M@23

The price increase, I assume comes from Protec. Whilst researching the case, I found an old thread whereby it was mentioned the Thomann price was cheaper than cost price from the UK distributor to a certain shop.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1436806996' post='2820974'] Just an off-topic question here, do you know the cheapest places to get one of these? I'll need another for an incoming bass [/quote] Thomann mate. Mine was a touch over £82.

I avoided the film too, its been on Netflix for a while. Might give it a go then.

Perfect. Thank you both very much. Will get that ordered tonight.

Thanks very much guys!

I ordered from them a couple of weeks back, about 1am Friday and it took that weekend to deliver. My order was in my town Monday morning. Remarkable, given that by the following Thursday it hadn't made the 10 miles from the depot to mine. Who knows what Parcelforce were up to, I went and collected it in the end.

[quote name='sam-davies' timestamp='1436284513' post='2816743'] It's a horizontal S112 in tweed with the brown/gold cloth. [/quote] Great colour choice! That looks very smart.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1436274583' post='2816632'] I respectfully disagree... before I became a musician I could tell if someone was playing a bum note or not! [/quote] That's what I said! Haha. I said something along the lines of 'if you can hear it, then you're qualified. Most punters could pick out a bum note in a guitar solo. The bit you quoted, the point I wanted to make was, for example; that although my wife could pick out a wrong note if I were playing a guitar solo; she could not tell me that it was because I was in the wrong key, or that I played the wrong arpegio or whatever. Therefore, although she can hear the bum note, she can't constructively criticise because that is the extent of her knowledge. Most musicians know they have hit a bum note, and without advice on how not to next time, what good is some randomer pointing it out going to do? BTW, my wife probably would give me stick for hitting a bum note too! ;-)

Sorry, this is another gigbag thread. Would someone be so kind as to measure the internal length of the Contego please? Some places online say it is 46.5", others say 48". Some people say they don't take jazz basses well, some say they don't take 4 in a line headstocks well...! As I can't get my hands on one before purchase, I would hugely appreciate some help here. The bass it would house is a Sandberg VM5 - which is a 34" scale, 4&1 tuner configuration P bass. If it is indeed 46" inside length, it would be too short as the bass is about 46.5" with the bottom strap peg. Thanks!

Anyone use the Sandberg Deluxe case/bag?

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1436133397' post='2815309'] Constructive criticism doesn't need to offer advice on how to improve, it just needs to highlight areas for improvement. [/quote] How can it be constructive if someone can't offer help or advice for improvement?

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1435647824' post='2810861'] I swapped to the Neotech Mega Bass strap because of this. More comfy too. [/quote] I just acquired one of these in a swap deal. Really liking it so far. Have worn my new Sandberg, which isn't a feather weight, for two gigs and a rehearsal this weekend; so about 9 hours. I've not had a tired back or shoulder at all. No way I could have done that with my old leather strap.

You're obviously qualified to, if you can hear it. But. As a non musician, you don't really have any right to offer criticism unless it is asked for. In my opinion, because, as a non musician, it probably wouldn't be constructure criticism as you can't offer any helpful advice.

Played a louder gig last night, smallish room with probably not a lot more than 100 people in, but it is wall to wall and packed. Had a bit of PA reinforcement but ended on these settings:[URL=http://s1240.photobucket.com/user/mattdigweed/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150705_115558_zpswfumqhzt.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg488/mattdigweed/Mobile%20Uploads/20150705_115558_zpswfumqhzt.jpg[/IMG][/URL] With my two tks S112, it was the best sound I've had at this venue, and I've played it probably 50 times over the last 3 or 4 years.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1435773203' post='2812350'] it started , when I asked for some information on a ABM600 & the ABM1000 , Lee offered me a ABM 2000 they had, but while emailing me it had sold , He then offered me the ABM1000 for a great price , but that had gone as well , So they are building me one from scratch for the same quoted price ....Just a great company to deal with . [/quote] That's really cool. Great customer service!

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1435961066' post='2814091'] if it sounds good, then that's alright! [/quote] That it does :-) Setting up for tonight, I just had a bit of a play. Decided to unplug my cabs and give the amp some. Obviously there was no sound, but just wanted to see how hard I could push the amp before the clip light started. Aguilar say you can pretty much disregard the clip light anyway, but even with the basses bass and treble maxed, I still had to push the master, gain or bass pots on the amp before I saw the clip light. This was the same in active or passive. So, the Tone Hammer 500 can take a good amount thrown at it before it clips, even without the 10db pad. Also, I'm really liking the Sandberg pre, as even on full boost it isn't outrageous. It's really nice and subtle.

Don't worry too much about how you appear onstage either. Most people are like statues for the first few songs, if not the whole gig; and that's fine. That stuff all comes with experience.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1435958204' post='2814065'] I tend to not bother with the pad, and simply adjust the input gain as required. To be honest, my active basses don't seem louder than my passive ones. Only of of my J-Retro equipped ones, whose preamp I keep meaning to turn down a bit but I haven't yet. My G&L L2000, passive, is probably the loudest of the lot! [/quote] The amp doesn't have an input gain pot in the traditional respect. So I wasn't 100% sure on how it was going to react. Turns out that without the pad engaged, I'm still not clipping the pre but it is putting out alot more volume.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1435949812' post='2813990'] Yep..it is just signal into the amp... and I always run my active thru passive pads.. [/quote] Cool, I think we have similar, if not the same, rigs too! First gig of the weekend down, only a quiet one, but I didn't use the 10db pad, and ran the pre on the bass flat. Well; treble and bass sitting at the centre detents, don't know if that is flat... Gain and drive in their normal settings on the TH500 but the master at half what it would have been with my last P bass. It sounded great. Really full and clear in passive mode, but better in active. Not hugely different, mind.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1435931078' post='2813759'] If you have a Sandberg then the preamp is Glockenklang (or Sandberg, designed by/inspired by Glock). That preamp is very flat, it doesn't pump the gain, so with flat EQ you get the same aoutput as you get if you turn the bass to passive. You can try it, put everything flat and see the diferences between passive and active mode, it's incredibly close to nothing. I love Glock preamps because of this feature. If you use your Sandberg without boosting too much EQ i'm sure it will handle very well without the need to push in the pad in the amp [/quote] Great. Thanks for that. I was really surprised there was no drop in volume when popping it to passive. I do like the pre alot. I lied in my original post, I had a Stingray 2eq which slipped my mind and the pre in the Sandberg isn't as hot, but is very useable.

[quote name='No lust in Jazz' timestamp='1435917747' post='2813547'] Does this active bass have a trim pot on the pre amp, to cool down the signal? My active basses have this feature.. [/quote] I don't know to be honest. There is nothing obvious, could be internal though.

I think my old passive basses must have had a very low output compared to the new Sandberg. Even in passive mode it's output is much higher, the pole pieces are huge, if that's any indication of output!

Just got my first decent active bass after years of passives! Just playing around with my Aguilar TH before this weekends gigs and noticed that it is unbelievable loud without the 10db pad engaged, but doesn't clip. I play with quite a light touch so am used to cranking the amp with my passive basses. The volume is barely on with the active and its much louder. I guess a lot is dependant on how hot the basses pre is and how hard people play, but, do people use the pads on their amps? The bass doesn't seem to lose any volume in passive mode either, which I wasn't expecting. At the moment I'm thinking of not bothering with the pad and just keeping the master volume down.

[IMG]http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg488/mattdigweed/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-07-02%2019.51.10_zpsefwaf0xg.jpg[/IMG] Not a very good photo, but here she is! Really liking it so far. Gigs are stacked right up for July and I can't wait to get started!

Cort do some cracking basses within budget, not the coolest brand, but do make some nice basses.