The fasting showman

Just bought a GK MB200 off Stu, should have kept my old one but you live and learn hopefully. All good, great price, prompt dispatch and a decisive transaction throughout. Many Thanks, Martin

Hi Phil, I think I unceremoniously shoved a tweeter in your basic 1x12 design, credit to both of you for the inspiration though and demystifying the whole subject.

Until building Phil Starr's (brilliant) design for a 1x12 with tweeter recently I owned 2 cabs, a GK 2x12 neo with tweeter and a DIY 1x10. The 1x10 is an Eminence 2010 Basslite neo and the cab is on the small side. It's often been said to me by other band members ' you won't need your big cab for this gig, just bring your little tweeter box (meaning the 1x10)'. The little 1x10, whilst sounding perfectly good, is the darkest sounding cab I have compared to the GK or the Faital driver equipped 1x12 with horn I made from Phil's plans. I have tried to convey this to other people but absolutely to no avail, it's lodged in their mind that a cab with 10s is plonked on the top of a 1x15.

By the time I was doing the Saturday pilgrimage to the music shops (81/82) Yardleys had moved to Colmore Row and Exchanges took over their Snow Hill shop. I wonder if you remember the stars and stripes Stingray that did the rounds in the Brum music shops in the '80s?

Great catching up on all this, Broad St until '82, Snow Hill from then on. There was a brief overlap where they had a different shop exactly opposite George Clay a few doors up from the old Broad St shop. Martin

Might seem a crazy suggestion but a few years back I had, for a while, 2 basses with identical P bass pickups (a 2008 USA P bass and an old wreck of a rerouted Tele bass I still have that I bought a stock US P bass pickup for) yet the Volume pots were respectively 1Meg in the Tele bass, 250 k in the stock Fender. I won't open the maple / Rosewood board can of worms but all I'll say is they sounded electronically very different, the 1 Meg pot bass had a much more open sound that I was able to darken if needed, the 250k pot bass seemed under a blanket somewhat. Hope this helps, I'm not an authority on the P bass sound but it's what I experienced anyway. Maybe the pot change might get you what you want without changing pickups. I've never got on with the SPB3 either, I preferred the SPB1. Martin

Phil, as requested, the message I sent you. In case you are wondering what on earth is between the ports I'll explain...I'd rather PM you than stir up a hornets nest or lead to prospective builders demanding crossover designs etc! My main amp is Gallien Krueger 700rb ii. It has a 480w main amp / 50 watt horn amp that crosses over at 5k; the main amp seems to just run upwards whilst the high amp starts at 5k. It's crude in some ways but it sounds really nice, it's easy to dial in a bit of 'new strings' sound from the front panel. The 50w amp protects the tweeter also. I've used it since 2015, I'm very happy with the sound and it seems to get me compliments, albeit my sound not my playing! The GK cabs have a 4 way speakon that powers the main speaker and horn separately, they have a switch between a crossover or bypass to the 4 way speakon. From a woodwork point of view they merely have a hole hacked into the baffle for the horn, not rocket science. I figured that if my idea bombed I could merely cut another baffle. The horn is a P-audio pht 407n. A lot of the hardware I had kicking around anyway including half a pot of tuff cab! The horn takes up 0.15l by my maths. The Faital Pro PR12-300 and the PHT407n sound great together I am pleased to report, the cab has a great growl that tracks the notes really well, great presence for slap. Many thanks again, hope me going off piste doesn't appear as not heeding good advice of people who know better. I think it sounds better than my old GK neo 1x12 anyway and it was that job (i.e a bigger cab with a horn than my 1x10 yet smaller than my GK2x12) I needed sorting as cheaply as possible. Cheers, Martin

Just PM'd you my O level woodwork project Phil!

The mix of musical backgrounds is incredible; members of George Benson's band, Hawkwind, George McRae's band, Utopia, Frank Zappa's band. All bringing their musicality to Bowie's writing. It's funny when he grins at his band, and I get the same thing from Joni Mitchell on the Shadows and light stuff with Jaco, Metheny, Alias and co, it's like he's basking in the glory of the musos he has had the good fortune and taste to put together on the same stage. And the willingness to let them shine.

I like all of Bowie's bassists but if I had to choose it would be George Murray, which ties in with Visconti and the great Low / Scary Monsters era. If the link attaches here's George wielding a plectrum and a Travis Bean, the rhythm section feel is incredible

Hi Phil, the Faital Pro PR12 300 arrived today and it sounds great from what I can tell at home, very balanced sound across the neck and will be ideal for pub gigs where you've got the speaker firing into your back on a cramped stage (stage if you are lucky). I've still got some faffing to do with finishing off but I'll PM you the pics when sorted. It's an epic Covid related, toolbox stuck at the house of my Covid stricken boss, a £23 6ft x 2ft 12mm ply hyperbolic paraboloid from Wickes, hand cut panels with that saw you use to cut the end off a tube of silicon...but we got there in the end! Thanks for a great design, Martin

Hi Phil, all woodwork done...I was a coward and bought Monacor MBR 70 telescopic ports, 66mm internal. There seems to be plenty of pr12 300s available so that's reassuring that you are happy with the recommendation. Many thanks, Martin

Many thanks Phil, that's great. The cab will be used at pub gigs with a pop / soul covers band I have recently joined, electronic drums, decent PA with a sub, guitar DI'd through a Helix. I have been using my DIY 1x10 cab (Basslite 2010), my head is a Gallien Krueger 700RBii which is about 300w into 8 ohms. My bigger band/ swankier gig setup is a GK neo 2x12 but those gigs are few and far between! I play a G&L 5 string or an old Fender with flats, nothing really much below 100 hz ( that's why the GK stuff appeals to me if I'm honest) I prefer a fast sound to a sound that swells or blooms if that makes sense. I tend to raise a cab physically to where I can hear it rather than cranking the dials too much. The Faital pro12pr 300 is looking a contender! Cheers, Martin

That's great Phil, much appreciated.

Hi Phil, Given that I'm currently building the 30l cab I find myself on the wrong thread, however the answer may be relevant to both 30 & 50 litres; is the Faital 12 FE300 a suitable speaker as a replacement / substitute for either of the Beymas? Apologies if the answer is a few pages back on the thread. Due to them being on order I can't obtain a 12cmv2 at present, I fear I may have to save up for a Faital Pro 12! Many thanks, Martin

Hi Gary, How about ordering blank 2 or 3 unit Penn Elcom rack panels, cutting off the pre drilled outer sections, and getting somebody with a workshop to bend them into the required L shape and drill the holes to fix them to the amp itself? Hopefully the amp fixing screws will be Metric M3/M4 etc. Regards, Martin

Interesting 'guide vocal' on this one

My L5500, courtesy (5 years ago) of graham1945; what a great purchase it turned out to be. The nickel control knobs aren't stock, I've kept the old ones that are standard EMG items but the black plastic always felt sweaty. The bridge pickup is a 40J, I really like the change to the sound this brought about; more of an active J bass sound, I must say the stock sound was never bad but it improved the both pickups on equal / pan pot midway setting. Hard to tell from my rubbish photo but it's transparent dark green!

More post punk whimsy. Not exactly a Desert Island Disc but this really takes me back to John Peel midweek and Anne Nightingale. Really enjoying this thread

Doing the rounds at the moment on an advert

I would have preferred a version without subtitles personally but there you go.

George Murray with Bowie, also the players with Bowie before him. It's interesting to think back to your childhood prior to playing bass and think what caught your ears just hearing radio and TV in the (in my case) '70s and '80s. Obviously Motown, the Beatles, Disco, Ron Baker on TSOP, The Jam....I'm going to have to nominate Dave Richmond for the Ronnie Hazelhurst stuff always on BBC back then, Only Fools and Horses, also on hits like Labi Siffre's it must be love, Elton John's your song etc. I wouldn't have been aware as a kid of hip stuff like Gainsbourg's Melody Nelson back then that he was on which has been sampled a lot since. But yes, Dave Richmond probably helped make me aware of bass in a funny kind of way without seeking it out, what a great player.

It's Andrew Bodnar (also a great player, Nick Lowe's Breaking glass for example) from the Rumour on bass on Watching the detectives, Bruce Thomas hadn't joined at that point.