Muzz

[quote name='Patster1969' post='1229881' date='May 13 2011, 01:06 PM']Like Matt has said already, thanks for everyone's info so far - much appreciated. BTW, does anyone have any experience with any of the Line 6 heads or LD combo series? Really like the functions/sound options that my little 110 has & would be interested if anybody has used the bigger brothers? Also really sorry for the next question but how did you come to that calculation xgsjx? I understood the 350W 8ohm head into 2x10 8ohm being 350W, but where did the 350W 4ohm being 200W come from - apologies if this is a really dense question? Cheers Pat[/quote] When I returned to gigging a few years ago, the first combo I used was a LD300, and it was fine. Lots of sound options, in fact too many for me. It's not the smallest/lightest combo out there (although not too bad for a 1x15"), so I stuck some wheels on it, and it was fine. Plenty loud enough for a 4-piece, really. They're a good buy when they come up (usually around the £200-250 mark), although this is much better - [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROLAND-D-BASS-115-300WATT-/140545648975?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item20b92c694f"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROLAND-D-BASS-115-30...=item20b92c694f[/url]

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' post='1227039' date='May 11 2011, 05:34 AM']Talking about rooms - I was working at Philips in Eindhoven,Holland last year, and they had aroom for testing speakers. It had a door that was nearly a metre thick and on the inside it had foam-like pyramids attatched to its surface. The walls and ceiling were the same. It had a wire-mesh floor with more foamy-pyramids beneath that. The wierd thing about it was when the door was closed it was like removing one of your five senses(hearing of course), goose-bumps! And when someone spoke there was nearly no volume to it, the sound they made just sort of fell away, even when they were standing only a few feet away. A vey spooky experience. But it does go to show how much of what we hear has already bounced off something else and isn't going straight from the driver and into our ears. It was at the Philips Experimental Campus, Mr. Claber, you'd have loved it in there![/quote] That'd be an anechoic chamber - they've got one of those at Salford Uni. I went round as a precursor to starting a degree in electroacoustics about a zillion years ago. It is, as you say, a surreal experience, and one that fundamentally changed the way I thought about sound transmission, and why I don't stress about cabs and amps (especially for live work) half as much as I do about basses - the amp and cab are so much at the mercy of the room/venue, it's a miracle if I can get the same sound twice.

Lightweight = Lightsound? One of the finest examples (and Lord knows there's been some competition for this over the years) of utter bollocks I've ever read on here.

+1 to all of the above.

Been going to see them on and off (sadly more off than on) since Bingley Hall on the Permanent Waves tour in 79. Deeside in 81, too - what a great idea, stand on an ice rink for a couple of hours. I must have been a real fan to brave probably the worst two live venues in the country at the time... Bit too rich for my blood this time, tho I have an outside shot of a freebie from a mate. My first 'proper' bass was a Jetglo 4001, thanks to Geddy. It was pretty awful, but I didn't realise that for years, because everyone else was so impressed...

FWIW, I tried a lot of the small heads with tubes in when I moved from my LMIII, and although I tried various Shuttles, the LM Tube and The LM Rocker, surprisingly the one which sounded best was the one without the tube in at all - the TC Classic. I moved onto the RH450 for the bells and whistles (which reduced the carry to a single box - if you're chasing every kg, then you'll be wanting to get rid of any other pedals like tuners, compressors and their associated power supplies, etc) while keeping the core sound. I'm amp-GAS free. YMMV, etc, etc, but the point about built-in tuner and (very good) compression is relevant if weight's so critical to you.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1212241' date='Apr 27 2011, 01:06 AM']Whats deterring me is: weight and sound. 8lbs is a little heavier than some other amps that are rated for more watts...[/quote] I think we've reached a new level here - is an 8lb amp which is louder than anyone's ears can cope with too heavy now? Blimey. I can just see us all in Tesco, fainting at the thought of lifting the shopping, standing outside our cars because the door's too heavy to open. God forbid we're ever asked to move the Hoover or put the bins out...

150lbs - not so much RFL as ROFL...

I've tried a couple of the Ps, and they both played nicely, but that whole relicing thing is just pointless affectation, and screams "fake, fake, fake". Why anyone would want to say "Look at this instrument, it's been treated really badly" is beyond me. I've had some of my basses for more than twenty years, and while they have the odd ding from lots and lots of gigs, I've never treated one so carelessly that is sustains damage anywhere near most fake relic jobs. Would anyone buy a 'reliced' car?* Aaaaand breathe. Back on topic, it'd be nice to see Fender create a bass with the feel of a Roadworn, without the hokey damage. Now that'd sell... * Actually, if anyone would, I can help you out there...

+1 for the chaps at Wizard - I've a couple of their pickups, and they're fantastic.

[quote name='RhysP' post='1040024' date='Nov 28 2010, 04:47 PM']Both my Rickenbacker 4001's - if I'd known how much people would pay for these terrible planks in years to come.....[/quote] Yeah, this, and then some. I had a 1980 Jetglo - bought it cos it looked like Geddy Lee's, and by the time I played a few other basses, I realised I didn't like it at all. I think I got £200 for it. Also a 76 or 77 P-Bass, again sold for £150-200 because it was 'boring'. I bought an Aria ZZB Deluxe with the 'profits', which shows you where my head was at at the time. If I was Marty McFly, I'd go back just to give myself a slap, and the hell with the consequences...

Schroeder 1515L, 38lbs, 800w 2x15. A one-handed lift (or two easy), sounds great for old school rock, and very very loud. I'm a tired old dad, too...

I've just fitted a P/J set from Wizard Pickups, and they're fantastic - I'd never even considered soloing a bridge J-Pickup, but with the 84 in there, it's transformed the bass. Excellent pickups.

I'd second (third?) the Sansamp/BDI route - I had a great sound with one and my LMIII with any of my Precisions. Using rounds, btw. Funnily enough, it was trickier with my Ray. I've a friend who also has a LMIII and uses a few basses through it, but finds the Ray isn't a great mix.

Yep, my first 'real' amp, too. Traded it for an Ampeg B25, which was a let-down volume-wise.

Yeah - didn't you buy mine? If my combo hadn't been nicked, I might seriously have kept them both. This ultra-small, ultra-lightweight kit is very very good, but there's something about a stack behind you which appeals...and was nice to have a speaker nearer to ear level.

I tried the Rocker, and found the tube drive was pretty digital - either on or off, it was 'on' from 2 on the dial, and stayed pretty much the same all the way round to 10. A bit too fizzy for me. Conversely, I thought the LM Tube was too subtle. I got a great Ampeg-alike sound from a LMIII and Sansamp BDDI, but then got a RH450 and sold both, because the RH450 does it all in one box. I'd love to try a Streamliner, although I've tried several GB Shuttles, and didn't like them enough to buy one. IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc. Volume-wise, it's fairly dependent on cabs, but I'd suggest most to of the small 500w heads would be plenty - after all, all you really have to do is keep up with the drummer, because once he starts going into the PA, so do you... Really, I'd suggest trying as many as you can, because everyone's ears are different. There's a few places around the UK where you can try most of the competing amps in one visit (Bass Direct being one I'm familiar with - I think Mark's got the Markbass, GB and TC heads all in at once) which is very useful for side-by-side comparisons. Take your own bass, and even your cab if it's a keeper. Depends where you're located, though. It's all fun.

[quote name='dougie' post='1192465' date='Apr 8 2011, 12:42 AM']IMO,if i ask £1k for a pair of my skidmarked y fronts thats my prerogative,wether anyone wants to pay that amount is theirs....isnt that the way selling/buying has always worked?,last thing i`d imagine is any mods/admins wanting to even get involved in anyones debates regarding cash sales.[/quote] Well, y'see, that's where it's a bit complicated on here, because as a community of sometimes heated (and therefore moderated) discussion on most things, I don't have the perogative to say on your post "Feck me, a grand for those y-fronts? Why? Are you the new Jaco?", which, if you were selling them in lots of other places (like a shop, for instance) I would.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1192659' date='Apr 8 2011, 10:21 AM']I've used the TC & Compact for a number of gigs, and it sounded nice. But... The Compact is a tight, punchy cab, and as you know has no tweeter. The TC is designed to emulate a sealed cab, with a low-pass filter and (IME) a very middy inherent tone. The Streamliner has a lot more going on in the lows and highs, and I think it would be a better match for the Compact.[/quote] That'd be why my RH450 sounds so good with my Schroeder 1515L, then. If I didn't know better, I could fool myself I'd planned it that way....

The more I pick up the three basses I keep coming back to (the FrankenP, the Ray and the Fortress), the more I think it's impossible for me to settle on a single bass which will do everything. They all have strengths and weaknesses which I think I should accept as part of their whole, rather than trying to resolve into one 'perfect' bass. The Ray looks fantastic (but I'm not in love with the sound or the feel), the FrankenP sounds and looks fantastic (but could feel better), and the Fortress feels fantastic, but could look and sound better. IMHO, etc. It's also possible I don't know what I want or what I'm doing, as well...

I'd incline to the position that as this place is set up differently (as a 'community') from EBay, then the usual 'caveat emptor', 'it's worth what it's worth to the seller' type of stuff, while obviously being the sensible fallback position, really doesn't sit too well - there are new people on here all the time, drawn by the friendly, informative, helpful and knowledgeable (not to mention the entertainingly opinionated) types, so the odd (and it really is the odd) stinger of an asking price benefits from the camouflage of the false sense of security which the site can promote. A lot of people on here are well up on current 'market prices', but that isn't everyone, and it'd be a shame to think someone on here might still get ripped off. A good example is with the (very, very occasional) blatant non-delivery/inaccurate description/faulty goods issues, which on here become a ten-page thread of outrage, and in some cases get to involve several people co-operating ot help the 'victim' - you wouldn't see (or indeed expect) that on Ebay, so I'd suggest the rules here are, and I'd hope wanted to be, different. Oh, and Rich, if I was you, I'd leave out the 'excellent' in describing your Wal and go with 'she's a 30 year old bass and has all the normal stuff you'd expect a 30 year old bass to have... a bit of lacquer crazing on the body, tiny bit of buckle rash, couple of minor dings, that sort of stuff.' You're not paying by the word, you know...

You mean Roland D-bass 115X Powered Extension Speaker, £175 Good buy for someone, though: these are great with the combo - makes a real 660w, 2x15 stack...

We've just completed our album at Gracieland in Rochdale. Great studio, fantastic kit (Rupert Neve 9098 desk, Neumann mics, shedloads of old school outboard gear, plus all the digital kit), plenty of room , a great atmosphere and very good rates. Couldn't recommend it highly enough. www.gracieland.co.uk

Om nom nom indeed, but I'd never use the thing - we play gigs in places where you couldn't turn round with that on - I'd have to walk in with it facing the way I wanted to play...