ThomBassmonkey

Aaand up to the top!

I should just say that the pickups aren't actually installed, it's from a project I meant to start up a while ago and just never got around to.

Taken from Rondo Music's site:

# A slim line, dual cutaway, contoured solid Alder body with headstock that matches the finish
# Long scale neck (35") increases string tension and helps eliminate the "floppy" low B string.
# Highly figured Bubinga finish
# String-thru-bridge design for maximum attack and sustain
# Active pickups with active/passive pull tap, bass, treble, balance and volume controls
# Separate battery compartment lets you change batteries quickly
# Bolt on Maple neck with adjustable double trus rod and 6-bolts for incredible stability
# Rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets and Abalone position makers
# Fretless version features position markers on side of neck - There are no fret lines
# Note: Fret position markers are located in the same place as a fretted bass - not where frets would normally go (Much like the Steinberg XS bass)
# All black die-cast hardware creates an incredible look
# Width of the neck at the nut: 2 1/8" at the 24st fret: 3 1/4" Thickness at the first fret 7/8"
# String Gauges are .029, .045, 065, .085, .105, .128
# Overall length: 44 1/2" not including the strap button. Width at widest point is 12 3/4"
# Pickup dimensions 1 3/8" x 4 3/8"
# String spacing is 16mm at the bridge
# Actual Weight is only lbs 8.5 lbs

There's a couple of marks near the output jack and another on the headstock, none are serious though. They're all shown in these pics.





Haromy Central reviews: [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric%20Bass/product/Brice/HXB-406/10/1"]http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...ce/HXB-406/10/1[/url]

Pickups:
* Logo Color: Silver
* Inductance (Henries): 3.62
* DC Resistance (KOhm): 11
* Resonant Frequency Hz (1): 2400
* Resonant Frequency Hz (2): 4050
* Impedance @ Resonance (KOhm): 54.5
* Recommended String Width: 3.75 inches (6-string)

One of the pups is still in the cellophane, the other has been opened but never used.

Total cost new was £330 so I'm looking for £200 cash or possibly will swap for a 5/6 string bass (Squier Jazz, Rockbass, WHY?) or trade + money from me towards a GK 210RBH. Would also consider other cabs as a direct trade. I'm not into buying blind any more, so any trades would have to be Midlands area (distance depends on what's on offer). I may split the pups and the bass, but I'd want a definite buyer for the pups before I'd sell the bass on it's own. Would also trade for certain FX if you have something that takes my fancy, particularly rack comperssors or multi FXs.

Thom

[quote name='pete.young' post='759621' date='Feb 28 2010, 10:26 AM']There are exceptions but I cant name one at the moment.[/quote]

There's an Eden Nemesis, GK Neo and 1212L (I think) that're all available in 8 ohms. I'm sure there's more too.

Just as a final update to this, I tried to contact GAK again yesterday and couldn't get through so I've sent them an email telling them I'm not going to bother returning the amp or cab.

I'd rather just have to pay out the extra cash for another cab than deal with them again. I've never had so much hassle over something so simple. It's a sad state when I'd rather waste money than get a refund from them, but I honestly feel that's the easiest and lowest stress option, even though I'm on a very low income.

I play a BTB406 and it did take a bit of getting used to.

I find that it depends on what kind of music I play whether the extra strings are worth it. When I'm playing more spaced proggy stuff, there's room for me to intrude on the guitarist's territory and play some high parts or harmonies.

To be honest now, I'm getting a bit fed up of having the extra string there though. Even after you're used to it, it does limit movement (especially if you have it slung low) and I think next time I upgrade, I'll get a 5er, just because I don't tend to use my C string much.

BTW, IMO tuning a bass like a guitar is daft. The massive majority of bass styles revolve around single strings, if you want to do chords, there's more than enough variations without making everything else harder for yourself.

Because I use a 6 string people often want a go because of the novelty value.

Like I said on the thread about how people treat their instruments, I just see it as a tool. So long as I don't worry that someone's about to tear the neck off or swing it around their head by the strings, I'm happy to let whoever play it (under my watchful eye of course).

People I know well (particularly bandmates), I don't mind if they just pick it up and have a twiddle without asking.

I've not gigged my new amp (and it's going back anyway) but I doubt I'll let anyone use that for a while when it's sorted. My old amp got used by any and all though. One band we played with recently was shocking though, they needed to use a guitar amp, drum stands and kick pedal and a bass amp. The drummer and guitarist in my band both got asked (and grudgingly agreed) and the bass player just plugged into my amp. To make it even worse, the amp was clipping for half of the sound check before I realised what he'd done and had a stern word or two. It was their first gig so maybe they hadn't quite cottoned on to gigging etiquette but I don't think I'd ever have the nerve to use anything worth hundreds of pounds without permission. They were very apologetic though and drinks were bought so there were no hard feelings.

Just rang GAK (been in the studio since Tuesday so not had a chance between Monday and now) and they'll take swap the 700RB-II for the 1001RB-II.

They're gonna collect it on Monday and check that it's undamaged before it's definite but it's been in the rack since I got it, so I'm not too worried. Good outcome.

I'll be starting a thread on cabs later.

John, I'll have to get in contact next week if you're still up for trying out RB/1212L since I'll be sending the head back so don't know how long I'll be without.

How much is the inspiration worth if this floats your boat?

Getting new gear always improves inspiration levels for me, if someone wants one of these, I don't expect that there's much that would fill that hole on a tighter budget.

Perhaps predictably GAK didn't ring me back and maybe less predictably, their claim on their website that their phonelines are open 9am-10pm isn't true either.

I guess I should've just taken my money and ran when they made such a mess of my initial order, dunno what possessed me to give them a 2nd chance and get my cab from them too.

I just stick to the chromatic, it's a lot harder to get wrong than it is to get right.

Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone, Semitone

is a lot easier to remember than

Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone or Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone.

If it doesn't fit, just say it's jazz.

[quote name='bigjohn' post='754002' date='Feb 22 2010, 04:29 PM']I've got a 1212L you can try out with your head if you want?

I'd be quite interested to see what a RB sounds like through one. I was thinking quite seriously about getting one before I bought my power amp. The Schroeder takes 600W from that without any trouble.

I'm over in Ruddington.[/quote]

That'd be cool mate. I'll drop you a PM later in the week about it. Been curious about 2x12s anyway, just never seen any around to have a play with.

Ok, got back from R&D and rang GAK.

From what I heard there (with the help of the bass guy, who's name I've forgotten but was very helpful!) is that with the amp (I used their 700RB-II to make sure it wasn't just my head being faulty) plugged into a different cab it sounded louder. And with a different amp plugged into the 210RBH, it sounded louder. I don't know why it would be quieter with that amp specifically plugged into that cab when they're designed to work together. The other cabs didn't have as much punch (which is a shame) but the Eden D410 still sounded great.

So I've rang GAK and asked if they can swap the head for a 1001RB-II and refund me the difference on my cab. They say that because I've had the head almost 3 weeks, it's unlikely that they'll be able to do that, but he's asking someone higher up if it's possible.

So outcome depends on what GAK's response is (I'll hopefully get a call later today) but if they don't swap the head, at least I know that with another cab I should be alright with the same head (though it's not as ideal as having a more powerful head).

It all just seems odd as GKs are supposed to be loud amps, I don't understand why it would be quieter than other heads and I especially don't understand why a GK head and cab would be quieter than any of the other combinations I tried out.

[quote name='MythSte' post='753752' date='Feb 22 2010, 01:08 PM']Keep us posted![/quote]

I've just rung Rattle and Drum in Derby (who have a 2nd hand 700RB-II in) so gonna take my gear over there and A/B them. Also gonna try out some Eden cabs as I really can't afford a GK 410 and don't fancy buying blind again anyway.

If I copy the settings across from my head when it's breaking up (if they let me turn it to practice volumes in the shop. ) and the other head isn't breaking up, I'll know it's a problem with the head. If it does, it'll just be the speakers and I'll just have a look at their cabs (I doubt I'll be able to push the volume so much with a 410, we'll see though. Depends how loud it seems in the shop).

Take a peek at this thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78050"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78050[/url]

General consensus agrees with Pete, but a few people that have upgraded have said that a pre-amp would make more difference than pups if it's active.

With price sometimes the smaller shops can give better prices, it depends how greedy they are.

I work in a small shop that just deals £100-400 (mainly Tokais, Hamers, Kustom, cheap Crafters etc) instruments but we can get in more expensive stuff (like Vox and Musicmans for example). So because we're used to making only a smallish profit (comparatively) on instruments because they're cheap anyway, we'd be able to sell more expensive instruments with the same markup (so as a percentage it'd be way less).

e.g.* We buy in a fender copy for £100 then sell it for £150 (if the RRP's £160), so £50 profit. If someone wanted a more expensive instrument that cost £800 to buy in with a RRP of £1200, we could quite probably do it way cheaper because we don't have the bigger overheads of a large shop, so we'd only maybe make £100 profit instead of the £400 suggested, but it'd work for us because it's more than we'd make on cheap instruments.

Because it's only a small shop, whether we sell an expensive instrument or a cheap one doesn't matter to us. Better way of doing it IMO because everyone's a winner. We've made a sale that would make us more profit than a cheapo instrument and the customer has gotten a better price than anywhere else.

Of course for big places that actually carry expensive stock, it's a large investment to buy a lot of expensive instruments, so it's in their interest to make back the money ASAP.

*Just hypothetical numbers.

[quote name='Skinkemann' post='752920' date='Feb 21 2010, 04:15 PM'][url="http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kustom-KBA-210C-2x10-Bass-Combo?sku=481428"]http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/pr...ombo?sku=481428[/url]

think this would do it?

Looking at the reviews it looks pretty neat![/quote]

I think that might struggle to be honest.

Ideally you want something with 300w+ and (just to be safe because I got a 320w into a 2x10 and it can't really cope) get a 1x15" speaker or 4x10". There's plenty of combos around with 300w and a 1x15. The Peavey amp in the for sale forum that JMT mentioned would be a lot of amp for little money if you can transport the cab. Plus it would allow for upgrades to the speaker or head as you feel like it in the future.

What kind of budget have you got? Would help people make suggestions.

I wouldn't hesitate to get a Tokai. The shop I work at stocks them and they're quality instruments. There's some corking Epis out there, but IME they don't measure up.

[quote name='MythSte' post='752410' date='Feb 21 2010, 12:30 AM']If you cant fit any more cabs in your car then why not shoot for 4ohms?[/quote]

Because for our bigger gigs/tours we can take a van.

I am looking at 4 ohm cabs too, not completely writing them off. I'd just rather have 8ohm ones for flexibility.

I have a couple of cabs in mind but for that's for another day when I can go play with them.


I think I'm just a bit spooked because I can't tell whether it's the head distorting or the cab (purely because of my inexperience). If I felt confident that it was the cab, I'd upgrade that and there'd be no bother. Because I'm concerned it's the head, it's making me wonder if that's enough. Though as I've said, the head was only up halfway so logic would suggest it was just the cab. I just don't get how a cab that's rated at 400w can't handle a 320w amp, that doesn't seem to make sense..

Combos are a world away from this. Is it loud enough? No? Buy a bigger one.

If we all wanted best VFM we'd all be playing sub £400 basses. Yes, a US Fender is better than a Squier, but is it 3x as good (as the price would suggest if it were linear)?

Is a £,2500 Warwick twice as good as one that costs £1,250?

Is a £,5000 bass better than a £,2500 bass?

Same with all things, bass prices aren't linear. The more you pay, the smaller the increase in quality through price ranges is. If you spend £300 instead of £150 you might get an instrument that's 50% better, but if you spent £3,000 instead of £1,500 it might only be 1-2% better.

[quote name='umcoo' post='752301' date='Feb 20 2010, 10:42 PM']Me and Tayste might plug these all the time, but a Matamp 2x12 would do the trick. £350, can be 8 or 4 ohms, any colour you want, can have neo drivers if weight is a problem, and mine fits in the back of my fiesta with a valve amp and a jazz bass with the seats folded down. Not to mentiuon, they sound the mutts nuts.

Just a thought....[/quote]
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think there's any dealers local to me and after all the messing about I've done with this, I'd rather go and try something out, then if I like it, buy it. Saves me ordering something else that I potentially won't get on with.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='752290' date='Feb 20 2010, 10:26 PM']If you can sell your cab and pick up a Schroeder on the forum then you'll be set.

I used a 700RB II and a 4ohm Schroeder 1212L and it was loud enough for any gig I did regardless of size. The amp is plenty loud so I would say to change the cab and keep the amp if you like the GK sound.[/quote]

Well I can still return the cab (which I intend to do whatever the outcome of this as the combination's definitely not working) so I'll be doing that. If I did upgrade the amp, it'd definitely be to a 1001RB, I don't intend to move away from GK.

Like I said though, I don't really want a 4ohm cab if I can avoid it, how does the 8ohm version measure up? To be honest, I think I'll actually just be going around shops with my head though rather than buying another cab blind, all this has come at a bad time and I don't want to mess about trialling loads of combinations of amps and cabs. Are there any Eden cabs worth looking at? There's a dealer not far from here that has a fair few in stock.

Problem with that is that I only drive a Fiesta that has to deal with 2 basses and a 4u rack already before the cab, If I have to fit anything else in, it'd already be a challenge, I could possibly fit in a bigger cab (with the seats folded down) but I really can't fit in 2 cabs. Not to mention that I can't afford another cab.

I've thought about sending the cab back (it's still within it's 7 days return limit) and getting a Neo 212 which can handle a higher wattage and has a bigger surface area, but there's no way I can try it out before hand so I could just have the same problem again and if part of the problem is the amp can't send enough power for a single cab, I'm not sure running a cab with a higher wattage without upgrading the head would help anyway.

Edit: and I'd rather run an 8 ohm cab than a 4 ohm so that in future I have the flexibility of borrowing/renting another cab if needed for bigger gigs.

Out of the three you mentioned, the Warwick will probably be the most versatile IMO.

All 3 have their own distinct tones but Warwicks (especially the $$s) just seem to have a much broader spectrum.

Anyone used these? Specifically the 700RB-II and 210RBH.

Got one a couple of weeks ago and it's causing me grief. They're just not loud enough. They can handle band practice but they're hinting at farting and not as clear as they are below practice volumes.

I'm surprised I can't crank it more to be honest, it's a 320w (into 8ohms) head and a 400w cab so I'd have thought that I could really crank the amp before it distorts but I'm not even halfway up on the volume (on average, input volume's up, boost is down and woofer volume is in the middle somewhere). I've talked to the place where I bought it from and they say that GK stuff is very reliable so it shouldn't be a fault, but it doesn't sound right either so the cab's going to go back and be looked at (I've used the head with a 2x15 cab and it's seemed ok).

So the question is is it likely to be a fault with the head (I don't know if I can rule it out because the 2x15 I ran it through would surely be louder anyway so the head turned up as much)/cab?

If it's not a fault, is it likely to be a problem with the head being too low wattage (for some reason, I don't see many 700RBs around, most people seem to go for the 1001RB) or, despite the wattage, is the cab just not able to push out enough volume as a 2x10? So would I be better off getting a 1001RB or a 4x10 (or both, though I wouldn't be able to afford a 410RBH so I'd have to get a neo or move away from GK for that).

The more people I speak to, the more confused I'm getting about this (so maybe starting the thread might not help, I'm prepared to take that chance ). I've only ever used combos before so I really don't know what the problem could be, but it's really not working out for me. I love the tone though (when it's how I like it) so would really like to get to the bottom of it.

Thanks in advance for any help.