TRBboy

Yes sorry, I didn't mean GR amps that can go to 2 ohm, but in general there are some amps which can.

I'm not gonna pretend the thought hadn't crossed my mind 🫣😅

That's what we've got here, the One 1400 has two 700w power amps in, min 4 ohm each 😊 Of course you can also get amps that are 2 ohm stable 🤷

Just bought a GR Bass amp from Gareth, he was very honest and upfront about condition, and the transaction was smooth (courier incompetence notwithstanding 😅). It arrived unbelievably well packaged, and sounds super! Very nice chap too, wouldn't hesitate to deal with him again. 😊👍

I've been working towards somewhat of a 'vision' I've had for a while, and have finally got there! Let's get a couple of things out of the way first: 1) Yes, I know it's probably unnecessary. 2) This is my cellar/music room, a tatty time capsule to the late 80's/early 90's, and is a way down the renovation list. 3) Yes, I may be having a mid life crisis of sorts. I also bought a Red Arrows leather jacket the other day. I've had my GR Bass 4x10" for a couple of years now, and love it deeply. It's by far the best single cab I've had in the past almost 30 years, amongst some great cabs. I'd been getting to think I might like a GR Bass Amp too... At the same time, I was thinking it would be cool to be able to run more cabs, but the GR410+ is 4 ohm... naturally then, the One 1400 caught my eye! I decided that a new one was more than I could run to, and there didn't seem to be used ones around, but then last week I spotted @franzbassist selling one! After some discussion it was a done deal, and it arrived today! (Unbelievably well packaged I might add, I'm not sure if Gareth was trying to protect the amp or save himself a tip run 🤣). I've only had a brief play around with it this evening, but so far I'm loving it! It's clean and clear, but not clinical. Natural sounding, with a very flexible EQ section, yet still simple to use. Lots of oomph, but also great definition and dynamics. Very pleased! In addition, I've had a penchant for 15's again in the last few years, and have been experimenting with a couple I picked up pretty cheap (one from the fantastic @vmaxblues). They were great, but I was fixated on a specific form factor, and wanted two cabs the same. So in the past few weeks I've picked up a pair of Markbass NY151's. So I now have 3 rig options: One 1400 with the GR410+, this will be my main rig: The pair of NY151's, pictured here with my backup amp, a LMII. This configuration will be great for stages with little space: And then we have the behemoth.... The 1400w, 4x10" + 2x15" monster! This should do well for the outdoor shows in the summer! 😎👌 Sounds absolutely phenomenal! Not just ridiculously loud and gutsy, but REALLY good sounding! I did wonder if something sounded a bit funny for a moment, but then I realised it was just the house disintegrating 🤣🤣🤣. I often find at outdoor gigs (using only our PA - mainly only for vocals), the bass gets a bit lost, whereas the 100w valve half stacks/stacks seem to project well across a field no problem. I'm hoping this will help balanced things up a bit. 😉 Sorry for the long post, but I've been working towards this for some time, and I'm over the moon that I've got there in the end! Oli

Without wanting to get into 'the debate that shall not be debated', on a solid body electric instrument, the tone all comes from the pickups, electronics and strings, and of course the player/technique. Now, as a caveat to that, we have 5 senses which all work in conjunction to form perception of our surroundings. Whilst the wood itself might not contribute to the actual tone we hear, the haptic feedback we receive through our hands and bodies from the instrument helps to form our 'perception' of the tonality of the instrument. IIRC back in my Warwick playing days, they always felt very lively and vibrant due to the very hard, dense tropical hardwood used. I would almost guarantee though that if you put the same pickups, in exactly the same position, and preamp and strings on any other bass, with the setup the same, you wouldn't tell the difference on a recording.

More like farmer's fields on the back of a trailer, with a small PA 🤣

Thumb 5 BO was my first 'good' quality bass. Tried it on a shop around '97 and fell in love with the sound, and the looks and feel..... Sitting down. I preserved with it for about 5 years in amongst other basses, and then decided I couldn't get on with 5 strings. What I realised later, after playing lots of other 5 strings, was it was the ergonomics of that particular bass. With such a small body but a fairly heavy neck, it was prone to neck dive. The worst part of the ergonomics though is that because of the body proportions, first fret feels a country mile away, stood with it on a strap! Feels like it's a 48" scale length! 🤣 That sound though.... I swapped mine for a 4 string corvette, which still sounded and looked great, but was much more ergonomic. There's no 'magic' about them tonally though, it's just down to the pickups, preamp, and location of the pickups. If you did the same thing in any bass shape it would sound essentially the same. 🤷

Yeah, it will only be when they're sitting under my 4x10 👍

Agree with your thoughts here!

Thanks for all the replies guys, there's more to consider than I'd thought! 🤣 I'm not worried about warranty really, and I think I'd argue the toss with them anyway, as any warranty issue would be to do with electronic components, not the structure of the cabinet. Those cabs must be 20-22mm thick at a guess, so no worries about screwing into them. I got to thinking about it because one of the cabs is used, and the carpet on the bottom (destined for a trim with the hair clippers!) is a bit fluffed up and had all sorts of detritus stuck in it before I cleaned it. I like that the corners stack, but at some points I'm going to want to use them side by side, so both would be feet or no feet.... @DGBass I like the idea of the matting, would you be able to show what you mean? @Pow_22 I've had similar issues in the past just using the corners, uneven floors and some weird vibration depending on the floor surface. The corners are hard plastic whereas the feet are rubber, so you avoid any such nonsense. Leaning towards feet at the moment I think... @Ed_S did you base your positioning of the feet on anything, or was it just a tongue-out and squint approximation? 😅

I've had a LOT of cabs over the past nearly 30 years, some with feet and some not. Can't say it made any particular difference to sound, but feet definitely help stop the corners and bottom of the cab getting scuffed. Does anyone have any particular thoughts on whether feet are a good idea or not, and why? I've just bought a pair of Markbass NY151 cabs which don't have feet. My GR Bass 410+ does. Wondering if I should put feet on the Markbass cabs... Thanks, Oli

The best small practice amp I tried in recent years was an EBS Classic Session combo, sounded incredible for it's size!

It was the guy in the picture above, white slim guy with a beard, stellar player! Looking at their photos from this tour on IG though, I think they're using different musicians for different gigs, brass players at least.

Thanks for this advice, I'd not really checked those things specifically but will do some investigation. 👍

Went to see Nubiyan Twist at Tramshed Cardiff on Friday, by far the best gig I've been to for years! If you're not familiar with them, they're a collective that blends all kinds of influences including afrobeat, Latin, acid jazz, bass line, etc. Upbeat, fun and very very groovy! Nice small intimate venue, very mixed crowd, and we danced HARD all night! All the musicians were exceptional, some great solos from everyone on stage, especially the keys and brass players. I highly recommend catching them if you can. They were supported by Nookee and Webmoms who were both excellent too. Nookee were pretty unusual, but very good. It interested me as a player to see that when you step up to bigger venues than I play, you don't need much in the way off backline! Or people just aren't bothering much with it anymore. Guitarists all had small valve combos, and the two supporting bass players shared a rig, which was just a Warwick gnome head into a Markbass NY151. The bass player for Nubiyan Twist had a small GK MB combo, not sure what speaker config it was. Sound was excellent all night. In terms of basses, the guy from Webmoms was playing what looked to be a Player Precision in LPB, the guy from Nookee (who was probably the most inspiring player of the night) had a '51-style P bass type thing, very roadworn. We got chatting and he said it was 'made' by a guy called Daniel Giles in London. I looked at his page on Instagram, and I think it's kinda bitsa basses that he makes up and 'relics', but I could be wrong. Sounded great and looked cool anyways. And finally the chap from Nubiyan Twist had a Yamaha BB1025 in sunburst, strung with flats and played pick and palm muted. Sounded great, and the guy was a really solid player, nothing flashy but served the songs really well. It reinforced the fact that expensive, fancy gear isn't crucial, what matters is finding something that feels good in your hands and inspires you too play. And of course no one in the audience would care whether it's a Squier or a Fodera. It also made me slightly envious that we aren't at a level where we're playing venues with decent sound systems, and have to spend much more heavily on backline 😅

Ah wow, I'd love to go to this, but don't think I could get there 😕

Went to see Nubiyan Twist at the Tramshed in Cardiff on Friday, supported by Nookee and Webmoms, absolutely incredible gig! All three bands smashed it out the park, and we danced HARD! Seriously recommend catching them if you can.

When I got my first Sandberg, it made all my other basses feel hard to play 😅 (I sold them all in the following months, even my old faithful US Jazz I'd had for nearly 20 years, to buy more Sandbergs 🤣)

I hear what you're saying, but unless you have an accurate way to measure the amount of relief in the neck, as well as the saddle height, the measurements will only ever give you a starting point.

I'm exactly the same, there's too many variables, and the measurements don't tell the whole story. Feel/sight/sound is the best way to go.👌