chris_b

As always, not nice to find out some has passed. His legacy is the music, which was great and that film. . . which dented his reputation for me forever.

On the other hand. . . . buy a decent bass amp and the pre should be every bit as good as the SansAmp.

Matt, One simple option could be to use an ordinary SS or D class (non valve) amp and put your SansAmp into the return socket. You'll be bypassing the pre on the amp and using the power section. Dad beat me to it.

A P bass is a "one trick pony". But what a trick. It's the best in the book, which is why it is still the most played and recorded bass on the planet. A 2 pickup bass, such as the Jazz, has as many "tricks" as the player has the ability to find. There is nothing special or better in an active bass. It is only duplicating the controls on the pre amp but putting them on the bass, for convenience.

Hi Matt, I'm curious to know why you've decided to take this route when you don't seem to know how or even if it will do the job for you. A power amp just makes noise. Unless you're getting into big arrays of cabs, that's about it. Bass players usually go to power amps when they need a lot of power or to run more cabs than the average bass amp. I've never had to use a power amp and I've played in arenas. When you get larger than the average pub there is usually a good PA to go through.

I bought So because of Sledgehammer. What a fantastic collection of songs and performances.

Have a look at the Bass Direct website for other makes and prices.

Bartolini, Nordstrand and Lindy Fralin make 5 string pickups. These are good makes but you'll have to check out prices. It's 30 years since I bought separate pickups.

I know guys playing rock/blues through a Hartke 115, Markbass 210's, Ampeg 115, Ampeg 410, Bergantino 212, Barefaced 112's, GB 610 and TC cabs. Basically If you're good at what you do you can make any amp and cab format work.

That would have been a completely different song if Willie Weeks was on it. The song must have been rearranged to showcase Nathan Watts.

If you want to change so much of the sound of the bass, why stay active? I'd look at replacing the pots and pickups and forget the preamp.

Oooh, an old thread. . . . . and a perennial problem. Paul, I'm assuming that the frets are level? I would expect the Squiers to have less time spent on their fretwork than, for instance Custom Shop models. There's no way around uneven frets other than a fret stone or just playing with a higher action. I've just altered the action on 2 of my basses. One went lower and one went higher. I don't measure anything. I lower each string until it starts to "choke" on the frets then I start raising the strings until all notes play cleanly. If that's too high then the frets need levelling. I then adjust the strings to the point where I'm happy playing the instrument. My Lakland had a fret level at the gallery so it plays very well but they set it up too low. I can play it but I just prefer a little more height. The lower you go the less energy you can put into playing a note.That's ok, but as has been said, the tone will also change between stroking the strings and playing them a little harder.

A defining bass line. To a certain extent Nathan Watts was lucky that his signature licks fitted right in. Maybe his style was in Stevie Wonders mind when he wrote the song.

I treat all numbers differently, but for the first 4 bars I'll usually be listening to the whole number. If I get past that point then I can focus on the rhythm, the music or the words depending on which one is strongest and catches my attention. If the words are particularly strong, as per Dylan, Chuck Berry, Joni Mitchell etc, then the music might come a distant second. In some numbers the bass line will be the only interest, in others I'll not listen to the bass at all. I'll always listen to the drummer though.

Thomas Eich joins the long list of founders and visionaries who moved on. Some not as willingly as others: Steve Rabe, David Nordschow, Jeff Genzler, Start Spector, Michael Tobias, Hugh McFarland, Leo Fender. There must be many more. All top names who had to leave their "baby" behind.

I understand the OP's fear of sinking a lot of cash into something new and he doesn't know if he'll want to carry on, but. . . . . my experience with cheap guitars put me off playing guitar. I came back on a bass but a player needs to learn on a good instrument. You're fighting yourself and lack of skill and ability at the beginning, the last thing anyone needs is to be fighting the instrument as well. B strings are critical and do not always sound good on cheap basses. You have to buy a bass that has a B that sounds as good as the rest of the instrument or what's the point of moving away from 4 strings? The advice I like is to buy the second bass first. My first 5 string bass was a MM Stingray 5. I'm not suggesting this bass to the OP, but I'm glad I started on a bass that was easy to play and sounded as good as the Stingray.

Another BB2 would give you 2 options. Adding an SM would give you 3 options. I'm currently using 2 Super Compacts. Volume-wise I can use 1 SC cab where I used my Berg CN212 before. They are light enough for me to bring both to a gig and then decide how many I need to use. I like the look of 2 cabs and so I sometimes set both up and just use the top cab.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1452784159' post='2953488'] As for Mr Boogie & Mr Tino, I don't know if either of them have been on here or not, but I've not seen any advice on here about which cabs are suited together. I don't think it's so much a case of whether it works, but how unpredictable the sound is going to be. [/quote] CamdenRob has a Berg 210. Jim Berganino's new amp has a profile for using the same 210 with a 112 from the same range. Put any spin you like. . . Bergs are OK to mix according to one of the best cab builders working today.

The BB2 will go much louder than any other 112 cab, including the Vanderkley. As Barefaced cabs are very good at putting out what you put in I'd suggest you could check your tone settings or check the cab by trying a different amp.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1452777573' post='2953361'] Ah, but were they[b][i] really[/i][/b] "designed" to work together, or do the manufacturers just tell us that so that we'll buy them? [/quote] Seriously? Mesa, Barefaced, Bergs? I'm sorry, in my experience there's so much misinformation, cynical and otherwise on the internet that I'd need it to be proved the cabs [i]didn't [/i]work together rather than the other way around.

Don't forget the tablecloth and the lace doilies.

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1452770841' post='2953235']does Guy Pratt pay full whack for his gear when he pops up in their adverts? [/quote] Who knows, but he is more likely to pay for his gear and get paid for appearing in the advertising campaign.

Dave Swift doesn't like Lull basses. I do. Amongst the many other examples, that proves to me that what others play has no bearing on what I should play.

That's part of the myth. It's not pot luck if the cabs were designed to work together and many of them are!!

Hey, this is the first world. "Because you can" is the only justification you need.