NAMM 2025

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Chienmortbb said:

Stratocaster bass?

 

Finally a five string version of the Reverend Triad.  The (stock) pickup switching is identical to a Strat, yes - N, N+M, M, M+B, B.

[eude]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

I think (as a bit of a Tech21 whore), the Landmark and dUg heads were fantastic.  I suppose you could also factor in some of the Darkglass stuff too.

 

 

That's a fair point, I'll wind it in a bit.

I guess the differentiator here is that both Tech21 and DarkGlass make a lot of the kind of pedals I was talking about, so they will get it right, unlike the rest of them

[80Hz]

12 hours ago, ChrisLovatt said:

Anyone else think these look a bit messy. Far too many knobs and switches for me 

 

Yeah I get a little of that. Everything looks a bit packed in. Those tuners hanging out beyond the bottom curve of the body don't help with it looking "busy".

Then again, I guess if you want six strings, a compact body, and plenty of control over the sound this is where you end up. Looking forward to demos of this series anyway.

[NancyJohnson]

22 minutes ago, eude said:

That's a fair point, I'll wind it in a bit.

I guess the differentiator here is that both Tech21 and DarkGlass make a lot of the kind of pedals I was talking about, so they will get it right, unlike the rest of them

 

There's no need to wind anything in in the slightest. 

 

I'd concur with you that a lot of amps that contain some kind of drive circuitry (to my ears) just sound like there's a loose wire in the circuit that's causing the signal to break up and while these can sound quite nasty in isolation I guess that breaking-up just disappears in a full band context.  Certainly, from my experience, the Tech21 heads are/were simply power amps being driven with either a dUg and (in the case of the Landmark) both an RBI and RPM as the front end.  While the Darkglass AO900 didn't work for me in the slightest, it followed the same route as the Tech21 stuff; pedal and powerstage in one box.

 

I still think it's a great pity tha @Tech21NYC have abandoned heads, but I can understand their reasoning.  I loved what MarkBass did with the MoMark stuff; it would be dreamy to buy a carcass, jack in a power amp, jack in a BDDI or dUg in one tidy rack unit.

 

 

[Shambo]

I'd be happy if we could just have some new Fender Pro II colours.

 

I'm not doing that Mod Shop if I don't know the weight. They might send me a boat anchor!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

5 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

MTD Kingston NS5.

Now, where did that ugly scratchplate thread get to...

[Terry M.]

6 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

MTD Kingston NS5.

Ooh I'm liking the look of that 👀 

[chriswareham]

NAMM, but not directly bass related, unless you count the amount of FM synth bass sounds out there on recordings. Behringer demo their working prototype of a Yamaha DX-1 clone with additional filter, LFO and envelope cloned from the Yamaha CS-80. I used to hate all things to do with Yamaha DX synths, since they're a sod to program and the presets were abysmal. However, there are thousands of free patch banks floating around on the web that prove FM synthesis really is amazing if you can work out what the algorithms do and how modulators operate on carriers. Fortunately they don't predict it to ship until next year, so I don't have to find room for one just yet.

 

[tauzero]

On 23/01/2025 at 15:31, BassApprentice said:

Reverend Triad 5 Strings. Nice.

 

I think they're already in the hideous headstocks thread.

[eude]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Now, where did that ugly scratchplate thread get to...

I think it's a "slap ramp" to tighten up the popping part of the equation.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

22 minutes ago, eude said:

I think it's a "slap ramp" to tighten up the popping part of the equation.

Surely having that extra material there would get in the way of pulling the strings? 

[Terry M.]

This MTD Kingston is being released this year? I'm liking what I see of it so far.

[Merton]

New Trace Elliot pedals including the Dual Band compressor:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFN-bNaSx9-/?igsh=MTZzdjdsc3ExOTZoZw==

[Russ]

8 minutes ago, Merton said:

New Trace Elliot pedals including the Dual Band compressor:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFN-bNaSx9-/?igsh=MTZzdjdsc3ExOTZoZw==

No new cabs though.  

 

I love my TE-1200 through my Barefaced BT2, but I'd like to see them come out with cabs that don't require an American-sized SUV to transport. 

[Merton]

1 minute ago, Russ said:

No new cabs though.  

 

I love my TE-1200 through my Barefaced BT2, but I'd like to see them come out with cabs that don't require an American-sized SUV to transport. 

Agreed. I think the things they are missing are more sensible cabs and a ~600W head

Edited Friday at 22:39 by Merton

[Wolverinebass]

10 minutes ago, Merton said:

Agreed. I think the things they are missing are more sensible cabs and a ~600W head

I don't know about that. I thought your TE 1200 was brilliant actually.

[chriswareham]

25 minutes ago, Russ said:

No new cabs though.  

 

I love my TE-1200 through my Barefaced BT2, but I'd like to see them come out with cabs that don't require an American-sized SUV to transport. 

 

 

I saw a comment on a computer forum saying "never trust a computer you can lift". My version of that is "never trust a bass cabinet you can lift".

 

Edited Friday at 23:05 by chriswareham

[Wolverinebass]

24 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

 

I saw a comment on a computer forum saying "never trust a computer you can lift". My version of that is "never trust a bass cabinet you can lift".

 

What kind of bass cab can be endorsed by Eddie Hall then? Is that the holy grail? Or would they have to be endorsed by Tom Stoltman currently World's Strongest Man for them to be adequately trusted?

[chriswareham]

6 minutes ago, Wolverinebass said:

What kind of bass cab can be endorsed by Eddie Hall then? Is that the holy grail? Or would they have to be endorsed by Tom Stoltman currently World's Strongest Man for them to be adequately trusted?

 

Peavey 3620. Two 18" Black Widows and two 10" Scorpions in a single mahoossive cabinet. I'd trust that thing ... trust it to give me a hernia that is.

[Russ]

35 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

 

Peavey 3620. Two 18" Black Widows and two 10" Scorpions in a single mahoossive cabinet. I'd trust that thing ... trust it to give me a hernia that is.

Those old Peavey cabs as basically indestructible, as are their old amps. Shame they sound like bum. 

 

If you want an amp you're never going to have to repair, get an old TKO or TNT. It won't sound good, but it'll last for ever. 

[Merton]

4 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I don't know about that. I thought your TE 1200 was brilliant actually.

Yeah to be fair it has a volume control so those needing less power just need to use that! I was thinking more in terms of price points having something between it and the Elf might be handy

[Richard R]

13 hours ago, chriswareham said:

... there are thousands of free patch banks floating around on the web that prove FM synthesis really is amazing if you can work out what the algorithms do and how modulators operate on carriers.

 

 

Conceptually I find FM synthesis far easier to understand than subtractive synthesis and can mentally picture what's going on. I don't play keys, so I have only dabbled a bit with free versions of either type, and barely got past the Dalek Fart stage.

[Terry M.]

13 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Surely having that extra material there would get in the way of pulling the strings? 

My thoughts exactly. 

[Aidan63]

10 hours ago, Russ said:

Those old Peavey cabs as basically indestructible, as are their old amps. Shame they sound like bum. 

 

Mk IV was a great amp in my experience mid eighties, pared with either the Peavy 2 x15 BW or a Turbosound or Martin Audio compact PA cabinet, made for a really good reggae bass rig - but you needed a transit van, though in those days parking was easy and fuel wasn't too bad and used transits were cheap to buy and run

[Terry M.]

21 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

MTD Kingston NS5.

Okay so I've been up all night thinking about this(joking of course). Google didn't bring back any results though 🤔