The Dark Lord

[quote name='cd_david' timestamp='1316684276' post='1381276'] New one to the fold, 1973 BBMmmmmmmmmm [/quote] A thing of extraordinary beauty indeed.

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1317050737' post='1385983'] Amplified, they sound 90% the same. Once the band starts up at a gig, they sound 99% the same. [/quote] Yep. I suspect this comment in particular is very true. I think some of you are being a little harsh on the "don't remove your neck" guitar tech. He has set up my guitars and basses for a while and always does a good job. I hear what he says ..... that ANY change you make to an instrument could possibly make a difference ...... and if you are 100 happy with the sound you've got, then why change a thing.

My main bass is a 1999 USA Standard Fender Precision. It's a completely standard vintage white with rosewood model. I play it with regular guage Rotosounds. To me, it sounds perfect. Just perfect. Only trouble is ....... it's not black. All of my guitars and basses have been black (mostly with a maply neck) - but this one is white with rosewood. I prefer black basses but I picked this one up in a shop when it was a year old and have not been able to part with it since. I have bought and sold so many other precisions, but can't get another to come close to this one. I COULD get it repainted in black, but I have been told by a couple of guitar techs that this could alter the sound. In fact, one of them, when agreeing that it was a great sounding bass, advised me not to do ANYTHING with it. He said he would even avoid ever removing the neck for any reason unless he absolutely had to .... as even that could make a difference. His advice was to leave it as it was. My question is ........ will it really make a difference to the sound if I get the colour of my bass professionally changed to black?

Active basses have a cleaner sound. High ouptut 'hot' bass pickups give that cleaner sound too. Passive basses have a bit of vintage edge. Not as loud, but there is usually a volume control on a bass amp. I'm a Precision man. You'll only get that signature Precision clank and rumble from a passive Precision without 'hot' pickups.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1342201' date='Aug 16 2011, 06:08 PM']Interesting isn`t it, us Fender fans [u]must[/u] have thru-body stringing, to get sounds like JJ Burnell & Bruce Foxton. Who used Fenders without thru-body stringing.[/quote] Yeah. I've recently noticed that his famous "green" bass was not string thru. I like string thru though, all of my Jazz and Precision basses have string thru. I think they have a stronger sound - or maybe its a psychological thing.

[quote name='markstuk' post='1342058' date='Aug 16 2011, 04:21 PM']I'm using a sennheiser radio headset mic and a T-Bone IEM100 setup at the moment...[/quote] I use the LD 100 MEI (bought from Thomann) but the actual headphones are a bit poor. The rest of that bit of kit is good though. I use a Samson headphone amp with it. I'm going to investigate proper custom moulded in ear bits for it.

Yeah I do backing vocals and I'm always wandering too far from the mic ........ and then realise that I have to get there quick. I'd like a set up like The Edge uses. I dunno what it is, but he has a microphone and obviously has in ear monitors. I don't mind using separates, but I'd like them to be discreet ..... and I don't wanna wear a hat like the edge. If you are gonna get separates - what would you use?

The Rotosound 45s are your friend. Great roundwounds.

[quote name='neilb' post='1339760' date='Aug 14 2011, 04:52 PM']Probably Guy, the service chappie. I do agree with the other posters tho, may be not worth it considering what you can pick up secondhand. Neil[/quote] Yeah, that's him. I guess yo're right. I'll see if I can buy another from somewhere.

[quote name='neilb' post='1339061' date='Aug 13 2011, 08:16 PM']Can I ask who that came from at Ashdown?[/quote] I think he was called Gavin, but I've lost the email, so I can't say for sure.

Ashdown have already told me they can't repair it as they don't have spare parts. [quote name='neilb' post='1339043' date='Aug 13 2011, 07:56 PM']These Class D amps are not, as far as I know, that easy to work on by the layman electrical repair man. My suggestion would be to unbolt all the external casing (this makes it lighter), leaving just the chassis and electronics and courier it direct to Martin Burrows at Ashdown. He is contactable on [email protected] The customer support at Ashdown is second to none. Best of luck.[/quote]

I have a couple of Ashdown Superfly amps. They are 2 x 250 w solid state amps. I like 'em. Very compact, lots of tonal adjustment and 99 footswitchable presets. Having said that, I keep a single clean sound during gigs and use a Line 6 X3 Live for tonal changes, They are nice and compact and easy to transport to gigs and rehearsals. Trouble is. one of them is faulty. One of the power amps appears to have failed and it is now only a 1 x 250 amp. I can still use it as a 1 x 250 watter but it's not as good that way. I had the same problem with the other one and had it repaired at the Ashdown factory. However, they tell me they can't fix the next one, as they no longer have spare parts for the Superfly amp series. Does anyone know anyone else who could fix one of these for me?

[quote name='Musky' post='1331574' date='Aug 8 2011, 12:21 AM']....... You don't get a good look at it in the video but the tug bar and tortoise shell guard would make it 1974 or earlier. .........[/quote] What's a tug bar?

Hi I'm a big Jean Jacques Burnel fan. His early sound is how I like to play bass. Can anyone identify the particular model of Fender Precision he plays in the following video (you get a good view of it at around 1 min 9 secs). [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohRbJJohv6Y&ob=av2e"]Click here to see video[/url] That's the bass that he seemed to be playing in all of their early videos. I can see it is a non string through body model. Anyone got any idea / info ?

[quote name='Legion' date='Dec 31 2010, 04:36 PM' post='1073764'] First there was Kylie [attachment=67522:kylie.jpg] That Kylie Precision is one of the best looking basses I've seen EVAR

Hi. Has anyone here ever placed an order with Fender, via their custom shop, for a bass to their own specification? I'm thinking of ordering a Precision bass to my own exact spec - black, 4-string, maple fingerboard, medium relic, overwound passive p-bass pickup, brass hardware, black pickguard, neck between P bass and J bass. Cost won't be an issue - but I'd like to know if anyone has done this before, what did it cost, time from order to delivery and your general impression of the experience. ....... and did the bass end up being what you wanted?

The Neanderthal and the Pretty Boys .......... sorry, I mean the drummer and the guitarists in my band, often complain that my bass is too loud in the mix on stage. However, as the only member of the band who plays wirelessly, I am able to stand both where the audience will be and on stage during the sound check. I notice that the sound IS louder on stage, but that if I turn my backline down, then it becomes too quiet in the mix beyond the front of house speakers. If I turn it down for the band, then the audience won't hear me, I spoke to a mate of mine who works in the audio labs of a well-know electronics manufacturer and he tells me that it is down to the fact that lower frequency sound waves eminating from a bass cabinet are of a different shape and nature to those created by the guitarists and drummer. In short, bass sound waves degrade quicker and the sound doesn't travel as far. I cure this by getting the mix right for the band on stage and run a DI feed from my amp to the front of house PA. All of that works okay for me, although probably only as we have decent subs in the PA. I'd appreciate some input. Incidentally, I use either a Marshall 450 Watt head through 1 x 15 and 4 x 10 cabs ........... or an Ampeg 2 x 250 Watt head through two separate 2x12 cabs.

It's beautiful. Love the neck tint. Pitty it's not string thru.

Okay - I'm about to place an order for one of these! What kind / size of cabinet would you recommend?

I turned up to another rehearsal space in Worthing on the South Coast the other day. They had a Hartke bass head with some sort of cab - possibly a Hartke 4x12. I wasn't that bown away by it. So, I had a try at the Hiwatt Guitar head and matching 4 x 12 cab across the room. I thought it rocked! It was a big monster-sized head with an equally impressive looking cab. I used it clean at first and then dialed in the teeniest touch of break up. I luuuuurved it. Lots of bass players have used guitar amps (particularly Hiwatts) over the years. So I noted down the model number and checked it out online when I got home. Amazingly, I discovered it was a £300 solid state budget model - the Maxwatt GR200 ... with matching £300 4x12 cab. I listened back to the recording just to check I wasn't mistaken. Okay, I like old school Brit rock tones - but this was very good. Looked kinda cool too. I know it won't be suitable for all styles and won't be too flexible - but I might just get the wallet out.

[quote name='bobbass4k' post='1031116' date='Nov 21 2010, 03:51 AM']I loved my LM250, they do actually deliver on their promise of completely colourless amplification. With the eq set flat, it's just your bass sound but louder. If you like your bass sound then it's great, but I think a lot of people are used to their sound been coloured by the amp and have never actually heard their pure bass sound before. The VLE and VPF controls need to be used very carefully too, someone played through my LM250 and didn't get that the VLE and VPF aren't eq controls, they go from off to max. He set everything to noon and hated the sound, while he was berating me i turned the VLE and VPF off and he loved it. If you don't like them then fair enough, but as someone else said it may be down more to your bass than the amp, I found the eq ws very powerful too and required quite judicious usage, I don't think I ever set anything to full.[/quote] Yep. This has all been good advice. I also set everything to "noon". Thinking everything was a tone control. I didn't realise what these "VLE and VPF" controls were. When I didn't like the muddy sound, I upped the treble control and things got better - but still not quite there. So I got out my Line 6 X3Live, put everything to noon again and used the SVT setting on the Line 6 .... where things became acceptable (rather than good). I think the morale of the story is that I didn't know how to use those amps. I will have a look at the controls online before I go to those places again and try to get a handle on the VLE and VPF controls next time. I'll see if I can report back after I play 'em again.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1031015' date='Nov 20 2010, 11:38 PM']There is something wrong with this statement , anyone who finds Mark Bass amps to be bad needs their ear checked, you probably have been exposed to too many years of bad amplification that has warped or tainted your appreciation of what is good as opposed to bad. No offence intended by the way, in my 36 years of playing I have had many decent bass amps from really expensive to cheap as chips, Gallien Kruger, Laney, Mesa Boogie, Trace Elliot, Line 6, Crate, Ibanez, Ashdown etc etc, each have their own way of adding a forced colour, let's call it "trendy tonality" to the sound to please either a rock player or a blues player or else. What makes Mark Bass different is the fact they they manage to amplify a bass in total transparency and if you don't like what you hear then your bass is wrong, simple as that. I mean it. If you try one of the newest tube driven Mark Bass you will find you don't even need a compressor to propel your "frequencies" evenly. the full tranny Class D ones can benefit from the use of a decent compressor to be able to give you a more direct thump rather than disperse the sound according to the venue in which it is being played. The other thing you must ask yourself is do I need a monitor type of amp, connected to the mixing board for larger volume, or do I need a large size stack like an 8 by 10" speakers? No good having a single 1 x 15 or a 2 x 12" if you are playing a large club, you need more than that to really shift a sound that will cut through guitars, keyboards, drummers and singers. I hope I didn't come across too cocky, it wasn't my intention.[/quote] It's probably a personal taste thing. I have some Marshalls (MB and an old Superbass) as my gigging backline. I also have one of the Superfly 500s with the 4 x 8 when space is tight. I'll have a look at the amp controls online and see what I can do. Maybe it's the modern sound I don't like!