DGBass

Tonights rig. I chickened out of using the new small compact budget rig. Sometime you just have to go for what you know 🙂

First gig of this year for Blues Delux at a regular local bar in Stirling. Sunday afternoon set finishing at 7pm, very chilled out as we were again playing to diners and people out for a quiet drink, so it's more or less a usual Sunday crowd. The gig started off quite ropey. First song it was obvious the levels were all a bit askew. Second song we had recovered the levels but for unknown reasons our guitarist played the song in the wrong key before stopping midway through to tune his guitar and joining in for the last verse chorus almost in tune. Then the bar staff came up to us as we were about to start the third tune and said there had been a complaint from a customer about the loudness of the band, and would we mind turning everything up!? So we did, and the rest of the gig was rock and roll. We stopped briefly to do a short acoustic set in the middle of the gig with our singer and guitar player on acoustic. Also got complimentary beer from the pub for the first time ever. Not sure what that was all about. Rig wise I'm in a really happy place at present. Silverstone II and a TE AH250 GP12 SMX almost sound as if they were made for each other. The dual band comp is I think the secret sauce that makes it all sound so good. Back up amp was a GK 400RB IV and used it on the second set just for the hell of it. Playing my Sadowsky a lot more recently and it also adds something new and good to the sound. To sum up, ropey start, but a rock n roll finish with free beer, and an early night. ☺️

If we are talking modern class-d amps, I suspect that someone in the industry, probably an accountant, has decreed that 200w gives the best bang for your buck in an entry level bass head ( or combo). The amp designers also probably agree that 200w class-d should be just enough to gig with in a band not requiring a full blown FOH gig setup. If you take a company like ICE Power for example, the unit cost of a 50w, 100w, and 200w class d module is virtually identical. It's literally pennies of a difference. They are also all roughly the same size so will fit in a small box that needs only minimum peripherals to support them eg small cooling fan that runs fast, I/4 inch jacks and basic EQ and a DI. Would anyone be interested in buying a 50w or 100w class d head when a 200w head is the same cost? Could you gig with a 50w or 100w class d head? Maybe a combo though. Fender's Rumble 100 is a very good example of a successful package and I think they use 100w ICE Power modules into a 4 ohm speaker. ICE Power's 300 watt modules are only marginally more expensive but larger so need a bigger case, more peripherals. When you get to 500w modules, the cost has doubled from the 200w modules. Slightly more peripherals like a larger cooling fan, maybe combi speakons, more features mean there is an increase in costs and that is reflected in the jump in retail prices. At the end of the day cost plays a large part in the proliferation of smaller class d heads around 200w. It's a sweet spot for budget rigs nowadays. It's possible to buy a 200w class d amp brand new for about £90 ( eg TC Electronic BAM200). So these days, class-d 200w, 500w and 800w( 700w with 100 marketing watts added😉) are basically what is generally available to choose from new and second hand. These replace what in the past was class a/b 50-100w, 100-300w and 500w +; where 50-100w was for home/studio use and the pub/club player, 100-300w the advanced prosumer player who could afford it( wedding bands?), and 500w + the fully professional level amp. IMHO of course. I still have a couple of amps that I'm equally happy to use at home, studio, and gig with in the 100w-300w power range. None are class-d, and that's just a personal choice. 🙂

Rig of choice for last nights regular Friday/Saturday studio session. It's something budget friendly I put together recently, and so far it's been working really well when I don't need a bigger amp and my Silverstone II. The amp is an Ashdown little giant 350 from 2008. It's very quiet for studio work and the DI is clean and records really well. The cab is a Hartke 210 TP sealed box affair with those aluminium cone drivers. It's super compact and weighs in at 15kg, mainly because the speakers have enormous ceramic magnets and make up two thirds of the cab weight. They sound quite good, and seem to have a sort of naturally bright scooped tone that works well with an active bass. Should be able to do pub gigs with the rig. We shall see.

I used to have a Barnes & Mullins account when I was into Peavey equipment and they held quite a lot of genuine Peavey parts in the UK(and still do). However lack of use meant my account was lapsed. They seemed less interested in non trade accounts last I contacted them( a while ago). I would agree though that parts for "foreign" manufacturers equipment seem more difficult to source in the UK nowadays and I suspect a lot of that is to do with the level of UK support available within the contracts awarded to certain amp repair centres for certain brands of bass gear. Also, changing out whole modules or entire main boards is probably easier and more cost effective than faulting to component level, and in some cases its probably cheaper buying a complete new unit if it's out of warranty. Just recently I tried to get what I thought a fairly obvious consumable ( A compression horn diaphragm for a hartke tweeter ). Hartke USA were very helpful and quick to respond with correct part numbers etc however their UK support had just wound up the contract to deal with Hartke who didn't seem to realise this. When referred to their new UK support team, they were pretty much hopeless, despite Hartke USA being in on the email chain. Conversely, I needed a specific part for a twenty eight year old Ashdown amp repair. It was available, and they posted it to me next day! Go Ashdown! 🙂

My first rehearsal last night of the year 2026. I missed January's rehearsals for various reasons. Three new tunes added, and that all went reasonably well. Feeling a little rusty after the new year break when the last I gigged was late December. The rehearsal was also an opportunity to try out a new sound for me. Usually it's a big thumpy scooped P-Bass sound I go for which works well for blues numbers. However I've been playing my Sadowsky quite a bit lately after getting the hang of an active bass again. It has a mid-forward tone being a single Musicman type pickup which is quite near the bridge, and reminiscent of the Stingray I used to play, only more mid focused than the Ray ever was. I've also returned to round wounds after nearly two decades playing flats. A recommendation to try stainless steel Elixirs has worked out well. They are quite smooth to the feel and quite dynamic sounding. The rest of the band seemed fine with the hike in low mids, a slight cut in the lows, and a smidge of zing at the top end. Curiously, I can hear what I'm doing much better now with this new sound and although it's quite cutting on its own, it sits well in the mix when the whole band are playing. Gig on Sunday so will see how the new sound goes down live.

I met Stuart and the band in 1982 when they were doing a few warm up gigs around Scotland prior to their first UK tour. Thoroughly nice bunch of guys, and very down to earth. They sat pre-gig at a table having a beer in the lounge with everyone else in the club. The gig that evening was at a local Disco Club called the Mayfair Lounge in my hometown in North Lanarkshire. I was still in my teens at the time, a big SKIDS fan, and quite thrilled to speak with the man himself. Tony Butler was also a complete gent and was quite happy to talk about his rig. It was the first time I'd ever seen Trace Elliot gear in the flesh. He was using a four cab setup with two amp heads, and that evening was playing an Aria Pro II TSB bass. Stuart and Bruce were both using their early trademark HH combos and Yamaha SG's. Mark had an enormous drum kit. I always remember that gig well as it was very LOUD but super clear and perhaps a bit overkill for the size of the club. The next time I saw them live just a few months later was at Tiffany's (the Locarno Ballroom) in Glasgow playing to a crowd of thousands when they hit the big time with their singles Harvest Home and Fields of Fire, and of course their album The Crossing. I always remember them as a lovely bunch of down to earth guys, and fantastic musicians. They made some iconic music in their time, and were great influences for me musically.

Sadowsky's Quick Release designed bridge is a good option to help with this issue and generally quicker string changes. There isn't any need to thread an entire string through and the ball-end clicks into place securely until the string is tensioned. Not sure how available they are to buy as a part, I think they may have had a version on Thomann for around £50-£60 recently.

I think Ashdown are doing good things of late with more of their range being built in-house in the UK and probably to order. They also appear to be standardising the appearance of their most popular ranges with the ice blue look that was previously reserved for ABM. If I could be tangential for a moment, The New UK built RBM was recently preceded by a PBM ( portable bass magnifier ) also in ice blue, also made in the UK, and which is I think a replacement for the Ashdown Ant. If being UK built makes their amps even more reliable, and with longer service lives, then it can only be a good thing IMHO. My own rack mount ABM 600 which was a UK custom shop order a few years ago still makes me smile every time I use it knowing it was made here in the UK, and that legendary support if needed is just a phone call away.( it hasn't needed any) I'm also still using a twenty eight year old ABM 400 that still has the majority of its original component parts and which still works perfectly. It was made at a time all their stuff was UK made, so maybe there is something to that? I more than likely won't be around in twenty eight years time to see if folks are still gigging UK built RBM's regularly but I suspect there will still be a few Ashdown amps from this era knocking around that Ashdown will still be able to offer some support for whether Chinese made or UK made. 🙂

From the Thomann web site. These were I believe first introduced for 2009/2010 model American Deluxe Fenders.

It's a reasonably pricy option but I've used Fender's deluxe USA stubby bridge to good effect on an older American Fender bass. Has the grooves to limit saddle slip and the saddles are multi grooved to help with string spacing/alignment. Plus it looks original on a Fender without changing the basic aesthetic. Does top load and string through as well. It's a three screw fixing. It's a very neat lo-bling style bridge. I might add it didn't really sound any different from the original Fender style bridge. Feels more solid if anything.

Looking good😎

Nice one G. A great find and looks just like my N8 P-Bass. A classic colour combination for a Precision, hope you enjoy playing it and hopefully it's a keeper. Question: does it have the lightweight open gear tuners that were more 2012-ish, or the big chunky cast tuners on the early year 2000's Fender USA basses?

The GP12's are reasonably complicated amps. Probably why I prefer GP7's but I do have a series 6 GP12 and a 250 GP12 SMX, both hum free. If I had a penny for every minute I spent trying to track down a hum on a GP12 I'd probably have quite a few quid by now. There are at least three power supply points that have smoothing caps, the output board, the tube circuit, and the pre-amp board. Dublier caps on the output boards are in my experience very durable. Unless they are obviously leaking or bulging they don't usually cause problems even after 20-30 years. Not to say they can't cause issues. Worn dirty jacks and loose or tarnished ground points are very common noise generators on these amps after many years and IMHO always worth a check, especially the back board, before getting into scraping hot glue from boards and components! 🙂