redzombie

[quote name='jimmyb625' post='348843' date='Dec 8 2008, 05:18 PM']I've had great service from vibe-o-tronic as well, but as always, your mileage may vary...[/quote]

Didn't have to wait long for for my DOD 250 clone kit, although an email I sent a while before that was left unanswered (could've been spam filtered perhaps?).

I would happily order from them again though, infact I'm thinking about ordering a DOD 440 kit.

I've always kept the tone full open on my Thunderbird and previous passive basses, but on my active Spector I fully crank the treble (+18db boost IIRC) and boost the bass a smidge so it's flat (the bass on my model is slightly below flat at "flat" according to the Spector website).

Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger, fondly remembering the early 90's. Remember when MTV was actually a bit good? I stress "bit".

I'm gonna jump on the Ashdown bandwagon here, in that I believe their ABM gear as far as heads and 210 and 410 cabs and combos go, is great value for money (I've not tried anything else by them). On the flip side, while I've no personal experience, the negative reviews seem to outweigh the positive ones, with regard to their 115 cabs and combos. I think 10's will do you just fine for your type of music anyhow.

In addition to what I've just said, that GK combo would probably do the job just as well, if not better.

Before you go splashing out on a more expensive bass, may I suggest trying the moderately priced (and great value for money IMO) Ibanez ATK. You can pick them up for under £400 new, and it probably shouldn't be too hard to find somewhere to try one out in Bristol.

I'm definitely planning to pick one up for my next bass, as soon as I have the cash. All I can say is that I was shocked that a bass that price, played so well and sounded so sweet (to my ears anyway). Saying that, I play heavy rock, so your opinion may differ. I did however manage to get a nice bass-heavy Kyuss-esque tone from it (which may help for dub with some tweaking).

It may also be worth your while trying an octave pedal, if the DBX 120 doesn't work out for you. You can pick a Digitech Bass Synth Wah up for around £55 new. It has several effects on it, but it's worth that for the awesome sub-octave setting alone (all it's other settings are rather crap IMO). There's a fair few others too, but the BSW is the best value for money one I've tried. I really regret selling mine, the tradcking on it seemed flawless to me but I brought it for the envelope filter and at the time didn't require a sub-octaver. It'll definitely be making a reappearance on my board in the not too distant future.

EDIT: Oops I see you already have an OC-3, although it's still a fairly different beast to the BSW (IMO).

[quote name='Musky' post='264418' date='Aug 18 2008, 10:29 AM']I didn't even know you were supporting - she didn't mention the headliners, so I guess it was you that impressed the most.

I'll try to make your next gig.[/quote]

Both great to hear, would be nice to meet a fellow member of the Basschat community!

[quote name='Clarky' post='264529' date='Aug 18 2008, 01:23 PM']Sorry Redzombie to go off topic - won't do it again![/quote]

lol, not a problem, Clarky. Chat OT to yr heart's desire! (so long as the mods don't have a problem)

We got our Peel gig by emailing George - peelbookings (at) hotmail (dot) com - with our myspace page, contact name and number and ages. Saying that though, we've all played there before in previous bands, so I'm not sure how much that helped.

Also, another venue you might want to try around the same area is Wimbledon's 'The Watershed' - [url="http://www.watershedlive.com/contact/"]http://www.watershedlive.com/contact/[/url]

It's a cool venue, with a decent PA and a nice bunch of guys running the show. They'll also provide a backline and drums for you, if you don't want to lug yr gear half way across London.

Good luck, let us know how you get on


[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='264566' date='Aug 18 2008, 01:52 PM']Apologies for digressing Redzombie.[/quote]

Not a problem

Thanks man, glad you like our stuff, thanks for the compliment!

I thought the gig was a great success overall, the turn out wasn't bad and the crowd were wonderful. It's very flattering when someone enjoys our peformance, so it's nice to hear of your GF's daughter's kind words about us. Glad she enjoyed the gig

The headlining band seemed like nice guys too, which always helps, though the other band had to pull out due to unforseen circumstances. Unfortunately I missed most of Solsikk's set due to having to take our gear back early (not my idea). What I did get to see was damn good though!

We're playing at the Watershed in Wimbledon on Aug 29th, if you fancy checking us out live.

Thanks again mate

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='258132' date='Aug 8 2008, 02:14 PM']One thing i wont get is the 300watt version. I found that to be a bit on the quiet side, even compared to my MAG that was rated the same. felt i was pushing it quite a bit on a lot of gigs.[/quote]

It's actually 325 watts IIRC, not that it really makes much difference. Still you have a point. My 150-watt Peavey 1x15 combo, is a lot louder than my ABM 300 @ 8 ohms/235 watts with a single 2x10 cab. I've not compared them with Ashdown at 4 ohms, but still, either the Peavey is loud for it's rating or the Ashdown is quiet.

Saying that though, I don't feel the need to upgrade to a 500, not when I'm always mic'd/DI'd through the PA anyway. Even in rehersal it keeps up with my mate's Mesa Triple Recto guitar half stack. We cranked them both for a laugh once, light bulbs fell out, the burgular alarm went off, but it still kept up.

It's our first gig tomorrow, wish us luck We play heavy rock originals, might throw in a cover at the end though, if we have time. You can listen to our rough bedroom demos here - [url="http://www.myspace.com/sidewyndermusic"]Sidewynder myspace page.[/url]
We're first on of three bands. The other two are [url="http://www.myspace.com/daddys_little_secret"]Daddy's Little Secret[/url] and [url="http://www.myspace.com/solsikk"]Solsikk[/url] (click band names for websites).

Come and rock out with us, even if you don't like the music, there's always the strip bar next door!

Admission is £6

Doors open 7.30pm

160 Cambridge Road
Kingston Upon Thames
Surrey, KT1 3HH

020 8546 3516

I think Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots) does a great job of immitating the pick sound, on STP's song "Down". He claims he used a Sansamp Bass Driver for that song, also he was bi-amping with a 70's Marshall Plexi guitar head and a Fender Bassman IIRC.

Billy Gould sounds like he's pick playing on a lot of Faith No More albums (to me anyway). Unfortunately I've no idea how he went about doing this, aside from using his fingers.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='252102' date='Jul 31 2008, 03:31 PM']The LS-2 is a very useful pedal. You could use it to switch between two different volume levels - useful for overdriving dirt pedals.

My tip would be to put the LS-2 at the end of the chain, put just the limiter in one loop, and nothing in the other, and blend the two.[/quote]

Cheers for the tips mate, that's something I'd not considered trying. I'm pretty happy with my limiter as is, but I'll give it a shot, perhaps I might like it even more.

Since you mention about switching volume levels, I may use it for switching between my active and my passive bass. My passive is my backup, so if I break a string during a gig, the LS-2 could potentially save me having to muck about with levels mid-gig.

Either way, it's certainly a very handy pedal as you say and I've no intention of ever getting rid of mine, I've already made that mistake once (not just with the LS-2 either)

[quote name='cheddatom' post='252074' date='Jul 31 2008, 02:46 PM']Nice, but don't you think the LS-2 is overkill for just a bypass loop?[/quote]


Yeah definitely, it's just a temp fix left over from when I'd blend my GT-2 rather than just add an EQ after it. My looper arrived this morning to replace the LS-2, but I'm too lazy to hook it up just yet.

[url="http://imageshack.us"][/url]

I think I might use the LS-2 to blend the Cool Cat with a clean signal, along with with a flanger or phaser and my DD-3 when I get a bigger board. Or maybe just save it for when I get another Whammy.

The MXR, GT2 and Behringer are all in the LS-2's A loop (I don't use the B loop at all, not even for clean blend). The LS-2, Bass Driver DI, Harley Benton EQ and Cool Cat are all in the NS-2's loop. The TU-2 proceeds the NS-2 at the start of the chain, the Harley Benton Limiter is at the end of the chain after the NS-2.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='250694' date='Jul 29 2008, 06:39 PM']Write the keys next to the song names on everyone's copy of the set list.[/quote]

Good one, tunings too if you need to go up or down. A good way to remind the drummer to give you and the guitarist/s time to change yr tuning, before kicking off a song in E while yr still in drop-D.

Yes I've heard of hipshots

[quote name='acidbass' post='250131' date='Jul 29 2008, 04:57 AM']Too true. My ABM 2x10 combo doesn't suffer from this at all thankfully![/quote]

+1 to that, same applies to my ABM 2x10 and 4x10 cabs, with my 300-EVOII. Saying that, I still prefer the sound of my Sansamp running through it the head, but my Ashdown on it's own ceratinly isn't "wooley".

Bring a 4-socket power adaptor, with a REALLY long lead. You'll be amazed at some of the daft places some venues have their wall sockets, as well as a plain shortage of them. Your guitarist will probably thank you too, when you let him use one of the sockets for some of his 8 zillion effects.

Even if the next band on is REALLY annoying in that they persist to bug you about time, even when you're still well within yr allocated slot, withold the urge to boo and heckle them during their set, like our ex-drummer did, as it'll quite possibly get you banned from the venue.

Being a vehement, foaming at the mouth anti-capitalist, I'm personally loving all this Behringer crap that's coming out!

Okay I know they're a corporation but it's cheap corporate sh*t, as opposed to over-priced corporate sh*t.

If you want to go the glitch-free, awesome/perfect tracking digital route, there's the Digitech BSW with just 1 octave down for about £55. It has a few more effects too, all of which are crap IMO, but it's worth the money for the sub-octave setting alone. If you want the same kind of thing but with octave-up thrown in there too, there's the EHX Micro POG for about £120.

Then of course there's the whole analogue way, which I have absolutely no experience with nor desire for (for the time being anyway).

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='178246' date='Apr 16 2008, 07:44 PM']Just ended up selling it for a packet of fags and a box of 24 Carling. I think I got a good deal [/quote]

LOL I'd agree but I'm more of a Guinness man myself

Many moons ago, in my teens, during a fun night of indulgence in a certain well known psychedellic substance, for whatever reason I thought it'd be fun to take my Marlin Slammer (cheap P bass copy) with us on an excursion to the local Esso garage for fags at 2 in the morning. After a fun barefoot walk around the place and an interesting chat with the clerk, a friend jokingly suggested that I "launch my bass" outside, which I thought was a great idea. So, as we travelled back home, the bass was propelled through the air with as much force as my scrawny arms could muster (about 10 feet in the air). The impact took the headstock clean off, much to our amusement, yet with the help of my dad and some Araldite I was playing it again less than a week later. This was only for it to "lose it's head" again a few months later after another "launch" this time at a gig, the same gig at which I proceeded to destroy the pickguard and electronics of my other Slammer by beating the bass against a monitor. I was so proud, 2 basses in one night, Cobain would've been proud!

In case you were wondering, that was the last time I ever trashed any gear other than a Tanglewood Les Paul copy guitar, but that's another story. Things are a bit different, when you're paying for your own stuff and it's a tad more expensive.

Well unfortunately, turning down the volume on my Spector didn't work Looks like the two are just incompatible, guess I'll have to save my SansAmp for those T-bird days.

It's a bit of a shame, since I wanted to try and get as close as I could to that Spector NS-2/SVT sound Mike Starr (ex-Alice in Chains) had, for a tribute band.

EMGs here also, so I guess this means I can hopefully resolve this problem. I have to wait 'til tomorrow to try anything out, rig's at a friend's house.

Thanks for the input

Heh, it's always the simplest ideas that go straight over my head! I'll give it a shot. Thanks man

Another vote here for turning off the "pre-shape" function, it really not too sure why they even put those on amps. I mean, wouldn't it be possible to dial in the same tone, just by using the EQ or am I missing something?

Of course, I don't for one second think that most people, who're displeased with the Ashdown sound haven't actually tried turning the pre-shape off. As many have already stated, it's a horses for courses situation. Personally I love my ABM300 EVO-II, ABM 210T and ABM 410T.

My only real complaint so far, is having to remember what position on and off are, for the Pre/Post EQ D.I. switch. Oh and the Sub-Harmonics function is pretty crap if you ask me (but then I'm used to using a WH4 Whammy), and the OD sounds a bit rubbish after 12 o'clock, that's just my opinion though, others seem to like it fairly cranked.