Muzz

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1398272311' post='2432351'] Why do you need an amp? All the eq is done and the monitoring is through in ears, so you only need to be louder and only need something with a flat output. Go straight into the PA and the audience should hear what you do through the in ears. If you or the rest of the band need some on-stage bass then use an active PA speaker, possibly a wedge, possibly not, with the flat class D amp you want already built in. Why carry a box, which for the way you are set up is not needed. Decent PA speakers should handle bass as well as a bass speaker and if you have DSP built in then there should be no way of blowing the speaker. [/quote] Yep, I do the non-amp thing (straight from the SonicPort (post-iPad) to the PA) sometimes, but then again I sometimes need, as you say, some on-stage bass. I could look at an active PA speaker, but the 27lb Compact I have is perfectly good as a speaker and so, I guess, is the 6lb Streamliner. I was just musing that all the posh preampery in the Streamliner's a bit superflous now...if Positive Grid (makers of the iPad app) got together with an amp manufacturer to make a simple Class D power amp, they might make some money... Thinking that even further forward, what about combining the Sonic Port and the power amp? A Class D amp with an iPad connector to use all the touchscreen goodness of the digi amp and FX models on an iPad. Maybe even put a rudimentary EQ in there in case the iPad's not available for whatever reason...plug the bass into the amp, plug the iPad in, then either (or both) run out to a cab or the PA. Right, I'm off to the Patents Office...

I go from the Sonic Port into the FX return of my Streamliner if I want some backline (and DI out of the Streamliner to the PA as normal), if I don't, I can either go straight from the Sonic Port into a DI box or (with a long enough lead) straight into the desk. The Sonic Port's brilliant for home practice/jamming, too. The only issue I have without the Streamliner/Compact backline is where to put the Sonic Port - the lead's waaayyyyy too short to put it on the floor if you have the iPad on a stand at elbow height, and I don't want to dangle it, so I have to contrive some odd perches for it. Someone suggested velcro on the back of the iPad holder, that might be the way to go....

What're you saying about my head?

Well, I'm using the power stage of my Streamliner 900 quite happily at the mo, but it just seems a waste of all those nice tubes The Demeter is sort of what I had in mind, but not quite as, erm, boutique Oh, and CamdenRob, it's VERY shiny...

OK, so in the ever-progressing search for a less-heavy-lift and less-cabling gigging life, we've got a decent Presonus desk and RCF PA now, and we've moved to wireless IEMs, so accordingly I've started using my iPad for digital amps/FX models, and it's a major leap forward. My setup is either basses>SonicPort>iPad>FX Return of Streamliner>DI out to PA or basses>SonicPort>iPad>PA, which means I can either run some backline or not, depending on venue requirements. This is such a major step forward I can't believe it - I can now hear myself perfectly, I have an individual mix (controlled via iPhone or iPad) in my ears, and best of all I can control the volume. My tinnitus thanks me. The amp models in the Jamup app are very very good (certainly good enough for what I need), and the FX are good enough for the job, too. I think I've spent less than £100 on all the EQ end, which includes half a dozen amp models, all the FX I'll ever need, tuner, plus some great jamming tools like speed and pitch control for playalong with my music library. Oh, and dozens of easy-to-set presets with full EQ/FX chains - Tony Levin's Sledgehammer to Duff to Jamerson to Marcus in a swipe of the finger... Even when we're not using in-ears, I'm still using the iPad and Jamup instead of the EQ on the Streamliner: it's just much more versatile. The only thing missing for the setup, and given the rise in this sort of thing, I'd consider it to be a pretty big hole in the market, is a small, portable Class D power amp: something along the lines of the GK MBs in size, I'd say 500w would be plenty. I know there's the SWR Amplite, but they're hardly common, and MB did kinda edge that way with their modular efforts, but there's still gotta be scope for one of the big manufacturers to just strip out their EQ, simplify the front panel, drop the price accordingly, and I think they'd sell very well. Anyone else think so?

That's ace

Cheers guys. I had a 50th party/gig, and SWMBO did a corking job of organisation so that I didn't get any presents, just cash, which went to the Birthday Bass Fund. It all adds up... [quote name='zenbassuk' timestamp='1398007735' post='2429461'] Congratulations on a fantastic birthday present. .. I have owned 2 Shuker before one of which being a 4 string Horn. Absolutely cracking instruments. Did you spy mine whilst at Jon? In a word Enjoy! [/quote] Hey Ben, Yep saw yours (the body, at least) while at Jon's, but I didn't spend half as much time there as I'd have liked: always aware that burbling on to Jon is taking time away from his builds, so I was as brief as I could manage. Not that brief, though... I've had a couple of Shukers before; a Horn (the green one with the offset Delanos) and a Series One, and while neither worked for me, it was purely in terms of pickups and EQ - the build quality and design were second to none, so I was determined to get 'my' Shuker at some point, and this is it. Gigged it again last night, and while it's a bass with a specific design in terms of pickups and EQ, the combination has produced THE most versatile bass I've ever used (and I've had a few in my time) - we do stuff from Bruno Mars to ACDC to Cee Lo Green to Foo Fighters to KC and the Sunshine Band to Luther Vandross to Johnny Cash to Paul Simon to Journey, so there's a lot of different tones needed in that lot, and I can get them with just a couple of adjustments to the EQ (and my hands). I usually take a couple of basses and switch between them, but I don't need to any more. Oh, and it's nice and light, and it plays beautifully. Definitely happy.

Karl, if you want to try my Streamliner, give me a shout and we could swap heads for a few days (or if it's mid-week when I'm not gigging you could just borrow the Streamliner) if that'll help.

Yep, another here for the Streamliner - I used mine with the Super12 I had, and it was a great combination.

Sooo, after much searching for a present for myself for my 50th (and a well-documented disappointment with a well-known brand bass which I won't go into again), I happened on a part-finished stock bass on Jon Shuker's site. The bass was nice, but the neck wasn't what I'd have chosen, but a few emails to Jon, and he made me a neck to my spec and put in the hardware I wanted, and best of all, in three weeks from start to finish! The main reason I hadn't gone to a luthier for a build was the looooong lead times for a scratch build, but this way I got the best of both worlds. It's a Horn, in American Black Walnut, with a 5-piece maple/wenge neck, and a lovely birdseye board (I'm a sucker for birdseye boards), and I spec'd a dual-P pickup arrangement (EMG 40Ps) with a John East U-Retro. I think it's a thing of beauty, and best of all I gigged it for the first time last night and it does everything I want it to. I'm a very happy bunny. Had a great day in Derbyshire with the family on my birthday picking it up, and it was great to see Jon's workshop and stock/showroom - some loveliness there, for sure! Anyway, here's the pics: [attachment=160591:photo 1.JPG] [attachment=160592:photo 2.JPG] [attachment=160593:photo 3.JPG] [attachment=160594:photo 4.JPG]

I made the mistake recently of spending a lot of money on a bass with its appearance as a major factor, foolishly relegating the other factors into minority considerations. It turned out to be uncomfortable, poor on playability and lacking in tone. The appearance suddenly became much less important once I had picked it up and discovered this. It lasted less than 24 hours. So, I'd say wisdom lies in considering and testing all five factors thoroughly. I could live with less than perfection in a couple of areas, but only if the others outweighed them.

For the wedding/function band, it's suits and we have branded polos/caps/fleeces for the load-in and out. If we're playing a pub, it's more relaxed, but I tend to wear the polo at least when setting up, and change for the gig. It depends on the organisation of the gig to an extent - if you're just turning up with a bass to plug in and go, then as BRX says, dress to impress on the way in. But you'd look a bit daft manhandling the PA upstairs in stack heels or looking for an iffy XLR connection in sunglasses...

I've had mine for three years, and I've used it for one thing or another every single day (and I mean Every Single Day), and it's never let me down. Musically, I practice with it, use it for charts live (got one of them stand gripper things) and now I'm going to be using it for signal processing live, too (the Jamup Ampeg sim is very very good). So yeah, I'd say go for it!

Lovely bass, I love Jon's work. As a matter of fact, in the third picture, that's my new bass in the background...I'm picking it up next Monday

I had a SVT7-Pro, for a while, too, and I thought it kinda fell in between two stools: on the one hand, it does a good impression of a 'real' SVT (but it's only an impression, and there are smaller, more practical amps (and pedals like the Sansamp) which can do it just as well IMHO) and it's much, much lighter, but on the other it's still a rackmount heftyish amp (I took the top off mine, and there's loooooaaaads of empty space inside), although it'll go enormously loud, if that's what you're after.

It does indeed sound fantastic - that's the sound I was after. Sadly, neither of the ones I tried were even remotely capable of that!