SimonK

...sounds like your valves are on the way out - my amps do this intermittently before failing completely.

For those of us who are not in it for the money I'm guessing the answer to the OP question is enough gigs for it to be fun? I certainly play a lot less than I used to due to life getting in the way - the last originals/covers ban petered out during COVID and although we occasionally exchange a WhatsApp message about getting back together I think everyone has other priorities. Thus said I play every other week at church which does have some very good musicians, but I'm never sure if that quite counts as gigging - although it is 20+ times a year to a hundred or more people each time.

I think in that case I will hold out for something second hand - sooner or later a suitable 2x10 that I can cannibalise will show up. Thus said I'm not in too much of a rush as I picked up another 2103x two weeks ago, used it yesterday and it works beautifully, so this second one will wait in the workshop for a while.

So had a chance to use the GP7 SM head with the 2103x and the 1153 cab this weekend. First thought when carrying them to the car (particularly the 2103x) was "oh my god, maybe my enthusiasm for TE was misplaced..." but was able to use a trolley for load-in with no stairs so that bit was fine. I have to admit that @BassAdder60 comment did spook me so I had a little Aguilar Tonehammer 350 sitting ontop of the cabs just incase, but the Trace was absolutely fine. Plenty of power and sounded tight with the Stingrays, so very happy. Indeed I had one of those gigs where at the end I was absolutely satisfied with my sound - I don't quite agree with @NancyJohnson that a class D amp and a pair of 1x12 will sound any better (or even if they do they would cost a lot more than the £75 total I spent on this rig!).

Absolutely - or someone treads on a pedal, or the keyboardist switches their patch, or a different vocalist leads, or the bass player plays some slap... not that I have done so recently, but back in the day I would always have one ear of a headphone on and be solo-ing channels all the time tweaking through the whole service/gig. I was never the most technically adept engineer, but I believe this approach made it "sound good out front" - indeed for one band they used to let me come for the sound check and gig after they had set everything up for me (which was awesome)!

If I was doing sound I would omit Jim (er Barry) from the FOH mix - a fairly common trick especially with singers who can't stay in tune (once you check to see if they can hear themselves in their monitor mix). Thing is no matter how good a musician you are a bad engineer can wreck anything, whereas a good engineer can make mediocre musicians sound alright. EQ'ing has always been something that I was naturally fairly good at. I think many don't realise that it is something you have to keep tweaking rather than set and forget. That's why having presets is helpful, but doesn't quite take you all the way.

I thought I'd seen some of that before - the overplaying section - as it seems to have been filmed 8 years ago and released in clips on his youtube channel. Maybe someone inadvertently posted the whole hour long thing that had previously been available to buy and then took it down again. I certainly was able to watch the whole thing last night on youtube. I looked for the clip on sound engineers but they only had a minute and a half of it before he answered the question that was something along the lines of "Why do so many sound engineers not cooperate with the musicians" or something along those lines. Thing is I agree with the sentiment. Although over the last twenty years I've been more a musician than an engineer, I did spend five years doing sound - two years full time with a touring band (one year roadie, one year sound engineer), and then three years in a very large church with one professional sound engineer and the rest of us having a fair bit of experience between us - and there is a chasm between the pros and Sunday morning volunteers. My current church isn't too bad, and being able to save & recall settings with digital desks does help, but at least one of the guys who helps still doesn't know the difference between input gain and channel volume despite multiple attempts to explain...

"Tuning a guitar" and the "importance of the sound engineer listening"... has he ever been in a church on a Sunday morning?! 🙂.... although he does manage the dodgy violin! "Why do sound engineers have that attitude... I'm not a Psychiatrist... maybe it's insecurity... maybe they think they're good at something and they are not... they can sabotage everything you've worked for..." OK they get it 🙂 ! ...and then towards the end - "everyone overplay [smiles]... actually I should do an album like that..." ! May have just undermined the point of the video - mind you they are good musicians.

What do you make of the Fishman? I've had my eye on one of those for potential bass and also occasional acoustic guitar use for years, but never quite got round to pulling the trigger.

I don't whether it's about being a musician, but I automatically notice any background music, and indeed if it is irritating I really struggle to concentrate - my wife can't understand why the wrong background music is strong grounds to leave a shop/shopping centre ASAP! I think the same sensitivity accounts for being unable to listen to music when I am working. I have one playlist of really soothing classical music that I can sometimes put on in the background, but even with that I frequently turn it off as being too distracting!

...and then there was last week's bargain. Mentioned to my buddy that I was heading to Cardiff for a meeting, and he pointed out this 1818x in Barry for £20. I swung passed and grabbed it while I was down there. Was in a bit of a state but the speakers were fine and the crossover as well once we had bypassed the broken jack inputs. Cleaned up and it looks a whole lot more presentable now. Just in the process of switching out the old (broken) xlr connectors for some speakons which also means a new back-plate, but in doing so can also keep the biamp option (if two inputs are used the cross over will stick a 250Hz HPF on the 10 inch which is quite cool): After a bit of TLC and black paint:

Ah yes - related to the reason why good psychologists always bring a bass to difficult therapy sessions - everyone starts to talk during a bass solo!

...forget the listenability - think how cool it would be to see him play this live! And it looks like we can in January: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/bernth-charles-berthoud-tickets/artist/5456809

About twenty five years ago myself (on guitar) and a friend who played keyboards were asked to play backing music during the meal of a wedding that the bride and groom were doing as cheaply as possible, along with the first dance which was "Can't buy me Love" by the Beatles. I think we did it in exchange for a room and food (we were students). As it was a bit last minute we had only improvised to random chord sequences during the meal, and then had just that one song rehearsed. But following the first dance suddenly everyone wanted to dance and they had no DJ booked so they asked us to play it again... and then people seemed to think we would play other things but that wasn't what we had agreed, so we played it again... and again... must have gone on for half an hour over and over! Still can't play that song all these years later!

You speak to a dilemma we probably all have - bass cabs are an arse to lug around, and in many ways weight and size is the most important criteria for something that is essentially just a personal monitor at gigs (given I've DI'ed everytime I've played for the last twenty years) and yet [insert name of favourite cab]... For me I love my Trace Elliots and am still just about young enough to carry them, but agree the Bare Faced cabs look very interesting and as good quality cabs I'm not sure I would notice much sound difference at a gig... if weight and size is important (and budget not an issue) I would just get one as I've never seen a bad review (and they certainly used to have a return/trial period - may be worth looking into).

Ironically, of course, this goes slightly against the earlier criticism that someone else made that he used multiple cameras/takes to look more accomplished than he is. I think what you are identifying here is that he is a performer, and while solo bass may not be many of our first choices for listening to, I would absolutely go to one of his gigs and see him play this stuff live as it is a real performance art! I have a similar relationship to blues music - a bit irritating to listen to but my god, seeing Eric Clapton and Joe Bonamassa at the Albert Hall was a life highlight for me (OK Berthoud is not quite up there yet but he's heading that way)!

Cripes a Trace Elliott GP7SM Combo on ebay finishing in a couple hours for just £100... again too far from me for pickup (or at least I can't be arsed to drive into London when I have a similar head and cab already... although if it had been a GP12...). Thought I'd stick some examples on this thread to prove I haven't really been lucky - these deals are not infrequent - and if you don't mind the weight I'm convinced you can't do any better for sound per £ than with old Trace gear. Which cabs and do you have a link to a listing - if you have a carpeted 4x10 with a tweeter I might be interested. Just missed one in Oxford last week for £150 which I thought was at the top of the price point but maybe justified if in good condition.

If anyone is near Kings Lynn there is a TE 2x10 on facebook marketplace for £40 put on today. Too far for me as otherwise I would have had it for the speakers, port caps and name badge alone!

Meanwhile in guitar land they've found other ways of ensuring the other half is happy (and yes this was a real advert - hopefully my cunningly placed star will stop it getting censored!):

Have you listed those anywhere as I vaguely remember seeing something in Cambridgeshire recently? Do you have a picture of the cabs?

I was hoping there might be others out there interested in the quest - let me see if I can change the thread title as well (edit - I can't)! RE the GP11s, I did have one for a few years that has an intermitant fault that resulted in a loud banging noise every now and again. Although we think we fixed it I never trusted the amp again, and also given it had a full flight case it was just that bit too heavy so I moved it on. I also didn't get on with the green push buttons that seemed to stick. I think my favourite models start at about series 6 and then defintely the SMX models, but after that it got a bit too Peavey for me.

Was just coming here to link this as well - holy moly - at least as mere mortals we can watch these guys play! Thus said I might be able to take away the idea of playing ghost notes across strings rather on the same string which is an idea I haven't thought about before - but the rest of it is just there for appreciating!

...and last week picked up a 2103x cab from a chap in London, combined it with the 1x15 I got just after Christmas and the fixed GP7, to make my current (as of last week) first choice rig (and yes I have a trolley to move it!). Cost to me £75 in total - frankly unbelievable given the sound - first gig with it next week which I am very much looking forward to!