LukeFRC

[quote name='kerley' timestamp='1404725952' post='2494998'] If using a simple passive bass then the number of parts involved is pretty low and it is very easy to get a very nice sounding and great to play bass for very little money. They don't normally arrive like that but the fact that a few tweaks and low cost changes can make a £150 bass great to play proves the point. After that what are you paying for that is really required? More expensive woods - debatable whether that makes it any better Better level of finish - looks nicer but doesn't play or sound better Made in a country with higher labour rates - makes no difference at all Electronics - £10 of pots and wire in whatever bass you pick Pickup - just put the pickup from the £1000 bass into the £150 bass So unless there is actually something technically wrong with the lower cost bass, i.e. the frets are not positioned correctly, then no you do not need to spend anywhere near £1000 for any purpose besides looks. [/quote] the one thing I would add here is the quality of the metal parts used - I don't mean tuners and bridges here but the actual screws - threaded heads of cheaper screws is worth paying a bit more for.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1404764458' post='2495558'] I have noticed just lately there has seemed to of been a lot of time wasters about in the market place I have seen quite a few threads that go along the lines of "I will take that mate PM sent" Then 2 or 3 days later on the thread the seller will say " Hi Mate have sent you lots of PM's and you have not answered and you have been online X amount of times since" I have had a bit of this and it really gets on my wick its not the fact that they don't want the item any more even though it would of been nice to sell it is the fact the they are so bloody ignorant and just ignore you I would not be bothered if they just sent me a little message saying "sorry I cant buy this from you I dont have the money" or whatever at least then you can plod on and sell it. Now I know this kind of thing happens all the time on sites like ebay of gumtree etc etc but FFs we are supposed to be a community here and look out for each other that is what makes this place so great. Anyway moan over lol [/quote] I signed up here in september 2007. Ever since I joined it's apparently been getting worse, there's been more time wasters no one has TIM and it was always better in the old days. It was ALWAYS better in the old days, even if it wasn't and we just saw other time wasters and scams and idiots doing stupid things. Maybe it has got worse in the time since you joined - but I suspect, much like humanity, we've always had a selection of utter idiots and totally solid great people - and every gradient in between. Even drummers.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1404731085' post='2495083'] Without wishing to start a row ( but I almost certainly will...) , I really don't think a '78 P Bass is an instrument worth stretching yourself financially in order to own. The kind of money I see a lot of Fenders from that era going for ( especially in vintage guitar shops ) is a joke, quite frankly. Yes, there were some good ones made back then ( if anyone has one then I am genuinely pleased for them ) , but most were dogs , and even the good ones are not what I would call an in-the-region-of- over £1500 + bass in terms of sound, playability or construction. In light of that , the Stingray is a better bet, providing you like Stingrays. With both basses though, a lot depends on the price in regards of whether either represents a good investment. [/quote] +1 what that man said. Just not worth it for the P - the Ray will always have more collector's value (if you care about that) and.. you've got a P bass- why get another one that will cost more but probably not be better for you? And if looking for something old, you need not even spend that much - my 1977 BB1200 is similar age, I would wager would come off as the "better" instrument in some kind of mass bass off against the Precisions and cost a fraction, a fraction of whatever you're thinking of spending on the '78 P bass. So my curveball - if you are going for something old, and you're a precision player.... Leo perfected his original idea.... track down a G&L L1000

I've got a feeling you would do well to go to a bass bash, or visit bass direct or somewhere and try lots of things. Part of me would start to think that if the amp and lots of different pedals/preamps in front of it aren't scratching where you're itching maybe it's the cab that you're not liking

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1404665753' post='2494546'] Pick a brand, literally any brand, and you'll find plenty of negative comments on forums about them unfortunately All I can offer is my personal view, based on user experience, and that of customers I meet in an everyday working situation. [/quote] it must be a bit annoying for some of these wee companies to go on forums and find loads of negative rubbish about your product. mind you if you can be this season's trend on talkbass you've got a 4 month window to make enough to retire on!

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1404660281' post='2494480'] Quite understandable as their big amps are the real beans, IMO. Well and truly stolen Ampegs clothes by doing vintage vibey thing better, which is something your good friend will say as well.. The EQ is subtle and as long as your bass sounds good, you don't need a powerful EQ stage, which is a throwback to pre semi para EQ's stages.. and all the better for it, IMO. Mappings are ok in amps and perform a function for some... but the DB amps are matched very well with the cabs to an end goal... and there should be no reason why you do anything other than spend a while setting them up and there on after, complete plug and play... IME. Not a fan of class D amps I've tried. Not that I wouldn't have/buy one... but it wouldn't do the more discerning or important gigs as I have other options... I'd say the same about NEO as well... Can't explain it... but its there, IMO... My smallest amp is 400w into 4 and it is my practice amp at home... [/quote] can we have a limit to the number to cans of worms you open in one post!

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1404654772' post='2494424'] Thanks for this info, LukeFRC. To be honest I tend not to read manuals, and I don't work in a bass shop - I just play bass, listen with my ears, and form my own views on what sounds good. [/quote] I used to run sound systems and PA's long before I learned Bass so I have an interest in how something is working as much as if it sounds great or not. In my experience something that sounds great in one situation won't in another - why that is is interesting. Interestingly, in a thread about the upward creep of amp's rated wattage the TC electronics stuff is a useful anomaly where the RH750 putting out a continuous 236w RMS into 4 ohms - which is probably not that much different to your old 80's trace elliot stuff. Which is interesting in itself. I know which one I would rather carry!

good choice I think

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1404654092' post='2494418'] There's only one dedicated cab brand that's really unpopular but that's not something to debate in an amp thread. [/quote] I did tell you that that Bugera stuff wouldn't go down well with your customers!

[quote name='Grissle' timestamp='1404633282' post='2494212'] Actually the power section distortion has as much or maybe more effect on a nice overdriven sound. So its not all the preamp. It's the whole package. Pedals like the VT work to emulate the power section being pushed as well as the pre and explains why its done so well. [/quote] In my mind if a solid state power amp is giving you any noticeable amount of distortion it's not working properly. [quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1404646088' post='2494356'] Interesting post - thanks for your thoughtful reply, Molan. The RH 750 does have an onboard compressor, but you have to dial a dedicated knob to activate it, so [b]I'm not sure about there being any artificial compression baked into it as a default setting[/b]. Maybe, but not that I'd noticed. On the contrary, to me it sounds very neutral when everything is set flat. In fact that was one of the things that I most liked about it when I first tried it out. But that leads me to wonder … how does anyone really know what the "natural sound" of their bass actually is? OK, there is the acoustically natural sound of an unplugged bass, but once you have plugged it into an amp - any amp - it is going to be coloured to some extent by the characteristics of the amp and cab(s) you are plugged into - which means it comes down to personal tone preferences - which are often very subjective, and probably only perceptible to us as bass players anyway. And to be honest I think the differences between modern amps are much less significant than the similarities - if you have an Aguilar, or a TC, or a GK, or a Genz, or a Markbass, or (name your own favourite modern gear) then you probably have a really nice sounding set-up, and the only people who are going to tell you that your tone sucks are other bassists who happen to prefer other brands of amp. So, when you say that people complain that the TC amp robs their bass of its natural tone, I can't help but wonder whether they really mean that it sounds a bit different to the amp that they usually use and are most familiar with - which is in itself no more 'natural' than the TC sound. [/quote] if you look at the document TC link to to describe their amplifier's power spec - here - [url="http://service.tcgroup.tc/media/tc-electronic-power-rating-and-active-power-management.pdf"]TCE Power rating and Active Power Management[/url] - you'll see that a "baked in compression" is part of the design of their amps. And quite a clever one - if it in practice makes any difference to the amps is up for debate (as Molan said based on more experience than me) If you look at the long term W RMS at 4 ohms the RH450 can put out 236 w - interestingly the RH750 also puts out 236w - BUT the burst power it can put out is almost double the RH450. So it's got less of the limiting and compression than the RH450, but my guess a similar low end roll off built in at 50-60hz mark. As a bass amp goes - this could be one of the highest end most conceptually developed bass heads ever made. It's certainly clever. But it's not neutral at all - or trying to be. (ps theses a couple of articles here that are useful in seeing how the RH450 works... http://btpub.boyd-printing.com/publication/?i=76122 )

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1404551039' post='2493614'] Irony. People want ridiculously clean amps with massive headroom, so they go out and buy Tech21 VT pedals to put the dirt back into their sound. [/quote] People do generally, normally, want a clean power amp. The preamp makes the difference- so sticking a different preamp before it isn't the stupidest thing.

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1404515342' post='2493498'] And to my knowledge they never made a production 4 ohm 410 or 115 to get 300w per side.. Cheeky! Most of the time I ran mine with 1153 (compact 15) and 1048H (410 + HF) which was pretty pokey.. I found the 400w model to be pick of the bunch tho.. [/quote] the AH400SMX is one of the amps I would like to buy and have- when you look at the weight and power rating on paper it's quite hard to justify!

I do vinyl stickers as part of my job... cheaper than those too!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1404407728' post='2492399'] I dont think he has £4 earphones..... [/quote] what he said....

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1404369640' post='2491893'] I own/have owned, a 'few' ( ) basses that cost quite a few thousand (I bought them used so didn't pay the eye-watering prices they were new). However, the 2 basses that I play the most,[i] through choice[/i], cost me less than £500. That is despite the fact that I have other basses that I own that would still cost you in excess of your £1000 budget. [b]Why do I not sell the other more expensive basses[/b]... that's likely a whole new thread. [/quote] I thought you had?! Are they coming in as quick as they go out? [quote name='cocco' timestamp='1404379990' post='2492014'] I don't think so, not on the second hand market anyway, both times I've spent a lot on a bass I've been disappointed. My current stable consists of a Lakland Skyline Bob glaub, 2 old peavey T-40s and an old Ibanez blazer, [b]and all 4 are pretty spot on[/b]. The Lakland was the most expensive and that was £550 and it's the best P-bass and maybe even bass in general I've ever owned. [/quote] This is the main thing - it's what fits for you - not the price that's important. I've done a fair bit of buying and selling, I've tried most the things I want to bass wise, one of the basses I sold the quickest as I didn't get on would have a new price over £2000, and the one I should never have sold as I was a bit in love with it I found in a junk shop in the west end of Glasgow for £70. I've currently got 3 basses - and for various reasons they are spot on to the point that I couldn't improve them at all. One of them cost £900 odd but the other two cost far far less. They are right for me. Even righter when I can afford 3 new sets of strings but that's another story!

14kg for one or both?

14kg for one or both?

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1404334091' post='2491751'] One thing to remember, a Jazz is a Jazz. You can change the pickups, wiring, etc... but the tone is locked into the instrument thanks to the pickup locations. [/quote] - and should be celebrated thus! If you're a top pro then you may need a back up of your main bass .... unless bass playing is your profession then embrace the difference between basses. Precision, Jazz... Stingray next....

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1404319789' post='2491592'] I've have taken quite a bit of "artistic licence" with most of the bass lines but one is just so good I play it exactly as it was recorded in '92 :-) [/quote] I may be wrong but I think the main melody and the lyrics are the main parts covered by copyright- the bassline isn't considered as important - I think

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1404318502' post='2491575'] I would say if nothing was kept copyrighted at the time [/quote] maybe music is different from Art but if you right something don't you own it regardless of what you do (or part of it in a band). Proving it is another thing - but say you do something with these songs and some old bass player comes out the woodwork and can prove they wrote say the melody to the song... well then it's his melody. There's a load of stuff of my old band on iTunes/Spotify which I had to sit down with them and discuss who wrote what of everything - not a fun process!

Option 5.... Keep them both. Get a better strap for the Yamaha so that the weight thing isn't an issue. Even if you love the precision sound like anything, there will be a day in the next 3-4 years where you hanker after a jazz type tone. Having both isn't a bad thing!

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1404059997' post='2488871'] DSP is everywhere. Everything we listen to unless it is live music in a sub 500 seater venue is processed. When you play through grown up PA systems you have been DSP to the max. DSP done properly is lush. I cannot speak for the TC stuff cos I have not experienced it. I have DSP in my rig and it is super-duper. [/quote] I know your rig has great DSP .... I meant specifically on the tc stuff.