Chienmortbb

You're fine. its pixelation from a low resolution picture. you just need a better camera. 📸

Just to add, those amps are incredibly efficient and shoiuld be fine as used here.

Welcome Phil.

There may be several reasons for this but the main reasons are, IMHO the density of wood is not consistant plus the wide tolerance of the electronic components. Body = Alder varies from 26 - 42 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 63% heavier for the same volume. Neck = Maple varies from 39 - 47 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 21% heavier for the same volume. Fingerboard = Rosewood varies from 50 -55* lb/ft3 Or 10% heavier for the same volume, depending on species. Then it seems clear to me that an alder body with a density of 26 will sound much different to one with a density of 42. Althought the amount of change in Maple is much lower, more of the string length is above Maple and so it could have a similar, or bigger effect on the sound than the body wood. Electronics. The pots and capacitors in a passive bass usually have a tolerance of =/- 20%. A typical P bass has two pots and one capacitor. These react with pickups that also have a tolerance (usually undefined). A 500K pot could be 400K or 600K. The electronics as a whole, form a tuned circuit and changing anything affects the tuning, and in the end the sound.

All true although my knowledge of Trace was confined to the BLX130 a small combo that weighed as much as a small house. However it was well designed and well built and did what was expected of it. I suspect the amp was the same design as the higher powered variants as it had space on the PCB for an extra aet of output mosfets. Having seen inside the bass offerings from big companies from both sides of the pond Trace were a cut above. (They also looked cool at the time). The only real bass amp maker I knew at the time were Ampeg and although I expect some flamimg for this, they looked like they had been built in a shed from surplus components. In fact the treal surprise is that Ampeg survived the various sell-ons and is still around today. However there was no magic in Trace Ellioit. We have moved on 30 years and both tastes and technologies have changed. AShdown are a worthy successor to Trace and although I will fondly remember my BLX130 my back says no. To be fair to HH the amp's were very good for their time and the basic design of the later HH Mosfet amps were the same building blocks as those used in the Trace mosfet output stages. Although again being fair, both probaby owed a lot to the Hitachi reference designs of the time. HH were built like the proverbial brick outhouse with military grade wiring harnesses and were conservatively rated. I still have two from the early 70s and both have only had their pots replaced. The electroluminescent panels were great and the only downside was the perspex/plexiglass fascias. The cabs were quirky but not very good though.

On a back of an envelope calculation, my amp is about 700 watts, so not quite one horsepower. I am now wiping away the tears so I can search for a REAL amp.

I have one too. Have you ever used the software?

If you count that one its four as I also built one of early iterations that had the horn horizontal rather than vertical. That is what I meant by too many cabs.

I really do not heed another cabinet. My second/third MK3 cab is assembled but not yet painted or fitted with drivers. I really need todfinish my self build head, BUT of course I am IN.

It’s a shame they stopped the Retrovibes.

The bridge angle mimics the tradition BBOT gend bridge when correctly intonated. Of course the string used can change the intonation but in general the E string saddle should make the active part of the E string the longest followed by A and D wth the G string shortest, it's saddle furthest forward.

The tail piece is in two parts and will come off when there is no striing tension, the bridge is tiny and strainght, no compensation. I cannot see any way to intonate it unless there are moveable saddles that are covered and even then there would not be enough adjustment for my liking. On my Greg Bennet semi acoustic it used a Tune Tune O Matic bridge tailpiece with limited saddle adjustment BUT the bridge is angled.

Retrovibe are now owned by Chowny.

Looking at the package made me think. It would make a great head amp. With the controls on top it would be easy to see and adjust. Easier than either a traditiaonl head or combo.

Unlikely. An SMPS and Class D amp together reach 80-85% efficiency. Even if they could somehow defy physics, that means today's 200w amp could reach maybe 235W-250W at 100% eficiency.

I often find the G string too tight, what is it like on these??

They may be the flats for me then. I trie dtye Korean Olympia flats last time and they were good but the G string was so tight (resists the urge for a crude similie) it was hard to play. I have always avoid the TI Flats route as I suspect the tension would be too low for me.

I have not heard the term crushed blacks since I retired and no it is not a racist term. Camera or camera son?

I have to be honest, whenever they do an "All About The Bass", I can only watch if the bloke with the beard is not on. His voice is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.

I think you have put in words what I am feeling.

Thanks for the information.I am quiite happy to mod if needed. My initial thought was to go for a Jazz as I have never owned a Jazz but then I do like the P/J setup.

I have always loved non Fender basses. I have a Fender Aerodyne which I love but of course this is not really a Fender. So I have several basses some of which will be for sale on here shortly and want to have just 2. I am looking at two options in the £500 region, the FGN Magic Jazz (FujiGen, Fuji General) https://fgnguitars.com/eb/mightyjazz/bmj-g/ Or the G&L SB2 https://glguitars.com/product/sb-2-2/ Has anyone experience of either of these basses?

I was surprised at the idea that Ashdown had been sold. It would make sense if Ashdown had purchased TE from Peaveu though.

The Mesa deal is done they are now part of Gibson, is that bad news for bass players? Trace enthusiasts might think so. On the YouTube channel, Know Your Gear, It was also touted that either Ashdown or Trace Ellott had also been sold, possibly to Cort. I must stress that I can find no corroboration for this. Has anyone any more info?