richrips

Have played these for several months now. VERY impressed. When i first got them finished i was using only one for band practice. we booked a bigger rehearsal space just before a gig and i got the chance to try both. i was totally disappointed as they sounded thin and weak, but then had a brainwave..... it turned out either one of my speaker cables, or one of my speakers in the cabs was wired opposite way round to the other, hence, when i plugged in two cabs stacked one on the other, they were producing equal and opposite sound waves whose interaction caused most of the sound to disappear. so i swapped them round. BOOM. Easily the loudest, clearest bass rig i have ever had, making my Peavey stack sound like a gentle giant. The sound is very much full-range as described on Bills website. The full spectrum of my bass and amp came through (No marcus/victor high end as i havn't yet felt the need to add the optional tweeters. maybe if i get back in to slap at some point...). They don't sound instantly mid-rangey with heaps of punch like a 4x10 nor do they sound booming and LOOOW like a 1x15, but the beauty is that all these sounds CAN be dialled in with EQ, as the whole spectrum is there. At the moment i am playing a lot of reggae/dub/soul and i have to admit that looking at the size and weight of the Kappalite drivers, i wasn't expecting a ground shaking bottom end.... Wrong! The cabs put out ridiculous subs when you want them. i can easily get too much very low end if i roll off all my tone, boost lows on the amp and play muted flatwounds on the neck pickup of my Ovation Magnum. They sound equally good with my VM fretless jazz, responding just as well to the different EQ. I like playing live with these because their dispersion pattern means the sound is pretty uniform across the stage. i can hear myself, and my drummer says he can clearly hear what i'm playing too. i've recently sold the rack full of amp pictured above and have gone for an Ashdown Little Giant 1000. This amp is very transparent and honest, which is a good match for the speakers, meaning i never have a problem finding the sound for the song. Also, both speakers, my bass, and my amp now fit under the boot cover in my astra so after the gig i'm not worried about having gear on view. Weight wise, they are middle of the road. Nothing like my Peavey 1x15, but certainly not a markbass 1x10 either. i havn't got handles on them yet but thanks to the odd shape, they are quite easy to pick up once you know which way round to hold them. They fit through doors and up stairs no problem. All in all, very impressed. i'm happy with the sound and would have spent another £500 or so had i gone for off-the-shelf cabs of this spec. Anyone who wants to try them out is welcome to pop over if you're in Cardiff, just PM me. Cheers, Rich

[quote name='iconic' post='796928' date='Apr 5 2010, 08:54 PM']It's funny you know, I love my Yamaha's.... ......the looks, the build and sound of them rice grinder's is great...but.....but......but....well that VMJ I bought is still with me after selling 2 Yammies, it's the oldest bass I have, which isn't saying much, can't be more than a few months old.....the looks are sublime to me, the build ain't brilliant, more good in a more business like way I would say, the action is a little high, but could be tweaked if I could be asked, yet it's so easy, satisfying & fun to play, there is just something about the tone, ease of control on my knobs (don't say ooer!) & yet I think, with my BB414 I really don't need this bass anymore.... ...then I pick it up after playing my wonderful Orange BB and I think I can't sell her afterall...there really is something a little bit special about this mass produced, cheapo Asian heavyweight...it all seems to gel together so terribly well, someone did their homework. ...anyway I was going thru the Squier site and thought those classic vibes look real pretty....what's the difference v VMJ to the Classic Vibe Jazz series...can anyone comment? cheers guys[/quote] Both very good. we a/b tested these with each other and american standards and were mighty impressed. The VMJ range has 2 jazz basses. one is a fretless with an ebanol board ( i own one, as i consider it a future classic!) and agathis body. the other is fretted with a maple board and a soft maple body (this compares very well with its big daddy the 75 reissue). both have duncan designed single coil pickups which are great for such a cheap bass. The CV jazz basses all have rosewood boards (as far as i know), basswood bodies and vintage style alnico magnet pickups. I'd say the CV's sound darker and warmer while the VM's are brighter and more specialised. All Miles ahead of the affinity range and very good basses. r

[quote name='JackLondon' post='796859' date='Apr 5 2010, 07:28 PM']Aguilar GS 212 and DB 212, GK Neo 212 and 410, Eden D410, Bergantino 410, Genz Benz NEOX212, EBS Neo 212, MarkBass 104HR and HF, SWR golight 410, Epifani UL 210, 310, 410, Hartke HD410, Warwick WCA411 - all of this are not ''monsters'' and are normal typical cabs used by many people on this forum. And that's just to name a few, I think you'll notice that more cabs are rated at 500W than you think. The problem with Ashdowns LG is they can't be bridged ( as it was with superfly) so until you get 4Ohm cabs you don't get the full power out of the amp. Simples as the meerkat would say [/quote] A few questions to reitterate the points made in my previous post: How many of the above cabs could be considered lightweight? how many of the above cabs cost less than £600 new? How many of the above cabs could utilise all 1000w from the little giant even if it could run bridged? I think most of the above cabs, although not rare, are most probably owned by a minority, not a majority of bass players. 500w from one side of the little giant 1000 will power the vast majority of cabs, particularly lightweight cabs (2x10, 1x12 etc), to their thermal limit, making it an excellent choice for the majority of bass players. The LG is a vast improvement over the superfly thanks to the solid state preamp (as opposed to the digital preamp in the superfly which was prone to glitches and sounding slow/airy/empty). Realistically, there are very few situations where the lack of a bridging option is likely to be inhibative, especially when the amp is used with light weight or affordable cabs. I think this 'problem' is often mentioned in reference to the LG1000 and framed as being a big clear negative, when in fact the complexities of watts, ohms, percieved volume and cost mean that this problem is neither significant nor 'simples'. Cheers, Rich

[quote name='Merton' post='796379' date='Apr 5 2010, 11:16 AM']Call me a pedant Rich (I know you will coz I know I am! ) but the LG is 2x 500W power amps, so you'd need 2 8 ohm cabs, one in each O/P to get 2x300W out of it. Is that what you were meaning?[/quote] Hi Merton, Yes this comes up a lot and i never really see why. for this to be a problem, you would have to own a single cab rated at well over 500w @ 4 ohm (or about 300w at 8 ohm). how many 4 ohm cabs are rated at over 500w?? not many. maybe a few monsters, mostly 8x10, 4x12 etc (many of which have stereo inputs anyway). Hence, almost everyone who wants to use more than 500w output power from an amp will have more than one cab with which to do so, hence this is not a problem. This is a lightweight amp. lightweight cabs, which most people would be logically looking to buy to match this with if they are going for fully light weight kit, are not going to be more than 500w @ 4 ohm. I can see how some people have interpreted this as a problem, but i have yet to hear of anyone effected by this. Other factors that negate this as a problem: The audible difference between running 4 or 8 ohm cabs (of identical power rating) with the same amp is minimal. The relationship between watts and volume is much weaker than most people appreciate, with a 1000w amp only being twice as loud as a 100w amp. Many class D amps feature this setup. it is rare to see a class D amp more than 500w which can run full power in mono. This for example: [url="http://www.eden-electronics.com/products/amps/indiv/wtx1000n.aspx"]http://www.eden-electronics.com/products/a...v/wtx1000n.aspx[/url] it may have a valve in it and a stereo preamp, but it is more than £1000 MORE than the ashdown and features what is apparently an identical power stage with the same 'apparent' problem you mention above. I hope that makes sense? Cheers, Rich

Ashdown Little Giant 1000!!!! I ummmed and arrrrrrred about replacing my 900W monster rack mounted setup for a good while, tried a load of markbass, TC, Orange amps and couldn't hear the price difference in the sound. I've now had the Ashdown several months and it is a monster. very flexible tone and not clinical or metallic like some of the lightweight amps out there. oh and it's louder than almost all of them. The only downside is the carry bag which is ergonomic and protective, but just doesn't match my hair at all. Ashdown were great in responding to a few questions i had as well. Try one out before you sell a kidney for a markbass. Rich

[quote name='neilb' post='796014' date='Apr 4 2010, 09:08 PM']Im probably going to end up doing a Beedster and getting a birthyear P. This looks pristine, but the transition stuff bothers me. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1968-FENDER-PRECISION-BASS-RARE-TRANSITION-FEATURES_W0QQitemZ130380247996QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item1e5b44b3bc"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1968-FENDER-PRECISIO...=item1e5b44b3bc[/url][/quote] Indeed. The transition era mentality of "bolt anything together that's lying around" is a bit disconcerting. On one hand this bass looks to be mint and a lovely instrument. on the other: it looks almost too good- the chrome is perfect, the neck looks like it was sawn from a tree yesterday. decal over the lacquer is convenient if you want to make a fake too..... You could literally not play it- The value on this has got to be immense (if genuine) and the fear of scratching it would all but kill my enjoyment in actually using it.... Call me a heathen but i reckon you could sound the same for less than £100. Now if every vintage P-Bass owner would like to send hate mail to me my address is....... Cheers, Rich p.s. incidentally, does being born in 1985 mean i should be holding out for a pink metallic BC Rich in the shape of two tarantulas fighting?

i'd fully recommend the Aphex punch factory. it's a really great sounding compressor which acts as a DI as a bonus. there is/was one on here for £30ish. they have great reviews and you can turn the compression on or off as you wish. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80072"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=80072[/url] rich

is it stupid to mention that the video is of a left handed bass not a right handed one as advertised? Any seller worth their salt would be putting the serial number up so that punters can do their own homework to confirm when/where this was made. the worst bit is, this is a sweet looking bass which would be just the job for my future 70's porn soundtrack covers band......alas.

Thanks obbm, that's a slightly different approach. Are there any other wildly different approaches out there? i'm keen to see if this can be done with no series resistors at all? cheers, rich [quote name='obbm' post='793654' date='Apr 1 2010, 07:30 PM'][url="http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/basses/0190209C/SD0190209CPg2.pdf"]This[/url] is the wiring diagram for the stack-pot Fender Jazz which is the same - 2 pups, 2 vol , 2 tone. This seems to work well in my Lakland PJ. A further way to stop interaction is to put mixing resistors, say 10K from the output of each volume pot. I've never heard of anyone putting series resistors in the ground wire but I guess it has a similar effect.[/quote]

Hi, I've been researching this a bit recently and wondered if more light could be shed by those wiser members of the group (which today stands at 9141)?? i have 2 pickups in a bass with 2 volume pots and 2 tone pots with a pickup selector switch problems: 1. The volume's interplay badly. if one is turned down, the overall bass volume drops very badly, unless the pickup selector is switched to solo the pickup that is on full volume. 2. The tones interplay badly. Can't get full tone from one when the tone is lowered on the other pickup. 3. The tone and volume interplay VERY badly. This is not a case of treble being removed from the sound, but a clear and definite case of overall volume falling very badly. This is frustrating as it means to go from an aggressive finger funk style to a warm fat blues sound i have to adjust volume, tone, amp volume, compressor threshold......etc etc I have read that the only way this can be overcome is by putting resistors in series with the ground wire of each pickup, which can cure interplay, but reduces overall output... which is already a problem as the bass is somewhat dated and low on output as it is. Are there any clever solutions to this problem which can isolate the output from each pickup/volume/tone 'group' without hampering output? Let the wisdom commence! cheers, Rich

Hey everyone, My new band are playing our second ever gig, this time at CAI in Cardiff: [url="http://cardiffartsinstitute.org/"]http://cardiffartsinstitute.org/[/url] We are a culture clash of Regga, Hip Hop, Surf Rock, Funk and Soulllllllll. Cara on vocals (of notorious local/north wales repute with a dubious history in punk, ska and soul) MC Ruffstylz (Cardiff hero who holds the world record longest freestyle EVER 17hrs+) Beatbox Fozzy (One of the UK's best at what he does, which is more than most people can do with a whole room full of instruments) Paul Umbongo (Real name unknown, but he owns a strat...) Jo Styles (Lives on a boat....) Rich Woods (Biologist studying cockroaches. Formerly of Kilburn's least successful thrash-porn-funk band Rogie-C and the Smokey Bacons) We have yet to decide on a band name (damn democracy....) so ideas welcome! Should be a great night for all involved and much bass shall be played. Cheers, Rich

ummmm ahem.....Embarrassingly we are yet to settle on a firm name, a point which somewhat angers me, having played with them since last summer, and having already done a couple of gigs! It's Reggae, Ska, Hip-hop, surf-rock. Our lineup is guitar, drums, bass, Female Vocals, Beatbox and an MC! six very different individuals makes for interesting music but democratic mayhem, especially when it comes to choosing a name..... suggested names so far: Chula (Means cool/pretty in italian i think, also the name of our drummers house boat!) Love Ambassadors (Ambassadors being the name of the brothel next to my house...) Company of flames Cheetahs and Lions Wrap of smack Joyboy La Tricks Osiris As you can see, most of these sound like a 90's girl power group, emo band, punk band or childrens cartoon..... so any suggestions welcome! Either way, the last gig sounded pretty good and besides some of the best things don't have names- Led Zeppelins 4th album, ummm....well i'm sure there are other examples!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ovation-Magnum-4-String-Electric-Bass-Guitar-rare-70s_W0QQitemZ170462330448QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item27b058be50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ovation-Magnum-4-Str...=item27b058be50[/url] As part of my personal belief that the entire world should only be allowed to hear bass played on these instruments, i found this rather lovely example on das Bay. Wonder if he'd swap my natural for his burst......hmmmmm. stereo output, unique pickups, all mahogany, set AND bolted carbon reinforced neck, ebony board, space ship looks and possibly the deepest sound known to man. brilliant. You can hear me play mine at Cardiff Arts Institute on Easter Sunday!

I'm sure somebody has the answers to this! ?????????

Hi, I've been playing my Magnum 1 since November and after a bit of setting up, string testing and fiddling with amp settings am really really happy with the sound it makes. The trouble is, if i roll the tone off, the volume drops significantly. it's not just the treble being cut, there is definitely a drop in overall volume, which is a shame because the sound is really nice with the tone rolled off, it's just quiet, which means i have to readjust my amp and compressor settings in between songs and there is no way i could alter the tone mid song because of the effect on my overall volume. As some of you will know, the magnum has two fairly odd humbuckers which each have individual tone and volume (like an original jazz bass) with twin outputs for stereo and mono (i use mono mostly). Does this problem occur with the original jazz basses with the twin stacked tone/volume pots? if not, is there a schematic so i can use the jazz bass setup in my magnum? i'm guessing the problem is to do with the tone circuit/capacitors in the magnum but if anyone can suggest other causes/solutions i'd be interested. Any clues/tips? Cheers, rich

interesting that it went for over £300 less than the magnum 1 a few weeks back with the only difference being body shape....

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130372622627&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] Essentially my bass (Magnum 1) with a more standard body shape. huge lows from the neck pickup and piano tones from the bridge. passive, stereo outputs, carbon composite neck, mahogany body, monster bridge...need i continue? Waaaaaaaay cheaper than a F$$der from the same period. interested to see what it makes. last ovation on the bay made £720..... Rich

[quote name='steve-soar' post='760217' date='Feb 28 2010, 10:17 PM']that's not funny.[/quote] indeed. my apologies! i shall find a more suitable natural disaster... r

Hey, i recently downgraded my rig from a monsterously loud setup (peavey stack with peavey valve preamp and a crown power amp) to something smaller and hence am selling everything. i've shifted the cabs, preamp and a few pedals but the power amp just doesn't want to sell! it's been here on Basschat for about a month: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74778&st=0&p=723965&#entry723965"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;#entry723965[/url] I have had a few queries but no takers and wondered [b]WHY NOT[/b]? Do i have the price wrong? it's pretty much mint having been in a rack case all its life and very powerful. Are Crown not a quality brand as i have been lead to believe? Is there somewhere apart from ebay where i could hope to sell this more successfully? If anyone has sold one of these recently or even if you havn't, i'd like some tips on where/how to shift this as it is making my room look untidy and my current bass rig feels inadequate just by being in the same building! Any replies much appreciated. Cheers, rich

should go tuner-octave-distortion since the first two need to track pitch accurately and a distorted signal is much harder to track. As for the power, the korg website is a bit ambiguous saying 200mA to multiple pedals...? not sure if that's 200mA total or for each pedal. might not be enough, worth contacting korg to check. hope that helps!

I Just sold my peavey alpha valve pre amp to Steve. The transaction was smoother than Tippi-Toes (The Meters), and as hassle-free as Lively Up Yourself (Marley). And like playing bass on the Pussy Cat Dolls tour (i wish), it's something i'd definitely do again. Pleasure doing business, one to trust! Rich