ratking

If the tweeter works, and it's still not bright enough to your taste - try the Hartke Hydrive series, or various GK cabs. I didn't like them at all, so they might be exactly what you're looking for

Damn, that's exactly what I'm after for quite a while now ... Sadly, it's a little bit to far from Munich for collection Well, guess I'll just have to wait 'till there's a natural finished $$4 for sale around here some day - good luck with the sale anyway, it's an excellent bass, and absolutely worth the money!

[quote name='deanovw' timestamp='1352055365' post='1858243']Loud? oh yes.. I had to keep an eye on myself!!
[/quote]

Yes, the LB550 certainly DOES get loud, if you want it to Mine is now running through a single VS212, and my guitar players keep telling me to turn it down 'cause they want to hear the drums

OK, I only turn it up that far once in a while to annoy them, actually I usually try to blend it into the band sound as good as possible - which works very well with the LB550, I can get a nice, gritty rock-sound that sits in the mix perfectly without much tweaking. Great little amp. love it

Played the T-Max head in my old (black/thrash metal) band, great amp - actually preferred it over the Ampeg SVT-3pro (which I originally wanted to buy before I came across the T-Max). Wanted something lighter after a while, but tone-wise it's still one of those amps I regret having sold!

But 500[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£ is way overpriced ... Got mine for about 150[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£ (though it really was a great deal), but from time to time they appear on ebay or the 2nd hand market for about 180-250[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£. If you don't mind the weight and like the tone, and find one in good condition in that price range - go for it, they really are great, reliable amps [/font][/color]

Cool, Congratulations, and thanks for posting Got the LB550, too - rather good deal, though no anywhere near as good as yours - and, most important, great amp! Played the ABM500 for quite a while, but the LB550 definitely has a different sound (that suits my style even more). The same amount of massive bottom end, but somehow much more ... hm ... "creamy", can you say this? Sorry, my English is long past it's best days

And the LB550 also has a much more pronounced, clear high-end. It CAN sound very "vintage", but in my opinion it's also really easy to dial in rather modern (rock) sounds, though it never gets too over the top ... Still sounds pleasant with extreme EQ settings.

Amazing amp, I play it in a 90s-style-thrash-metal-band, but it delivers a huge range of (tube) tones ... Actually, I'm quite impressed - played it for rehearsal, have yet to gig it. And it can get DAMN loud, have to compete with our guitarists' two tube-stacks - we aren't one of these quiet, disciplined bands at rehearsal I've got it running with the gain at about 60% and the master at about 40% - it's still got plenty of headroom, but is already more than loud enough Without any dropouts or similar problems that I experienced with several other digital power stages.

Just ordered the VS212 cab, too, as with my last 12/8/tweeter cabs I found I liked the tone most with the 8s and tweeters off. So the V212 should be a good match, and at 8ohm can still be upgraded to 2 cabs ... And, admittedly, it just perfectly suits the LB's look

Bought my Ashdown ABM500 there, good price, very fast delivery (to Germany, faster than most German shops!!!), very easy to deal with, great support ...

Had the R500 - excellent amp for "wooly" old-school rock sounds For modern rock or metal, it might lack high end and "snappiness" (that's why I sold it) ... But or classic rock tones, it's great!

Hm, let's see if I still get it together

-> some Behringer Combo (actually quite decent, nothing special, did the job)
-> Warwick ProFet IV (through a 2x12" from FMC, small German company)
-> Hughes&Kettner QC412 combo
-> Warwick Tube Path 5.1 (through two FMC 1x12"/1x8" cabs which I play 'till today)
-> Ampeg SVT-IIp + Alto D3 power amp
-> BBE BMax + Alto D3
-> ADA MB-1 + Alto D3
-> ADA MB-1 + SWR 800W power amp
-> Peavey T-Max
-> Markbass R500
-> Hartke LH500
-> GK 800RB
-> Ashdown ABM500 EvoIII (blackface special edition), my no.1 amp 'till today

Well, with 70 gigs a year, I myself would actually try to find a professional solution. The band then more or less is a professional business, and you seem to make money with it, right? Then I'd buy things like PA, mixing desks, monitors, mics, cables etc. for the band, either with money you've put back for such things (though I haven't played in a band that far-sigthed up to now ), or every "share holder" pays an equal share. If someone leaves? Then he gets back his share ... Not the full money, but the remaining asset value (here in Germany, it's usually minus 25% per year, after 4 years, it's fully expensed, so you don't get back anything). That would be the professionell "business" approach, that should leave noone feel ripped off.

The only other working solution I have found up to now: One band member (in my band, that was me ) buys the PA, the band can use it in the practice room (it has to be stored somewhere anyway), and the owner gets the money back by renting it to other bands for small gigs, or his wife for her belly dancing troupe For each gig, he gets a certain amount of the income as PA rent, too.

Brilliant Though I never understood how anyone can spend the whole gig standing on one spot - I couldn't play bass without moving, and if our singer SHOULD happen to want the position center/front of stage back for some singing, posing or whatever it is that these guys do, he would probably tell me

Is the Alto stuff available in Ireland? Then, I'd have a look at the APX1500 (or maybe APX1000). Had it's predecessor, the D-3, in my rack-days Excellent switchmode poweramp, lightweight, and more than enough bottom end

Both are brilliant amps, but if the compressor rellay is the only difference (I only know & own the EVO III head, though it's the UK-made blackface special edition), it's not worth it in my opinion ... For my taste, the III's onboard compressor just doesn't sound good, it takes away too much of the tone somehow. I now use a EBS Multicomp in front of the amp, and never looked back to the ABM's onboard compressor

As bass player, I'd absolutely agree with you But as audio engineer doing the occassional live job, my eternal wrath goes to those dragging their 810 fridge and 300W tube head on stage and so making it COMPLETELY impossible to achieve anything even close to a decent monitor mix

Unless you're plaing the REALLY big stages, a rig like that won't make the audio engineer your friend Keeping that in mind, I myself have settled for a (in my opinion rather good) compromise and use two 1x12"/1x8" cabs. That's more than enough for medium to bigger sized stages (for small gigs, I usually only take one of the cabs), still lets me feel my bass, and I can turn the amp up enough to sound decent without crosstalking to every mic on stage

Had the ODB-3 for quite a while, too, and actually liked it to just add a little bit of aggressive, nasty dirt to the LH500 I played back then ... Sounds best if you keep the distortion level really low - but no matter how you set it, it just doesn't add warmth, it's definitely the wrong pedal for that, I'd say!

Right now I'm really happy with my Catalinbread SFT, have tried many bass overdrive pedals, but nothing comes close - but I still have to try the Rusty Box, so we'll see

I'd also vote for another cab first - if you have to play small gigs without PA support, even a good and loud single 12" just isn't enough when paired up with drums and guitar amps (or, even worse, stacks). I did many gigs without PA support for bass, usually bringing my two 12"/8" cabs, and was fine even with loud death & black metal bands. Usually with an amp somewhere around 500W - wchich I never needed, 250W probably would have been enough. But with a single 12"/8", it was really hard to cut through ...

Looks great, even like the sunburst And I own several basses and guitars made in Korea, all are excellent in quality, sound and playability - so no concerns there ...

But just never could get to like the Sandberg necks - pity!

The first thing I usually do when getting an new (or new second-hand) bass is lowering the string action for a little bit of "fret sound" in the tone

But besides that, I couldn't agree more ... I always wipe my bass clean after rehearsal or gigs, give the body a good polish from time to time, and clean the fretboard with a little bit of lemon oil at each string change.

I don't care if my basses have some scratches, dings etc. ... Just shows they get played But I just can't understand people dragging around a dirty bass that doesn't show any traces of maintenance over the last twenty-something years and make me want to wash my hands just after looking at it

Sounds like a typical grounding problem ... Is there a loose cable in your control cavity? Could be the electronic's grounding cable that's come loose. Could also be a bad soldering joint, might need resoldering ...

Are you using pure tung oil, or some kind of tung oil finish? If the latter is the case, better check the instructions, if it's OK to thin it down ...

If it's pure oil, thinning it down should work fine. I don't think it seals the wood better than pure oil, at least if you apply the oil thin enough for the first layers and let each layer dry out completely. But dilution with white spirit or similar should make the first layers dry much quicker, so (although I didn't try it myself, so it's just an educated guess ) I'd say yes, it's probably a good idea!

EDIT: And it would be great if you could post pictures of the process an the final results, though I'll probably envy you even more

[quote name='radansey' timestamp='1331710955' post='1577386']Will the oil soak into the end-grain so I don't get an even colour over the entire body?[/quote]

If you apply thin enough layers, you should get a quite even color ... When doing a natural oil finish for a guitar body, I got a nice, even result at about the third thin layer of oil. Also found out that I could brighten up darker stains during sanding between layers, so I'd say as long as you don't overdo it with oil for one layer and let each layer drie out long enough, you should get a good, even result!

As to sanding, I'd say try to get the surface as smooth as possible. And once you've started applying the oil, only sand it very lightly between layers, don't use pressure, or you might get brighter areas.

My first (own, before I "adopted" my girlfriend's cheapo) bass was a Warwick Rockbass, one of the very first models ... Actually it was an excellent bass for the price, and one of the few instruments I somewhat regret having sold. But I quite often buy second-hand equipment, if available at a good price, out of sheer interest - and sell it again, if it doesn't turn out to be a keeper ... So I sold all my first equipment, bass or guitar, a long time ago, and only the best instruments, amps, fx etc. are allowed to stay and inhabit my rehearsal or living room

But that's just me - somehow I can't bear things lying around that aren't really necessary So one or two really good basses (and guitars) and of course a solid backup instrument, one good amp rig, only the fx I actually use - that's enough, and everything else has to go

Don't play DB myself, but started as guitar player - yes, shame on me - in a death/groove metal project with DB. Had exactly the same problem, even at rehearsal (we DO play loud ) ... EQing helped a lot, the most important thing was to reall cut the bass frequencies. The PA signal is pre-amp anyway, and for rehearsal and stage sound we boost the high mids for more definition - we can all hear the DB quite well that way, and front of house we (OK, not we, but the audience) still get one hell of deep DB bass mayhem

Mexican or US, well, I'd say it depends ... I own a MiM Precision that I'd never give away for any US, but I've played quite mediocre Mexico-Fenders, as well as slightly disappointing US ones. So I'd say try out as many as you can - there's even excellent Squier models, I've seen amazingly good ones, especially the Matt Freeman Series can easily compete with most MiM and even some US ones, in my opinion!

If you're looking for a best-of-both-worlds alternative, you really should try the old Japan-made Jazz Bass Specials. Owned one myself, didn't get along with the JB neck ... But sound is amazing, not a compromise at all, but really good J-tones as well as great P-sounds! Now it's my girlfriend's main bass, and she wouldn't give it back anyway

[quote name='radansey' timestamp='1331376762' post='1572012']A bit concerned how to clean the general grubbiness - hopefully it has not become too ingrained. Any advice on how to do a oil/wax finish would be most welcome.[/quote]

At first, it's important to remove any previous finish, so that the wood's grain is open. The surface should be smoothly polished ... Then you can start applying tung oil in very thin layers, using a clean rag or something like that. It takes several coats of oil for a nice, smooth finish. Let each (thin!) coat dry out well, buffing it very lightly with fine polishing wool or similar, before applying the next coat. Polish after applying the final coat, and you should get a nice, even oil finish

There are several tutorials on youtube, just try searching for "tung oil finish" ...

But your Spector doesn't look too bad on the pictures ... Actually, it really looks good - you can see it's been played, of course, but that's what an instrument should look like in my opinion So for me, personally, a good cleanining (for the fretboard, I'd recommend lemon oil - not only good for wood maintenance, but also gets dirt off like nothing else; for the body I'd use just a little bit of really mild, diluted cleaning fluid on a smooth cotton rag, only slightly moist) would probably be sufficient

Really a nice bass, and more than a steal for that money ... I'm trying hard not to hate you for it

Actually, I myself would simply leave it and go for the road worn / aged look But if you want to refinish it, I'd recommend an oiled finish. A proper paint job with lacquerd finish is quite hard to do, and takes a lot of time and practice for a satisfactory result (many layers of paint, with enough time to dry for each layer, lots of sanding between applying the layers, polishing etc. ...), while a good-looking oil finish isn't that hard to do, even without too much experience ...

In my opinion, an average spray-can paint job usually looks worse than an authentic road-worn look, which actually adds rock'n'roll-credibility But a nice oil-finish isn't too hard to do, or if you want to take the time and effort, it IS possible to achieve a nice lacquered finish - and it can also be fun, of course