Owen

Perhaps sarcastic is too strong a word, somewhat exasperated would be better. I was just asking for real world advice on amps and expIainig why they need to be able to take abuse. I do not have a local emporium (such a good word ) because I live in the sticks. Even if I had I would not trust them or any other shop, they are there to sell what they have on their shop floor. I do not have infinite funding, these will have to last several years as the Laneys have had to do. We have been nursing them through that period. We used to have a technician, we no longer do. We have a 20 year old working as an "apprentice" with no one working with him - cheapskate FE money saving. He is a lovely bloke, but when he told me he had ordered fuses but meant valves........ you get the picture. I would love my students to look after kit, but they just do not - it is not for the want of trying, cajoling, threatening etc. We are so far from being profligate it is not true. ALL the furniture in my dept is stuff that other depts have thrown out - every last chair and desk. The caretaker knows not to move any furniture on until we have had a gander. All I wanted was a few pointers to inexpensive amps which experienced players had used and thought "Well, it's not a Dumble, but it's not bad at all".

Thanks all for your concerns about how I run my dept. I will look at the Peavey, Vox and Fender options suggested.

I came, I saw, I purchased. It was easy. Like you did not know that already.

The concept of musicians respecting kit is admirable. It is how things should be. The concept of students respecting kit is admirable, it just does not happen. The idea that I can drill the care of other peoples property into them is attractive but not realistic (this is not just my students but this generation in general). 80% are fine (Musos). The other 20% (wanabees) are not vindictave or deliberately destructive, but to them it is "just college kit" and we will just "buy new ones". They might be musos by the time they leave, they might not. We do not have a technician for stuff to be signed in and out. Obviously we teach them how to use it, but what they do when we are there and what they do when we are not are two different thing.

Valves being knocked out. Switched on and off very quickly. Fuses going. Being moved while the amps are still hot. It could be that the amps are not happy in themselves, but if they are not being hassles they are fine. Education is great, but my students operate outside the laws of normality when it comes to equipment. They can even break Neutrik jack plugs.

I teach on a BTEC music course. We had a couple of Laney DC30 valve amps. Channel switching and sounded good. Obviously my students could not EVER look after them and we were constantly mending them. They could not seem to go more than 3 weeks without breaking them. We need something SS probably which will take a hammering but not sound rubbish and cost approx £250. Obv they will turn everything up to the max as soon as we turn our backs - it appears to be in their job description. Any ideas?

[sub]I have 3 students who have Gear4music basses. They are fine and dandy for the money. You will need new strings. Lowering the bridge is a 20 minute job with a set of needle files. Probably the fingerboard could do with true-ing, however, as I said, they are fine and dandy. They come with a big HSC. My first pupil sold hers on ebay for £140 so the bass cost about £220. Is a bass you would like to play the music of dead composers on with a symphony orchestra backing you? No. Will it be a cheap and cheerful entry into DB world? Yes.[/sub]

Feel the love, people!

I think you should use a Peavey IPR1600. It only weighs 7 pounds and it is great. But then I would say that http://basschat.co.uk/topic/162288-aguilar-db659-sold-peavey-ipr1600-skb-3u-x-rack-sold-l150/page__p__1595968__hl__peavey%20ipr__fromsearch__1#entry1595968

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1334853751' post='1622438'] Uhm, North Wales is close to Dublin, and so close to erm... any chance? Thought not [/quote] It's not often that where I live is central

I am on the 140B road at the moment. I honestly thought that they were Honeys but it turns out I was wrong. Oops. They are great and so far what I am happiest with. I just put a new set of Honeys on before the Gut experience and Daf suggested I tuned everything down a 4th and stuck a C on the top for a G to get the low tension thing. I did that tonight and am really digging it. The bow "grab" is slightly compromised, but I will let them settle before coming to any conclusions really.

I have been looking at the Cordes Lambert site but cannot actually make it work

I could host one in my Church hall but am at the top of North Wales and I guess off the beaten track. What would be great would be to have one with an acknowledged DB luthier on hand to advise on setups/repairs etc. Obv we would need to fund this if enough people were interested.

If only the arco thing was not an issue. Apparently Bottesini used to have G made of silk for arco tone but I cannot see that being a long term option. Perhaps I can have a seperate bass for guts! Surely that would be the BC way!

Did I miss this?

I had a very odd experience last night. I went to do a session and the singer turned up with a Double Bass in tow. I had done something for her before and she liked my playing but could not get the sound she wanted during mixing. To say I was taken aback is an understatement but I bit my tounge and went with the flow. The bass was the horrible-est school plywood bass you ever saw with one weed-whacker G, gut D and A and a REALLY thin metal E. I tried it and what do you know it recorded fantastically (after I reset the bridge). The guts just went down beautifully, nice weight and girth to the sound and no annoying sustain, just a well articulated low frequency event. Obv they bowed like.............um....... something unpleasant, but the recorded pizz sound was pretty addictive. The action was really low as well. The neck angle was a lot more shallow than mine and the whole thing seemed to be effortless to play. Projection? Nope. Acoustic tone? Nope. Recorded using an AKG 414? Just yummy. I have never played guts before and it was a revelation I would pay SERIOUS coin to get a response like the gut strings but with easy bowing. My bass is pretty well set up, but the ease of playing on the guts was quite something. There were rumblings about a DB bash recently. Is it still on? I think I need to try some other basses. Maybe mine just needs a different set up. Comments?

Thanks all. After all that I went and bought an AI which has no fan at all For the time being at least!