Skybone

All sounds pretty good so far. I had a trawl through eBay the other night, but couldn't find anything about the Quantum amps. In fact, a general Google search of the good ole t'interweb didn't find very much indeed (but did find a thread on here from 2009). The way I see it, the £300 guide isn't far off the mark given the fact that they were willing to drop £100 off the ticket price on simply asking about the amp. Given the condition I'd say that £300 would be a fair price. I'm looking for something that will be a good sounding "rock" amp, so I assume that it will meet my requirements. Not sure about the TC / MB points of reference, but I think that I might need to take one of my basses in with me next time I go in there. There wasn't much in the way of Bass stock on show, there was a Mark Bass 300w 1x? combo, a couple of AER's (in their bags, so no idea on model / output), everything else was well under 100w - not ideal for a band situation. Does anyone know if the quoted 400w for the Quantum is the "full fat" 400w with the internal speakers, or with an external cab? He was also recommending the Fender Rumble 500, which is on my "would like to try" list, but I certainly wouldn't want to buy before hearing it.

I had a mosey around today, and decided to have a look in the music shops while I could. One of the shops had a second hand Hughes & Kettner Quantum 421 combo that took my eye. They're asking a lot for it on the ticket, but I had a chat with one of the sales people, and was told that they'd drop £100 off the price just to move it on (I got the impression that they'd drop a fair bit more too if you pressed them!). Condition wise, it's been well used, with a few scuffs, marks & small tears on the covering, but nothing too drastic as far as I could see. Didn't plug it in as it was only a bit of a browsing session. Weight wise, it wasn't too bad, a bit heavy but not overly heavy, awkward due to the wedge shape, but nothing that you couldn't live with. Has anyone used one before? Sound good? Any limitations? How reliable are they? etc...

Mine's now for sale: [url]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/261841-gl-l2000-tribute-hard-case-l37500/[/url]

Servisol or A N Other electrical contact cleaner.

Owned 2 Ray's, a blonde maple board (1988 4 bolt neck), then a black one with a rosewood board (md 90's 6 bolt neck). Both band EQ. The blonde was superb, a bit beaten up, but sounded and played great. Sold it because I needed the cash. Bought the black one a few years later when I could afford it, had a beautiful birdseye maple neck, but it was a massive disappointment sound-wise.

Keep the '78 and use it at home and in the studio. Change the pickup in the 2010 for something vintagey/thumpy (but keep the original!).

Local Gumtree, and the good old Ad's in the local Music Shops / rehearsal spaces.

Not dealt with them personally, but am aware that he has some very nice kit. He used to be very active on the D*A*M forum when I went on there. IIRC, he used to work at Vintage & Rare on Denmark St. Some of the other forum members bought pedals off him, and were very complimentary about him.

I thought that TC Electronic were owned by Gibson, obviously not anymore...

The Rumble 500 is on my "possibles" list as well.

Yup, sounds like a trip into Glasgow's musical emporiums would be highly recommended, maybe contact them first & see what they have in stock and what you can try out. I agree with getting a modelling pedal, something like the Zoom B1/B3/MS60-B, Vox Stomplab in the interim. You can try out different amp & cab models & tweak them to get sounds you like, as well as using them with headphones/mp3 inputs etc. Similarly, I'm looking at amps as well, but here in the Highlands, we have even less choice than you. Though saying that, you said you want something light and portable which would rule out a valve amp immediately IMO (as much as I like them!). The current crop of Class D amps with Neodymium speakers sound ideal. Having had amps with 15's in the past, I'm looking at combo's loaded with at least 2 x 10's. I've been using an old Peavey amp with 2 4x10 cabs in the rehearsal room we use, and although it's old and knackered, it sounds pretty good. The band is pretty new too, having only had 3 rehearsals so far (hence looking for a new amp). I like the look of the Ashdown Rootmaster 420 2x10 combo and a few others, and regularly check eBay & the local Gumtree for anything second hand.

As has been mentioned, a hint of reverb on both bass & guitar should fill things out a wee bit. What sort of guitar does your guitarist use, as in Single Coil or Humbucking pickups? Single coils have their advantages in the spectrum with multiple guitarists, but can sound thin when on their own (unless he utilises more than one amp), where a guitar with humbuckers will sound "fuller". Saying all that, it can also just give you more space for fills & runs.

Try Bandcamp.

Stick a couple of picks under your scratchplate, so they're nice & handy if you do need to use them, and in the meantime, keep practising with those fingers.

The only time I shimmed a neck, I used an off-cut from the plastic packet that the new strings came in. It worked a treat!

I bought a Fender MP Jazz and a Warwick RockCase from them a few years back, no issues whatsoever, it arrived after about 3 days from order. Well packaged etc. I bought a few guitars from iMuso which were taken over by Musik-Produktiv, again, with no problems.

And there was me thinking it was the new mobile phone handset from RIM.....

Yup, after many years of thinking that active's were somehow "better" than passive's, I realised that they all started sounding the same, whether expensive or not-so-expensive, old and not-so-old. Tried a few passives out, and got such a wide variety of sounds, I haven't touched an active since (apart from my L2000, but that's always in passive mode anyway!).

Or, set all the EQ's in the mid position, turn the sub off (for now), and dial in a decent sound. Add sub to taste after that.

I thought it was "All About That Bass"..... I'll get my coat.

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