molan

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1371541877' post='2115123']
I'd like to vouch for Bass Gear. I had a week of email communication with Barrie, it felt like to talking to an old friend about bass at most points.

Most importantly, I never felt like Barrie was trying to ram a bass down my throat to buy, it was clear that bass enthusiasm comes first.

I would genuinely love to buy a bass from them sometime. (did that Sterling with the messed up paint work ever come in Barrie?)
[/quote]

The Sterling is in and being touched up by the luthier we use. He's a top guy and really knows his stuff.

Unfortunately he damaged his back recently so everything's a little delayed.

Should be back soon though

Cool translucent red colour too

I've heard the TT head with a single 1x15 and it was really nice. I bet it sounds great with a 2x15 rig

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1371499728' post='2114774']
I had a great time at the shop... looking for an excuse to go back soon ;lol:
[/quote]

And now it's twice as big and has a dedicated amp and cab demo room

Fixed now - Just type Birthday in the coupon code and it will take 10% off all Fodera strings

Any problems zap me a PM & I'll sort things out.

It runs to the end of the month but the code on the site seems to be buggered - I'll see if I can fix it now

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1371495777' post='2114669']


Sorry to hijack thread but how much is UK shipping Barrie? I'm looking to order some Fodera strings in the next couple of days and just wondered how to expect for p&p.
[/quote]

Flat rate of £3 whether it's one or two packs

Thanks Pierre

I think it does make a difference that everyone at BG (both full time and part time) are all active players.

There were two of us in this afternoon when a customer order for a Mesa 4x12 arrived. We dropped everything and immediately got it set up to test to make sure it was all working properly. It sounded immense!

We couldn't resist getting the Yamaha Billy Sheehan off the wall and checking how it sounded - proper rock bass and cab with an Aggie head of good measure.

The two of us were grinning from ear to ear - like kids in a candy store

Have you tried through the contacts on the band web site or FaceBook?

Goes through to Rob I think and he's been active on FB today.

If it's getting close to end of warranty period then make sure you keep all the paperwork.

I've heard more than one tale about a GB being repaired and then failing again. If it's the same thing then you should still be covered even if the warranty has expired because you can argue that the previous repair was not effective.

Not sure how long this will be allowable but I know someone who ended up having two repairs fail and eventually he was sent a brand new replacement

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1371404937' post='2113456']
I believe BassGear do.
[/quote]

And they are 10% off this month too

Just put Birthday in the redemption code section.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1371391986' post='2113246']
Now you see this is the reason why I am going to give up on reading anything further re. the merits of certain cabs and drivers and why things can't and won't work or who designs/makes the best and the inherent back-stabbing of the merits of each cab!

So you can slacken off a speaker to change/alter the tone/response... well can't you do that with any speaker and does that not totally nullify any 'tuning' of the driver to cab; you may as well chuck any random driver in.

A component can alter the power handling capacity of the cab - I assume that is some form of filter because surely the spec of the driver itself is the limiting factor in power handling?

I've decided to design and build my own cabs! You thought that Guy Pratt's 'sliding pup' Warwick bass was worthy of conversation; wait till you see my 'sliding wall' bass cab, my slogan will be something catchy like, "Tuneable to anything you chuffin want, just slide the top in and out... the sound in your head is the sound in your hands!" ...do you think it might catch on?
[/quote]

You can't adjust the main speaker - that would definitely not be a good idea!

The ATS cabs in question have a pair of passive 'radiator' speakers. Not often used in guitar amps & cabs but much more common in hi-fi speakers (which is Enrico's background). I think the Mesa Walkabout cabs have these.

the core sound from each speaker comes from the active speaker but the passive ones somehow add a lot more depth to the tone (I have little understanding of the physics behind this but I certainly attest to the fact that it works!))

The adjustment in the passive speakers seems to make the cone more or less rigid within a fixed set of parameters. It's a marginal change in tone but, because the head & cabs are designed to be very pure in sound reproduction, Enrico believes that his customers would appreciate the potential to make really fine adjustments if mic'ing a cab for recording or just simply because they prefer the tone for general playing.

I should also add that Enrico is one of the nicest people you could ever meet!

Nothing is too much trouble and he takes his business incredibly seriously. He's always striving for improvements and continually tweaking his products.

He came over to visit BassGear recently and showed us how his cabs with the passive speakers are individually tuneable - in simple terms you tighten them for a cleaner crisper response and slacken them for a softer rounder low end. Very clever stuff.

He also insisted on having one cab sent back to Sicily for an upgrade to a circuit improvement which helped increase the power handling capacity - all at his own expense!

I think they were founded around '86 and started making bass specific stuff in '92.

Much Moore concentrated in this area over the last few years

Looks like there will be a full review in BGM in a couple of months

[quote name='Mikkoantt' timestamp='1371071505' post='2109573']
Fodera Monarch. Best p&j bass I have ever played:)
[/quote]

My 86 Monarch was a cracking bass. Separate volume and tone for each pickup but also a, very handy, flick switch to go from neck P only to both pickups to bridge J.

Gave a great array of options at the flick of a switch with fine control from the separate vol and tone pots

Conversely Fodera strings are all 10% off this month at BassGear

Makes a 4 string set just £22.50 or a 5 set £27 (plus postage if you can't get to the store).

I think you just need to put 'Birthday' in as redemption offer or phone Phil and say you'd like the Fodera Birthday offer.

I really like their nickel sets and have been slowly swapping over from Elixirs over the last year or so. Id previously favoured DR Sunbeams but I prefer the Foderas now.

I had a Monarch that came with the Wooten 40-95 set and quite liked the slinky 95 E. I've generally gone for a more standard 40-100 set now as the 95 was maybe a bit wimpy on my 33" scale Ritter.

They aren't coated but, certainly with the nickel variety, I haven't found them harsh on my fingers (or fretboards), lol.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1369890156' post='2093941']
FYI, ATS gear is available through Phil Nixon's fantastic BassGear outlet,in Twyford just west of London [url="http://www.bassgear.co.uk/product-category/bass-amps-and-cabs/ats/"]http://www.bassgear....s-and-cabs/ats/[/url] I bet BCer Barrie (molan), who helps out st BassGear, will be along in a moment to add his thoughts on ATS
[/quote]

Thanks Clarky

These really are amazingly well made amps & cabs. Superb pure sound quality but always sounding 'musical' and natural without that nasty sterility you get from some amps described as 'hi-fi'.

The head in particular is one of those that really lets you hear the sound of your bass rather than starting off with a tone that the manufacturer thinks your bass should have!

We had a customer in on Monday (another BC'er) who made the combination of the LBA5 head and a CX 310 & 312 cabs sound seriously nice with his funky GB bass.

All the prices on the latest stock are significantly lower now that the range has been properly established and distribution is sorted too

Forgot - the main man behind Eden was David Nordschow.

He now has his own new range of cabs called DNA. I don't know much about them other than that the Lowend Bass Shop in the USA sells them.

I've been to trade shows where Marshal have had Eden on display. . .

Buried away in a corner, nothing plugged in or able to be tried out. No product demonstrations or even a salesperson capable of talking about them.

If this is how they treat the brand in front of dealers you have to wonder what the quality control of manufacture is like

[quote name='lowerbassment' timestamp='1369662506' post='2091304']
Very interesting and GAS-inducing ;-)

What is your impression how well the CN112 (single or pair) would work with the Markbass Big Bang? I think in an earlier post you mentioned the Big Bang to match well with the CN212.
[/quote]

I have to admit that the Big Bang has really grown on me over the past few days. It seems to have a faster attack than the TH500 and a generally cleaner sound if you leave the controls flat. The clever thing is that you can get close to the Aggie's tone with some judicious use of both the Big Bang's filter controls whereas you can't really dial out the natural colouration that's in the TH500.

The real revelation after a few weeks of testing is the ATS500 head. For a pure clean tone, without sterility, it slays a lot of other heads in the 500w lightweight bracket. Of course it's a lot more expensive but it just oozes quality

The nice thing about the CN cabs is that they allow you to hear the differences between the heads quite clearly. However, after extended listening it's obvious that there's a mid hump compared to something that's far more neutral like the ATS 312 or 310.

There seems to be a real trend amongst a lot of cab manufacturers to program in a mid biased sound to their cabs these days. I can understand why they are doing it but there is a tendency for some of them to get very nasal sounding and I think this would get quite wearing after a while.

They both look 'home-made' to me

Back in the days when I owned an Oldsmobile '58 convertible I used to go to this every year - always a great atmosphere & always seemed to be sunny

Not as bad as the mistake I once made. . .

Had an audition with a band looking for both bass & drums. The drummer & I didn't know each other but locked in really well and immediately got on with each other.

We nailed all the songs we'd been given to learn & picked up some others really quickly. Everything was going well, the band guitarist was talking about best nights to get together, which new songs to learn etc.

As we were packing up I noticed he had a Spurs scarf in his bag. I asked him, in a very friendly way, if he was a Spurs fan. He immediately turned on me and asked why I wanted to know & if I was an Arsenal fan. I, laughingly said I was a season ticket holder. He then spun on the drummer and said he supposed he was a Gooner as well - the drummer smiled and said that actually he was a season ticket holder at Chelsea.

The guitarist stomped off without another word and the pair of us got a very curt rejection the next day saying we weren't the sort of people he was looking for. . .

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1370767975' post='2105195']
La Bella now make flats specifically designed from string thru basses, such as [url="http://www.labella.com/products/760fs-tb/"]these[/url].
[/quote]

Somewhat bizarrely even though La Bella make strings they quote for thru-body stringing their most senior string guy very strongly recommends never stringing flats through the body!

I had a long chat with him about this and he said that it makes no appreciable difference to either tension or tone but that, unless set up perfectly, it regularly destroys string tonality and they go 'dead' really quickly.

Of course there's the issue of breakage as well but I've not actually seen this. I have seen some E & A strings looking a bit sad & definitely heard E's losing definition quickly and sounding dull and lifeless compared to the other three

As BRX says, if you want to buy as an investment it really needs to be 100% original. Values of non-original basses fluctuate all the time and, when the market is rising, it's the all original ones that rise fastest and make most money.

£1,395 is a good price for an all original '77. Colour can be important in late 70's basses as well plus weight makes a real difference. Anything over 10lbs will be worth to most buyers and close to 9lbs (so long as it doesn't have nasty neck dive that some light weight Fenders have) will sell a lot easier.

Original case can make a big difference as well.