LukeFRC

probably most of us have played with one of "those" guitarists and been driven to despair with the awfulness that sometimes gets shown (or even worse the second-rate awfulness of people trying to be like "those" guitarists. I doubt that many of us have played in a band and got annoyed by one of "those" bassists

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1412426978' post='2568847'] That's normal. There is a difference in the ratio of even versus odd harmonics when different classes of amps are pushed to clipping. This in part explains why tube and SS sound different. [/quote] that's interesting (as far as I understand it)

[quote name='paulears' timestamp='1412349316' post='2568130'] I'm really sorry - but I have never understood how this works? Antique dealers of it to add (illegal) extra value, because people think distressed condition equates to age, and age in an antique equates to extra value. In a guitar, unless the instrument has a history, then a good condition old guitar always outsells a wrecked one. So it's down to image? Is it cooler to play a really worn guitar? I guess it might be. What I do note is an excellent distressing job, that looks very real - so I can appreciate the effort put in. I'd just rather play a new looking one myself. [/quote] I went through a jazz bass stage where I bought and sold about 4-5 jazz basses trying to find one I liked. It turned out I loved the look and how they sounded on record, but not actually how I made them sound... anyway back to my point.... the basses ranged from £1000 second-hand FSR Fender, that amazing Valenti that Richardd has for sale at the moment and a few others.... the Valenti was by far the "best" of the bunch - but it was so pristine I didn't enjoy playing it. The 1975 Cimar 1905ash Jazz bass that I found for £40.... that was great fun to play and I regret moving that one on, it went to a good place to a friend as his first bass and he plays it regularly.... but still....

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1412203009' post='2566817'] I met Drew a while back now and he seemed like a classy, knowledgable guy and was great to chat bass with for a while. I would not have pictured him as the type that resorts to having a petty dig at competitors with more exclusive, imported brands just because of a different outlook on their business model. The music retail industry is small enough without the few bass shops trying to fight against each other too! Just accept you have different philosophies and sell yourself rather than trying to belittle others. The biggest problem I see is that when I (or any bassist) want to spend a lot of money on a custom instrument, and decide to go British, it's not difficult to pick up the phone or jump in the car and consult/see their goods easily with the builder in their workshop. I don't really need a shop to do that for me. If I want a custom bass importing on my behalf or to try something that's not easily accessible in the UK before committing to ordering, it becomes much more important to have a shop where I can do that. It's a nice idea to go for a 'British-centric' store but not sure if its too niche within an already VERY niche section of a shrinking area of retail... You just have to look at how many Fender and Gibson dealers are shrinking/vanishing to see where it's headed. Good luck Drew! [/quote] It's a hard thing to explain without using comparisons though. There are certain US based brands that have an exceedingly good reputation and sell at prices that reflect that reputation. They have a load of musicians in their city and country wide using their products, they have talkbass where generally people on it are very supportive of US made things, and their country is massive. We're on a small island, are dour and tend towards being just slightly critical of some of our UK builders, we don't have many manufacturers linked closely with a recording/pro circuit like the US does and until the last 5 years or so we had a stupidly strong pound meaning home built things were expensive comparatively. Now the pound isn't as strong and I was surprised a while back when I had half an idea to get a bass built and approached overwater, ACG, Alpher and Status and all of them got back to me and were talking about custom basses with a starting price lower (status was a wee bit higher) than a mass produced new USA Fender.... I think you're right, maybe the wording wasn't the wisest but "you can get top top quality basses, crafted in the UK, for comparatively lower prices than the equivalent US based makers" is something worth saying. [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1412367552' post='2568395'] Y'know...Not naming names at all, but one of those companies owes one of the others some money for the supply of facing wood. They know who they are and I hope they see this message, feel a little guilty and do the right thing. [/quote] wow. a bit OT and don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that one, theres a story there, but prob best not told.....

[quote name='John_P' timestamp='1412375582' post='2568497'] Thanks for the replies, but the bh500 and aguilar 350, iamp800 aren't up to gigging? I'm only talkng pubs really but I don't want to buy twice if you know what I mean. [/quote] depends on the cabs..... Plug that aggy 350 into a lower end 112 and probably not - plug it into a 810 and you'd be fine.

If I were you I would look for a good cab or two first - cost that up and then look for the amp with whatever is left over.

good basses - I had one - made in japan and will be better than a lot of basses. when you're looking at yamaha, esp the japanese ones they do tend to be cheap..... if you double or triple the price you get about where they are compared to other makes secondhand....

Get another cab....

so did I... bit out of my price range though!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1411997513' post='2564654'] The answer, perhaps, is here..? If one frequents other sites, one expects to come across rubbish sometimes. Stay on the true path, eschew others and remain faithful to BC. Simple, really. [/quote] we're not as bad as certain american based forums but we're not far off sometimes! It's amazing what can come and go in fashion. Hartke can't be that bad can they, that Wooton fellow uses them and he does ok. They have the market problem that they aren't sexy and they are easy to get. Some more esoteric brand is always going to have a bit more kudos than the brand that every little shop has, and the aluminium cones.... we're fairly traditional at heart aren't we?* * not you big red x

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1411942283' post='2564248'] Well that alone would make them unsuitable, would it not? And don't start talking about Xmas, for God's sake. It's only the end of September... [/quote] maybe, I was kinda hoping one of the resident experts would chime in!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1411940491' post='2564229'] I seem to remember one of the reasons was to do with cost... a PA cab suitable for electric bass (that is not used with a sub) needs to have a high xmax and not be rolled-off at around 60Hz like some mid-priced PA cabs are, and this tends to make them very expensive. Where's Bill Fitzmaurice? He'll know. [/quote] so that RCF model in the video has DSP protecting it against over excursion and is -3dB at 45Hz.... now doing my best to read Bill's charts for his Simplexx line (picked 'cos it's a bass reflex too) the 12 bass cab with a 2512 in it has a similar -3dB point. Most bass cabs don't publish the frequency range with any kind of reference points and it wouldn't surprise me if a fair few of them roll off WAY higher than that. What I was thinking was that the PA cab might not be expecting such an uncompressed transients - like I doubt the drivers have the high Xmas driverswe see in a lot of higher end modern bass cabs.....

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1411939296' post='2564205'] Another possible problem is that PA cabs are generally made of moulded ABS or some other form of plastic... I'm not sure if it's the best material for an electric bass cab regarding resonance, etc. [/quote] I'm willing to bet that the average ABS PA cab will be better engineered than the average Bass cab (note the second average there ) properly done I don't see how it would be worse. if you look at this they take a RCF HD12a apart.... not that ABS stuff has a fair bit of bracing there.... also a cab I would love to try sticking electric bass through http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9AJrnGKnMY

I asked a similar thing about using powered cabs, a lot of the problem is that the Bass guitar range goes into territory that you would normally cross over into subs - and that the speakers aren't designed to reproduce the transients of bass guitar like a bass rig would. So a lot of the time I've been advised not to pursue... If you go elsewhere in dark corners of this and other forums you will find other people who use PA gear with no problem.... what is the "right amp" anyway?

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1410216124' post='2547318'] I should add that as an electronic engineer of 62 years, no valve will find its way into my pre amp or power amp. [/quote] what do you use out of interest?

Zoom B3 is pretty ace. easy to use, sounds great, and the amp and cab models are good too - check out the mega threads on TB about it

those pickups just look wrong on a gibbo

two different materials to make magnets with - neo is lighter and can be stronger than ceramic. Ceramic is heavier and what has been traditionally used. power and cooling etc is more down to the driver design than the type of magnet used.