Dood

I have a B3 and an MS60B that I use together! It's a great way of setting up one set of effects that may stay the same in each song and another set that changes - for example I like to use the MS in a similar way to guitarists with a three channel amp. Clean, Rhythm and Lead settings (read that as clean, grit and reaaaally dirty sounds) Dood.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1379166749' post='2209369'] Having bought a Hartke Kilo and returned it as faulty (lack of power) i'm loathe to use Hartke gear now. I still haven't heard from their Customer Service dept after 2wks. Even tried Mr Hartke himself who is seen advertising that he answers queries or issues personally and to get in touch with him if you have any problems. Still waiting on him too. Not the best service I've ever experienced. Borders on the worst though. Dave [/quote] let me see what I can do for you!

I really rate the LH series - especially plugging straight in to the passive input (so no attenuation) with a bass with a hot output. Still tones of headroom and loads of volume to boot. The head is a brilliant idea actually - taking a very simple and ultra clean valve preamp and strapping it on to a 500/1000W power amplifier - without the need for extra bells and whistles. It sounds bloomin' brilliant. For the price, highly recommended. I've used 'em live for lots of gigs.

Don't forget the Seymour Duncan P bass pickup too - Steve now has a signature model. This will help contribute to the sound I feel. I've two P basses with the same woods and different pickups and they both sound completely differerent to each other.

My desk lamp is digital! I love lamp

Love the Hartke KILO! It's an SVT4 killer for sure! And for the money, you could nearly buy two for the price of the Ampeg!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378321645' post='2198665'] I'm liking the look of it! [url="http://matrixguitaramplification.com/products/gt1600fx-2u-rackmount-amplifier/"]http://matrixguitara...ount-amplifier/[/url] T'would go well with my newly-acquired SVP Pro... [/quote] I've ran it up with my SVP-BSP, a distortion preamp I'm pretty fond of and have to say, it sounds great. I'd recommend the valve pre with it, yup.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1378321499' post='2198660'] Class D amps use pulse width modulation i.e. varying on-off pulse lengths, its still fundamentally (IMO) an analogue process since the pulse widths are "analogous" to the original signal voltage and have a theoretically infinite precision. In order for something to be "digital" it must involve encoding the signal as a number (which necessarily has finite precision). To explain it another way, a class D amp translates an analogue voltage signal to an analogue time domain signal, then back to a much bigger analogue voltage. [/quote] Explained it better than I would! Cheers Bassman.

Moving on from the 'Digital' thing.. Actually, I've stumbled upon an amp I really like in this lightweight revolution. I posted about Matrix Amplification the other day. I've seen that their amps have been really rated in driving PA systems, especially subs and bass units so I was pretty keen to try one out for bass. Anyway, the short of it is that I am really liking their GT1600 power amp more so than other light weight amps I've tried. (though i still have a few big faves in D Class world) What I've found is that the GT1600, a 1.6KW shallow rack amp that still only weighs 4.7Kg has a lot of balls. The design is an AB (not D) class power amplifier strapped to a custom SMPS (Switched Mode Power Supply). There is a lot of heft in the lows that reminds me of my ole Powersoft D2004 power amp - but i like this better. ok, so I'm not a nutter or anything lol - its 1.6K bridged or 800W per channel... Quite happy running a single channel heh! Anyway, my point is, that if it's the 'AB' bit of the design that is driving those deep lows - then I like AB amps

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1378221075' post='2197242'] An electronics engineer (an authorised service engineer for the likes of Yamaha and Ampeg) explained to me the difference between digital, solid state and valve...and it made complete sense why people say class D is good but just lacks something. Suffice to say I won't be buying one in a hurry. He also explained why they can be unreliable. Just to add, I'm probably one of the weediest, skinniest blokes on earth and I've also got a bad back due to work. However, I don't have any problems moving my Ampeg cab around, it weighs over 35kg. COME ON YOU LOT, MAN UP!!!!! [/quote] The reason that some D Class amps have been less reliable is that manufacturers have been answering requests for gear to not only be lightweight, but also as small as possible too. Therein lies the problem. Taking away all the space from inside the amplifier means in an overload situation the amp components get hotter faster and not being able to cool enough leads to component failure. Which leads to another interesting foible of the small amplifier revolution. In order to keep these high power amps in small boxes cool, smaller faster fans are used. Some have been noted to be a bit more 'obvious' when they kick up to full speed! The only other major reliability issue that i've seen so far is using really cheap far eastern machining - but this isn't limited to just D Class kit. I'm a little reluctant to take 100% opinion from an electronics engineer who calls D Class a 'digital amplifier'

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1377726452' post='2191157'] I`ve not got the MS60-B but do have the B3 and have found the blend control on many of the features to be my friend. Most of the effects, when they are on full on the blend are far too much, but backing these off works nicely. Likewise with gain settings, I take them down to about 15 or 20 and the effect is then fine. [/quote] Yup, for me too 15-25% on the mix control for me is about right for most effects. Too wet and i think the bass definition can get lost. Unless of course that's the intention

I'm sorry to hear that unfortunately things are taking a bit longer than hoped. Please don't be dismayed and hang in there. Jon, although he doesn't like talking about it has had a rather hard year or so that has left him pretty much fighting to keep on top of his work. (Certainly no fault of his own I am quick to add.) The good news is that he's getting back on top of things and is as always delivering basses that are absolutely A1 for incredible value for money. The wait will be because Jon will never let a custom bass out of his workshop without it being perfect for the customer. In my opinion (and take what you like from this) there are Luthiers who are supposedly better who take longer to churn out an instrument than Jon, for twice the price and they've not had the hard time our Jon has. That said, of course, like you I'd be chomping at the bit to get a new bass from Jon. It would (and has) on three occasions driven me potty to get my hands on my new Shuker. Believe me though, it's worth waiting for. I'd still go back to Jon, it's where the sensible money is

It's a great article, but it's not an exhaustive list of what a musician can do to earn a living by any means. My own income streams are diverse yet all very much under the professional bassist banner. That said, it's good to give pointers to those who are maybe planning a career in music. One thing you'd be very foolish to do is to think that your life income will be from specialising in one area alone. 'Being a session musician' is just one example

The OP has asked if there are any benefits to having a Single-Cut bass. Well, put it this way, there are certainly no disadvantages. The disclaimer being if the bass has been built properly in the first place! Ha! Anyway - no, there will be no problem with neck issues either on a bolt-on or a neck-thru design. As I type this on my mobile device, someone mentioned two-handed tapping possibly being difficult? Actually, no problem at all there! In fact, as there is a nice surface for your arm to rest on. One of my other basses has quite a thin rounded upper horn and you definitely do notice the difference. I mean, it's not bad though. It'd never be a deal breaker. The Single-Cut doesn't add any more noticeable weight to the bass and i think the tonal differences are so small it's practically insignificant. A change from a BBT bridge to a Badass is going to be way more noticeable. So, to sum up, the driver for a Single-Cut has mostly got to be looks for me. Yes, there are some 'interesting' versions out there, but ultimately beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It does still surprise me to see such a Marmite response to them though.

"When the drums stop...."