chris_b

Sad news. He played during my favourite Bowie period.

I think all sales have/are dropping through the floor. Recession mentality is still strong and currently very few of us seem to be brave enough to throw lots of money at musical instruments, especially when the quality of the lower priced gear is so good. Also sellers don't do themselves or others any favours. If gear doesn't sell in the first week there is an instant price drop. I wouldn't buy anything for the first few months because the price is going to keep gliding down. You just know that, "This is my final price" will be followed the next week by a lower, "One time price". Hang on and it usually goes even lower. If you're selling, be brave, work out your best price and stick to it.

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1460105512' post='3022555'] Pub gigs have always been determined by how loud the un-mic'd drums are [/quote] Not last week. The SRV style guitarist had to mic up the drums (he was a dep and playing quieter than the usual drummer) because he was getting swamped by the two of us! All very silly, but as I said before, the audience loved it!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1460096417' post='3022455'] The title comes from the moment when his first band upgraded their one, shared combo to a WEM Dominator, rated at 17 watts. [/quote] I currently have 2 800 watt amps, and each has more watts than my first 3 bands put together. For my first gig the whole band, including PA, had 150 watts. You could hold a conversation anywhere in the room!

In the 60's and 70's I built up from a 50 watt valve amp through a 118 cab to a 100 watt valve amp through a 412 100 watt cab. I don't know how to compare that with now but we must have been a lot quieter. I guess that one measurement is that I didn't start being affected by tinnitus until the early 90's, over 25 years in. I think that volume has become excessive and more of an issue in the last 20 years. These days I'd say 60% of the gigs I do are too loud, so those bands are too loud, and therefore I'm too loud as well, but I don't see audiences or promoters complaining about it. The levels can vary but IMO we can often be louder than makes sense. It seems the quieter bands have fallen by the wayside and it's the loud ones that are gigging the most. At the end of the day I play as loud as the band leader wants me to. My gear will cover everything with ease, from an acoustic duo to Led Zep on 11. I'm flexible enough to do the job I have to do to, so while I have a view, there's no point in complaining, so I don't. My ear plugs are the most important part of my rig.

A few years ago we went to see the Fela Kuti show in at Sadler's Wells, 3 times. On the last time Femi got up and did a couple of numbers at the end. We thought the cast was good but Femi just blew them away. My first experience of Afrobeat. Those nights were some of the best music I've heard in decades.

Nice rig.

IME, the cab is the messenger so it often gets shot first. It's easy to put the less "coloured" cabs in the frame when the amp, bass or technique might be at the heart of an "issue". Getting your "sound" is not always as straightforward as it used to be. I'd suggest that modern cabs are the strongest link in the chain and if you're used to "old school" cabs then it'll take a lot more readjustment than you'd expect to adapt to hearing your "sound" rather than the sound of the cab.

Our old drummer in the cover band had a Vistalite and he also had the Vistalite with the lights in. He always used it because it "punched through" the noisy guitars. It just sounded harsh and hard to me. His wooden kit sounded much better.

I don't buy the "nobody cares what the bass sounds like, so what it sounds like doesn't matter" silliness. That is a myth and a fable. Everything you do as a performer matters. If you operate it right, a better bass will sound better, which will make you feel better about your playing, which will make you play better, which [i]will[/i] be noticed by the people who really matter to a bass player, ie the other band members, the potential band members who are in the audience and any band leaders who are looking to replace their bass player because he sounds crap because he doesn't think that what the bass sound like matters to anyone. I played Mustang Sally a couple of weeks ago in a band of sh*t-hot pro musicians. Wilson Pickett would have signed up there and then. That's how Nathan East got started, when Barry White saw his band in a club and signed them up as his touring band. What does surprise me are the players who have no intention of gigging and have a stadium rig set up at home. One example that raised my eyebrows was a 500 watt Thunderfunk and 2 Epifani 410 cabs set up in the front room! To all the guys who just want to sound good at home, buy an AER combo. They are the best.

Tone every time. Playability is personal, it's about what I like and don't like about the feel of a bass. Hopefully I'm good enough to be able to play any instrument, even the ones I don't get on with. Tone is what a musician sends out into the world to be judged on. It's what others hear when they make decisions about my playing. A great tone is everything.

I don't remember any fuss being made when Trace came out with their black painted boxes. Those things looked pretty second-hand with in 5 mins of loading them into the van. Also no fuss over the tuff coated Peavey cabs in the 80's. I seem to recall that the sound of a cab was the important thing back then.

That's the cross for having a famous parent or sibling. Unrealistic comparisons.

Groove Collective and Jonathan Maron. I love these guys.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1459627520' post='3018235'] [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBzjIxHwvc"]https://www.youtube....h?v=nhBzjIxHwvc[/url] [/quote] It worked for me.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1459801191' post='3019868'] Ringo Starr miles ahead of Steve Gadd? Can't be right! [/quote] At least they are both there. . . as is Earl Palmer and Levon Helm. There are some puzzling inclusions, Mrs White Stripes for instance (in the 100 greatest drummer list. Really?) but I can live with that because they've included the fantastic Ritchie Hayward, legendary Bernard Purdie, the marvellous Freddie Below and the essential southern soul drummers Al Jackson Jr and Roger Hawkins. Looks like a good list to me.

IMO anyone who can come up with music like this can look as pleased and arrogant as he likes. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc[/media]

I'd disagree with the numbering and some of the drummers listed, but many (or more than I was expecting) of the greats are there.

[quote name='ern500evo' timestamp='1459761292' post='3019192'] What is it about the look that people seem to dislike so much about the BF's? [/quote] Don't believe that the word "people" represents a big number. The percentage of people who have heard BF cabs and still dislike them is very small.

Stop bickering, everyone!! Start posting some good grooves.

A direct descendent from Booker T and the MG's and The Meters.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1459633280' post='3018304'] Super twins are very loud. You'd be wasting your money on the rumble 410. [/quote] +1000 I used 2 SC's tonight in a very, very loud band and they didn't break a sweat. If you want something louder get a Big Twin 2. A Rumble cab is way out of its depth in this company.

Whatever volume your Trace cabs were putting out will easily be bettered by a Barefaced Super Twin and the Big Twin 2 will blow them out of the water. The Super Twin is only a bit larger than a 210 so could also cover any smaller gigs. The only issue is. . . will you like the sound of any new cab you buy. With BF cabs your tone will be clearer, deeper and fuller. You'll easily cut through the mix. I don't know of any one who hasn't impressed the band when they've switched to BF cabs. Your safety net is that you get to return the cab within a month if you're not happy.

Try it. You only need a lead and a good pair of ears. In theory your plan can work, but there could be downsides. You might get problems balancing the sound with the bass coming out of 2 places. IMO the more you put through the PA the more you'll need someone out front to balance the sound.

Is the Eden a loud 500 watts? My TH500 is very loud. . . . IMO it's a louder 500 watts than the Eden and it seems to be easily as loud as the 800 watt Mesa D800. Anyway, I'd change the amp first. More cab will sound better but that doesn't seem like it's the issue at the moment.