Chienmortbb

Firstly let me say that there are no active, magnetic pickups. If we look at say EMGs, they are (or were) low impedance pickups that had a pre-amp or booster encapsulated within the pickup housing. This kept the noise down as high impedance pickups can be noisy due due to their higher output. It had some advantages and some disadvantages. In the early days, putting some of the electronics on the pickup meant a smaller control cavity and lower noise However as components have become smaller and we understood how to shield and wire more effectively these advantages have all but dissipated. It also meant that each pickup needed at least 3 wires instead of the two on a passive single coil pickup. Low impedance coilshave a lower resonant peak that is often outside the range of the instrument meaning a more balanced output. These advantages of "active" pickups were, in my opinion, fewer on bass than on guitar so you will here less difference between them.

I have often thought of buying a big muff clone but it sounds like I would have wasted my money based on another thread on here. I am however amused at the way pedal manufacturers have convinced us and especially our thinner stringed friends that fuzz, distortion and overdrive are different effects. All these "effects" are overdriven or distorted, they mean the same thing. higher levels of distortion can give the characteristic fuzz sound but fundamentally they all clip the waveform to a greater of lesser degree, either symmetrically or asymmetrically. If we had to give them a name maybes Clippers would be a better all encompassing term. Howevr that could just be the marketeer in me wanting to add to tge woes of the poor bassist (i.e. the ones like me that have been "fooled again" by the marketing depts of pedal manufacturers.

I think that the responses from @Stevie and @agedhorse highlight that design choices usually have benefits as well as downsides.

For those that don't know ULEZ is the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London where poluting vehicles pay extra, over and above the Congestion Charge.

Yes Absolute are great for PA, crap for bass (the are just up the road from me. They have a proper big room (well much bigger than the average PUB) and you can really put the stuff through its paces. No ULEZ but £6000 in fuel from your area (actually the roads are really good most of the way so your fuel economy will be good).

Its hard to see what that part is . Do you still have the part ?

This is from the Health and Safety Executive's statement on electrical safety: The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually).

Not to be negative but there ain't no such thing as a digital amp.

I had a BLX130 and I doubt that any of the PJB options will be as good.

Funnily enough I know when PAT testing first came in ,many manufacturers would void the warranty of any item PAT tested. That is a thought although I am unlikely to earn much more than the annual fees this year.

WE used to carry PLI but were never asked for it, aside from the aspect of protecting ourselves, it seemed an unnecessary expense. Thanks for the feedback.

I was asked for both Public Liability insurance and PAT testing certificates for all out gear for a social club gig yesterday. It was explained that the Club in question had just changed Insurers and it was a condition of the ne policy. Sounds a bit like changing from Fully Comp to Third Party Fire and Theft on a car to me. Is this common? Is it a new thing? Is it reasonable?

I don't have a barefaced (and many of those are not FRFR) but my BC112 MK3 is FRFR and has thud aplenty. I have never had my trousers flapped as much as this cab..

I think this is the real point. In ideal conditions, with trained athletes, marginal gains win medals. However the Ashdowns and Peaveys are more than adequate for most bassists. To be honest the ABM series from Ashdown and the old Peavey Mk 4s are some of my favourite amps. Mesa and Ampeg might seem more desirable in a sort of reverse "Not Invented Here" sort of way and, especially the Mesa's have some unique features but my dad's 1960s Raleigh got him to work more comfortably that a Chris Boardman bike.

As far as I know Dave Grreen and Guy Pratt do the technical stuff at Ashdown. To me they seem equally helpful.

I always thought that the SVTs looked like someone made them from bits left over from other projects. Of course looks can be deceptive, sadly in my case they are not.

That is where I switched off.

The guitar range are excellent but we all know that a bass amp is such a different beast. Still looking forward to trying one though.

I usually speak to Guy and he is equally helpful.

Three years ago we had three of the original RM500s at the Southwest Bass Bash and the fans were all but silent.

Correct, unless the slot is a slot port where none of the the sides are cabinet sides that a shelf type slot port will calculate incorrectly. ITs proabbly whay DIYers keep away from them. Innthe plus side they add cabinet rigidity but they are also difficult to calculate. With a round port you can "tune" it easily.

Contact Ashdown, Their service is second to none.

There is always one,

Get a DI from Orchid Electronics great value and properly balanced. Never needed a ground lift. It goes between your bass and amp so pre EQ. http://orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm They do a muting version and a micro version I have two of the classics in case I get a player that has no DI out. In reality all DIs are post EQ to some degree as the first stage of DI is in the bass itself and then any pedals in your signal chain. The Orchid DI ( and many others) give the cleanest signal to the desk but how much control do you want to give the sound tech?

Sadly I have a rehearsal booked for the 24th. Last one before the first gig or the year....however with COVID on the march again......I had to cancel tomorrow's rehearsal as I tested positive this morning!