Prime_BASS

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1339891059' post='1696063'] My Markbass 104HF can handle a low A with ease, and they sometimes go for £500 or less used. It says on the specs that it 'goes down to' 30Hz which is about a low B ... but as above it doesnt actually matter so much! I've got a low A out of a 60Hz cab and it sounded fine! [/quote] Majority of what we hear isn't the true fundamental, it's more second and thrid harmonics, that are well within the range of any decent cab. You'll hear just about any note in the range fine with pretty much any cab. A cab probably has the ability to produce 30hz but 30hz when it's full pelt, and keeping up wioth the mids. Not likely. The answer to the OP's question is really, what ever takes your fancy mate. BUT! if you really do need that super dooper low end, because you are relying on the cab for all the bass sounds ina room, and the music really does need a power true bottom(synthy dubstep stuff a la' Our Helical Mind) then barefaced is the only cheap and viable option, but you also have to have the power to push that low end too. the maths suggest you need a good 1000watt power amp into a big twin to get decent SPL out of lower than 50hz or so.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1339746570' post='1693538'] Isn't the Thumpinator a high pass filter set to @ 30hz? Regardless, it certainly seems like a handy bit of kit.[/quote] Yes excuse me, meant High pass. It is a handy bit of kit and it does take away some excess rumble, but the best bit is that it I find that I'm not clipping the input as much as I normally am. That's witht he same input gain as with it out of the chain. It is kind of liek having a peak limiter on in the signal chain. you think it isn't making much difference until you take it out. Especially now my rig is a lot bigger it makes even more difference, I think cabs that can go a bit lower and louder would benfit from it even more, such as the big units from barefaced.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1339782524' post='1694387'] I haven't learnt the drum part [/quote] This all over. And I agree with you on the fact that being the bass player instantly means you are the only one who learnt the song properly. When I was in the second originals band last year, even though they knew I wasn't available full stop on Friday nights, they got in a right old huff when the singer booked us into a gig without checking with everyone first, and I couldn't do it because it was ona Friday night. The same band who couldn't tell if I was using a pick or fingers after they asked I used a pick.

Well I have a T-rex Squeezer, and it sounds fantastic. But I still struggle to set it up, which is it's only down side. So much control and they all interact with each other. Try it one but with everything off is hard too, cause attack and release both have to be fully clockwise(I think anyway). It is a bit noisy too, but having proper isolation helps too. I try and have it so it levels everything out as my playing on the gig can be very sloppy, where as at home I don't really like playing with it on. As I can usually 'compress' myself with my playing technique. A decent compressor (one with lots of control anyway) is a good tool to have in the box.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1339714142' post='1693370'] I use a compressor to rid excessive boom, as I`m a bit heavy-handed. Just have it set to stop the lows wallowing too much (and it brings the higher strings volume in line with the others as well). I`ve also just bought an SFX Micro-Thumpinator, as have liked what I`ve read about them, being a low-pass filter this should also remove some wallow. [/quote] Just took delivery of mine. It is a low pass filter but it cuts the super low end that you probabaly don't hear, and it's more to help amps run without clipping and cabs run better as it isn't wasting energy on frequencies that don't matter. some amps already have this sort of protection anyway, but some only when things are getting really loud. Havent had a good play yet but I can hear a difference and it is harder to clip the input aswell.# Not sure how to set up my compressor to rid the boom and bring highs in line though. something to do with comp and threshold though I think?

Compressor won't fix boomy ness, but it will thin. A lot compressors cut the lows and the highs but decent ones like the MArkbass and Trex squeezer are very transparant. Although the T-rex gives low mid hump, but sounds very nice anyway, just depends on the rest of the room. the boomyness can be remedied with a bass cut, or better cab placement, away from walls/corners etc. get it tilted back, or raise it up off the floor. Usually at extreme volume at rehearsals I always cut the bass anyway to help not going deaf. The MB heads is centre at 40hz which is pretty darn low. Boom can be helped by cutting around the 100hz mark. I've not heard of people sounding thin and boomy at the same time though...

Looks like a custom job to me that someone is moving on' but probably would be in the appropriate section though if it was.

I found the same with two barefaced midgets stacked. One on its own although a mighty thing, it just wasnt the same as say a decent 2x10. Found I didn't need a tweeter either, loads of high end, but with two I felt a tweeter was needed to off set the added bass. It's like turning the eq on my phone to bass boost, the treble seems to dissappear.

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339610750' post='1691527'] When using only one, it was the top one and I was sitting so it was pretty much pointing at my face. If anything when using 2 there was a more direct coupling with the floor adding lows? I also expected there to be only a difference in volume, but the tonal difference was massive, much fuller rounder sound, LOADS more headroom, totally different beast. Best way I can compare it is like the difference between running the Catalinbread SFT in 9v or 18v, but even much more evident and bigger improvement in this case. I then went back to one cab and tried to increase volume and EQ it to get close to the stack sound and couldn't get nowhere near! [/quote] I think it in terms of real world effects you are trying to explain. something that paper and data can't describe. When running two 8 ohms cabs you only need half the power to get the same SPL, this is where the more 'headroom' thing comes into play. Also More speakers give you more, fact. Regardless of cab, power, amp, design placement. I doubt anyone with any amount of EQ can replicate the sound of more cabs with a single cab.

I had one years ago, but really didn't on get on with it. I prefer the new ones with the reverse P though.

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339529576' post='1690071'] Btw, regarding the LM Tube, also AB'd it with the III. Thought the difference between the 2 preamps in the Tube was very small. Slightly warmer on the tube side but also louder on the highs. It seemed to me that if I increased the highs a bit while set to full solid state I got the same-ish result. Biggest problem seemed to me to be the breakup you start getting pretty low on the gain if you set it to the tube side... It doesn't sound great and I'm sure if I was pushing it live I'd end up turning it full to the solid state side to avoid that breakup, so it would defeat the purpose of having this one over the III... [/quote] [quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1339529701' post='1690074'] The tube is so small on the LMTube it's insignificant, plus you can't change it. [/quote] Very surprised at this. Personally I prefer the tube head that Markbass do, as I find the solid state pre to be very nasally and a little lacking in soemthing, not that it's bad it just doesn't tick boxes for me. The added highs you are hearing is the extra harmonic distortion you get from having a tube in the signal, especially as it's a very clean amp anyway. I find the difference enough to ignore the solid state side all together. But it also depends on the cabs used. Been using barefaced and markbass and the difference is audible enough even at rehearsal volumes. I also find that the gain needs to be set higher on the tube side to get the best signal to noise ratio, and lower on the solid state side. The thing is these amps arn't for breaking up they are for clean and transparent, but with the eq knobs and the filters you can use the head in any situation. Plus it weighs nothing! Setting everything 12? Yes I do this only because I like the way my signal sounds DI'd and the cab's give a faithful representation of that signal, but on the gig cause I am going DI'd I will EQ to the stage/room so I can hear myself and the band can hear me. Regardless of how big or small the tube is it creates what I like about preamp tubes, and thats enoough for me. The TC stuff. It sounds great and looks great on paper but I would recommend that this be tried in the environments it's going to be used in. Yes the 450 is loud, but it's a different kind of loud. Louder than a 500watt Markbass head? No. It's hardc to describe how the head sounds. I had the RH750 for a while and it was loud but when it started pushing it had horrible dynamics, due to the way the power amp works. the on board compressor is nice yes but at volume it was useless, along with any minute EQ shift. Great amp, sounds good and feature packed but something missing. No way was it noticably louder than the 500watt MArkbass. The Genz streamliners are just a better all round amp than the TC. Sound better at volume, if a little muchy in the lows. Again it has a similar compressing going on but only in the low band, so it does keep getting louder but only because it's squashing the lows. At the end of the day, it's nice playing with stuff in a shop, everything sounds pretty decent. It's onlyon the gig where it matters. You may find the head you love in the shop doesn't perform on the gig. You also have to choose the amp for you and your needs. My needs arn't very typical of a bassist, I just want to be able to hear myself clearly on stage, as most of the time I'm DI'd , I liek the sound of the DI thats not a problem. but when I need it to the Markbass will be the loudest thing there and pump my sound around a massive space.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1339500316' post='1689281'] "Why you wear dem gay glove blud?". [/quote] EPIC LULZORS! I always reply back with something like 'are you sure?', as if they are drunk, which they usually are. Swiftly followed by 'did the bass sound ok?' which meets a reply of blank faces....

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1339517202' post='1689731'] Since you are probably not going to drive to gigs with the cab hanging out of the back of the car I'd look at the Ampeg 610 that's in the FS section. Ampeg seem to get their "house sound" pretty consistent across their products so even 2 Ampeg 410's would sound pretty good. Barefaced is threatening to come up with an 810 killer, in Neo with the same tone as the original Ampeg. I'd like to hear one of those. [/quote] True, I have a smaller the smaller 806 and it sound like a tiny 8x10 only I wouldn't recommend it for serious giiging. And I don't think the barefaced '69er uses neo drivers. I think it uses ferrite or something, the weight loss is in the cabinet design. The classic 610 from Markbass only weighs 30kgs IIRC.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1339446417' post='1688728'] Buy a Vauxhall Astra. [/quote] Cause they fit an 8x10 easier than a fiesta?

I don't even get the TIM joke.

[quote name='moonbass' timestamp='1339221205' post='1685457'] And Stingrays do seem to still have that weak G string (although not generally as marked as the Stingray 4). [/quote] Ive had 3 Ray's and 5 EBMM basses in total, and tried countless others and never experienced this 'previalant' weak G-string. I understand there has been an issue in the past on a certain run of Stingray 4's and no one was ever quite sure where the issue was coming from. Still this was a while ago, and I haven't come across anyone who has experienced it on their SR5.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1339363636' post='1687586'] But I'll give it a go, at the risk of condescendence, and of hitting Just tell me if I have been an idiot. I'm very open to the idea that I hit the wrong ball in the wrong court, and sent it the wrong way to boot. [/quote] Not at all. Being very helpful. It's I find it very easy writing lines to songs that need a bass line, rather than writing a song myself and starting with the bass.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1339322808' post='1686718'] I've been playing bass 9 years and have never actually had the displeasure of lifting one! The fact that my ridiculously massive 104HF weighs less than my old Laney 2x10 combo tells me I'm not exactly losing out here [/quote] If I could cope witht he weight the sound is worth it. I just need to pass my driving test and buy a transit with rienforced suspension.

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339284722' post='1686498'] Yeah, it's on my list, hoping it will be less compressed. My list for amps is a bit like this at the moment: Liked: Aguilar TH500 Genz Benz Streamliner 600 Would like to try: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2 MarkBass LM Tube MarkBass LM Rocker TC RH450 Eden WTX500 [/quote] Markbass ! LMROcker maybe your kind of bag if you like the Streamliner as it has the same kind of input stage as a tube amp, setting the gain to the taste of Od needs, rather than clipping. Although it will still do the nice flat and clean sound aswell. The poweramp in the Littlemarks is a gem aswell. The LMTUBE gives you the harmonically rich and distortion you get from preamp tubes anyway, but the big plus is the preamp blend but I have it either in all tube or 50/50. The 50/50 mode is more like 100 percent of both there is a percieved volume difference between the extremes of either and then the 50/50 mix, it gives the overall sound a low mid hump, which is nice but in some rooms(like mine) with some cabs it cause some weird coupling and boosts the overall low mids too much. If you was to get a Streamliner, I would definatly get a 900 over the 600 as the power is outstanding. In terms of controls the LMTube/Rocker are much more easy to work with, particulaly the rocker as there is one gain knob and not 2 like on the genz stuff. Gain and preamp volume or something, a little confusing. I'd still liek to try a R500 which is essentially a LMrocker but bigger and a different power section.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1325370945' post='1482685'] Have you ever tried a Markbass head through an Ampeg cab? ... My god! [/quote] I do every rehearsal, sounds amazing. It is a shame the ampeg weighs the same as a baby elephant. [attachment=110024:Gedling-20120602-00279.jpg]

Necks are good on these basses and nut width shouldn't put youoff buying one. Unless ofcourse you have tiny hands and get cramp.