fretmeister

I think it’s new lighter cabs. MB were very light but now GR and BF are far lighter. So I think they are aiming at that.

Nah - me too. It's why I don't own an ABM even though I love the tone from them. It's also why I'm actually considering the Evo5 at it's stupid price if the fans are actually really quiet / silent at low volumes. My RM800 is as near as silent as any fan amp I've ever had - that gets used in the house and at gigs. My Mark Bass is a bit louder, but no louder than a PC but I tend to use that at gigs rather than at home because if I'm just sitting and playing then I really don't want any fan noise at all. In almost all cases there could be better temp control systems, or better venting in the amp so if an amp needs fans then they can run far slower for the same cooling. It really is poor design at this point, and it's a real shame.

Don't buy the Mesa Prodigy type stuff then. I had a 4:88 and it had the noisiest fan of any amp I've ever used. (Even more than the ABM). It was actually embarrassing that a valve amp had been built that way. For an extra few pennies a silent fan could have been used. Such a shame. Was a great sounding amp, but it had to go.

Anything Duck Dunn would have done.

What will you get your tone from if it's just a passive di?

Yes. I could hear a little bit from it, but most of what I heard was the PA / monitors It wasn't my rig. It was set up at the venue and it was easier to use that rather than use mine. I had a moan in another thread about wishing they had told me about it before I had carried all my kit down a bunch of country lanes!

Body shape is very different. Old one is like a Fender Jazz. New one is much smaller. the MDK models are just TT models with a slightly different neck and more of a 1970s pickup position.

That's a Cali 2 The used is an original shape. I'd buy the new shape personally. Lot more comfortable to me.

The amp didn't do the work. The PA did.

I used a little Laney combo on Sunday. On stage volume was fine, and the PA did the rest. It was loud enough to be heard across a big village sports field that was about the size of 3 or 4 football pitches. I just added a compressor and an Octave. I'm not up on Laney amps. It wasn't one of the new Digbeth ones. I think it was a 1x12 with the controls on top with a bit of a semi parametric and some other stuff going on. It could have been anywhere from 100W to 250W for all I know. Didn't matter. All it was doing was the tone creation. The PA did the hard work.

I think it's the right way round. If a foot has a top and bottom in the flat plane then the toes are at the top. So moving "upwards" to the toes has more treble. Seems right to me.

There are more relic levels now than there used to be, but the process is expensive as you can see from the configurator. Can even double the price of a bass for the Masterpiece relic process with the vibration treatment. I don't think they did the vibration treatment pre 2015 though and I know even less as to whether it does anything. There are a few people out there who prefer the old Fender clone body shape but probably not enough of them to make a difference in pricing, and as others have said, the weight is probably quite a bit higher than the new ones. It's a used item in a shop though - you can always make an offer and see what happens.

I sometimes change strap length for different types of playing but never mid song, and probably never mid set either. Weird product.

Yesterday I did a village fete gig with the music trust I play with. The "band leader" person had been asked for all manner of details for weeks and didn't have a clue other than "there was a stage with power" and that other acts would be on throughout the day. Available for this we had 14 brass and wind players, bass and drums. The blowers are aged 10-18. They were understandably nervous. In light of the stinky poo information from Dear Leader me and drummer took everything with us. Full kit, amps, cabs, spares etc etc. After carrying 3 tons of gear down some narrow country footpaths for half a mile we discovered a pro stage with full PA a full time sound man and enough channels to mic or di everything and his mum. There was a covers band set up and they offered us the use of their drums and bass gear that was already dialed in and mixed. I only ended up using my bass and my pedal board and none of the amps and cabs I bought. And the covers band didn't even want our drummer to swap the snare over. So with all that sorted out we played for 35-40 mins or so, had a blast and then carried all the crap back to the cars again! Cannot blame the fete organisers at all - their arrangements were excellent. But I will be having words with our leader about getting proper information! Anyway - so far there's only 25 seconds of video. The drummer for this tune is only about 10 years old. He played for 2 tunes and it was his first ever show. His timing drifted a bit but I think he did a great job for a first time. https://fb.watch/dVuQqTTi1u/

If I'm taking a small cab for personal monitoring then either my Mark Bass or my Ashdown head - with the DI going to the PA for the hard work. If a personal monitor isn't needed - then my pedal board. Wireless / compressor / octave / Sansamp. That will do just fine.

$1264 inc shipping to UK = about £1036 as of this morning's exchange rate. + import on the item + vat on the item AND on the shipping + handling charge = roughly £1300 to your door. EDIT - waiting list is 35 weeks. There's an urgent build option for 6 weeks for an extra $580 / £472 and VAT will apply to that as well - about £566 on top.

@PaulThePlug I’n the end I decided to change the strings and spend ages stretching them and I’m glad I did. However the glasses wipe suggestion was also excellent. Really helped a lot. Dried the finger tips out enough for half the set and then I did it again. They are now going in my kit bag. Thank you for the tip. Much appreciated.

that’s why the new one interests me! New quiet fan control.

l’ve got some EB group flats. If I had another day or 2 I’d put them on. Time to look in the cupboard for some talc!

The strings are 3 weeks old. Hands are clean.

It’s the first time I’ve played with La Bella flats in the summer. They are just so smooth there’s far more surface area to get stuck on. Lovely in aircon or normal temps. Horrible with sweaty hands.

Surely that will just ruin the callous?

I have an outdoor gig tomorrow and it looks like it might be hot. At rehearsal today I was having trouble with how grippy / sticky my flats were with sweaty fingers. Other than fast fret every tune, anyone got any ideas? If I had a week or so I’d swap to rounds but I don’t want to do that the day before a gig. Does antiperspirant on finger tips work? Anything else?

When I get a mo I'll take some pictures with a giant ruler in shot. Hopefully will give you an idea if you can get some Fender jazz measurements.

Sounds lovely!