mrtcat

I use both all the time. I find that using both often is the best approach. It forces me to get my head around them both being different. I'm now quite comfortable on either. I would suggest starting with a lower price one so you minimise outlay. I swapped a four string bass worth around £150 on here for a cheap yamaha BBg5 and it sounds and plays lovely. I reckon the only way you'll know if you'll get on with a fiver is to try as it appears some find it easier than others.

Play in a busy covers band. We earn ok (£250 - £800) and are getting busier all the time. Drummer keeps trying to push our prices up. Recently we've done some good festivals and functions but we've got a couple of regular pub gigs coming up which although are not mega bucks still fall within our price range although at the lower end. Got the following text last night: [color=#FF0000]Just updating calendar. I had overlooked july 13th. Can't do it I'm afraid. And I can't do 24th aug. Sorry. Can call venues if you want.[/color] [color=#000000]Surprise surprise the only two pub dates. Now I'm furious about this. To me a commitment is a commitment regardless of price. Luckily we have a friend who teaches drums who has agreed to step up but of course our drummer didn't know this when he sent the text. I also got made redundant recently and drummer knows that any cash is a big bonus to me right now.[/color] [color=#000000]What would you do? Tempted to ask our drummer friend if he fancies it long term although I know he's busy and has other commitments.[/color]

We have a few weddings booked this yr where we've been asked to keep the volume to a reasonable level. This is all good but, as with most bands, our volume is dictated by the volume of the acoustic drums. Our drummer is a fairly firm hitter and says hitting softer affects technique. I have no reason to doubt it as he's an honest guy. He's open to suggestions tho for taming the levels. He works really hard to get a really nice sound from his kit and it would be a shame to compromise on this. It would also be nice to be able to mic things for regular gigs and then bring the level up when needed using the PA. How do you guys do it? Do you have any damping ideas or anything?

I can only speak from my experience, I use a TC Classic 450 paired with a Bergantino AE212. I play pubs, weddings, corporate events, beer festivals etc etc. I've never had it up past 4 on the master volume dial. I like the flexibility of sounds and simplicity to operate. Don't look at power as it counts for nothing if you put it with an inefficient cab. Put a modern head with a quality cab and you'll have more than enough volume. I'd buy a cab based on efficiency and a head based on features, size, sounds, cost but not power - unless of course you play stadiums week in week out. Other end of the scale is to pick up a sledghammer of a head and one of the barefaced cabs as they thrive on bags of power. You would be unlikely to run out of steam with the 2 x 12 cab no matter how much power you throw at it.

must admit i think the trb1005 is very very pretty bass. if it sounds good and plays nice i'd be very interested in finding one.

Oh yeah budget of around £850 new or used or a trade for a USA 75 Reissue Jazz.

I recently traded a bass for a yamaha BBG5 here and have to say for a bass worth under £200 it has absolutely blown me away. With new strings it sounds incredible. So so so much growl and it cuts through brilliantly. It has very quickly become the only bass I play and have had so many comments about how good it sounds from band members and other bass players. Now this bass aint going anywhere but it's a little tired looking which in itself isn't a problem. I'd really like to get something with a similar sound but a bit posher from the Yamaha range. Any suggestions (other than another BBG5)? Btw I can't Stand the look of the newer BB415 basses.

Didcot Town FC end of season awards presentation evening last night. Brilliant gig. Room was acoustically lovely and we god a really nice clean and solid sound. We're new into functions and were only booked cos the original band booked let them down a few weeks ago. The club had never heard us play before so was a slight risk on their part. The deal was we'd get £350 for two 45min sets minimum but if they thought we were up to standard we'd get the £500 they had originally set aside for the band they'd initially booked. I got there early to set up pa and took the full BFM set up with 4 tops and 4 subs. Room was perfect with thick carpets and heavily upholstered chairs. We were a bit late starting as the award ceremony over ran but that's part and parcel of gigs like this. We noticed the wags were looking very bored all through the presentations. We went on at 9.45 and tore up the place with loads of party rock stuff. Dancefloor was packed from start to finish of both sets. At the end the organisers were super chuffed, gave us the full £500 plus another £50!!! They then asked if we'd do NYE this year for £1000. Big smiles all round from the band and a happy customer. Bit bleary eyed this morning but looking forward to playing the Banbury Beer Festival this afternoon. Gonna pull out a set of classic rock stuff for that so we can blow off some steam!

I also prefer to mic the cab. Been using a shure beta 52a for a while and like it although has a slight natural mid scoop. The AKG is a little flatter but I run my amp pretty flat so I can hear myself on stage so the shure works well for foh mixes.

My experience is also that they may not be super fast but they are reliable and I'd be amazed if this doesn't get sorted shortly. Hope it does as I know how frustrating it is if something isn't quite right with a new rig.

Buy used here. Behringer stuff tends to go bad in batches in my experience and if it's gonna die it'll do it young. I use a few of their bits in the pa rack but have never liked their bass gear. Listen to something first tho as it is a minefield out there littered with cheap crappy combos.

Also your combination of speakers may be causing some cancellation. What drivers are they?

The fact that it cost £23 probably says it all. Run a sine wave tone of about 100hz thru it and, without connecting it to a speaker, use a voltmeter to measure what voltage it puts out with the gain all the way up. Let me know what you get and I'll tell you how powerful it is at 4 & 8 ohm. May be that it's not putting out as much as it claims. Forget changing its power output. You'd be far better off buying an amp designed to put out more.

Your studio recordings have been engineered by a pro no doubt with a heap of experience and tons of nice toys at his / her disposal. They've also had the time and control to adjust the individual sound of every member of the band to fit it all together well. A top notch live engineer would probably get you pretty close to the nirvana you seek. It would however need a solid pa system with a good mixing desk. Most portable pa systems will struggle unless they're a high end set up with subs, tops, 1000s of watts, rta Eq system, nice mic pre's etc etc etc. A very good start for you if you're using a decent pa system would be something like a sansamp bass driver pedal or similar.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1336075494' post='1640633'] I imagine a Genz Streamliner or Ampeg Pro 7 would really push these new modern cabs. [/quote] These are the amps that work well as its a great match up. Alex is the first to say that his cabs love to be pushed hard.

[quote name='GRAHAM SG1' timestamp='1336064580' post='1640440'] You know you want to , the Barefaced Super Twelve will get the best out of the PF500 no worries, I could not believe how much better and louder it sounds than when I used two TC BC212s with it, they farted quite easily and got very muddy as the volume went up and I am not talking about more than halfway on master and gain . [/quote] Agree completely although the barefaced cabs thrive on big watts so your next urge will be for a bigger amp cos you'll feel you're not doing your super 12 justice lol.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1335825610' post='1636760'] 1) Yes 2) Maybe - buy it from a place that allows you to return it if you're not happy. [/quote] Thats the most complete answer ever lol. Can't add anything of use beyond that.

I guess it depends on your cab choice. Efficiency is key when you lower the amp power.

Get out there and listen. If it sounds good to your ears at war volume then the drivers are irrelevant. Lots of preconceptions out there and a well designed / engineered cab will beat the sledgehammer approach of "big drivers mean big bass" anyday.

I'm cursed with ampeg gear and have always been disappointed with hums, buzzes and rattles. Not a fan of TC cabs tho. I think they're ugly and I don't like the sound. Put the pf500 with a berg or barefaced cab and you may see a difference. Disappointing these days to find an amp struggling with a strong incoming signal.

Not having a decent amp just aint an option for some. I play most fri and sat nights in a function / wedding / pub / club covers band and we take our own PA and gear. We don't do support or have bands support us. 9 times out of 10 the venue is small so bass doesn't go thru the PA system. Therefore I rely on my bass and amp sounding good to give the audience a decent sound to listen to. If you're happy playing support to other bands forever then yeah maybe a nice amp is just a luxury but if you want to get out on your own then you either need a good amp or at least a DI system (cant stand pods etc personally). I agree that it doesn't need to be expensive to sound good as there are some very good sounding lower price amps out there.

Excellent player and a funny chap but although he is very talented I don't think the funkiest player alive would be busking in Newcastle. That doesn't mean he's not very funky player tho and very entertaining to watch.

Sweet amp - enjoy

I f###ing hate that song with a passion but I concede that with most of the pork in the pubs/clubs/parties we play it would go down well. Suck it up.