BossHog

Hi Rory, I think Steve gives a very informed description of the tradeshow, I work for a loudspeaker manufacturer and have attended these shows for years now. They are very expensive to undertake from an exhibitors point of view when combining the cost of floor space and factor in the Hotels and Restaurants taking full advantage of a captive market with inflated prices. However Frankfurt Messe and Namm are both good shows, Frankfurt being the larger of the two catering for all aspects of the audio industry including sound reinforcement, lighting, traditional instruments and so on.... it's huge Namm is mainly a music retail and recording based show catering for the American market or visiting international distributors, with a larger representation of the exotic instrument and amplification manufacturers. From a bass point of view the likes of Fodera, Sadowsky, Alleva Coppollo, Mike Lull, Zon, Modulus and so on.... you won't see those guys at Frankfurt. Endorsing artists also make a point of being around. If you were considering visiting Namm make sure you pre register as security there this year was strict to combat the sale or the exchanging of passes. My advice would be to look at the list of exhibitors or people you would like to see, there always published on the websites. Call them and see if it's possible to make an appointment at the show or get the name of someone you could talk to, but don't be disheartened if people are easily distracted by dealers or distributors turning up mid pitch. Good luck. Mick

Jonny, You should take a look at the Aguilar DB 750. It's valve preamp stage with a 750w @4 ohm mosfet output section. Depending on you're cabinet choice the DB will comfortably drive a 2 ohm load and give you a true 975w if you want to kill everyone. It's a huge sounding amp with fast transient response and sounds great with any style of playing [url="http://aguilaramp.com/products_amplifiers_db750.htm"]http://aguilaramp.com/products_amplifiers_db750.htm[/url]. They offer a ten year warranty on this amp and the build quality is amazing. It's heavy and expensive but a great piece of kit. Mick

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='140246' date='Feb 14 2008, 12:48 PM']Your sunburst one may well be the one that I referred to further up the page... did you have it quite a few years ago?[/quote] Yeah, I owned it for a long time. It was a great stable gigging bass, temptation had the better of me at the time and I sold it to fund other purchases. One of the very few basses I really wish I had kept.

I've had two of these, both Cutlass 1 Stingray style instruments. One solid black on ash and the other three tone sunburst on alder, the latter was by far the superior sounding bass. Neither had neck issues, I may have been lucky there by the sounds of things. Great sounding basses but I do think you sacrifice a little body to the tone of the bass with the addition of the Modulus neck over a standard MM bass of a similar or earlier vintage. You occasionally see them popping up in the states for around the $1200.00 - $1800.00 mark on ebay. I was fortunate enough to pick my black one up for $890.00 around five years ago from a guy in New York and the sunburst one was sold back to the original owner. There was a trans red one on ebay in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago that was selling for around £1700.00 but IMO if you're interested in one, wait for one to appear in the States and get the advantage of the favorable exchange rate. If you're a MM fan they are fantastic bits of kit and the limited availability makes them a desirable piece of the company's history as well sounding great.. Mick

[quote name='Marcus' post='43841' date='Aug 10 2007, 03:36 PM']I have 2 mates with DB750's both use a Furman power conditioner and have no problems, I borrowed one for a gig once and used it without the Furman, wouldn't even switch on ? Weird amp..... AWESOME SOUND !!! I hope you get sorted with it......[/quote] Just read through this thread and wanted to throw in my experience with Aguilar. First of all the amplifier Flea from the Red Hot Chilean Pipers borrowed (as above) displayed exactly the same issues described in you're earlier post's, however the Furman was used for power distribution (the ten IEC outlets came in handy for FX, radio systems and so on) not mains conditioning and at the time it would'nt have worked with either? The amplifier was shipped from a dealer in the States brand new but ordered at U.K. voltage, a practice no longer endorsed by Aguilar as a number of dealers now stock the products in the U.K. This was my second DB 750, the first I sold in a moment of insanity and regreted it instantly finding it's replacement falling way short of the 750's power and tone. Guess I was susceptible to good marketing from another company at the time! The first came from German dealer in 2000 and was perfect. The problematic American DB was sorted in a matter of 6 days from reporting the fault via email to Aguilar to the parts arriving at my front door. After a very simple thermistor installation (fantastic support from Aguilar tech dept, including detailed high res pics of the installation) the amp has been running perfectly since. I suspect if the thermistor fix has not resolved the problem then something of a more serious nature may be at fault. Lets face it every manufacturer encounters problems, it's how they are addressed that measures the true fabric of the company. What are Aguilar suggesting as a solution? My advice would be if it requires it, ship it back to Aguilar and have the diagnostics carried out correctly. I know for a fact that some major amplifier lines in the U.K. use "Johnny" the local repair dood up the road as an external service centre. So U.K. distributors of certain brands do not automatically offer manufacturers standards on warranty reapirs. I speak from experience on that. Good luck.