Merton

[quote name='Protium' post='559402' date='Aug 3 2009, 04:45 PM']Haha why even have a power switch when you can just turn the bass volume to zero [/quote] Good point, plus the plug in the wall is the on/off switch. Easy!

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='558665' date='Aug 2 2009, 06:53 PM']Used mine in anger for the first time at a gig last night. Great tone and power through my 4x10. Best bass sound I've had in a long while, actually. Didn't have to do much tweaking to get it either - just boosted the treble a bit. Made the floor rumble and my trousers flap, which is all good. Only downside is that in a rack, it is a heavy bugger.[/quote] Glad you like! [quote name='Protium' post='558679' date='Aug 2 2009, 07:17 PM']Why even have an output volume then? I have tone controls on my bass, does that make the amp EQ redundant? [/quote] Yeah, maybe the amp should just be one 500W power amp with no controls at all save for a power switch. Lovely!

[quote name='davidmpires' post='558580' date='Aug 2 2009, 04:41 PM']Can I make a suggestion? Would be cool to have Steve Lawson doing a workshop, he's not that far away from Surrey. Would be worth contacting him.[/quote] Good suggestion. We have a couple of session guys on our target list but we'll add him too

Lovely! Pretty sure you'll be loving the LH500

All three basses look great, nice one people! I'm trying to persuade my brother in law he wants to come and do this next year with me

Right, it's been over a week since I took the prototype off Mikey's hands; I've gigged her once and caressed her every day I'm still in love with this bass. [b]Sound[/b] Unplugged, this bass sings. A great fundamental and some really nice harmonics make this sound rather woody and lovely indeed. Plugged in it's a revelation. Cheap no-name ebay pickups they may be, but this bass packs a punch and the 4-way PU switch gives a great fundamental basis to the tone (bridge / B+N in series / B+N in parallel / neck). Through the LH500 and Barefaced Vintage I have to say I was really enjoying rocking out with this bass. It cuts through the band beautifully and packs a huge wallop with it. Nice! [b]Playability[/b] Easy. This may have a chunky neck but it's a joy to get around. The fanned frets were a doddle and on the whole this is a very comfy and easy bass to adapt to. I think it has a fatter neck than my old MIM Jazz V but I have to say, it's a hell of a lot more of a joy to play. Light and reasonably well balanced (a bit neck heavy but it isn't an issue) and ergonomically perfectly suited to me. Grand grand grand. [b]So what's going change on the "production" models?[/b] Not a lot, to be honest. Well, obviously the woods will be a bit more fancy, and Mikey will have the experience of this and Jon Shuker's course under his belt, but most people would be hard pushed to spot many major differences I suspect. Mikey is going to slightly enlarge the body to help with the balance, both visually and ergonomically, whilst the neck is going to be slightly slimmed down. My particular bass is going to have Wizard 84s and I'm intrigued to see what effect they'll have on the sound. The electronics will essentially stay the same but we'll source some higher quality components. Some of the manufacturing techniques will be changed or refined by Mikey (e.g. how to install the electronics and jack socket and how to fret the neck), the fan will be parallel at the 4th fret rather than the 3rd, but as you can see we're really not making radical changes. My particular spec has had a slight modification though. We were going to go for a ziricote board to balance the olive ash top, but I love the maple so much on this bass (and it's cheaper!) so we're going for an all-blonde bass now - rippled olive ash top with maple fretboard. The whole wood spec is like this (shamelessly pinched from an email from Mikey back in snowy February): "Body is hard ash caps top and back, over a poplar core, with walnut accent lines and go-faster stripes. Neck will be walnut-ash-dark ash-ash-walnut, maybe with some artistic used of veneers to make pinstripes between the ash lams." It's obviously still a long way off but it's mighty exciting! This thread has a loooong way to go

Mikey that looks great

I got mine from [url="http://www.avocations.co.uk/speaker-grille-foam-21-c.asp"]here[/url] but Blue Aran do it too

[quote name='alexclaber' post='550249' date='Jul 24 2009, 02:48 PM']I doubt drum hardware could pierce it, but I shall have a go at throwing some cymbal stands at a cab one of these days. Alex[/quote] Our drummer tried that on Saturday and failed, a slightly dented badge is all. Even so, I've stuck some 20mm acoustically transparent foam behind the grille to add an extra bit of protection. As Alex said to me, it probably won't stop something which pierces the grille but it'll stop it being deflected as much and give me a slight reassurance....

[quote name='buff' post='548843' date='Jul 23 2009, 12:56 PM']And a sansamp makes it 4 although if the amp is that great it shouldnt need it.[/quote] My Sansamp is used purely for giving our FoH the sound I want. I haven't used it as an "extra" preamp for my onstage sound since I have the Trace 12 band head: make of that what you will I guess...

Another point to make about the volume control - you have AT LEAST two other volume controls in your rig already: 1) on your bass and, more importantly, 2) your fingers. So it's bullsh*t to say that there's not enough control

Tell you what, I'll weigh mine at work tomorrow on their big warehouse scales

[quote name='51m0n' post='547495' date='Jul 22 2009, 12:54 PM']no vol setting probs here....[/quote] nor here it goes up and down and i can put it where I want it.

LH500? Cracking amp for the money (even the new less cheap money!) Yes, on it's own it's slightly hissy but I've NEVER noticed at a gig. overall, the LH500 has power to spare, a basic tone to die for and you'd be hard pushed to ruin your sound with the EQ (read that as it's very musical, not that it's limited). It's essentially the same preamp as in the old Trace V-Type heads (and before that the Fender Dual Showman I believe?) though I'd say the Harke has a more agressive EQ section and as such it's more "tweakable". Well worth a look IMO. Oh, and it you want speakons, get the LH1000 and have LOADS of power to spare:)

[quote name='alexclaber' post='545391' date='Jul 20 2009, 03:37 PM']Will you stop talking to yourself! Alex[/quote] Do some work!!! Well, not now, it's after 8, but if it's 3.30pm and you're talking to yourself on here, do some work!! Updated manual when it's ready please! Oh, and I spotted a smelling pistake in the last one but can't remember where it was. Can I proof-read the new one and get a free Midget?!

Enjoy it dude, still mighty jealous (tho Nic does say I can do it next year if I have the money ) I'll give you a bell one evening to have a chat re. the proto, sorry I haven't managed it tonight but broken bones kinda needed to be attended to first!

Three crap pics from my living room:

OK, here's a very short review, as I've only had 5 minutes at lunch and 10 minutes just now of playing with this - the real test is still on Saturday - but two words: FECKING AWESOME. Mikey, honestly I don't want to rave too much but if this is your first attempt then in years to come Jon Shuker, Mike Iceni, Robbie MacIntosh and Alan Crignan (sp?) et al will have a hell of a competitor. This is all based on playing this thing acoustically. It is sooo easy to play, the notes fall under my hand beautifully and the fanned fret is just not an issue at all. The wood, albeit cheap, sings really nicely and the bass speaks nicely from the very bottom to the very top of its range. Top work buddy! As I said before, I can't wait to plug it in, but I, and everyone here, has got to remember this proto has cheap ebay pickups whereas mine will have custom wound Wizard 84s for the series/parallel switching so will sound mighty different even before the wood difference are taken into account. Exciting times

That wasn't me playing the bass, that was my colleague Phil! We don't look that similar do we?? Love it Mikey, can't wait to plug it in and gig it on Saturday. And, (hush hush), I think I quite like the fat neck. Sorry.* *let me gig it on Saturday before I give this comment 100% credence.