BASainty

Im looking into getting some of the Dunlop nickels, how much do they normally go for? Online they seem to go from £13 to £30

Really happy with my band, everything has fallen into place perfectly and it just keeps getting better! We all get on really well and enjoy each others company, we all respect each others talents and we all agreed we are at the point where we cant imagine anyone leaving and having to replace them. Demo will be coming at the end of the month and we have much interest from bands asking to support them. We are dedicated and determined to make The 8th Bridge go far .

So I've made the jump from steel to nickle strings as I want less zing and more mid and low end growl. I have been looking around the forums seeing what nickels fellow members suggest giving a go and I have never seen the Elites Player series strings mentioned.

Is there a reason for this or have I just missed that conversation?

I really like their steels so I thought I would give the nickel a go, but would like to get views before taking the plunge.

[quote name='v8bass' timestamp='1352678356' post='1866140']
Pretty good strings all round and stocked and well priced by my local music shop

Im using 35 - 95 Nickels ( rounds ) on a few basses and they hold up well .. bright enough and lasting a few weeks without dulling down too much Id give them a string rating of 7 and an additional point on price

Last weeks deal was a tenner a set too ...Happy days ..

Gary
v8
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Ahh cool im struggling to find dealers that supply Picato nickel strings, which store do you go for yours?

Noticed this post so I thought I would revive it.

I am really into my nickel strings at the moment and as I like the picato flats so much I thought I would five the nickels a try, what do you guys think of them? What kind of sounds do they produce and how long do they last roughly?

Welcome to the site MrCoffee .

It sounds like you might have some phosphor bronze strings on your Tanglewood, I have them on my SX acoustic, I use Fender 8060 Bronzes, they are less scratchy than the other set I had on before when sliding and they give a nice bright crisp sound and for about £11 you cant go wrong! They tend to last quite a while too.

You can always try a different type of string, plenty of guys here use flatwound strings or black nylon strings, these will give you more of a double bass and therefore not as bright sound but you will not get any sound when sliding.

Im not a massive expert on acoustic bass strings but I do recommend trying fender strings, I like them and they have a lot of love from other members too.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1352638767' post='1865392']
Yep, provided you can lift them, Peavey amps are great, and last for ever, real road-warrior amps, congrats on the purchase.
[/quote]

Amen to that, these new amps are "the most portable yet!" And after watching a promo video the guy from peavey said you could get this up and down stairs with much more ease.... These things are the size of small coffee tables and still weigh 36kg! Anyway I took it to band practice last night and it was really really nice, it was producing sounds that I have been looking for. I was getting many compliments from both guitarists and the drummer about the sound quality and loudness. I am officially a peavey convert

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions guys, I had 7 different suggestions and 5 of those were offers.

In the end I ended up going for a Peavey Tour TKO 115 400 watt combo new from GAK, got it for £325 after speaking to them on the phone.

Specs can be found here: [url="http://www.peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/811/116916/Tour%26nbsp%3BTKO%26reg%3B%26nbsp%3B115"]http://www.peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/811/116916/Tour%26nbsp%3BTKO%26reg%3B%26nbsp%3B115[/url]

I got to say this thing is a beast! both in size and air pushing ability, very very loud and a superb sound. It has the option to add an extension cab too if I ever need more oomph.

Although I know I could of got something possibly a bit better second hand this is all i will need for a long time and had the advantage of a 1 year warranty from GAK and a 5 year one from Peavey them selves which was also one of the big selling points, another big point was the free next day delivery.

Thanks again for all your help and I hope this thread can be used for anyone else who is looking for a new amp!

Peace out.

Im currently playing round with nickle round strings as I want more growl and less zing. I have only used the Legacy sets from StringsDirect and they seem to be pretty good, I have a set of Picato nickles to trial. Has anyone got suggestions for me to try?

I mainly play 5's now (better change my username!), although I don't always need the low B in some of our songs its nice to have there in case I want to drop an octave. I am also going to try tuning E A D G C so replacing the low B with a top C string if I think I'm not using that low B enough I know for a fact the top C will be more useful to me.

I do keep a 4 string back mainly for recording and just to keep my eye (and hands) in with 4 strings.

Does anyone know someone selling a LH500? Also I'm considering peavey, their tour max combo for 350 with 400 watts and I think has the ability to add more if needed is interesting me as well.

Thanks for the advice guys, I've heard good things about the Ibenez Promethean amps, here is one here at GAK [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/ibanez-p3115-bass-combo-amplifier/56949"]http://www.gak.co.uk/en/ibanez-p3115-bass-combo-amplifier/56949[/url]

Would that do for what I need? Bare in mine im in a heavy rock/metal band with a loud drummer.

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1352293472' post='1861137']
If you can find the other £50, this would be worth every single penny >> [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/peavey-tour-tko-bass-combo/26236"]http://www.gak.co.uk...ass-combo/26236[/url]
Easy enough to move around by yourself, it'll fit in a corsa and it will be VERY loud when compared to the competition, Peavey Watts tend to be a lot louder than regular ones...

Eude
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This does look pretty nice.. and I guess if i can fork out the extra i wont need to upgrade from this for a long time?

I only have a corsa so probably not about to transport a 4x10 weight isn't an issue either so peavey seem a good option how much would I have to pay for a cab and head? I'm happy to buy used as well by the way. I can't really go over 300,if I'm honest.

Im currently looking at buying a new amp as my current one just isnt strong enough to hold up against our (very loud) drummer without distorting.

I dont have any idea on amps, weather I should go for a combo or a head and cab so I need some advice. Power wise I should be fine with 200watts (current amp is 120watt), makes and that I haven't really got much of an idea.

My budget is flexible to an extent (I cant afford silly prices) but I can go up to around the £300 mark at a push but would rather be lower than that if I can help it.

So yea any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

Edit:

I've been looking around and noticed the Behringer BXL3000A and the Behringer BXL3000 they are about £200 with 300 watts, links are here: [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BXL3000A-Ultrabass-Bass-Amp/7EP"]http://www.gear4musi...ss-Bass-Amp/7EP[/url] and [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BXL3000-Ultrabass-Bass-Amp/4VX"]http://www.gear4musi...ss-Bass-Amp/4VX[/url]

The only difference is one has an aluminium cone the other one has a hard impact cone, what difference does this make? and which would you advise if either?

What kind of power am i looking at for a new amp? Also how much is it going to cost me?

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1352162601' post='1859669']
I've got the kickback 10. Neither of these cabs will go terribly loud. You are pushing only 120W through a relatively small cheap speaker. They are excursion limited and you can see the cone working like crazy. At low frequencies they will move beyond their recommended limits (Xmax) and 'fart out' Probably best to turn down if this happens, it won't get any louder anyway and you will break the speaker fairly quickly.

You say you like a warm tone, I suspect you are using some bass boost, even a little bass boost means the speaker will overload more quickly and turning to 3 o'clock will halve the volume available. Shoving your amp back against the wall will give you some natural bass boost and pushing it right into a corner even more. If you do this you can cut the bass on the amp and get more volume before it distorts.

I would only expect a kickback to match a quiet to medium drummer in a small room, they really won't give rock volumes at a gig. Plugging in a better speaker will give you a lot more potential volume but you can use them for gigging. I run mine with bass cut on stage and use the DI out into the PA where I cut the top and boost the bass. This gives me a nice clean sound on stage and kicked back I can hear really well. The audience hear a really full sound from the mix of backline and PA. I like this set up because it stops most of the bass feeding into the vocal mics and takes up less space. I retain the tone shaping on the Kickback which I quite like.
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Cool thanks for the info, when you say plug in a better speaker do you mean in the amp its self? If so what would you suggest? Also would it be a thought to buy a better amp for gigging?

[quote name='mybass' timestamp='1352123956' post='1858969']


I don't think they can be 'pushed' too much....possibly replacing with a better (!) speaker may help
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I'm thinking of taking it to be serviced to make sure there isn't any underlying problems. is this advised?

Ive noticed that my kickback 12 produces quite a bit of distortion when ever I start playing loud and hard, when im playing quietly I get the warm smooth sounds that im looking for for some of our songs but as soon as i start turning it up distortion starts to kick in, is this the natural sound of these amps or is this a problem?

Mark is a great guy, came and collected my double bass in person. Everything went smoothly and couldn't of asked for it any better!

Here is a picture of me from a recent band photo shoot... I believe I was going for the bass = pimp stick approach .

[attachment=122746:DSC_0014 copy.jpg]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1351712602' post='1854576']
Avoid the cheap ny,lon guitars unless you're a masochist with a tin ear - they sound horrible and don't stay in tune (IMO). Actually that's true of most acoustic guitars, but you already knew that, right?

If you're over near J10 of the M40 then I have a bowlback acoustic you can have for £20 - plays OK, and I've used it playing out.

These aren't bad: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Acoustic-Guitar-/190746079003

This looks OK http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Encore-EN165EA-electro-semi-electric-Acoustic-Guitar-w-cutaway-ex-display-demo-/360501139738

As does this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electro-Acoustic-/110969487268
[/quote]

cool thanks, what is the difference between a regular acoustic and a bowl back?

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1351712265' post='1854566']
I bought a squier from thomann not long go to just have on hand to play with, electro acoustic, sounds nice, great for the price at just under £80 -

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_squier_sa105ce_bk.htm?sid=34633a7d42a930d1d10cead12a114b46

Or if you're not bothered about the pickup and stuff, they have a squier dreadnought for about £47 on there.

Other than that their Harley Benton range are cheap as chips!
[/quote]

I have noticed Harley Benton guitars, anyone know what they are like?

[quote name='Ian Savage' timestamp='1351711094' post='1854541']
Tanglewood, Vintage, Yamaha and Crafter are usually safe bets secondhand; don't go Fender, Encore or Stagg. File under 'variable' (some are great, some not so): Ozark.

You'd be able to score one of those for less than a hundred quid (or, should it take your fancy, I've got an Aria electro-acoustic I'd be willing to let go for forty quid if you could pick it up from South Birmingham)... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/189067-moving-house-clearout-mostly-music-related/page__hl__aria__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.u...__fromsearch__1[/url]
[/quote]

Ahh cool thanks how does it play and sound, would you be able to post it at all? I will happily pay for the p+p if your willing?

I will have about 100 to spend on one so what could I get for that?