hamfist

OK, I'm trying to buy a 5 stringer. In fact I have put in an order for a new Squier Vintage Modified V late today. However, I'm all umming and ahhing. Definately not sure if this is the right bass. Guess it would be easy to cancel the order in the morning. I was seriously looking at a used Spector Legend 5 for the same money. My slight concern was the string spacing of the Spector which is tighter than that of the Squiers, and I do worry about my ability to adjust to a 5 stringer with the strings packed too tightly. Also, not being very experienced with active basses, I still have a (perhaps illogical) preference for passives (... no batteries to run out etc). Further research into the Squier VM 5 has shown a fair amount of negative comments online about the lack of "grind" (whatever that really is) with the VM 5. Just not sure at all. I currently play a 4 string Jazz (Bass Collection Jive, which I LOVE !), and I have always thought that std passive J basses were the right sound for me. Just wanted to experiment with a 5 stringer. Would love some advice and guidance, in my hour of need. So Spector, or Squier VM or other ??

Have used Hotrox and Watford before. No probs at all with either.

Bought SWR 4x10 cab from Dave. Good price, and an easy and smooth deal. Great guy to deal with !

COngrats. Still an amp that I have not tried. I'm a bit nervous of trying one though as, inpulsive as I am, I might end up buying one !

Sold an amp to James. Totally easy transaction. Great comms. THanks very much !

Sold a cab to Dan. Totally easy transaction. great comms. THanks very much !!

In the guitar world, it is pretty much accepted as fact that time-based effects (eg. delay and reverb) sound so much nicer AFTER any distortion/overdrive/fuzz. So, it doesn't matter where your dist/OD/fuzz is being generated, whether by pedals or in your amp's pre-amp, try and get your delay after it. If you are playing into a clean amp, and getting all your dirt from pedals, then simply put your delay as the last pedal in the chain. That will ensure that all dirt is generated before the delay. If you are getting at least some of your dirt from your amp's pre-amp, then put your delay in the FX loop, which in virtually every amp known to man, will be after the pre-amp in the amp's circuit. If you think about what will happen when you put a delayed signal into a dirt box, you can see how it might sound a bit odd, as the (quieter) trails will not be as "dirty" as the initial tone. The quietest trails may even be completely clean. So you end up with a dirty first note, with all subsequent delays getting cleaner and cleaner. For most people, this is nowhere near as musical sounding as when the initial note AND the trails have the same amount of dirt. There are still, of course, some old school officionados who still maintain that putting the delay before a dirty amp is the best way, but that is mainly because some vintage guitar/bass visionary did it "back in the day" when amps had no FX loops. Due to the design of amps back then, there were rarely huge amounts of dirt being used TBH. Personally, I still think it sounds sh1t like that.

At last, I have finally completed my rig. And it's such a relief ! I have been through so much gear in the last few months its unreal. Thankfully a lot of it has been used (thank God for the BC for-sale forums), and a lot has been bought new, tried and returned, so my cash outlay has not been too astronomical. Thanks to all of you who have sold and bought from me recently ! I haven't experienced a single bad deal. It amazes me sometimes how most of us are willing to Paypal large sums of money to complete strangers, with virtually no come-back should that stranger simply disappear or decide to rip us off. Anyway, the whole rig just sounds utterly awesome. I am completely stoked. I just had to share. This is what I've ended up with .... Bass Collection Jazz bass - so versatile. Does everything I need. IMO a class above the equivalent Squiers. [u]Pedals[/u] :- 1/ Rothwell Love Squeeze - incredible "compressor for those who don't like compressors !" 2/ EBS Multidrive - This provides a low clanky drive tone, that I have heard in no other pedal. Gorgeous. 3/ Xotic Bass BB pre-amp - for higher levels of more "fuzz-like" drive [u]Amp[/u] :- Ashdown ABM 500 Evo III .... Simply a very, very good rock amp. Love the blendability between clean SS and tube pre-amp. And, of course, the uber flexible EQ. [u]Cab[/u] :- Shroeder 410L .... Others sound better in the living room, but with a band this thing cannot be beaten for what I want. Sits PERFECTLY in the mix. I can now sleep a little easier and get on with thinking about other things in my life ! Thanks for listening.

For all your switching/looping etc needs ..... [url="http://www.brightonion.co.uk/"]http://www.brightonion.co.uk/[/url] I have used them many times. Always quick and the gear is very well made. What the OP would seem to need would seem would be £29.95 ........ [url="http://www.brightonion.co.uk/volume/"]http://www.brightonion.co.uk/volume/[/url]

Really pleased for you. Hope it all works out !

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyYK5fqfRI4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyYK5fqfRI4[/url] Not strictly 80's, as it was released in '79, but the seminal band which spawned a whole 80's genre IMO. Also, a candidate for best bass tone of all time on this one. Love Hooky, simple but effective.

[quote name='electric nate' timestamp='1331493226' post='1573745'] I dunno about the single finest, I feel that might be yet to come in the ever changing world of amplification and instrument technology. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDGRc_krpYg[/media] This has always been fairly near the top of my list of great bass tone though. Nice subtle grind, enough to give the tone a bit of edge, not so much it sounds overdriven. Far as I know this basically just a well performed and well recorded P-bass+ampeg svt. [/quote] Beautiful bass tone.

[quote name='Onox' timestamp='1330789612' post='1563049'] The only con is that the fan is too loud if you want to use the amp at home. I think i´ll gonna add an on/off-Schwitch for the fan. Does the Ashdown have a protection circuit for shutting down when it gets to hot in the amp? [/quote] Latest EVO III models certainly now have very quiet fans. I agree with many others, the ABM is an oustanding rock amp.

[quote name='Alex Spencer' timestamp='1331251431' post='1570464'] That Two Door Cinema Club has been compressed to hell! Sounds a little unnatural to my ear, still a very nice sounding tone though! [/quote] Yes, it's the state of the music biz these days that everything simply HAS to be massively compressed to get the volume on the track, so it doesn't sound quiet on the radio next to all the urban and pop tracks that they are being played next to. I think that is part of the issue. Also there is bound to be compresion on the bass too. Although, TBH, I do like quite a bit of compression on slightly overdriven bass tones (usually even more than the overdrive is causing).