bigjohn

I've got one that's knackered that I don't play. But it was my first bass so that lives under the bed. Probably only to come out every now and again for me to go "aaahhhh..." and put it back. That one doesn't count. It's retired. Other than that I like to keep two basses. If one doesn't get played enough it get's sold on when I see another one I think be able to compete for number one spot. If I don't see one I keep both. I never upgrade No.2

I reckon an easy rule of thumb is basses (or anything for that matter) that have started to appreciate over time are likely to be a better investment than those that haven't. As soon as they do that it snowballs, people buy them and think of them as investments as well as possessions and don't trade them for less than they bought them for, which in turn further appreciates them. A lot of boutique stuff when it goes out of production just falls off people's radar and becomes less desirable over time regardless of how good it is, people know they'll have difficulty shifting it on if they need to so will pay less for it. You see the opposite of this when reissues of things come out, or a brand name goes back into production - suddenly the originals become more sought after. It's simple demand & supply innit.

[quote name='Ian Savage' post='928643' date='Aug 18 2010, 01:54 PM']Bassist in a psychadelic band I used to drum for had one of those, kept up with the lead guitarist's Bluesbreaker and my less-than-subtle drumming admirably. Brilliant bit of kit, if a bit rare this side of the pond as you're probably finding out.[/quote] Not as rare as the B50R - at all as rare! I've seen a few B100R's, there's one at our studio, only one B50R. I've seen two B100R's for sale on here in the last year or so. There's one on gumtree : [url="http://www.gumtree.com/london/22/62346722.html"]http://www.gumtree.com/london/22/62346722.html[/url]

If you can find one... I can't recommend enough the Ampeg B50R. We quite often do acoustic gigs and it's perfect for it. Only 50W but it's fine. Easy loud enough to play with a drummer using brushes. It's not in production any more so you'd have to hunt one down. I got mine 2nd hand for about £180... was a while back though. Maybe 7-8 years. Much better than a BA115 though - which is just is a good amp but a bit underwhelming in comparison. If you can find one in budget the B100R is great too - but quite a bit heavier. It's a 15" rather than a 12" so does sound slightly different. Again though... much better than a BA115. The B series just has more sizzle, more depth and better tone control than the BA. Also sounds better when EQ'd flat in my opinion. And they look better!

Hi Chaps, Looking for some advice on microphones. I'm completely new to them so anything you can add would be invaluable. I'm looking for a mic to record at home with - I'll be recording two simultaneous tracks. One DI'd from an SVT-IIP and another acoustic (SVT-IIP > power amp > Schroeder 1212L / maybe SVP-IIP > Ampeg B50R) I'll be using a usb audio interface of some sort - and I'm not sure what recording software yet. I have used Audacity, but I'm not averse to learning another package. It'll be PC (win7 64bit). I'm looking for the mic to pick up some cab colouration and some lows that the DI won't. Using the DI to fill in anything that the mic doesn't pick up. I'm not going to be playing that loud as I'll be recording at home. Maybe in my kitchen (the most detached part of the house) - maybe in my living room if there's too much echo in my kitchen. I understand there are generally 2 common types of suitable mic - dynamic and condenser, and that condenser mics in general pick up a wider frequency range. Any tips? Cheers John edit : forgot to say, I've got a budget of about £50>£100 and not averse to 2nd hand.

surely being able to use a kick drum is a basic of playing the drums? I can't play the drums very well, but I can knock out a beat and some fills. That's all from having about 5 lessons about 20 years ago. I have a whack on some drums about twice a year now, but have gone over 10 without touching them before. You don't lose the basics - well, you do but it takes about 5 minutes to get them back. Good drummers are hard to find though. Sometimes someone who'll turn up regular, be a nice guy and learn the songs is enough. Have you thought of asking him to come and jam, just you and him? That would provide a decent time and place to work on him without making him feel bad.

I sold one a while back for £450. The more sought after ones, unlike mine was or yours, have the inputs one above the other, rather than side by side. I think these are more sought after as they convert easier into lead jcm800s. Not sure on that though. Certainly the other configuration sells at a higher price though sorry to say. The good news is they're a great amp - if a little heavy and a bit of a one trick pony - but what a trick! They're also built to last through WWIII. And if that's the right year, you'll probably find the black weave stuff will fade in the daylight unless it's been replaced or re-dyed. Mine was a sandy colour but you could see it was still black where it been protected from sunlight.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='905844' date='Jul 26 2010, 02:27 PM']Join a band. The songs that they play are the ones who's basslines you need to know.[/quote] Damn right. Although making them up as you go along can be entertaining. Especially when playing gigs half cut.

that looks great. I've seen it some episodes on yesterday. The one with Larry Olivier?

Cool. I've got a mate who can play guitar, sing and play keys with his feet at the same time. Crazy people.

[quote name='Wil' post='899213' date='Jul 19 2010, 06:14 PM']You really don't need to know the rules in order to break them. Our western music rules are pretty different to those followed by carnatic musicians in southern India - which one's are correct? The only real rules are set by physics - harmony and dissonance.[/quote] Aye. Cultural innit. Things are harmonious not only because of physics but because they're in a familiar pattern of interval.

[quote][/quote][quote name='TechFoo' post='897384' date='Jul 17 2010, 04:38 PM'] Thanks for the info guys. It is an 8 ohm cab and also I prefer to use a clean tone so I'll be able to keep an ear out for any disgruntled cab noises. Thankfully I'm only doing small gigs atm (think coffee shop sort of thing). Just need to save up and get that second cab now [/quote] If it's 8ohm I reckon you'll be fine. Don't come to me if you blow it smithereens like, but seriously, I wouldn't give it a second thought unless it sounded bad. I put 500W @ 4ohm into 400W @ 8ohm all the time without any problem. Admittedly 400W isn't 250W but my speaker gets nowhere near distorting. And the 500W I put in is from a real heavy duty power amp. To be honest, with your set up I'd be more worried about overheating your amp than blowing the speaker.

I wouldn't think twice about putting 500W into a 250W cab if it sounds ok. If it sounds ok you're not doing it any harm. The worst that could happen anyway is you'd need to replace the speaker cones You could use a compressor / limiter to reduce the work the cones have to do. Or play quieter If you are really worried about it or is sounds like it's still crapping out, you could rewire the cab to increase it's impedance. A 4ohm cab could be rewired to be 16ohm. You'll get more usable "power" out of it then without any worries.

[quote name='XB26354' post='893768' date='Jul 13 2010, 02:38 PM']I firmly believe that limitations are in people's heads. I had a long argument about reading and theory on here with someone long ago. In the end you can reach a destination by more than one route. You can choose to learn theory and read music or you can choose not to. Depending on your goals you can be successful either way. If you can't feel it and hear it as a part of you, the printed page will not help![/quote] I agree. I play by ear and by muscle memory on the fretboard. Once they're sorta aligned it's pretty much all ok. Then again I've been playing like that for nearly 20 years and it's taken a lot of practice and a lot of being crap at that for long periods. I played for years and years without thinking about what the different notes where and their relationships. It was all fretboard patterns and which number fret was the root. Or even just learning lines by rote. It would have been much easier to learn some theory and apply it rather than the kind of sub-concious trial and error route I took. Once I worked out which frets related to which note theory became less of a mystery. Low and behold the patterns I'd worked out were all there. I still can't read music though. I'd like to and have been meaning to for years and years but I spend my music time learning, writing and playing basslines, probably in a fashion that would be made easier if I could read / write. I'd imagine that reading music, without playing would be different experience than playing is, as you could read stuff you hadn't thought of or can't physically play and glean useful ideas from it in a way that listening to something is different than playing it.

[quote name='2pods' post='893208' date='Jul 12 2010, 09:27 PM']Eh ? I'm a bit lost here bigjohn, I thought you thought it was Nina Hagen who did 99 Red Balloons. I was just pointing out it was a different person.[/quote] I reckon they're the same person. The names are far too similar. Not to mention the Buffalo Stance. Dead giveaway.

[quote name='2pods' post='893095' date='Jul 12 2010, 07:37 PM']Was that not Nena ?[/quote] Can we not knock it?

I've got a bass that looked worse than this. The truss rod came right out of the back off the neck. It had to be glued and submerged in a bath for 3 days in a jig. Right as rain though now!

bit of a departure from 99 red balloons.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='889591' date='Jul 8 2010, 03:19 PM']No plans to send a S12 on tour, for starters they're selling as fast as we make them![/quote] Bah! Has any good basschatter bought one up Nottingham way?

Do what fender do and put some masking tape around the bushing?

I'd really like to try one of these. I've got a 1212L at the moment. But always open for improvement! Any chance of a Super 12 going on tour Alex?

[quote name='Merton' post='889041' date='Jul 7 2010, 10:23 PM']But Al's cabs are 8 ohm so this argument is all a bit of a waste on this thread! I do see where you're coming form if someone were in the quandry though [/quote] Here for posterity!

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='888901' date='Jul 7 2010, 08:32 PM']The jacks on the back of the amp are parallel wired, as are the paired jacks on the cabs. It doesn't matter whether you use both jacks on the amp or run one cable to one cab and daisy chain the second cab from the first, it's still parallel wiring. You only get series wiring when you use a specially made series wiring harness.[/quote] Are they... If they are, that's why I suggested them being rewired (the speakers in the cabs). ie - rewire each 4ohm cab (2x8ohm speakers) as 16ohm. You could then use each each output on the amp. Or wire them with the correct inputs/outputs so you can daisychain them. it's not rocket science is it?

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='888814' date='Jul 7 2010, 06:47 PM']Electrically both methods are identical, a parallel load. The only potential advantage to running the cables each separately to the amp is then the current flow and cable resistance loss is divided between them. That's only an advantage if the cables are shy on current capability and have high DCR from being under gauged.[/quote] Indeed. If you we're going to run them parallel I'd have them rewired to give them greater impedance. You won't notice that you're not drawing "the full power" from the amp. Or have them rewired so you can run them in series.