Ed_S

I like the string tension I get with Dunlop Super Bright rounds through the body on a US P (or J for that matter) as they're naturally a bit bendy, but the through-body stringing seems to stiffen them up a little so they end up just slightly more flexible than my usual D'addario XLs, which I really appreciate when I'm playing with fingers instead of a pick. If you meant just their flats, sorry, I've never tried theirs and I'm not likely to. I really don't mind flats as much as the next statement might suggest, but every bass I've ever put flats on has sat completely unused after the initial novelty period - several to the point of selling them on!

I used to really like the sound of fresh steels on my American Standard, but the frets on that bass were so soft that the steels made an absolute mess inside a few months. That was with ProSteels, which I always found to be relatively kind to everything else. I think Warwick Reds NPS are unpleasantly rough (especially the B string), so if the steels are anything like, I dread to think what they'd have done to that bass!

For me, the most pleasurable part of playing music is definitely gigging. Don't get me wrong, I love the general feeling of having played a great gig as much as the next guy, and seeing a room full of people having a great time is absolutely rewarding, but for me it's actually much more about each individual performance. It's that thing with a bit of a life of its own that you create as a complete one-off in that room on that night. Even though it might be the same songs as last night it still reflects how you were all feeling, how the audience was reacting, and how you were feeding off each other as the night progressed. None of you could have done it on your own, all of you together will never do it quite the same again, and you can record it and video it and stream it but it'll never quite be the same as having actually been part of it. For me, it's all about being part of that.

In the long and proud tradition of recommending what you own... my gigging combos are a Markbass CMD121p (1x12) and a Fender Rumble 500 v3 (2x10). Both are relatively light and compact, though the Markbass wins on portability. They both put out around 300/350W on their own (500W with another 8ohm cab) and are capable of handling a backline-only gig in a medium sized venue. They both seem to be about £600 new at the moment, which seems reasonable - given the price of everything right now - for what they do and how well they do it. I do get the allure of the second hand market, but I like a warranty. The currently advertised Markbass is a relatively recently released new version with an updated amp section - I'd be tempted to see if there are any deals to be done on the older versions like mine with the 'Combo Head 2' amp section if the Markbass appeals to you. The Fender has a single handle on the top, which makes carrying it harder than if it had side handles, so I fitted side handles to mine. The Markbass has furry carpet covering and no feet (just stacking corner protectors) to keep it clear of often-beer-soaked venue floors, so I fitted rubber feet to mine. The Fender has a cloth front grille and switches/jacks on the back which might make it more susceptible to damage in transit, so I bought it a cover and I'm careful how I load it. The Markbass has a heavy steel front grille and a flat back but the switches and jacks are in a recess at the bottom of the amp which makes them a literal pain in the rear to access... so I swear at it profusely and eventually use the torch on my phone. Nothing's perfect, and I like them both for different reasons! In light of what you've just said re: venue and style of music, either would do the job perfectly well. If it was my gig, I'd probably take the Fender. I absolutely can't knock the head and lightweight cab/s method either, but there are so many combinations and permutations that it's very hard to offer a review like you can for a single unit.

I decided that a backup instrument and the ability to bring it into use without any scrounging round is the most important thing to me. To that end I have a cheap spare bass in a gigbag with a strap, cable, tuner, passive DI box, a couple of picks and a fresh packet of screw-in earplugs in the front pocket. In the absolute worst case scenario of literally all my main gear being wrecked or nicked, I could get by with that into the desk - it'd be in tune and I'd not get blisters on my fingers or ringing in my ears. In the event that my backup bag got wrecked or nicked, I'd be annoyed but not exactly heartbroken. The DI box might get replaced by an Elf and its power/speaker cables depending on how it all tessellates. I have spare cables, batteries, fuses, basic tools etc. in my main gear bag, but although I do carry spare strings, I've seen enough on-stage string changes to know it's not a good look.

True.. true... but I couldn't really recommend an amp I bought on a bored whim during lockdown #1 and haven't even been bothered to grab a cab and power up yet 🙂 It comes with a nice little bag, if that makes any odds! I could also have voted for the Sansamp as I usually have one of those with me as well, but nah, team Nano! We played as local support for a band on their UK tour and the bassist was sharing his cab. Their tour manager was stood on stage giving mostly unhelpful directions as we were setting up, one of which was that I couldn't put my bass head on top of theirs as it could crush it (it was a GK 2001 RB - notoriously frangible) so mine would have to go on the floor at the side. I acted puzzled, pulled the Nano out of my gear bag, held it up and asked if he was absolutely sure. Was worth it for the bemused look on his face.

I'll vote for the Markbass Nano 300... because I've actually ended up using it as my 'main' amp. I have others to choose from, but the Nano is just a great little amp. For clarity, I'm talking about the original red Nano, not the new gold Nano II - I've not tried that yet, but will probably add one to the collection before too much longer. I have to admit the GK MB200 is really nice, though. With everything set to noon, a P-bass on full in the front and a big ol' 410 or 215 out the back it's just a great classic rock tone, but the Markbass is a bit louder, more versatile and better suited to my band. To keep with the thread, I have a TE Elf as the tiny backup for my Nano, but to be honest I don't know whether I like it or not. Or even if it works. I should probably plug it in and check at some point.

The neck on a 4 string J is just too skinny for my tastes, but the neck on a 5 string P is like a medieval weapon and all the body dimensions just look jarringly wrong; it's like somebody took a picture and stretched it sideways instead of scaling it from the corner. To my eye, the offset J lends itself much better to being a bit wider... even if it doesn't sit properly on a stand. So my particular joy would be a 4 string P and a 5 string J. Of course there's the matter of the Vol/Vol/Tone control layout, which really needs changing to Vol/Blend/Tone to be any use to me live as I like a single volume control. But then that's no major task since taking the bell-plate off a J to make adjustments or see why your bass isn't making any noise is much easier than taking the whole front off a P. Swings and roundabouts. Or should that be rotosounds?

I spent the first 10 years turning my nose up at Precisions and heading down the black-and-pointy 5 string path; BTBs, Warlocks, Vampyres etc. Then the P happened because I finally tried one and thought it was great, so I sold up and moved back to 4 string mostly-white Precisions for 10 years. Now for the last two years I've switched back to 5s, but this time it's smaller-bodied basses like Ibanez SRs and Spectors that look to be the likely flavour of the decade. I'm still keeping my favourite P (which ironically is a Maruszczyk rather than a Fender) so I can nip back for a bit whenever the mood takes me, but the others are shipping out. So yeah, it kinda happened and then un-happened to me, but I'll always like the sound of a P and don't regret giving it a good run as my main bass. Play what you're enjoying for as long as you're enjoying it, and feel free to have a change every so often.

I don’t have any real experience of the Yamaha you’re looking at - sorry. I’ve seen and handled them in a local shop and my immediate reaction was that they didn’t seem as good quality as the RBX I had years ago. The fret ends in particular weren’t all that well finished. I’ve never plugged one into an amp so I couldn’t comment on the pickups.

I have a GSR180 which I bought as a cheap backup for gigging. Fortunately I've never needed it at a gig, but I've played it at a few rehearsals and it sounded really good - quite punchy and lively. If you've tried one and you like it then I don't have any reasons to tell you not to buy it. I also have a GSR200b which I bought on a whim - no real reason other than I liked it and it was incredibly cheap! It's about the same build quality as the 180 and uses a lot of the same hardware apart from the active bass boost... which gets mixed reviews but if used sparingly actually sounds alright. Both needed a clean to get the factory dust and grime off them. Both needed a restring as the factory strings were appalling. Both came with very cheap plastic control knobs which I would swap for metal ones just because they look and feel nicer. Both are great basses for the money.

You can’t go far wrong with a P or J, but personally I’d look for the best deal I could find on an Ibanez SR - ideally an SR500 or better. They’re well made, sound versatile, really comfortable to play and you could argue they have a bit of an 80s vibe.

In my experience, some MIAs are better than MIMs and some really aren't. I'd say they tend to feel more pleasingly tactile, but playing and sounding better is not so consistently the case. I reckon the trick is to buy the one you've convinced yourself will be an 'upgrade' without selling or trading in the one you think you'll be bettering. It's only after the initial excitement wears off that you're going to really work out whether you've achieved what you hoped, and it's a massive drag when you realise it's not gone your way and you've just lost the best one you ever had... and paid for the privilege of losing it. The best I had was a MIM Standard from right after they made their comeback (2009ish maybe?) and it would knock anything I've owned since with Fender written on it into a cocked hat - including a couple of MIAs. Sadly I traded it in to get a MIJ which I'd convinced myself would be so much better. I have very few selling regrets, but that's one.

Nah, no way anyone would be borrowing anything of mine. I'd probably offer to check, restring and set up a cheap bass for the visiting player to use, provided the colleague had bought rather than borrowed the bass in question and they paid for the new strings. That way they'd know it was in good order for their run of gigs and could either sell it on afterwards to recoup some cash or store it for future visits. Or they could just hire one.

Led Zep and Steely Dan irritate me intensely, as does that 'Black Betty' song. I don't get all the hype around Ghost - for my money they have about four catchy songs. Arch Enemy - I significantly preferred Angela to Alissa, especially live. Fear of the Dark was the best Iron Maiden album until Brave New World was released. Load is the best Metallica album and Risk is the best Megadeth album. Learn an instrument by playing songs, don't just play an instrument by learning songs.

Not the ones we usually get on a 4 band night with 15 minute changeovers 🙄 My band have commented that they like to hear me playing a MB head more than various others I've taken along over the years (kinda shocked me to find they had an opinion tbh.) but they've never once taken it further than 'yellow and black car stereo is good', and they'd probably be surprised to find it's actually at least 4 different ones that they think are the same. I really want to say that yes, you can hear a slight difference in the upper-mids and highs... but sadly, on that evidence, I'd have to say it's leaning towards no, they probably all just sound like a MB in the room.

I wouldn't worry about it being more power than you need - I've never noticed any sonic benefit from driving any of the LMs hard like you might with a tube amp, so just turn the master to where you need it. If that's never above 3 then so be it. Try and get the LM800 a bit louder before you decide that it sounds the same as the LM2, though, as I'd say there are some subtle differences. You might even find that you like both of them for different reasons, which is where I'm at.

Your NRD thread suggests you have an LM800? If that's the case and you've borrowed an LM2 so you know what they both sound/feel like with your cab, then for my money the LM3 has broadly the basic sound of the LM2 but with a bit more of the feel of playing the LM800 - it's just a bit less rounded and a bit more responsive. If you prefer the sound of the LM2 to the LM800 then an LM3 would probably be alright. If you prefer the feel of the LM2 to the LM800 then an LM3 might not do it for you - I'd hunt for a low mileage LM2. For the record I have LM2, LM3, LM800, F1 and Nano300 heads and have played them all through the same 4ohm 104HR cab in the same room with the same bass and the same band playing the same songs. That said, my opinions are entirely subjective, any comparison is still mostly unscientific and free advice is generally worth exactly what you paid for it 🙂

I'd go for the Peavey. Years ago I played through one very similar (though it had obviously had an infinitely harder paper round) at a rehearsal room and it actually became a little bit on-fire while I was using it, but it didn't stop working! At the time I thought the guitarist was really digging my playing, but it turned out I just hadn't seen his "is that smoke?!" dance before.

Nah, I get that totally - and I'm not a lawyer or an electrical engineer so I freely admit I have no idea what you can or can't protect, but I have no reason at all to doubt what you're saying. I would guess, though, (and that's all it is - a guess) that being an authorised service centre for anything carries some weight in law, such that any subsequent liability is handled. I always assumed that the board-swapping which goes on in the name of repairing things these days is partly down to cost/benefit analysis and the complexity of the boards involved, but partly because they're tested and certified as-is, and they wouldn't be certified any more if somebody, irrespective of their level of skill and experience, had taken a soldering iron to them and returned them to service without the correct re-testing? As for the road-worthiness question, it's really difficult isn't it - if they were more sturdy then they wouldn't be as lightweight, but if they were heavier then they wouldn't be as easy to pull/vibrate off a cab, but then if a heavy amp still managed to fall off a cab would it be any better off?! If I were actually 'on the road' in a touring sense I'd rack things up.

I've still got my first LM2 from early 2007, an F1 from late 2010, and an LM800 that I want to say is maybe somewhere between the two but it's not here to check. I'm yet to experience an issue with any of them, but if/when I do then I'm resigned to giving them a WEEE responsible send-off and remembering the good times. If I get 10 to 15 years out of a lightweight £500 amp with no more servicing than blowing the dust out of it, then I'm genuinely alright with that. Of course you don't have to be alright with it (that's completely your call) but for all the other benefits they offer me, I am. In that moment at a gig where your amp won't turn on, though, I don't think it really matters what class it is and whether it's repairable or a total loss - it matters to me that it fails safely (I don't think anyone has suggested thus far that one class of amp is any more likely than another to fail in such a way as to present a hazard) and that I have the space and weight capacity in my gear bag to pack another one that's able to take over with minimal fuss. Also, it's very nice to know that your amp can be fixed after the fact and that the manufacturer is ready and willing to help, but everyone singing the praises of great service departments are also tacitly admitting that their gear developed a problem or failed in order to require that service. My personal experience to date means I can't reconcile the idea that amps which have failed but proven to be repairable are better than amps which haven't failed but repairs of which are widely accepted to be uneconomical.

I think in this thread, heresy might be to say that my ABM is possibly my favourite amp ever, and the RM800 just couldn't get close so I got rid of it... ...but only if I drop into conversation that it's an ABM1000, which has a class D power stage. 🙂

I reckon it's the overall design of an amp that matters - if the designer has a vision for the end result, understands the components they're working with for all they are (and aren't) and knows how to use them intelligently and to best advantage, then the fact that one of those components happens to be a commodity class d power module is neither here nor there. I just wonder how many amps exist for no greater reason than to present something with the company logo on it for sale in a particular area of the market, and how much they might unfairly sway opinion on the underlying technology if they fail to inspire. At home I actively prefer Diet Coke, but down the pub I find all Coke tastes roughly the same. 🙂

I've had a few annoyances like that, but I think the worst was when I called a shop to check that something was in stock, explained that I'd be travelling a fair distance to pick it up so really wanted to know that it was there and in good condition before setting off and was duly assured that it was both and would even be held for me until the end of the day. Given the theme of the thread... I made the journey and arrived to find that the stock check and reservation had, despite taking a while on hold, both been on computer only and the item wasn't actually there at all. I got a half-hearted 'sorry about that' as the bloke turned away and I was left standing at the counter like a lemon. Thankfully he didn't try to tell me that it would be in stock if they got another one in! 🙂 Unsurprisingly they're no longer trading.

My mum's record collection gave me a decent start with Rainbow, Whitesnake, Saxon and Meat Loaf being firm favourites, then my uncool mates at school added the likes of Guns n' Roses, Skid Row, Metallica and Megadeth, and CDs on the front of magazines filled in stuff like Dokken, Helloween, Nightwish and Hammerfall. We had a CD shop just down the road with a massive second hand section where I'd spend a lot of time flipping through the CD cases, filling in gaps in collections and picking up random stuff with cool covers. That added a fair bit to the mix but then everything started to head towards cheap CDs on Amazon and eventually streaming. Radio didn't serve me very well at all, we never had satellite/cable TV, and the cool kids at school were obsessed with Foo Fighters, Green Day, Muse and Aerosmith (none of which I ever connected with) at the point where I was getting interested in playing guitar, so if it was left to those avenues of discovery who knows what I'd be listening to.