Merton

Er, early Ashdowns used Celestions (my old MAG cab had 'em and the Klystrons did), but all the Blueline speakers are made in Italy to Ashdwon specs, the name of the comapny has escaped me for a second tho. Don't know if the ABM series (as opposed to the original Klystrons) came out before or after the Blueline speakers tho.

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='20519' date='Jun 19 2007, 11:52 PM']Anyways, I'm surprised Gibson keep sending BGM stuff to review. I don't think I've ever seen a Gibson bass get more than a 3 star rating. I really liked the "Aches and Pains" article. I've been having a bit of lower back problems from carrying my gear around London. Osteopathy sounds life fun... [/quote] Yeah, that was good. Chiropractic care has transformed my left arm from a (random) jibbering wreck of pain into perfection. Osteopathy is more about muscles, chiropractic is about the bones and alignment, therefore allowing the nerves the room to operate correctly. And it all helps

Bought some strings, even my credit card being frozen for no apparent reason didn't stop a might fine smooth transaction, cheers!

[quote name='dlloyd' post='17874' date='Jun 14 2007, 08:55 PM']Mar 1999 Introduction of 12-band series (GP12X preamp) July 2000 General redesign of Trace amps: Introduction of new 7-band series (promising real world prices); Introduction of new 12-band series; Introduction of V8 Amp; redesign of the Commando combos 2000 to 2001 Manufacture of some amps moved to asia. Dec 2001 Gibson stops production of Trace Elliot amps, rebadging some as Gibson amps[/quote] Awesome post, nice one! The one Q I have is about the Gibson era 12-band stuff - were there really 2 versions of it?? Also, i swear I remember being at uni in my first year when the Gibson buy-out was announced, but that was Oct/Nov 1999.... How my brain is muddled

[quote name='dlloyd' post='17759' date='Jun 14 2007, 06:13 PM']The SMC 7 band range came out in January 1998. Gibson acquired Trace in October 1998. Yours is a pre-Gibson design and built under Gibson ownership. The Gibson ownership is unlikely to have had any effect whatsoever on the quality of the amps built by the time yours was.[/quote] You're right. I got me dates muddled up. Sorry!

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='17693' date='Jun 14 2007, 04:45 PM']Cheers Mert, will do mate - ill have some live photo's to show you all after the gig too![/quote] Oh, another thing. Steve the soundman is awesome. And Dan the lighting guy is too. Hooray!

[quote name='eude' post='17666' date='Jun 14 2007, 04:18 PM']Hey guys, As I've mentioned numerous times over in bassworld, I've finally decided to sell on my Trace Elliot combo for something lighter and more compact. I'm pretty much already set on what I'm going to replace it with, however I'm not really sure what it's worth. I'm probably going to end up trading it in, as the basschat marketplace has been a bit slow of late. Could anyone offer me some advice as to what it's worth?... It's a Trace Elliot 7215 SMC 300W 15" Combo. I'm pretty sure I got it new in 99 and it's pre-gibson, however I might be wrong.. Here's a few pics >> [attachment=685:amp.jpg] [attachment=686:frontPanel.jpg] Here's the all important serial number too >> [attachment=687:serial.jpg] It's seen very very light use, never been even near halfway volume-wise, and only been gigged a few times, only recently too. It's in almost immaculate condition bar a couple of scratches on the metal grill. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Eude[/quote] Made in March 1999 (399 on the end of the serial) so pre-Gibson design and build, yes. Price? Not sure. About £300 maybe, poss £400? God knows, I'm useless at pricing things.

+1. We use them for various bits of PA gear for the function band, cracking to deal with on the phone and in the store. Croydon is at least!

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='17616' date='Jun 14 2007, 02:57 PM']Hi Guys N Gals, This is really for all the London based members, but anyone who is in London this friday is open to this. Im playing at the Clapham Grand in London on friday, 15th june, from 8pm. It is possibly the biggest gig I have ever played, at a very good venue that has previously hosted acts such as Oasis and Razorlight. It would fantastic if anyone can come along, ill happily have a ber and a chat afterwards as its a great chance to meet other bassworlders. We need a decent crowd as we are having some professional photography done and Natalie has a load of spare tickets going, so im really trying to find out if anyone fancies coming down tomorrow night? Might even let you have a bash on my gear too! Will be bringing my Jazz and my Hartke Rig, which includes my new AKG WMS 400 wireless which is fantastic. Address is: The Grand, 21-25 St John's Hill Clapham Junction London SW11 1TT PM for directions if needed. Tickets are £8 on the door, or £6 reserved via Natalie's website - [url="http://www.natalielong.co.uk"]www.natalielong.co.uk[/url]. If you email Natalie, via her website, you might be able to negotiate a discount as she is trying to flog tickets on the cheap, so I reckon you can get them for £4. Once again, its going to be the biggest gig ive done with natalie so far, and im really looking forward to it. If any London based Basschatters can make it, id love to meet you and would be awesome if you can support us! Cheers Luke[/quote] As I've already said, good luck dude! it's a cracking venue, I play there a fair bit and love it. Air con makes it a bit chilly during sound checks tho!! Would love to come but am off to the IoW to play a wedding so will have to miss out :-( Say "Hi" to Paula from Feedme if she's about (er, it's Mert from Cengiz... That'll confuse her). Tip: Good Morning Vietnam is just about 20 seconds form the Grand, best place for a meal between soundcheck and giggage. Really good value, don't be greedy and get start and big main coz you'll never finish it all!

[quote name='alexclaber' post='17534' date='Jun 14 2007, 12:28 PM']Exactly - it's an Italian name, like Bergantino - stress on the penultimate syllable. Is Aguilar pronounced the Spanish way or anglicised? And Alembic is a.LEM-bik, I believe. How do you say Skjold? Alex[/quote] The one that confuses me is Mark Bass.

[quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='17471' date='Jun 14 2007, 11:24 AM']Comfort strapp, it's great![/quote] [quote name='obbm' post='17494' date='Jun 14 2007, 11:38 AM']+1, with Schaller Straplocks[/quote] I use the Overwater strap, basically the same thing I think. Does the Comfort Strap have suspension coz the OW one does? And Schaller straplocks are an absolute must.

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='16859' date='Jun 13 2007, 01:35 PM']am i bothered that it is made in china, no cos it works didn't cost the earth and i trust that it being designed in the UK that they are sensible enough to spec the components accordingly.[/quote] Exactly. Ultimately if it's designed and made well, it doesn't matter where they put it together. I think I missed a big point in my previous post - [quote]Made in China also gets read as "components sourced in China"[/quote] should have added [quote]mistakenly.[/quote] Again, going back to my day job, there is a model of "next generation" set top boxes in production at the mo in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and China, and it's the Western European plant which is screwing everything up in manufacture, not the other two.

[quote name='Muppet' post='17054' date='Jun 13 2007, 05:11 PM']I have one - with J retro fitted. Mutts nutts it is. [/quote] This picture proves it's the sexiest bass ever. Except for my Status Retroactive They sound gorgeous. I want one. But I also want a Bob Glaub P bass in the same colour scheme as this.

[quote name='dabootsy' post='17126' date='Jun 13 2007, 06:56 PM']Moral buy a good strap and a good case I am considering having it repaired if I can find a good luthier or I may sell at the right price[/quote] Moral is down let the [Bowler Hat] of a keyboard player near your bass. Sheeyat. Glad it survived the first scare! It's still a gorgeous bass

[quote name='MB1' post='16623' date='Jun 13 2007, 12:28 AM']MB1. be) No i think not ,this doesnt even look like one of the very early combos/amps made at soundwave.which was where trace elliot originally traded from, many moons ago. MB1.[/quote] Aha. That was the sort of info I was looking for! Ta!

Made in China also gets read as "components soured in China". Chinese components are "normally" cheap rip-offs of "Western" originals (er, and Japanese thesedays!!). Case in point - one of the Chinese factories for the company I work for has asked for 3 samples of two products from the major Western manufacturer, so they can reverse engineer it and make it themselves. Fair play if the customer doesn't mind (which they don't). BUT, that is a sweeping generalisation and one which I think causes the problem. [list=1] [*]not all chinese components are crap [*]just because it's manufactured in China doesn't mean you've got the crap components in there - the "customer" (eg Ashdown) may well specify the exact components to source, which may still be the higher grade/better quality [*]Chinese manufacturing techniques and technology is progressing bloody fast, as mentioned above by Paul remember back to when "Made in Japan" was a bad sign (I can't, I'm too young ) [*]er, I think my brain is full. That's it. [/list] That said, as we've seen with Ashdown and with Trace before, moving out to China has resulted a drop in quality. China is very good at consumer goods which are disposable (TVs, DVD players etc) but all my customers who have higher end, more expensive and generally less volume product get it made in Japan, Malaysia, Europe or America. China will get there, it just isn't (quite) there yet. IMHO

[quote name='alexclaber' post='16474' date='Jun 12 2007, 08:06 PM']That wikipedia link is pretty damn good! There are three different sorts of tweeter I've come across in bass cabs. The cheapest and usually worst sounding is the piezo tweeter - ironically an array of piezo tweeters as in the BFM horn cabs can sound great but as used on its lonesome in a 2-way bass cab they're pretty hopeless - too little power handling, too little sensitivity. But they are very cheap and don't require (or even benefit from) a crossover as they're a capacitive load and are thus naturally highpassed. The most common tweeter found in bass cabs is the horn tweeter, using a compression driver on a small horn. This can sound amazing or terrible depending on the implementation. The reason most horn drivers sound bad is because the crossover does not have a steep enough slope so too much bottom hits them which makes them distort. The other reason is that when used in a 2-way bass cab (woofer plus tweeter, no midrange speaker) the off-axis response of the woofer is long gone before the tweeter kicks in, so unless the speaker is pointing directly at you there will be a large gap in the upper midrange making the treble seem harsh and disconnected. A select few companies like Bergantino and Euphonic Audio do a great job with these horn tweeters by using a large enough horn crossed over sufficiently low and even woofers whose off-axis midrange response is extended by flexure. This costs money though, as do high order crossovers. The final tweeter found in bass cabs is the dome tweeter. Nice and smooth sounding, lower distortion but not terribly loud or great at handling power. This approach only works well when you have a midrange speaker to fill the gap between woofer and tweeter but then it works great! This approach was pioneered by Acme and further popularised by AccuGroove (identical model of tweeter but the Acme uses a more complex crossover instead of two tweeters to get sufficient power handling). If you hate tweeters you probably haven't heard a good one. And they're not just for slappers, they can really improve the whole definition of your sound in a rather hard to perceive way - a bit like the way a good kick drum sound has a surprising amount of treble to define the attack. Alex[/quote] Brilliant succint answer, this should be a sticky methinks! The tweeter in my old MAG 4x10 cab was lovely and smooth. The Fostex horn in my current Trace 2x10 is bloody horrible and I've dialled it out completely. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't buy a horn loaded can next, it's just sh*t in the Trace 2x10 config.

[quote name='neilb' post='16178' date='Jun 12 2007, 12:51 PM']At the very most, the cabinet COULD be a TE, but the baffle board,driver and tweeter are not. The actual amp panel is not a TE either. So, that leaves the rubber feet. Mmmmm....somehow I doubt it. If it was a TE, the seller would have put up more info, like model number, year and some close ups. However, Airfix used to make amps.............obviously still do!!![/quote] That's what I thought. Even the very earliest Traces were green weren't they? So he's talking from his rear end.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TRACE-ELLIOT-BASS-AMPLIFIER-W-FLIGHT-CASE_W0QQitemZ260127979562QQihZ016QQcategoryZ58719QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]Trace Elliot or not, that is the question?[/url] A very early model, or someone talking out of their bottom? EDITED to sort out the mess I made of the of the link....

[quote name='eude' post='14232' date='Jun 8 2007, 03:19 PM']I'm looking to get a lightweight kickback style Combo to replace my big Trace Combo. Found recently when gigging in small venues that I can barely hear myself when stood near my amp, although I'm deafening people at the other end of the room! Plus my back is really hating moving the combo by myself! I've since played through a Hartke Kickback 10" and was blown away at how clear the sound was, and how portable the unit was, although it didn't quite cut it for me volume wise. So basically I'm looking for is >> Lightweight - very important About 150W should be enough 12" speaker or a s**t hot 10", maybe a tweeter too Kickback design Line out for PA connection About £300ish Currently I'm pretty much set on a Fender Bassman 150, heard good things about all the Bassman range since Fender acquired SWR. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Eude[/quote] How much is the Hartke Kickback 12" and what wattage (compared with the 10)? That's not too bad from my experience. EDIT - er, my experience clearly being quite limited or I'd know those questions. But I do know I liked the sounds it produced!!

[quote name='spike' post='14163' date='Jun 8 2007, 01:08 PM']Next month we are doing a function where we have to be set up, soundchecked and out of the way by 8pm, first set is 10-11pm, second set is 1-2am. Including travel thats's going to be a 12 hour day and we are charging accordingly[/quote] Yep, that's one thing which some poeple don't quite understand until you break it down for them....

[quote name='King of Loss' post='13689' date='Jun 7 2007, 04:46 PM']I like the PT too, but I was just saying that hte production shows a bit of that commercial influence on both the records I think. For example, the new PT sounds alot different to say, In Absentia.[/quote] Aye, I'd agree with that. But Deadwing sounds very similar too, and that isn't a Roadrunner album, so I think that sound is more ot do with their new drummer and Steve Wilson having produced Opeth and the like - he's been influenced by that sorta thing. Maybe. I could, of course, be talking out of my ar*e

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='13675' date='Jun 7 2007, 04:34 PM']I love the porcupine tree album BTW G[/quote] Same here, grand album! Sounds very similar to Deadwing IMHO, but Anaethatize is a joy - 17 minutes of awesome music! Can't comment on the new DT album for I have not yet purchased it from any form of musical retailer

[quote name='BigRedX' post='13669' date='Jun 7 2007, 04:26 PM']My two custom basses: Overwater Original 2, extra-long scale 5 string. Not made for me personally, but then again at the time I bought it second hand was the only way I could afford a decent bass. Gus G3 5 string. AFAIK the only one in existence with anodised black metal work instead of the more usual bright chrome. Simon had been experimenting with alternative finishes for the metal parts, but after all the trials he went through trying to get suppliers to finish to the standard he required for a customer model I don't think he's bothering anymore.[/quote] Love the Overwater, love the Gus even more. Very nice!

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='13495' date='Jun 7 2007, 10:45 AM']Hi Joe, 3 years ago I had a company called Bravewood guitars build me a Precision bass to my spec, as I personally couldnt get along with many of the MIJ/MIA Fenders that I tried. I always loved the fat, round sound that P basses give, so I was really looking for something more playable. Here she is: Basically, the neck profile and body is the same as a '62 P bass, but it has a Badass II bridge, Seymour Duncan 1/4 £er pickup, schaller tuners, and its finished entirely in Nitro-cellulose.[/quote] Hi Luke, hope you don't mind me askin', how much did that set you back? That's exactly the bass I wanna buy next! PM me if you don't want to publicly say, or if you want to tell me to bugger off. Have fun at the Clapham Grand next week - cracking venue, I'd be along to support you if I wan't going to the IoW for a wedding gig. Back on topic, I really want a P bass at the mo, I think it's cracking for rock, reggae, funk, dub, everything. A lot of the sound comes form your fingers and the way you play it...