mcnach

I just ordered two for my Barefaced cabs... let's see how long it takes.

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1437680151' post='2828215'] So basically I'm now looking into a lightweight amp head but have literally no clue about what I would need when it comes to amps. I don't drive so it would have to be something I could take on public transport (along with my bass and pedalboard). Main reason behind me now wanting to get an amp is that my band have been offered quite a few gigs that we haven't been able to do because of this. We generally play smallish venues but I wouldn't say tiny and with the music we do I need quite a large bass sound as bass and guitar are both doing 'lead' roles. I've looked into the Aguilar Tone Hammer, Markbass Little Mark and some of the TC Electronic stuff but as I say, I'm totally clueless! Any help appreciated! [/quote] The Little Mark is very sweet. I know you ask especifically about heads but... I'd actually suggest a Markbass CMD121P combo. Used they can be had for about £350-400... although finding one might be tricky if you want one quickly. If I didn't drive, that would be one of my first choices: it's small, light enough, yet pretty loud and sounds very nice. Very easy to make it sound huge by simply adding another cab. If I had to take public transport/depend on lifts... that would be my choice. I mean, I drive, and I still use that more often than any of the other amps/cabs I have. Most gigs I play, I have PA support, so the amp becomes more of a stage monitor solution. The CMD121P is perfect for that. I recently bought a Stagg stand for it (£15ish if I recall correctly) which is light and easy to carry along, and it helps a great deal: it still sits low to get depth from the floor reinforcement, but angled upwards towards me I hear it so much better. If you're only looking only at heads... the LM3 would be right up there in my list, but don't forget Genz Benz. The Streamliner and the Shuttle are both great amps and the 600/6.0/6.2 often comes up for sale used at £325-375 (or even the 900/9.x series too). They're maybe a bit louder than the LM3, but not lots, in my experience (I was rotating an LM3, LMT800, Shuttle 9.2 and Streamliner 900 for a while, trying to decide which was best for me... ended up keeping both GB, and selling the MarkBass because I use that little combo -a LM3 head in combo form, essentially- already most of the time). They sound really nice, with the Streamliner being a bit more "old school" but both being able to give a very wide range of sounds. The ToneHammer sounds nice, old school style, but when I tried one it drove me crazy: the controls are way too interactive. I settled for the Streamliner instead as it gives the same kind of general vibe, but much more straightforward to use. The overdrive on the TH was very nice, however. But It's not something I use a lot, and when I do I'd rather use an external pedal The Streamliner's overdrive sounds ok too... but I never drive it that hard. I prefer it clean(ish). I had a TC RH450. I did like it, but there was something about it that didn't really gel with me. I loved it when I first tested it but afterwards... meh. The minute I tried the LM3 I knew the RH450 was history for me. For absolute versatility and ease of transport, a head ans separate speaker is probably the best option, especially if you say you can get away with just bringing a head most times. I'd still push a little more for the small CMD121P because my experience with provided cabs/combos has been pretty disappointing... so it sucks to go to all that effort to play a gig that you just don't enjoy soundwise. The little combo is not that hard to carry, and would be my first choice. With a soft cover and a cheap foldable trolley... roam the streets at leisure! You can always achieve something similar by buying a head, and getting a small light nice cab later... as suggested above, TKS and Barefaced make some cool cabs. In fact, my CMD121P sounds amazing paired with a TKS1126 cab. I hadn't tried that pairing until a couple weeks ago that I had a gig in a small bar in Glasgow Drury Street. I took the MarkBass combo and the TKS cab... it sounded fantastic. There was a reggae band playing before my band and it was just beautiful. I have a foldable trolley to carry two cabs, or in this case the combo plus one cab... Not really something I would like to try to get into a bus/metro with... but just one cab or just the combo... dead easy.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1437859276' post='2829638'] Thanks BC however price is creeping into the mid £400 now, almost into MB 121P territory! I wonder if the Rumble 100 cuts it? Looked at the TC Electronic 250 watt 208 today ( by phone) but they admitted it would not handle a 5 string. [/quote] I'm noticing a frequent mention of the getting into MB CMD121P territory... I'd say, don't resist!!! Yes, it's 12", but very compact. It can do small gigs alone. It sounds great. It's the single best piece of gear I've bought in years. It'll cost a bit more but well well worth it. It sounds good at home as a practice amp (and it's not bigger than most practice amps anyway), and it can do small gigs alone, or bigger ones with an extension cab, or serve as a great stage monitor for when you have PA support... I've seen them go for £350ish. I bought mine new before the price drop, cost me £750 or thereabouts, and I'm not bitter about it one bit. Fantastic little amp.

[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1437909750' post='2829859'] Looks better with the maple neck, I changed the stock pup to an entwistle neo in the one I had and it improved it loads, got rid of mine cos I dont get on with p necks. [/quote] The Entwistle Neo is a beast, a wonderful loveable beast!

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1437868053' post='2829696'] Forgot about the cooling off period. Anybody had any experience with having to take advantage of this with guitarguitar? I reckon I'll be happy with the RH750 as I was rather impressed by it but just incase... [/quote] Guitar Guitar in Edinburgh sold me my RH450 and RS210 cabs back in 2009. I tried them at the shop with my then guitarist,, who was a good customer there, and they said "take it, try it at rehearsal,, and if you don't like it bring it back". So worth speaking to them. They surely know you could order online and take advantage of the 7-day right to return... and if you order online it doesn't need to be from them. You have to be careful and make sure all the packaging and the amp itself is immaculate, just in case!

Tim bought my VT-Bass pedal. Quick payment, good communication, all very smooth.

thank you!!! I just bought this (Signing off) on amazon... loving it!!!

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1437862019' post='2829666'] WANT!!!! [/quote] move along, move along, nothing to see here... (but lots to hear! I've just downloaded UB40's "Signing off" and been playing along with this bass... seriously, these Entwistle pickups are amazing. If you have anything P-bass shaped that you're not entirely sure about soundwise, give these ones a try... £26!)

[quote name='super al' timestamp='1437860902' post='2829657'] Like Blue I had an active bass run out of juice mid gig. Mid 90s I had the good fortune to play in a band for the musical 'Grease' (Southampton Uni not West End!) but didn't have a spare battery. In front of a sell out audience my bass decides to die during the first few bars of my big moment, 'you're the one that I want', oh poop!!! Luckily the MD played the bass part on her keyboard and saved my butt. 20 years later that still haunts me but lesson learned, my EUB takes a 9v battery and I always have a fresh battery for a performance plus a spare on top of the amp in case. [/quote] ouch! what a way to learn that lesson!

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1437857870' post='2829622'] Really nice with the maple neck. I had a black one a few years ago that I put a Status pickup and new tuners and bridge on and it was a great bass. Nice and light unlike the boat anchor Mexican one. Where did you get the small thumb rest from? [/quote] The thumb rest... It was attached with double-sided sticky tape (the same method I use here) to the pickguard of an OLP bass I had years ago. I kept it, and in fact had it replicated in aluminium (got that on the L2000 and the CV50 Precision) and black acrylic (on my Precisions/PJ and a Jazz). I wish I could buy them somewhere, I could use a few more! Having just a couple made is too expensive to make it worthwhile.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1437858157' post='2829625'] These techie explanations are great - they're really explaining what I've been hearing for a while now in the consumer bass end of the Class D market. If someone (Alex?) can come up with a lightweight with a power supply that isn't lightweight (if you know what I mean), colour me interested. [/quote] It sounds like it's doable just not cheap. It probably would not sell thousands of units rapidly, but there surely must be a market for it.

The 3-band is just an active bass/mid/treble control... I approach them as something to generally do small tweaks to. I get the sound I want from the amp... then I may adjust slightly with the onboard EQ. You find you need a bit more mids... up it goes. Or cut the low end. Or cut the treble... Just because you have 5 knobs it doesn't mean you *have to* tweak them all Find what makes it sound good, and learn what each knob does *in the band context* so that you can do adjustments on the fly when you need to. There's nothing particularly different about basses with active EQ...

So, did you end up buying one? Mine was definitely not 42mm, more like 40mm, and slim cross-section too (older one, a 2007 model, with the star on the body, unfortunately)

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1358708804' post='1943810'] Looks great. Can I call "dibs" if you sell it? [/quote] Two years on... this bass is still with me, and it only got better. Aside from a couple different pickguards I tried, which are merely cosmetic (a single ply white one, and a 3-ply mint green), the pickup was replaced earlier this year... the Entwistle neodymium job sounds great and it's cheap (I replaced the covers with white ones). Then, I replaced the neck. Nothing wrong with the original one... but I love maple, so when the opportunity to grab a glossy lacquered maple one came up, I did. This is the bass now: more here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/266600-kind-of-but-not-really-nbd-mike-dirnt-squier-precision/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/266600-kind-of-but-not-really-nbd-mike-dirnt-squier-precision/[/url]

So I bought this Squier Precision, a Mike Dirnt model, a couple of years ago... that's just before my Precision love blossomed and this bass played a big role in that! It was light, very comfortable neck, slimmer than most Precisions, somewhere between a P and a J, cheap, and made some great noises. It came with some roundwound steel strings, which also started to open my eyes to stainless steel strings... great feel, nice sound... it looked like this (on the right): I liked that it had no routing or anything under the pickguard so it looked nice without one: At the time I started a thread about it, [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/197094-mike-dirnt-squier-p-bass-anyone/"]here[/url]. It is a bass that didn't see a lot of action for a while, but that I felt strangely attracted to... and ultimately led me to other Precisions. There was nothing wrong with it, but I never truly *loved* it. First of all, I am a bit racist (of tree species) when it comes to fingerboards. I can have flings with rosewood, but I only really fall in love with maple. Especially lacquered. Yes, I could have changed the neck... but I wasn't keen. It was meant to remain cheap, and the neck was lovely. Plus, the square kind of body/neck joint makes it harder to find a suitable neck. I used it for busking a lot. It was my inexpensive but nice player kind of bass that I was not too worried about if I used it outside and could get dirty or whatever. It was also light, did I mention that? That's a nice thing when carrying a bunch of things about in town. I changed the pickup earlier this year. The original was ok, but a little unrefined. I bought an Entwistle neodymium one, based on the good reviews and low price... and found it didn't fit the bass as the ears were too big. No problem... I didn't like the big lettering on the Entwistle pickup covers, and I bought new covers for it, in white. It ended up looking like this: Those pickups are great! I started a thread about them [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/258271-entwistle-neodymium-p-type-pickups-pbxn"]here[/url]. I have used this bass without pickguard a lot. I also tried two different ones, a white one (pictured above), and a 3-ply mint green one which I think looks nice with the kind of creamy aged white colour of the bass body. I played some gigs with it now, with the new pickup... It sounded great. Huge. Not exactly traditional Precision, but for that I already had now the red Classic 50. Great sounds. Fat. Powerful. Yeah! Still... rosewood. Sorry, I could not love you. "I'll take you home tonight and play all night, but I will not take you to meet my parents" kind of deal. Until... I found a CV series Squier neck online, new, maple, lacquered... from a 50s series, with the squareish neck bottom!!! It wasn't the yellow tinted one, which would have been AMAZING, but it looked great in pictures. So I went for it. Sure, it cost more than what I paid for the bass, and I was hit with £40 charges (it was in the US)... but it was BEAUTIFUL. To my surprise, it was nothing like my own CV50 Squier neck... this was less chunky, and in fact not too far off the Mike Dirnt one.The fit was very good too. The holes did not align, ok, but that's easily sorted. While the original neck fit was nearly perfect, this one leaves a bit of a gap, tiny... I'll call it "70s Fender vibe" It works. It's not something I'd be too impressed with on a £800 bass, but I can live with it here. I gave it to my favourite (well, one of my two favourite luthiers, because I know two lovely ones now and I don't want the other one to be upset if he reads this ) luthier, to make sure the neck was fitted nicely and took the opportunity to ensure frets were levelled etc. I also replaced the nut, just to get a nice one in and cut it just right. I got it back a couple of days ago... and it looks like this: I also like the fact the neck is a Squier, so I'm not changing logos or anything... Its new neck is as comfy as the original, but I like it a lot more, just from a personal preference point of view... the lacquered feel is lovely. So here it is... it's not exactly a new bass day... but almost! Now I'm confident this bass is here to stay

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1437641388' post='2827720'] Re: guitarists and tubes - I've become much more involved with playing guitar now, and a small Fender tube combo with those pristine cleans is a wonderful thing. I have two low-ish wattage tube amps for guitar, and they do sound great. Guitarists have it much easier though, as a good quality 1x12 22W tube amp covers a lot of ground. Buy a nice overdrive pedal (like a Klon clone) and bam, you have some very interesting tones. However, the new Roland Blues Cube has NO tubes/valves whatsoever, and it sound absolutely stunning. Get it right, and guitarists wanting a solid, reliable, cheaper to run amp will buy it. It IS tough to get it right, more than bass IMO. [/quote] While I really love the tone (specially clean!) of a few nice and relatively small valve amps, and I thought that it was in the valve domain where I'd find "guitar peace", I've recently made a great discovery. We have some new equipment in the rehearsal studios we normally use, and there's this little Fender amp in there. I did not pay attention at first, but after a few weeks I noticed that whichever of our guitarists was using it sounded fantastic. IN particular, a stratocaster through it with a nearly clean sound was just beautiful. I'm not saying it was the best sound ever, and maybe on its own it might not be amazing... but in the band context it was just delicious. I noticed it. Each guitarist noticed it. We didn't notice everybody else noticed it until one made a comment and we all jumped in "yeah! I was thinking that too!!!". As a result, two of the three guitarists are ditching their bigger amps and getting one of those Fenders. Guitarist number 1 already found one. The amp? A Fender 112 deluxe. Solid State. Not a valve in sight. £70 on eBay, 10kg. Loud enough for any of our gigs. Lucky gits. I hate them! :-p I'm after one too now.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1437550358' post='2826876'] [size=5]I get so frustrated at rehearsals because I never get the chance to warm up and actually hear myself.[/size] [size=5]Once the guitarist plugs in and starts thrashing away at high volume and without any thought for others, that's the end of it, even the drummer gives me a defeatist look, and we both just sit down and wait until everyone is ready and we go straight in to the songs, and of course it's the same between numbers when we want to discuss something, and nobody can hear whats being said due to the bloody guitard playing away! Is it just me?[/size] [/quote] don't waste your time in bands like that... get him to behave, or let him go, or walk... life's too short. There are better people to be in a band with out there if you look for them.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1437574944' post='2827199'] Yeah. I'm pondering another, too. [/quote] it's a disease! I feel better knowing it's not just me.

[quote name='ednaplate' timestamp='1437573827' post='2827183'] Thanks WoT, I will. I took my inspiration from your latest purchase. They seem such good value for money, compared to other custom builders, that the cynic in me wonders if there is a catch. [/quote] I'm afraid there *is* a catch, as I've just found out... You will not be able to stop at just one bass Yup, I've got a second one ordered already. This one is a little more special than the first, although I suspect most people here will say "really?? that???" when they see it...

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1437412617' post='2825782'] Logos are a great idea. If you are ever on a multi band gig the posters will need a logo as the space you will get on a poster will be too small for a photo. Look at any festival posters. They all use the bands logos [/quote] +1!!!

I bought one so you didn't have to... DON'T BOTHER. It mutes too much, and on basses with small fingerboard radius it's too uneven. However... I am tempted to keep it just to experiment with different foam/pressures. It's easy to disassemble, and you can replace the material inside. Not sure it'll work that much better using other materials/pressures... If you want to play about, it may be ok. If you want a nice palm muted tone as it is... this will not do it.