dan670844

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1390396448' post='2344866'] Definitely a TC RH450/Streamliner combination. The Genz amps are no longer in production. The Genz staff are now (apparently) working with Fender on the Fender amps, (new Rumble series it appears). The Genz prices now are crazy. Grab whilst you can! [/quote] Thats a great marketing move by Fender, spend a lot of years building up a credible brand, incl all the brown paper bags of Greens to the Bass whisperer then hang it.... Watch out the bean counters are out.....

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1390347653' post='2344494'] check out the behringer website product list http://www.behringer.com/EN/products/index.aspx scroll down to "bass" - now that picture looks suspiciously like a new product... some kind of streamliner copy? [/quote] Mmm looks very similar, thats the deal with these guys. They have 'possibly' done in the style of / clone of an Ashdown ABM, SVT, SVT8 type amp. This is I guess the next logical step breaking into the lightweight area. I wonder if thats why the streamliner can be had for so little money £399 retail is it a fend off? That a very low price for such a well made amp!!! to the retailer thats probably £150-200 Not sure you can undercut that with a decent product!

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1390306349' post='2343734'] It's happened to me after a spectacular run of buying some beautiful basses and them leaving as quickly as they've arrived. Over the last couple of years I've had Spector, Kubicki, Aria, Ibanez, and probably a few I can't remember at the moment and none have matched up to my jazz basses. The time has come to realise if it's not a Jazz bass or an assorted clone or something very Fender-ish then it probably isn't going to work for me. Anyone else come to that point of trying and getting rid of? That said I'm only human, so I still have GAS, but only for more Jazzes, a Sadowsky and a Yamaha BB2024X, nothing shockingly non-Fender-ish there... [/quote] I started on a japanese jazz way back when. Then Warwick streamer stage 2, and various Yamahas, now back to a Fender jazz . On reflection the Warwicks and Yammy's were all kind of modern Jazz clones. Esp the Streamer. But none of them nailed the tone. I am also stuck, its a life sentence.... I just wish they were easier on me. They are big old things, and the older ones that I have, don't half suffer from neck dive. The lack sensitivity of the pickups also means that you have to work em a bit, esp on runs to get the notes to stand out. But having said this due to the shape of the neck there are things I can play on a jazz which are more of a struggle on other basses esp, playing fast notes runs, very busy lines etc; and through the right amp the tone makes the hair stand up on the back of the neck......

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1390318008' post='2343970'] I don't have the overview or experience of others, but Ashdown have been great as to service, and their LB cabs are much more than lazy, wooly, old skool, as they proved when connected to a Genz GBE. Transient willing, open and airy, as far as I could understand. [b]Some[/b] of their products tend to get a beating, I think, like the MAG cabs and that programmable "digital" amp, but certainly not all. The ABM900, the MiBass series, the CL cabs, the CTMs and many other boxes seem lauded to me. Though I'm happy I sold my MAG300 410 combo (most probably because of the speakers rather than the amp), I do love the Little Bastard, the LB cabs and the MiBass amp, though they haven't been used long enough for me to say anything about reliability. [/quote] I am a self confessed Ashdownophile, I agree, the LB and the CL cabs are very good , my favs are the LB212 and the CL610, they really are up there with the best. Punchy, loud articulate and defined. I am not a fan of ABM and Mag retail cabs, while they hide untidy playing, have great lows, they just arent fast, defined or punchy enough for my taste. But thats a lot to do with my playing style. But a lot of people like em. I dont think any of the heads are woolly they are all punchy and dynamic. I do have a particular soft spot for Mag amps, its a great preamp an often overlooked gem. Through a decent cab (lb212 and cl types included) its a ballsy little amp and with great tone and dynamics and so very easy to dial in.

[quote name='blunderthumbs' timestamp='1390126237' post='2341607'] I have used Ashdown gear since 2000. Abm 4x10 500w combo was the first coupled to a Abm 1x15" 300w cab. Then I bought an Abm 2x10" 500w combo to do smaller gigs with. Sold both and replaced them with the later Abm Evo II stuff (Still made in UK) Abm Evo II 500w head through two Abm compact cabs 2x10" and 1X15" 300w ea. Doesn't seem to have the bollocks that the combo's had... maybe i't's the cabs as JamesBass said. the earlier stuff had Celestion drivers. Would like to try the Barefaced cabs that everyone is raving about or Aguilar maybe. Still love the Ashdown Gear though. The later Evo III stuff is made in China I believe. [/quote] With yah on that one, I really like the heads Mag, ABM and all the valve stuff, I really like the CL cabs and the LB cabs. They have punch and clarity. I think these have Emminence drivers and are made in the UK. They have a UK custom shop, I think if you ask nicely they would make anything, for a price.Trouble for all bass equipment manufacturers people dont really want to pay a decent price for their gear, if you are only prepared to pay £600 for an 8x10 its not gonna have the worlds best drivers in it.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1390066517' post='2341141'] I've used Ashdown amps exclusively in my 10 years playing, I've had the only 30watt combo then moved to an EB-180gen2 and have borrowed an ABM-500 off a mate consistently but found it lacking in the true tone I've always wanted, still an amazing amp and one that many session players use, I've just bought a CTM300 this week and that head is UNBELIEVABLE! The clarity and note definition even 16ths is just phenomenal, the EQ works EXACTLY how I want it to, plus it's all valve and dirties up perfectly! I'd recommend it if you have the cash or find one cheap like I have. The cabs are average, not the best out there but certainly useable. If you want too quality cabs then look no further than Barefaced in my opinion. [/quote] CL range of cabs are brill, esp with this amp. They are very punchy, fast and tight, with great lows. They take a bit to break in though

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1389803009' post='2338083'] Bloody hell that is a bargain! I haven't yet gigged mine but I'd wager the CTM100 is man enough for you. I'd sell the LB cabs though and get a second Midget... [/quote] Be careful when selecting cabs, just like a 70's SVT these amps chew up speakers, I reckon these will do them quicker. Speaker wise the best is probably the trusty eminence BP102, or something that can handle a good low range ie 3012lf not 3012ho

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1389891498' post='2339212'] Smaller footprint? I'd always assumed the CTM100 and CTM300 used the same case. Interesting. Cheers Geoff [/quote] 100 is about 20% smaller all around and lighter the 300 is one big mutha, it has huge transformers, 30kgs or so. I dont care these are the best sounding amps out there. To me the tone and the feel of the amp is my primary selection point. I try every amp that comes out SS and Valve. It hasnt been bested yet. I have had loads of amps some high wattage jobs the 300 is by far the loudest i have had. The BTA or 427 they are even bigger.... I cant see the point of the 427 total overkill

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1389803009' post='2338083'] Bloody hell that is a bargain! I haven't yet gigged mine but I'd wager the CTM100 is man enough for you. I'd sell the LB cabs though and get a second Midget... [/quote] Plus 1 to this I think the CTM100 is the one to go for, its not too heavy and the foot print is smaller than the CTM300. If you have a sensitive enough cab that is capable of handling the lows these amps produce then It will defo cover everything. I have a CTM300 its stupid loud through the CL610 cab I use. CTM100 would have been a better option, but they were not available when I decided to buy.

I have used my LB30 at some very reasonably sized venues. It really depends on what the stage monitoring is like. If you are in london for example and playing the circuit like the vibe bar, 33 feet east, Mother,for example. Generally the on stage monitoring is great. That is where the LB30 comes into its own as the transformer derived DI comes out through monitoring. I have also used the LB30/LB212 on its own and it just about got there, but we are a very quiet band. If I use the LB30 with a CL610 it will cut it for on stage monitoring. But I might as well just bring all of my big amp setup. The LB30 will not fill a venue with bass though I agree, without help... I also think the midget cab you are using, is also helping cut though, with your other rig. I was watching a band the other day who was using one in at the O'neill's in Woking, Couldn't believe, how that little cab cut though ( was using a GB shuttle). Stand alone gigs with little FOH or monitoring I think you would have to go old school, if you wanted all valve. 100-200 watts and a big old sensitive cab like a 6x10. Not for the faint hearted. I use a CTM300 and a 6x10 when called for. The landscape is changing dramatically with PA systems. A lot of the big systems do not want much in the way of your own noise on stage. A lot of bands amps go into speaker boxes these days. The onstage sound is that good and its much easier to get a balance. Most of the big touring bands do this. The amp is very often perched on the cab, but the cab is just for show or only putting out at a low level. The main feed is coming from an Iso box or the DI.

[quote name='Ashdown Engineering' timestamp='1384116613' post='2272994'] Lol the price tag is too low if anything! Each one is hand built to order in Essex, custom covering and lots of custom parts etc etc... Have you seen the price of the Ampeg heritage B-15.... Now that's nuts ;-) [/quote] A drophead 2x12 is where its at. I would buy one in an instant! My LB212 is my favorite cab, that I have ever owned, and I have had lots of different stuff. It has cellar deep lows, very quick, punchy and tight, mids and highs are also good. Everything keeps up too I have put 250 watts into it and everything keeps up, it doesnt fart out or get middy, and for it rating its very loud. It what I use most of the time. The 12s they use are a great balance fast and have a great lows, mid and high, response. trouble is I cant buy another one ......

Think its best as others have said, to listen to the song and play along to the track and work it out. I use A Korg PX4D for this and an audio source. Its one of the most important things you can do, develop your Ear. If you get any tricky part you can always use something like riff station to slow that part down. Another really important thing to do, is learn how to chord chart songs out. It will teach you a lot about song structures, the Keys and progressions. Its easy to do and very quickly you will learn that a lot of songs use the same patterns, chord sequences, so you know what to expect and will defo be in a position to write a few choones yourself. Once you have nailed writing out chord chart, if you keep them you have an instant reference to go back too. I would try to avoid these tab sites, very often they are wrong or they tend to not nail the correct positions on the finger board. If you work it out, you will find the correct way and you will be doing yourself a big favour in terms of your development. The next step from here is to learn std notation, also not impossible. But you will learn how to get the song down precisely and have instant recall.

The mibass has an all new power stage its 400 watts rms and 600rms peak as class D amps go thats a pretty good transient peak. probably the highest I have seen. As with every class d effort, you need sensitive cabs to get the best out of them. You should aim for a sensitvity of +98db and above ideally. Some older cabs and cabs made to work with a heavy duty mosfet amp, wont work well with the amp. I have heard good things about the Mi12 cab. I just ordered one, so when it arrives, I will tell ya how good it is...... I tried a Mibass 2.0 and a Orange bass terror a few months back, the terror 500 was louder but not as bassy, the mibass 2.0 has a lot more low end i thought, both where through an ABM410. I guess,it takes / wastes a lot more power to produce a decent low end? Once a long ago I had a little giant LG1000 and a superfly 48 cab as a portable job, i had to wring the guts out of it to get any decent volume. I tried it on a basssyteme (104db sensitivity) cab and at the same volume it nearly blew my head off. I guess the 48 wasnt a very sensitive cab.... I am not convienced of any of these these ultra compact heads. My lightweight rig is a UK made rackmount ashdown spyder 550, loads of power, 575rms 980 watts peak! high transients, real all tube preamp (high voltage) and it sounds really nice. Above all its reliable. It weighs 14.8kgs in its ultra light armoured rack bag. Its not exactly heavy..... Its a compromise I am willing to make. I don't change amps that often and I want my moneys worth! Some people on here seem to change their amps every week haha! Not sure what thats about! The Ashdown Spydy has a 5 year warranty, I am a heavy user, but I know it will last, would a terror bass, streamliner, PF500 do 200-300 gigs per year for 5 years and not die hell no!

P.S. As with any class D amp, I guess the quality of the mains supply is important. Maybe the PF doesnt quite have enough mains filtering maybe this is the issue? thats an easy fix

Pains me to say, that I think that there appears to be some problems with QC on the Non US made Ampeg stuff. I am a former SVT user but moved away, due to reliability issues. If you ask any of the renta rig companies the Non us SVT has a habit of popping its OT. Not good... They will get it sorted and not the first bass amp co to go through this, pain. I hope it doesnt cause any permanent damage. This is the problem when you get other companies to make your gear. However I still rate the PF highly its a cracking little amp. I have a couple of mates using them as a fliptop with no issues at all. I guess if you persevere and get a good un, then no worries they have great tone and thump, for the money

I guess everything has its place, The precision started it all..................... It really depends what style of music you are playing. I am a jazz bass user. I used to have a precision, but found that I could get by with the jazz for most things I do. If I was doing more rock stuff I would defo consider a precision, as with a good pickup, they cut through guitars like a knife. Recently I have developed a bit of GAS for a stingray esp the three band with the 7.25 neck like a jazz. I think they are less hard work than a jazz on some of the fast funky stuff I do. I see the Ray as more of a funk machine, but Deacon used it well in the rock context.To me if you had to cover all styles of music if you had a jazz, precision and a ray you could do anything. In the past I was a warwick man (streamer stage 11) , every pedal you could muster, big solid state amps. But 5 years ago I discovered, the great tone you get with a passive bass straight into a good valve head. So now I don't like active basses!! The exception to this is the Ray, I don't know why, but this bass has managed to keep its tone intact. ( Levin -> Ray -> SVT = Cooking). Its funny the basses I am talking about were designed by the same radio repair man..................

I have played both, as hired rigs. there is quite a difference tone wise between the two the 750's mid knob is centred lower down prob 4-500 the 751 is defo higher i reckon prob in the 750-850 hz range. The eq on the 751 is much more sensitive, the 750 less so, in fact it doesnt really seem to do much, so if you don't like the basic tone or you are in a boomy room or cant cut through you wont have many options. The di on both of them is wicked.. Both are very heavy i reckon 30 kg or so.. Both amp have a low mid hump which makes a passive bass, esp a jazz bass (what i use) very punchy. I would save the money and go for a 751, in real world situations its a far better option, as you have some tweak ability in the important eq regions. They made the changes for a reason. They do sound magic though and are very powerful. Much louder than you think, plenty loud enough with you super twelve on its own. If they did a tone hammer 900 it would prob be a good bet too, they are also very simple to operate and sound good.

leo plays a lakeland joe osbourn these days, haha someone elses sig bass, very underated player from a very underated band!!

[quote name='Freddy Le Cragg' timestamp='1388690001' post='2324929'] Sorry if this has been done but what "famous" bass guitars would you dig if you could get a company to release a replica? I think mine would be this fella Leo Lyons 1962 Jazz Bass. Sublime [/quote]

Hello All, A friend of mine is putting together a covers band, He has all the contacts etc. It will be a money making excercise, weddings barmitzvas, promotional gigs you name it. Looking for a singer frontman/woman of high standard. Age or Sex not important, just need to able to sing rock, reggae, soul, blues to a high standard. The dudes in the band have both done the cruise ship circuit, holiday resort and been in signed Bands. Give us a shout and I will pass on details cheers

No big deal if its got a solid state pre. I guess the front end runs clean anyway and the juicy tone comes from the rorked valve power stage. (Tube screamer!!!) Its a sensible choice as I guess all valve pre at high voltage would squeal like a pig being in such a small footprint, and you would need two ECC83 to get the tone stack to do anything. It sounds great, I will be putting an order in for the drophead 15, great for songwriting days! For Info Amps I have CTM300 defo all valve UK LB30 Defo all valve Also have a UK spyder 550 it has a high voltage tube preamp All of the above really neatly well made and sound amazing!

Thats defo one of the output valves, The valves arcing, you can see this if you turn the amp on in a dark room, you will see the dodgy EL lighting up. Obviously only for a minute or so with a speaker cab contected. I have a vast collection of Ashdown Valve amps haha! one thing they all have in common is they are silent. My CTM you can max everything and there is very little audible noise. They are made like hifi amps. Although made in china this one is no exception. Any audible his or hum will come from the amps surrounds like house wiring, dimmer switches and phones. Valve quality is paramount. I would try and get the shop to change the output valves. But you will ditch the supplied valves anyway, while ok the stock ruby are not the best sounding or the most robust. A pair of electro harmonix EL84 Mil specs are what you need thick glass and big spacers. EL84's are prone to mechanical damage when hot, need to let the amp cool for 5 mins before moving. Then they are fine, and in my opinion very reliable. I play bass for a living and exclusively now use a ctm300 and a lb30. In two years hard use neither of them, touch wood have missed a beat. I dont even carry a backup amp!!!! just a couple of fuses and valves.. Until the amp / Valves have burnt in and it has got decent power valves, rather than the broken ones! . You cant really judge the tone, this will take a good few hours. The preamp valves will change the tone considerably, if there is to much high end for you, consider changing the pre to jj' s the ecc83s is much deeper and darker sounding cheers

Sounds like a dodgy output valve to me a squealer, replacing The EL84 in a LB30 CTM15/30 is a chinch, just change them, the amps are cathode biased, with a clever little addition to the circuit. You Dont need matched valves. But take it back to the shop, why should you pay for replacement valves! It a great little amp btw.

I would say just like cars modern basses are a facsmile of there older counterparts! I would rate basses in terms of there playability and the tone they produce.... 1/ Old Jazz bass, like an old Ferrari, hot blooded unpredictable, fast, the looks, amazing tone and sounds, temperamental, will throw you in the road if feels like it, (the neck) hotter output than any of those basses that look like satan's door key. You should walk away, but once you have tangled, its a love affair that will always end in tears........ 2/ Modern Am Jazz bass, all the problems ironed out of the above, great, but have lost the mojo a little, sensible, tone is still there but without the sparkle of magic. Like the difference between an Air cooled 911 and a modern water cooled 911! Saying this i think the danger and magic lives on in some of the Mexican ones, with decent pickups some of these models have an amazing tone, part. the roadworns and 60's models, must be all those chili's. 3/ Precision bass, old timer, like an old British car (AC cobra, Sunbeam Tiger) with a huge American V8, cool sound track, reliable, as the engines only turning at 1 rpm and you are doing 100mph. But a one trick pony, (but very good at what it does) and not particularly good round corners.... 4/ Musicman stingray, Really a tastfully pimped up Precision, takes the precision idea and adds decent brakes and suspension so cornering is now possible, 3 band preamp adds a degree of sophistication and finesse. A more modern take on the classic muscle car idea. I would say an M3 V8 5/ Yamaha BB2004/5 Japanese take on the classic italian sports car, ticks all the boxes and is reliable, fast, exciting, thrilling, but its not quite alive, like a Honda NSX. 6/ Warwick Streamer Stage 11, fast, good range of tones the german take on a italian sports car, ultra reliable, safe and well built. But due to all the modern electronic safety and drive by wire additions, you loose the connection and feel of the bass. Audi R8 V8 I can only comment on the basses I have played and owned!!!