barneyg42

Affectionately known as the Stretch Bogey or even the Torrey Canyon (wiki it if you're too young to remember) here is my 1990 Merc 230TE! 167 thousand miles on the clock, starts on the one! [attachment=24498:26082008166.jpg] Fits all my gear (listed below) in the back without moving the seats at all! All my mates take the piss out of it but when there's some driving to be done guess who gets the call! Here it is with a bit of the white stuff from earlier this year. [attachment=24499:02022009328.jpg]

[quote name='Hoppo75' post='454352' date='Apr 4 2009, 09:10 PM']Well done mate. It's a wonderful bit of kit for the price. Gigged mine for the first time last Sat, and the amount of comments I got from the people in the room on how excellent the sound was, and on listening to the cam footage from the gig........how very right they were!!! (family and friends, most of which are super critical muso's, including 2 Uncles who are bassists). One thing though, I did have the same impression on the compressor being useless when I was playing in the house, but it really does work. It's very subtle, and from song to song is easily missed, but I started playing the gig without it, and turned it up to 3 mid way through the set. It seemed to ever so slightly balance out the attack on the strings (without affecting the tone). Like I say, very very subtle, but I somehow found myself not concentrating on my finger pressure as much. Great bit of kit.[/quote] Well I have to backtrack on this, we put a couple of songs in our set to try tonight at rehearsal that really needed me to use a pick and I found that by putting just a gnats on the compressor it really smoothed it out nicely without losing any bite and tone. I then left it in with my finger playing too and it wasn't half bad. When I tried it out at Dr Funks place when I bought it we turned it up and it really sucked the sound away but at gig/rehearsal volume it's a lot more subtle as long as it's not boosted too much. It really was just switched on and no more. It has to be said that this head with my Status S1 5string is the best sound I've had for ages. The valve side of the pre-amp warms it up nicely but it still retains the punch and clarity of the Status.

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='458583' date='Apr 9 2009, 04:59 PM']Yup If the valves drive the power section of the amp its bad news. The valve is for tone and is not driving the cab. G[/quote] Cool Thanks for the quick reply, Colin

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='458578' date='Apr 9 2009, 04:52 PM']You can use the amp without a cab. Valve heads fry themselves if not connected to a cab. G[/quote] Even if I dial some valve pre-amp in?

Doing a bit of recording with my band tonight and I'm taking my amp as an option. It has a DI out on the back. Do I have to have one of my speakers plugged in (with master vol turned down) or can I use the head alone with the master turned down? If you don't know the amp it has two pre-amps valve/solid state. Colin

Although at 48 you have a few years on me I'm just in the process of learning Paradise City for my new band, not a song I've done before although it seems easy enough and I can't bloody wait to play it! Age is no barrier, at the same time I'm learning some Kings of Leon and some Fleetwood Mac so it's as diverse as it can get! You go for it!!

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[quote name='dr.funk' post='432637' date='Mar 12 2009, 06:22 PM']£150 - what a bargin! I bought mine with a rackcase a year or two back for £250 and it has served me very well. Solid beast and a very nice clean punchy tone. My sound had so much more weight behind it compared with my old SWR Bass 350. I am hoping to sell mine at some point, can't believe they have dropped in value so much [/quote] And now it's mine and it's an awesome piece of kit.....cheers Chris! Minimal fettling needed to the eq, boost the tube a bit more than the solid state and it really punches through. I have the graphic on (nice lights) and just gave a little bit in the mids and a bit on the bass contour and all I needed was 2 on the master to get through git,keys,drums and vocs. It's amazing that Hartke made such a brilliant piece of kit and gave it the compressor from hell, still if I need to I'll get a pedal.

Big +1 to that. Quick delivery of goods at a great price. Thanks Chris! Colin