Prime_BASS

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1329484' date='Aug 6 2011, 01:33 AM']Been pondering this myself. Been using a 115 and a 410 and the height is great,but now I`m using the 410 HLF on it`s own it`s too low. So what do I use to get it up to chest height?[/quote] Some kind of wedge would be suited for this. Depends what stages it's on. On a tiny stage I couldn't use anything but a wedge. A wedge is most of the time a better solution than raising the cab up and you don't lose the floor reinforcement coupling effect thing.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1330533' date='Aug 7 2011, 12:46 AM']Yeah the Puma looks great![/quote] The "taste" knob and stupid picture of a puma puts me off already though. Just makes the unit look silly, like the stupid "giant" on the front of the ashdown little giants. I never really like anything that says something like "taste" or "enhance". It's a mid scoop knob no?

[quote name='Mikeg' post='1330306' date='Aug 6 2011, 08:26 PM']I dont realy understand whats so special about it [/quote] +1

I whole heartedly agree with that a crap bass has no hopes. If I had to say how important each piece of the pie is in terms of slices I would say each gets an equal share (ish) with the bass maybe getting an extra piece and a bit of cream. If the cab can't voice what you want hear very well or at all then no matter how good the bass and amp are it'll sound (maybe not crap) not as good as if the cab has got decent set of speakers and is the correct size and the port(if it has one) is correctly tuned. Put your hand round a singers throat, she's going to sound choked, no? If I plug my stuff into an A-typical "bass" cab it doesn't sound the same as war I usually plug into. Probably not crap again but not pleasing to me. Plug in the same bass and amp into a variety of cabs you'll gets different sounds. Also from what I've seen of published frequency curves speakers "designed" for bass cabs tend to be very bass heavy. I don't want that in a cab it'll sound all mushy and horrible. I will agree that the right EQing (providing you know how) can help a lot but it doesn't work miracles.

I use the 750 version with Barefaced S12T. I will say the sound is huge, even with spectracomp off it still has a very full range sound and in particularly in the practice room where the cab doesn't get a lot of wall support it still has tonnes of rumble without touching the EQ knob.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1329509' date='Aug 6 2011, 02:14 AM']While I've never tried their tube heads I do have ther studio 1 amp simulator. This has a T501 head and one of the other tube heads and I really can't hear any tube effect. Maybe this isn't a true indication of how they sound but I really don't see the point of the tube in these heads.[/quote] personally there is a point and an amp simulator isnt going to show that very well. It is hard to describe the difference, but it is significant. Its also more noticable in a head like the LMTube, because you can compare the tube to the SS preamp on the fly. you should definatly go an try one out, for me the tube add a lot more harmonical dynamics transients and all that other stuff. also the THD percentage is usually higher in a Tube preamp than in an SS. I dont think we are being deluded when trying different heads to get different sounds, JTUK you are being rather simplistic as I'm sure no matter how good the bass is, if the heads preamp is very coloured and made of inferior quality components you are going to get a very different sound than what you can from a very well made head. then you have to take into account the cabs voicing. Crap head into crap speaker sounds crap, good head into crap speaker sounds crap. crap head into good speaker sounds good. I can get my sound from either the markbass range or TC but the only reason I switchwas that the marketing deluded me into thinking I needed all those nice lights and features.

Jeff Berlin is a tit. I don't rate him to well as his kind of music isn't my taste. I don't think he let the fact he is good go to his head, he let everyone tell him he is amazing too much. Great done guy a million years ago said you were a better soloist than he was. Knock knock! You are a bass player, you failed!!! Don't get me wrong I enjoy a bass solo now and again but I can't stand and listen to some jerk niggle for more than 30 seconds. Yes I like my basslines to be interested and inspiring and prominent but essentially you've still got to hold the line. It's all about the 1!! You can do what you want between the little space you got as long as your on the 1!

Owned a LMtube 500 for a while. The ability to blend preamps (SS and Tube) wasn't new to me but in thi head on a single knob is the best I've seen and used. Both preamps sound essentially the same as in voicing and frequency output so the tube is only really giving those transient harmonic gubbins. Which can be very pleasant. The Tube side does go a smudge louder, which is probably(I may be speaking bull though) due to the compressing nature of tubes. For me it was essentially a Littlemark with a tube character knob, not knocking it though, the head is great and I really enjoyed the whole sound of it. The bass and treble roll of seemed just right. The lows being low enough and deep enough without rumbling, the highs being crisp enough to not sound shrill and enough for a brighter edge(which seem more obvious on the tube side) the sound as a whole is very punchy and articulate. Not grindy, but personally I prefer clean tube sounds as I like those extra harmonic things. The Tube side doesn't necessarily add "warmth" as the Littlemark SS pre-amp sound warm anyway. The whole package for me was a perfect clean tune sound. I didnt get why it has a second input for DB and other such things, they already have it on other SS heads and I've used once with the Tube and with the tube side even on moderately you could hear a fair bit of feedback making it pointless. The knobs are all very sturdy and the sweeps are all pretty linear. They respond to the smallest tweaks which is very good IMO. I just wish it had a better input gain structure and a better "mute" button placement. If it had the smart input of the TC it would be a lot better, I found on my stingray it clipped pretty early on compared to the TC where as a passive J has the sane input setting on the TC compared to it nearly going over 12 '0 clock on the MB. After my short stint with TC though I'm going back to Markbass, as the features I needed before I now have in a smaller package.

[quote name='whynot' post='1329293' date='Aug 5 2011, 10:01 PM']That's the impression I got from mine, having used an LMII before the Tube.[/quote] The tube doesn't really provide grit. As far as I know the SS pre-amp is similar to the LMs and the tube side has the same flat(ish) response the only real difference which is very noticeable is the slight "tube" warmth and the added harmonics you get with a tube, it can sound rather shrill but as long as you don't over do the treble it's fine. Does 100% tube and 100%SS with 50/50 and the bits in-between. I tended towards either SS or 50/50 because the harmonics of the tube are very pleasant. The rocker is the grindy version with no SS. Still does clean just not very.

G. If you can safely afford it then why not? I'm looking to go back to Markbass after my sordid affair with TC.

Hiya. I've got my TC RH750 up for trades for a F500!!!

You won't damage it. Just because 1 pedal says bass and another says Guitar doesn't mean you can use either for each other........... Anyway. I had a pedal chain consisting of Boss GEB7-Boss LMB-3-Big MuffPi-Boss BD-2-sansamp paradriver. I used this for both guitar and bass, just changed the knobs to suit one or the other. Usually on guitar dirt pedals you'll lose some bass response but this can be EQ'd back in or remedied completely by using pedals with an EQ section.

Hopefully one day when I have kids, I'll get them started on bass at an early age. Although I do mimic others comments. That first section was unbearable, the rest I tolerated until he started do some finger picking, then had to stop watching when the solo came. Lots of unecerssary parts that made the whole thing sound disconjointed. I liked the close up of the Sax player. "worlds most frustrated saxophonist "

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1327951' date='Aug 4 2011, 10:48 PM']PS Tried Lakland a few times, wasnt keen on the feel and quality in the end. Nice, but not me. If I cant find a good Jazz the money is going into more Musicmans![/quote] So when is Darren getting your order? My personal favourite non-jazz jazz bass is the early/mid 80's SB2. The ones I've played have a quality of MM basses and it still sounds like a proper jazz. Saving for a Wal myself. You should go to a variety of shops try a load, haggle them down as much as possible, then go to other shops try a load more and then mention your quote from earlier most shops do price-matching, as long as you can prove it's legit. However I agree AS fenders not worth 1k.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1326863' date='Aug 4 2011, 01:06 PM']In the Jan issue they tested the MarkBass F500 and found it to be pretty close to the advertised spec.[/quote] I find markbass watts to be very loud personally. I had the LMtube and that was very loud head full stop, not just for a 500watter. I always had a strong feeling the OTB wasn't lieing about it's wattage as that is even louder than the LMTube.

It's not wood for basses?

[quote name='chris_b' post='1326373' date='Aug 4 2011, 01:01 AM']Active EQ's are cut/boost. Start flat and make small changes.[/quote] Not necerssarily. The Bass knob on stingrays tend to be boost only IIRC. Personally I like both passive and active. Providing the passive has te right electronics go the best sound. I hate having humbuckers with 250k tone pots as you lose a fair bit of high end than if it were a 500k. I good passive circuit on a bad that is setup well can be just as powerful as any active bass. However EQ adjustments on the fly are easily made with an on board active pre. I prefer setting up the bass in as loud as possible With th least amount of environmental disturbances IE wall reflections and refractions. Typically out doors. Then you can cutand boost as required for different rooms. Too boomy? cut the bass, not cutting? Boost the highs. Alway use Duracells, for some reason they last up to 4x longer than any other battery. Went the sound garbles the battery is dead.

I prefer maple for looks but not the anaemic stuff you get these days. I would say there is a difference. Maple tends to be brighter and aid more in a bouncy feel aswell as sound, rosewood is a warmer sound. However the difference is void in a mix. Still sounds like a stingray.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1314719' date='Jul 24 2011, 01:28 PM']I absolutely LOVE my SR5 HS, and the HH is also a brilliant beast![/quote] Hey G, I'm loving the Big Als tone now!! After a drastic change in technique, I'm now employing a more subtle fluid plucking motion with a similar attack of finger picking on guitar, the very tips still grip the string to give conciderable sharp attack like a like without loads of fret buzz and clicking, also cutting a few dB of serious low end on the TC to help stop rumble, cutting back on the tweetertone and it the big al (and my others aswell) sounds amazing in all configs. Especially liking the Passive tone to get more natural vintage tones. It's also got the best P-bass sound I've heard since owning a Epi Jack Cassady bass, very woody and full. Did you ever get yours sorted? I'll have to get a ramp installed on mine to help monitor my technique, help keep the fingers from digging in too much during gigs when I'm not concerntrating so much.

A lot of people find it hard to believe I have this "rare" gear. One old chap didn't believe my Ray was real cause the bridge was funny, therefore henwas ignored the rest of the night, however his bands bassist did say it was a nice bass. Fortunately my band mates are just as much music geeks as me and can recognise what is what to an extent. I try and get all my gear out whenever I can, partly to show it off partly cause it sounds good and mainly because there is no point having it if doesnt get used. It's like buying a book and not reading it..... Pointless.