Japhet

Orange Swarfega in the bath. There's a water shortage you know.

I've never liked the idea of running cabs with different Ohms together. Everything (power consumption, output, volume) would seem to be out of balance. Just doesn't seem right to me.

Tell him to fit a Kickport in his bass drum and leave the bass amp at home. Bass frequencies are very susceptible to cancelling themselves out so not surprised his bizarre idea is causing problems.

This (and Part 2) might give a flavour of what modes can do and how they make a major scale sound totally different, even exotic depending on what the root note is. The key thing is that it all depends on what chords you're underpinning the mode with.

^^ Excellent bit of info there Bill.

If the fat, vintage sound is what you're after, the Rumble delivers it in spades. It's also a versatile amp that can produce all sorts of sounds. I've only played through a MB a couple of times and (in my experience), it delivers the GK sound but doesn't have the versatility of the Rumble (or the power).

She obviously knows nothing about 'heft' though.

I'm partial to a chunky neck. Thinner necks are a bit easier to play quick stuff on but I find they make the palm of my fretting hand ache on a long gig, especially with a short front to back profile. I've never noticed much difference in necks with different radius to be honest.

I'll never forget the weekly experience of packing away after a gig and going to pick up my Trace 4x10 combo. Every time it felt like somebody had screwed it to the floor. I don't really care what a head weighs - it's all about the cab, and the one I've had for quite a few years now (TechSoundsystems 2x12) is a magical thing that weighs next to nothing, sounds fantastic and easily handles whatever is thrown at it. I'm never going back to the dark ages.

I have a Weber Mywatt 200 which is a copy of the Hiwatt DR201 200 Watter. Fantastic sounding amp that doesn't break the bank or result in trips to the chiropractor. Highly recommended.

Almost a week gone by since we went to see Nearly Dan at the Stables, Milton Keynes. Great gig (as always) tinged with sadness at the recent loss of Pete Bacanin. I'm really not a 'tribute' band person, but knowing that the very slight chance of seeing the real thing would undoubtedly mean some atrocious massive venue, I'm more than happy to watch superb musicianship in the fabulous comfort and acoustics and viewing experience offered at The Stables. Highly recommended if you get the chance.

How's this for an iconic intro?

There's a bunch of stuff in the F/S section for you to browse. Some really nice stuff in there too.

The way I see it, the only way to properly try an amp out is to play a gig with it. It's highly unlikely that I'd get a chance to try out all the stuff I'd like to so the only way is to buy them, try them out and then keep or sell. I've got lovely stuff but still peruse the F/S section for stuff I have absolutely no need for. It's my only real vice though since I don't drink much or smoke or go on holidays.

Ha ha!! For a moment there I thought you were saying you got people dancing to Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Now that would have been quite an achievement. As it happens, I'm a big Jeff Beck fan and as with everyone who pushes the envelope, some of it misses the spot, but he's a totally unique artist and innovator who never followed the crowd.

Anybody know where I can get decent quality PSU to pedal power leads with right angle connectors on both ends? Ta muchly.

Would be nice to know what sort of music people are using these pedals for. On my board I have 3 drive pedals. I like to run the amp clean and use the pedals to get the sounds I'm after so that it can sound the same at any volume for different venues.. I have a Tritonlab FET to provide an initial bit of drive and then an Ampeg Scrambler for a fuller grittier tone when I need it. I then have a One Control Hookers Green for when I need a pretty gnarly sound. I play in a covers band doing a wide range of mainly rock/blues music and some of the songs need a much dirtier sound than others. I also find that the overdriven sound stops the bottom dropping out of the mix when the guitarist goes into his solos since there's only me, him and the drummer doing the music.

The whole CS thing has become a huge cash cow for Fender and I'm sure a huge number of them never get played. I've played a couple of CS Precisions and found both very disappointing with woolly sound and flat spots on the neck. The best sounding 'Precision' I've owned is my 84 Tokai which knocks both of the afore-mentioned CS's for 6.

Pedant alert! The word isn't 'worst' - it's 'worser', and if there really isn't anything 'worser' it then becomes the 'worstest'.

Can't go wrong with Tecamp IMHO.

Probably something by Meshell N'DegeOcello. Plantation Lullabies maybe;

If you use effects as sparingly as you say I'd go for an older Zoom B3. Plenty of stuff on there to keep you happy and not out of pocket either. A lot of the other stuff seems like overkill to me.

I'm putting together a pedal board using cheap components as a bit of an experiment. Some have been very good and others haven't. In the 'good' catagory I'd put the Valeton OC 10 and FR 10 which are an octaver and a preamp (both sourced for peanuts on ebay). I'm also quite liking the TC Mojomojo and the Mooer Hustle. I also got hold of a Zoom MS60B off the forum which does all sorts of stuff. I had a few noise issues and so picked up a new Vitoos ISO4 Plus power supply for under £30 which seems to do a good job - for how long is anybody's guess though. I think brand loyalty will keep a lot of people buying boutique stuff but I'm not sure a whole load of people would do too well in a blind comparison test with stuff that costs a fraction of the price. I think that the way TC have slashed prices probably indicates that they were charging what the market would bear but have noticed the quality of some of the cheap competition and have moved to protect their bit of the market before they lose it altogether.

I put it at the front of the chain where it acts as a buffer/boost. It pushes the drive pedals primarily but it also adds what I can only describe as a 'plumminess' to the tone. I don't really have any means to record anything though.

The point being that a whole load of people don't know what the bass does, but would sure as hell miss it if it wasn't there. I also think that we, as bassists, often search for the right sound for ourselves but it makes very little difference to a large percentage of the people we play to.