Jack

It is my experience that most professional musicians have extremely well-maintained and perfectly set up, but ultimately dreary and average, equipment. It's the lawyers and doctors playing pub gigs to 12 people that have Foderas and Sadowskys. As for famous professionals, that's a mixture of things IMO. Firstly, being a gear nerd and being a good musician are not correlated. You need only look at some PG Rig Rundowns to prove that. Tom Araya and Glen Danzig spring to mind as people who don't even understand their own live rig. Secondly, once one reaches a certain level of fame companies start knocking on your door making sponsorship offers and Fender and Gibson have more money to spend on you than Schecter or Ibanez. The end result is the same, Fender after Fender after Ampeg after Gibson after Marshall on a festival stage. Look at some of the sidemen though and you'll see gear nerds who aren't famous enough to get mainstream sponsorship deals. I remember seeing a bassist play with Tom Jones using a Sadowsky into a Thunderfunk/Accugroove rig. The house bassist with Jools Holland uses Aquilar. They exist, they're just not that dude from Biffy Clyro, who will invariably use a Fender and Ashdown.

I use a 5dB cut over the whole level when moving from fingers to a pick, There's not actually 5dB in it but I find that the sound a pick stands out way more whilst fingers are more subtle, so a 5dB cut is perfect. I used to mess on with a graphic eq that was set to boost the low mids and cut the treble and such when I switched to a pick, but then I wondered why I was bothering switching technique when I'd equalised the differences so now I just account for the (apparent) level.

The cab is heavy and quiet by modern standards but it'll be fine. The head is probably the best mass-produced amp that there is. Any possible issues would be turning up loud enough that the cab starts to struggle, as has been mentioned that head is more than capable melting the drivers in the cab. If you're rock band loud I'd buy the rig and hunt down another RBX cab, they do 2x10", 4x10" and 1x15"" designs. Another cab to pair with that one will be a marvellous rig.

If you're looking at budget PA stuff then the answer is Alto. You can find the truesonic series for peanuts second hand. A TS115A or even TS112A would be good.

Basschat rule 142: No thread about Barefaced shall be allowed to go more than 1 page without mention of Tolex peeling. Anyone found participating in said thread will be sent a Wishbass, a stacked 4x10" and 1x15" rig and a 'Jaco only needed 4 strings' sticker that must all be used at their next gig.

It's been 3 years and he hasn't got a resolution from the company, despite him apparently offering several times, he also has the feeling that he's being fobbed off, that should count as every effort. If nothing else I'm sure simply beginning the process would help Barefaced find the motivation to resolve the problem. Again, no malice on my part, very much a BF fanboi....

I'm not a Barefaced hater, in fact I've owned 5 of their cabs very happily. With that said, I wouldn't be calling Harry I'd be calling small claims court. They're not cheap cabinets, and that story (assuming it's true!) is a very clear case of not getting what someone has paid for.

I like to think I'm somewhat responsible! I'll be gutted if they're clearing stock to make room for an upgraded model...

I was a shushi member for a long time, as the annoying insurance advert says: "go compare".

I've actually been quite positive about Ashdown in this thread, the horrible video was the equally the fault of Andertons, the NAMM environment and Ashdown. With that said, lots of people on here seem to just wish Ashdown was the brand we all want it to be. They're the spiritual successor to TE and (even factoring in rose-tinted hindsight) they don't seem to quite live up to that. They have so much potential! They had the first class-d head that most people saw, and the first neo cabinets. They were hardly the first to have a hybrid head but they were probably the most visible. They still make lead sleds (even rackmounted ones!) for olde worlde types. They have some amazing signature artists. Their list of brilliance goes on and on but to me it's almost like bad sex. It's good, but you walk away with the nagging feeling it could have been a little better. @ped you're right about us being unduly harsh but (from my point of view at least) it's the same as all those men who sit and scream at the TV every Saturday afternoon, I'm invested in Ashdown, I want them to do well. Having said this, none of it matters. Basschat is a tiny percentage of bassists. More than that, it's skewed to the tiny percentage of bassists nerdy enough to sit online and talk about bass playing so it's FAR from representative. As nearly every rehearsal studio, every teenage 'my first band' and many many hard working professional players will attest, Ashdown is doing just fine. I bet they could retire everything apart from whatever the MAG line is called now and they could probably all live quite comfortably. God knows they've sold more bass amps that I ever will.

That's kind of my point to be honest. Everyone has different strengths and the Andertons people are usually pretty good at thhis. Look at how the personable and technically-brilliant Rabbea is balanced by the guitar nerd (who's name escapes me at the moment) or how the excitable and slightly too-enthusiastic Nathan works so well with chilled and laughy Lee on All About The Bass. Salesman Lee (Captain) and professional product demonstrator Rob Chapman. They've got their social media presence NAILED and for some reason they've put this gentleman all over the NAMM coverage with a bad interview technique, no ability to hold a mic still and a proclivity for asking silly questions that'll make the bedroom guitar nerds that watch this kind of stuff roll their eyes. He looks and sounds kinda like Lee Anderton actually, is it just nepotism?