Muzz

Thought about this for my 50th a few years ago - mine would be 64, but as I'm a P-Bass kinda bloke and I only like maple boards, I'm never gonna find/afford one, so I gave up on the whole idea...

Any of the three will be fine with a Compact volume-wise (unless you need huuuuge output, like big big rooms/outdoors without PA support output), it's more a question of your tone goals. I've used a Streamliner and a TH500 with a Compact, and they're different beasts. The Stl is indeed big and warm and valvey, I cut the bottom end to about nine o'clock and had a great sound, the TH I didn't like so much tho many here do. I moved from the Stl to a Magellan, and find that's much more versatile for my needs in a function band. The fact that the Magellan's 800w is pretty academic: it's just got plenty of oomph (steering clear of the contentious 'heft' word here ) but as I said, all three will be fine. Best? Your call, tone-wise...

All very talented, but I struggled to hear anything that didn't sound like I was in a lift.

Super Twin. Light and manageable enough to take to any gig so I don't need a 'modular' rig any more, enough oooomph to intimidate JCM100/412 guitards, drown any drummer and demolish walls if necessary. Sounds fantastic with either Walkabout or Magellan. I'm done.

The WA is just the head - I run that with the BF cab, too. I use the WA with my other 'Rawk' band - one sound, one setting, lots of drive; I like the sound it makes, the mids are warm and 'there'. It's not as versatile as the Genzler, and although it's a good deal lighter and smaller than an 80lb monster, by the time you've got it cased it's a deal bigger... On the 'watts' thing, the WA puts out theoretically 300w into the 4 ohms of the BF Super Twin, yet the pairing can very very easily hang with two loud guitarists, both with JCM100 heads and 4x12s. Of course, I've played with both heads in both situations, and both combinations are plenty. The BF cabs (well, the ones I've played through) are VERY efficient, and convert every watt into plenty of volume.

Hey Al, I had a GK MBFusion 500 as a run of heads which has pretty much stopped with the Magellan - I liked the Fusion, but found it had pretty 'baked in' tone which was very GK, and a little too harsh for me. I've no doubt that with judicious EQing it could be tamed, but I try to find an amp which is close to my sound before I start having to EQ. I find the Magellan to be the most versatile head I've tried in a very long time, and the two channels make switching sounds very quick and easy. I use it primarily for my function band work, which requires a very wide range of sounds (or approximations thereof), and I have a BF cab (the Super Twin, but I've also run a Compact/Midget pair, and a BB2) through which it sounds grand. And yeah, for a head without a valve in the pre, it can sound more 'valvey' than others with 1,2 or 3 valves in there... Definitely worth trying... All IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc... Oh, and I wouldn't worry about watts with that combination: it'll be plenty loud...

As long as no-one's trying to sell something as something it isn't, I look at it as just dressing up their bass, very much like relicing. Not something that appeals to me, but hey.

I've had a lot of amps, and for my two pennorth, the newer Class D power stages have got better (I'm thinking the ones in the Mesa Subway, the Magellan, etc) than the earlier ones. It's a developing technology. As far as best of both worlds goes, there'll be compromises, inevitably. It all depends on how important these are to you. Interestingly, the Magellan doesn't have any valves at all, and still sounds very valvey. IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc.

My main gigging/function band fluctuates from four to three depending on availability and, frankly, what the gig pays. I don't use pedals, so I wouldn't know about all that hoohah, but I really like the energy of a three piece. The audience also seems to respond differently (more positively) to a three piece, especially when we go for different versions of songs they might not expect from a trio. I should add that the singer/guitard also plays keyboards, so we'll do some keyboard-based songs, too. We have a great drummer, though...you'll need a great drummer: that extra space shows up any deficiencies, especially, I've found, behind the kit.

Never liked rosewood (to look at), can't recall much I've had that had a rosewood board, so it's a big Meh from me, but even now I sense the EBay sellers warming up their keyboards by repeatedly typing ULTRA RARE ROSEWOOD NECK!!!!!

I can second Jon's custom necks - just before Xmas he built me one for my Fenderbird, around a very unusual existing neck pocket. It's a superb neck: there's some pictures of it on here somewhere...

With that many of them, they wouldn't make much each on a pub gig...

And I've been stinging about selling my Jetglo 4001 for £200 in the late 80s...I feel a bit better now...

I like that....even if it isn't actually a Fenderbird per se...yet... If you don't like the Epi ones, the routs will fit a lot of different pickups. I had EMGs in one of mine, and I've got Dingwalls in there at the mo... Again, if humbuckers aren't what you're after, you can get split coil P-types in that shape, too.

NOS?

Yep, I've had that with my own rig, especially on nights where you're just not happy with your sound, and you come home and start Googling rig options and GASsing. Then you have one of those nights, but someone else gets up with your rig and it sounds great, and you realise maybe it's more a case of perspective than rig...

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1490952421' post='3269299'] That's pretty much killed any chance of sympathy here, well done! [/quote] Yup.

My ABZ4 with East U-Retro is going nowhere - I rate it better than the ABI I had. The only thing that'll shift it is a D-Bird in a different colour than they're offered in at present...

OK, I withdraw the Millennial thing unreservedly...what was there between Baby Boomers and Millennials? Is it Generation X? I lost track a while ago...anyway... While I agree there isn't the 'everyone's in a band' thing there was a few years (erm, decades ) back, I play with a number of deps (and so my FB is full of them and their friends/band members), and they're all under 25, and lots of them are very committed. Some of them are even bassists I go to jam nights quite often around the North West, and again, while they're not exactly brimming with musicians of Thundercat's calibre or leanings, they're also not exclusively havens for the over-60s playing All Along The Frickin Watchtower*, either...there's a lot of younger musicians out there, too...and they're most of them better than me... Actually, thinking back, the vast majority of all those dozens of wannabe stars who were learning and gigging around me when I was growing up had packed it in by the time they were 25 anyway - the ones with the real talent kept going, and hopefully that might still be the case. * Original title, changed by Dylan after he went electric...

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1490782484' post='3267874'] I posted about Thundercat here a while ago and got shouted down by some old people who thought he was crap. Gotta love those ageing 'baby boomers' and their distrust of anything that's less than 65 years old.. Thundercat is a one-off, he is a legit virtuoso but he also appeals to a whole other demographic who are into electronic music etc. We need many more like him if we want the electric bass to have a role in music in the future. When people talk about the value of old instruments, it's easy to forget that those old Fenders are only valuable because they link to an era of music that had a big impact on people. Without lots of new guys like Thundercat, the bass will fade into insignificance very quickly. So in terms of electric bass he is more important than many people think. [/quote] Watched him on the catchup last night...virtuoso playing, but his voice just isn't strong enough to lead IMHO. While he clearly doesn't struggle multitasking both, who knows how much more he might do not having to sing... Not sure electric bass is as doomed as you might suggest, though...gotta love these 'millennials' and their dismissal of anything over 20 years old...

Soooo, after lots of different stuff, I've ended up with....both I'm out gigging a lot, so the humpability of my rig is important, and although I loooooved the sound of my three 112 Bergs, they were just too much faff after I'd picked up a BF Super Twin. Now there's a cab...for what I want (no tweeters) it's a fantastic combination of 40lbs portability and more output in every department than I could ever need (tho it's nice to know it's there). Once that was done, I've kept the Magellan for the function gigs where I need flexibility and the ability to change sounds quite radically with a button push, and I've also got a Walkabout for the Rawk band, just because I love what it does with its mids when pushed. Both amps sound terrific through the Super Twin. I've even swerved the complication of going to in-ears and DI - the ST don't need no steeenkin PA support... I suppose even my 'heavy' amp is light, but hey, it's not a Class D, right?

Less is definitely more here: https://youtu.be/smg2S8CssQU

Nope. That shot-off pickguard just looks cheap - in fact the whole range looks like it's priced around the £300 mark. Not that it will be. The only maple board one has a painted head, too, which is me out. I loved my BB3000, and the old 1024 and 2024s are kinda stealth basses with respect to their quality and playability, and these may well be, too, but looks-wise, they're poor.

Forgot about this! A quick and simple transaction with Nik last week - all good, just adds to his spotless rep on here

A quick and easy transaction with Paul - all good, he's one of the good guys