All Activity

I really appreciate that @RichT! Thank you so much! -The Vox Starstream active model was just brilliant! I recall it sounding thunderous in the studio in drop tuning, even now!

One Night In Bangkok - Murray Head

When I had a pair of them I used one of these as I fancied on the day Mark Bass (various ones) Ashdown RM800 Evo 2 Tech21 VT500 They all had qualities that I liked - but when I got a One10T with a tweeter I found that all 3 were much better. The Tweeter just allowed a little more crispness when needed, and of course could be turned off / re-EQ'd as needed.

Nobels ODR mini TC Spark

Our gig on Friday was a road trip from Lancaster/Morecambe up to Stockton On Tees in the North East. "Blues At The Bay" blues club. On paper, it looked like a 2 hour drive when I booked the gig, but Friday had other ideas, SNOW! Lots of back and forth on group chat and we decided to leave much earlier with a plan to go via Settle/Harrogate/A1. At the last minute I checked the route (I was the last pickup in the van) and the A66 had just re-opened, so we decided to go our original route. Stopped for a brew at a farm shop halfway and still arrived early. It meant we could have a leisurely setup before going off to eat before the gig. The gig itself was super. House PA and monitors, very intimate venue with just a 40 capacity, but it was sold out. A very appreciative and respectful audience. I understand that they often film their gigs, so I'm hoping for some good footage in the near future. 2 x Barefaced One10's, GK Legacy 800, '73 Precision. Rob

holiday in Cambodia - dead Kennedy's

Good idea!

Might be worth taking one off and weighing it to see what the potential gain might be. I replaced some generic Ibanez tuners with US Ultralites and it only saved about 15g a tuner, but those ones pictured look like they might be lighter?

Photos!!!!

Great insight. Thanks for contributing!

Some simple Charlie Haden; the tune 'Let's Say We Did' from the 1990 John Scofield album, 'Time On My Hands'. Beautiful tune. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/lets-say-we-did-john-scofield/

Thanks for looking into this for me. The problems isn't with getting Push Notifications. I have them switched off and always have since they were first introduced. I believe this is the setting you were referring to: It's the pleading for me to turn them on each time I get new notification more than 24 hours after the last one. Consequently I got another this morning as a result of your reply to this thread: As I said. I don't need Push Notifications. As far as I know I have opted out so why do I still get messages pleading with me to turn them on? Looking at the list of Cookies that are active in this browser, I notice that the Push Notification one is missing from my list. Will this be the reason that I keep getting these messages? The only reason I can think of for it to be missing is because it contravenes Apple's default privacy settings for Safari.

There is also Serek Basses, who takes not a small amount of inspiration from the NEWPORT. I have a 30" 5 string he built about 4 years ago, but he seems to only do 32" 5 strings now. The Wilcock is right there tho.... 👀

It's the Fender Elite for me - I have one in Ash/Maple and it's a fabulous bass. Cuts through most mixes really nicely and satisfyingly fills it's sonic space too. I've sold two Stingrays in recent months, mainly because the single MM pickup, no matter how good it is in isolation, just doesn't cut it live. They seem to sit at an easily buried frequency (for my ears, anyway).

Coconut Rock - The Skatalites

Living On An Island - Status Quo

Good question. Spec sheets are simplistic guides for what an average designer might expect to achieve when designing around it, but there are a lot of specs that are not on the spec sheet because they become more application specific and depend on the skill and experience of the designer in order to exploit more performance. For example, one of ICEPower's older module families did not specify 4 ohm BTL operation and in fact warned against it, yet in spite of all the other manufacturers who had no first hand experience with the platform (and end users with even less knowledge and experience) expressing their doubt and prognosticating that it couldn't possibly work, that the amps would blow up by the thousands, I developed a pair of simultaneous technique that we at Genz Benz/KMC received a patent for that allowed this module family to work without any issues (performance or reliability) into 4 ohms BTL. I worked with the engineers at ICEPower to validate the design (so that our contract could include ICEPower's warranty of an off sheet application), and we built close to 10,000 amplifiers using this technique and have had way LESS issues than other manufacturers attempting do do this their own way once they ran into the patent. These amps are now approaching 18-20 years old, and through my factory service program I replace maybe one or two power modules a year (less than 2% of amps serviced under this program need new module). This IP transferred over to Fender when we were acquired, around the same time that Fender introduced the Rumble V3 series. This is similar to how we obtain a 2 ohm rating on all of the Subway 800 models, 2 ohms was an off-sheet application that required design validation in order for the modules to be covered. Again, well over 10,000 amps with no problems. This is not accidental success, it's the result of understanding to a very deep level the underlying technology. Making a mistake in this sort of application can be very costly, in fact it can ruin a company, that's why we analyze and test and test and test... I typically use the 10% THD threshold in most of my bass amp models because there are elements and techniques that I use in both the preamp and power amp circuits to emulate various aspects of pre and power tube performance. Since tube circuit performance generally includes the addition of harmonic components (the particular harmonic series that's generated varies depending on what's being emulated, the pre and power tube emulation is different too), these added harmonics show up in the output measurement as THD. Most players seem to prefer somewhere between 5 and 20%THD when driving their amps hard (towards rated power), so I chose a mid-point value that represents the average player's sweet spot. This agrees with the experimentation we did when using a Bass 400+ and allowing a group of players to drive the amp where they felt it was in their sweet spot, and it was all in the same 5%-20% range. This is exactly why there is a notation in the specifications that the THD number in the rated power spec includes preamp AND power amp, the rated power is with full context, it can't be separated out.

I have thought of selling it previously but I can't bring myself to let go It's the most idiosyncratic instrument I own

Maybe it's as simple as popping the "hood" on your modern class D amp of choice, checking out what kind of class-d module is fitted and comparing the amp manufacturers specifications to the module manufacturers specifications? Not that I'm advocating breaking the warranty seal on your fave amp to find out. As an example, and one I'm familiar with, the ICEPower 300AS1 module is quoted as 300 watts RMS @ 1% THD+N into 4 ohms , 20Hz-20Khz. Curiously, if you tab down on the data sheet they also say the same module will output 380watts @ 10% THD running at 4 ohms. If you tab down some more, they say the same module will output 450W at 1% THD+N, 2.7Ohms. There is plenty of room there for marketing to do there thing with regard to output watts. In the interests of longevity and reliability, I suspect the 300watts rating is nominal and probably the most honest output specs the module can achieve in real world applications and use without a high failure rate. I own an amp with this module and it's sold as per the ICE Power 300watt rating which I feel is reasonable and accurate. It feels like 300 watts at 4 ohms with no weak wattage. @agedhorse is probably in a unique position as a knowledgeable designer to give insights into how off the shelf amplifier module components and specifications translate to real world performance in products he has had a hand in designing. I'm Assuming Mesa doesn't use proprietary class-d designs like Markbass do? It would be very interesting as an example to have an insight in to how the subway class-d product output power ratings were specified and the technology they use... eg the D350 and the D800.

Didn't we all - cool bass! I wish I still had mine!😄