Mikey R

Can you buy Ampeg by the kg?

i have the opposite problem, high notes on the lower strings are way more full than on the same notes on the high strings, its difficult to get a consistent tone.

Im not sure which forum to post this in, it doesnt really go in effects or amps, so I'll put it here. I had some good news through, so Im treating the blue bass to a new pickup, a Delano PC 4 HE/M2 split P: Ordered from Electro in Donny. Will post again when it turns up.

Well, Im assuming that amp comprises of a preamp section and a power amp section. Class D is nothing special, you can get those super light for not much money. So, if you're willing to put your preamp on your pedal board, that gives you a whole bunch of options. Mixing a bit of dry signal into your dirty signal also isnt anything new. That does sound good, but if you play around, I reckon you could get something sounding just as good for far fewer Gregs vouchers.

What do people think of the EHX Blackfinger? I like mine, but I use it as much for the tubey tone as the compression. Has anyone tried the Whitefinger?

That Facebook link is broken, have they taken the page down?

Ive got an HA2500, which is plenty loud enough, with loads of volume left to spare - I even scared our guitarist by turning it up.

Its not a twist, the frets are set out in a fan configuration, so that the bass strings have a longer scale length than the treble strings. It just creates a bit of an optical illusion. See the bass in my avatar.

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1387716560' post='2314799'] never have a problem getting the sound guy to di from my head, my problem comes when i ask if he'd mind micing my cab, for some reason having to plug in a mic and put it infront of my cab is a pain, seeing i use a dirt sound as my main tone it sounds better mic'd andy [/quote] Hey Andy, yeah the speaker is the important bit in the chain - maybe if you brought your own microphone and just handed the enigineer an XLR?

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1387222959' post='2309599'] Most clubs I've played tend to DI the bass and prefer using their own boxes rather than any DI built into the amp, so I'm surprised you haven't come across this. In such circumstances it can be handy to have some control over your FoH sound, but your still left with trying to persuade the engineer to use your kit rather than his own. [/quote] [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1387392585' post='2311523'] Surely if you need an external pre-amp you bought the wrong amp in the first place? [/quote] Ive youve got the preamp on your pedalboard, theres no way they engineer can bypass it. Its always a struggle convincing the engineer to mic or DI from the amp.

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1387295483' post='2310388'] it may take me some time to be able to try one and then some time after that before I can approach buying one, but I love the 'buy British' concept and Matamp are king, unless my mate who used to work for them can build one for me in which case MJW here I come woohoo! [/quote] There you go - chat with Martin and see what he can do He might even have a bass amp in at the moment, you never know.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1387236650' post='2309854'] So why did I live on NUNNERY Lane then, your bleedin' stroppiness [/quote] Theres got to be an Abbey Road joke in here somewhere...

What Ive noticed in the past, is that people often get offended by the high price put on quality stuff they might want to buy but now have to think twice about. A while ago, I watched a thread over on TB where the OP was really angry at how expensive a new Fodera is. The big problem was the upcharge on a scratchplate, and how criminally out of touch with the working bassist this high end company are. Madness. Personally, I am very happy that people like Alex, Alan at ACG, Jon Shuker and all the other UK based builders of cool stuff can actually make a living doing what they love, and are willing to share their product with us. If we want one of their products, then paying for those products is how we support them so they can make more cool products. Alex, Alan and Jon invested way more in their small business than any owner invested in one of their products, they had to pay for the R&D for the first few units, set up shop, buy the equipment, and so on, before they were able to sell even their first unit. And I guarantee you, even though they are now established, none of these people are getting rich doing what they love. Back to Barefaced, if you want one, and you save your pennies, you can have one. If you dont want one, you can spend your pennies on other things. If you want one, but dont want to save your pennies, then thats not a problem with the product.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1386242338' post='2297539'] Pickup clearance is only an issue if your playing style means that the string can bounce off the pickup. By and large, this is generally considered to be A Bad Thing.. [/quote] Ive always had this problem, to the point where I cant play basses with exposed poles on the pickups. All my basses have covered poles, which allows me to dig in as much as I like, whilst having the pickups much closer to the strings than I would otherwise be able to do. You can get replacement pickups for your MMs

[quote name='barkin' timestamp='1385996339' post='2294417'] HA2500 into a single Compact is a combination that I use frequently. Surprisingly loud, and good, isn't it? [/quote] It doesnt kick like a valve amp, but its way cheaper and way less heavy. Im actually surprisingly GAS free at the moment!

I played at todays practice with my Hartke HA2500 head (liberated from the combo) into the Barefaced Compact, thats 175 watts at 8 ohms Towards the end, our drummer was digging in, but my rig was having no problems keeping up, perfectly clean, and I had absolutely tonnes of volume left if I needed to crank it any further. I suspect alot of what was working was a mid heavy tone from the instrument into a very sensitive speaker. Ive played through two ashdowns on separate occasions, and I had to push them both very hard to get anywhere near audible, and they were wooley and undefined at those volumes. So I guess its a combination of tone and efficient speakers.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1385809581' post='2292374'] If your band has a drummer who can't vary his volume fire him and get a drummer who can play properly. [/quote] Most drummers dont have that level of self control, especially when the music starts to really kick. From an amateur point of view, finding a drummer is always the limiting factor when starting a band. If we all fired drummers who couldnt play quieter then there would be far fewer bands out there.

The trick is to try to get the guitarist to use a 30 watt open backed combo. Loudness issue sorted.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1385298038' post='2286497'] ...At the risk of repeating myself though, if people insist on beating themselves up with the U.S.A retail price then they need to do a much more complex equation than just converting the numbers at the current exchange rate, because tempting as that is , it gives a wholly innacurate impression of how cheap or expensive these amps are in the wider social context of each respective economy . [/quote] Im not sure the cost of living in the US is applicable to us over here. The real cost of flying over to the US, buying one, and flying back would be when either it breaks and you cant get it fixed on warranty, or when you want to move it on and you need to tell the buyer that its the version with the 115V poser supply.

Ive been thinking, is that distortion from the power amp, or is it speaker cone destruction? Is that the infamous "farting out" we're supposed to be avoiding? Its difficult to tell, as loudness dulls your perception of these things over time, but it may be that the amp started off fairly clean at the beginning of the rehearsal, then got progressively dirtier. Could that be speaker damage, or could that just be the power amp heating up?

I agree, it would work on some hard rock, but its a little too agressive for Floyd.

And this is us at our second practice. Im amongst friends, so please ignore the second dodgy note, it got better. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f155rlBWDZU[/media] Also, we're not using my rig, its a dodgy Ashdown combo that Im pushing really hard to keep up with the drums. Hence the uber-grind.

Guys, I said HIGH END MANUFACTURER, I dont think cobbled together on the kitchen table counts as high end Still playing around with the EQ and preamp, maybe I'll do an update soonish.

It seems to me there is room in the UK market for another high end amplifier manufacturer.