mcnach

[quote name='parker_muse' post='920994' date='Aug 10 2010, 08:57 PM']I've owned a Squire Vintage Modified jazz before and i quite liked the neck on that truth be told. Not sure i could pick up a MM for 300-400! I was looking at gaf's and i could maybe stretch to it but it would have to be perfect. How much do the 34s go for second hand?[/quote]

the problem is finding a 34 second hand. There doesn't seem to be any around!

Have you considered modifying your Stingray copy?
If you need the P-bass sound, then you need a P-bass... but if you want "ballsier" etc... a new pickup can do wonders. I put a Seymour Duncan SMB-4A in my OLP Stingray copy and it became a lot tighter, stronger, punchier. I then put the STC-3M3 preamp and it's a *beast*.

If you really want the p-bass sound... here's another thought: put a P-style pickup on your stingray copy. The humbucker is located towards the bridge and you should be able to place a P-style pickup just around the original location for a P-bass.

You can get a nice Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio pickup for around £50.
You could keep your pickguard, in case you want to go back, and buy a new one for not that much money. You'll need to route the body for the new pickup and cut the pickguard too... but it's not terribly hard. Or you can take it to someone who'll do it for you for not much money again... All you have to do is, with the pickguard in place, draw the outline of the pickup to make the cut. Then cut the hole. Once the pickguard is done, use that to mark the outline on the top of teh bass... and route it. Changing the wiring is easy after that. It takes a bit of work, but... I don't know. I'd think about it.
I bought a router and other tools I needed on ebay for very little. The work is easy, you just have to be patient and take it slow.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='920222' date='Aug 10 2010, 12:18 AM']Stingray pups and pre-amps are expensive as they are, and do it how they should, so personally I'd stick with Rays as stock.[/quote]

I think the Stingray does what it should already.

I just want it to do other things too. I'm evil to basses that way.

The thing is... when I play live, how many in the audience would ever care, or even notice, a difference between a 2EQ and a 3EQ Stingray?
When I think of it that way... it seems that sometimes we spend a ridiculous amount of effort (and cash) to achieve very minute -in the large scheme of music things- effects.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='920218' date='Aug 10 2010, 12:14 AM']I guess the only way to tell is by trying it yourself, if it's not what you want, I'd be happy to buy it off you for a basschat discount ? [/quote]

Nice try
It's a little expensive for me just to try it to see if it works. It costs considerably more than any of my OLPs!

On the website it says the 3-band preamp is based on the original 2-band, plus an added mid control. So set flat, it should do what I want. *if* they really tried to replicate the Stingray's 2EQ preamp.

I guess I'll probably just call the company and talk to someone, maybe John East himself? From comments in the forum he seems to be pretty good when it comes to service.

It sounds like a weird question, I know... until you've tried both 3EQ and 2EQ Stingrays.

I have a 2EQ Stingray that I love. But often I really want the sound I get from a 3EQ too. At the moment I get that through my souped-up OLP MM2. It really sounds great. But it's two basses. Oh, wouldn't it be great to have both preamps (so to speak) in a single great bass? :wub:

I read that the John East preamp, when you set the mids flat, acts like a 2EQ.

Anybody has experience on both the very characteristic Stingray 2EQ and the 3EQ, and the John East preamp?

I love the 2EQ... I don't want to lose that to have a 3EQ, and the 2EQ is *not* just like a 3EQ with the mids flat, it has a particular response that is very very nice.

So, by installing a John East preamp, would I be able to still have the 2EQ sounds/function as before... but with the addition of a mid control when I chose to use it? Or is it just a 3-band EQ?

[quote name='Les' post='919290' date='Aug 9 2010, 09:13 AM']What do the 3 knobs do on the passive OLP ? volume, tone and ?[/quote]

Separate volume controls for each of the coils, and one tone.

Yes, there is some difference between the sound of the two coils, despite being so close together. Not worth the trouble in my opinion. But then, of course, it serves you to get single coil sounds, and you can choose a slightly different voicing... However I did not care for that sound either.
The OLP I still have passive (not for long) I cut the wires to one volume control, and rewired the other so that it's just a volume for the humbucker, with coils wired in parallel.

What bass do you play now? A lot of basses can do a lot of things reasonably well.

In my opinion you can't go wrong with a Jazz bass. The newish Squiers from the Classic Vibe series seem pretty sweet and are well within your budget.

I have a Warwick Corvette $$ that is extremely versatile. It's great for metal, and it's great for funk... although the neck is not to everybody's taste. I got mine second hand for well under £500. It's a fantastic bass.

My main bass is an OLP MM2 (stingray style) that I bought second hand for around £130 I think. I am in love with this bass. It felt just right, had it set up nicely and it's the bass I pick first. I did upgrade the pickup (original is not great) and installed a 3-band EQ preamp (both Seymour Duncan). But even with the upgrades we're talking half your budget. It's a beast. I play mostly funk/rock with it, but I seem to always be sitting in friends' bands when their bass player can't make it to a gig, so I played a lot of rock with it and would do metal just fine. Very versatile despite the single pickup.

So my own personal opinion is: 1st OLP + upgrades, or then either a Warwick Corvette $$ or a Jazz bass.

But they all sound and feel different, so you should try them before you choose one.

One of my two OLPs:


The Warwick Corvette $$:

[quote name='Rayman' post='918686' date='Aug 8 2010, 12:43 PM']I've seen some musicians, including our guitarist, and other bass players, with 4 or 5 instruments on stands behind them, which to me, is ridiculous.[/quote]

The day I can afford roadies, I may take a huge fridge of a speaker cab. Or two. And 5 basses. And a tambourine in its own stand. Probably a kazoo as well.

Until then, it's my small lightweight head with one or two smallish cabs (but they rattle walls at 100 paces, I tell you ) and 1-2 basses. Usually 1, in the smaller gigs which is what we mostly do, where if you break a string it's not a big deal to have a 2min break.

I'm looking into these dual instrument gigbags. Like the Ibanez here:

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_double_bag_trolley_ebass.htm"]Ibanez dual bass trolley gigbag at Thomann[/url]

they look interesting and not expensive...

any experiences here?

Can it still be carried ok on your back (it'll be heavy, but it leaves hands free... so as long as it's built ok and doesn't break, I am ok with the weight)

and since I'm at it, here's my other good OLP, although this one is still passive, so soundwise is not yet there:

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='918554' date='Aug 8 2010, 09:34 AM']Is that the OLP in your avatar, or is it the Ray?[/quote]


That's the OLP.

This is a picture right after the upgrade. The Duncan STC-3T3 preamp comes with black knobs, like in the picture. But I have since replaced them with chrome ones. This bass also has a Hipshot D-tuner installed.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='918089' date='Aug 7 2010, 04:19 PM']Just give it a little more time for you to get used to it,Is it setup like your OLP? If not then measure it all and clone it over to the MM it might not be right for everyone but if thats how you like it then do it.Its a fairly simple beast and the difference in being setup well would make more difference than a SUB through to a pre EB and everything inbetween the only problem would be if it cant be setup right then it is a duff one but I think thats rare and even then it should be nothing a good bass tech is not able to sort. Also maybe your ears are just not used to a real Ray sound and maybe you dont really like it? There is no crime in that after all it would be boring if we all played Rays. [/quote]


There's nothing wrong with the Stingray!
The set up is virtually identical. The neck feels the same. It's as close as a clone can be.
The OLP is to all effects a Stingray too, it feels and sounds like one. Like a 3EQ one!

I love the Stingray. But the OLP is not "the poor sister of the MusicMan". It's a great bass on its own. Although I have tried Stingrays before (and I knew they weren't miles away from my OLPs) it wasn't until now that I had both a good OLP and a Stingray in the house to compare side by side. This made the similarities clearer to me, that's all.

I have the board for the original 2EQ Stingray preamp. I intend to build it and install it in my other OLP. It'll be interesting then to compare the 2EQ OLP with the 2EQ Stingray... I suspect it's going to be very very very close. Although the OLP has a Basslines SMB-4A pickup and the Stingray has the original pickup, so that will contribute to the differences.

When I get around to that i should post some clips.

[quote name='stevie' post='918043' date='Aug 7 2010, 03:32 PM']Very interesting post, which goes to show the importance of trying an instrument before you buy it.[/quote]

I think maybe you misunderstood me: the Stingray *is* great. With the 2EQ system it's a different beast to the OLP with the SD 3EQ... Both are great and I'm keeping both...
It's just that one tends to think that the more expensive one should be the one you love best... but it's not the case.

However, BOTH are great basses.

I have tried a bunch of new Stingrays in shops... I already knew there wasn't much difference (if at all). That's why I never bought one. Until I came across a used one in the perfect colour and configuration and was sweet... so my hidden desire to won a "real" Stingray made me buy it. Because it was a good bass, for sure!
Just not better than my OLP, with the upgrades, in my opinion.

My two OLPs and the Stingray are great. The second OLP I owned (was an eBay thing) was very disappointing and sold it straight away.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='913387' date='Aug 2 2010, 11:50 PM']Russ, do you think we're taking reasonable steps? This post is in the most prominent part of the site and features on the RSS feed. The only other thing we could do is issue a forum wide email but we still can't protect people against themselves.[/quote]

THAT is the crucial part.

It's great to keep an eye out and remove scum like that when you see it. But I do not think we have to go crazy... You will neevr be able to remove EVERY instance of dodgy dealings.
The best safeguard is something everybody has somewhere above their shoulders: a brain.
If you are capable of using a computer and login to this forum, then you also have the ability to understand that internet can provide anonimity and may be attractive to certain undesirable characters... so any transaction you ever do with someone you don't know personally is potentially dodgy... so don't jump to part with your money/instrument too quickly. And if something doesn't make sense, don't ignore it. Question the person, and if not satisfied, move on.
It's incredibly easy to pick a scammer 99.9% of the times. Just *think*.

There will always be somebody who falls for the Nigerian scams (amazing!)... you can't protect those people unless you lock them up.

So, thanks for the information about this scammer. But beyond that (and closing the scammer's account)... I think the admin/mods don't really need to do anything more. These scammers will nevr use a legit email that can be used to track them down, they'll always use hotmail, gmail or something along those lines... they're hardly going to send an email from their job's email, eh?

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='911583' date='Aug 1 2010, 12:27 AM']Thanks to a heads up by EBS_freak, we believe there's a scammer operating on the forum who has been active on other non-bass related forums as well.

He has sent the following message:

[i]My name is Chris Corner from Madrid Spain...I am contacting you regarding your advert you place on website that you are looking for the above subject...I have it in very good condition and if still interested,Let me know and i will forward you details of the item and i will also need your shipping address and telephone number to calculate the shipping cost to your destination.My mode of payment is Via Paypal,Western union,MoneyGram..Bank wire transfer..Let me know which method you prefer and i ship the next day after payment has been receive..My phone number is +33424029617..Feel free to call me anytime for further discussion or email me back at [email protected] thanks and hope to hear from you soon.[/i]

We're only aware of one user account which has been shut down but if you receive a PM from anyone offering stuff and asking for payment via any non secure international payment methods eg. Western Union, Moneygram etc. please let a Mod know.

cheers
Steve[/quote]


Good that it was picked up... but the best safeguard is... "common sense".

Some flags:
1) when they just say "I have the item" or "the subject" or any other vague statement like that, it just flags immediately as "lazy scammer who can't even adapt his script to the message being replied to".
2) Too much info about how to pay upon first contact? Wouldn't it be more normal to say "hey, I got one of those", and then exchange a few messages to figure out details etc? Again, lazy scammer.
3) Chris Corner from Madrid, Spain... with a phone number from France? (33 code is France. Spain is 34).

May they rot on Earth.

So there I was.
I hated Stingrays.
The body was too large (no P or J basses for me, I had a couple of Warwicks and other similar bodied instruments), it looked ugly (yeah, I know) and the real deal is priced ridiculously high for what it is.

Fast forward a bit, and see me becoming the bass player in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band. The guitarist went on about "ah, you should really use a Stingray"... and one day I came across a second hand OLP MM2... and bought it to give it a whirl.

I really liked it.
I decided it was a nice bass, and proceeded to upgrade it: Seymour Duncan pickup and 3-band preamp.
The bass was transformed. Now not only played great, it also sounded killer.

It became my main bass. I was playing with other bands, and being substitute bassist for others etc... and this bass became the one I'd always grab. I'd leave it in its case, ready to go, and play the others at home... so when I had to go out it was all ready.

I liked it so much that I decided to buy another as a backup. I couldn't stand the idea of not having this bass for more than a few days, if I had to take it for maintenance/repair.
I bought a second OLP. My main one is a later one. This one was an early one. The body was rounder, the bridge was bigger and looked more the part... but it was awful. No, not awful. If I hadn't tried the other good OLP I'd have said "yep, it plays like a cheap bass". It wasn't at all like the other one. So I sold it.

A year or so later I found another early OLP. This one was black and it also had the maple fingerboard I favour... It was local, so I called the guy and went to try it. Really high action, played badly... but there was "something" there. The neck was nice and it felt like it could be quite good, cosmetically great condition. I took it home for £100. I had it set up, replaced the pickup again and it's a delicious bass to play. This one is still passive, I have a 2EQ board (clone of the original MusicMan one) that I need to build for it but I haven't had time yet. Still, it feels and sounds great.

So I have 2 OLPs that I love.
I get compliments regularly on the sound of my main one (the one I gig with).
I love to shut up the people who look down on my bass because it's not the "real deal" just by playing it... let it speak.

But... I'm human.
And I did want a MusicMan Stingray.
Some day.

I have tried a lot of them. I compared them to my souped up OLP. They didn't feel so different. I had no urge to buy one. But I *wanted* one. Just because. Nice basses, but with my OLP I didn't feel I really needed one.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I find a used MusicMan Stingray. It's in excellent condition.
It's the natural finish one. Tick.
Maple fingerboard. Tick.
Slight yellowish tint, not like the modern ones. Tick.
2-band EQ. Tick.
BEAUTIFUL.
Just beautiful.
The price seemed right, with the case etc.
So I bought it.

I love the Stingray.
I really do.

But when I compare it side by side with the two OLPs... I can't help thinking "I don't really need to spend the money on this bass, do I?"

I want to like it. No. I *do* like it. It is a GREAT bass, no doubt. I *love* it.
But... it's the OLP that I am in love with.
When I play the Stingray, it's great... but then I grab the OLP and... wow, it kicks some serious butt.

The MM Stingray looks best. It sounds great (the 2-band EQ is quite special)... but I can't help it: the OLP would be the bass I'd pick first if the building were on fire.

Annoying, isn't it?
I have a MusicMan and a Warwick which are great... but I end up playing the OLPs!

I never had a really bad bass. Not even my old Lyon by Washburn P-type bass was terrible. Or that Alba P-bass that I paid £34 for, it actually sounded quite nice.

But the worst bass I've had was an OLP MM2, a stingray clone I bought on eBay.
It was heavy, the neck felt awkward, it didn't resonate... it was very uninspiring and barely used it. I sold it quickly.

My best bass however... is also an OLP MM2! In fact, I own two fantastic ones.
They get played more than my Stingray and my Warwick, which peopel would normally have in higher regard... but I found that if you get a nice OLP, it's a really nice bass to play. I do upgrade the pickups and install preamps on them, so by the time I finish with them they're no longer your £100 gumtree OLP.

Nicest one on the left, the one I sold on the right:

[quote name='Master blaster' post='917899' date='Aug 7 2010, 12:25 PM']i take 2. one for standard tuning the other drop d. I have them both plugged into a selector switch to save time so all i need to do is pic one up and push a button. for me this is quicker then just tuning down cos my tuners pretty slow.[/quote]

I installed a Hipshot D-tuner in a couple of my basses: click, and you are there.

Although with a little practice I can just turn the tuner to where it should be for D or E... I did it so many times on one particular bass, you learn these things.

[quote name='lojo' post='917825' date='Aug 7 2010, 11:24 AM']Assuming a lot of you guys are weekend small gig pubs, clubs and parties like me, just wondering how many basses you take and why (other than for backup)

I love playing my flats when I can, but some of the songs I do with my bands need a bit of brightness (from duran duran to guns n roses etc), so there's a reason for 2 basses

I know at my level, one simple bass would do everything, but toys are toys

Anyone gig a P type and J type bass during a gig?[/quote]

I have never taken two basses for the purpose of getting different sounds. For recording I see the point, but live I doubt anybody would notice other than myself. Whatever tone variation I need, I achieve from the bass itself and/or via FX.

I do play active basses 99% of the time. I play usually a Stingray or an OLP clone, sometimes a Warwick Corvette $$ or an Ibanez SR400 (active P/J type). I love my J-bass but it sees very little action live. With an onboard preamp you can get a lot of different tones, and I have a 10-band EQ pedal in my board... which is rarely used, but you can set it up for a radically different sound if you need it.

I do take a backup bass if the logistics make sense. The chances of the bass dying on me are very very very small. So I'm not too worried if I take just one bass. I do have strings, batteries etc. Yes, it's better to just switch basses and continuing... but I can change a string in a couple of minutes and the band would jam and keep the audience entertained... possibly making jokes about my situation as well
If the gig is an "important" one, and/or there's a really good fee involved then I take things more carefully and take two basses for sure. For a regular pub/small club gig I'm not so bothered. Although I do enjoy the idea of gear snobs in the audience seeing me play my OLP while the Stingray sits behind me as a back up

[quote name='obi 2 kenobi' post='911933' date='Aug 1 2010, 02:51 PM']I agree its not the pole and string alignment. I have 2 rays, a '78 which is aligned dead on the G center but then off on the E, and a 1987 which is other way round.

On both, I have raised the G end of the pick up and also use heaver G string gauge (45) with a 100 on E. Volume balance is perfect.

The problem causing the low G is the large size of the magnets, and in particular their depth. Pre-EBs are generally worse (imo) as the magnets were deeper in the early production years.[/quote]


I agree with the alignment being a non-issue. You can get away with a lot of misalignment before you notice.

Stingray pickups have staggered polepieces. The A and D polepieces protrude more than the E and G ones, although the difference varies between pickups.
I understand that this is to try to get an even distance under the strings, following the contour of the fingerboard. However, I feel (I haven't measured it properly) the fingerboard is often flatter than the curve suggested by the pickups. This will result on the E and G string being a bit further than the middle strings. This can actually be ok for the E string, lots of meat there, so it avoids boominess. Maybe. But the G string will certainly sound lower than the others, because it has much less material vibrating over the polepiece.

With a flatter type of pickup, when you angle the pickup so that the G string is closer than the E string, you're compensating for this very nicely. If the polepieces are staggered it's not so easy, because the A and D strings will get much closer no matter what you do. If the E string is a bit farther it won't matter so much because it has a lot of metal.. but the more wimpy G string will suffer.

At least this is the explanation I can come up with and makes sense to me.

If I'm right, using a flatter profile pickup (say a Seymour Duncan SMB-4A) will reduce the weak-G issue when you angle it to be closer to the G string, as you won't be also boosting A and D so much.
Also, if I'm right, using a meatier G string might reduce somewhat the problem.

Anyone willing to test?

[quote name='scottaylor' post='912133' date='Aug 1 2010, 07:00 PM']it was the first time that this man came with his mates the gam thing is a club were they book local bands and have a cool jam bit, long story but im living off 30 pounds a week at the mow so carnt afford lessions, what normal happens is my mates woch me and when im done they try doing this, well i dont now how to take the step from lurning a song to jaming seems like you need to now a lot to do it. (this man i was told plays all over pems and wonted to show off to his mates, what makes me the most p off is that i used to teach marshel arts for a very long time and i never for got what is was like when i first started and he has, have email my freinds in Raven Heart nice men if at next 1 could they jam sand man with me as i trust them that if im off they will help me out[/quote]


I find that most people tend to be ok, and there's a lot of understanding among musicians. BUT there are some stupid ones like the guy you found... sooner or later you come across one or three. Don't let it get to you. Do your thing.

Having lessons is great, but not absolutely necessary. You learn better and faster with a good teacher, but there's no substitute for hard work.

I used to learn riffs of songs (on guitar) bits here and bits there.. and by doing that a lot, you sort of develop a feel for various styles etc and you learn to play what you hear in your head without having to think much about it. I'm not fantastic, but I can improvise alright on guitar and I pick up songs easily on bass... it just happened over time.
There may be ways to accelerate the process, but I don't know them. Just play a lot.
One thing that I feel helps a lot, or helped me, at any rate, was to play with different people. Variety. Different people with different styles of playing, and of music... Do I suck at reggae? Then I'm going to go to Youtube and find some cool reggae bass and I'll see what they play, I'll play along a few songs, try to come up with my own things... Don't just do what you find easy. Do what you find hard to do.

You just need perseverance.

[quote name='scottaylor' post='911982' date='Aug 1 2010, 04:16 PM']is it best to lurn the popular metla songs,
what happen last nite was a my mates gig with lots of bands, with an open jam there was a listed of name how wonted to it was my turn by my self i lurn songs to play to get more comfence, well this aregunt prate tryed to jump the quew even he put his name on the kids go first, helped a boy go up and rock on the drums,
i sat down and he tryed to mucle in i explained that the was a list on names and that im on now to not get in the way as im not good enuff to play in a jam 2 times he got the huff trying to make out im in the rong, well his mates were heckerling me and i could not play,
so would the best thing to do lurn what most of them wont to play or tye and lurn more patters that are played in metla ?[/quote]



Arrogant b*****ds can be found in all walks of life. Don't let them spoil the fun for you.
Just practice practice practice. Your favourite songs. What comes on the radio or TV. Anything. Practice what you find it hard to do. Practice different styles. Join a band. Join two bands. Jam with different people. If it's a bit uncomfortable because you're a bit above your level... that's great, when you feel the pressure you learn more.

Good luck with the bass...

Great guy. Sold him my Aguilar OBP-3 preamp, absolutely no trouble. Very pleasant.

I hope you enjoy it!

Jose

Nobody is going to say... OLP MM2?









I've owned 3. One of them wasn't very nice. The other two are fantastic and I still have them.
I own a 2002 MusicMan Stingray (2EQ), a Warwick Corvette $$, and several others, an Ibanez SR400, Jazz bass...
My main bass is one of the OLPs.
One of the bands I play in is a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band... I guarantee you this thing can slap! But it also does a lot more. It's my favourite bass, the first one I'll pick and the one I gig mostly. Yes, the MusicMan has better hardware, and is built better, nicer finish, it oozes quality... but the OLP is not something to be ashamed of. I get compliments about it regularly. It is a great bass. Full stop.

I bought one for £130 and the other just recently for £100.
I put a Seymour Duncan SMB-4A pickup (around £50) on each.
My main one also has a Seymour Duncan STC-3M3 3-band preamp. About £75, I think.
For less than £250 you can have a bass that will be a real beast.

The original pickup is a bit uninspiring. The SD pickup will transform the bass. But to get into the Stingray ballpark of tone, you need a preamp.
The SD preamp is great.
But if you really need to save money, there are options:

1) BUy just the nice preamp and keep the original pickup until you can afford to replace that. With the preamp alone you can get great sounds.

2) Get the nice pickup and a cheap preamp. There's a 3-band preamp already mounted on a control plate with knobs etc, and a passive/active switch for around £35 on eBay, new, from a seller in the US. I got one for a Stagg 5-string Stingray copy, and it's not bad. Certainly not worse than the preamp on the Vintage.
Or, if you can solder, go to the Talkbass forum, where there was a long thread about Stingray preamp clones... and someone was making boards for the original preamp for next to nothing (the cost of a beer, literally). Just buy the components (very cheap) and spend an afternoon soldering. Great preamp.

I owned a couple of Vintage basses and several guitars. they can be really nice. My Jazz bass was very good, I wish I hadn't sold it. I tried the Vintage you are talking about. It's ok. But the OLP is superior, and it looks better
The preamp is just ok, the pickup I'd replace too, and you'd still have a bass that is nice, but just that.
Get a nice OLP, and you have a beast, for not much more (after you do all the upgrades) than you were asking initially.

Just my opinion.

I have tried a number of overdrive pedals, and wasn't too happy with most of them for the same reason you mention. I currently own three that I use to some extent. Actually, four. I never bought any of the ultra expensive ones with cheesy or sci-fi names, just because I refuse to pay big $$ when I can get something that gets me 90% there (sometimes they even sound worse!) for a lot less and it's not an effect I use much anyway.

I currently own:

Digitech Bass Driver.
NOT a very nice pedal. However, when I want very filthy distorted bass, it has a couple of decent sounds. It allows you to blend dry signal with od, so I just dial in a touch of dirt, just so you hear the distortin but retain the original bass (and definition). It's the pedal I used for a short-lived metal project. I play in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band, and this is the pedal I use for "Around the world". It seems that the original used a Boss ODB-3. I had one and hated it, I prefer the Digitech.

Ibanez PD7 Phat Hed.
Interesting pedal. A bit noisy, but good sounds. You can't mix the dry signal in, but it manages to retain the low end quite well. Variety of sounds: clean, distortion and overdrive types, and in addition the "attack" switch that adds some metallic grit to the top end. One of my favourite sounds with this is on the clean mode, with the attack switch on. It gives you this fat bass sound with a metallic overtone, dirty but very fat and well defined. It's not a sound you'd use very often (unless you're in a metal band) but it's a good one. The overdrive, straight, is pretty good too, without the attack switch. Fat. Definitely a pedal to keep, for me.

Danelectro Transparent Overdrive.
Cheap. Very cheap. Very nice. At its lowest gain setting it sounds just clean. You can add minute amounts of hgain, just warming up the sound. Or reach quite substantial levels of fat overdrive. The 2-band EQ is pretty useful in shaping the effect. I use this on "Suck my kiss", for instance. It sounds great on guitar too (which is what it is designed for)
I think they're about £30 new.

I also have an MXR M80 Bass DI+. It's a kind of back up for me, to have a DI box with me for gigs. It has distortion in it, and I used it purely as a distortion box for a while. It's a heavy distortion, not refined at all, more ala "Around the world" type... again you can blend it with the dry signal so you can retain the bottom end and definition. Not the best, but as a package of distortion plus a good DI box... it's a nice unit.

[quote name='bass445' post='865742' date='Jun 13 2010, 10:03 AM']thanks for the info guys, but that isnt what i asked, i asked what wattage of speakers i need for a 450 watt amp head[/quote]


*generally* you'd want at least as much as the amp can output.
When a speaker is rated to 100W, it means it can take 100W... but low frequencies tax the speaker more than higher frequencies, so speakers that are made to reproduce bass frequencies will be ok, but if you use a 100W car speaker you'll blow it easily.

Your head outputs 450W at 4ohm. If you use an 8ohm cab with it, you'll get less power, closer to 300W. It makes a difference, not a huge one, but it makes a difference in volume.

The higher the rating of a speaker, the more you can relax *generally* about not pushing it too hard from your amp.
But it's better to have a powerful amp that you're not pushing hard into a less power-rated speakers (the amp won't clip), than a lower power amp, pushed hard (can clip) into higher-rated speakers (you can still damage them).

Your Behringer head is not the best quality head ever... but I happen to think it sounds very nice. A bit heavy, the fan is a bit noisy, but it has a nice bass tone. That and the 300W version are my favourite budget heads. 450W is a good number too. Obviously you are limited by your budget and what you can find around second hand in terms of speakers. You should be able to find a 4x10" cab for around £100 that would work. It may be 8ohm, in which case you don't get the full 450W, but you may not notice the difference.
You will notice a difference when you try more expensive cabs, with more efficient speakers, and maybe using two cabs instead of only one... but you should be able to find an old 4x10" in functional shape that will allow you to play any gig. For big venues you will always by DI'd or through a microphone anyway, so power is not a big issue and you mostly end up using your amp to hear yourself onstage.

Whatever speakers you end up using... avoid pushing your amp too hard. If your amp can output 300-450W and you don't hear enough of it, the answer doesn't lie in rasing the volume to the max, but in understanding frequencies. MOst people I see complaining "my 500W is not loud enough" they're just boosting the very low frequencies a lot and they don't have much mids going on. You'll get rumble and it's feel powerful by itself, but in a band context you will hear little. Mid frequencies is where the trick is at. Low mids for punch, and higher mids for definition and cutting through. If you really need TONS of ultra low frequencies, then talk to the sound guy leave the house PA to take care of that.

Confused?
A bit?

Good ;-)

Just go out and play, it's the best way to find out stuff.

I bought a 2x10" cab rated at 300W and the 300W version of your amp for £100 used. Those behringer cabs are not fantastic, but if you really don't have more money, you do what you can, right? You can always get one, and maybe in the future get another. Two 2x10" cabs are easier to move than a single 4x10".

Anyway... you have to figure that out yourself. Good luck!

I have for sale this bass onboard preamp that I bought and never got around to install it... and it seems a shame to have it in my drawer doing nothing.

This is the 3-knob version, where you have a stacked pot for bass and treble and a separate mids, plus volume. The stacked pot is provided, as well as a push/pull type for volume that can be wired to act as a passive/active switch.

This preamp can also be wired with an additional switch to select between 400 or 800Hz as centre frequency for the mids, or hardwire it for one of the two.

It comes with the original box and wiring diagrams etc.

Great soundind, compact preamp. See reviews online.

Not sure what to ask for it. Make me an offer if interested.

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