Conan

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1505937638' post='3375399'] If you use one 1x15 cab it's a single 8 ohm load so the amp will output around 300W. Using both gives you a 4 ohm load and the full power output. [/quote] But the amp will only produce its "full power" (300W @ 8 ohms, or 500W @ 4 ohms) if it is run flat-out with all controls maxed. How many of us ever do this?

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1506004412' post='3375818']Would have been interesting with Tony Levin, but as it stands, it has it's Level 42 moments which in my book is a good thing. Every so often you hear Mark's voice cutting through and it's unmistakable. [/quote] Agreed. Tony Levin has become "King of the spin-off project", so it is nice for another King to have his piece of pie as it were

[quote name='tony_m' timestamp='1505992575' post='3375697'] Nope, you've got it - the guitarist was actually a bass player first and foremost but chose to play guitar (he also wrote a fair number of the songs), while the drummer plays drums, bass and harmonica to a high standard. Not sure about the keyboard player's talents on bass, but he was another multi-instrumentalist (keys, guitar, drums) so it wouldn't have surprised me to find he could hold his own! Fortunately none of 'em wanted to play bass with this band so I got the gig, and kept it until I moved away. Guess I must have been good enough... [/quote] Crikey! Takes the apocryphal comment about Ringo's drumming to another level!

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1505997831' post='3375745'] Can't help thinking it would have been better with Tony Levin on bass. [/quote] Not sure. I think the "clash" of styles and musical backgrounds make it more interesting. Have you ever listened to Mark King's solo album (or first one, if he has made more than one)? At the risk of contradicting myself, he has a fairly eclectic background himself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZwLianIWk4

Just bought the CD on Amazon - which gets me the free mp3 version - for a tenner. Seems like a good deal Quite a challenging listen at first, in a wacky Zappa meets the Police and Talking Heads style. I like it

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1505835257' post='3374658'] I really dont think pickup height has anything to do with it. [/quote] It definitely does. Pickups contain strong magnets, and strings are made of magnetic materials (i.e. metal). Hold a string against the pickup and you will feel the force of attraction. That force is still there when the bass is played, but gets weaker as the string is further from the pickup. If the pickups are set very high (close to the strings) then the magnet attracts the string and prevents it vibrating as much. The sound may be louder, but sustain will be affected, as will the overall tone. It is a useful thing to fiddle about with...

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1505987249' post='3375628'] I think inventive and creative musicians give me a greater buzz, when playing with them, than so called technically proficient musos. [/quote] Good point. I also wonder why, as bass players, we would need to be the best musician in a band in any obvious way? It would depend on the genre of music of course, but unless you are playing for an audience of bassists (what a nightmare!), most average punters just want to have a good time, have a bit of a dance and listen to (and sing along with) some songs that they know. There are more specialist audiences out there, but they are notoriously fickle and difficult to find

[quote name='tony_m' timestamp='1505987031' post='3375625']I've been the third (possibly fourth) best bass player in a five-piece band, [/quote] Eh? You've played in a band where two (possibly three) members are better bass players than you?! Maybe I've misunderstood...

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1505942667' post='3375452'] In addition to the debilitating volume, I should say it sounds absolutely delicious. [/quote] I have never owned anything made by Vanderkley, but I just wanted to say that that is a particularly lovely sentence!

I can't honestly say I'd relish the prospect of either. However, it's not about technical ability but how you use it (depending on the style of music of course). I get far more irritated by things like attitude, punctuality, etc. If someone learns their parts and plays them well, turns up on time, gets involved in the mundane band stuff like organising rehearsals, booking gigs and so on - and isn't a twat - then they will make themselves pretty indispensible in most bands. Sometimes one's choices are limited. If you want to form a real niche band, them you may have to put up with what is available to a certain extent... If it's enjoyable, its all good. If not, the reasons are rarely to do with musical ability IME

I'd spotted them a couple of weeks ago and thought "too good to be true". Since then the price has dropped even further so I just couldn't justify holding off any longer. Two sets bought

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1505830694' post='3374615'] forgetting pickups and magnetic fields, I'm convinced I can hear the differences acoustically - am I just imagining this? [/quote] No, I'm with you on that one. No idea why though... Amplitude of string vibration perhaps?

I would say that Joe Dart gets fairly close (at times) on here (except when he is playing directly over the bridge pickup).... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDL5k9LpZ9w[/media]

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1505771762' post='3374262'] I'd look for 2nd hand Ben, you will get something nice if you keep watching the adds on here. A G&L tribute is almost in reach. My own Bass Collections are around that price [/quote] There was a beautiful USA G&L for around £900. I think it was withdrawn. Widely regarded as outstanding basses at that (or any) price! The Sire Marcus Miller V7s are also very highly regarded by several members on here. And a fair bit cheaper too

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1505684718' post='3373597'] I listened to them a fair bit a few years back, and I never truly enjoyed them. They seem to try hard to be wacky and eccentric, with a focus on making mosh-friendly nerd metal of a sort. A lot of their tracks seem to be built along the same structure; some wierd angular off-kilter slap bass riff starts us off. This is then paired with pounding basic 4/4 metal drums, and the guitarist playing atonal and dissonant chords over the top. Then Les Claypool sings with that thinly nerdy hick voice, delivering some surreal monologue nasally. Then there is the big heavy mosh-friendly chorus.... repeat [i]ad nauseum.[/i] All just a bit self indulgent, and sometimes you want a proper bass tone and not something that sounds like popcorn being made in a massive metal drum. Les Claypool's voice is terrible. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a singling voice. It is terrible on all his weird self indulgent side projects (check out that crap with Sean Lennon or that other crap with Stewart Copeland). Primus' music, for me, is more a proof of concept than actual usable music. I've seen it compared to the work of Zappa and Rush, but it lacks the technical finesse and memorability of the latter and the daggers-out lampooning and compositional exquisiteness of the former. I disagree with whoever claimed Steely Dan were an overrated band, as Steely Dan weren't a band at all; they were two dudes and a bunch of hired guns filling the ranks. A bit like Primus, I consider their music to be a proof-of-concept of sorts. The core members of Steely Dan managed the risk right out of their music by bringing in instrumentalists that would definitely get the job done. Why they ended up making music that sounds like it was exclusively for the Martha's Vineyard yachty set, while gently lampooning the exact same yachty set, is beyond me. Why write tunes that portray vulgar people in a slightly unflattering light, over and over again? Plus, I consider some of their best work (Peg and Do It Again spring to mind) as sort of annoying on repeated listening. [/quote] While I don't entirely agree with everything you say, I have to admit that this post is one of the best-written I have ever read on Basschat. Top work indeed!

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1505717298' post='3373661']Steve Harris has his tone on bass bypassed. Eddie Van Halen hasn't got a tone pot on his stripe guitar. [/quote] [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1505717454' post='3373662'] I rarely touch the tone controls on my bass. There is one bass where the controls are not flat, but that is more due to the sound of that bass. [/quote] Of course. All that is fine if you want to sound like "yourself". But if you have to try to sound like a number of different players/bands/styles, then EQ can be your saviour (IMO).

Isn't it "all in the fingers"? I kind of get where the OP is coming from. I dislike complex EQ sections, whether they are on the bass, a pedal or the amp. Too much to mess up or mess around with (IMO, YMMV, etc.). On the other hand, I do like a bit of tone-shaping ability close at hand. Particularly when playing a cover set with several different sounds that would be awkward to set up purely from the amp. I guess it all depends what you are trying to do...

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1505478670' post='3372225'] Do you have a product ID for that? I originally got a Pulse Shallow rack and it was about 3cm too shallow! It would improve my quality of life considerably. [/quote] Mine (http://basschat.co.uk/topic/251005-hartke-lh500-amplifier-in-rackbag-sold/page__hl__hartke%20lh500) was in a 2u rackbag from LD Systems. Like this one - [url="https://www.gak.co.uk/en/gator-grb-2u/2683?gclid=CjwKCAjw9O3NBRB3EiwAK6wPT5ZtPv8dt7lz6h5kZ4RYyf05FytM9eIGZDSKbbbI8cHYO3g_HOtwDRoCicoQAvD_BwE"]https://www.gak.co.u...DRoCicoQAvD_BwE[/url]

Great amps! I only moved mine on because I was using mostly J basses with both pickups on full, so an absolute mids-desert and the amp couldn't boost the mids very much. Other than that, as others have said, they are a bit bulky compared to today's alternatives but such a powerful "muscular" sound

This could be a long story... I started with a G2 Compact, then sold it and bought a Vintage, just because it was big and available! That was an awesome cab, but the rehearsal space my (then) band were using had some awful, twisty, narrow stairs and I just couldn't be arsed humping the cab in and out of that room. Also, we weren't gigging all that often. I traded the Vintage for another G2 Compact. A few months later, an original Big One became available. I'd always wanted to try one of those (partly so that I could tell people that I had a Big One... ) and wasn't disappointed. HUGE sounding, yet still a fairly small box and light as a feather. Worked great with my Hartke LH500, but then I started to use J basses most of the time and I felt I needed an amp with more control over the mids... then followed a period of about six months when I tried lots of different amps (story [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/255371-new-amp-dilemma/"]here[/url]) but found all of them wanting in some way. Several (especially the Aguilar TH500 - story [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/257641-aguilar-th500-distortion-issues/page__hl__th500%20distortion"]here[/url]) were incompatible with the Big One - so one (or both) had to go! Initially it was the Aggie that departed, to be traded for a GK MB800, but the stupid controls were just too close together! That was sold and I bought my current amp, which is a Mark Bass LM2. I'm dead happy with that! I sold the Big One, and purchased a pair of Bergantino HS210s - mainly because I had listened to all the BF haters who claimed that Bergs were "the best". Well, they weren't for me. They sounded OK, to be fair, but after years of BF usage, their relative heaviness was just not necessary - so off they went. Next up was my (current) G2 Compact - the third such cab I have owned! It is just brilliant, and does everything I want it to do. From time to time, I still get bursts of GAS* but once I heard another BC member (wateroftyne) playing through my rig, I understood how great it sounded when used by a real bass player! So whenever I don't feel quite happy about my own sound, I just recall how it will sound to an audience. * The last cab I bought was a TKS H115. I still have it. It is great. Just as good as the Compact for me. I rarely need both cabs, but it is wonderful having them just in case! They sound kind of similar, but the TKS is slightly "cleaner" and has the dubious benefit of a tweeter. It is slightly larger and heavier, but still an easy lift. It also looks the business If I was really strapped for cash, one of them would have to go - but that would be a [b][i]very[/i][/b] tough choice... So, I have tried a lot of stuff over the last four years or so (some not mentioned here!) but I am happy to still be a Barefaced user!