ThomBassmonkey

Well I've been playing around now I've got the BC and I don't know what gauge is on it at the moment, but I'll be swapping them off for some 115s at some point. As for the whole "do you have to follow the guitar" thing, I always do what suits the music best and when the guitar drops to a heavy riff, locking in with it sounds brilliant. There are times when harmonies or different basslines work, but there are definitely some points when following the guitar is the only reasonable option if you actually want it to sound good. I would show you the song that it's for, but it's one of the few songs that there are no recordings of. There's a similar part in Fashionable Place of Birth (recording on our myspace, link in sig) that's about 2:10 in. There are other options, but none of them would sound as good as just following the guitar IMO.

The GK 700RB-II combos (either 2x10 or 1x15) are around that, maybe a little more but way less 2nd hand if you can find them.

[quote name='JTUK' post='773822' date='Mar 13 2010, 07:26 PM']Maybe the camera angle isn't that helpful to that bass...looks all out of proportion to me.... but...£200..??????[/quote] Not just the picture sadly (though it makes it worse): [url="http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0300575500"]http://www.squierguitars.com/products/sear...rtno=0300575500[/url] 5-0 tuners look far better than 4-1 on fender style basses IMO, but for the price, it's best not to be picky since I don't fancy an affinity. Thanks for the opinions Aero, for under £200 there's no doubt it's a stunning bass.

Anyone ever played one? Since Squier seem to be pumping out the brilliant 4 string stuff at the moment, I was wondering if the 5 strings match up. I've been gasing for a fender recently and this would fill the hole for a fair bit less money.

The LG is 2x500w I believe. As for cabs and heads, IMO decent heads can be had for cheaper than decent cabs, you can pick up something like a MB/GK for under £400 2nd hand and it'll last you forever without you ever feeling like it's not up to standard, should always sound great too. Then get a cheapy cab for around £150 which you can upgrade later with the decent head and you've wasted £150. If you spend less on a head and more on a cab, you'll want to upgrade the head and unless you're sticking with a single 2x10 (which are significantly cheaper) then you'll end up buying a new head AND new cabs when you want a bigger rig. If you're happy with a single 2x10 then it's probably not going to make much difference which is bought with a mind to upgrade (if you know your perfect rig then you can work out which will lose the least money in the long run), if you're going to be upgrading cabs (either getting a 4x10 or another 2x10, which you should theoretically match to the first) then unless you're sure that you're going to want to match the first 2x10, you should think of it as a loss.

[quote name='JTUK' post='772517' date='Mar 12 2010, 10:15 AM']I wouldn't bother and would tend to fret it if poss. Treat it as an exercise, but only you'll know if it will work[/quote] I've tried it (it's how I play it at the moment on my standard tuned 6er). There's a lot of shifting hand position and while the guitarist is playing the open d while he's moving, I'm fretting so I can't properly move my hand. It's doable and sounds "ok" live but it is very sloppy and as much as I've practiced it, I think I've just hit a point where the only way to make it really smooth without dedicating my life to practising that one riff is to have that open low D.

[quote name='harmonicfish' post='772178' date='Mar 11 2010, 10:03 PM']Thanks for the input guys Sadly the LH500 in the for-sale forum seems to have sold recently. How about an LH500 (should another one come up) or maybe an Ashdown LG1000 like this... [url="http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~Ashdown-Little-Giant-1000,-Ex-Display~ID~12596.asp"]http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~A...ay~ID~12596.asp[/url] Combined with a TC Electronics RS210 [url="http://www.tcelectronic.com/rs210techspecs.asp"]http://www.tcelectronic.com/rs210techspecs.asp[/url] I liked the tone of the promethean, and I'm not sure how either of the amps above compare (not seen them anywhere to try out), but in terms of being heard I assume this has got to be better for a very similar price. (And then purchase the TC electronics amp later when I have that much cash burning a hole in my pocket... yeah probably not gonna happen).[/quote] I think if you get a bass head for around the £200 mark and it can pump out enough volume, then you can't really go wrong. I've never used LGs though so I can't comment specifically on them. I'd expect it to do the job though and a pretty decent job at that. As for the RS210, I tried on with my GK 700RB-II head and they just lacked any kind of life or punch. It was obviously that combination because my GK sounds great through most things and the RH450 seems pretty popular through the RS210 but my head isn't lacking any punch so IME the cabs only sound good with certain heads (though the same can probably be said of most gear). If you're spending £200 on a head then getting something that isn't the best is ok because it's not a lot of money, the TCs aren't very cheap cabs though so I'd make sure that they sound like you want them to before you invest. Just IMO, if you have £600ish to spend, you're better putting £400 on a head and £200 on a cab than vice versa. Having an average head with a good cab isn't going to help you in the studio or when you turn up to a gig and another bassist has his stack but doesn't want you to use his head. If you have a peek around here there's plenty of MarkBass heads as well as others that will do a great job and give you more flexibility about borrowing gear when you have the chance.

Nah, definitely got to be D I might see if I can get a set of 120s, if not, I'll just get 115s and tune them down for now I think.

I'm happy with my Ibanez, so much so that I've had it for almost 10 years and only just really started gassing for a new bass (and that's only because I got a new amp and saw all the lovely basses while I was looking at amps). The only problem I've ever had with it is that it's got an incredibly low output, but it still sounds fantastic. It's just needs to be cranked with DIs.

[quote name='thodrik' post='772084' date='Mar 11 2010, 08:45 PM']Problem with drop d guitarists is that sometimes the riff is only playable using Drop D tuning, and as such trying to play the same riff using DGCF becomes a pain in the hole leading to even more annoying shapes! Used to hate playing in drop D (every band seems to do it), but I've had to live with it for so long now that you just get used to the shapes and get on with it. I ended up just putting thick strings and changing just the bottom string to get lower notes so at times I'm tuned CADG, BADG, or on the one occassion, AADG. I don't need a 'tight' low B so I've never really felt that I needed a five string. Saying that, going to DGCF isn't that severe, even a medium set 105-45 would probably do the job, though 110s or 115 would probably sound better, but I suppose it depends on the string tension you want.[/quote] I've not had that yet, drop D is for lazy 5th chords so guitarists don't tend to go so fast if they have to move back to a normal fingering position IME. Lazy buggers. I've never had problems with changing strings at all in 4th tunings while the guitarist's been in drop D. Yeah, I used 110s I think last time but if I'm dedicating a bass to the tuning, I'd rather have the right gauge strings. Would 115s be enough or should I try and search out some 120s do you think?

[quote name='cd_david' post='772030' date='Mar 11 2010, 07:51 PM']No, As a working musician for 20 years and FOH sound engineer for 5, I would ALWAYS expect anyone playing to bring enough power extensions and leads to make sure THEIR gear is powered up. It's no-one else's responsibility to provide an extension, if you come to a gig with no 4 gang and need one to power all your pedals and amp then it's a fair assumption that one night you will encounter a gig you wont be able to play due to your bad organisation or laziness. It's not too much to expect, but i get it almost every time i do FOH. However EVERY TIME I play a gig, I can power every bit of gear i need to play the gig plus spares. Dave[/quote] Ah sorry, I misunderstood what you were saying. My band usually has extension leads, though it's never been an issue for me. I have a head and a tuner in my rack, if there's only 1 socket, I tune up then plug in my head. If there's 2 spare, I can leave my tuner on. I think it's fair that the venue provides a couple of sockets each side of the stage for the basics, but yeah, anyone with FX or digital instruments etc should be prepared with their own power splitters.

Could be earthing or shielding. Does it get better/worse when you move towards/away from power heavy stuff like TVs or Fridges or even your amp? Does it go improve/worsen when you're plugged into different circuits (i.e. different buildings, maybe upstairs/downstairs in the same building depending on wiring)? If you answer yes then no, it's probably shielding, I have this problem with my bass. Fairly simple to fix, though I couldn't tell you how. It never affects me though, on stage I'm usually far enough away from anything that causes interference. It's annoying when I'm jamming near my TV but it's not a serious problem. If you answer no then yes, it's more likely to be earthing, though usually with earthing you can hear the difference when you touch the metallic parts of your bass. How easy it is to fix will depend on where the problem is, definitely worth getting checked out though because it can be dangerous. It's also possible that it's just hum from having single coil pickups, new pickups could solve this problem. To be honest, I've never really used single coils on bass so I'm not going to be any use there at all. That's all the help I can provide I'm afraid. Edit: just listened and it sounds like when you touch the strings, the humming stops, right? That'd be a grounding issue.

Yeah Edward, that's what I was thinking. I used to have my 6 string down a step for that exact reason, the band I'm in now doesn't do many riffs like that though and it has them in E and D so I can't just stay tuned down. Hubrad, I have a Mockingbird, Fender P and Squier J on the cards for the next week. Having a serious gas attack, I've hated Fenders since I started playing bass but I've just got bored of the Ibanez neck profile so been trying out various things and I really love the J sound and feel and the J and P are local to me and pretty cheap so worth picking up, plus swapping my spare 6 string (that has never been used so isn't needed at all) for the mockingbird. Will probably end up swapping the P for a J 5 string, but I'm going to take it while the option's there. Just gonna have to see if I can budget for all of them yet. Very possible possibility though.

As a long time devotee to 6 string basses, I've never really had a problem hitting the low notes, every so often though, some b*****d guitarist decides "I'm gonna write a riff that involves hammering between the D string and loads of random frets as quickly as I can". In the past my main band that usually did that was all in drop D so I just tuned ADGCFA#, but the guitarist in the new band I'm in isn't adamant that he's going to be Adam Jones (I think that's the guitarist from Tool's name, near enough anyway) so I'm actually playing in several keys, including riffing in E. Because I'm getting a few 4 strings in the near future I'm thinking about using one in DGCF to give me that open D without royally screwing with my shapes. Anyone that does it as a permanent tuning and can recommend string gauges? I'm also tempted to tune one to ADGC so that I still have the lower string (for one song in particular) with the open D.

[quote name='cd_david' post='771431' date='Mar 11 2010, 11:42 AM']"have you got any power mate" ER no I run the PA and have enough sockets to run my gear you muppet, YOUR amp is YOUR responsibility![/quote] While I agree with most of the stuff said on this thread, I don't see your point there. Do you expect bands to bring their own generator to gigs to power their amps or something? I let someone use my GK at it's first gig last week (technically they gigged it before I even did since we were headlining). I kept a beady eye on it for soundcheck and the first 15 minutes of the set though. I said earlier in this thread I wouldn't let anyone use it but I'm just too soft. It's only gear at the end of the day, so long as I know what's happening with it, it's not worth spoiling someone else's gig by not letting them use it. I'd rather they asked before, but it's not worth becoming known as an awkward bastard, especially when you're in a medium-popular band.

[quote name='51m0n' post='771839' date='Mar 11 2010, 05:11 PM']There are some 1x12 cabs which handle humoungous amounts of power (Berg IP112 is the daddy) but they are stupendously expensive.[/quote] Remember that power doesn't always mean volume though. My suggestion would be work out a budget then go from there. If you're thinking about upgrading over time, you really can't go wrong by getting a cheap head and a cheap cab or two then you can upgrade as you can afford it. I'm sure I've seen a Hartke LH500 and a Hartke 1x15 and 4x10 going on here for a total of about £350 (separate thread for the head and the cabs). They get good enough reviews to start you on and with that setup you shouldn't have any volume problems. There's nothing to stop you upgrading one thing at a time, maybe a little GK or MB here and a Eden or EBS there and you'll be sorted.

It never ceases to amaze me that people ask for advice on forums then they're so rude to people that try to help. People are trying to tell you that a shallow rack case IS ok and they're also trying to find out your circumstances so they can try and help you as much as possible. And in response to asking GAK for help regarding rack cases, just a warning. I did that and now I'm stuck carting around a full size 4u rack case for my head because they fobbed me off with that instead of a shallow one. If I'd put less faith in them, maybe I'd have a suitable one that isn't a HUGE waste of space and too big to fit in any of the usual sized gaps between gear in a van.

I've never tried the TC heads personally, but I had a go with a 210 cab with my GK RB head when I first got it and I was very disappointed. Maybe all the tone in that setup comes from the RH450 head, but the TC cab with my GK sounded bland. Even the guy in the shop sounded disappointed about how it sounded. It didn't sound bad, it just didn't sound good either. There was no punch at all (which is one of the main factors I want from a bass amp personally) without me dialling in loads of treble and high mids which just made it sound tinny. The bass frequencies were either missing or just flabby. Got myself a GK 210RBH since and it sounds beautiful, however I have the EQ set, there's no bad tones in the thing. Of course, that's not tested with a matching head though so it might just be a bad pairing.

These were at LIMS last year and we ordered a semi Tele off them, like this: [url="http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/farida_ftc-32.html"]http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/farida_ftc-32.html[/url] VERY nice guitar, shoots way over it's price range. They don't sell very well though unfortunately or we'd have had more in. They're definitely very nice though.

[quote name='sshorepunk' post='759404' date='Feb 27 2010, 08:34 PM']So what else is there that is easy to change over basses without swapping straps during a set![/quote] More straps?

Thought I'd add a couple of pics from Saturday's gig in Derby. Props to Chris Seddon for being an awesome photographer.

Mr Big is the only band of that style I can stomach. Gilbert has a touch of taste instead of the bland widdlefest some others call music.