Skinnyman

I run the band PA and lights as well as my own bass rig so I have a volvo estate's worth of stuff. I've tried the one-big-bag-with-everything-in-it approach but it was a two-man lift and I was always one of the men. So now I have lots of smaller cases. More trips but fewer hernias.... Small suitcase with instrument and XLR cables Maplins aluminium case with G30 wireless and my Zoom B3 plus spare batteries, PSU Brown holdall with mains leads and speaker leads Laptop bag with bass amp and music Gator case with 4-way power blocks, extension leads, collapsible guitar stand, tools, fuses, various connectors and gaffa tape I like the idea of using old cable drums to hold speaker cables - must try and blag some next time I pass Maplins Oh, and leads are all coiled and velcro'd. Even so, some git comes along and knots them between gigs so that they ALWAYS tangle when I unfasten the Velcro. And I have watched the how-to-coil-a-lead videos on YouTube. The evil pixies still do their knitting with them though....

[quote name='fatwull' timestamp='1454168371' post='2967182'] Is one cab loud enough to jam with a full band? [/quote] Oh yes. I use one in small pub gigs and rehearsals and the two for bigger venues (pubs and clubs). Never go more than 50% on the master volume in either situation with the genz600. I'd imagine it's the same for the vanderkleys

Two fine choices. I tried both bergantino and vanderkley when I bought my berg 112s. Nothing wrong with the vanderkley a, I just preferred the sound of the bergs. Or rather, the absence of sound - I thought they were more neutral and didn't colour the sound in any way, allowing my bass/effects/tone settings to come through cleanly. I use a genz shuttle 6 amp and it works well with the berg cabs - I've also used them with an Ampeg solid state amp and they sounded brilliant. That said, I love the convenience of 2x112 cabs. One in each hand or, more often, just one needed. Given your choices I'd go for the vans for convenience but if that's not an issue, I'd plump for the bergs. Either way, It's a nice choice to have and i really don't think there's a wrong answer....

Aiming to attend my first bass bash

Thanks!

Brilliant, thanks. I'll have to see if I can do a deal on a GK3B when I order the gr55. Supplementary question...(or I could RTFM) If I'm playing it through the bass, can I have the Gr55 set to play one or two octaves above what I'm playing on the bass? Thanks again for the help

Apologies if this is a dumb question but it's best to be sure..... I'm thinking of getting a Roland Gr55 which I intend to use mainly with guitar but occasionally with bass. My question is whether I need the GK3b pickup on the bass or whether the standard Gk3 will also work? Thanks...

The only one with a name is "Sarah". It's a USA precision, blonde, made in 1982 and very, very sexy. Named after my good lady who is also all of those things. Apart from being a p-bass. Cheesy I know but she thinks it's romantic

Good to see this finally slipping into obscurity. Oh, hang on.....

I just met up with Freddie to do a trade of my Fender Select Jazz for his Sandberg VM4. The bass is exactly as described and he's a really nice, straightforward guy to deal with. All in all, a very pleasant and easy transaction and completely in line with everyone else's comments. I hope Freddie's as happy with the trade as I am (if not, you have my number Freddie!)

Thanks all. Some good info there. I think we might try a couple of floods to give a colour wash and something to give a bit of movement. Thanks again!

The band I'm in used to have a couple of equinox mega bars. 4 LED par cans on each with tripods. They're really good units with only two problems. One, they're a royal pain to get onto the tripods (they'll have a finger if you're not careful) and two, they belong to the recently-quit guitarist so we need to replace them. Given that we only play pubs, the two equinox units were probably overkill so I'm looking for recommendations for something smaller, lighter and, well, easier. We're happy to let the units run in auto mode so we don't need anything fancy on the DMX side of things (although it's kind of a nice to have feature). I did wonder about a couple of LEDJ 1T36 LEDs clipped to the speaker stands which give a big spread and would wash the stage (well, the corner of the bar were we're set up) but if anyone has any better ideas I'd be glad to hear them....

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1448626567' post='2916939'] This t shirt caught my eye earlier and it's going on the list. Not too in your face but obvious to us. http://www.zazzle.co.uk/eadg_bass_guitar_tuning_t_shirt-235305239544153062 [/quote] Clever. I fancy one that says "B,E,A,D,G.... Gimme five" Sad, I know....

I put a set of the PBXN and JBXN on my SGC Nanyo 310. That's a P/J configuration and they really suited it. What they'd be like on a "proper" precision, I can't say but for the price they were I'm really happy with them. They add a real growl to the bass that wasn't there before and sound much better than the standard pickups that are on my other 310.

I bought a Dingwall Super J through marketplace last year. A great bass but I always found it a bit.... Meh at times. The Glockenklang preamp fitted was crackly and very binary - either full boost or a very muted sound. Now, I'm sure that there's a reason for this and I may have been able to sort it out but I decided to treat myself to a new John East preamp, the uni-pre. Simplest thing in the world to fit as everything has a screw connector. You should be able to fit it without soldering although in my case, I needed to extend some of the ground wires. While I was at it, I took the opportunity of giving it a good strip down and clean and put some new strings on. And wow, what a difference! The preamp is utterly silent. No hum, buzz or ground noise at all. There's a load of adjustability on the pots (although I'm using it at factory settings) and the tonal range is excellent. If I have a minor gripe it's that the control knobs stand quite proud and I should really disassemble it all to reseat them slightly lower - but I can't be bothered. So really, my gripe is with myself and not the preamp. So, in summary, I'm really pleased. Can't wait to try the Ding out properly at this weeks rehearsal and see how it sounds in a band mix.

I use them on guitar and find them brilliant. Last for ever, quite a "dark" sound but one that I like and they feel great under the fingers. On the strength of that, I put a set on my Fender Jazz - and took them off a week later. They're okay, just not my thing on a bass. Didn't care for the sound and didn't care for the "greasy" feel of the coating. But that's just my experience, each to his own.

In the book "how music works", by John Powell, he differentiates a musical note from any other sound by the repetition of the waveform. To quote: "Musical notes are different from non-musical noises because every musical note is made up of a ripple pattern which repeats itself over and over again. In the illustration below there are some examples of the ripple patterns of notes produced by different instruments. To be a musical note, it doesn’t really matter how complicated the individual ripples are, as long as the pattern repeats itself." Made sense to me....

Got two Strats. An American deluxe which I swapped the useless original n3 pickups for a set of Kingsmans and an American FSR HSS which has Texas specials on which I replaced the middle pickup for an iron gear. On the d/l I use either bridge or neck and on the FSR I use either bridge or middle. So, to answer the OP, I use two positions but they're different depending on the strat. Oddly enough, the exact same answer also applies to my wife and mistress....

[quote name='bumnote' timestamp='1443443282' post='2874675'] If it is V3 its a single valve and about £10 from Watford valves the 4 big valves in there are output valves which normally need balancing but the Fender circuit is supposed to balance it Check the back for the green lights. If they are all in the green the output valves are ok Try in the the vintage and the modern channels, if no sound praobably the pre amp valves are ok How long have you had it, I think there is 3 months warranty on valves. Where are you? Are you able to take it in to Gak, they might have a spare valve to check if that is the problem I am not a technician, its just what worked for me and I dont want to lead you down the wrong path VALVE AMPS HAVE BIG VOLTAGES BE CAREFULL IF YOU TAKE THE BACK OFF [/quote] I spoke to GAK today - really, really helpful. Very apologetic and offered to replace it straight away. However, as it's only happened once and as it worked perfectly yesterday, I've told them I want to try it at rehearsal and a gig this week. If it fails again, they'll swap it, no questions - but if it works, I'll just put it down to a badly seated valve and keep hold of it. If it does go again, I'll try out the tests bumnote describes and see if I can pin it down. But it has to be said, I'm very impressed with GAK's service.