Lw.

I'd keep the head & switch cabs - there's no point getting rid of an amp you like because your cab is heavy & there's nothing to say the amp wouldn't suit a different cab. I'd have thought the amp would sound good with a decent 212 (or 2x 112).

Noiiiice! I've been lusting after a P [b]exactly[/b] like that for the last few months - shame "life expenses" and a painfully slow in arriving bonus have got in the way of any plans along those lines!

I don't know why I'm finding it so difficult to embed the image but here it is if you haven't already seen it; [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]https://www.instagram.com/p/BNzbt-8h2sP/[/font][/color]

Wow - a bunch of musicians slagging off a musical product without having heard it or even seen the full specs, who'd have thought it?! For all anyone knows, these new offerings could contain everything they wanted from TE or have I missed the comments from the people that have heard them at the show? Though of course, they could just be what they look like. The fact is, companies are there to make money which does not alway include catering to a minority striving for the past. TE have seen that the majority of bass players are spending their money on tiny class-D amps & EQ/DI pedals and so have decided they would like some of that cash too, nothing wrong with that. The profits from these products could go towards developing the potentially more classic TE products you want.

It looks like they've closed their eyes & taken a random scoop out of the control knobs bucket.

Please tell me that's a parody site!

Well that's several cans of worms all put into the blender! I'm not sure if I'd say either is categorically better than the other but supply & demand will always apply - if lots of people want a relatively rare Squire then that will push the price up over an easily available Fender. Another point would be the price people advertise things for on here (or anywhere in fact) is not necessarily the price it's sold for...

Sounds broken to me - I've used them a lot at a rehearsal studio & they shouldn't hiss. With the gain at 9 o'clock turning the blend up slowly should take it from clean to vintage sounding tube then more gain & blend takes it to royal blood territory.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1484311578' post='3214569'] After trying a few, I settled on my Squier Matt Freeman sig... And you could get three for the price of a used US P! [/quote] Where from? I haven't seen any in stock for a long time. Squire seem to have replaced them with those 70's ones with the black-block markers which I don't think look as good.

The oly-white American Standard P they've got in Hickies is really nice - I was going to buy it but then had to book my honeymoon instead :-( If you can stretch to the American Standards, they are very very nice. If not, the MIM 50's ones are nice too.

He was in there the other week - they posted a picture on their instagram.

[quote name='simonlittle' timestamp='1484235793' post='3213830'] I just picked up a beautiful second hand one from Wunjo's on Denmark Street. Absolutely beautiful instrument. They had a new one too... [/quote] How did you know which was which? :-) I'm sure some less scrupulous retailers would have tried to sell it as new!

@Bill Fitzmaurice - never, though if I'm being honest I don't think I've ever pushed any cabs I've owned that hard. @Phil Starr - thanks for the response & educational posts!

Whilst the numbers & that graph look great - I don't understand what any of it means. So - are we damaging our expensive ported cabs or not?

I'd be tempted to buy one sooner rather than later if you seriously want one - they do generally cut things off after a while & the prices only ever go one way! I'm sure you're capable of managing your own finances but in case you didn't know; the post office have had a decent offer on their credit cards recently - 26 months interest free (actually just checked - you can get even longer from some others now)! I often use long interest free credit cards to buy expensive stuff as it allows you to spread the cost the same way you would when saving the money up in advances & is often much better/flexible than shop credit. Obviously only go down this route if you've got a solid income & can control yourself.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1484131830' post='3212856'] Any tips of where to look for music would be great. I'm also looking for places with regular open mics up there. [/quote] Depends on the musical style you're after but some places to consider: Purple Turtle - local/unsigned stuff every wednesday. Gigs of slightly bigger bands on at least every other Thursday. Various genres. Oakford Social Club - weekly gigs of sometimes really good artists, other times more of the same unsigned local stuff. Pavlovs Dog - Fri/Sat they often have a band on for a bit around 9-ish. Does mean you have to go in 'pavs' though. Facebar - weekly gigs. Nearly always metal/heavy alternative stuff, occasionally D'n'B. Sub89/Bowery District (I think it's two venues in the same building) - your generic signed music venue, tickets about £15. It's either the bigger cover bands/tribute bands or older artists that are a bit down on their luck, Alien Ant Farm played in there the other week. The Butler - I think it's every Friday, generic rock covers bands. The Rising Sun Arts Centre - couple of gigs a week. Newish music or just band the promotor likes. There's a place called Global Cafe on the same street that I think is somehow related but does more world music or jazz type stuff. The Queens Arms - it's the local UKIP/Britain First/NF pub but is available to hire on the cheap so often has gigs completely unrelated to the normal clientele on. You can only really find out about gigs in there if you know one of the bands, even then it's a bit of a trek from all the other pubs. There are a few other less regular places that sometimes have gigs on but those ones should keep you going for now.

I really don't see the problem - whilst 4k is a lot for some, it's not actually that much for others. The market is very densely packed in the lower price brackets so why shouldn't they aim for the high earners? Yes they could outsource to the East & monitor it but then you wouldn't be getting a real Fodera, you'd be getting a generic knock-off with an expensive brand stuck on the headstock - I think this would be worse than paying the high fee for the US one. Wages in the US are [generally] high, rent where their factory is comparatively high so it makes sense for the basses to be moderately pricey too. As we've seen from Blue's posts - there are lots of musicians over there doing 4 hour sets multiple times a week, paying 4k for a solid tool that is going to have to work for a lot of hours seems reasonable to me - if you don't like it, don't buy it there are plenty of cheaper alternatives available. Having said that - the red one in that link looks horrible, though I assume it plays nicely, I wouldn't buy one purely on the look of the thing. I did quite like that P they released last year though.

Mine arrived today too (great service from Anderton's) - first impressions at low volume; interesting. The build quality is very good, feels like a proper premium amp. Sound - not what I'm used to. Thats not a negative thing, I just need to have a play with it more at higher volume. At low volumes it has a different inherent sound to my other amp (old 300w solid state Warwick) - lots of bass and a strange mid-y sound, easy enough to change the eq though. I'm not sure what the enhance thing does either, need to play with that too. Overall I'm cautiously optimistic, I think I can get it to sound how I want & a very short blast at higher volume makes me think it'll be loud enough - we'll see. Obligatory photo for size comparison, the cab is a TKS S112 so you can see the scale. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/greeb0uk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20170110_194633_zps3dcp0nlo.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/greeb0uk/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20170110_194633_zps3dcp0nlo.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Seen lots of (well, some) relic'd basses with Oly White over 3TSB - I think it looks really cool. I would have said keep the tort but I'm not sure if it looks as good on guitars. Maybe black instead?

I've just had a look at Lemonrock for my area (Reading) & none of the usual live music venues are even in there - it's all just open mic/jam nights. This is definitely not all that is on in Reading as there are several venues hosts live music every week. Maybe Reading is bucking the trend or maybe the problem in this instance is Lemonrock. The talk of people not being interested in live music/pubs any more is interesting as I can completely relate - I still enjoy going to the pub but I wouldn't go out specifically to see a generic rock covers band in a pub (in fact I'd probably avoid it), maybe I'm part of the problem? In regards to the under 18's thing - I understand the landlords issues; I went to a gig last year where the headlining band was very popular in Reading but the band themselves were 15/16 and by the looks of them their fans were even younger - the venue was packed (the busiest I've ever seen it) yet there were only 4 people in there drinking beer; my mate, me & a couple of the bands parents. Whilst we did try our very best, they can't have made much money on the bar.

Just be careful about buying Barefaced cabs second hand if you can't hear them first; the tone that comes out of them will be very different to what you're maybe used from your dad's more traditional 410+115 cabs. As you'll have seen, some people really love the Barefaced cabs but some people don't, I guess it depends on your sound/what you're expecting.Yes you can just sell them again if you don't like them but it'll have wasted some of your time/money so try to find someone up your way using them first. On a different note; Andertons have got a pretty decent sale on at the moment - you could get a couple of the Ashdown RM cabs brand new within budget. I haven't used these particular cabs but I think there was a thread recently where someone was raving about them.

Ordered. Been after a small head for gigs when I need to travel on the train, was hoping somewhere would put the Peavey MiniMax in their new year sales (with no luck) but at 199 I'd may as well give this a go first; hopefully it'll manage a light bit of stage monitoring in a not heavy or loud band - we'll see!

A used 2x12 from one of the decent manufacturers would be my suggestion. £500 will get you something really nice - just bide your time & pounce when it shows up in the classifieds.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1483462012' post='3207334'] What's soloing on a bass? [/quote] Playing the same as what you have been doing for the rest of the song, only without a guitar wailing away over the top - crowds go mad for it!

Maybe. Unfortunately at least a small proportion of every act/artist's success is down to image; race, sex & age can all play a part in this - look at the general derision white hip-hop artists have traditionally been met with or imagine if a middle aged bloke with a paunch had come out singing all the Taylor Swift songs, yes there can be exceptions to the rules but in reality musical ability is not all that is taken into consideration. On the other hand; as a man in his fifties do you really want to be spending your evening with a bunch of students? I wouldn't let it bother you - if the add excludes you, let it be their loss & move on.