Ed_S

I've got a TU-3W. My girlfriend asked me what I wanted for my birthday and specified "something stupid that you want but can't justify buying yourself" so that's what I ended up with! I like that the W means it's painted black and has blue lights, but I really can't tell any functional difference between it and my normal TU-3.

I recently picked up a second hand Rebop 5 with Aguilar DCBs and have been practising and rehearsing with it pretty much exclusively for a month or so now with a new project that's just getting going. Happy to report I'm a convert to the point of trading my Stingray 5 to finance a second Rebop 5 with EMGs so I have a pair for eventual gigging. The neck has a much more pleasing profile to me than the Ray, and the ability to have slightly thinner strings over a slightly longer scale suits my preferences too. The pots with no centre detents are a bit irritating because by the time you've carried it any distance in a gig bag they'll have moved and you can't just think "put it all back to centre and back-off the bass a bit" for example. Oh, and the bridge is strange to set up until you get used to it. Neither are deal-breakers, though; the preamp is very capable and the bridge seems solid when you get it how you want it. [quote name='FarFromTheTrees' timestamp='1493133270' post='3285930'] About the neck dive, could that not be remedied somewhat by moving the rear strap button to where they re typically placed? I could have this done professionally as a friend of mine is a luthier who actually used to work at Overwater. [/quote] I wondered about the strap button location, and whilst you could move it round I'd say try it where it is. Granted, I don't seem to be suffering with neck-dive on mine and all I use is a fairly standard 3" black woven polyester strap, but the position of the rear strap button seems to shunt the playing position of the whole instrument back a little, meaning that the headstock-end doesn't seem so far away, which I think maybe makes the 35" scale a little more comfortable. All I can say is that 3 hours of standing whilst holding and playing the Rebop 5 at rehearsals isn't hurting my dodgy neck/shoulder at all and that's quite a result. The only possible issue so far is that my second-hand bass arrived with some small lacquer cracks radiating away from the corners of the neck pocket (front and back), and sadly my first attempt at the new one arrived with a chunk of the finish actually split away from the surface between the neck pocket and the neck pickup rout. The second-hand one doesn't worry me and the new one is being swapped, but hopefully the combination of thin body and deep neck pocket isn't overly prone to such damage.

It can keep up with a loud metal band rehearsal played through a 4ohm STD-104HR but it sounds like it's working fairly hard to do it. I'd say it's similar in output to a GK MB200 through the same cab, but that obviously has a bit of baked-in grind to it when it gets near to full volume where the Nano stays quite clean. It was a bit of an impulse purchase and I haven't played it a great deal or for a little while, but my lasting impression was that its gig-fitness probably depends more on the amount of serious low-end you want it to produce than the volume you want it to achieve.

I've really been enjoying my Ashdown RM800 (original model rather than the evo) recently. With a SansAmp BDDI in front of it and a Markbass 4x10 on the output it's sounding just great, and yeah, the ABM might sound a bit better and the CTM maybe even a bit better than that, but I'm still not up for carrying them.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1490800867' post='3268168'] Yep - I've got some and it's great stuff, doesn't smell particularly nice, but does the job admirably. [/quote] I couldn't get past the smell. Ttried it on a cheap bass and thought it was alright but nothing particularly special so, given the whiff, binned it. My frets never seem to be that badly tarnished anyway, to be honest. The worst cleaning product I've ever had applied to a bass was called 'Chrome Frets' - it was used without asking on my brand new USA Precision as part of the free set-up that you got whether you wanted it or not, and it took ages to dissipate. Slippy liquid PTFE all over a thousand quidsworth of bass just because the guy in the shop liked it on his. Since then I've always insisted that new instruments stay in their box upon arrival at a shop; if I don't cut the tape then that one's theirs and they can order me another!

I have a Minimark 802 that I've used for acoustic singer-songwriter and middle-of-the-road rock stuff. It always handled the low B with a fairly clean tone absolutely fine - at least up to the point where I'd want to go through the PA for some reinforcement anyway.

I would (and indeed do) go for shallow as they tend to sit better on the majority of cabs I've owned/used and there's still plenty of space round the back of a LM to leave cables plugged in etc. The RBI I seem to recall is shallower than the LM, most tuners I've ever met are shallower still. The only time I'd say maybe don't shallow rack a LM is if it's a 2U rack with a removable panel rather than a full-face removable lid at the back (some older SKB ones - maybe others are out there) because it can be fiddly to plug things in if you have fairly big hands. As you're talking probably 6U I'd imagine any would be fine as the panel/hole on that particular style would be much larger.

+1 for both Bassic Bits and Cleartone. Add Bedford Guitars in Sheffield to the list. Also Designacable - only ever bought their wares via Amazon but believe they're based near Nottingham.

I recall being told that the rack compressor I wanted was 'crap' and the guy on the phone flatly refused to sell it to me; I forget exactly how he phrased it, but the essence was that if I was daft enough to insist on buying it I'd have to put the order through the website myself as it wasn't worth his while to take the order over the phone. Needless to say I knew exactly what I was ordering, what I wanted it to do, why I didn't need anything better and, following that exchange, why I'd be getting it from somewhere else! Incidentally I did just that and it still works fine. On the other hand I recall searching for rack-ears for an amp that I'd picked up ex-demo a good while after they were discontinued, and the only place that seemed to even list the right hardware was GAK. I called up and spoke to a very helpful guy who went and rooted round until he found the last remaining set (incorrectly labelled and in the wrong place), cheerily took all of about £18 for his time and effort and they arrived the next day with no fuss.

The MB200 is great - it's still one of the 'sounds in my head' with everything set at noon. The Markbass Nano 300 is also very good for a similar size if you fancy something with a different flavour. My personal favourite backup amp is a little Bose A1 power amp as it would get any member of the band out of trouble; I have a sansamp on my board and both guitarists use midi pre / valve power racks, plus it's a full-range PA amp so could cover any failure there too. Seems worth taking along for about the same size and weight as a small bass head.

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1485089094' post='3220987'] .Out of interest what were they failing on ? Earth continuity ? [/quote] Yeah, if memory serves they failed or were close to failing earth bond for their length. I had a few Y-splitter cables that had absolutely no earth continuity at all on one branch, too - they went straight in the bin.

Why not make a register of your gear, buy some specific 'visual inspection only' stickers and actually learn how to do the formal visual inspection yourself? That way you've not said something's been checked in a way that it hasn't and your gear's probably had a better going-over than a lot out there. That said, I'm trained to be 'competent' to fully PAT computer equipment in public use as part of my job, and when I tested my own moulded-plug mains leads with a calibrated tester I was amazed at how many either failed or were close to failing despite looking absolutely fine, so I'd advocate replacing those every so often irrespective. [attachment=236410:patvisinsp.png]

Probably 'King of Dreams' from the Slaves and Masters album. I enjoy a lot of the more recognised tracks too, but Joe Lynn Turner just wins it for me.

I've got a 4ohm Markbass 104HR (rear-ported version of yours) and I used to have an Orange SP212. The SP212 was a nice enough sounding cab and capable of gigging as a single cab provided you could throw some serious power at it, but it really couldn't compete with the Markbass on anything other than physical size.

I've placed two orders with them, had one Saturday delivery not turn up and one item turn up on-time but defective and had two really poor customer service experiences including feeling very much like I was being accused of breaking the defective item myself. Consequently, I won't be shopping with them again.

Theres one place that I play with a sound guy who refuses to take a DI from anything other than his own box and demands that the bass be plugged directly into it, then anything else you might have take its feed from the parallel out. In the past I've gone along with it as it wasn't worth the argument (just a bit annoying that you can't mute properly to tune) but next time will be fun as I've started using a Digitech Drop pedal instead of a dedicated bass for a second tuning we use. Hopefully I can make him stoop to using the sansamp on the end of my pedalboard or half the set is going to sound really odd out-front!

Softalind Pure (or ViscoRub if you prefer more gel-like) is my personal preference - I use it every day and have never had a problem. Purell, however, dries my hands out like crazy.

I tried a 4 string Jazz just before xmas and it was 'alright'. The finish on the back of the neck was like silk, the whole thing was very playable with a better than average setup out of the box and it sounded just like a Jazz should. However, there was slight damage to the board where a few of the frets had been installed, the board itself was a very average looking piece of wood, I could get my fingernail down the gap in the neck pocket, and the bridge pickup rout was quite noticeably big - or at least big for the pickup that was installed. I'm not a fan of the thin finish that looks almost like orange-peel over the more obvious grain in the wood either, but I know from past experience that's just how they are. I take Professional to mean that it's just a comfortable and dependable tool to do a job and should be put to work in order to pay for itself as many times over as possible before needing to be replaced, and yeah, it'd probably make a sensible business expense.

I end up with the bass knocked back, too, and then the mid/high pushed forward a bit. It was interesting to find that the ABM and RM sound similar enough to come home wearing almost the same EQ having been in the same room but months apart, hopefully meaning that in the event of a failure, you could just mirror the ABM settings onto the RM and carry on sounding roughly the same. Hope your newer 600 and 500 will be as good a match as my older 1000 and 800

After starting out on 4s (as I guess most people do) I moved fairly quickly to 5s and then used them exclusively for all the reasons already given and never had to worry about switching. Sadly, for my personal tastes, the one important thing that a 5 string Precision can't do as well as a 4 string Precision is look 'right', so when I wanted a Precision (and it had to be a 4) I resigned myself to a bit of re-thinking! I can now happily switch between 4s and 5s, and make a point of playing both as equally as possible to keep them fresh in my mind.

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1482596686' post='3201746'] Anything recommended for a skint bassist who can't afford to go down the custom fit route? I got some ACS Er20s on the web and they just kill the sound too much, we sounded like an acoustic band as opposed to rock. I know they are supposed to cut things to a certain extent but these seem too extreme! [/quote] Doc's Proplugs - I've used the vented ones for years at rehearsals and gigs with my melodic metal band, plus any gigs I go to watch and even just down the rock bar in town. They attenuate the high frequencies more than the lows, so they take away the 'fizzy' top-end from distorted guitar amps and cymbals but actually make hearing the bass easier when on stage. They aren't extreme or industrial hearing protection so I still find that my ears can be a little 'dull' if I've been somewhere brutally loud, but it's always been the kind of thing that's back to normal the next morning.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1482497669' post='3201064'] If you feel tempted to move the ABM1000 on Ed, I`d be happy to look at taking it off your hands. [/quote] Heh, no temptation in that direction right now, but I'll give you a shout if I ever start edging it closer to the door! No breath-holding, mind...

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1482492413' post='3200988'] That's why I gravitated back to the Walkabout, and latterly the Handbox R-400. Manageable, with full fat taste :-) [/quote] Aye, don't get me wrong, I know just what you mean - my equivalent is the Ashdown ABM1000 (probably similar to your HB in size) and if getting the valve head did anything (other than my back!) it was to highlight some of the reasons I like the class D Ashdown so much; it shares a lot of the 'feel' of playing a big lump of steel and glass. That said, it still misses out on a lot of action because it won't fit in the back of my laptop bag and join me on the train to work and then onwards again to sound check in the evening. I'd love to say that if I could only have one amp it'd be the Ashdown because it sounds and feels great to play and is light-ish and very powerful, but I know it's still inconvenient for a lot of what I do, so I'd take the best of the featherweights every time.

I still firmly believe that my first lightweight head and cab (MB Little Mark II / 104HR) was/is better than any of the heavy gear that I'd owned before it, and it's still the benchmark by which other gear gets measured when I'm trying and buying. That honeymoon period must be well and truly over by now - in fact, looking at the stickers, it'll be the 10 year anniversary in April! I have a 200W all-valve head and I'm not going to tell you it's not a fun thing to play, but it's sure-as-hell not a fun thing to carry and I'm confident that it sounds no better in the context of my band than my usual lightweight rig, so I'm going to keep my back happy and keep travelling light. [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1482436153' post='3200637'] It's a Coke / Diet Coke thing. One day you accidentally buy full fat Coke, and MY GOD it's nice. [/quote] But some people have a weight problem and need to resign themselves to the fact that Diet Coke helps them to manage it. Some people even prefer Diet Coke 'just for the taste of it', as the adverts used to say! If it makes any odds, I'm in both categories

Very nice bass indeed. I swapped an SR505 for one and really prefer the Nordstrand designed pickups to the Bartolini MK1s.