Ed_S

I did. I'm enjoying it and I don't regret my decision. 🙂 I totally get not understanding why somebody else has bought something you wouldn't, though. At about the same time I bought my bass, a mate from work paid roughly the same on booking a big family holiday. To my way of thinking, all he'll get for his money is photos I can find on google image search, sand in places it should never be, and an overwhelming feeling of relief when he can sleep in his own bed again!

Nah, I get that - it sounds like you've got your setup sorted out just right for what you do, and that festival gig was a pain for completely avoidable reasons which is a guaranteed irritation. I've been in similar situations myself a couple of times so I know it's not always as-advertised, though I've always been able to sort something out and not killed an amp on a loaner cab yet. I reckon we've both given decent advice and justifications - it'll just depend on aims and resources which is most appropriate to anyone reading.

It's not always ideal, but you can't deny that 'heads and breakables' is the reality of playing certain types of gigs when you're a certain type of band. In those circumstances, if you're the one that tips up with your full rig when you've been explicitly told that there's no time or room for it, or conversely doesn't tip up with an amp head because you're not risking it, it's also a good way to get dropped from future gigs with that promoter or venue because there are always other bands that will make their lives easier. We've played some of our best local support slots for touring bands not because we were always the best fit for the gig musically, but because we have a reputation with the stage manager of the local rock club for turning up when we're told, bringing and leaving what we're instructed, setting up and checking un-fussily, playing for as long as we're given, and clearing the stage quickly afterwards. In terms of where to go after your first combo, getting a loud little amp head and some cables in a bag can't be the worst advice going if it lets you access a really commonly found format for getting out there and playing some music with/to some people.

If you're on the rock/metal originals path, then take full advantage of the fact that your rehearsing and gigging world is littered with old, heavy, tatty-looking house cabs that are otherwise perfectly serviceable and make plenty of noise for the rooms you'll find them in. Venues will often tell you not to bring cabs anyway - just heads and breakables - as there's nowhere to put them and no time to go swapping them over. Start out by just getting a good quality 5-800W lightweight amp head, a bag or case to keep it safe in and a couple of sturdy speaker cables. At the point where you actually need a cab, go for lightweight and well engineered, sell the combo to part-fund it and get either a vertical 2x10 or 2x12 depending on whether you need to be loud or very loud.

I recently went through an equipment cull which yielded a chunk of capital to re-invest in the hobby. Part of it went on a new Stingray 5 Special, and yeah it was expensive, but it was exactly what I wanted, I had the funds, I couldn't get it any cheaper, and it's a great bass that I'm really pleased with. I think it was worth paying what it cost me to own this specific mass-produced bass.

Completely fair, that. I've never aimed for massive low end output, as in the rehearsal room I find it just hides stuff and on stage it's usually unhelpful when trying to manage feedback; much better left for the PA to deliver from the other side of the mics. I'm sure I'd feel quite differently if the genre I played demanded it, or if I was frequently playing much larger stages, outdoors, or was needing to provide all the bass that was being heard. At that point, I'd be pulling the Super 12 and Midget stack out of storage! But yeah, it's absolutely worth noting, because it doubtless affects my opinion of these cabs.

I had a One10 bought for me as a birthday present a few years ago, and whilst it was a very nice gift, I had no real use for it at the time and then covid happened, so it sat in its bag doing nothing. Recently, though, I've been having quite a ruthless declutter, and rather than sell the One10, I decided to take BF at their word (that a One10 would shift as much air as a decent 1x15 or 2x10) and get another to pair up with the one I already had, and replace my Markbass 104HR rehearsal cabinet. It's turned out better than I could ever have hoped - they're just as loud, but so much clearer. Even the guy who runs the studios we rehearse at keeps coming for a listen and can't quite believe how good they sound - and not just 'for the size'. So my take on it is that if you wouldn't have thought twice about using a conventional, commodity 1x15 or 2x10, you'll be fine with a One10, and if you'd have been reaching for a similar quality 4x10 or 2x15, then a pair of One10s will do the same job just as well if not better. I've been so impressed that I sold my Rumble 500 v3 combo and put the money towards ordering a Two10 for gigging with.

Bridges with grub screws sticking out of them get replaced with something smooth. Pickups that feel hollow and plasticky when you rest your fingers on them (some of the Ibanez Dynamix ones, for example) get replaced with something that feels solid. Cheap basses get a full rewire with decent components so I know they're not going to let me down... which is not to say that they would have, but I feel more confident knowing I did the wiring myself. But then there are less practical things like my preference for the keys on Gotoh GB707 tuners. Those that come fitted to most basses with 14mm holes in the headstock remind me of garden taps, so whilst they work fine, they get replaced with 707s.

Absolutely worth a try - I’ve used it to go 3 semitones down from both E and Eb, and it worked equally well, so that little bit extra seems feasible. I used a Thumpinator in front of the Drop on my live board and felt that it performed better than the one on my rehearsal board for which I didn’t splash out on another HPF.

I've used the Digitech Drop quite a bit and found it good enough for playing live up to 3 semitones down provided it gets a clean signal. Any further down and the chorus thing mentioned above gets too noticeable for my liking. Taking E down to B would be asking a bit too much in my experience.

I've tried a fair few over the years, but I always end up back with a Levy's M8P3-XL. The Mono Betty was comfortable enough, but it's the first strap I've ever had a lock pull its way through the end of. The Comfort Strapp somewhat ironically sat in just the wrong place and put pressure on a nerve in my shoulder, so was anything but comfortable. I've made sure that my basses are reasonably light and balance reasonably well, so a good chunk of slightly rough 3" wide seatbelt substitute is where it's at for me.

I've never liked Rics at all, and I generally much prefer the other style of Spector headstock, but I do quite like that.

Yup, I'd be having a look at those Pulse II models for a grand. The only reason I've not got one to keep my Rebop company is that they don't do them in high-gloss poly finishes. Aside from that, when you've gone through P, J, Ray and Spector, I'd say Ibanez SR Premiums rock pretty hard and can be found new for around a grand (sometimes a bit less if you're flexible on colours, finishes and ex-display).

I can't recall the full list, especially not in the right order, but the spirit of the journey in general goes.. Park B25 mkII practice combo to get me started. Trace Commando 15 mkII as my first 'real' amp. Hartke HA2000 and VX410 as my first separates rig. SWR Workingman's 4004 as it was passively cooled and the fan on the HA2000 was irritatingly akin to a jet engine. Then it all went a bit wrong as I tried to like various flavours of Ashdown MAG and ABM stuff. Big, costly mistake. I chance-encountered Markbass on a trip to ElectroMusic in Doncaster, bought my LM2 (which I still have) and was happy again! But I realised that I missed my Hartke, so I got a HA5500 which I left at the rehearsal studio with my remaining ABM410. Decent rehearsal rig. Treated myself to a matching Markbass 104HR cab to go with my LM2 for live use, and that's really where I should have stopped. Of course I didn't stop.. I got a taste for class D stuff and have bought various mini amps to try out over the years, keeping some of them and shifting others. Barefaced cabs came on the scene so I got a Super 12 and a Midget for live use, and assigned the Markbass 104HR and an LM800 to rehearsal duties. Everybody on here raved about the Rumble 500 combo, so I bought one to see what the fuss was about. It turned out to be pretty good so I kept that. Most recently I finally got rid of the trusty old 104HR and replaced it with a pair of Barefaced One10s for rehearsals - they sound great with the LM800. Given the success of the One10s, I'm currently musing on selling the Rumble and replacing it with a Two10 and Markbass Nano for small/medium gigs.

Originally I was just looking for louder and smaller, and I found that fairly early with my Markbass LM2 and 104HR. These days, within sense and reason, I don't mind getting drawn into buying stuff that people are madly enthusing about on here just to see whether I think it's worth all the fuss they're creating. Some stuff has worked out really well (e.g. Barefaced cabs, Rumble 500 combo), whilst other bits have been less successful but still kinda fun to experience for a while.

As an absolute bare minimum, I take an extra one of each type of cable I use, the last set of still-serviceable strings which came off my bass, a fresh set of batteries for anything that takes them, and a really basic toolkit. And some bog roll and antibacterial hand-wipes. Unless I'm travelling by train, I'll normally have a backup bass with me. I keep a DI box, strap, lead, tuner, picks and earplugs in its gigbag since I figure that's just enough to get me through a gig with PA or a house/loaner amp if the rest of my kit had mysteriously vanished. If I'm using my pedalboard I take a spare wireless pack, and the board itself starts with an A/B box that has the wireless on one input and a cable ready to go on the other. The board also ends with a Sansamp that isn't part of my sound - it's just there to help out if stuff goes wrong. I've needed the backup bass once due to my main picking up interference from something, had a cable die on me travelling between two gigs in the same afternoon so had to use the extra one, and needed to use the Sansamp once when the house amp went down.

Another vote for the Rumble 500 v3 as a solid, loud, general-purpose workhorse. I'm yet to find an Ampeg that I like as much in a mix as I do on its own, whereas the Rumble maybe sounds less remarkable on its own but works better for me in the context of a live band. Just my opinion, of course. I normally play Markbass/Barefaced if that gives any indication of the ballpark tone I'm after from my gear.

Aye, I just had the same - 16th January I asked after availability of USA Stingrays that weren't the couple of colours they had in stock. Said they'd let me know, but that was the last I heard from them. Took my money elsewhere and got one I'm pleased with so it's all good, but I was surprised that they didn't seem to fancy an easy profit on a box-shifting exercise.

I bought a bass from them a couple of weeks ago. Took a few tries to get through on the phone as it was engaged, but I got through within about half an hour of the first try. The whole email exchange that followed to finalise the purchase (details -> invoice -> payment confirmation -> shipping link) can't have taken more than 15 mins back-and-forth. The tracking went weird overnight so I emailed in the morning to ask whether it had actually gone out and, again, got a response back in minutes apologising that the courier simply hadn't turned up so it was still waiting along with various other packages. I thanked them for the update and they thanked me (kinda unnecessarily in a pure business sense) for my understanding. The bass arrived the next day. So, no problems as of a couple of weeks ago.

I know you're mulling 1x12 Vs 2x10 and people keep chipping in with other stuff, but the Barefaced One10 is seriously worth a look, especially if you could pick one up cheapish on the second hand market. I've just replaced a decent conventional 800W 4ohm 4x10 with a pair of BF One10 cabs, and they're competing favourably in a large rehearsal space with an absolutely built drummer and two guitarists with half-stacks. I reckon just one and your 200W amp would easily do what you need and be almost insignificant on a flight of stairs. Our rehearsal space is up about 8 flights and at around half your age I don't mind admitting that I enjoyed taking my two new cabs up them, one in each hand, a lot more than I did bringing the old one back down in full bear-hug stance on its final trip out!

I mostly play power metal, so not the heaviest and lowest stuff out there, but still loud metal. Speaking purely from my own experience, everything Barefaced that I've played has sounded clearer than everything MB that I've played. It's entirely possible that a MB 2x10 stood on its end so the drivers are aligned vertically might be every bit as good as the double BF One10 stack I've just switched to for rehearsal... I don't honestly believe that would be the case based on my experience of the 104HR, but I've not tried it so I can't say. The closest to a direct comparison that I've ever done myself is my Super 12 powered by a LM3 compared with a CMD121p combo sitting on a NY121 extension cabinet; essentially the same amp head into two vertical 2x12 speaker arrangements. The MB sounded capable, but the BF sounded powerful. The MB stack went loud but started to lose definition and get "shouty" the more power you threw at it, whereas the BF stayed under control and retained clarity.

My main cabs until very recently were a Markbass 104HR (square 4x10, 4R) for rehearsals, and a Barefaced Super 12 (vertical 2x12, 4R) for gigs - pretty much the first two suggestions you got, just the Super 12 is a product generation older than the Super Twin, but still an excellent cab. I recently sold the 104HR and replaced it with a vertically stacked pair of Barefaced One10 (1x10, 8R each) as my rehearsal rig. The difference in clarity and the increase in control over the low end in the rehearsal space instantly proved to me that it was the right decision, even if it perhaps doesn't look like the obvious choice for a loud metal band. I could easily gig with those cabs as well (as long as the available PA was matched to the venue) and I wouldn't have any problems hearing myself on stage using the rig as my monitor, but they might lack a bit of visual stage presence in a metal show. The Barefaced vertical 2x12 cabs are incredibly capable, sturdy, light, portable and look right on stage, so in the longstanding tradition of recommending what you yourself use, I'd keep an eye out for a Super 12 on the second hand market.

Whilst not the ones linked above, I did buy a couple of sets of Regular Slinky 5s since they had some money off them on Amazon the other day. Unfortunately that's gone from being a few quid saved to a total loss. They're fine as long as I don't touch them or breathe on them, but as soon as they contact even the slightest hint of moisture they let off a really strong sulphurous 'rotten eggs' smell. I've been playing NPS rounds for 23 years and never experienced anything like it. I recently bought a very expensive set of the same strings (you know, the ones that come with a free bass) and they don't smell, so maybe the fart-spray effect dissipates after a while, or maybe these are just a strange anomaly. No real point to this comment.. just felt compelled to share, and it's not worth a thread of its own!

Music Man say they do ("Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and alumin[i]um lined pickguard") but the preamp on mine still manages to pick up Radio 1. Literally.

I use aluminium tape and it's the same deal, but I've found that wearing a disposable cotton glove (like the ones antiques assessors use) on the hand that I primarily use for pressing down the tape makes the job a lot less painful all round.