Ed_S

They just felt like fairly standard NPS rounds to me as I was taking them off my new aerodyne to put prosteels on it. I did, however, notice they were quite thin - can't remember the exact gauges but I got my vernier round them and they were about 40,60,75,95ish. Could it be that you just like thinner strings than you thought?! I'm pretty sure I've not thrown the ones I took off mine in the bin yet. If they're still sat in the 'steels packet on my bench and you want them, you're welcome to them - just PM me an address and I'll bung them in an envelope.

I've recently picked up one of the FSRs and, having done a couple of gigs with it at the end of last week and a rehearsal this evening, whilst I can't speak for the more expensive version, I really like this one. There are, however, a few issues I found that may be worth mentioning and a couple of mods that I felt were required to make it work for me... I noticed when buying mine that the quality control maybe isn't all that great as they had one of each (white, blue, grey and red) in the shop, and the white was the only one that didn't have surface cracking coming away from the corners of the neck pocket. The skunk-stripe on the blue was very rough and standing slightly proud of the neck at the headstock end. The bridge on the red is slightly different (more high-mass looking) to the others, but the standard BBOT bridges have quite small barrel saddles which leave the height adjustment screws perfectly poised to rip chunks out of your hands. I sorted the bridge out by swapping it for a Wilkinson with big brass saddles, but bear in mind that your options are somewhat limited if you don't fancy any DIY because it sits on a recessed platform routed into the top of the body. The intonation screws on the Wilkinson were too short, so I made a mash-up of the two bridges using the longer screws from the original. The metal knobs just weren't to my liking so they got swapped out for a normal Jazz set. A few swaps and changes and a full setup with the right strings later, and it's a keeper!

I can recommend the Markbass Micromark 801 - absolutely great little amp.

I had two HA heads that were great sounding, just too heavy given that I could get an equally pleasing, if different, sound from something that fits in the top of my cable bag. If Hartke made an HA5500 with a lightweight power section (like Ashdown made the ABM1000) then I'd probably end up with one. Only negative experience was with an LH1000, but that was most likely just a duff valve. It worked for long enough to ascertain that I preferred the HA series, so I swapped it for one.

I use the bottom of a set of D'Addario EXL220-5 (60,75,95,125) for my C bass. It's a standard Precision and the tension feels pretty normal to me given that I usually play 40,60,80,100 in both Eb and standard.

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1407797966' post='2524204'] [b]Edit:[/b] Always having stuff on hand, I never did turn up to a gig where no-one had brought any gear. I'd love to see how it went down at the ones where that was the case though. It [i]must[/i] have happened somewhere! [/quote] Happened to me once - there'd been emails flying about to organise the gear share and one guy had said that he needed his rig to get his sound so would be taking it irrespective and everybody was welcome to plug in. Quick check that the head had an fx return and I was happy to just rock up with my Sansamp. Come the evening in question, however, there was no sign of the rig; the guy had decided to "use the house rig or whatever for this one" despite the whole point of the email trail being that there was nothing provided other than PA. I actually offered to let everybody use my Sansamp through the PA, but the other bands didn't like the idea so one of their guys disappeared for half an hour and came back with a Peavey MicroBass borrowed from a friend that lived locally and everybody else opted to play through that, mic'd. These days I always at very least have a lightweight 1x12 and the means to power it, even if it ultimately stays in the car.

That's one hell of a prac amp! I used to have an HA2000 in storage at our rehearsal space and keep an HA5500 at home to take out for gigs. They're absolutely great gigging amps; tonnes of power, versatile and built like tanks. However, unless they've changed significantly in the last few years they're in no way light for getting round on public transport, and the fans on every one I've used were too loud for me to enjoy playing quietly at home. Hopefully all that was covered in the online reviews and you've factored it in.

If you don't drive and want a small, bus-portable combo that produces a genuinely pleasing sound I can wholeheartedly recommend the Markbass Micromark 801. You need one in front of you to fully comprehend just how much a little amp can do if it's designed right! http://www.thomann.de/gb/markbass_micromark_801.htm

Just bought Chris' Radial Pro-DI and am happy to report that he's a pleasure to do business with; consequently the whole deal was cordial, swift and trouble-free. The DI box itself was delivered by a proper courier and, despite being the sort of thing that will be left intact when the bomb drops, was packaged in such a way that I had to break out a substantial knife to gain entry! Upon doing so, it was found to be just as minty-fresh as advertised and is currently looking very much at home next to my existing Pro-48. Thanks again, Chris!

Do you mean something like the Behringer FBQ2496? If so, yeah, they work quite well.. no substitute for common sense, of course, and maybe I'm thick but even after reading the manual I've never been able to do anything more fancy with it than turn it on, bung it in automatic and let it do its thing. It still does its thing, though!

I had the 208 very briefly and it showed some promise given its price tag, but sadly it was faulty and because there were other reports of people having similar issues I decided to just stump up the cash and buy the Minimark that I actually wanted rather than get a replacement. I can't write a valid review after a couple of weeks of owning a defective unit, but if I did, it'd say that it wasn't very loud given its stated output (especially compared with the Minimark) and is surprisingly heavy for what it is and not a particularly comfortable carry over any distance. The DI out sounded nice, but needing it in a very tame rehearsal with two mic'd singers and one acoustic guitar wasn't all that great.

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1401096132' post='2459891'] Can you clarify from memory how you were using the RBI/amp together? I've heard/read so many conflicting methods of connections (jack to jack, XLR to XLR), going into the front panel RBI or the rear one. Power amp full up and control the overall output with the RBI level knob. And so on. [/quote] I'm pretty sure I tried the lot, but the setup as pictured was going into the front of the RBI with the DBX in the loop and out to the XLS over XLR-XLR. Wow.. that was a lot of TLAs! The other problem I found with the RBI was that it's not the quietest (or least noise susceptible, maybe) pre-amp out there, so when I tried going jack-jack instead of XLR-XLR and putting a clean boost (MXR MicroAmp) in the middle, the electrical hum was just too prevalent. Edit: forgot to answer the last bit - I ended up with the power amp full-up and using the level on the RBI as the master volume, even though that doesn't appear to be the case on the picture.

I used an RBI into a Crown XLS1500 for a while. Obligatory grainy phone-camera picture included.. They're great power amps, but sadly they need to be driven with more oomph than my RBI could ever put out, so whilst it was a loud rig, it was always running flat out to try and keep up. I ended up dismantling the rig, using the RBI for recording and the XLS to power the PA tops. Guess what I'm saying is whatever you choose, run the numbers and make sure that the sensitivity of the power amp input is right to match up with the pre-amp output.

Never played the Hartke myself, but I'll take the opportunity to say that the loudest and best sounding small, lightweight single cab I've found so far (including the Midget) is the Markbass NY121. It'd go perfectly with the Blackline head, too. Bit more expense in the short term, but a great cab.

[quote name='Muri' timestamp='1396004779' post='2408855'] Hi Ed, would liek to ask for an update on your experience with that mini rig you have, particularly when using it for small pub gigs — would it do the job at Barfly, for example? I'm about to buy the Black Line 250 and I'm tempted with the Ex112 to match a power/portable amp/cab. Thanks in advance! Cheers, [/quote] Hi Muri, Sadly I don't own the Eden any more, having traded it for a Barefaced Midget. It was a good cab for the money, but you couldn't attenuate the tweeter element of the speaker, and ultimately I didn't feel that the co-axial speaker was altogether happy with what I was throwing at it. Depending on what you play, I don't think you'd have any problem with the volume of it at a 'normal' pub gig without PA, and the Markbass' VLE control would certainly help with the tweeter, but keep your expectations realistic in terms of loud low-end. All the best, Ed

And just for added confusion on the Ashdown front, I believe I've already said in this thread or another like it that the ABM500 is one of the worst amps I've owned, but having recently given them another chance the ABM1000 is, without hesitation, one of the best.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it - the reports from other owners are great and my own experience of basically the same thing but in two boxes is similarly very good. Just to complete the thread for the benefit of anybody reading at a later date, I got the 802 because I wanted something for small acoustic gigs that was just plug and play, and I got it at a price it would have been rude to refuse! I agree completely that if I were paying full price and only wanted one combo to cover everything, it'd be the 121p every time.

No probs Kev :-) The CMD121p was *that* close to being part of my little collection, but because I have LMII and LM800 heads already, I went for the NY121 cab. But now, given that I have the 'right' extension cab, I keep thinking that I might yet pick up the combo, drop the new LM3 combo-head out, chuck my trusty LMII in there and see how much cash I can get back for a brand new combo-head. But do I really need it, given that on its own the NY121 knocks down walls, and I already have the 801 for home *and* 802 for acoustic gigs... As you so rightly say, decisions!

I made time this evening to try the boost pedal idea I was musing on previously, and am happy to report that it worked nicely... but not as nicely as an old Boss GEB-7 graphic EQ pedal that I tried out of interest but then spent the next two hours playing through. Don't get me wrong, the 801 is great on its own, but the EQ pedal gives back the missing tone controls as well as the ability to push the input a little harder. Even with extra input level and a gentle bass boost, low B is still loud, clear and fart-free. I'd like to try the Markbass MB7 Booster, but until I can, the Boss looks like it'll be staying hooked up.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1393457800' post='2380691'] I just want a speaker than sounds as full and rich as possible at low volumes..and one that doesn't fart out should I choose to turn it up [/quote] I honestly think the 801 would be worth a road-test, then. Of the small amps I've either owned or borrowed, the list including both of the little Roland Cubes (4 small speakers and 1 larger one), Line 6 Studio 110, Fender Rumble 15, Marshall B25 and even a TC BG250-208, it's the best quality sound I've had; it's like 'me playing quietly through my bigger rig' rather than 'me making do with a prac amp because I'm at home'.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1393443181' post='2380442'] The 'full' sound was certainly something I was looking for, and I assume from the cone's 200w handling the sound is still crystal clear at full whack? [/quote] I've only gone up to about 3/4 on the master but that was certainly loud and still clear. Given the way it responds to different basses I own, I get the feeling there might be some mileage in using a clean boost before the input to get maximum volume from passive or lower output basses, but I'm yet to try that out.

I bought one a few weeks ago and have been very impressed by it so far. It's not really much louder than I expected it to be given that it's Markbass, but I certainly didn't expect it to sound as big and 'full' as it does. I paid the premium in the hope that it would sound like a Markbass rather than a cheap prac amp, and I've not been disappointed. I say go for it!

Just got back from rehearsing with my new NY121 and was very impressed with it. I went with it over the combo because a} I already have MB heads, so why buy another and b} as mentioned I can manage the tweeter on the cab but can't properly on the combo. Maybe cheated a little bit because I was using the LM800 so had a fair bit more power available than the combo would have, but it's just successfully done battle with a full drum kit and two guitarists using 200W and 300W rack rigs through Marshall 1936 (2x12) cabs, and I actually had to turn down a bit from where I assumed I'd need to be pitching to keep up. I took a grainy photo on my phone for no other reason than I recalled seeing this thread and thought I'd enthuse a little when I got back home

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. In the end, I decided that the strings were just the last point on a list of reasons I didn't get on with that bass, so I swapped it for the Markbass combo I wanted, and having spent some time playing my MIM Jazz V and Ray35 through it, am confident I made the right call.

Cheers for the suggestions, guys. I'd not actually considered Fender strings given that they're the first thing I've taken off every Fender I've ever bought. That said, chances are that what rolls out of the factory might not be the same as what arrives in the packet. Steels I love, but I'm trying to limit the number of basses I chew the frets up on. I can see both my workhorse P's (4 string) needing a re-fret before long, which for the one with the lacquered maple board, probably won't be much fun. I'll be honest, I'm stuck between spending the cash on new strings and maybe more work to get this how I want it, or just saying sod it and trading it in against the Markbass combo I'm fancying. I've recently acquired a Ray35 which sits nicely alongside my MIM Jazz V and together they're making the P seem less and less comfortable. Dunno yet.. need to have a good think!