Beer of the Bass

My current setup with my band is a Carlsbro 100 watt valve PA head, paired with an old Peavey 1x15" cabinet which is loaded with an Eminence Kappa 15 driver. I get plenty of volume for my needs out of this, but I would like to change the cabinet for something a bit lighter, as carting a ~30kg cabinet up to my flat at 2am is not much fun and I'm sure I'll do my back in eventually. It also has a bit less upper mid response than I'd like. I'm looking at several modern, lighter cabinets, and I'm looking to spend £200-£300 ideally, or could stretch to about £350. My band isn't incredibly loud - the drummer can be quite rocky but he has decent dynamics, and the guitarist is using a little 1x12" Fender combo. I play a mixture of fingerstyle and pick, like to use overdrive and fuzz pedals on some songs and play a five string, but I'm not too heavy on the lower range.
I'm considering the following options:
-Buying a TC BC212 and possibly disconnecting the tweeter
-Ashdown LB212, if anyone still has them in stock
-Laney NX115, though I'm wondering if it'll have high enough sensitivity with a 100 watt amp.
Are there any other options people would suggest, or opinions on the cabs above? I don't actually need to be louder than my current speaker, though a bit lighter would be nice. Most 4x10" cabs would be heavier than I want. Unfortunately, my budget doesn't stretch to things like the Barefaced cabs, and I don't have the work space for DIY.

I've only discovered them recently, starting with this performance. I stumbled across it as I have an old Hohner Pianet, like Hammill is playing here, and was looking for examples of them. His delivery does remind me of Withnail on occasion, but there's a genuine intensity about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzoaWrRYg98

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1319879396' post='1419528']
Mr Hillside got on well with Jimmy Pursey. Jimmy ASKED Steve to play with Sham 69 at Reading when they met a few months earlier. There's some hippie-punk on the 4th side of Live Herald, and some on Open.
[/quote]

I have a copy of Planet Gong's Floating Anarchy 1977, a post Gong Daevid Allen project. That's pure hippy-punk too! I guess Gong and co were genuinely underground and far enough outside the mainstream that punk didn't seem like a threat to them.
I think my favourite actual Gong album is Camembert Electrique, as it's somehow a bit spikier sounding than the later stuff, though I love the Radio Gnome trilogy as well.
I saw them live last time they were touring, and it was great. I like the way Daevid Allen is still really going for it, but doesn't try to look like a young man. A good example for other aging musicians to follow!

I had this happen at a festival in May. The house amp (curiously enough, another Marshall) died two songs into the set and wasn't coming back, but my DI was in front of it, and the gig was already running late, so I kept playing. We could sense some bass from the FOH, but it was completely indistinct. According to friends in the audience, it was fine out front. It wouldn't have worked on a double bass gig!

I know we're not supposed to mention prices on For Sale threads, but you could probably get away with pricing this one a bit higher! It looks very similar to my bass (which I always thought was German), except without the terrible refinish mine has.

There is a "report" button for this sort of thing.

Still around, if anyone fancies it. I may try Gumtree if it doesn't go here. It weighs a ton, but looks the part with a valve head and would be great as a rehearsal room cab.

Still here!

I see a few places still have them in stock. I bet one of these would work well with my 100 watt Carlsbro valve head, especially as I'm not a fan of tweeters. I've been looking for something lighter than my old peavey 1x15 (about 27kg), as I live up stairs. I wonder if that 14kg weight is correct?

I tend to dip into the early sections when I feel I need to work on specific things. Anyone used the Ray Brown book? That has some good stuff too, once you get past the pages and pages of non musical exercises.

Bump.

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1319204396' post='1411292']
You're welcome to my EA CXL 1x12 (not very light).....but I'm down in Bristol, so could be some difficult logistics.
[/quote]

Cheers for the offer, maybe not quite what I'm after though.

About 16.5mm between poles, so not much good for a P-bass, but good in most short scales.

Friday lunchtime bump with price revision.

Friday lunchtime bump for price revision. How can you resist? Would consider trade for slightly larger compact cab such as a quality 1x12".

This is an old Peavey 1x15" cabinet, which has had the driver replaced with an Eminence Kappa 15 and has had a new grille fitted using Fender style silver grillecloth. The tolex has a few scuffs, but is all there. The original handle is missing, but I have added side handles, using proper t-nuts for strength. The driver is an older (late 90s) 300 watt, 8 ohm Eminence Kappa 15. I bought the speaker from an eBay seller who had stored it away, boxed and unused, so the driver has only done around six or so gigs. I have used it with a 100 watt amp and four string bass, so the driver should not have been subjected to any undue stress. Connection is via a single 1/4" jack. This is quite a heavy cab, but would look great with your valve amp! It's a decent sounding cab, good efficiency, quite old-school but not boomy.
Price now reduced to a paltry £45. I have something else on the way and I need the space!
If you're in the Edinburgh area but without transport, I may be able to help.

NOW SOLD

Euphonic Audio Wizzy 10 cabinet. This is one of the smallest, lightest cabs out there, and is great for double bass or bass guitar. It's rated at 4 ohms, 250 watts. Manufacturers' specs can be found here: [url="http://www.eaamps.com/index.php?p=wizzy10&m=products"]http://www.eaamps.co...zy10&m=products[/url]

I've owned it from new, and it is in excellent condition - as good as most "new" gear in the shops. The only mark I can see on it is a tiny scuff on one of the corner protectors. It has been gigged a few times, but I've taken good care of it, kept it in a padded bag and never driven it past its limit.
It comes with a padded bag (made for a cajon drum), which is exactly the right size for the Wizzy 10 with room for a small head (i.e Markbass, Acoustic Image etc.) The bag does have a small paint mark on the back, not sure how that got there!
These are quite hard to come by in the UK, and currently retail at £450. I'd like [s]£300[/s] £280, including UK postage by Parcelforce with thorough packaging, or [s]£280[/s] £260 collected.


EDIT: Withdrawn from sale. Have decided to hang on to this.

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1319058627' post='1409558']
Ha, I saw this thread and clicked on it because I thought of your bass! It sounded very nice and growly I thought - guess it depends how much that's just the bass - what does it sound like with other pickups in, you ever tried?
[/quote]

Hi Lawrence, at the gig where you heard the bass, I'd have been using the toaster pickup at the neck on the majority of the songs, both pickups together on one tune, and the Darkstar soloed on only one song. From the sound of the toaster I reckon I'd be as happy with two of those, but I'd need to make some kind of surround to cover the huge rout. The bass started out with just one pickup, an old japanese Maxon single coil mudbucker lookalike in the mid position. This sounded good but was too microphonic. I replaced that later with a Dimarzio model one, which didn't have the upper mid "clank" I like. I changed that for the Darkstar as it was the only quality single coil I could find to fill the huge rout in my bass. Then later I added the toaster at the neck for a bit more versatility. The Darkstar does have a bit more presence in the very high treble than most passive pickups do - I can hear that when I record direct, but I tend not to like using cabs that go that high, so it's kind of lost on what I do.
Since I'm now using my five string (there's a thread on it in Build Diaries) for gigs, I'm thinking I'd be as well to move the Darkstar on and stick another Kent Armstrong toaster in instead.
Hope I haven't drifted too far off topic...

I've got one in my four string - it's a good pickup but I don't think there's anything magical about it. I wonder if I should eBay it for silly money while they're still scarce!

Although my Highway 1 Jazz didn't have it, and would have been fine without a pickguard. So there is at least one cheaper option for those who want to look like Jaco.

I feel like the acoustic sound of a bass does have a bearing on how it sounds plugged in - not so much in the timbre of the note but in the envelope. My home-made four string has a fast attack which can come across as quite aggresive, plus very slow decay/long sustain. This character has persisted through several pickup changes, though the balance of bass/mids/treble has changed with the pickups. In a mix, those kinds of subtleties of character may not always be noticeable, but it does affect my playing. Though there are so many factors involved that the "X wood will give Y sound" approach of the link posted by the OP is of little use IMO.

I know some people change to a 12AT7 (or ECC81) to tame the overdrive a bit. Any 12AT7 will have less gain than the stock 12AX7 (ECC83). The two different names (12A*7 and ECC8*) are just the US and UK numbering systems for the same valves.
I don't have a Terror Bass, but I've swapped preamp valves around in a few different amps. The difference between brands of the same type are pretty subtle, so you're not going to radically change your sound with another brand of 12AX7.
Hot Rox have always been pretty good to deal with, and their prices tend to be OK, so I'd recommend buying from them.

This looks pretty good for anyone in Edinburgh;
[url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/vintage-hondo-professional-2-bass/88995517"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/vintage-hondo-professional-2-bass/88995517[/url]

It looks the same as the Westbury basses, and has a Dimarzio. Not bad for £90.

One of the cabs is empty. You'd think the listing would mention that! And I usually go by the assumption that when sellers say "unsure if it works" they mean "It doesn't work, but I'm not telling you that".

Am I missing something, or are the bridge pieces further back on the G than the E string? Unless you string it left-handed, that'll limit the intonation adjustment a bit, surely.