Bass Culture

[quote name='Shambo' post='740006' date='Feb 9 2010, 02:25 PM']Next on Shambo's wish list is a micro amp to release it's full potential and then, if needed, a matching cab. [/quote] Get an RH 450, Shambo - don't think about it, just do it. You won't regret it!

[quote name='nique' post='738949' date='Feb 8 2010, 02:16 PM']I picked my 1 x 15 and 2 x 12 up at the weekend.... just gotta wait for a week or so to try them out at a gig [/quote] Excellent! I'd be interested to know how you get on with them.

[quote name='lojo' post='736921' date='Feb 6 2010, 07:30 AM']Just wondering if you tried the TC cabs first and sound was also a factor in your choice to pair the RH450 with differing makes of cabs?[/quote] No, I didn't try the TC cabs first. In fact I didn't try the PC cabs first either! I did speak to Mike Walsh quite extensively about them though, which gave me a pretty good inkling that they would fit the bill - I didn't want anything too 'hi fi' or sterile. As I've posted elsewhere, I don't actually mind something being coloured as long as its colour I like! I know everyone raves about the Bergs but they didn't work for me when I tried my Roscoe through them with a LMIII. Could have been the amp though, of course. I'll admit it was the looks of the PC cabs that initially sold me - that and their ludicrously low weight. Unless someone tells me otherwise I believe they are significantly lighter than any other lightweight cabs out there for their size (I'm thinking one of Alex's Midget's might actually weigh less but those are tiny, size-wise). Having said all that I'd actually quite like to take my amp down to Bass Direct or somewhere and try the TC cabs, just to see how they do compare. It would certainly be an interesting experiment anyway. Oh, and as for - "if it sounds as good in a band situation as it does indoors then I may have found the ideal portable amp": it does and it is!

[quote name='lojo' post='733214' date='Feb 2 2010, 05:39 PM']Really looking for a portable rig, 2 cabs with the best tone and punch I can get for my money[/quote] I was too, and I settled on the RH 450 with two Purple Chili 1 x 12's. This is a crazy light rig - the cabs weigh only 12.7kg - 28lbs each in old money! I find them punchy with a lot a bass weight and depth, but still focussed. I suspect the 1 x 10 cabs would be even tighter and punchier. I've only used one cab for rehearsals since I got them and that keeps up with our drummer and guitarist without breaking a sweat - the amp's master has never gone past 9'o'clock so far. This is playing finger style and a variety of pop and chart stuff; don't know what it'd be like with a plectrum and playing death metal! Mind you, that's what you'd have your second cab for, isn't it? One word to the wise though - I'm beginning to think that drivers in new cabs perhaps take a little while longer to bed in than I realised. Both the PC cabs and the Barefaced Compact I had before them exhibited a distinct harshness when I first got them, which took a good few weeks to smooth out completely. Now that I've been using the cabs for 6 weeks or so (only one gig and about 4 rehearsals in that time though) they sound a lot cleaner and clearer. Pip pip!

This got (one of) my vote(s) earlier - Heaven 17's, 'We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang' - but I've found a link to it on Youtube now: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F23OHGZCAcE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F23OHGZCAcE[/url]. Bass break starts at about 1:30. 15 secs of 80's funky slappiness!

Another one I've got a particularly soft spot is the solo from 'We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang' by Heaven 17 - it takes me back just thinking about it. I think the bassist was given as 'John Wilson' and I've never come across him on anything else. Anyone out there able to give me some back story on this fella?

Good choice on the Purple Chili cabs front, Chris!

I'm going old school - Andy Fraser's solo in 'Mr Big' for me, from Free Live.

And to give an alternative (possibly philistine) perspective - most jazz, now as always, just sounds like a load of noise to me. I know there's some great players who operate in that particular musical environment because even I can tell that they have good technique, and they play an awful lot of notes an awful lot faster than most guys can. But, you know what, to me that's exactly what it sounds like - a load of notes; narry a tune or melody to found within a country mile of most free form jazz improvisations that I've ever heard. Most of it is little more than self indulgent musical masturbation...(Puts pith helmet on and ducks below parapet).

I've got two of the Purple Chili 1x12" cabs and love 'em. I think Mike's using the green label Celestion drivers in the PC's and used the orange label drivers on the old Zoot cabs, which are obviously pretty similar to Aggie GS112 in appearance, if not weight and sound. The new Purple Chili are, to my mind, some of the best looking cabs on the market and certainly the lightest. Sound-wise they have a real weight and presence in the bass and lower mids which really nails it for me, and are not as 'hi fi' as I remember my Aggie GS112's being - there's a real character to the tone. I can't recommend them highly enough.

I'm using two Purple Chili PC112's with a TC Electronics RH450 and love this set up. Again, a very full bottom end. I put mine on a short Hi Fi stand to give me a bit more control and that works great, as well as putting them at (my) ear level. The big, big plus for the Purple Chili cabs is their weight - 28lbs each in old money. Ridiculously light but beautifully made and finished too.

Hmm, interesting, sounds as though this isn't exactly unique then. I'm sure it'll be sorted easily enough but it's a bit frustrating too as I'm not in the habit of having 'spare' amps sitting around to cover these kind of eventualities! This problem aside though, I absolutely love this amp.

Bloody typical; just when you acquire the amp of your dreams it goes and dies on you two weeks after delivery! Plugged in the other morning and...er...nothing. Zilch, nada - no lights, no sound. There's a momentary quiet click but no indication of life on the display panel. As I've only had it a couple of weeks it's still under guaranteee so I've no worries about sending it back to Mark at Bass Direct for it to be sorted but I wondered if any other users have experienced the same thing? Or maybe it's got something against me! It's not in any of its protections states (general or overheat) by the looks of things as there's no display and I've obviously left it and tried it after a while again with the same results. Oh, and the fuse hadsn;t gone in the kettle lead either! Cheers, Mark

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='692087' date='Dec 23 2009, 09:24 AM']+1 I've had Mesa's,Ampegs, Sunns,TE,Markbass mostly Valve amps and my RH450 + TC 212+210 gets so close to the Tube amps sound wise it's amazing,I think the TC cabs make a lot of difference to the head TBH with being vertical aligned and work so well together-you get the sound right at ear level with very little volume.[/quote] Yeah, I've done something similar with my PC cabs by putting them on a small, old cut-down hi fi stand I had lying around. Worked a treat at the weekend and you hear exactly what's pumping out front.

I'm not sure I could be in awe of an amp but I do think my RH450 is the best bass amp I've played and/or owned, and - at 46 years old and having played for 30 years - I've been through Marshall, Acoustic, Peavey, Peterson, Markbass, Trace Elliot, Genz Benz. So - RH450: not only a fantastic sounding amp, it cures GAS too!

Gigged with my new RH450 for the first time at the weekend. What a fabulous amp! Matched with my two Purple Chili 112 cabs it sounde warm, full, punchy and tight all at the same time. I love the semi-parametrics on all four tone controls too. And even though it's got a few bells and whistles it's still really easy and intuitive to use - and the bells and whistles actually add to your sound rather than detract from it too!

[quote name='largo' post='682458' date='Dec 12 2009, 07:13 PM']Wow! Thanks Mark, that's a pretty detailed review. So have you done away with the Compact for the PC's then? I'm presuming a 4 ohm PC 212T would be more than adequate as a one cab solution, and save me 5kg on the Schroeder 410L that I have at the moment?[/quote] Yes, I've changed the Compact for the two PC's and am really happy with this set up. I know Mike did extensive listening tests before he decided on the Celestion green label drivers rather than the oranges and all I can say is - they work for me! I think Mike's cabs are significantly lighter than anythng else out there, excepting maybe Alex's midget. I would imagine though, judging by considerably smaller cabinet proportions of the midget, it has a completely different sound to the PC cabs. To put it into perspective I bought my two PC cabs for a bit more than one Bergantino AE112 and I've got a rig that will cover me for all the gigs I'm likely to be playing for the foreseeable future. And I prefer the sound to the Bergs too! So, all I'm saying is that - as with any other cab out there - although they may not be to everyones taste (I thought the Berg's too clinical, for example, but my 'clinical might be other peoples' 'neutral') they've got to be worth an audition! I don't think they are sonically neutral, but for me that's fine - I don't chase tonal neutrality and don't see it as the Holy Grail myself; I like stuff to have character. I don't care if the sound is neutral or not, all I care is whether I like it!

I have two Purple Chili 112's and have just returned from a rehearsal where I've put them through their paces together for the first time. I've had them for only a couple of weeks so I too should declare an interest in that I obviously [i]want [/i]them to sound good! I'm glad to see that others have had problems with the BGM review too, as I made the same point in another thread that to criticize a lightweight cab for not feeling robust is to criticize it for being lightweight pretty much! The way I'd look at it is to say that Mike had met his design brief admirably - and then some! The cabinet material though is thicker than the Compact and, of the two cabs, the PC [i]looks[/i] sturdier to me. I think it's something to do with the thickness of the cabinet material and its squat and sqaure-ish dimensions. And lightweight they most certainly are - 28lbs, 12.7kg, noticeably lighter than the Barefaced Compact I had too. I used mine with my Roscoe LG3000 through a Shuttle 3.0 today, though I'm changing to a TC RH450 soon and hope that's going to be the rig I stay with for some time. I've used a single cab for a rehearsal with my second band in a smaller rehearsal room a couple of days ago and it was plenty loud enough. Today's rehearsal was in a lecture theatre at work, a much bigger space with a high roof. I thought my bass sound was great today and sat really nicely in the mix too. I think the Purple Chilis have more weight in the bass than the Compact I had, and it's solid too, not wooly. I don't know where the BGM reviewer got 'muffled' from - I didn't hear that at all. But as a previous poster has pointed out, the reviewer made no reference to the bass, amp or strings he used, how he played it or in what circumstances - gig, rehearsal, his bedroom. Twiddle enough knobs on your bass or amp and most of us could get 'muffled' out of any cab out there. I remember making a comment to Alex about the Compact, that there was a distinct change of tone the further you got away from it, compared to standing right in front of it (no great surprise as we were rehearsing in an old gymnasium at the time!). The same could be said of the PC's - as it could of pretty much all cabs out there, especially in venues with higher ceilings too. But today, even standing a good few feet away from my rig the tone was nice and clean and full. I think the fundamental sound of the cab is more 'old school' than, say, either the Barefaced or something like an Aguilar GS112 (both of which I've used), and they can do growly too, with some judicious EQ twiddling. For me, they are (for the time being!), the ideal set up - light as hell but also punchy and bassy enough to get by with one for rehearsals and smaller gigs, adding the second where you need a bit more volume. With a lightweight amp and my Roscoe slung over my shoulder it's one trip from the car to the rehearsal room - fantastic! They're not a one cab solution (for all but the smallest/quietest of gigs anyway) but, there again, they don't claim to be. I think a Barefaced Compact might go louder but I don't think they've got as much bass extension myself. Some may disagree. And even the Compact isn't a comprehensive one cab solution as a few users are adding second cabs so they can handle larger gigs. The same applies to the Aggies - one's great on its own for small/medum-sized gigs but you'll definitely need a second in larger venues. So what the PC's are is a realistic alternative to some established players. And, what's more, they look better and they're more portable. If you are in the market for a small, lightweight cab, I definitely recommend you consider them. If anyone wants to pop over to try mine you're welcome to PM me. Mark