bassbloke

Given your impeccable taste in instruments - you;d have no problem sourcing 2nd hand Fender parts or Mighty Mite/Warmonth alternatives and knocking up a perfectly decent bass than you could take over to SA in bits and re-assemble. You'd probably be able to flog it for a decent price when you were finished too.

Why not buy a cheap bass and take it apart - stick body in your suitcase and neck in your hand luggage and re-assemble when you get there.

I was helping sort out my mum's place and found something even better than a bass guitar - a massive box of lego (Space, Castle and technic) that I'd amassed over 10 years and my mum unfairly confiscated after she came home and found me and a loads of mates playing with it. Granted, I was 21 at the time.

[quote name='fekalizatorius' post='490331' date='May 17 2009, 06:40 AM']I, IMHO, would never really go S/H unless the item is really cheap and or is a rarity, that I can't get usually (IE, Spector basses are nowhere to be found in Lithuania). Refering to Machines's list, I can easily say that the MAG will deliver. Never dissapointed me, toneshaping is quite versitile, has enough punch in it's arsenal, and all in all, it looks quite nice. I've hear that GK Backline's are good amps also. That was really my second choice instead of the MAG. The Peavey head... Dunno really. To me, Peavy refers to the 1990's Swedish death metal scene (A Boss HM-2 thru a 60w Peavey amp's miced from behind were the basis of the sound). At least I can tell, that their guitar stuff is really good. Can't really comment on warwicks, since the only time I've had experience with them was the black label stringset (The B string core snapped not even properly wound) and their straplocks (Really good ones). Good luck getting back on the low end, Cheers, Fek.[/quote] Maybe the 2nd hand market in Lithuania is very different to here, but I guarantee you that a sizeable proportion of the 2nd gear offered on this forum is in fantastic condition. Only in the past few weeks I've bought and sold 3 Tech bass cabs and with the exception of a bit of fluffing to one bit of carpet and a paint chip less than 2mm on one of the grilles, you would be hard pressed not to think the stuff was new. New gear always has its place and there are times when you have no choice, but don't dismiss the benefits. For example, all of the gear you've listed is towards the budget end of the market - GK backline, Ashdown MAG, Peavey. By going second hand you could seriously raise your game to an amp you won't grow out of. That's money that could be put towards a nicer bass, transport, effects, better case or put to one side and used to service your gear when needed.

I don't know about the modules - I have a pair of the JZ3D and they took around 5 mins to fit with no soldering needed. Audere ship via UPS, so you'll undoubtedly be stung for duty and admin fee. Worked out at abut £33 on both of my Audere preamps. Magnets on the control cavity should not present a problem - your pickups have more powerful magnets. The preamp is just a small resin sealed unit or mounted onto scratch plate. I would have thought your Peavey was already active.

you'll get a very good head for under £250, such as my rather spiffing Tech Soundsystems TVM350.

One final point. It's a small world. No matter how you part company, do not, under any circumstances, bad mouth any ex members. Depending on the nature of the sacking and/or how much of a tosspot they are, they may well get to work slagging you off to all their mates, promoters, etc... My previous band made a point of telling me what a knob and poor bass player my predecessor was. We had a band meeting one evening and said bass player walked in. Turns out that I'd sold him his bass and gigged with him loads of times in a previous band. I should add that I've broken every single rule in my little list at some point.

Bassbloke's guide to sacking band members. I've had to do this so many times. DO make sure you have a replacement. Speak to your other band members and gauge the opinion. Do you think he's so rubbish that you'd rather put the band on ice whilst you search for a replacement? Very risky. My last band sacked our drummer because he was unreliable. Was the worst thing we ever did. Killed the band as we didn't have a replacement and went through endless auditions before getting back together with him because 'he'd changed'. Of course, he hadn't changed one bit and we'd have been better off working out effective ways of dealing with his unreliability (i.e. driving round to his house and threatening to kick the door down if he didn't turn up for rehearsal). So, if you're dead set on ousting him, start looking now. DO sack him on neutral ground. The group approach of going down to the pub to break it to him in civilised manner can be effective but is fraught with risks [list=1] [*]You have so much resentment building up that your civilised redundancy chat descends into 2 hours of bandmates slagging him off. Has happened twice. [*]He gets drunk and aggressive and a fight ensures [*]You all get drunk and induge in some mutual back slapping and forget to sack him. [/list] My first band had a particular embarrassing episode where our singer left it to lead guitarist, drummer and I to sack our rhythm guitarist. We failed on bot occasions because we had just ended up drinking and chatting. Our singer flipped, phoned up the guitarist and sacked him. Tact was never his strong points and I believe he opened with something along the lines "I'm having to sack you from the band over the phone because the other three members don't have the guts to tell you to your face". Nice. DO agree in advance whether you're going to give him another chance. If you reckon the situation is salvageable, then use the chat as a way of spurring him into action. If however, you agree he has to go, don't let one of your bandmates pipe up that he should be given another chance. DON'T expect to remain friends. Even if you are the crappest pub blues band they'll still regard the sacking as the ultimate act of betrayal. Talent and delusions/grandeur are inversely proportional. DO think about the alternatives. Tell him he needs to get better really quick if he's going to have a future in the band and tell him yu expect him to put his money where his mouth is and enrol on an intensive course at ACM or somewhere similar. Also, consider banning him from drinking or something as proof of his commitment. I hope some of this is off help.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Jazz-GT-Fathead-sustain-device-80s_W0QQitemZ160334289927QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Guitar_Accessories?hash=item160334289927&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1688|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Jaz...:1|293:1|294:50[/url] Never ever heard of anything like this before.

depreciation on Carvin instruments is stratospheric. I would be very surprised if that went for more than $400.

I stopped using a compressor because I felt it was robbing me of a lot of dynamics. I wouldn't start accusing other players of cheating though.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='480648' date='May 6 2009, 08:38 AM']P.S. I really do like good active electronics, I just don't need it. But I can't stand the proliferation of cheap active electronics when the money would be better spent on superior pickups. Alex[/quote] +1,000,000 Plenty of manufacturers are guilty of selling basses with atrocious pickups and a fancy active circuit to compensate. I remember a Bass Player article with Rick Turner where he pretty much stated that if you're spending less than USD1500 on a bass, stick to passive because the electronics will suck.

[quote name='Oli Parken' post='479084' date='May 4 2009, 04:23 PM']Help! I'm new to the forum, and looking for a new rig. There are so many brands out there, I am really not sure what to be looking for. I thought maybe some of the more experienced players who have been using/endorsing their gear for a number of years could give me some advise. I originally looked into the Ampeg stuff. They are renowned as the industry standards for bass amps, and most of the professional players use Ampeg. I also have a friend who owns a small Ampeg rig, and it is to say the least outstanding. Branching out from just Ampeg, there are a huge number of other companies who I am not so familiar with; Eden, EBS, Markbass. From what I've herd these are the more expensive, and possibly more sort after bass amps. I'm also a big fan of Level 42, and so am interested in the Mark King signature MK500 head Mark's been using for a number of years. I mainly do normal fingerstyle bass, and often resort to slapping. I'm looking to spend no more than £2,000 for the rig. I own a Musicman StingRay5 bass, which has been incredible through any amp I have teamed it up with. Best Regards, Oli.[/quote] A few questions. How often do you gig? Do you have any road crew or do you do your own loading? What size venues do you play?

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='477799' date='May 2 2009, 04:48 PM']Okay it's pretty simple. If it's a solid state power stage then you can plug the amp into a speaker different than the rated impedance (or impedance range) of the amp, however it won't be as loud and it'll reduce the life span of the amp. The way to work out impedances is pretty simple really: For paralell curcits (which is what it'll be from the amp to the cab, it usually is) then 1/total impedance= 1/cab 1 impedance + 1/cab 2 impedance etc.... So if you have 2 8 ohm cabs, the total impedance will be 1/8 + 1/8= 1/4 so the total impedance is 4 ohms.[/quote] running a amp that handles 4 ohm minimum load into an 8 ohm cab won't hurt it in the slightest. In fact, the sound of a higher rated cab may even be preferable - it's likely to sound much smoother than an otherwise identical but lower impedance cab.

I owned a HA7000 years ago. The pots were surfaced mounted on the PCB which made it very susceptible to loose solder joints. Easy enough to fix though.

I've found it doesn't really matter what I use, as long as it has a tweeter so I get a bit of sparkle and isn't such underpowered heap of junk that it farts all the time, I get a useable sound out of anything. I like my Tech rig because it's loud, light and has a big blue light on the front. What more do you need?

[quote name='Linus27' post='473481' date='Apr 27 2009, 04:42 PM']Yes I might well be. I am testing the Little Giant tonight to see if its a goer or not. I have never heard of Techamp before. Saying that, half of the bass cab manufacturers I have never heard off either What sort of sound do they give?[/quote] Wicked. Serious amounts of punch and bottom end and not at all peaky.