alexa3020

Fair play! I think you recommended handbox on another thread. Will have to have a read up on those.

I’m guessing this has been done to death with no general consensus then

Will give that documentary a watch.

speaking of hurdy gurdys, this video came up in the YouTube hole I fell down last night.

I have been trying to put a good lightweight rig together for the past few months (you may have seen previous posts from me asking for advice).

The cab is sorted, so it’s now time to look at the head.

My current lightweight head is a Tc bq500, which is ok, but at high volume it didn’t seem to have the same presence in the mix and the sustain on the notes seemed unnaturally long. After a bit of research and some advice it turns out these heads scoop some of the lows and compress at volume.

Is this true of all class D heads? Will it be more prevalent on cheap heads like the TC & can anyone advise any class D heads that don’t do this?

Im coming back round to the idea of going A/B instead and maybe getting an ABM evo 4 or similar instead.

any advice here would be most welcome.

I take your point about the amount of ads, but I still think his content is great, and he’s a very likeable chap.

So much great stuff on youtube. Great time to learn an instrument

1 minute ago, Lozz196 said:

Is it the Marshall VBA head & two VBC412 cabs, or his Ashdown rig?

It’s his Ashdown rig

ABM1300, 410 & 215. The 215 has favourite cab written on it in marker pen

Bruce’s rig is at the rehearsal studio I use. Very nice it is too

My ampeg 410 is great, If it wasn’t 45kg I’d probably stick with it

7 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

Mildly off-topic but has anyone tried/bought/used Ampeg’s Portaflex cabs? By far some of the most visually attractive cabs I’ve seen in a long time, but are they any good? 

I tried them in the shop where I wasn't able to push the volume. My impressions were the ampeg cab was  deeper/muddier sounding than the TC K210 I was testing at the same time.

I could definitely hear the changes to Markbass EQ better with the TC cab. 

That said, I'm not sure what settings I had the horn on with the Ampeg cab.

Pairing the Ampeg PF350 head with PF210 was a nice combination though.

23 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I had a PF500 for a while and loved it, got a great recorded tone from it DI’d as well. 

I take it you prefer th ashdown though?

On 19/05/2020 at 00:14, casapete said:

Jimi Hendrix - played bass on some of Electric Ladyland album, including ‘All along the watchtower’.

He plays bass on the title track(have you ever been to) electric ladyland. If I remember rightly they talk about on classic albums. It’s superb

23 minutes ago, police squad said:

mine was exchanged for a new one. No problem with it since. It sits in my studio now as I have moved to Ashdown RM500 but I still love the ampeg and use it for practising. It did over 300 gigs before I bought the Ashdown 

The ashdown rm500 is another on my list, along with:

little mark 3

Aguilar th500

Eich T500

gallien Krueger mb or mb fusion 500 or legacy.

I tried the ashdown rootmaster, with the RM cabs. I got the impression the head was decent, but not convinced by the cabs. I’ll probably try the head with the barefaced cabs when it arrives. The head seems to get a huge amount of praise on here!

i also tried the Aguilar th700 with a 112 Aguilar  cab. Sounded great, but didn’t seem like it had enough volume. Might of been the cab, might of been that I wasn’t pushing it enough. It’s definitely been my favourite so far. But will the 500 be loud enough

the little mark I liked, but wasn’t wowed by. I haven’t tried the eich or gk heads yet.

However, the Ampeg is 25-60% cheaper than the other heads listed.

tempting! It would leave me budget for some other toys.

I’m in the market for a new head to match my incoming new Barefaced 210s.

i have a number of heads to try on my shortlist, and the ampeg pf500 is one of them.

A quick search on most sites has the ampeg priced between £380 & 500, but on Amazon it’s £299 - a good price right?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ampeg-PF-500-Lightweight-Bass-Amplifier/dp/B004GXA6GK/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_2?dchild=1&keywords=p500+ampeg&qid=1599309272&sr=8-2-fkmr0

The seller for this amp is Polar (who I assume is polar audio). If you look on polars website they have the pf500 priced at £389.

So what’s the deal with this head? Why is it cheaper on Amazon (I also think it’s cheaper on their eBay shop too).

To be fair I’ve heard some bad things in terms of reliability with these heads. Could it be worth taking the risk at £300 - I presume it would come with a guarantee.

i tried the pf350 and quite liked it.

cheers

Alex

Hi All,

Just an update. I have spoken to Alex from Barefaced and after a few emails back and forth I have decided to go with the Barefaced 210S - Exciting!

I have been told it will produce similar volume levels to my current 410 (which I don't have to push to keep up with the band). It also leaves me some budget to replace the TC BQ500 head, which will be the next dilemma!

Thanks for the input everyone

I’m in Cambridgeshire, so Camden is the easiest of the shops you mention.

thanks

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve seen Ashdown have released some ABM neo cabs and new rootmaster heads. I should be able to try these as my local music shops stock them. I quite liked the rootmaster head I tried

Dan Dare - sensible advice. I have been to a couple of shops to try and test some gear. Both poorly stocked because bass amps & cabs are ‘difficult to shift’. With regard to barefaced, I don’t think they are in shops. Tottenham court rd in London May be an option.

The head will be updated either now or in the near future.

nobatron, I could only find the Vanderkley 212 in Dorset

I’m about to hit go on a new cab. I’ve been thinking about this for over a month, going round in circles about which one to buy. I need help!

first off I am having to do this without testing the cabs out first because I can’t find stock of the ones I’m interested in.

my current gear is is Tc bq500 and ampeg 410

heres what’s in the running:

1. Barefaced (any suitable) big baby, big twin, super twin, super compact, 210.

I like the story of Barefaced, and I like that Alex is on these forums. I think Im leaning towards the big baby, I just worry that it won’t be loud enough. I’d be happy to buy another amp to get some more wattage to it.

Would I regret not getting the big twin? It’s the size and extra cost that’s holding me back at the moment.  I honestly can’t see me playing any more big venues, probably mostly pubs and the odd outdoor festival.

i have heard stories of peeling tolex - wich I guess would only affect the 10” cabs anyway. Can anyone confirm this is fixed?

2. Darkglass 212 - this is a nice looking cab, and budget wise is where I’d wanna be for a 212. My worry is there doesn’t seem to be a lot of people using them. The review from basstheworld.com got me interested

3.tc rs212 - again a nice looking cab. Hardly any stock, are they still in production?

4. Markbass 212 - cheapest and they make fairly decent gear. I could probably test this one.

my reservations, particularly with the tc & markbass, is they won’t be an upgrade on what I’ve already got. I want that wow moment, can I really expect to get that from the barefaced?

other cabs that have caught my attention are EBS, Bergantino, Vanderkley, Eich, but I really don’t know enough about them.

Thanks in advance from a very confused bassist!

After some research, I’m thinking of the following cabs:

2 x orange obc12 - they look great but some people say they are cheaply made. Expensive

markbass 212 New York. You don’t see many rock bands using markbass it’s 800w @ 4ohm - will my Tc bq500 be powerful enough as some people say you don’t get 500w output @ 4ohm - more like 300w

TC Electronic RS212

Aesthetically my favourite, no stock anywhere at the moment - are they still in production? £580 on amazon who are awaiting stock.

i really want a lightweight 2 x12 as I don’t think 2x10 will be man enough. 4x10 too bulky. purchase won’t be made till next month. Around £700 is budget and I want new.

not sure if I’ll get a head.

any comments on these would be really useful.

Thanks

3 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

There’s Coda Music in Stevenage, or may be worth trying a bit further afield - PMT in Northampton have a good amount of bass gear.

Good shout - I didn’t know coda was still going.

is Tottenham Court Road in London still full of music shops?

I tried the Ashdown Rootmaster head. It’s quite a nice little amp, but probably not enough of an improvement on what I’ve got.

Im not sure I rate the rootmaster cabs though - they’re quite punchy but no depth to the bass

I plugged in an ashdown Abm 115 cab and it was too boomy. Both together were quite nice.

i wonder if the 2x10 might be better as this seems like a pretty good deal.

https://m.thomann.de/gb/ashdown_abm_210t_compact.htm

I also tried the aguiar th700 with 1 db12 cab. Lovely sounding but i dont think a single cab was loud enough 2 cabs brings me way over budget.

And that’s all I’ve been able to try so far. Need to find a shop in Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire with better selections.

thanks for everyone’s input so far.

the search continues...

Appreciate the suggestions, I think I’m gonna just have to try a few out and then go with my gut & hope it works well in the band setting. 

If I can’t find anything I like I’ll just stick with the Hartke ampeg setup for gigs which I do like, and tc and gk for practices.

Anyone experienced with the orange terror?

16 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I used both Markbass and Aguilar for a while, then had a provided rig at a gig which was Ashdown. Decided to swap immediately, for the punk that I was doing the Ashdown just had so much more punch & depth to it. Worth checking out, their RM range is lightweight to carry but not in the sound department.

The rootmaster series is definitely an option. I started off with a mag210 which just wasn’t loud enough (300w), but I played through Abm series (500w) and that was great.

thanks for the suggestions everyone

13 minutes ago, Urban Bassman said:

First thing first....protect your ears!  Ringing ears after a rehearsal is not good. Save a bit of your budget for some quality ear plugs.

 

I’ve got some £20 ear plugs from Amazon. I guess your on about something a bit better? If we are doing our own sound, I don’t like using them as I can’t tell if I’m too loud or quiet.

15 minutes ago, Crawford13 said:

 

For what you have said, I would maybe look at ampeg pf800, dark glass m900, or mesa d800. 

I used an ampeg pf combo (I think) it was nice but it was 300w and just wasn’t loud enough perhaps the 500 or 800w versions would be good to try. I’ll check out the other 2 although they might be out of budget.