msb

I’ve been using a Bergantino Forte , a very simple , straightforward set and forget amp. Modern , clean hifi. And absolutely loved the sound. The 4 band eq is almost surgical. Beautiful. And then I spotted a Monique by Jule tube preamp , something I had spent some years lusting after. I had hoped to pick one up last year but it just didn’t happen. This year it happened. So I’m going in the effect return and completely bypassing the front end , and tone stack of the Berg. And Monique gives me that thick , warm , buttery , old school thump. My modern hifi has completely reverted to old school . But with some serious slam behind it. And it’s not a backbreaker to lug around. I just did a 180° spin.

Halifax , Nova Scotia and we’ve got an ice storm on the way. Freezing rain and ice pellets , I’m thankful I don’t have to drive anywhere tonight.

The gold finish on that Sandberg is gorgeous! Sweet lord lifting Jesus gorgeous.

I’ve been interested , but never quite pulled the plug.

How’s the weight on the G&L? I bought a Trib L2500 when they first started making them in Korea. It’s on the heavy side , but you quickly see why they called them the Swiss Army knife of basses.

Nice rig bassace97 !

I have an older GenzBenz Streamliner 900 , a gorgeous older 900 watt Class D amp with a three tube preamp. Everything worked fine , however the front LEDs were out. When I heard the designer of the GenzBenz amps was still servicing them I immediately got in touch. He stressed that if an unauthorized repair hack had been messing things up it could become expensive to undo unqualified repairs … but if the amp was unmolested it was a straight fee. Thankfully my amp was unmolested and returned like a brand new amp with some factory upgrades. 24 hour turnaround. It was easily the smartest money I spent on gear that year. Andy Field designed those amps , and is still designing amps today. He’s created the Subway line for Mesa , and his creations are built to last. He’s known as agedhorse on this forum. I‘ve recently had a GK Class D head develop the “pink ring of doom” however , a little time with a qualified repair person brought it back , it’s been completely reliable since. (the cooling fan became jammed up and things overheated) Now I am aware that some people have had issues having MB amps repaired. The catch is finding qualified repair people.

Modern Class D heads can easily be repaired by qualified repair people. I’ve had several serviced and repaired. Now some older SWR amps , for example, that are no longer made , may contain parts that might no longer be available. But most Class D amps built today are not built to be discarded at the first problem.

Flats warm up with a little playing time. People used to mention a bucket of fried chicken to hasten the process , I was never in that much of a rush.

Happy to hear you’ll be home. And maybe some playing in time …

I keep looking at 350 or 500 watt Aguilars with a single twelve. They’re a lovely combination , and I would certainly appreciate one. It would cover both gigs that were not overly loud , and playing at home. There’s a ton of used stuff around , sometimes for a good price. I’ve even watched some come and go on the local market. I also already have a bunch of amps , and cabs. But I look at amps and cabs in a similar way some look at guitars. There’s room for both Teles and Les Pauls in my shed.

I can pick up a bass , play it for some seconds , and know it will be fine once it’s set up. I’ve also been setting them up for close to fifty years.

I had a Mono Block back in the later 70’s.

Traynor is quite famous for making good sturdy robust gear at a decent price point. It doesn’t carry any boutique cachet , but it will generally do the job it was designed to do , without fail , for damned near ever.

A bad setup can throw one off , but it’s funny how that can change in twenty minutes with a couple of screwdrivers and an Allen wrench. Whenever I look at any bass I check neck relief and look carefully at the nut. There are a lot of instruments with poorly cut nuts , both new and used. I always tweak things when I bring a bass home , and my preferences are not extreme.

Slow and steady , do what they say to do. I hope everything will be all right.

Always check the relief , it only takes a couple of seconds. I immediately do it after any string change. Or if I sense any change in how a bass plays. The other thing to check is nut height. But once you’ve settled on that you leave it alone , unless you are making a major string change.

I have an old set on a Unicorn bass , they seem to have normal tension. Just check the neck relief and give the truss rod the appropriate turn. It’s not difficult to adjust , most basses will do seasonal shifts so it’s a very handy thing to set.

With Monique I totally bypass the front end and go in the effect return.

Some that have bought them have said the factory setup was not very good , and the factory strings were terrible. However , once the nut was filed , the bridge adjusted , and fresh strings on … they were very happily impressed with the bass. Especially at that price point.

Those little MB GKs have a unique baked in sound , some absolutely love them , some not so much. For their size they do sport a surprising slam. I loved a little MB200 at low volume as a practice head at home.

The tone stack in my amp is a four band , with near surgical control , and when I bypass that my preamp has a three band eq with a fairly broad sweep. Now that is much faster to dial in…

There’s a lot to be said for Class D heads , but the modern hifi clean is not the same as the old tube warmth. Two entirely different things , despite the creation of hybrids with tube preamps.

I use the effect return to bypass the tone stack and front end of the amp , I run a multi tube pre so l get a warm tube sound with some serious slam behind it. Downtuning a Pbass that far might cancel that though.

The top ten mindset reminds me of the uneatable pursued by the unspeakable.