thodrik

I remember that 'pedal modelling a wireless' release. It was a totally mad idea. I suppose that one my favourite genre's (lo-fi psychedelic stoner/doom) is very much a guitar-pedal-valve amp genre, mostly in smaller venues when there is a higher chance of actually hearing the sounds coming from the backline, which generally consisted of a half stack/full stack and a single bass 8x10. At the level of AC/DC though, I think that the idea of running multiple 100 watt heads and fully loaded walls of Marshalls is basically absurd. Even being an amp lover, if I was playing stages of that size I would be probably be running in ears.

That is a pretty good idea. Angus's signal is also a mix of lots of different overly hot biased amps, so to get that authentic non-authentic sound you might a need a few Kempers set up. Some people just prefer using real amps on the 'why have something that models a really nice vintage amp when I already own a really nice vintage amp.' I'm not sure though that I would automatically assume that Angus' hearing is completely shot. I do get the sense though that he probably last really considered the merits of his set up in about 1980. The same might be the case for his techs as well. In terms of modeling amps Angus is probably not even aware of the first generation Sansamp pedals. If I was Angus's tech at the moment I would just bias the amps to factory settings in the first instance and see if he noticed the difference. I'm guessing that the ongoing repair costs would immediately be reduced by half and Angus would not really know the difference. You would then only need about half of the amps that are currently being used on tour. After that, then I would slowly introduce a Kemper or two. After 5 years, Angus would probably be down to two Kempers and a Marshall DSL half stack mic'ed up with an SM57.

According to Angus's techs, there is apparently some tonal benefits, as apparently Angus thinks that it makes the amp sound a bit 'stressed' and delivers a better tone to his ears. I'm not sure that buy into the logic though. Valve amps are expensive enough to retube and fix to begin with. Unless I was mega rich I wouldn't even bother experimenting.

I didn’t say it was practical or good for your health. Also, he is 71 and has been singing in bands for decades, well before the development of sophisticated in ears and modern monitoring systems. It is hardly surprising, especially considering his other hobby is racing sports cars! I think it is brilliant in the sense that I am interested in seeing a band still tour with a backline set up that is completely antiquated to modern set ups. I don’t think that we will ever see a band tour with that kind of set up again. It is like watching a piece of history.

There is a quite brilliant AC/DC 'Rig Rundown' video showing the set up. The thing that really surprised me was that Angus Young's wall of Marshalls are not dummy cabs, they are all fully loaded cabs being driven by a fleet of Marshall amps that are being run at deliberately off-bias. The techs are constantly swapping in and out amps as they break. I suppose if you can do it, do it! Practicality be damned.

In 30 years classic rock backlines will consist entirely of holograms and Joe Bonamassa's 100 watt Marshall full stack.

In that case then, I would definitely just get a matching 8x10 and run with that. I personally wouldn't run two different cabs as part of the same rig. Phasing issues could make the sound or tone to vary markedly from venue to venue or depending on where you stand on the stage. Better to just get another matching cab for 'more of the same'. Matching giant cabs also looks cool. If you want to get really over the top, run 2 8x10 stacked horizontally to give yourself a massive de facto 16x10 set up. Then run another 2 8x10s on the other side of the stage. I have seen a few bands do this (alice in Chains being one). Generally large bands who I suspect were actually using the cabs as set dressing and they were actually using in ear monitors. The only drawback in tonal terms of using that many cabs is that you will have so much stage volume even with the amp on minimal settings. With a valve amp I like to have the option of driving the power amp a little bit. Not sure that would be physically possible when running 2 8x10s.

As I own a 6x10 I would like to point out that a 6x10 can be more difficult to move than an 8x10 unless it is a lightweight design. The length of an 8x10 makes it easier to lean into and slide into the back of a car without having to physically lift it up. A 6x10 is a shorter cab, and generally nearly as heavy as an 8x10. With heavyweight designs such as Ampeg SVT 6x10 or a Mesa Powerhouse 6x10, it is often a far bigger struggle to lean the 610 cab and slide it into the back of the car than the 8x10 equivalent because of the lower pivot point. I have a Mesa 6x10 and I often have to lift the cab into the car/van. This is a pretty tough one job. I can manage it now at the age of 33 but I am aware that as a long term lighter solution is needed. However, a Mesa 6x10 was my dream cab for 15 years, so I at least want to enjoy it now that I finally have one. Can't imagine needing more than a single 6x10 or 8x10 on stage though. My thoughts, since you already have a 4 ohm 8x10, why not just buy two 8 ohm 4x10 cabs. Stacked they look much like an 8x10, with the benefit that: 1. 2 4x10s should be easier to move than 1 6x10, on the basis that two manageable load ins are preferable to a single load in resembling a world's strongest man event; and 2. You have the option of using a single 4x10 for gigs that don't require a massive rig or where space is an issue.

That toggle switch sounds like a great idea! I have a Metro and NYC and have always thought that a toggle switch would be preferable to the push/pull system on the VTC knob. Black hardware looks sweet as well.

Awesome 30th birthday present indeed!

To be fair I didn’t change the strings until I was 15 and then I didn’t change them again until I was 22. I was using flatwounds but even so...

S9 series Precision, so made anywhere between 1978-1980 (not checked the neck to see exact date of neck etc). Anyhoo, I have owned this since 1999 and despite being lucky enough to own 2 Sadowskys and 2 Vigiers, this is still my ‘go to’ bass. Scratch plate was cut in half by a previous owner. I think this was for easy access to fix the jack connection as when I got it the wiring was horrendous. 14 year old me did a resoldering job in 2000 and I haven’t needed to look at it since. The bass was in almost faultless condition when I got it apart from the scratch plate issue. As a result most of the mojo is mine. Lots of gigs, lots of rehearsals, lots of ‘why didn’t I put it in a hard case?’ gig bag travel dings. The neck lacquer started to come off 10 years ago. I had it treated a bit to stop the whole thing coming off but now and again another bit will flake off in the middle of a song. I won’t get the neck refinished as I’m afraid that would ruin the feeling of the neck. Apologies for rubbish pics

If you always have a good monitoring system or are running your own PA with sound engineer you trust then great. I would run with that. Lots of pro level players use that kind of set up rather than using an amp. I have generally played multi-band originals gigs. From gigging venue to venue, PA to PA and sound person to sound person, I found that I always preferred having an amp I could rely on for monitoring purposes. Usually this was(and still is) a 300 watt 1x15 combo. In terms of the guitar, I am a big believer in that driving a valve guitar amp hard can result in the best tone. However considerations as to the power of the head and size of the cab are necessary, both with smaller venues and with larger venues. An unmiced 4x12 Marshall will be too loud for a small venue and not loud enough in a large venue with a powerful PA. I would suggest a smaller cab and lower wattage amp. That way you can still mic it up and the stage volume will not swamp everything else. Or if your guitarist insists on using his current set up, get them to buy an attenuator.

Yepp, the Vigier quality is top notch. What I like about the Excess though is that, rather than being a take on a 'boutique' Fender Jazz, it is almost some kind of hybrid between a Precision, Jazz and a Rickenbacker. Fifteen years in and I am still finding new sounds by finding different blend points for the pickups and EQ settings. I still like basses with a truss rod, but the joy of the Vigier is that once you have set it up, the set up will never change with temperature or humidity changes or using heavier or lighter gauge strings. It makes it a brilliant workhorse bass.

Nice! I love that purple finish. Congrats! I have had an Excess four string since 2004. Still going strong. It seems that the pickups on the five strings are slightly different to the old Benedetti style pickups on the four string models. They look quite like the pick ups on the Arpege and Passion models though I have no idea if they are indeed the same.The old Benefetti pickups on my four string are ridiculously powerful. Frankly almost a bit too powerful. I have a five string Arpege but I personally prefer the design of the Excess.

Will get onto this later. My Precision has 40 years of mojo, with most of the mojo caused by me!

Beast of an amp in sound and in weight. An expensive re-tube (6x6550 power tubes), though luckily I never owned one, only used one on a few gigs over the years. Graphic EQ makes the amp a bit more flexible than some other all valve amps which just have a bass, middle, treble EQ (like my Trace Elliot V6). I much preferred the II Pro to the SVT Classic for that reason. Though if someone offered my a SVT Classic I wouldn't exactly say no either...

Great point. As a lucky owner of a Sadowsky NYC I am intrigued as to whether a 'Roger Sadowsky era' Sadowsky will shoot up in value immediately after he retires. s. I also think that Roger will make sure that production quality following his retirement will be so high that there will not really be a massive demand for 'vintage Sadowskys' vs New Sadowskys. In 50 years though, possibly, but by then my then 100 year old Precision will probably still be worth more...

This absolutely. The Scout combo (especially the 1x15 I have) is very boomy. The semi parametric EQ is great at notching that out. 1x15 has been my main rig for ten years and has covered all manner of blues/rock/indie/metal. In ten years of owning the amp I have never even touched the 4 semi parametric EQ controls for the mids and treble! Saying that though I wouldn’t expect the combo to compare to an SVT full stack being driven to the point of overdrive. There is usually going to be a heft/practicality trade off when going to a more modular set up. The trade off isn’t so great now with more modern high powered class d amps and high powered lightweight cabs. However the Walkabout design is pretty old and dates from the days of when heavy valve and MOSFET amps were the main options for bassists. My Walkabout through a 2x10 or my 6x10 is very much not boomy and to me is a far better pairing for the amp. A 4x10 would be my optimal cab but I got a great deal on a 6x10 when I was last looking for a cab last year so it is either that or the combo for me.

I found personally that I needed to use the pre shape and then the EQ to balance out the pre shape. I could never really get the sound I wanted without the pre shape on a 7 band eq, however the 12 band models were really flexible. I just moved them on because I wasn’t using them anymore. When I have more space I will probably regret it as they were still classic amps.

Had a GP12 SMX from 2009-2016. Bought it as an inexpensive back back up to either an EBS Fafner or Mesa Walkabout. As a result I only used it for maybe 3 gigs. It always sounded good though, I just never had it as my main amp, as my previous 'main amp' from 1998- 2009 was a very similar GP7 SM 300 amp. At some point I needed to escape the 'Trace Elliot pre shape sound'. Circa 2019, I play a Trace Elliot V6. No pre shape, but a load of heft...

What kind of 'Drop A' do you mean? What kind of 6 string is it? Is it super long scaled/fan fretted? What is your preferred tension when it comes to standard tuning on a 6 string? Are you tuning the low B down to a low A and then tuning the remaining strings to E, A, D, G, C? If so, a standard 6 string set with a heavier B string should manage okay for a drop A. If you are using another type of tuning then you might need to consider making up your own set from single strings or ordering a custom set. When it comes to making up a set, I always use the D'Addario string tension guide (http://www.daddario.com/DAstringtensionguide.Page?sid=d1da30b6-7ea2-4c92-95f5-ff2ad1307517). Basically my preferred string gauge for standard 4 string tuning is 100-40 Nicklewound. It isn't highly scientific, but I can use the guide in a roundabout way to find the gauges that will provide a similar tension in the designated tuning. I generally don't tune to anything lower than A though. Getting a string that will manage a clear low A and a clear F# will be very tricky. Even a string gauge as thick as 160 will perhaps struggle with F# depending on the design of the bass etc. However a 160 will be ideal for a low A, though the tension will probably be too tight for you to also manage to tune it up to B. A 175 gauge string will perhaps manage a drop F# okay but you might find that the tension is too high for you to use the same string as a A string. Once you get into these gauge of strings you also have to make sure that your bass is set up and/or capable of being able to have this heavy a gauge installed. The issue isn't really one of 'tension' on the neck given the low tunings generally used, however the issue is often a basic practical question of 'can this massive string even be fitted to the bass?'. Personally, I would consider whether you really need the low F#. Just because a 7 or 8 string guitar is tuned super low doesn't mean that bass guitar has to follow. You might find that playing the bass part an octave up actually allows the bass to be more 'present' in the mix. Listen to bands like Deftones, Torche, and Meshuggah for examples of that (might not be everyone's taste but it gives an idea of how it can be done). DR DDT do bass strings, but I don't think that they do six string gauges. The heaviest bass strings I have seen are 135-55 and I found that they were too unbalanced (the B string is too small compared to the rest of the strings) for my tastes and very expensive. Rotosound do DropZone strings which can get to F# but I think that they are limited to four or five string sets. Some people on Basschat highly recommend Newtone strings for custom orders. I personally found that it was easier, cheaper and just as good in terms of quality to just make up my own sets with D'Addario single strings. As you can tell, I have used a lot of alternate tunings in my time... Good luck!

Sounds like a similar pre-amp to my Trace V6. On that I find that 2 - 10 - 2 is around about 'flat'. With a passive bass my usual settings are around 5 on bass, 6-7 on mids and around 4 on treble. With a high powered active bass the bass and treble controls on the amp rarely go above 3. Also try playing around with the gain and master settings as that can have a massive effect on the tone as well. I find that with a passive three knob control, don't be afraid to try settings that would seem completely ridiculous or 'wrong' if you were using +/- active pre amp filter where 'all knobs at 12 o'clock = flat or close to flat'. In my opinion ,you can really lose out on a lot of the fun experimentation of different tones if you take an 'all knobs must be set at 12' o clock' approach when using a Valve amp.

Ronaldo may have practised with weights on his ankles, but he never played football with rubber boots. To me, the equivalent of Ronaldo wearing weights would be practising on heavy gauge strings with a high action and then switching to light strings and low action. However I would pretty much agree with the concept that it can sometimes be worth starting on a 'adequate' starter bass so that you can really appreciate the switch up to a 'good' bass. In my opinion, the main thing is to get a new player to start off on any instrument that they enjoy playing. Yes, a horrible bass might put a player off if it is completely unplayable or just doesn't work. However, a half decent, functional instrument secured second hand from a mate/gumtree/family member/BC market place is often all you need to get someone 'hooked' on the concept of playing a bass.

I got my one for £650 back in 2013. They are rare but not 'so rare' that you will be able to sell them on for massive profit if you get a good deal. On price it will depend on the condition and how many people are wanting to buy a V6 at the time you are looking to sell. Sometimes when one comes up for sale, there will be two people actively looking for a V6, in which case there will be a bidding war. Sometimes one will come up for sale at a time when nobody is actively looking for one. In which case the amp will sit about until somebody does want to buy it. I would say £650-£800 is in the 'good deal' range. Anything more than that is pushing it unless the amp is in pristine condition. If the amp needs a re-valve I would try to get it for less than £600 as the re-valve job can cost £250-£300 (circa me doing one in 2015!). I really like mine for what it is worth.