fretmeister

I'd go with EMG J-X set. The X set have increased headroom. Then add the BQC EQ Control (not the system) and the ABCX active balance control. The balance has to be the X version for the X pickups. You will need a battery of course, but you should get at least a year out of it as long as you unplug when not playing. The EMGs are about as low noise as you can get. But with extreme treble settings there's always going to be some.

the free phone version of Amplitube and a cheap interface will sound great. I used that for years before I got my Waza-Air headphones. Now they are a work of genius!

Nope. headphone sockets need quite a bit of kit behind the panel. Cant just plug cans into the speaker out! Dedicated headphone amps are dirt cheap now. Or use an interface and a free app for a smartphone.

I don’t really analyse. I play it over and over until it is stuck in my head forever. I start with whatever is available. By ear, tab or traditional dots. Then I stop looking at the paper a bit at a time until I don’t need it anymore. Even for a reading gig I will learn it by heart and just have the paper there for last minute changes.

I still really like mine, but I can't shake the desire to sell it and put the money towards the Evo V 750. I know it's stupid - I'm not even in a band at the moment!

I've got a little Gator mixer bag: https://gatorco.com/product/12-x-12-x-5-5-mixergear-bag-g-mixerbag-1212/ There's enough room for a MB head and a few cables. It's pretty good but I think I'd look at the laptop bag that Tim has suggested now - if for no other reason than it's got separate compartments to keep cables away from scratching the amp. BTW - the official bag is actually a bit crap. While it has nice things like front and rear covers that can be unzipped so the amp never has to come out of the bag, there are massive holes in the sides of the bag to line up with the amp cooling vents. So if you have to carry it in the rain, all the water is still getting in. If only they had put velcro flaps on those bits.

I wouldn't buy a proper SVT either - the Heritage re-issue one is 85lb!!

I nearly bought one several years ago Then I tried to lift it. Nah.

I've decided the best placement for me is after my compressor. Evens out the response a bit and gives me more punch from the compressor too. It's definitely best suited as an always-on pedal as it does cut a tiny bit of low end compared to the bypass state (no switches used), but nothing that amp EQ cannot fix. I will experiment with the switches more to see if any preserves the low any better, but it sounds so good when it is on that since I've got it in the right place I don't think I've turned it off at all. My chain is currently Tuner> DG AO> Compressor > SFT > Jive > OC-5 > HPF. The SFT might stay, might not. It's very good too and with the 2 band EQ it can be set to stack with the Jive very nicely.

I'd vote for D'addario Prosteel as well. They certainly stay brighter for a lot longer than Rotos. A word of caution about Dunlop Super Brights... they are not super bright. I really like them. Definitely my favourite roundwound but nowhere near as bright as D'addarios or Rotos despite the name. Warwick steels are really bright and last well, but I do find them quite rough under the fingers. Mind you - I feel that way about Rotos too!

Either the original J set, or the J-X set I reckon. The original were designed to sound like 1960s jazz pickups without the hum. The X series have higher headroom if you need that.

I saw the one listed here last year. @Jackemmings logged in on Friday by the looks of things. Jack - if the amp has sold can it be marked up that way? Then the mods can close the sale thread. There is also another username of @Jackemmings1 for some reason.

One of the new material cabs? I will be curious to hear your views when you've played it a while.

I suppose you could also email the backline hire places to see if anyone has one they are not using? I'd expect 99% of their kit to be Ampeg and Ashdown but you never know.

There's just not that many of them around. People that have them tend to keep them. Recent price rises and greater choice of Class D amps (including Aguilar's own) also mean that there's fewer new sales of heavy big iron amps. There are zero DB751 or DB750 in the completed / recent sales on either ebay or Reverb. That alone confirms that they are rare and people do not want to sell. I had a quick look at new ones and it seems that many places like GAK and GuitarGuitar just do not stock them anymore even if they carry other Aguilar models. As they are now £3500 they are not going to have one sitting around for years on a shelf, so it's special order only. I've been on here for at least a decade and I reckon I've only seen 2 for sale in that time. Unless you get lucky, if you want one you'll have to buy a new one. With the rarity of used ones I'd assume a used one would be 75% of the new price. You'll just have to put a new Wanted ad up every month and save searches on ebay and reverb. Maybe send an email to the bass shops to ask them to look out for one for you as well.

My experience of capturing is Tonex based - but in general I find that using the controls to make small changes on a Capture are actually damn close to how the original unit would react, but when the changes are larger that's when it starts to not react the same as the original. Subtractive EQing seems to work a lot better than Addition though. As for fully adjustable - I'm not sure that capturing is the right approach for that as it would need the user to do manually set everything in all the millions of possible settings. Modelling has to still be the way forward for that, because that is already at the component level. My concern isn't the processors etc for as component modelling gets better, it's the size of the files. They are already massive compared to the last generation, and that is the reason why there is no instant Patch changing anymore - that's why we have Snapshots / Scenes / Whatever so all the needed items are loaded into a single patch for instant use. But the bigger the files, the more DSP is needed, the fewer blocks available, or the more expensive the kit as additional DSP chips are added.

I had assumed the Spectracomp was all super clean! With the amount of compressors I have owned I'm amazed I still haven't tried it. I'll put it on the list.

After some youtube recommendations I've gone down a rabbit hole of dirty / driven compressors. Like the JHS Pulp & Peel or Fairfield Accountant and that sort of thing. They get really quite dirty and are the total opposite of transparent compression. Other than those 2, what else is there? I think I'd like to try something like that. The mini size of the Accountant would be perfect for me, but I'd like to know about alternatives. Cheap or expensive recommendations welcome.

Any other clues? Colour? Simple controls or loads? Cloth grill or metal? Wheels? Speakers? 2x10 or something else? Was it linked with any particular genre or player? Did it appear in any adverts in a particular way?

Yeah, the new MB cabs look interesting but YouTube doesn’t show the difference between the visually similar cabs. Everytime I hear a new live album (usually funk related) and love the bass tone it ends up being Mark Bass at least 80% of the time. I love my BF cabs but I also love those yellow cones! I too wish there was somewhere I could try the new cab line.

Add some mid heavy slightly nasal farty overdrive. Like Lynott / Deacon - even Duck Dunn when playing live. It won't sound overdriven in the mix but it will increase the harmonic complexity and sound lovely and fat.

I'm a big fan. I've had an LM2, LM3, CMD102P, Marcus Goldline, AG1000 and an F1. The F1 was dead in the box when I bought it and replaced immediately. That's the only problem I've ever had with them. The AG1000 is my current main amp. I like the cabs too although I have Barefaced at the moment. I have not tried the brand new cab line. I get that the yellow might put some people off. The cabs are not really a metal option but for just about anything else I think they are excellent. The amp head DI is really good too. Makes a change from other amps where it seems to be an afterthought.

The Treeline is beautiful! WOW! I already know I can't afford one... but I'm going to buy a lottery ticket now.

That's lovely! I've never heard of the brand before, that is really nice, and thankfully not just another FSO!