Muzz

Maaaaan, that's ropey...and $1500, too...it looks like someone cobbled it together in Photoshop, without really knowing how to work Photoshop...

Nope; it's a stonking bass line, but in practical gigging terms, as they say... "No call for it, Squire..." And there's bugger all deceptively-hard-to-nail about it...

"Well, I'm glad he's gone. These sweets are a bit sticky, though..." "The raisins are worse..."

There we go...I'm not sure about the intonation, though...

Or sweets, like a reverse pinata...make sure you've gobbed on them all first, though. The sweets, not the band. Possibly.

I left a band once after a blazing row at the rehearsal rooms in the coffee machine area, stormed off back into the room, packed my kit...and then had to go back and ask for a hand getting my Ampeg 810 up the stairs and into my car. This is why lightweight cabs are the way forward...Flouncing Ability is an often-overlooked plus point...

OK, some names and details have been omitted to protect the guilty and not-so-guilty, but a good pal of mine used to run a city centre music shop that was part of a semi-chain, and when the Big Boss came round every few weeks, he was known as The Sales Prevention Officer, thanks to his effortless display of prejudice and condescension towards customers who didn't fit his instant image of Worthwhile Customer. The best/worst one was when a youngish lad came in to try a very very nice Gibson off the top shelf. He'd come in his lunchtime from the BBC over the road where he was filming, and my pal recognised him and made him comfortable, and left him to it. Enter the SPO who took the guitar off him and basically shooed him out of the place. Several grand in sales walked out the door, and never came back. My pal used to break sets of strings to sell singles to the hordes of students who came in, and his rationale was "They'll be back with more money next time." The shop went bust in the end, for unrelated reasons: as Marti Di Bergi said of The Electric Banana "Don't bother looking for it, it isn't there any more"... Having said that, my last purchase from PMT Online wasn't a success: I'd ordered a Helix and paid (on the 0% hoohah) with the 48 hour delivery, as we had a big gig coming up and it would have been ideal. Three days later I phoned up to be told 'We can't deliver to an address different from the payment address'. When I pointed out that the website let people do just that, they were unconcerned. Similarly, it might have been nice to have been told, rather than have to phone then up to find that out. It turned up three days after that.

Oh, that's just not trying hard enough, Lozz: longer arms would mean you can sling your bass even lower...

If that 'bounce and flex' from the full valve experience isn't for you, but you're still after something capable of being ballpark in tone (and more versatile) with power, and much lighter, I'd suggest a look at the newer Class D stuff like the Mesa Subway or Genzler Magellan. Dunno where you are in the country (or not), but Bass Direct are worth a shout to see what they have in stock, and a day out (you could even take your cab) to play with the current contenders could be fun. I know in-shop trials aren't exactly definitive, as nothing will recreate the gig experience, but at least you'll get an idea as to whether you'll still want to keep your cab...

I've had a slew of the LMII, LMII, Rocker, etc heads, all of which were pretty ground-breaking a few years ago, but are now kinda Last Generation Class D, and sound it. Like other folk, I always had to zing the LMs up with an always-on pedal in front of them, which ultimately doomed them for me. The cabs...I've had the 104HR and the 15 combo and 15 extension, and again, they were good at the time, very light and efficient but just not as efficient or light as kit that has come out since. I hated the tweeters, they were a major turn-off for me. They may not be in the same price bracket as the likes of Vanderkley, Berg or BF, but at £650 or so for a 212, they're not far off, and, for me, if I'm going to that expense, a little more to get the best is well worth it. A pal of mine in the retail business always said "It's very hard to sound bad through MB kit", and while I'd agree, it's still kinda damning with faint praise... All of the above obviously is IMHO, YMMV if you like the cab colouring etc, etc...

Well, at least they spotted you were the bassist...and I suppose it's better than the usual "Here mate, do you know any Queen/Abba/ELO/Chaka Khan*/whatever?" when you're in the middle of a song... "Erm, I'm a bit busy right now..." * Yes, really...Chaka Khan. We're a trio of fifty-something blokes...it was a wedding gig, she was a bridesmaid, not that hammered, and serious...

Yep, I agree (and it's nice to know someone else has all that spectrum to go at ) and I'd put bass tone waaaayyyy down the list on what punters notice - as you said, performance, tightness as a band, stage presence are all in the mix, and going on any feedback I've ever had, are more important (as long as the tone in question isn't massively inappropriate). I'm beginning to think it's just me who has so few people pay any attention to what gear or tone I have, apart from one drunk self-proclaimed bassist at a gig six months ago who took offense at my Fenderbird as "Just wrong, mate" . I honestly have very very few conversations with people about bass at gigs...it might be my face...

Nope, all good musicians. Just not that interested in bass. That's my job... To be fair, the 12 string didn't really bring that much to the songs, anyway: that was the real reason I didn't persevere.

And on tone in general, I went to a gig at the Academy 3 in Manchester last week, three bands (two of whom I've known/played with on and off for years), and none of the bassists had a tone I could actually hear above a rumble. It was all just mahoooosive kick and snare, and then a subsonic blur around the bass. The guitar sounds were distinct and different, but the bass? Nope. Same with Alterbridge at the Arena last year: the bassist could have been doing anything. But I guess that's just engineers these days...

Yep: I've had very very very few comments from anyone (muso or punter) on my actual bass tone - the majority of comments (and there haven't been many...then again, if I was in it for the compliments, I wouldn't have picked up a bass in the first place...) have been about how tight the bass and drums are (musos), or just how good the songs sound (punters). That's the bottom line for me. Having said that, I do work on my tone in the context of the band and the song, and for the stupidly broad range of covers (anyone else do Johnny Cash, Bambolero, Ultra Nate, The Dubliners (I knowwww), Muse and the Chilis?) we do as a trio, that means a broad range of tones. I figure if people don't notice, and they're just hearing a good song done well, it must be pretty much right.

Unfortunately, I can attest to a lot of other musicians not really giving a toss: I took a 12-string Dean Rhapsody to a rehearsal of our originals band once, played it on a couple of songs, and when we had a break, the conversation went exactly as follows: "What did you all think?" "About what?" "The 12-string I was playing? I used it on *song name* and *song name*" "Errr, did you? Oh. It was...OK. It's that black one, yeah?" I didn't persevere. Having said that, I use the Zoom B3's Octave Up preset on a couple of our trio songs these days, and it fills the sound out...it's good enough for me.

Function band work: 2 x Shuker Horns Zoom B3 ACS Custom In-ears Rawk band work: Shukerbird and 1 Shuker Horn Mesa Walkabout BF Super Twin That's it.

Jazz basses. All of them: the real ones, and the 250 million copies, from SX to Alembic or Fodera. Nope. Singlecuts are a sitting down bass to me. Oh, and yeah, the top horn on a Corvette - a non-playing mate said to me when I showed him my new Corvette "It looks like a nob" and, puerile and throwaway as the line was, I sold the bass a short while afterwards...I just couldn't unsee it...Bongos and bog seats are the same, unfortunately, because I've played a couple of Bongos, and really liked them... I'm sooooo shallow...

It'd all depend on your budget, but I'd echo the comments above - these days a good 212 (or 2 112s) will cover an awful lot of ground - Barefaced, Berg, Vanderkley, TKS, etc are all popular around these parts, and for good reasons... I play in a busy function band covering all sorts of genres, and also in a loud (2x Marshall half stack) rawk band, and a single 38lb BF 212 cab does it all for me.

I have a laptop rucksack kinda thing, I've had it a few years. It fits the Magellan (insert your sensibly-sized Class D head of choice here) plus leads, power leads, small toolkit, batteries, wireless, etc, etc...

Yup, while they're both very talented, I wouldn't stop and listen for more than a few seconds. Now a 9 minute drum solo in the street? Now you're talking...

I've had a couple of 8s and a 12, and the 12 was definitely more of a handful to play: big, heavy and with a wiiiide neck. It was a Dean Rhapsody, and it had 8 saddles (so did the Dean 8), so intonation was...good. Not perfect, but then that jangle and slight dissonance is part of the sound IMO. I also had a Washburn B20-8 back in the day, and that was terrible: a very odd triangular neck, a propensity to snap strings because of some very extreme break angles with the '4 tuners at each end' hoohah, and the worst neck dive of any bass I've ever picked up...and I like Thunderbirds... I keep yearning for another 8 or 12, but to be honest, in our band setup, the B3 Pitch Shift adding an octave up, and some chorus gets it close enough once everyone else is playing. There's some latency, but I can live with that - it's certainly not something I even register when I'm on stage. I'd be inclined to buy the ESP and just replace the bridge (Schaller do a very good 8-string bridge)...in fact, I just might... EDIT: I might add that the build quality of the Deans was very good: there's a lot of tension in a 12 string neck, and this was solid as a rock... EDIT 2...ummm, ignore the Spoiler things: I was mis-clicking there...

The Magellan doesn't have separate Bass/Mid/Treble EQ controls, but the two gain stages, volumes and filters can give very very different tones at the push of a button. Definitely worth a look.

Fantastic - love this bassline (I risked being totally ostracised by all my full-on rocker mates when I bought Bangs and Crashes, the 12" remixes of the Go West stuff, back in the day...) , and that was bob on... :0)

Oh, yeah - possibly because I like a ring to a bass, so I buy the ones which ring and sustain, tho only the very terrible ones didn't. I did own a 78 Jazz once which had all the sustain of a cowpat hitting a wall, but it was horrible in many other ways. Apart from the monetary appreciation...