eude

I can only comment on my own experience, and to fair I've not tried any of the more recent higher end Class D efforts, or the previous two Mesa ones for that matter. I've just found that with older solid state stuff, the wattage goes miles further, plus the low end is a lot more natural and completely effortless. I don't have any recent memory of cutting bass on any modern amps, yet used to on Peavey and Trace stuff I had to sometimes. I thought it was the nature of these lighter weight cabs, yet A-B-ing my class D head with an old ABM EVO, the ABM sounded amazing through my little cabs and wiped the floor with the class D unit without even breaking sweat at a fraction of the volume, knob-wise, if that makes sense... I agree though, that it's all moot when you DI anyway which happens more and more, and the DI on my class D is absolutely gorgeous 😕 Eude

That looks great, but still disappointing. I wish amp manufacturers would focus on making proper solid state, i.e. non class D amps smaller. Old school iron, reimagined, just like HandBox have done. It's great having a tiny lightweight amp, but there's some undeniable sacrifices made for that weight. I appreciate that these kinks are being ironed out, but they're still not quite there. If only Mesa had worked on making, say a 400/500W old school power stage to go in that chassis, there's likely plenty of room as that amp is way bigger than their previous class D amps, and in real world use, it would spank any 800W class D setup every single time... Just my 2p. Eude

Calling @Ashdown Engineering, I'm sure they can give you a pointer of who to speak too, their customer service is second to none! Eude

That 's a thing of beauty! I totally get the worry about roughing up a perfect finish, but I guess the customer is always right? Well some of the time anyway Eude

I may have gone off syllabus...

Sadly, 72pt is as big as "the man" will let me go...

Wo Mama!

A regular Shuker P starts at £1700, and the JJB Sig starts at £2100. It's a lot for a P Bass for sure, but if your budget is in that area, I don't think you can go wrong for that style of bass.

I'd go with Shuker every time there. The only argument for a Fender, would be resale in my humble opinion as mentioned above, if you know you're going to keep it, Shuker all day, every day. Eude

I've always found that Peavey gear shines in that kind of situation, that and oddly, those older Fender combos, the last of the modern styled Bassman ones which I think they did after they acquired SWR and the cheaper Rumble series, 1st gen I think. I remember using a small room near London Bridge with a "75 Watt" Fender Rumble kickback with a 12" speaker and it was SO loud, I had to turn way down to avoid annihilating the drummist! Eude

It's reasonably well known that the older MarkBass stuff is considered to be better, there was a change in design between the LMII and LMIII, change in power supply I think, but I suspect some of the original LMIII's might have had the older power unit. I expect though, as a lot of folks have chimed in with, the room will have done a lot to change how the rigs performed. Eude

Peavey always deliver, always have. I've not tried any of their newer Class D stuff, but I'll bet they're a lot louder than everyone else's. I wish they, and everyone else, would concentrate on compact, not necessarily lightweight, solid state amps, I'd buy one in a hot minute! Eude

I should add, if a bassist who doesn't play a 6 string bass comes up with a neck profile that's comfortable to them, it's pretty much guaranteed to be comfy to a 6 string player, most 5's and all 4 string basses feel like toys (in a good way) when you transition 😎 Eude

This is all very exciting! I think you've earned a few days "off" Eude

HOT DAMN!

This. I've got two Ashdown Mi10 cabs, so a similar set up to yourself. With the matching MiBass 2.0 class D head, they're not the biggest or deepest sounding and certainly not the loudest, although it does produce a nice tone, has a great DI and is tiny. However, I've recently tried the cabs out with a proper old school Ashdown ABM and they sounded enormous, with absolutely effortless low end and much better spread of sound. Same cabs, different head, VERY different story... Eude

Yes indeed! It's my favourite design that Alan does. I have a Salace E Type and a Krell E Type which are more comfortable to play seated, the Salace in particular, but there's just something about this shape that speaks to me. It also feels incredibly familiar as I've had at least one Finn SC Classic in one form or another for pretty much a decade now 😲 Eude

All very exciting mate! Lovely specs. I have to admit, I'm a big fan of Black Limba too, here's my Finn SC Classic 6er... Eude

I'm sure we could figure something out once the bass is back home

Yes indeed! It's always hard to visualise it until some hardware comes into play. I see you're in leafy Purley, I'm just along the road in Sanderstead! Eude

Me too! He's a bit of a wizard isn't he...

Sounds like a well considered decision dude 😎

Phew! No more "air bass" now though Eude

It's all relative and everyone is different, some folks find they cramp up on super slim necks! At the end of the day, its the differences in life that makes it interesting

That's awesome news mate, a custom bass is a wonderful thing! That's going to be an absolute peach of a bass. Have you considered Alan's DFM preamp rather than a Uni-pre? I find it to be absolutely sublime on fretless instruments! Eude