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I have a middle of the range Tokai 335 copy. Guitarist in my band has a Gibson 335. I daren't let him try my Tokai as I think it’ll just depress him.

After much trying out and research, I’ve finally sorted out my small rig. It’s unbelievable that this little lot ( Aguilar AG 700 and a Barefaced One 10) can produce the sounds that it does in such a lightweight package. Rehearsal tomorrow night should be fun!

Thank goodness you're here to save us, @prowla! Actually, while you're on, I've just snapped up The Mona Lisa for a great price. I'm SO chuffed.

1. What makes owners of Mesa gear like it so much. (general question about Mesa gear ie build quality, support and availability) - Sound, build quality, character. I have more compliments about my sound when using Mesa gear than any other. 2. What is it that made you pick that particular amp over others. (in respect to other Mesa amps or cabs and maybe in respect to other manufacturers gear) The 400+ is iconic. There's a reason it's one of the default models on Logic Pro X. It gives me a sound I absolutely love. Bass = 3, Treble = 3, MIddle = 10. I have a Walkabout Scout 12 too and use that with it's own 1x12 combo or with a BF TWO10. Both have very similar flavour sounds and cut through the mix. The 400+ is used either through a BF Big Twin 2 or a SIX10. 3. Is there a favoured set up that majority of owners prefer or would prefer. Not particularly. I change mine depending on the venue, my mood, whatever. 4. Can you describe briefly your preferred tone (ie, warm, mellow, mid-punch, heavy bottom end, high top end are just some things i can think off). A middy clank not unlike Duff McKagan, a thumping P-bass with flats depending on the song. Both the 400+ and the Walkabout get me where I need to be. Once you've learned how to quickly adjust teh knobs on the go, it's not an issue. 5. what bass do you generally use with it. (just to give me an idea of whether your bass is passive, active or has a deciding influence on how your tone might sound) Yamaha BB2024x, Valenti P-bass, G&L2500 6. Finally what Mesa gear would you recommend for a Mesa Virgin like myself playing mostly classic rock with a Jazz bass but occasionally depping for other music genres doing pup / club material. A Walkabout Scout or a Walkabout with a quality 210 would probably serve you well. The DI on Mesa gear is weird. You have to be aware that if you change the master volume setting it will affect the signal out so if you tweak up your volume on stage the desk is going to get a hotter signal. Worth mentioning to a soundman just in case. My 400+ measured the power output at approximately 245W clean and 350W maximum when clipping as done by MJW Amps during a service. Transients could well be higher. It's not stupidly powerful but it is loud through a good cab. As a comparison, my MJW Taranis 200 (4 x KT88) is 253 clean and 544 fully clipped.

Just in case you haven't heard this...

Awaiting for mine.

I love the possibilities you have in the Helix to play around with the order of effects. Tried putting a multi repeat delay into a reverb and then a filter. Gives this lovely washy ambient sound. Wonderful piece of gear.

Nice one Andy, just put my order in. My stand (the older type) is in a real hideous state...looks like the clamps may resolve my problems.

@dmccombe7 the Taranis is currently a one off 😉. It’s essentially the same power section as a Matamp GT200 or Orange AD200 but with two channels each with its own style preamp circuit and EQ. One EQ is a Fender style EQ and the other is the Baxendale-James type. The channels are clean/driven vintage-ish and the other is driven modern to absolute filth with a switch that gives Ch2 two different characters. It also has power switching options where it can go to half power across all four Kt88s or can be switched to run on two valves or can run on half power to two KT88s. Handy for recording at sensible volumes while caning the big tubes for that bottle-warmth. It has a voice selector switch that gives it four distinctly different characters, one of which is great for guitars. It’s all way over the top but is incredibly versatile and it cost about the same as a GT200. I think the intention is that MJW will make a much more straightforward Taranis if anyone wants one. Mine was like an experimental (mental?) venture.

Two Notes are real quality pieces of gear, guitarist mate of mine uses the cabs Simms for guitars, and when I looked at the list the amount of bass cabs they have is not as extensive, but if it has the one you want I think it would be a decent buy, be good to hear what others have to say

The narrower one is a 100W combo without additional speaker output. There’s also a 200W 12 band version of this size

I started with a Boxer 30 (1x10 - 30w) back in '98 and I've been through the giant stack of the 12-band 600w head, 410 and 115 and an all valve V4 MK2 with matching 810 and pretty much everything in-between. I too needed a crane! Most have the smaller (and earlier) power stages up to 200w - I think most of the series 6 ('89 to '93 ish) seven band models were 100w and the 12 band being the 200 but there was likely options for both. Box volume was lower which may have affected low end response a little but I never really had issues with my Twin Valve combo which was the smaller variation and was built in 1990. Yours is the pre-cursor (I'd have said about '92) to the later (post '93) combos (and 1153 cab although it's a touch deeper) with the off set driver and front loaded ports which came as 200, 250 / 280 and 300w models featuring the SM, SMC, SMX and GP12X pre-amp stages. Hope that helps.

The Hartke HA3500 are good loud amps and are cheap as chips secondhand.

You wouldn't need to on a Musicman, they come fitted with one to save you doing it, lol.

Great amps, would recommend these in a heartbeat

I've just acquired a Yammy BB1025 which I hope is going to scratch my P bass itch for the near term - I've decided to forgo my 'perfect' combination of including a neck through in favour of getting a tried and tested and much loved bass - it does seem that getting something in a finish that I'd like means going bespoke and potentially paying 2 to 3 times what my Yammy has just cost or alternatively having to wait for a hen's tooth to surface! Shame your SR1206 is being wasted. I'm about to change the string set up on mine to be: EADGBE i.e. an octave down from a normal six string electric, with the ability to play chords and solo riffs that such a set up should more easily allow. I wonder if that might make for an interesting set up for you also to get another dimension / use out of the Ibby? Just a thought!

"I need to introduce a duck..." That's a quote to remember. That's also a very respectable looking instrument.

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uh oh...

Congrats with the new cab! Did you get a chance to try it out? If you’re more on the metal side of things (i.e. scooped mids) I would imagine you might struggle using the amps you listed, especially at 8 ohms. I quite like the black line 250, but it’ll have to work quite hard even at 4 ohms. The LMIII won’t be much more expensive if you can get it used, and it’ll sound much nicer at higher volumes, plus it’ll have a bit on tap, should you need it further down the road. I agree with @Skybone regarding older Hartke amps. Great value! Good luck!

Is this something that just applies to Fender P and J basses? You rarely hear people talking about vintage V modern Rickenbackers - or Wals - most of my Musicman basses are less than 15 yrs old and to be honest, though I've played old ones (indeed bought one new in the 70s) there is little difference (certainly on the 2 band Stingray) - of course the modern ones are built to modern QC and manufacturing tolerances, which like with every other 'consumer durable' makes them infinitely better in that sense. I mean who would use a vintage Hoover or quill and ink, or even a 50 yr old car on a day to day basis. Vintage is partially a fashion and nostalgia thing - there are plenty of people around who hark back to the late 50s and early 60s and cherish instruments from that period - I tend to hark back to the early 70s when most people (there are exceptions like Willie Weeks) would have been considered way past it and uncool playing a pastel coloured guitar - even the Shadows stopped doing that until they performed as an out and out nostalgia tribute in the last couple of decades. I have yet to play a 'vintage' instrument which speaks to me that strongly sonically and playing wise that I would part with large sums of money for it - I have looked off and on for 20 yrs or so. Do they look nice and are they full of nostalgia? Well the answer is yes for me - but to use as a day to day instrument then no. Are they more desirable than say a new Fender CS, new Musicman, Wal, Rickenbacker or Gibson - no they're not for me indeed some modern ones really do have that classic feel and look and are equally impressive aesthetically as far as I can see.

Theyre the same type of bass principle as Ashdown - sound bland on their own but great in a band scenario (which is what theyre made for).

The TC Electronics MojoMojo at lower gain does a great vintage mid rich drive sound that will give you a similar vintage driven bass tone (without the wobble) and can also be picked up for less than £50 new. Might be worth a look if you don't fancy lugging about a monster all valve amp. I hadn't thought of a Leslie speaker, but now it's been mentioned it's so obvious

Sounds really good! I'm also in 2 bands and a weekend warrior, (but a whole year younger ) and we will hopefully be getting around 2/3 the number of gigs your two bands are getting in 2018, so not quite in your established league yet. Be interested in swapping notes with you at some point!

Wrexham Guitars. Guy said if it doesn't turn up today to let him know so I'm just waiting on Mr Postie with my fingers crossed!

I always thought the bass was recorded through a Leslie cabinet.

And a bit of personal preference as regards set up.

I think the subtle wobbling effect on Heartbreaker is a Tremolo effect, but whether it was a pedal, studio effect or one built into the amp (some vintage guitar amps had them built in) I don't know. The warmth of the tone is obviously a valve amp (were there any non valve amps available at this time?). Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations of tremolo pedals as I don't use them but that is what it sounds like to me. Unless you're after a drive pedal, in which case you're entering a minefield blindfolded

Tonewood. A wood that produces a pleasing tone, (that being dependent on what tone profile is/was wanted) generally accepted to be more relevant to acoustic instruments, for example, rosewood back and sides to produce a dense sound reflective surface and spruce for the top to create a vibrating soundboard. A classic Martin might be Mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, rosewood back and sides and a spruce top. Pre about 1930ish it would be finished with shellac, later with nitrocellulose. In electric guitars and basses many of the same woods are used, plus a number that would not be traditional (at least to American big name makers). Ash, alder poplar, basswood and a few others aren't commonly used in acoustics. Leo Fender made his first guitar prototypes with pine bodies, but switched to ash because pine got damaged too easily, (though pine bodies, especially for Tele type guitars has become popular in recent years) his necks were always maple in the early years, added rosewood fret boards appeared after several years of production. So generally guitar and bass tonewoods will be timbers which produce a defined tap tone and a degree of sustain. The thump of damp cardboard wouldn't be the sort of sound we're after. While some woods, ash, mahogany etcetera, are regarded as "standards", in reality any well dried/seasoned wood with a decent tap tone will work, whether they all provide a tone we might want, or have become accustomed to, will only be apparent once the instrument is made. Does any of that mean that a vintage instrument will be better than a new one? Possibly not, wood is a natural product, trees grow under different conditions, one piece of a particular species may be denser, lighter, harder grown, younger or older than another when it goes into an instrument. Years won't change that, though the wood may be exposed to various environmental conditions which might have an effect. (Years of temperature fluctuation, changing humidity levels and climatic conditions, which may add up to degrees of cellular change, for better or worse.) Is an old piece of mediocre wood going to be better for being old, or better than a top grade piece of newly seasoned and dried wood? My first electric guitars and basses were made from Tasmanian native timbers, myrtle, mountain ash and blackwood, because I was in Tasmania at the time and it was in the 1970's, no internet or ebay and sourcing mahogany, maple, rosewood etcetera was very difficult. These days many guitar and bass builders use a variety of timbers, that Leo and the old Gibson builders would never have considered, yet good to great sounding instruments are produced from them. There are other factors to be consider besides tone, when selecting suitable timbers for instruments, the stability of the wood once cut and dried, it's resistance or otherwise to splitting, checking, or the degree of shrinkage which might occur are all factors along with weight and durability. (eg. A dense hard wood for a fretless base fingerboard, as opposed to an easily worn and gouged soft wood.) Mahogany is considered to have a "warmer" tone than ash, and alder is described as a good all round, sort of middle compromise, (poplar, likewise sort of middle range) while maple is very bright. Warmoth used to have a list of the woods they offered necks and bodies in with a tone rating from warm to bright. I don't know if it is still on their website, but it might be worth a look. Regardless of how we hear or don't hear tonal differences, the debate about whether different timbers and finishes actual make much difference to the sound an amplified instrument makes will go on as long as there are musicians to hear, or think they hear, them. For me, given pickups, strings, bridges, electric, all the same I believe I can hear differences at low volume, in a close environment between distinctly different timbers, (home recording or practicing) listening to a band at high volume, with effects, ambient room acoustics etcetera, I doubt it. As I only apply finishes as thinly as possible to provide a protective coating, I don't think there is much difference between them. My personal preference is for shellac and oil finishes, but that has as much to do with the feel I prefer, plus a consideration for years of accumulated exposure to environmental and industrial pollution as well as carcinogenic compounds in paints and varnishes, particularly in nitrocellulose. I hope at least some of my rambling thoughts add something to your information base.

Here’s my ‘73 Precision with A width neck.

I use my one10 on public transport for small to medium gigs. If I need more volume I take the Super Midget. Both are great, but the Super Midget can handle a lot more volume, if that's what you need. For most of my gigs, the one10 is enough, especially if PA support is there. Frank.

I’ve got the prototype polycarbonate screens now, and they fit in the frame and work as expected. There will be a few design tweaks to bring it up to a standard that I’m happy with and then I’ll be sending a few out for testing. After that, if there is enough interest, I may make a few to sell.

I don't know about that. Mass produced bolt-on instruments often have shims in place during initial set-up at the factory. If you were handcrafting each instrument making sure it matched its neck, no, you wouldn't expect a shim in the end. But those instruments would not sell for the price they currently sell if they required the extra attention. A shim, that you cannot even tell is there unless you remove the neck and look, is not exactly a sign of a poor instrument, to me. But... I have a feeling of deja-vu

I've got around 6 grands worth of Musicman basses here, they've all been shimmed in sunny california, lol.

I wouldn't say that a shim may be required to make it 'playable'... but it can be something that improves playability noticeably.

I actually think the headstock design is nicer on this than that of the original it's drawn from.

I think there are plenty of good originals bands playing "rock". The problem is that with streaming and youtube algorithms you never hear new stuff unless you are searching speifically for it. The algorithms will suggest music similar to wht you listen to. Thats why despite the fact that it ofte features bands and artists that are somewhat leftfield programmes like Later.. are a good watch because Jools is one of the few that will feature young unsigned or startup bands. Surely though the biggest problem is people just dont buy music these days.

I think they should reissue this: For a laugh.

Lets kick this off then Mmmmm....mushrooms

Not recommended this time of year, too cold and may upset the neighbours. 😎😀

another factor is how accessible the world is now. It’s become expected of bands to have built this brand of their band before a label will even touch them, the bands that seem to make it are the ones that can do everything, music, marketing, promotion, recording etc. Of course this is a blanket statement and I’m sure there is still some incredible talents that just get picked up on the spot, however I feel the days of bands being heard, signed then built into a household name finished in the early 2000s when the internet started arriving. I feel the major role of the label now is purely mass distribution where as a lot of the actual marketing and fan base is wel and truly cemented before the band even gets a look in. Labels can now be lazy and wait for the artists to come to them rather than talent scouting. just my two pence

Rickenbacker. Tried one once and it was just dreadful to play. In its defence it sounded awesome!

Has James Corden got his own show then? Sheesh, what a squeaky gobshite. Sounds good though Bill.

[quote name='BassAgent' timestamp='1501099289' post='3342561'] Just added Jazz number four: [/quote] Very handsome