thodrik

300 watts sounds fairly small in comparison to some of the competition. But how much power do you really need before it just becomes a generic number that people use to signify 'loudness'.However, I find it difficult to classify watts in terms of loudness beyond the obvious (ie a 65 watt amp is not as loud as a 300 watt amp). For example I have a Trace Elliot 300 watt head (SMX series) and a Mesa Walkabout, and find that there is no real difference in headroom/loudness between these amps and the Ashdown ABM 500 and Ampeg SVT 450 that are in the studio I use. I have always had the view that an efficient 300 watt amp driven through a 4ohm loud was plenty loud enough to cope with most gigs (especially if is being driven through a good cab). Tech 21 will probably bring out a 600 watt version in 6 months or so, much like they have made people wait a while before they brought out a VT bass pedal that had a DI out. Merry christmas everybody!

I don't really see the problem in tuning down. Even if it is just a half step, if you prefer the sound of it being a half step down, then why not? I don't like it when those that prefer 'heavier' (meaning lower/downtuned) tunings are perceived to be unable to play in standard tuning or have a working knowledge of harmony, melody and song structure. I don't think it says anything about the ability, or lack of ability, of the guitarist in question. I used to get annoyed by the amount of guitarists who insisted on playing in drop d the whole time. The tuning often pretty much demands you also play in drop d (D A D G) rather than tune a whole step down (D G C F), as you often need the two open Ds (what I call the 'Tool effect'). Even then there were some good ones in amongst the one finger power chord wonders.

Just keep playing! I found that playing double bass and learning the theory alongside was great for my understanding of music in general. However it was not as helpful as all the time I have spent playing the electric bass by myself or in band situations. After a certain point (ie six months into studying classical music at uni), I thought that playing double bass in order to be a better electric bass player was like learning to play squash in order to become a better tennis player. After a while I just wanted to play tennis, and playing squash was just getting in the way of things, even though it was really helpful at first. After using up my metaphor and imagery quota for the month, I'll just say to keep doing what you are doing. I would say to keep doing what you are doing. I wouldn't get too bogged down on learning new techniques all at once, or adopting a clinical approach to electric bass playing as you would with classical double bass playing. Just keep on playing and after a certain period in time you just get a feeling on how to approach chord sequences etc and different techniques will come more easilly once you start to really know the instrument.

I always thought four strings was enough but now I am confused. I used to play tuned to C, which was fine on a four string with biggish strings. Then everything became drop D or standard and again a four string was enough. Now I'm playing stuff where a low A is needed (or I think is needed) and I'm thinking a five could be needed. I could easily change one of my basses to be able to get a drop A, but I don't think I could get a string that could do both a drop A and a drop D, which would mean taking two basses to practices or gigs (each bass wouldn't be much of a backup to each other either). Also, I don't like the idea of altering either my Vigier or old Precision to the point that it would be permanently in low A tuning, as I would feel it would either a waste of a great four string bass, or I would be worried about whether the old bass could take it. So on balance, now that I have a bit of money together, I'm now on the look for a five string bass, preferably with 24 frets.

I think that EBS is really flexible in terms of what it can be used for. Victor Bailey uses the Fafner (or at least did) and so does the guy from In Flames. In the US EBS are known as slappers amps whereas in Europe they are used by a lot of metal band. I think a lot of it is down to marketing mumbo-jumbo. Simply put I just consider them to be very good amps that can be used for any style. I use the old model Fafner myself, and it has no problem doing a driving rock sound. The new Fafner with the overdrive channel looks great and I would love to try it. That said the td600 is also perfectly capable of getting a good fat rock tone similar to the Fafner as well, it just looks less like a rock amp if nothing else. The Spector thing shouldn't really matter at all. I find the EBS stuff to very transparent, allowing the basic bass tone to shine through.

We were supposed to doing a gig in Campbeltown tonight, but I decided to cancel as I wanted to get home for Christmas. Sounds like a flimsy excuse I know, but between the weather in Glasgow and the weather in Orkney, today was my best shot of getting back at all. Travelling to Orkney isn't much fun!

Looking at the Bass Direct site, I like the look of the Mayones, as well as the MTD Kingston Heir for buying new. I try not to look at the Vigiers, Skjolds and others that I have no real hope of affording! I'm looking at getting a fiver myself, the G and L L2500 seem like good value bought from new, the only thing stopping me from really wanting it is that I would quite like a 24 fret neck. Good luck in your search.

Must say that I quite like it. Old vintage Fenders seem to a law unto themselves when it comes to price, so I don't really get the 'wow its far too expensive, and it looks ugly' argument. Its as much a piece of musical history as it is a musical instrument. If I had the money I probably would buy it. If I would was looking for a great playing and sounding bass within a certain budget, I would look elsewhere. I do love maple boards on P-basses.

I'm not too picky, but I avoid any bass with gold hardware. Preference on colour works with design as well, as some of the block colours I don't like on Fenders (White, that horrible frosty grey colour, bright red ) but look good on other designs. To me a Fender of any standard will never really look out of place at a gig, pretty much on the basis as its a Fender and Fenders are everywhere. My preferences for Fender type instruments: Cherry sunburst, Natural, Black, Deep wine Red (a la the new Deluxe range), lake placid blue. I also love the colouring of some of the Sandberg hardcore aged basses, even if I'm not a fan of relic-work.

Ampeg 8x10 with SVT 450, Ashdown ABM 500, and SVT Classic in the posh rooms.

[quote name='matski' post='1026257' date='Nov 16 2010, 07:34 PM']But the Sadowsky is supposed to be a 'retro' bass, isn't it? Hence the ultra vintage (UV) name and the Vintage Tone Control function.[/quote] Well it is and it isn't. It is designed to look like a vintage bass, but to me Sadowsky basses have a quite modern sound, even when run passive. The VTC helps to take a bit of the modern 'zing' off the bass and is a cool feature. For me Sadowsky sits halfway between retro bass and a really modern type bass. If you want a Fender sound though, I would suggest sticking to Fender. I bought an MV4 model and love it, I'm not really a fan of the UV series, because I'm not a fan of neck binding and it has one fret less than the one I bought. As an owner of both a Sadowsky and a 1978 Precision though, its going to be the Precision every time. Really cool black vintage Fender Precisions are not very common and are tricky to replace once you get rid of them. Really nice Sadowskys are fairly easy to find, though they cost a lot.

[quote name='lojo' post='1019138' date='Nov 10 2010, 06:28 PM']what a pain having to play through a top end ampeg fridge, no wonder he had a bad gig[/quote] Poor guy, surely must have been better than the bird poop gig though?

So they are playing Glasgow it seems. I probably will see them after all. I saw Brant Bjork a few months ago in a tiny little venue. Somehow I feel these gigs will be a little less intimate, which I suppose is good news as it means they are making money. I wonder with it being Oliveri that it will mostly be stuff from Blues for the Red Sun and Wretch rather than anything written after he left?

I heard about this a while ago, though originally I thought they were just playing Germany. Personally I would prefer Scott Reeder in there. No gigs in Scotland is a bit annoying. I would go if it was local, but its not something I would travel to. I'm generally against bands reuniting just for the sake of it, without actually releasing anything new. It really needs Homme to be Kyuss as he was such a big part of their sound. Should be some good gigs though.

That is pretty cool. I didn't know that early Passions had different pickup configurations. you learn something every day. I wish I had an Arpege or Passion bass.

Ummm, it doesn't have fret-markers, not great attention to detail... Nah, sorry can't help, lovely bass. I would maybe prefer a white pickguard or another colour, but otherwise I really like it.

I'm really interested by the line of amps. I don't mind the Ashdown ABM and MAG heads on the whole, but never would feel the need to buy one. The valve ones look really cool though. The proof will be in the tone and build quality though.

Does the Aerodyne series not have a slightly different flatter fingerboard? I might have imagined that though. Mark Hoppus ones too, but that is a Precision neck. I would say Sadowsky jazzes have a somewhat different neck profile that I really like but they are expensive and its clear that some folk on here just don't like them! Sandberg as well I thought as well had a less cramped jazz neck that didn't plat like a standard Jazz neck. I would stick to a good P bass personally or get a second hand Fender and switch the neck with a Precision neck.

EBS Fafner (The big amp) Trace Elliot GP12 SMX 300 (back up to EBS bought on ebay for cheap) Two of the new Trace Elliot cabs (the 2x10 and the bigger 1x15, mixing drivers oh no!) Mesa Walkabout 1 x15 (My 'lightweight' portable rig, its really loud and can fit in taxis no problem) Trace Elliot GP 7 SM 300 1x15 combo (my main and only rig for about 8 years until I got the EBS and Mesa last year. It now lives up north so I have an amp when I go home). To be honest, I have been pretty blown away by the power of the Mesa, to the point that I could almost sell the Fafner and use the Mesa to drive the larger cabs. I'm probably going to cross that bridge when I really really need the money though. I will be looking at cabs or a five string bass before I look at any more amps. Probably a 4ohm 4x10 or 2x12 to replace the stack I have just now. It is almost overkill, though it does look cool!

[quote name='risingson' post='1005660' date='Oct 29 2010, 07:38 PM']Honestly I'm lost for words. It's like a bass player saying 'oh sorry, I don't really use my E string that much'.[/quote] Peter Hook?

I have both an GP 7 SM 300 in the form of a 1x15 combo and the 300 SMX GP 12 head. Both are really nice and good enough to do a job. I do think however that the SMX offers a lot more, just in terms of features like the dual band compressor, effects send return and the valve drive. The valve drive is hardly that great and isn't really driven hard enough in my opinion, but it does add a little but of life to the sound and makes the tone sound less hi-fi and clean than the SM series, as you can get a little bit of grind when you drive it hard. It can do the clean hifi sound as well The 12 band graphic is also a lot more useful than the 7 band, and allows some decent scope for tailoring your sound. The GP 7 SM series offers the basic Trace sound with few bells and whistles. I think that it is a really good solid state amp that has plenty of power, I've disconnected the internal speaker and driven the amp through different cabs, and it copes well with a 4 ohm load through a 4x10, 8x10 etc. Both amps also have the 'preset 2' option, which I think was the company's attempt to do a 'mid-bump' preset than a mid-cut, and I think they both sound pretty bad. Both also seem to be built fairly well too and haven't caused me much bother.

Interesting that. I was thinking that I see so many Behringer stuff about at gigs, but never really see it in shops. Now I know why.

A five string bass. Vigier/Sadowsky/Sandberg/MM Stingray. Realistically the G & L L2500 or the Sterling by MM Ray 35 is already way more than I can afford. An all valve amp, or failing that the EBS Fafner II or Mesa Big Block 750. A 1970s Fender Jazz. A nice 4x10 or 2x12 at 4ohms, to run said amp through. DR strings. I will start saving for these first I think.

The VU meter on an Ashdown. Input pads when there is a gain/input volume knob (like the Ampeg SVT 450). Graphic Eq sections on an amp that already has bass. middle and treble knobs (Ampeg SVT 450). Built in octavers (or any built in effects) in amps that rarely come with a footswitch (Ashdown). Side-mounted fans in rack-mounted heads, so you have to buy oversized rack cases so said amp can 'breathe' (EBS Fafner). Any attempt to excite us by trying to jazz up mid controls as something really exciting (the 'ultra mid' controls on an SVT 450). 1000 watt amps that are actually two 500 watt amps that can't be used in mono(Ashdown/Trace Elliot). Mute switches, they only lead to people telling you that your amp is broken if people try it.(Trace Elliot/Ashdown). Being designed to look like a valve amp, but containing no valves, making the amp twice as large and heavy as it could be, with the only benefit being some space to store a cable or two (Ampeg SVT 450). Really loud fans (Mesa Walkabout). Having a 'special' input jack which means that you could run an active bass on no batteries, impressive but not really that much use (EBS Fafner and probably the other ones I dunno). Pointless LEDs or lights that are only there for visual purposes (The glowing red bulb on EBS Fafners). Having tube overdrive capabilities with no footswitch, so if you play quiet or have a clean part to play, you either have to magically turn down the 'drive' knob and then up again, or use a pedal to get the 'dirty' sound, making the overdrive potential of your amp pretty pointless (Ashdown/EBS Fafner mark I). Room balance knobs (Fender Pro series). Master volumes that go from 0(silence), 1(quiet), 2 (loud), 3 (full power), when the numbers go to 10 or 11. (Like Marshall guitar amps). Ashdown Little Giants. Still love my Fafner though!

I have a Valve drive myself. Its really good as a preamp on low gain settings, it adds a little bit extra to the sound of most solid-state or hybrid heads. On the higher gain settings it works well too, though personally I prefer the EHX English Muff'n for gritty bass overdrive. The EBS one sounds a bit flabby in comparison and lacks a bit of bite naturally in my opinion, though you can pretty much use the eq to get the sound you want. You can swap the tube as well obviously to get a different sound. I don't use mine much to be honest, it might be something that needs to go eventually. Good pedal though.