Chienmortbb

You can only comment on your own experiences. I often use Thomann, Andertons and have used G4M and PMT. Thomann used to have a price advantage, but it is now often pennies and DHL, are to be avoided where possible. The worst tracking of any company, IMHO.

Andertons, despite me not liking the bloke that does their bass videos, I have found them to be excellent especially when I changed my mind on a purchase after it was delivered, They arranged pickup FOC.

PMT were good to buy from, BUT when I was unsure about a very recent purchase, I checked their Ts and Cs. It is down to the customer to pay for and arrange the return.

G4M did not have the things I wanted recently, so I have not used them for some time.

My first bass, about 25 years or more ago, was a candy apple red Squier P Bass. I did not realise then how good it was. Cost £100 second hand. 
 

Then I got a Westone Thunder 1A, yes it was heavy but it was a wondrous bass. At that time it was definitely 1 in 1 out. That was also second hand and cost about £100. 
 

A few basses later and my first “real” bass, a Fender Aerodyne, the one in my avatar. Personal import from Japan, cost about £500 all in. At the time they were £995 over here. It is fabulous BUT.. 

I have continued to buy and sell basses but I now have a Marcus Miller M2 £270 ish and I alternate between the Fender and the Sire Marcus Miller. 
 

I also have a second hand Peavey P Bass (£50) and have gigged that several times. 

16 minutes ago, aniki said:

Hey,

Thanks for the info folks; some very interesting stuff there.

I've mainly played through Ampeg, Orange, Peavey and Mesa Boogie cabs; all heavy monsters!
I use a couple of valve amps with an old Peavey PA head as back up. More recently I bought a class D head which I also like the sound of.

My basses will go to the grave with me so I won't be swapping those.

Maybe 'dull thud' was a bit OTT but I've had to use quite extreme eq to get even close to what I'm used to with modern cabs. They all seem to have a lot of upper mid emphasis and lack 'punch'. Appreciate this is all a bit cloudy trying to 'describe' tones anyway.

I'll keep trying different brands and see what happens...

 

I put DiMarzio pickups into my Fender Aerodyne (P/J) and contacted their Tech Support for advice on wiring. It was a different to the usual Fender arrangement and meant that I now have a tone control that goes from bright to thud and all things in between. MOst tone controls on passive basses have a limited range.  I use roundwounds, Class D heads and a full range (LFSys) cabinet.

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

Well, it's no wonder that your IEMs aren't fitting. The tips are far too big.

Have you met my friend Noddy?

3 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

For an idea of what a good seal sounds like... put your fingers as deep as you can into your ears to block out as much sound as you can. If the seal on your inears don't sound comparable (or better), the fit isn't good.

I once went to the Dr it’s a sore ear. She asked if I used cotton buds, “no” I said “Put nothing in your ear smaller than your elbow.” The Dr asked who gave me that advice? “You”  I said, “ about 15 years ago!”

It proves what I was told was true that BLX came from “the dogs rowlocks”.

18 hours ago, martthebass said:

Firstly, apologies in advance if this has been done elsewhere.

Ive always been in bands with back line, however with a degree of hearing loss I’m now finding that the volumes on stage quite often lead to pitch shift in my perception and higher volumes make this worse.

So, as the band isn’t in a frame of mind to go totally back line less could someone give me guidance on what I need equipment wise and connections wise to set up an IEM for myself.

The band is currently using a Dynacord Powermate 600 as the main PA with tops and active sub. The only things going through the PA are vocals (4) and Roland electronic kit. 
I’m not made of money so a starter set up that would give me a way of not overloading my stressed earlugs would be great. At the moment it would be just me going IEM.

The first thing you need to check is the number of Aux or Bus outputs available on the Dynacord. Looking at the manual for the 600-3, it looks like you have just MON and AUX.  So you cannot have more than two monitor mixes. The Dynacord looks to be a great Powered mixer but it is limited in this respect. If it is just you going IEM, then try a wired system initially fed from the Aux output. I use KZ ZS10 earpieces, plus the Behringer P2. Total cost about £90. Be warned that the KZ ZS10 have a scooped response and without a separate EQ on the AUX output, will be bass heavy  and have a suck out in the mid region. However they do outperform( in my opinion) many dedicated IEM earphones fro the usual subjects. 
 

@EBS_freak and @Phil Starrhave much more experience than me however and will hopefully put me right, where needed. 

I think we do need a little more info before we start posting recommendations.

Thanks. I would not sell, but I want multichannel recording and there is a one in one out policy.

7 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

I think you misunderstand - I'm talking about the difficulty in searching for "Vintage basses" - the adjective tends to dominate the proper noun in results.

Sorry!

On 18/01/2024 at 10:04, chris_b said:

The size of a speaker means nothing.

It is not the only parameter, but it is important. I will agree that it is not the most important part of the spec.

17 hours ago, neepheid said:

Ahh yes, Vintage - one of the worst brand names to search for in history

 

Both shorties?

I agree that the early ones were poor, but I have played one recently that was OK.

I Lied. I remember seeing one of these on a music shop wall and tried it. I have never played a bass with a worse setup. I was really disappointed. (this is not a joke)

On 21/01/2024 at 19:37, TheGreek said:

Don't be put off by negative comments by others who think that Fender should have stopped designing new basses after introducing the J bass

NO they are wrong, it was designs after the P that are wrong🤣

On 25/01/2024 at 19:53, uk_lefty said:

Me too. I really wanted to like these, my number 1 bass is a stingray, but I think there is something just not quite right. The Horn is too long, body too wide, pickguard too short and narrow, and that jazz pickup?!?!  Also, no lefties listed which is odd for Sire. The 24 fret jazz however is really drawing me in.

To be honest I feel the opposite, The 'Ray looks all wrong and the elongated top horn on the Sire will place the bass in a more playable position, and help with the balance. In my opinion the Stingray pickup is in an unusable position. However, if you consider the bass a percussion instrument, you may well disagree.

I am going as I might have outstayed my welcome here..

That once made me take an SB2 out of my basket, good news.

1 hour ago, MartinB said:

space age lightweight multi-laminate hybrid core"

I have heard of a balsa ply where the ply are arranged edgeways. Apparently very strong and light.

57 minutes ago, agedhorse said:

The video world moved way too fast for my comfort level, you could be qualified one year and completely unqualified to design new products the next year as the technology changed and the big player drove the market. It's hard to have a 40 year career in the video business as a designer/engineer IME based on friends of mine who followed this path.

Yes indeed. One of the reasons I retired/was made redundant.

The Ui16 is a 16 input mixer, of which 12 are mic/line. It is controlled either 

Inputs 1 and 2 can be set to HiZ to take a guitar or bass directly, and there are numerous Digitech effects built in.

Each input has Parametric or simple EQ, HPF, Compressor, Gate, Delay, Echo, Reverb, Room.

Both Main L/R outputs and the 4-6 Aux outputs has multi and graphic equalisers plus feedback suppression.

Features 4 Aux buses, they can be increased to 6 by losing the headphone facility. 
Control is via an any device that has a web browser. No special software or app is required. 

Soundcraft Say:

The Ui Series mixers feature cross-platform compatibility with iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux devices, and can use up to 10 control devices simultaneously. In addition, the Ui12 and Ui16 each feature built-in HARMAN signal processing from dbx, DigiTech and Lexicon, including dbx AFS2, DigiTech Amp Modelling, and more. Both models feature fully recallable and remote-controlled mic gain and phantom power, along with 4-band parametric EQ, high-pass filter, compressor, de-esser and noise gate on input channels.

31-band graphic EQ, noise gate and compressor on all outputs, plus real-time frequency analyser (RTA) on inputs and outputs. Built in are three dedicated Lexicon FX busses: Reverb, Delay and Chorus. In addition, mixer controls include Subgroups, Mute groups and View groups, among others. The Ui Series mixers feature full Show/Snapshot recallability with channel recall safes. while security lockout features allow customization of device access to only specific functions and mixes if needed. Both mixers also offer independent network interfaces on board for simultaneous control by Wi-Fi and Ethernet, plus a floor-ready rugged chassis for live applications.

The Ui16 boasts eight XLR combo mic/line inputs, four XLR mic inputs, two channels of Hi- Z/instrument inputs, as well as a stereo RCA line input. A 2-channel USB media player is included, along with four balanced XLR Aux outputs, two quarter-inch headphone outputs with level control, plus balanced stereo XLR and quarter-inch main outputs. Two-channel USB audio playback is compatible with MP3, WAV and AIFF formats, and 2-channel USB Record direct-to-memory devices functionality is possible as well.

Features

Tablet/PC/Smartphone Controlled Digital Mixer

Integrated Wi-Fi

Cross-platform compatibility with iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux devices

Use up to 10 control devices (tablets, phones, PCs) simultaneously

Legendary Harman Signal Processing from dbx®, Digitech®, and Lexicon®

Fully recallable and remote-controlled mic preamps

4-band Parametric EQ, High-Pass Filter, Compressor, De-esser and Noise Gate on input channels

31-band Graphic EQ, Noise Gate and Compressor on all outputs

Real-Time Frequency Analyser (RTA) on inputs and outputs

3 dedicated Lexicon® FX effects processors: Reverb, Delay and Chorus

Subgroups, Mute Groups, View Groups, and more mixer controls

Show/Snapshot recall with channel safes and security lockout

2-channel USB audio playback and recording

Password-protected Access limitation system

Sync ID (multiple browser windows staying in channel Sync)

6 minutes ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

while the amp itself is kinda hissy. It

Does it change if you change form FET to Tube (I thought Laney were a British Company)?

On 22/01/2024 at 22:46, TRBboy said:

very stingy smear of glue (if any) and 4-5 staples

Glue is best used sparingly, and the staples would keep the cabinet shape while the glue dries. The big problem with Trace was their insistence on using MDF for many cabs. Now MDF is second only to Concrete as a cabinet material, but they have similar issues,,, MASS. As heavy as funk for a given thickness.

1 hour ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

once the Tilt knob is favored to the treble side, it becomes more apparent

If there is noise, it will show when treble is raised.

@agedhorse Thank you for posting that snippet of the Standard. It is now close to 15 years since I retired, and with retirement I lost my access to the Standards Library at work. I should also confess that whilst Audio was the driver that led to my career in Electronics, I spent just about all my working life designing and testing Video products. While having the basic grounding, I don't have the earned experience that you have.

In case anyone wants to see the whole standard, it is 425 Swiss francs or approx £400.

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Anyway I deliberately choose to run everything off a single socket. The theory is to have everything connected to the same earth point.

This was my reasoning too.

16 hours ago, sandy_r said:

So - possibility of overdriven speaker - 600W excess drive over rating - severe clipping - in most other universes, effectively a square wave

This is an area where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and I admit to being an enthusiastic amateur as far as loudspeakers are concerned. However, I was an Electronic Engineer by profession.

The speaker is being overdriven NOT the amp, that will still be outputting the same signal. The amp will clip if the input signal is too high, within limits the speaker will not affect. As the speaker exceeds Xmax, it will become non-linear as the coil is outside the influence of the magnet, and you will get compression. Push it too far, and you could destroy the speaker (XLim or XDamage) I used a 200 watt speaker from an 800 watt amp on Friday for two hours, without any problem. 

17 hours ago, sandy_r said:

a 100W True RMS amp, clipping badly,can apply up to 200W (True RMS) into its usual load

The term "True RMS" was coined for describing the readings of voltmeters and multimeters, as the early digital voltmeters could only measure RMS voltage for a single pure sine wave. Anything else would cause an incorrect reading. True RMS meters should read accurately, whatever the waveform.

True RMS is not a term I recognise in amplifier specifications. In fact, to be a pedant, there is no such thing as RMS power as RMS voltage x RMS current gives average power (although some in HIFI circles dispute this definition of average power). To understand why you have to know what the terms RMS means, not the literal Root Mean Squared but the practical use. The RMS voltage is that which causes the same rise in temperature, in a given resistance, as a given DC voltage. So put 120/240 volts DC across an electric fire element, and it will give out as much heat as if you put 120/240V volts (RMS) AC across it.