Ed_S

I'd been a bass player for about 19 years when I picked up a GSR200b by chance at a local shop and thought it was not only good, but actually too good not to buy right there and then. I'm sure there are some individual examples out there that have issues, but that can be said of just about any production bass. In my experience the neck was smooth and straight, the fretwork was well done, the hardware was solid, the pickups and preamp sounded good, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it alongside other basses that cost anything up to 20 times more. If you get a good one there's no reason it can't be much more than just a beginner bass, and the only reason I don't still own mine is because I switched back to playing 5 strings exclusively and couldn't quite justify the space to store it.

Reminds me of a gig I did aaaages ago where the sound guy was quite aggressively insistent that I plug my bass straight into his very ordinary £50-ish DI box, and then take the link-out from that to my pedalboard and amp. Main problem being that I had a Drop pedal on my board at the time, which would have meant that had I agreed, half the set would have been in the wrong tuning through the PA. The concept didn't seem to bother him at all. When I'd finally made him understand that I wasn't going to use his DI (I'm still not sure he grasped why...) he still wouldn't take the feed from the Sansamp on my board, and instead angrily set up an SM57 on the cab.

At the risk of being the 5th person with recommendations 9 and 10, I play melodic metal originals using a standard tuned 5 and favour this method.. - Use a compact pedalboard with a preamp at the end to get the DI tone you want to send to the PA, rather than a particular amp/cab - Just take the pedalboard if good foldback or full backline is provided by the venue (or you use IEMs - I personally don't) - Get a simple, light, workhorse of an amp that just makes the pedalboard output loud (mine's a Markbass Nano 2 - highly recommend it) - Use the amp EQ to keep the stage sounding how you need it, knowing it can't inadvertently affect the FoH DI - Use whatever cab is provided by a venue or headline band, as it'll probably be fine for stage monitoring and you don't have to move it - Get a cab based mostly on the weight you can stand to move and the value you can stand to lend (mine's a Barefaced Two10 - my wallet is healthier than my neck/back) - If you need two cabs then get two the same, and if you like to keep your gear clean and presentable in metal venues then avoid carpeted cabs Of course, my free advice is worth every penny you paid, but all the very best of luck with the new band and the gear search! 🙂

Rare outing as a 4-piece last night, as one of our guitarists is taking some time away to savour the constant wailing of his new baby. We were supporting another local band's album launch and a decent number of people turned up, which is always nice. Very warm on stage, and as the headliners got rain-soaked during load-in the whole venue was at rainforest-level humidity. Still, I thought we played well and there were some nice comments from random people afterwards. First time out with my latest stage bass (a white RB Streamer 5 LX to match the black one I already had) and I'm really pleased with it - it looks/feels/sounds just right. Thickened up the bass tone a little with just a hint of octave-up to suggest more guitar than we actually had, and from what I could tell it seemed to work acceptably. For the tech-inclined: RB Streamer 5 LX -> G30 Wireless -> TU-3 Tuner -> Thumpinator HPF -> BC-1X Comp -> VT Bass v2 OD -> Sub-n-Up Oct -> BDDI v2 Pre (-> FoH) -> Markbass Nano 2 -> Blackstar 115

Looking back, things stayed broadly the same for another 6 years and then started to gravitate back towards 5s, with a complete switch during 2020. First bass: Yamaha BB-N4 'Go-to' bass: Warwick/Rockbass Streamer 5 'Your' bass: EBMM Stingray 5 Special

We're missing a guitarist for a little while, but got offered a gig that we didn't want to turn down so decided to fly missing-man. We've done it before and it's generally been fine but I've definitely felt the lack of the rhythm guitar during the lead solo sections, so wanted to try and 'thicken' the bass tone a bit this time. I had an unused corner of one of my boards so decided to try a cheap octave-up, and am happy to report that it's actually doing what I hoped it might. Placing it after a bit of gentle overdrive seems to have brought the whole sound together and gives a suggestion of extra guitar without making the bass sound too iffy on its own, meaning I should be able to just leave it on.

I have to wonder whether there was actually something wrong with the Elf that I had and moved on. Nice tone, but it couldn't produce anywhere near enough volume to be useful through a pair of cabs which are more than capable with amps of only slightly higher quoted power. I think in the OP situation, if the Elf proved to be lacking I'd be tempted to try the Transit B preamp pedal into a power amp. I like the Crown XLS xx02 series, myself.

I don't take my slightly more expensive couple of basses out because whilst they greatly enhance my enjoyment of practicing and recording, they'd absolutely ruin my enjoyment of rehearsing and gigging. I don't want to spend my time preoccupied with thoughts of theft, loss and damage.. I want to put my gear in a storeroom and head out for food after soundcheck, load offstage into the dressing room and drink irresponsibly to the other bands that are on after us, and maybe let somebody else in the band take my stuff back with them if they're driving. So I take a pair of less expensive basses that are perfectly solid and reliable, and I enjoy playing them, and they look great on live photos.. but they don't cause me any stress and I believe I play better for it.

Got another dep outing yesterday, helping to open proceedings at the Sheffield M2TM competition final at Corporation. To say that the doors opened at 13:30 and we were on at 13:40, there was actually a decent crowd pretty much straight from the start. I think some of that was possibly initially helped by there being 4 other guest bands and 5 competition bands on the premises at the time, but a crowd's a crowd and there were definitely increasing numbers of paying public there, too. Played well, enjoyed the gig, got positive feedback from people who'd seen us, and a box of lager from the band as a thanks for jumping in last-minute. Played my Rockbass Streamer LX 5 (which I bought as b-stock, fettled, gutted and re-wired passive) through a couple of new bits of kit which I bought as an aid to travelling light; a Fender Telepath wireless system and a Tech21 Bass Fly Rig v2. Went straight into the PA from the Fly Rig, and also into my Markbass Nano 2 on top of the house Blackstar 115 cab - pretty unnecessary if I'm honest, given the foldback on the main stage. The Fender wireless seems to be decent - perhaps functionally no more decent than any of the much cheaper 5.8GHz alternatives, but it feels solid and it performed flawlessly so I'm happy with it. The Fly Rig v2 sounds much better to me than the original version I had a few years back ever did - definitely keeping this one for when the full pedalboard isn't practical. Same black boots as usual.

That's fair, I can see how that'd work from an engineering standpoint. I guess 'inferior' is a poor choice of word without a good deal more qualification, isn't it. Better to simply say I personally don't like them for a number of reasons, both practical and aesthetic, and much prefer my cabs to have metal corners and rubber feet. Is your preference for the plastic all-in-ones such that you'd actively avoid metal/rubber?

It was kinda squinty - I wanted them close enough to the edges to be stable and far enough away from them to still be well under, so I matched them up (by eye) with the centre of the first large ridge or channel. Very scientific. Can only speak for myself, of course, but I think plastic stacking corners will always be a massively inferior solution to metal corners that don't break and rubber feet that give significant ground clearance. I used to have the NY121 cabinet to put under the CMD121p and even then I had rubber feet on both; even if you never use the combo on its own, at some point you have to put the combo down on the ground, so if its carpet then collects guff it'll just be transferred onto the top of the extension cab. I'll take misaligned over soiled. I suppose if the stacking corners were redesigned so that the ridges had undercuts in them (kinda mushroom shaped in profile, if you get what I mean) and there was an optional corner-piece with a rubber foot mounted on it, that was moulded to interlock with the new shape, slide diagonally into the corner and lock in place somehow, that would give you the option of both. But it'd still be made of plastic.

Where carpeted cabs only have stacking corners, I'd always fit rubber feet to avoid them soaking up the usual cocktail of beer, fruit juice and other less wholesome substances that ends up all over most venue floors and car parks by the end of a night. I totally get the warranty concerns about driving screws into the bottom of a new cab, but I consider the alternative a much worse situation so I've attached rubber feet to all my Markbass cabs and combos before taking them out. Never had any problems with either the feet or the carpet covering, so my vote is definitely to feet. My CMD 121p for example - still nice and clean:

£40 or less should get you a Peavey Micro Bass in decent condition. They're built tough and sound alright.

Sorry, was just revisiting the topic as it resurfaced and realised that I never responded. Of course you're absolutely right on both counts, and in the case of Steve Harris I'd say he manages even more impressively than most, his preference being for fresh sets of Rotosounds. I personally found them uncommonly harsh and inflexible when I tried them, so I'm guessing he has a very different touch to me and/or much hardier fingers after years at it! In any case, my own most recent foray into flat territory with the Ernie Ball stainless 'group' set has just ended and I think that's probably me finally done with the concept. If I absolutely needed flats in future (unsure how that would ever come about) they'd have to be the Cobalt Slinky variety, and at that point I might as well spend the same amount on a set of my usual rounds and an EQ pedal.

Our lead singer tried the SE V7 at rehearsal last night and I thought it behaved very well in a loud room. It sounded good with no EQ or DSP - just straight into a QSC K8.2 set flat. Needed a bit more gain to achieve the maximum output level before feedback that we've previously been getting with the e838 on a stand, but then allowed me to go on and almost max-out the dial on the QSC with no feedback even whilst being hand-held. We'll give it a first proper run out at a gig on Friday, but on current evidence I'm hopeful it'll work well for her.

I had the 2816 set (2814 with a 130 B string added) on a Fender Jazz V not too long ago and my personal experience was... They aren't silky smooth (Galli Jazz Flats would be my benchmark for that) but they're also not rough; they're just kinda finely textured and uniformly grippy. If it makes any sense, they have the kind of texture than makes them 'sing' when you run your hands across them. I found the tension to be similar to other comparable-gauge flats I've had (Fender, Chromes, EB Group) which I guess is to say they feel like playing the next-gauge-up set of rounds. They do sound brighter and more like rounds than all other flats I've tried, and I personally liked the grippy feel of them so I'd happily get another set at some point in the future. I think the feel is what might put some other people off, though.

That's something I've been pondering just recently. I provide a mic for our lead singer who is an operatic soprano and therefore not used to needing a mic, but now fronting a metal band. Whilst the Sennheiser e838 (cardioid) she's been using sounds great for her voice and was very forgiving while she was developing her mic technique, I've noticed that some sound guys seem to have a hard time working with it. I was considering just getting her an SM58 for all the reasons given, but then couple of months ago I played alongside another metal soprano who was using an SE V7 (super-cardioid) and it both sounded great for the style and didn't seem to cause undue headache at the desk, so I've actually got one of those arriving tomorrow to try out at rehearsal next week.

I owned multiple Ashdown cabs back in the day, but that was because I was experimenting with different speaker sizes before I knew better. It wasn't brand loyalty - it was just all you could buy in local shops. These days I own multiple Barefaced cabs based on the progression... Super 12 - Bought because everybody said it was the one cab to do pretty much any gig. It was. It still is. G2 Midget - Bought because it's half a Super 12 and sometimes that's all you need. Also vertical 3x12 potential. One10 #1 - Received as a birthday gift. One10 #2 - Bought to make a pair with the first one so it was any use to me. Two10 - Bought to give me the same sound as the pair of One10s in a one-hand-carry format. Also vertical 4x10 potential. I don't know whether it's brand loyalty as such - more just that they engineer light cabs that perform well and look acceptable in a utilitarian kind of way, and if something goes wrong they sort it out.

I believe it was pau ferro - nice looking board, too. I had the issue with ebony once before on a Jim Root sig Telecaster but this was the first time with any other wood.

I like the idea of Sandberg as a brand, and enough of the ones that aren't factory-damaged appeal visually, but having had four of them I can't see me getting another. Three were original cedar body superlight 4s (two TMs and a TT) which were great for my back problems but the recessed and un-filled fret slot ends felt weird, they all sounded somewhat lifeless in the same way, and the matt finish was stupidly easy to damage. My Maruszczyk Jake L4P+ wasn't far off the same weight, sounded lively, was finished in good strong gloss poly and had smooth fretboard edges, so it ended up winning. The last one was a Central 5, which ended up with the finish peeling off the edge of the fretboard so had to go back to be refinished. They did it perfectly well, but I'd not had it long enough before the issue appeared to really bond with it in any way, and by the time it came back from refinishing I'd kinda lost interest; played a couple of gigs with it and just couldn't get excited about it so moved it on.

Yeah, I guess if somebody was making a big thing of the fact that they'd had their bass fettled by a recognised luthier, could prove that to be the case, and the work done was exactly what I would be having done myself... maybe I'd offer or accept paying a few quid extra for that, provided I was totally confident that it was worth it to me. But to my mind, the thing about having the work done yourself is that at least you've seen the instrument in its original state, know who's done what and (perhaps most importantly) why, and you can have some input into the process, so I think I might still be more inclined to get a cheaper deal on one that's been left alone and take it to my own choice of professional.

If it's still possible to go out and get a new one that you'd expect to be perfect and not need the work, or if it's no longer available new but you'd expect the vast majority of second hand ones never to have needed the work, then no, I'd say that's on the seller for electing to keep and fix a b-stock, rather than swap out for a different one. Nothing against anyone who does that, btw.. as long as they realise that it's rarely an investment. I've done it myself - for example keeping an unusually light example of a bass with really attractive wood grain patterns but a knackered preamp because a swap could easily turn up as a boring-looking boat-anchor of an instrument, but with a functional preamp. I knew the money for a new preamp was never going to be recouped, and I was fine with that. I broadly agree with the 'what it owes me' comments, though I do use the phrase when talking generally about what a project has cost in total. If I ever use it when it's time to sell, I switch to a different version which involves completely writing-off the initial purchase price of anything I buy as a modding platform or fixer-upper, and then not spending any more on parts than I'm confident I can sell the whole thing for once completed, unless I'm willing to lose the additional outlay. That's perhaps just a me-thing, though!

Agreed. I put GB707s on all my Ibanez SRs. Never had a problem with the function of the stock ones myself, but I prefer the shape of the tuning keys and the wider string posts on the Gotohs, and they feel nicer. I also used them on my Harley and Fazley cheapo P copies, but that required a degree of bodgery to get the 18mm holes down to 14mm.

Aye, at least with those you can just replace the barrels if you really object to a whole different bridge, and if you don't then there are loads of drop-in replacements from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sadly this was the cheaper end of Ibanez, and I think they choose mounting screw locations by committee.

I doubt it, to be honest, but in the spirit of this thread I'll be sure to include it should I ever come to sell. I've actually just recently bought another Rockbass - a Streamer LX this time - and I've done a version (the pickups are passive J's, so no battery or switch needed) of the same thing with that so they're both nearing P-bass levels of 'nothing to go wrong', and I wired them up so I've only got myself to blame if anything does! I guess some would call what I've done a downgrade... I know my limits where the tinkering is concerned, but I bought both of these as end-of-line b-stock returns and was quietly confident that I'd be able to get them into shape. They were both Friday afternoon specials in the fit and finish department and the fret ends needed attention, but they've got good bones and they're now metal-gig-appropriate workhorses.