chris_b

I've used Aguilar, Thunderfunk, TC, Markbass and GB amps and they have all been ok.

When I play at home I'm practising songs, working on a technique or running through arrangements. The one thing I'm not doing is trying to get a "good" sound. So I just use my regular gigging amp, which these days is 700 watts. There is a Gain, Master and dB cut button on the amp and a volume control on the bass itself. I also isolate the cab from the floor. Just in case.

On the gig last night I used my BF Three10. That's the One10 with the new-to-me Two10 under it. Maybe I could have used the Two10 on its own but these days the bands I play with are too loud to let me get away with the One10 on its own. I just feel more comfortable playing a loud 5 string with a lot of low mids through as many speakers as I can. So the Three10 worked very well. I got a lot of compliments on my sound and swapped phone numbers with a drummer and a sax player. . . . both band leaders.

That covers bands draw from a large pool of songwriters is their strength. How could it be that Joe Bloggs, a postman from somewhere is going to write a dozen songs that are all better than Sting or Jim Webb could write? He wouldn't be a postman for long if he could. So it isn't ridiculous but a fact of life that semi pro originals bands are not going to be writing at the same level as seasoned pro songwriters. Every songwriter is up against the competition. Every song is in judged against every other song that has so far been written and the preferences of the listener. If you write a hit, the hardest job you face is writing the next one. If you can't convince anyone by the strength of your writing then you probably don't deserve their time.

In that case just buy another BB2 and run 1, 2 or 3.

Exactly. Tonight I'm part of an evening of Rock, Blues, Reggae, Ska with a bit of World Music thrown in for good measure. Two front men, about 80% originals and a great audience. There will be some busking, a few c*ck-ups and a lot of fun. This is going to be good.

In the last year or two I had only gigged with my Lull P and the Sadowsky J. I decided to keep those and sell everything else. Easy decision really. I miss a couple of the basses that went, but they were no use to me sitting in the cases.

Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Ronnie Wood, Tim Bogert. Not very interesting? Seriously?

I'd go back to any Cream gig between August and October 1966. For that brief period of a couple of months they were the best band the world has ever seen. Possibly to the Blue Triangle in Ealing Broadway. Then I wouldn't have far to walk home.

The Genzler MG350 and a BF One10 would make a great sound in a very small package.

But the point is you don't want to fill out the sound. That's not how it's done. Listen to any record and the levels don't go up or down during solos. Quiet sections aren't quiet. The arrangement will change so that less is played but the level remains the same. No one plugs in a pedal to fill the sound out on a record, so why do it on a gig? If the OP's sound is thin during the solos then it will be thin in the rest of the song and the racket the guitarist is making is covering it up. Sort the band's sound out (maybe add some natural authority to the bass tone) and the guitar can play or not and the band sound will be good.

The OP was about compressor pedals.

I sold my Epifani UL410 and went to Berg 112's and 210's, and now I'm using Barefaced 112's. Your budget isn't in the same league as the Epifani (or my cabs) so I'm not sure what suggestions I can make which will equate in terms of tone and volume.

Compression was probably developed during the early days of the film industry and, I would have thought, would have been taken up by the recording studios pretty early on. I have never used compression and none of the guys I see playing at a local level use it either. I can understand its use in the studio where uneven playing needs to be straightened out and maybe some body added to the sound but on a gig I prefer not to use anything that's going to eat into the dynamics of my playing.

Sorry, I don't believe that any amp is going to sound any better at 2 ohm than at 4 ohm. Especially through the cabs you're using.

If the band sounds "thin" when this guitarist is soloing then the problem (if it is a problem) is there when he isn't. Last night I was playing in a trio and the guitarist stopped playing altogether when he was talking to the audience. The bass and drums just kept playing. Same when he was soloing. We sounded fine, the band sounded fine. It's called dynamics. If you feel you have to add some sort of sound effect because the chords have stopped then the sound and balance of the band wasn't right in the first place. Sounds to me like the guitarist loses confidence when he hasn't got a "wall of sound" behind him or he doesn't understand how a band should sound.

In the absence of a budget. . . . If you are going to gig this rig that should define what you're going to buy, not the home practice bit. I'd go for a minimum 350 watts. You don't get a good sound out of a small amp being pushed too hard. A bigger amp running a half capacity will sound far better. Same for speaker cabs. You can go very small for playing at home but for gigs, even small rooms, you can end up with a noisy audience, noisy musicians, corners and soft furnishings which will suck the life and volume out of your sound. If that happens you might as well not be there and whatever you bought would have been a waste of money. For gigs you need more than a practice amp. A 112 is a minimum. The best small cabs out there are very small but sound much bigger and better and with one of those you could probably get away with a 110.

THat's good. . . . but no one creates out of "thin air". Every player has a library of influences, lines and sounds in his head which have been accumulated from years of listening and assimilating the music of others.

Get used bass so you can sell it on without losing too much if you decide you'd prefer a different bass. Put your 4 string basses away and play the 5er exclusively until working with the new layout becomes second nature. What cab(s) do you use? You might need an upgrade to do the sound of the new bass justice.

I don't know about entry level 5 string basses. My first was a Musicman Sting Ray 5. Which I though was a great first 5er. Lakland Skylines are great instruments and a lot of bass for the money.

All in a days work for a bass player.

Sorry I haven't read through 14 pages. . . . . When I list Unread Content the message at the end of the page is "load more activity". That's OK, but it says that when there is no more activity to load, ie on the last page. Surely the software knows if it has loaded the final post? At that point it would help if it automatically flagged "There is no more activity to display" rather than telling me there are more posts to display when there aren't!

Why limit yourself? I play in covers bands AND originals bands and often both in the same band. Playing a written line, adapting one or coming up with a new line is all part of our basic craft. If you're serving the song then neither is better than the other.

If the BF Four10 is out of your price range (personally I'd be saving up the difference) and you really want a 410 so you're having to look at an "regular" 410. . . . how about checking out a BF Two10. IME the point of Alex's cabs is that they all punch way above their weight, so a BF Two10 should be able to take on a "regular" 410. Maybe save up for the other 210 later, if you need it, which you might find you don't.

Good news. Don't stop looking around and see where this takes you in the mean time.