Skybone

After many years of trying to find a sound I liked from an Active bass, I went back to Passives, and found what I was searching for. I've owned maybe 2 truly great active basses over the years, one was a Westone Thunder 1A, the other was a late 80's 2EQ StingRay. I owned a mid-90's StingRay, and it was nowhere near the late 80's one. Been using only Passive for around 12 years now. I did dabble with a G&L L2000 Tribute a few years ago, and as much as it was a great bass to play, again, I couldn't find a decent sound out of it. Moved it on and bought something else... Passive. Horses for courses though, some people prefer Active's, some prefer Passive's, and many other variations...

Real shame, keen biker too, RIP Keith

The HD Bass Pack is well worth buying if you're considering using it for Bass. The SVT Normal model is superb (IMO), matched with the 8x10 cab model, it sounds superb (again, IMO). The SVT Bright is a bit too bright for me, but might be worth trying if you're a fan of flats. Must admit, I've not really played with the GK800 model much, and when I have, it's not sounded that good to my ears, though it might be better suited to an active bass or for getting a more "modern" sound. The effects sound good, but you do have to work on getting the sound "right", though no more so than any other unit. If you want a good overdrive/distortion sound, you will have to add a second amp to the patch, and run one side clean, the other with the OD/Dist, and mix to suit, so you keep some bottom end. Kind of like a "Mix" knob on a Bass OD/Dist pedal. I've not used the Octave or the Harmony in anger, but I have created one patch where I used them together for an Octave Up and a Harmony on the 5th. It tracks really well, and sounds rather cool IMO. Might try adding an Octave Up effect only on one of my "standard" patches, for when the guitarist goes in to a solo. Stick it out with the Editor, it is not quite as intuitive as the old PODxt Editor, but it's a very powerful tool, and great for working on patches. I run a HD500x as my main pedal, and run it into the Effects Return of my amp. I also have a HD Desktop (the Bean) as a backup.

That's exactly what I was thinking... saying that, no one else mentioned it being muffled. Will have to start saving up & get the matching 2x10 cab as well I suppose. (Not that £157 for an Ashdown 2x10 cab is going to break the bank)

Took it the AMP along to rehearsal last night, everyone was very complimentary about it, and it sounded great IMO. My only criticism was that the low end seemed a tad muffled, but I don't know whether that was down to my earplugs or to the fact that the amp was sat on the floor, where before I'd been using the rehearsal rooms rig of an old Peavy amp with 2 4x10 stacked cabs. Next time, might try raising it up a bit and see how it sounds then. Still did 2 trips from the car, but at 24kg, the amp is still pretty manageable, and no concerns about the strap handle (two side handles would be nice, but could well impact on the price).

Someone mentioned the Ashdown Toneman, turns out that Musik Produktiv are now also doing their own deal with Ashdown with the "AMP" range. Both the Toneman & the AMP appear to be based on the old ABM 300 Evo iii. Bought an AMP 300 2x10 combo recently, and had some very good feedback about it at the last band rehearsal.

Bizarrely, I had an '89 StingRay (blonde, maple board, 4 bolt neck), and it played and sounded great. Sold it in a fit of "culling" instruments. Sometime later, I had a hankering for another, so bought a mid-90's six bolt neck with the rosewood board, it looked great, played great, beautiful birdseye maple neck, but I just couldn't get a usable sound out of it no matter what I tried. That was my last active bass.

A while ago, someone posted a link to a site that made those "roller banners", that get used for businesses & other promotional stuff. Kind of like half a projector screen wide, but full height. Great for pub gigs & others where there's not much room on stage, and they roll down into small unit for easy transportation. A good idea I thought.

Kay P bass (1st ever bass, must have been reasonable, still playing after some 30-odd years) Washburn MB4 (played OK, sound was... alright) Fender Modern Player Jazz (played OK, sound was meh) MusicMan StingRay (2 eq, rosewood board. Played great, looked great, sound was unobtainable)

And water. Unless it's an Airship.

Well, rehearsal was cancelled this week due to various members deciding that the word 'might' means it's ok to make other plans... Anyway, had a bit more of a play with the amp, and I must admit that I'm impressed. The effects loop delivers what I wanted & why I bought it, however, I tried it plugging straight in to the amp, and playing with the knobs & buttons. With the EQ button in, and playing with the knobs, I managed to get a good sound from it, not a great sound, but that would take a bit of time and a lot of tweaking. The Sub Harmonic knob is interesting, and you can see that it'll have its uses. The Overdrive is nice, with a good blend of clean & dirty, and it's footswitchable, though the footswitch is sold separately. TBH, I've never really ever noticed Compression, so I can't comment on it's efficacy. However, the biggest revelation was made when I switched the EQ off, and the Deep & Bright switches on. To my ears, it sounded amazing without the EQ. Result. Hoping that the next rehearsal won't get cancelled, and I can bring it along to the next session.

There are numerous options available if you want to try different things. As has been said, you don't necessarily need an amp these days, you could get a dedicated preamp pedal(s), an amp modeller, or simply get some plug-ins for your computer DAW (depending on your processor & memory capabilities of course). You can get a B3n relatively inexpensively, or you could look at an older Zoom B3 for less. You could also look at getting a Line6 HD500x or the Rackmount version, and you can cover amp/cab/effect modelling for both guitars & bass (with the HD Bass Pack). If the modelling side is of interest, then you could look at some of the higher end, latest generation modellers, like Helix or HeadRush, as they do "cut down versions" of the "full fat" units (HX Stomp, Helix LT, etc.). If you're still thinking about an amp, then maybe look at something like the Ashdown Toneman, or the Ashdown AMP ranges. Toneman is an exclusive range built for Thomann, the AMP is an exclusive range built for Musik Produktiv. Both ranges are based on the Ashdown MAG 300 Evo iii, so a proven amp. The Toneman combo is a 1x15, and the AMP combo is a 2x10. Just bought one of the AMP combo's, to use with my HD500x.

I put it down to being "victims of their own success". They and Neurosis were the leaders of the genre (Neurosis pre-dated them by a long shot, and still far better than any other), but then spawned a whole load of "copyists", which frankly became very boring, very quickly. Up to Panopticon, they were good, but after that, they seemed to run out of anything new to say for me. Great musicians. Played some to a prog-rock loving relative, who loved the music, but hated the vocals. "Just think of them as a Punk Rock Prog Rock, where the voice is another instrument" says I. He got them after that.

Vocalists... And Drummers...

"You said you "might" not make it to rehearsal, so I've gone & arranged something else instead whether you can make it or not, and I can't rearrange"

It's arrived. First impressions, very pleased, seems solid, well built and not too heavy (circa 24kg). The amp would appear to be a MAG Evo III, in the cabinet of a Rootmaster 2x10. Can't see the speakers behind the grille, so no idea which ones are being used. The important thing for me, is that the Effects Return socket is on the front panel, so I can plug the HD in without having to fumble around the rear panel. Only tried it briefly at home (relatively quiet), and happy with the sound, though the Volume still needs to be used. No biggie. Not tried it with the just the bass, might be worth experimenting with, as it also has a built in Compressor, Overdrive and Sub Octave, as well as the Bright & Deep switches. Will be taking it along to the next rehearsal session and see how it fares with the full band.

The AMP 300 arrived today, very impressed with it out of the box. Not the lightest, but still luggable at around 24kg, the single strap handle should fare well. Time will tell. So far, only tried it briefly at home, so not too loud, will have to wait until next rehearsal to turn it up. Plugged the HD500x into the Effects Return, but still needs the volume turning up. Sounds good though.

Necessity spoke, and my will broke. New amp incoming.

Likewise, I'm astounded by how few bass players and guitarists use a bit of reverb, very underrated effect IMO. Always have a touch of reverb on my bass, love it, it fills the sound out that little bit more and adds to the "ambience". I do use a multi effects pedal (Line6 HD500x), so it's easy to add in, and like I said, it's always on. More reverb!

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