chris_b

I love these guys. So many great players around.

That's probably not true. That clarity will enable people to hear your bass lines through the racket made by those loud guitars and shed-building drummers. Of course you'll need the right amount of volume, but you will require less volume to cut through if your sound is clear and well defined.

I haven't used a 412 since 1973! But I did use my 212 and 2x112's on a gig a couple of years ago. I used both TH500's to drive them. I was so loud that I had to turn the whole lot down to normal volume levels so that I could hear the guitarist! I could have been that loud with just the 212.

We cramp up when we are trying to play faster than our muscles can manage. Practice until you can play without cramping.

I just think of all the brilliant players who somehow got by without ramps and stuff!

I know. I don't like out of focus basses either!

This is why you always give every gig 101%. No matter how bad a gig is there is always the possibility that someone, who can help the band (or you), is listening. I was asked to join a good band once because the band leader, who had dropped in for a beer, was impressed that I was giving it my all to a couple of disinterested punters.

For a couple of years I've been using an Aguilar AG700 through Barefaced cabs. Before that it was a TH500, now my backup. IMO these amps punch way above their weight. My bass is a Sadowsky Metro RV5.

Told to me by a guitarist who played with a singer from the 60's, who had number 1 hits. This guy was an alcoholic and always got whizzed before the gig. One night he excelled himself and drank his supply and the green room dry. The band used to play the first number without him and then played him on. To get to the stage he had to walk down a flight of stairs. He got about half way before he started to fall. He was hanging on to the bannisters and doing a partially controlled tumble down the final flight. As he staggered down stage to the mic stand the band noticed (in horror) that during this entrance he'd plopped himself and a massive brown stain was spreading all over the back of his white trousers.

It happens. Just do your best to catch up, look confident and the rest of the band should never draw attention to the guy who's messed up.

There is always a compelling reason to have one, or the other, or both.

About 10 years ago, my heart sank when the band leader announced he was thinking about all of us dressing up like cartoon characters!! It was a close run thing, but thankfully he changed his mind!

An amp rated at 900 watts at 4 ohms will put a maximum 450 watts into an 8 ohm cab. 2 x 8 ohm cabs look like 4 ohms to the amp. 2 x 200 watt cabs will be fine with your amp, but the amp has the potential to put 900 watts into 400 watts of cabs. You should be fine if you keep the volume down to a level the cabs can handle. The system you mention seems unbalanced to me. I see a 900 watt amp as a gigging-in-a-loud-band amp. 2x8" cabs are not loud-band cabs IMO.

Agreed. There are many myths about early Fenders. Most of us should just find the best sounding bass we can afford and get lessons with any cash left over.

It looks like a stretched out P bass pickup. The early 70's was a big time for experimenting with gear.

But some old Fenders were special, which is why the reputation exists. Over time many of the best old Fender basses gravitated to the studios. It's an environment where an extra, however subtle, level of quality in the tone will be noticed and appreciated. Then again. . . most of the first call session players, the ones with their 59 P basses at the studio, will use modern instruments when they are gigging.

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It's not "insane" to know the difference between a home studio and professional studio if you want to go into business in the recording industry.

The last home recording I did, I put my TH500 DI'd straight into Logic. A much better sound than any of the bass samples provided by Logic. Most studios I've been in since the 70's have preferred to DI the bass. That is the most prevalent way of recording a bass. Unless you want to capture the sound of a speaker breaking up, an amp doesn't add anything over a good quality bass and DI.

Anything old moves into the "antique" and rare collectable world and the prices rise because demand is greater than supply. Fender in pre-CBS days also had variable QC, but the good ones were so good that no one remembers the dogs. In the CBS days Fender were primarily about making money so many of the changes were not good for quality. A lot of the good pre-CBS instruments have been snapped up over the years by a generation of studio players. But. . . . electric basses are very cheap, even the expensive ones, when you compare them to the prices of other instruments. Collectable electric guitars can range into the hundreds of thousands of pounds, and most concert grade classical instruments will start at house mortgage levels.

I had that with my Ampeg SVT3-PRO. I could get the master to about 3/4 volume and stay silent.

Sorry to hear the bad news, but if you are good enough to be asked back then you are far more than a "hobby bassist". Maintain all those contacts and play as much as the new job allows. Never stop working at being a better player. Good luck for the future.

My rig used to be a Lull PJ5 into a TH500 through 2 Berg AE112's which were replaced by a Berg CN212. IMO two of the most excellent sounding rigs I've owned. Are you using any pedals? Apart from the phase thing, I have no idea why you aren't best sounding bass player in your town!

+1 for cycle shops and their cardboard boxes. Also expanded polystyrene sheets from B&Q.

Ampeg recommended my SVT3-PRO was run with the master as high as it would go and to balance the gain for the overall volume. I get a sound I like with my Aguilar amps by starting both volumes at 12 o'clock and adjusting the master for the overall volume.