leftybassman392

Indeed, which was of course my point in my earlier comment.

As a joint guitarist/bassist I often find these threads fairly amusing. Guitarists often get stick from bass players when they have the temerity to trundle a 412 onto the stage - the moreso if they have the further temerity to say they need it for their sound. Apparently though, an SVT 810 for the same purpose is fine. My current guitar amps are a Cornford Hurricane (widebody 112) for most things electric (hopefully soon to be downsized to something smaller and lighter), AER compact (1x8 I believe) for acoustic and a DV Little Mark (same company that makes the Markbass Micro, and about the same size) for Jazz. My current bass rig is a Streamliner 600 and a single Vanderkley EXT 112. It's as much as I'd ever need for a gig; any more could be very easily dealt with by the D/I on the back of the Streamliner. In fairness I don't gig anymore, but I would - and in some cases did - use any of them in a live situation or a recording session. Just my opinion of course, but given the kind of kit that's now available to both guitarists and bassists, rigs that are the size and weight of the player guite frankly look a bit Neanderthal to me whatever style of music you play. If you like to show people how long your bonnet is then that's fine of course, but let's not kid ourselves about actually needing them for 'your' sound. Oh, and I would add that I've played guitar for over 50 years and bass for around 30 years (and like to nurse the conceit that I know a little bit about amps & cabs), but if somebody feels the need to lecture me about why they actually need an 810 stage rig then by all means knock yourself out. I'm all ears.

Dunno if that happens in the UK. I reported it to the bank (who of course duly confirmed that it was a scam), but I can and do still call them fairly regularly.

I once had an attempted scam call from somebody who had spoofed my bank's phone number. The scam failed for two main reasons: I wasn't around to take the call so it went to voicemail. After talking to the machine for a minute or two the caller worked out that there was nobody on the other end of the call and hung up. The caller was speaking in - I think - Chinese. Might have been Korean. I don't speak Chinese. Or Korean. Lucky me.

I'd endorse the second and third comments above. Personally I don't like posting/couriering musical equipment at all for precisely the reasons set out by @Graham I have a couple of items up for sale at the moment, and take the view that provided you make the sale conditions clear (in my case both items are personal delivery/collection only) then everybody knows where they stand. If the buyer wants the item badly enough, then IME he/she will make the effort to at least meet me halfway. Just expecting everything to be delivered to your door - even if you offer to arrange it yourself - is unrealistic IMHO. Yes of course I want to sell my stuff, but I also don't want to put it into the hands of a complete stranger who will in all likelihood have no particular interest in making sure it is properly looked after on its way to its destination, and who will also in all likelihood blame my packaging skills for the state in which it arrives irrespective of the facts of the case. Whilst I sympathise with GAS addicts living in places like Jersey or the Outer Hebrides, I have no plans to change my sale conditions. ETA I try always to make a point of linking potential buyers to my feedback. I think this is one of the key elements in reassuring buyers as to my bona fides.

On the subject of clever lyrics, you could do worse than listen to the work of Fountains of Wayne. Most people will know them for this: but their back catalogue is a goldmine of catchy riffs and witty lyrics that tell stories. On one level it sounds exactly like what it is - fairly lightweight guitar pop - but don't be put off by that. Here's a couple of examples to whet your appetite:

I'm not overly worried about it. It was a bit disappointing, but I'm quite prepared to believe at least some of it was my failure to extract the best from it. I watched a couple of YouTube reviews, and the reviewers seem able to make it sound very nice, both on clean and drive settings. That said, the power attenuation technology is definitely doing something odd. There's a phrase in the owner's 'manual' (which is actually a few sheets of A4 stapled together) on how it works: Quote: OUTPUT SWITCH This switch alters the output power: Position A= 5 Watts, position B=1.5 Watts, position C=1/4 Watt position D=1/20 Watt Note that, unless the volume is adjusted above the power selected, you will not notice any change in output level. (My emphasis) Sounds more like a limiter to me.

Well I tried the Cornell, and TBH I was a bit underwhelmed. I'm sure there's a really good amp in there somewhere, but I didn't find it despite about an hour of tinkering. I'm still not completely sure what the attenuation is doing (the shop told me they thought it was purely resistive but it seemed to be doing something else as well), but whatever it is I couldn't get on with it. The small speaker wasn't helping either - I had to lean the amp back against the wall before I could hear it properly. I also tried the new Blues Junior IV and, frankly, I rather liked it. At 15W it's really too much on its own, but it was just much easier to dial in a sound I liked even with the O/P side rolled right back. Unfortunately there wasn't time to try out any of the Blackstars (and in the event I wound up doing most of the testing with the Strat as I'd forgotten to change the knackered old strings I had on the 335), but I have the option to go back and give them a go at a later date if I want to. We'll see...

Well, there's lyrics: and there's lyrics:

I'll get to find out today. Going over to my local musical instrument emporium later to try some things out. I'll be taking the Strat and the 335 (I don't have a Les Paul), which should give me a pretty good idea what I'm getting. The 4-stage attenuator on the Cornell seems to be a standard feature that they have on several other models in the range, so with luck it'll have been properly thought through rather than just bunged onto the amp for giggles. At the asking price I'd certainly hope so.

Indeed, and as gentle @skankdelvar has suggested, some of them are really rather pricey! I've watched a few demos (actually I've spent quite a lot of my time watching demos of one sort or another lately), and still can't decide where the optimum cost/benefit ratio lies. Some of the amps on my list feature built-in attenuators, and I'm keen to know how well they work against third party offerings.

Here's the thing: I've had an offer of a trade for an earlier version of one of the amps on my shortlist. Still very early in the process and I don't want to say too much until I've tested some other gear (and out of respect for the other party), but if I do go this route it would have several advantages, not least that I rather like the basic sound of the amp in question and reckon I could work with it if I don't unearth anything I like more. (It's not a Cornford, but that decision has already been made). The downside would be that I couldn't crank the power stage, hence the power soak. Whatever I go for, I won't be able to play loud enough to get much bite from the speaker anyway unless - as per your suggestion - I go seriously retro (which I'm a little reluctant to do in the light of some previous bad experiences with vintage gear). All the other amps on my list either have power soaks built-in or would need them. The only question for me to answer is the extent to which the built-in attenuators compromise the sound of the amps in question (which of course will be very easy to test). With apologies for repeating myself, in all likelihood this is all going to be for my own benefit. What I should perhaps have made a little clearer is that at root the idea behind doing this is to rekindle a spark I was accustomed to thinking had been extinguished some years ago. If I tell you that my last public performance of any kind was over 4 years ago, and that since that time I haven't played a single song from beginning to end - not one - you may perhaps see where I'm coming from. To repeat something else I said upfront, I asked people to offer their thoughts as to what might be worth looking at in the field of small, quality valve amps. The response from the Basschat Collective has been magnificent (not least from your good self) as I knew it would be. The rest I can do for myself.

One possibility I'm considering is going with a bit more power output than I had originally specified (which brings in 10-15 watt amps that don't have internal attenuation), and then using a power soak of some sort, perhaps something like this Bugera Upsides (in my head, that is) it gets me the reduced SPL I'm after while allowing me to drive the o/p stage properly Simple to hook up and use inexpensive Possibility of running a headphone o/p. I still have a pair of DT100's from the studio days, and would like to use them. They still look dead cool to me; if that makes me an old fart, well so be it. Downsides...? Many years ago I used a Marshall Powerbrake with the 50W Dual Reverb rig I was gigging with at the time. It worked well, but IIRC lost a little of the bite I'd had previously (presumably because the speakers weren't being pushed into breakup). In my current situation I'm not so sure this would really be an issue, but I'd appreciate people's thoughts on the matter anyway. ETA: Please don't mention using the Bugera with the Cornford. It's too big and too heavy and it is going, ok?

Update: I've decided to try to sell the Cornford separately. I've put ads in the marketplace here and over on the Guitarchat sister site. If anybody knows anybody who might be interested, there could be a half of shandy in it for you.

I used to have one of these: along with its pedalboard: Seemed like a good idea at the time... I have nothing against this kind of technology. In fact I still have one of these: As I said previously though, I have no desire to own this kind of kit any more. (I have excluded the otherwise excellent Fender Superchamp XD from consideration for precisely this reason). Since I'm unlikely ever to perform in public again (never say never and all that, but realistically..), I want something that suits my needs. My needs are small, simple, quality, valves in roughly equal measure.

@NancyJohnson Thanks for that. As I said earlier in the thread, I've had a couple of Line6 units over the years and still have an original Pod. I have no real beef with the technology at all. Just not for me from here on in is all. Valve combo sounds interesting though...