Mudpup

Maybe sort the keyboard player out first? Restore your sonic space and get out the front for a listen.

I recently looked at getting some sort of fuzzy thing and went down the video review rabbit hole. Went totally distortion deaf and blind after a few days of searching and figured that it would probably take me about 7 purchasing attempts to find one that i liked. Maybe. So I bought a Source Audio Aftershock that has about a squillion of them all built into one pedal. Love it..... I reckon i paid about twice as much (£150) as I originally budgeted for but saved £300 in pedals that I liked for 5 minutes and then sold on.

I've only got a couple of instances. Here's the earliest one.... My first ever 'proper' gig back when i was about 16 was an unusual one. It was at the very back end of the punk era so didn't seem to be quite such a shambles as it would nowadays - artistic improvisation and being pretty different was still encouraged. But we really were dreadful..... We had somehow snagged a support slot to a jangly/indie style band at the local main music venue (The Square in Harlow if anyone has ever played it) and needed to play for 45 minutes. Problem was that we only had 5 songs and about 20 minutes of material. I was ready to bail out of it but was persuaded by the guitarist/singer that we could stretch the songs a bit and he would fill out the gaps in between to help. We decided to dress up a to try and make a bit of an impact and Drosso (the singer/guitarist) informed us that he was going to make a grand entrance after the bass and drums had jammed around for a few minutes. I turned up a bit late (dressed in a tails suit and with Dave Vanian style white/black make up on) and literally walked on to the stage, plugged in and the drummer kicked the pair of us into action. Drosso came running up the stairs onto the stage a few seconds later. He was dressed in thigh high cavalier boots, a g string with his knackers hanging out, Sgt Pepper jacket and had a hollowed out teddy bears head over his head. We stretched out the first song for about 10 minutes. When we had finished the song Drosso reached behind his amp and grabbed a bucket he had stashed there earlier (I hadn't seen any of the prep work so this was all totally new to me). He then threw its contents straight over everyone in the front couple of rows. It was full of liver, fish guts and general entrails from the butcher shop. The crowd were not massively impressed and we spent an uncomfortable 30 more minutes playing total rubbish with Drosso generally abusing and taking the wee wee out of the crowd (all cardigans and chinese slippers) whilst they all glared at us waiting for us to finish. We reached the big climax and as we hit the last note Drosso triggered the 4 big flashbombs that he had set up (and not told anyone about) behind the gear at the back of the stage. It was like being on stage with Motley Crue! Except you don't get curtains at the back of the stage at a Crue gig. Which then caught fire and necessitated the evacuation of the venue.... Fortunately we didn't burn the whole place down. We just about escaped with our lives but were never invited back

I'll pop it over when i get a mo' It's off my Classic Lacquer and is a 10 hole plate

I've got an anodised gold guard in my spares box if you wanted to borrow it for a look before you buy one....

I have one and wouldn't say it got overly squishy - even with the Compression cranked up and Blend turned right down it's quite transparent.

Matching strap and eyeshadow - nice attention to detail 😊 Note to self, pop into Boots tomorrow....

Well done! You'll be glowing for days afterwards. Are you doing that Savage track?

It was a nice bass but didn't feel particularly special to play. It was just ok and a bit soul less really. I found the neck a bit skinny for my liking. The Cort is in a different league in terms of feel. The neck is perfect for me - oddly it's the same width as the Schecter but it's kind of flattened off at the back a bit which you really feel. The body is really ergonomic - it's all curves and I love the open pore finish. I'm smitten.....

I seem to recall some similar comments on the USA bass site Spector groups a while back. The pickups sounded great in the video demos hence my interest but it just shows how different the experience can be in the real world. I tried a Schecter with them in as well and thought they sounded better in that bass but not good enough to spring £1k on

I tried the 4 string (A4 Ultra) version of that a few months ago because i was interested in the Fishmans. Didn't like the pickups at all - they seemed to have a load of built in compression in them and robbed the dynamics too much for my preference. But the bass itself was lovely with probably my favourite neck ever on it. And so comfortable to play as well. I bought the next model down (A4 Plus) with Barts in it which seemed more lively when you dig in a bit.

That Essex Recording Studio chap is a total chancer. He has a couple of Mesa heads on there at comical prices too.

I'm still in, feeling pretty good and probably worth a small wager to win it this year 💪

Riffy heaven

I really liked them and saw them many times at the Royal Standard in Walthamstow. That Loose and Lethal album is a bit of an undiscovered gem if you like the old NWOBHM stuff - absolutely stuffed full of great riffs. They're still about I think with Chris Bradley playing bass and singing.

I've had experience of a few Zoom units - namely the B3N and the MS60MS. For the money I dont think they can be beaten and you can pick either up used for under £100 and resell it for the same if you don't get on with it. Loads of connectivity options for the B3N and the MS60 is the size of a single pedal if you're going to stick it on your pedalboard. Upsides - an easy way to try out loads of decent amps and effects on the B3N and mainly effects on the MS60MS. There are some genuinely good ones in both - particularly the modulation and compressors. You get amp and cab models, loper and drums in the B3N as well. I had the MS60 on my live board for years and had it set to be able to just scroll forward through the patches in the order of the set with a single click of the pedal (Clean - Chorus - Clean - Chorus with a bit of delay - Clean - SVT amp model - Clean and so on.....) The B3N had the ability to do pretty much the same but also switch on/off different effects within each patch (So you could have 1 patch consisting of a Comp, Delay, Drive and Amp Sim and just switch individual ones in or out when you felt like it) Downsides - Quick tweaks at gigs were a bit of an issue due to my failing eyesight and having to get into menus to change things was a faff. No problem at home but in stage conditions it was difficult. Having said that, most things were rarely changed as i had them both for a few years. But I did sell both units and built a pedal board with knobs on. They're both good units that happen to be cheap in my opinion. Even if you just use the MS60 as a tuner pedal and compressor/chorus delay on your board it's a bargain.

I would say there was a high probability that its the same guy as Matthew Smethurst

Exactly my experience as well @peteb (Even down to the Mesa 800) And funnily enough I use a hybrid Mesa BB750 and Handbox R400 as the main amps now

It's a wonderful time to be a bass player. There's so much choice, the technology is incredible, things have got smaller and lighter and it's actually pretty difficult to buy something that isn't very good. You'll get a million different suggestions on this thread based on peoples own bass journey and most will be valid and reasonable - they're a good mob on this website. To cut the options down a bit just ask yourself a few key questions.... Where am I going to use it? (You've already mentioned this - everywhere and you're out gigging) In my experience somewhere between 500 and 1000 watts will cover most eventualities with room to spare as long as you have more than 1 speaker to run it through. You may find that a 500w head through a single 8 ohm 1x12 cab will only be putting out 300w and in the wrong band you'll get lost. More speakers naturally make most amps sound bigger and louder and you won't be pushing harder than you need to. If you find this isn't enough you should be going through a PA in which case you'll just need a DI output on the amp. How big does it need to be? A modular system gives you a load more flexibility and a couple of medium sized 8 ohm cabs along with an amp head will cover everything off. Speakers are very good nowadays so any combination of 10", 12" or 15" will do the job depending on the type of sound you're looking for. Some say that you shouldn't mix types of speaker and others have spent years using a 2x10 and a 1x15 cab with no problem. You're a bit more limited with a combo and you'll probably need an extra cab anyway to get the full output. And if you find that the sound isn't quite working for you it's easier to change an amp or a few cabs rather than a combo. Can i carry/transport it? Depends on how fit you are and what sort of state your back is in. Modular stuff goes in a car easily and is easy to carry about. If you absolutely must have an 8x10 cab and valve head remember you'll have to move it at 2am in the morning when all the other band guys are dodging helping you. And most people that you are playing to wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway.... You can carry a modern class D head with one finger and lightweight 1 x 12 cabs with 2 fingers now (back to the opening statement here!) After a long buying journey and the opportunity to try out most of the usual recommendations my own personal preferences are a couple of lightweight good quality 12" cabs and I have a few different amps - a couple of non class D but still relatively easy to carry ones at between 400 and 750 watts that I prefer and a backup class D 800w amp that lives in my gigbag as a spare. I've come to the conclusion that I prefer non class D amps but that's not to say they're bad as they're perfectly useable - they're just a bit different in feel to an older class A/B design with a heavier power amp inside. I'm playing medium to larger pubs/clubs and outdoor gigs and I never run out of steam with my gear - I rarely need to go through the PA. You can see what it is in my signature below...

Could have cleaned the pawprints off before you took the picture..tsk tsk ☺️ (Tis a thing of beauty - i'll have to have a noodle on it)

I miss Mick Mason..... it's been kind of quiet since he got put away disappeared from all the threads

That's the way to look at it. A modular setup is easier to cart about. Although the 2 individual cabs are a touch bigger than a single Big Twin as you have the extra waveguide. Or pick up a Super Compact (they pop up in the classifieds fairly regularly) instead of a 2nd Big Baby and you pretty much have a modular Big Twin.... And regarding your dispersion question - you shouldn't have an issue at all. Even a single cab seems to be able to fill a room. I went through a phase a few years ago of trying some alternatives to my BB2's (a pair of Bergantino 12" cabs, a pair of Berg 10" and also a Berg CN212) and none of them could be heard as well across the stage as the BF ones. All the band guys noticed the difference. The build quality was better on the Bergs but the sound didn't suit what i was doing as much as my regular stuff does.

If you're using the PA then a Big Baby 2 will be perfect. I use 2 of them for most gigs but its mainly for headroom on the amps and have happily done medium sized pub gigs with a Quilter BB800 with a single cab. Easy to cart about, useable at home and sounds fab - go for it.....