molan

Whilst looking at the Erlewine books & DVD's I spotted this: and wondered if anyone had seen it and thought it was any good? Just interested as it appears to cover both set & repair stuff for guitars but also stuff on valve amps as well.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='273578' date='Aug 31 2008, 10:51 AM']Thanks! There's a lot of nice shiny stuff on their website: www.usmasters.com/ I must admit, I had never heard of them either. I went to a guys house to check out a Lightwave bass he was selling, wasn't too mad about that but saw this in his rack and was knocked out by it, made an offer and got it the next week. Got the blue one a few weeks later off the same bloke. These were the "low end" of his collection, including Pedullas, Zon, Skjolds etc![/quote] Some interesting looking stuff in their bass section - look at the control options on this one:

[quote name='chris_b' post='273270' date='Aug 30 2008, 06:22 PM']Maybe I'm just tight, but why waste money paying someone to do something that will happen for free over time!! In my opinion this is the ultimate con.[/quote] I know where you're coming from but for me to get a bass looking like it's over 40 years old would mean I'd have to buy a new one now and use it regularly until I'm 92 - I have a sneaking suspicion this is unlikely to happen

How about this baby - not a relic but wonderfully 'knackered' : [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120297693379&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=002[/url]

I was trawling around some US bass sites & spotted quite a few Relic Series basses kicking around. Mostly Olympic White, some Sunburst & a few custom colours like this rather fetching Lake Placid Blue: Prices in the States are all over the place ranging from just under $3,000 to as high as nearly $6,000 for something like the LPB one above. The NOS models selling at about $500 less. So - I just wondered if anyone here had played one and wondered what they are like compared to a more regular US made Vintage Series model?

[quote name='uptonmark' post='270488' date='Aug 26 2008, 06:44 PM']imo, one of the funkiest riffs of all time and easy to play too[/quote] Try switching back forth between Disco Inferno & Boogie Oogie Oogie - great funky fun for all the family Speaking of which - I've been learning Dream Come True by the Brand New Heavies

Nothing wrong with the 'sound of the '70's' - especially if it's a Fender Jazz through an SVT

Definitely never too old to start playing with other people (oo er missus!) - have a scout around your local music shops & rehearsal studios & see if there's other like minded people out there. Loads of web based resources for finding other musicians locally - might be a little daunting at first but worth the effort & you may just find you're better than the people with 'experience'

Have you tried an EBS 2x12? It's maybe 2-3" taller than the Aggie 2x12 and the Proline weighs about 5 pounds more but I don't think you'd really notice this difference in a 'real world' situation. Obviously the Neo will be lighter but, personally, I prefer the Pro sound to the Neo - very much a personal thing I'd say though. They go pretty deep and are very punchy. It's a 4ohm cab as standard so great as a standalone unit if you want to release the full power of an amp. Worth a try if you have a dealer nearby anywhere? PS - Promise I'm not saying this just because I've got one up for sale! I'm selling mine because I've fallen for an Ampeg SVT II and am very 'anal' about having matching heads & cabs, lol.

I saw Paul Gilbert on a mega guitar fest night at the HoB in LA. Lead acts on the bill were Satriani & Vai but also had Steve Lukather, Dweezil Zappa, Johnny Hiland, Scott Henderson, Johnny A & with Sheehan & La Rue on bass. For my money Gilbert was the best of the lot!

[quote name='jensenmann' post='269012' date='Aug 24 2008, 06:49 PM']Having played Ampeg since ages I have to add one thing: the different becomes obvious with volume. The III has a MOSFET amp which will get to the point when it will not get any louder. Increasing volume with your fingers on the strings will not lead to increased volume in the amp. Same thing happens with the tube poweramp of the II BUT poweramp distortion rises and compression start to set in. These increased harmonics will give you the feeling that still it gets louder when you play louder (with your fingers not volumeknob), hence you have better control over the dynamic of your playing. The beauty of the SVT and SVTII and classic is to play with this poweramp compression and distortion this makes your sound come alive. (sorry, that´s LOUD) But you don´t want this for slapstyle. There it sounds annoying. An alternative is the V4B (only 100W) or using KT88 tubes in the SVT (they compress a little earlier than 6550s) or leaving a pair of poweramptubes out.[/quote] That's interesting about leaving the power amp tubes out - what does this do to the power output in terms of wattage? As you're obviously a bit of an expert on Ampegs I wondered what you thought about running the SVTII into an 8ohm cab. I've read that it really prefers to run into 4 or 2ohm loads but Ampeg say it's 'ok' to run into 8 as well?

As someone who works very close to the Bass Cellar I've popped in several times over the past few years. General level of service is best described as one of general disinterest aligned with a hint of arrogance. Now, whilst this isn't uncommon in Denmark Street there really is no excuse for this sort of attitude in any service industry. Especially as the web has opened up the opportunity to browse at leisure, seek users advice & track down the best prices. Some thing that bought this home today for me was a simple trip to my local Waitrose. Let's face it, working in a high street supermarket isn't that exciting & the wages are generally rubbish. However, today every single person I came into contact with could not have been more helpful, friendly and genuinely appeared pleased to serve me with a smile. I have no idea whether this is because they have a really stringent employment policy, a great motivational manager or just that it's a group of people who vaguely enjoy their work. Given that working in one of London's most famous areas, surrounded by great shops, bars, restaurants, music venues etc. has got to be a bit of a privilege and, if you're a bass player, then working in what ought to be one of the best bass places in the country should really be a bit of an inspiration to enjoy your working day and offer up some great client service. The Bass Cellar should be buzzing with good vibes and smiles and it just isn't, it's miserable and dowdy and seems like there's a cloud over the place. Seems like an example of classic sales prevention rather than being an effective sales force. if they do have 200K people going through the doors just imagine how much more they could sell by simply improving the attitude of the staff. Oh, and by the way, last time I was there the guy 'helping' me gave me incorrect information about Warwick bass neck profiles which took me about 2 seconds to check online. I was pretty sure he was wrong when I was in the shop be he was adamant and wasn't going to check his information. It's not like they actually have to know that much to do a decent job, If I can know this stuff when it's only a hobby for me why can't someone who does it as a job be bothered to do some 'homework' and be a bit more professional?

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='263605' date='Aug 16 2008, 02:44 PM']That and roll the tone right off and also play up on the finger board with plenty of meaty pad on the right hand fingers[/quote] and look out for a 1x18 (or even 2x18!) cab - these sometimes pop up and are soften urprisingly cheap because they are a bit limited in use. Great for classic old school reggae sounds

I've bought and sold lots of stuff through the For Sale section in basses, amps, effects & accessories. I have also put feelers out to see if there's even a remote interest in selling something & I've withdrawn a bass that I decided to keep (partly because I didn't get offers I was happy with but also because I lived with it for a while and decided I'd hang on to it for a while longer). I've been buggered around a little and I pulled out of one purchase, for reasons mainly out of my control. However every sale, bid, offer, declined offer has been with lots of friendly chatter and everyone has been really courteous - something that cannot be said of a lot of Ebay transactions I've been through. I've made some real friends in the process as well. I find the whole for sale section works incredibly well, certainly better than any other forum based sale section that I've come across anyway!

[quote name='ste_m3' post='263998' date='Aug 17 2008, 04:10 PM']Id say, Yes.[/quote] I had a feeling that might be the case

I've recently picked up an SVTII as part of a multi trade. I'd never considered an Ampeg before because I always thought of them as 'rock monster' heads only to be used with an 8x10 stack! Having played through this head a few times I'm really surprised at what a lovely pure tone it has, have tried it through a few cabs and seems to sound really nice through all of them. Problem with it of course is that weighs more than the average child & is a beast to lug around. Ampeg quote about 70lbs for it but with a flight case as well it's even heavier. I noticed that the III has pretty much the same front end as the II but has a solid state power circuit (and only weighs 26lbs!) & wondered how close it gets tot he sound of the II? Is it those wonderful 6 glowing power amp tubes that are making all the difference or have Ampeg managed to replicate the core oft he sound without the weight, and hassle, of the power amp tube section?