another. i.e. my preamp is about 10inch deep (front to back). a lot of the 1u poweramps are ~18in deep, so it won't fit into the more compact rack cases. Overall, I think i'd prefer 2units and 10in deep ( plus the light weight).

many years ago I could easily get my double bass and a passenger in a Mini. Passenger seat back down. Scroll end of the bass in the footwell. Passenger on the back seat behind the driver.

[quote name='Beedster' post='699772' date='Jan 3 2010, 06:19 PM']Thanks Gwilym, good to hear from you mate. The feeling I get from reading various reviews is that the PJB might be just a tiny bit underpowered for my needs whilst the Markbass might be what I'm after (despite the price difference). After your post I've looked at the GK and the ability to sling a 15" combo over the shoulder seems way too good to be true, is it really that portable, and if so, does the bag in question come with the amp or is it an extra cost, the listings I checked were a little ambiguous? Cheers Chris[/quote] hi Chris, it's a 12" and also not very deep so relatively easy to carry, and not very cumbersome. The Rockbag case you can see [url="http://www.warwick-distribution.de/?katID=21567&cl=EN&did=5"]here[/url]. (4th item down). I got mine for around 35 to 40 quid from Thomann a couple of years ago i think. It's decent quality with good amount of storage, and the GK combo fits in there like a glove. I didn't really trust the shoulder strap metal links so I reinforced with some cable ties, just in case. However it's been fine, and the strap itself is padded and reasonably comfortable. However, there's no carrying handle. It's over the shoulder or not at all, unless you have very short arms. I improvised a carry handle myself with a spare bag strap I had. Portability wise, I've done a good 15min walk with it in my shoulder and it was portable enough to get around on the tube etc. I was glad to put it down though once I'd arrived at my destination. A rucksack style double strapped bag would be better, or even a small luggage bag on rollers. [quote name='Beedster' post='699772' date='Jan 3 2010, 06:19 PM']I really like the ability to carry this thing easily in one hand, with a bass in the other. I like it's shape; I always find that, irrespective of weight, square combos are never particularly easy to carry and I tend to end up with a sore knee from the banging (I recently sold my Markbass 1x12 combo for that reason). The options as I see it are a Briefcase/Minimark-type combo, seperate head/cab, one of which will go on my back (but in my experience it's usually the head, leaving me with a 1x12 or bigger still banging against my knee), or a combo like the GK which will also go on my back. TBH at the moment I'd prefer either the briefcase or the minimark as it unit will have to double as my practice amp and space is at something of a premium chez Beedster (there's a rather large Mesa rig taking up quite a lot of it).[/quote] i don't have any knee-knocking problems with the GK. It looks like it's smaller than the Minimark too. Minimark - 8.86w x 17.24h x 15.24d GK MB150 - 8.5 x 16 x 13.5 I hope I don't seem like a GK evangelist, I'm not It's just that it ticked all the checkboxes for me. I'd be looking at the Minimark too if I was in your situation. The only thing that annoyed me about the GK in fact was that their website used to say it had a line-in, and this was one of the reasons I bought it. However, it doesn't have a line-in. I never heard back from them either when I raised the issue with them about the discrepancy. For the Minimark, I'd say it looks pretty good. More power/headroom than the GK, although EQ is relatively basic. I thinks thats all I have to add Choose wisely... (if you're up my way, you're welcome to come and check out the GK) G

Here are my thoughts... I thought the Briefcase was very nice sounding a few years ago when I tried it at the Bass Centre, however it farted out when pushed, and I wouldn't chance taking it on a gig based on that experience - I guess it may work well for others. It would make a great home practice amp though. For the size/weight/price I'd go for a Gallien Krueger MB-150 (again). I pretty much bought it for reasons similar to what you describe. List price is more expensive than PJB, but I got a pretty good deal on it at the time which brought the price down quite a bit from the list price. (it's 27lbs or so, and goes over the shoulder quite easily in a Rockbag that fits it perfectly). Can't comment on the MB, but from what I've just read about it, it would probably be louder that the PJ, and more in the price range of the GK. I'd still drop the dough on the GK, although the MarkBass is a few pounds lighter. Cheers G

hi Alan, thanks for the suggestion - I'd read your thread too about your Shuker - quite interesting I can't say that I don't like the current tone, but I got it into my head that the Fat Stack tone would be more to my liking, as it's supposed to be a more mid focused tone. So the bottom line is that now I'm thinking that I'd rather hear a direct comparison of the pickups before my next move, as I'd rather not spend the money changing the pickups unless I have a better idea of how it will sound. I'm way too cack handed to butcher the electronics myself cheers G

Right - I've a bass that has Nordstrand dual coils, and I have a set Fat Stacks which I bought thinking it would be good to replace the DC's with them (after reading all the blurb about them). However, I can't say that I dislike the sound of the DC's and after playing the DC's again am wondering whether I want the hassle of getting the Fat Stacks fitted when I may not like the result as much as the DCs. So, ideally, does any one have or know of sound clips that demonstrate the differences between these pickups in the same bass? Hearing is believing as someone once said cheers G

Audio Technica ATH-M50 - really nice monitor phones and great bass response. Better than my Beyer Dynamic DT120's IMO (for a bass application at least). They are more than your budget, but if they are really very good, and worth the stretch if you can. cheers G

so it's a very very long time since I bought Combat Rock. I used to really like the track Red Angel Dragnet and something my g/f said this evening made me thing of it. Cue youtube... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfaDArVGV14"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfaDArVGV14[/url] apart from sounding better than I remembered it, it has a really nice bass line which I hadn't even noticed before. It (and some Old Speckled Hens) put a smile on my face Cake - The Distance [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__PU5CVSegg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__PU5CVSegg[/url] Both awesome lines that are interesting and totally complement the songs... hope someone enjoys them as much as I just did!

[quote name='funkle' post='648563' date='Nov 8 2009, 09:31 AM']Just for everyone's information. I had also posted my original question over on Talkbass. I have had quite a few responses over there, and thought it might be useful to everyone here to see some of the thoughts from there too. Here is the link: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595904"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595904[/url] Pete[/quote] Pete, a bit late to this thread, but I'm really happy with my F500 into my ACME, and would definitely recommend the F1 ro F500. It's the best sounding amp/cab combo I've used. However i think it's a bit rubbish how Mark Bass don't do dual voltages. A lot of the smaller heads of other brands offer this, and given that portability is a massive selling point on these heads, I think it's nuts that Mark Bass don't offer it (especially at their relatively higher prices). I can only think that it makes it easier for them to control a flood of cheaper imports from the US into Europe. e.g. $800 in Guitar Centre - roughly £500 at the moment, compared to £750 at GAK. Even once you've added US sales tax at around 8% you could still pick up a bargain over there - as long as you didn't then have the hassle of converting the voltage!! But of course, there's no conspiracy. cheers G

[quote name='E sharp' post='681600' date='Dec 11 2009, 06:47 PM']I can't get in . I click onto my old "favourite" - Gallery on line , then go to enter the shop , and "web page is unavailable" Tried googling , and nothing[/quote] [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com"]http://www.thebassgallery.com[/url] works fine for me

wow, 17.5 inch string spacing. that bass must be huge! if only it had fret lines. lovely looking bass nevertheless

Martin bought a Demeter Compulator from me - easy deal and a man of his word... absolutely no problems here. Thanks Martin!

hi Mike, I've done this twice now - most recently last weekend from NY to London. I bought a SKB bass case [url="http://www.studiospares.com/Cases-/SKB-44-Deluxe-Electric-Bass-Case/invt/407380"]like this one[/url] My bass was checked into the hold on both occasions, and this time I didn't loosen the strings and the bass was still in tune when I got it out to check it was ok. The only thing extra I did was shove some bubble wrap in the case to make sure it didn't move around inside the case too much. cheers G