chris_b

[quote name='pineweasel' timestamp='1486640843' post='3233429'] Intriguing... does the Super Compact sound much different to the BB2 with the tweeter off? [/quote] The BB2 is a bigger cab so goes lower and bigger.The SC has a less big low end. Pretty much how Alex describes them on the BF site. I prefer low mids and my previous cab was a Beg CN212 which has very tight lows. The sudden jump to a [i]big[/i] low end in the BB2 was not what I wanted. If you're coming from any other cabs you probably won't think the BB2 is too big down there. I have a PJ5 with flats and a full, fat amp. This could all get out of control if it wasn't tamed by the SC's, so they are perfect for me.

[quote name='Prince_phil' timestamp='1486545975' post='3232575'] Im looking to buy a single cab to use for most of the gigs [/quote] Where are you?

This is so subjective. Some players sound terrible to me and everyone else thinks they have the best sound in the world! So who can say! IMO good advice is all about common sense. Buy the best gear you can find and make yourself afford it. Start with a good bass with good strings. One thing kills tone more than anything else, gear thrashing away at the top of its range, so get an amp that doesn't need much EQing to get "your" tone and is more powerful than you need. Believe that more "headroom" will get you a better sound, because it will. Get the best cabs you can find. They'll translate your sound into the SPL that everyone else hears. Cut corners here and the you're wasting your talent and the quality of all your other gear and throwing away the best opportunity you have for greatness. A huge low end causes problems in too many rooms. The best bass tone is located in the mids and low mids. Get that right and you can own the mix, but don't go too low or you'll undo all the good work. People say there is no difference between bell wire and good leads. I don't believe that. The people who don't benefit from good leads probably have a bad sound to start with. Get good leads. Gramma pads are supposed to reduce the bad sound your bass can generate on hollow stages. Their benefits may be limited to specific locations but I've experience of them killing the problems of one bad stage, so as they don't hurt and can work, I'll use them as an insurance policy. IMO the guys who have the best tone are the best players. It's a sliding scale from there down and the guys who work harder usually sound better. Improving your tone is more than twiddling the knobs in a certain way. Get lessons and make yourself worthy of all the great great you buy. The only way you can get this right is if you use your experience, brain and ears. Protect your ears or you won't be able to tell a bar of music from a bar of soap.

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1486580648' post='3233022'] Thunderfunk and barefaced do seem to be a good combination.. [/quote] Oh, yesss....

[quote name='leroybasslines' timestamp='1486127938' post='3229432'] Take that, Donald. Arriba! [/quote] If you want to add political and ethical correctness to your buying decisions you're going to save a lot of money. Don't buy any bass that came out of the Cort factory in Korea or now from Indonesia. Cort moved because of industrial action by Korean workers complaining about working practises that have been banned here for 100 years. And give those Chinese basses a miss. Better stop buying that petrol from Saudi and gas from Russia and check out those clothes you're wearing as well. The British Government, Robin Cook, tried an "ethical" foreign policy. It lasted a few months, then they had to go back to doing business with the despots and dictators. I was looking at the possibilities of a buy British policy. I'e got the cabs and I'd love to find the right Overwater, but so far I've not found any British amps that I prefer to my US ones.

The Barefaced must be up there in the list of cabs to check. If you want 1 small cab that will cover most gigs, it's going to be a short list. IME they are one of the few 112 cabs that can compete in tone and volume with a 212 cab. I used a BB2 and found I preferred the Super Compact. BF replaced my Bergantino cabs. I can run 1 SC but I would never have run 1 Berg. I always needed 2. My loud rig was 3 Berg 112 cabs, now my loud rig is 2 SC's. IME the BF's are the only small cab that I'd gig on its own and even then I still run 2 SC's. I just prefer the sound of 2 cabs. If you expand your plan to run 2 112 cabs the list becomes longer.

Everyone can be replaced and that includes in 9 to 5 jobs as well. In bands great players get replaced and crap ones can stay forever.

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1486466700' post='3231993'] You said it - "The guitarist wrote the music". It doesn't have to be an "orchestra or pit band" for there to be arrangements and it isn't "arrogant" for a writer of a piece of music to visualise the entire piece, rather than just a simple melody/top line and to want parts played in a certain way. Why, because it's "pop or rock", does that mean it has to be a free for all? Afraid you're being naïve. [/quote] Really guys. . . . this is the real world.

Ah, OK, that's better. I used to record gigs with a mini disk so that I could work on my playing. You get a different perspective listening to yourself.

Is this a rehearsal or a gig? The last thing I'd want is a band rehearsal "available online".

You sitting down with the bass player and "discussing the situation" is the worst advice ever! It's not your place to discuss band personnel or politics. Keep well away from that. It's down to the band what they want to do and they won't thank you for poking your nose in!! And as I say, the guy is gone anyway, so why should you want to give the gig away to someone else when you could be doing it?

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1486389948' post='3231318'] I would really like to buy more cables from him but there's just one thing stopping me. . . . [/quote] Me too. . . . Dave's cables don't break (and I have spares) so I really don't need any more.

Bands change and move on and if one member can't keep up, can't cover the new songs or doesn't fit in then his gig is in jeopardy. If things have got to the point that the guy is already "gone" bar the actual act then step in. One way or another, someone else is going to get the gig so it might as well be you.

I have 2 PJ's (one I modded and one I bought) and IMO a PJ just sounds like a P with a bit more EQ. I have the J turned off on my Mike Lull PJ5 because it sounds better as a straight P. My Jazz basses and Lakland sound better than the PJ if I want that sound. I'll swim against the tide here and say I don't think a PJ is worth the mod. If you want to cover the sonic territory you still need a Jazz or another 2 pickup bass so adding a J to a Precision is just the sound equivalent of putting go faster stripes on it. If you have a P bass that sounds good, be happy with it. If you need a different sound, get another bass. Sometimes more is not better.

OBBM cables for me.

The backup for my Thunderfunk 750A is a TH500. In fact it's now the other way around. The TH500 has taken over as my go-to amp and the TF has become the backup.

Turn the amp up, take the strings down, play lightly, relax every muscle in your body and breath deeply and regularly. Adopt this style for all songs you play and practise the difficult songs until you can play them with no effort. Start by playing the numbers slower, at a speed you can manage and speed them up. Get to the point where you can easily play these numbers at a faster speed than you need, then you will be playing them well when you get into the right tempo. If you can't make any of this work get a few lessons to point you in the right direction.

Finally Fender come up with some great sounding and playing basses and all anyone can do now is gripe about the colours!!

I don't know these amps very well, but the WT800 was a basic ingredient in many touring bands for years. I don't understand how Eden could have dismantled that legacy so comprehensively. IME emphasising the mids and low mids in bad rooms can get you a better sound rather than trying to push more low end. IMO even in good sounding rooms the mids especially low mids will make the bass sound "better".

FFS. . . . why do we have such a problem in this country applauding our successes? We have been, and might still be, amongst the world leaders in this field. I don't care how much back slapping goes on, I'm happy that we celebrate every British musician who "made it".

I'd insist on a bank transfer of funds and properly declared value. If he says OK then you've made a sale. I'd expect not to hear back though.

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1485728895' post='3226263']I pose the eternal question to you, as a "white boy" an old "white Boy" at that, am i just the wrong colour or ethnic Anglo Saxon mix to be playing Latin. [/quote] It's not genes, it's culture. Who do you think was the bass player on Mr Big Stuff? It was white as white Vernie Robbins. If like me you grew up listening to the Billy Cotton Band Show and records by Frank Ifield and Shirley Abicaire you started at a massive musical disadvantage. Duck Dunn was a white musician in a black music world, as was Steve Cropper, Dan Penn and Tommy Cogbill. Those guys grew up listening to the right music. If Tito Puente grew up in the UK in the 50's he'd probably sound like just another percussionist. With our backgrounds most of us just have to work twice as hard to get half the way there.

Yes, 2 cabs will be 6 ohms. Just above the minimum on most amps. As usual, over-thinking is rampant. The guys who are running at 12 ohms say they are loud enough. . . . which is what Alex said on the website. If 12 ohms is 2/3rd of the volume of an 8 ohm cab then just turn the master volume up 2 clicks and there will be no difference in overall volume. I don't see the point in small 4ohm cabs, IMO the best idea is to leave yourself the option of adding another cab if you want more volume. And anyway. . . . IME one of Alex's 8 ohm cabs (even his 12 ohm cabs) are pretty much the equivalent to other manufacturers 4 ohm cabs.

Just got one. But working OK now. Didn't this happen before? I thought it was dodgy ads that caused this.

I'm seeing more musicians wearing hearing aids when they're not playing. No one who has played in a loud band gets out of this with their hearing intact. It is critical to protect your hearing [i]before[/i] you have problems. When you have issues like tinnitus etc it's already too late.