Sean

When I was visiting Matamp years ago, they had a one-off 400w Matamp that was commissioned by Julian Cope for live work. That was the first time I found out that he was a bassist.

It looks really flexible. MB products are super versatile and you should be able to get pretty much whatever you need. The master volume on these Class D amps doesn't really add much colour, not compared to "older tech". So, it's really about shaping your tone with the pre-amp section. My starting point would be: 0. Set the master at a tolerable level for where you are. 1. Set the gain so that clipping light comes on only when you're hitting the strings really hard, it shouldn't light when playing normally. 2. Set everything flat. 3. Get to know that sound. That's your reference. 4. Engage that scoop control and see if that gets you an approximation of what you want. 5. Then add and subtract the other EQ one at a time in large "chunks", returning to flat each time so that you get to know how they affect the tone. Once you've got a feel for what each does you can dial in smaller increments either way until you get near where you want to be. When you get a sound you like, take a photo of the knobs. Use that as a reference. Take notes. Keep iterating. There's 1000 tones in there that you'll love but keep tweaking methodically and you'll find a couple that will be stand out favourites.

1. What amp is it? 2. What kind of sound are you trying to achieve? 3. What EQ does the amp have?

I saw Lita Ford at KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton two weeks ago. She did her cover of the duet she did with Ozzy back in the day called If I Close My Eyes Forever the day after Ozzy died to a mainly West Midlands audience, that was emotional. Overall Lita still rocks and she rocks her red leather catsuit but he superpower seems to be spinning about 50 minutes of material out to 90 minutes. The highlight of the evening was her being joined on stage by Vixen to perform an all girls rendition of an old Runaways number. Vixen as a support band were very impressive and Ms Julia Lage (Mr R Kotzen's "other 'alf") on bass is quite the performer. Vixen is one of those bands from back in the day that has just one original member (the drummer) but it was good entertainment executed very well indeed.

Mine, even with the HAZ-03 units in, don't like the 2.4 GHz wireless NUx bugs.

Roll off each pickup and see if that makes the issue change. It's not a complex circuit. Could you send me some photos of inside the cavity to see if there's anything obvious?

That's a tough one. Are you using wireless? My other thoughts: Barrel jack connections, are they ok?

@warwickhuntI'd love to see Cheat Trick. Any plans to wander down to the South West or Midlands?

@warwickhunt what have you got incoming? And what's your stage rig? How are you amping it?

It's a quirky geometry, for sure. Wearing it much lower on the strap helps some. I struggle with how people manage the Euro X shape or Explorer/Flying-vee shapes.

Waghorn lead time = 36 months. Rob's is very attractive. 3cyears is just too far beyond my planning horizon. Grainger and Jon yet to respond but they've not had the enquiries long.

"I'm not a starf@#£er". 🙂

@SteveXFR I've replaced all the preamps in mine with LHZ-03. When gigging I run everything turned up full except on a couple of songs (Under Pressure and Bohemian Rhapsody) where I roll the treble to halfway. I'm never chasing a tone, never have to worry about trying to be like a safecracker getting the knob to the exact right spot. For me, Spectors are a one trick pony, it's the best trick in the world and the pony has wings. That's what I want; repeatable, reliable tone that is always there. I found that I'd get a useable tone from a TP but would lose it if the knobs got moved. The way I run now makes it easy to check the knob position on the fly. And the LHZ has centre detents making it easy when I do need to adjust.

That would be fantastic, thank you. Shall I pm you an email? I can learn a lot about signal paths with just a 4 but think that I'll inevitably end up buying an off the shelf, preferably 2nd hand 12 to fill the gap before a custom build is ready.

I've got an HX Stomp. I'll get investigating. Thanks for the steer.

I'm hooked. Thanks for this. One question. How do I get it to FoH with DI rather than mics on cabs? Wouldn't I need 2 DI outs? I'm going to sketch out some signal paths this weekend. I've been very close to the stage at Cheap Trick a few times and that dirty high end sound is like a chainsaw ripping through your head, the bottom is thumping solid.

Grant bought a cab from me. Met up with just before he was going on stage to support the legendary Hawkwind. Top bloke and I hope you had a cracking gig. Lovely GP12 too. 🙂

Hay must've been a handful of neck?

How are you using it?

I see the Warwick Streamers are 6 courses of 2 strings (6x2). Unusual. I couldn't see any with 4 courses of 3 (4x3) variants.

I've now put out enquiries to Waghorn (Bristol), Grainger (LE15), and Shuker (Hope Valley) as UK builders that are easy to visit. The Brookes basses are stunning and I have a response from Rob. I'm not rushing into this, just going through all the options before pushing the button.

Are you saying that an arrogant, patronising and dismissive attitude toward customers is just down to being busy rather than having the right people in the roles? Reading the responses to negative reviews on line and with my own experiences, it seems that being busy is regularly given as a reason for having a less than acceptable customer-facing attitude. It's like, "Sorry I'm rude but we are very very busy and you're in the way". I was a very good (high spend) customer at BD when MS was running it solo, but as soon as it expanded to take on that first employee, I had a few consecutive bad experiences with one employee in person and on the phone that have coloured my judgement and now I only buy from BD those things that aren't available easily elsewhere. LHZ preamps being an example, of which I've had 5 this year and Spector bridges x 3. As far as basses, amps, cabs etc. I choose to deliberately avoid BD because of those demeaning and belittling experiences that I've had. I consider that constructive and fair customer feedback.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've emailed Rob.

Thanks for that. They look the business and he's got loads of experience of doing it. What are we looking at GBP 5-6k? Or are we into double figures?

Have you spoken to Stan at The Amp Hospital in Guildford?