Loyalty doesn't need to cost

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Well you boys are immensely helpful for dealing with any guilt issues for me having a dedicated home rig separate from my gigging rig!

Guilt is knowing you did something that you shouldn't. Gig and home rigs is just common sense.

[dave_bass5]

4 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Guilt is knowing you did something that you shouldn't. Gig and home rigs is just common sense.

Or have one and use the volume knob 😂
Just kidding, not judging. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by dave_bass5

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Well you boys are immensely helpful for dealing with any guilt issues for me having a dedicated home rig separate from my gigging rig!

Don't feel bad, I have almost enough spare equipment to set up a practice studio, and I can't even play the drumkit 😳

I'm the sort of person that stuff sticks to...

My plan once divorce and Covid are over is to combine forces with my two brothers (one of whom is in a band, the other sometimes gigs as a  duo with his wife) and set up such a studio as we have plenty of stuff between us to do it. We reckon the annual cost will be covered by what we save in rehearsal space costs and we can let trusted friends use it as well.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

I've got two rigs; a 'big' rig (that isn't that big these days) and a more compact one, along with another spare amp. I do different types of gigs, often with very different bands, sometimes on bigger stages and sometimes in the corner of a tiny pub. Sometimes you might struggle to fit the bigger cab onstage and sometimes you don't want to be lugging a rack cased amp to the far corridors of a Travelodge in a strange city at 2 o'clock in the morning. At least, not at my age...!

I also have a third rig;  an old Hartke amp and a cheapish 810 cab. it lives permanently in a mate's rehearsal studio (I've only used it once in the past ten years). 

I normally use the Mesa rig at home fro practice. Rehearsal studios have good gear usually EBS amps and Ampeg 810 cabs. Even at home i prefer hearing the Mesa rig to the EBS and Berg cab.

Interesting point about the D800 amp Pete. The TT800 has valve preamp much the same as the Mpulse only difference being the power stage and lack of graphic secction which i generally never use except on boomy stage and not that many of them. Talking with our very own @Steve Browning about his thoughts on the lightweight kit he finds very little difference between the TT800 and the heavier amps he had. Steve has been a great help to me offering me loads of advice on how to get the best out of the amp and i've followed his progress from Powerhouse range thru to the Subway. 

I have to admit that in the past i've found most lightweight gear lacks something in a band situation altho my Markbass rig seemed to be the opposite. It just seemed to sit nicely in a full band with keys yet it didn't have a lot of depth or "heft" (sorry but its the best word to describe what i find from the Mesa rig)

My Genz Streamliner was a great wee amp but again didn't come thru in the band mix. Same with the Berg ae112 lightweight cabs and i even tried them with an Ampeg SVT4 and they just didn't have it.

As soon as i brought the Mesa rig into existing band everyone commented on how much more it filled the sound and you could feel the bass as well as hearing it. Not louder and i'm very conscious of not being too loud in a band to the point singer or guitarist has told me to turn up a bit.

I'm getting to that age where the heavier gear is a bit of a pain to be honest. The trade off might be worth it but i'll buy the new gear before selling the old Mesa rig. The EBS head and HT322 cab will go first.

Dave

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'm getting to that age where the heavier gear is a bit of a pain to be honest. The trade off might be worth it but i'll buy the new gear before selling the old Mesa rig. The EBS head and HT322 cab will go first.

Gear too heavy?...EBS head? All appearing in one sentence!

I see an alignment of stars in your future when an @EBS_freak shall appear as if from nowhere and utter the magical incantation "FRFR"....

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Don't feel bad, I have almost enough spare equipment to set up a practice studio, and I can't even play the drumkit 😳

I'm the sort of person that stuff sticks to...

My plan once divorce and Covid are over is to combine forces with my two brothers (one of whom is in a band, the other sometimes gigs as a  duo with his wife) and set up such a studio as we have plenty of stuff between us to do it. We reckon the annual cost will be covered by what we save in rehearsal space costs and we can let trusted friends use it as well.

Having your own studio?

Heaven

[prowla]

Three of my favourite basses are here (2 Rics and the grey Warwick).

Three more of my favourites are here (white Ric, orange Precision, Status graphite headless).

None of them cost over £1k.

[Al Krow]

That is a serious play room you have there @prowla!

And a very tidy pedal board too (although we really should discuss finding a successor to your 12 year old bass synth technology at some point in the coming the decade...)

[peteb]

30 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Interesting point about the D800 amp Pete. The TT800 has valve preamp much the same as the Mpulse only difference being the power stage and lack of graphic secction which i generally never use except on boomy stage and not that many of them. Talking with our very own @Steve Browning about his thoughts on the lightweight kit he finds very little difference between the TT800 and the heavier amps he had. Steve has been a great help to me offering me loads of advice on how to get the best out of the amp and i've followed his progress from Powerhouse range thru to the Subway. 

I have to admit that in the past i've found most lightweight gear lacks something in a band situation altho my Markbass rig seemed to be the opposite. It just seemed to sit nicely in a full band with keys yet it didn't have a lot of depth or "heft" (sorry but its the best word to describe what i find from the Mesa rig)

 

30 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

As soon as i brought the Mesa rig into existing band everyone commented on how much more it filled the sound and you could feel the bass as well as hearing it. Not louder and i'm very conscious of not being too loud in a band to the point singer or guitarist has told me to turn up a bit.

 

It's not the weight of the amp, so much as how the power section works and how it reacts every time you play a note. The old Markbass amps didn’t use a Class D power module and work well in a mix (keys and everything). I’ve got an old Italian LM3 and it is certainly the loudest amp that I own (far louder that the old D800). I prefer the sound of the Mesa & the Handbox, but the MB is great at what it does and just works. 

I’m sure that the TT800 will sound just as good as the mpulse on its own in a small room, but will it punch through a mix and fill out the sound as well?? I don’t see how it is any different in that respect to my old D800, which sounded great on its own. If you do decide to go down that route and move the mpulse on, then give me a shout. I have often wished that I had the extra headroom of the 600w mpulse, compared to the 360w version that I’ve got.

Edited January 16, 2021 by peteb

[EBS_freak]

24 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Gear too heavy?...EBS head? All appearing in one sentence!

I see an alignment of stars in your future when an @EBS_freak shall appear as if from nowhere and utter the magical incantation "FRFR"....

Inears.

[Paul S]

46 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Guilt is knowing you did something that you shouldn't. Gig and home rigs is just common sense.

Or worse, not doing something you should have.

[prowla]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

That is a serious play room you have there @prowla!

And a very tidy pedal board too (although we really should discuss finding a successor to your 12 year old bass synth technology at some point in the coming the decade...)

(It was at the last two SE Bass Bashes 🙂 )

My current pedal board...

Edited January 16, 2021 by prowla

[EBS_freak]

5 minutes ago, prowla said:

(It was at the last two SE Bass Bashes 🙂 )

My current pedal board...

You don’t want to play bass, you want to play synth!

[prowla]

17 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

You don’t want to play bass, you want to play synth!

Haha!

The Synth9's Oberheim is great; you can have it trailing your bass line.

I bought the B9 on a whim, but its Hammond is spot-on for Lazy.

I've still got to get to grips with the FI; I've spent a load of time faffing around with the tech and forgotten that it's supposed to be there to make sounds.

OTOH, you may have a point...

I have a set of PK5-A MIDI pedals, but I was in the process of getting my 2nd pedalboard working (the top row in this one was going to have another SansAmp on it, but that's another story!).

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Gear too heavy?...EBS head? All appearing in one sentence!

I see an alignment of stars in your future when an @EBS_freak shall appear as if from nowhere and utter the magical incantation "FRFR"....

The EBS head is a lightweight head but its not the sound i prefer. Great back up amp tho.

What is FRFR ?

Dave

[Al Krow]

36 minutes ago, prowla said:

(It was at the last two SE Bass Bashes 🙂 )

My current pedal board...

Very juicy!

Now where did I leave my feather duster? 😁

[EBS_freak]

6 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

The EBS head is a lightweight head but its not the sound i prefer. Great back up amp tho.

What is FRFR ?

Dave

FRFR - full range, full response.

In other words, completely flat and characterless. You create your sound up front and the sound that comes out the speaker is not influenced of the speaker. You want the sounds of different speakers? - then they are modelled - and then sent to the FRFR speaker. Means you can carry around a virtual set of speaker cabs whilst only physically having to carry one FRFR cab to reproduce it all.

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

The EBS head is a lightweight head but its not the sound i prefer. Great back up amp tho.

What is FRFR ?

Dave

Full range, flat response

Interesting FRFR story.. - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

 

It's not the weight of the amp, so much as how the power section works and how it reacts every time you play a note. The old Markbass amps didn’t use a Class D power module and work well in a mix (keys and everything). I’ve got an old Italian LM3 and it is certainly the loudest amp that I own (far louder that the old D800). I prefer the sound of the Mesa & the Handbox, but the MB is great at what it does and just works. 

I’m sure that the TT800 will sound just as good as the mpulse on its own in a small room, but will it punch through a mix and fill out the sound as well?? I don’t see how it is any different in that respect to my old D800, which sounded great on its own. If you do decide to go down that route and move the mpulse on, then give me a shout. I have often wished that I had the extra headroom of the 600w mpulse, compared to the 360w version that I’ve got.

Pretty sure the Markbass combo i had was class D It was a very lightweight combo. No weight at all. Mine wasn't the earlier Italian version tho.

If i decide to sell the Mpulse it will be thru BC first. I'll try and remember to give you a shout Pete.

I use it with an 8ohm cab and typically run Gain at 1 o'clock and Master at 12. Changing to my Berg 4 ohm cab in the house i def need to drop the master volume a fair wee bit even at lower volumes in house. Its a bungalow in countryside so neighbours not much of an issue for me. At some point i'll take the Mesa head with Berg 4 ohm cab to rehearsals and see how it sounds. At same settings as my PH212 i reckon it will be louder and clearer sounding.

Dave

[Al Krow]

Just now, EBS_freak said:

FRFR - full range, full response.

In other words, completely flat and characterless. You create your sound up front and the sound that comes out the speaker is not influenced of the speaker. You want the sounds of different speakers? - then they are modelled - and then sent to the FRFR speaker. Means you can carry around a virtual set of speaker cabs whilst only physically having to carry one FRFR cab to reproduce it all.

Just now, Al Krow said:

Full range, flat response

Interesting FRFR story.. - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

More like yin and yin, I would say, Mr Yang? 😁

[EBS_freak]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

More like yin and yin, I would say, Mr Yang? 😁

But you don't use FRFR do you?

[dmccombe7]

4 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

FRFR - full range, full response.

In other words, completely flat and characterless. You create your sound up front and the sound that comes out the speaker is not influenced of the speaker. You want the sounds of different speakers? - then they are modelled - and then sent to the FRFR speaker. Means you can carry around a virtual set of speaker cabs whilst only physically having to carry one FRFR cab to reproduce it all.

Remember reading some of that thread few weeks ago. Does make a lot of sense but does my Berg HT322 cab not do the same. It has a 12, 2x10's and horn with crossover ? Obviously its powered from the amp rather than a built in cab power amp.

Maybe i'm missing the point in the argument but happy to listen. 

Dave

 

[peteb]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Pretty sure the Markbass combo i had was class D It was a very lightweight combo. No weight at all. Mine wasn't the earlier Italian version tho.

If i decide to sell the Mpulse it will be thru BC first. I'll try and remember to give you a shout Pete.

I use it with an 8ohm cab and typically run Gain at 1 o'clock and Master at 12. Changing to my Berg 4 ohm cab in the house i def need to drop the master volume a fair wee bit even at lower volumes in house. Its a bungalow in countryside so neighbours not much of an issue for me. At some point i'll take the Mesa head with Berg 4 ohm cab to rehearsals and see how it sounds. At same settings as my PH212 i reckon it will be louder and clearer sounding.

Dave

The new and the old Markbass stuff are very much different beasts. I've got the LM3 and had a couple of great MB combos (103 & 102) - all Italian produced, non Class D. 

You run your mpulse pretty much the same as I do mine, but I'm using a 4 ohm cab (maybe the master on my amp creeps up to 1 o'clock at most places). I also use the semi-para EQ all the time. 

[ead]

Folks may know I'm partial to an ACG.  Alan made this for me in 2015 and it has been a faithful companion ever since.  Hard to see me ever letting it go.

Pretty much a 70s J bass configuration except the passive electronics are V/T/4-way switch.  This gives me either p/up soloed or both series or parallel.  P/ups themselves are overwould single coils.  Cracking bass, and about 8lbs in weight too.  Cost less than a new Fender US Std too

Edited January 16, 2021 by ead

[Al Krow]

4 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

But you don't use FRFR do you?

I've got a Barefaced cab. 

And some RCF active speakers. 

I think that qualifies as pretty FRFR, right?