uk_lefty

My Harley Benton fretless has a laurel board and it sounds better than my rosewood board fretless.

I think this would look good with those single string bridge thingies, you know the little round individual part-per-string bridges. Anyhow, glad you're enjoying it, looks great.

My ME90B arrived on Thursday last week. I moved house on Friday so today was the only time I've managed to sneak half an hour with it. Of course, I haven't read the manual... Initial impressions are good. There is everything you could want in one box. Yes, the Fuzz isn't as good as my old Darkglass, the distortion not as good as another old Darkglass... Etc. etc. But there is sufficient quality and control. I haven't bothered with the presets yet, though I remember from my old Boss GT10-B their presets were generally very good so I look forward to playing with that. I've tried quite a few of the different effects and so far I'm very happy. No more patch cables that can slip, no velcro coming unstuck, far less weight, able to save settings... It's just so sensible and practical, which Volvo driving man that I am means it's perfect for me. I need to get used to which effects are on which pedal and really get in to twiddling but with all parameters at noon I am satisfied I've got good quality sounds that I can click on and out easily and that I've got rid of the problems separate pedals unfortunately bring (noise, more points of failure, not playing nicely together...). More detailed review to come soon

Lovely!

Agreed! This amp is great, a really full and authoritative sound and headroom to infinity. The MB Series looks very cheap unfortunately, whereas the DBS looks premium. I had mine serviced and really it was just dusty, no issues after twenty five years, ten of those in storage. It doesn't replace my ABM but it's certainly not a bad backup.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, sounds like you have some great memories together. A guitarist I knew tried to learn lefty for Hendrix tribute reasons and got nowhere. I think it depends how dominant you are in your right hand. The coordination on different sides of the body can be very different. If you can pat your head and rub your tummy, great, now try changing which hand is doing which job. Might be difficult. I guess having a go is the only way to find out. And if it doesn't work flipping the nut and re-stringing is a non intrusive way to make it work for you.

Well, that was a LOT of bass!!! First proper gig pushing this amp, scrap that, it never felt pushed at all. Sounded phenomenal.

The Return of the Space Cowboys Funk-Soul something That's all I've got for now.

I love this

I had seen a few of these lovely little tweed reissues come up and started to investigate. Completely wrong, because I'm trying to reduce gear drastically and raise cash for my upcoming house move but I have no self control. I've had the amp for less than a week and it got two gigs this weekend. My usual rig is an Ashdown ABM600 with two fifteen inch cans but I fancied something more portable and with a distinct character. The TV twelve is an ok one hand lift at 20kg though more modern 12" combos will probably be half the weight. The tweed is a bit worn in and has dulled a bit and got some patches of light wear but is in good condition as is the brown speaker cloth. There are two things I love about this amp: the gain dial, I generally crank it most of the way up which gives a gorgeous, round and full woollyness to the sound, proper valve preamp. It's great with my jazz bass and stingray but comes into it's own with the P bass. The other thing is the volume control. At four or less it's comfortable home practice levels. Above that it's gig levels. Last night on an outdoor stage I had the amp at seven (out of twelve) and could hear it beautifully on stage, even with a full drum kit and stage monitoring. I ran the amp at lower levels the night before for a private party in a small room with electronic drums and a sub for the PA, again really good projection. So, this doesn't replace the ABM but I got a bit sick of going to festivals and having to use some really awful provided bass amps, where there isn't switch around time to bring out the ABM rig I can just bring the TV twelve and everything is fine. It's really got its own character, and sounds as good as it looks. They aren't cheap second hand but they really are a great little noise box.

I'm happy with the deal. I'd looked at a few different versions online in varying conditions and I'm happy with what I've paid. Thing is, I just paid for a service on my SWR practice amp... Can't justify keeping both. Need to thoroughly check this amp out. Two gigs this weekend so it may get both of them.

Ummmm it's in my office right now. TV 12. The weight is not a problem really, around 20kg, glad it's not a bigger box though. Will give it a proper play through and maybe even one of this weekends gigs and report back. However this does mean that I have far too many bass amps.

You've been playing bass for four years only, you did this to help out this band and they have you playing live. That should be a huge confidence boost!! They asked you to do the studio recording first. Ok, it didn't go perfectly. But let's all be honest, how many of us play in live bands but the second someone hits record we fluff everything??!! I don't think you need to beat yourself up on this at all. Playing live and recording can be seen as two entirely different skills, where one relies on calm precision and the other relies on the energy you can bring and bring able to react to what's going on around you. You sound like a good band member to me: doing what's right for the band, taking up a new challenge (bass) to help the band, and staying away from the politics.

That's absolutely stunning!

Hmmm I looked up the TV 12 and it's supposed to be 20kg. That doesn't seem stupid heavy but I guess it depends on how bulky the box is, those single top handles don't help.

I've seen a few of these retro tweed boxes advertised and I'm quite tempted... I'd have to shift some gear to get one but that's normal. Just wondering what the opinion is on these, anything I can find is quite a few years old and the world has moved on since then. I'm tempted by the looks but hoping that there's a pleasing sound to them too. I expect they have some weight, but it would most likely replace my SWR as a home/ small gig amp if I were to get one. All opinions welcome.

I had the gain cranked on full and the valve pre fully engaged. I noticed a nice warmth and thickness to the sound on my fretless. Switching fully over to Solid state I got a nice open clank too which would do very well for some P bass played with a pick. So, pedals for distort, pre amp blend for warmth or clank.