gobasserk

Telecaster / Ashdown

Al, my stuff might seem so odd to many bass players out there... Where do I start..? My main basses for the last 20 years have been several Yamaha BB1000ma's as you might know 😉 A bass that I can't recommend enough. B U T : About a year ago or so I changed to Telecaster basses. I just fell in love with the junky fad necks with maple fretboard. Due to the fact that corona killed some bands and projects I startet to fiddle arround with the Telecasters at home and they do things so well! As I only play rock music and don't have any chance to play slap style etc any more... a good solid tone is all I need. So I bought several Harley Benton cheapos and pimped them with new pick ups, hardware etc etc And I love them. But the odd thing is something else...my tone, even the clean ones I get out of a quiet old item.. a Zoom B2. These old pedals are so versatile and do have any pedal I need in one pedal. (effect wise) I easily have 10 different clean preamp tones inside and with this I can match any amp or cab. And although it is older than the B3/n pedals it sounds better (in my opinion) I tried many other pedals but nothing could compete. Strings: I use D'Daddario nickels, they sound warm and bright. Amp and cabs.. I am not a friend of light and digital. I played a Trace GP11 preamp with an external poweramp or simple Hartke LH1000 heads before I switched to one of Mark Gooday's Ashdown ABM heads. I toured with Ashdown and I love that this amp never let me down on the road! But again, with the B2 I can find my sound with any amp. The Digbeth is now finally a pedal (or head) that gives me some real tube sound (even without tube) (I tried digi amps of Markbass, Glockenklang etc etc, nothing beats a good transformer) Cabs..well, that's still an issue... my 410 Ashdown ist trusty and LOUD but I love my Hartke HyDrive 210 and I think I will get a second one. It just sound so cool and crisp and has so much low end. So right now my chain is: Telecaster with a Boss looper that goes A/B = Digbeth or B2 --- Ashdown ABM--cab

Too bad that you won't be able to feel the bass. Recorded only with a smartphone over a Hartke HyDrive 210 it delievers some serious bass......!! (Telecaster with single coil, as you will be able to hear..) 😉 Digbeth PRE video via smartphone

Well, a very good question. In my opinion, it sounds more like an analog bass head than many other pedals. It sounds very natural. I realy like it! I wanted the sound of my Digbeth DB500H also with other bass heads and the pedal does exactly what I hoped for. Even better because it is even more versatile than the head because of its eq section.

So the Digbeth Pre arrived. After an hour of playing I can say, that this unit is easy one of the best rock bass preamps I ever played. It's for "classic" tube tones, no Darkglass / metal distortion thing! The only thing that I am concerned about is... the first unit I bought was doa, something was clearly broken inside and was now falling arround inside the box. And the unit of today does this....somehow I don't like the sound... Strange rattling inside the unit The PRE is even more versatile than the 500H, the eq section allows a more detailed shaping of your sound! Like the head its strength is a warm deep bass tone that I like a lot!

I managed to order one of the preamps and will arrive on saturday. I am curious how the slightly different controls of the eq will differ from the amp.

All I can say is that the DB500H is the first lightweight head that I really like. I prefer old heavy amps tone wise and still think they sound better. But the Digbeth got me. Still I think I would take my trusty Ashdown ABM on a tour. It acquired some seriuos reliability over the years that I don't want to miss. The Digbeth Pre is a nice tool to have the tone with any amp. If you play in a band with guitars I would spend some bucks more to go with the 500head -it is loud as hell!

I think I know why there are not more people with pics and stories of the Digbeth line... at least in Germany there seem to be some problems with delivery of Laney stuff. I am trying to get a Digbeth Pre preamp but it is not available.... I got one delivered but it was dead at arrival, something was rattling inside when I unboxed it. A second one I was not able to get my fingers on 😄

Video of some more fiddling with a Telecaster... I just love that amp. Recorded with my smarthone, headphones will help. The 2x10 is on wheels, the bass in the room is full and warm! DB500H fiddling

Wow, that was quick, I sold both basses within 30 minutes.

You mean Dexit... there are some forces working on that but I'm afraid they dont have more than a handfull of supporters yet. But that's today... 😉

I am selling one of my BB1000MA's and my BB300. As Brexit might possibly make deals less interesting for you guys I wanted to let you know never the less.

Considering selling two of my BBs. Too bad there is this absolutely sensless tax thing now between Europe and England 😕

BB1000ma played with a new Laney amp. The recording phone does not capture the massive (!) bass at all... cupboards were rumbling ! 😛 (first half p/j then only p mode) BB1000ma

I recorded it in the living room... everything was already falling out of the cupboards...With the cab on the floor.... 🙈

Did this soundfile last year with an old Zoom B2 and a BB1000MA. It's a bit Hooky and a bit of Tony Butler, who I learned a lot of in the early days of my playing and who I call my "teacher" 🙂 Yamaha BB - Hook style

Just a quick one.. Single coil Telecaster - cable- amp-410 (8ohms) Ashdown. Volume at the amp is LOW... I think this 500watts are real! Recorded with a Samsung S10, its microphone does not capture the bass in the room... Best listened to with headphones! DB500H

Let's just think about the guys WITH roadies. At least in the rock genre... how many of the "big guys" switched to a 2kg head? How many of them play 15kg cabs? And why not? 😉

Of course we talk about "gusto" but you can't seriously listen to some yellow italian bass brand and call it good sounding.... light, yes... but that's it. And you can't compare a light 1x12 to a 4x10... 1x12.... if one is not able to lift a 1x12 cab with non neo speakers...... come on...it is bass, not nintendo!

I think 500 watts are ok with the right cab. But yes, the marked goes 1000 watts... (maybe the light cabs sound crap..? 😉 )The cabs...well it is a shame... but not the cabs but the buyers. Everything goes light instead of good sounding. So I think 32 kg for a great sounding cab is very ok. The head..7kg...come on...who thinks 7 kg is too much... ? ANY bass player with a band and a car (not even a bus) can handle any top up to 20kg with no issues. We are bass players. It takes a bass and a good cab and a good head to have a good sound. It will end in playing a bass over an interface and in ears... not my future. I am using the DB500H for some weeks now and I am still amazed by the sound. My Telecasters never sounded better. A rock amp. Very nice. I just was wondering, why the amps are unseen. No youtube clips (private) , nothing.

How come that Laney does not get more credit even in the UK? I don't read anything about the new Digbeth line anywhere...

BB PH in Germany.. Yamaha BBPH

I ordered my third PB50 and there seems to be a new third line of basses on the marked now. - I do own a PB50 of the old series (Wilkinson) and one of the (untill now) new series (Roswell), ordered new scratchplates from that guy for both on ebay and they all fitted 100%! My new PB50 (Sept. 2021) now has again different screw positions! Just in case someone can give this information to the guy who does the scratchplates. Edit: Contacted him over ebay.

Well, the 300 is a superb bass. A hard decision. The wood is definitely different from the newer basses. And the wood sounds good...

Thinking on selling my BB300. Too bad Brexit makes everything senseless expensive...