Dan Dare

Some good stuff on Lee's YT channel. Worth subscribing.

It's unlikely to be cheap, wherever you go. The parts may cost little, but (and this tends to apply especially to budget gear) replacing them can be a nightmare, even a non-starter, depending on how the amp module is constructed. If it's a discreet unit (some are even sealed), repair may not be possible. You may, as someone else points out, need an entire replacement PCB or module. Not trying to be discouraging, but it can happen.

I have bought from them on a couple of occasions and found their service to be very good. I visited by train once (cheaper than the car with my old git's railcard) and it started to p1ss down whilst I was there, so Mark gave me a lift to the station (unasked) with my new toy. Can't say fairer than that. If you go on a Saturday when they are busy, they may not be able to roll out the red carpet, but you can't really blame them for that.

I have several C4s and 4Bs. They're very clear and clean. I use one for practice/home playing and it works well. However, you have to bear in mind that it is difficult to get that headphone sound out of any cab. The drivers in headphones may be small, but they're only about an inch from your eardrum. That helps gives the sound weight and immediacy and means you hear all the frequencies they produce, unaffected by room reflections, etc. If I could find a cab that sounded as good as my bass into my A&H mixer through my DT770s, I'd snap it up. I'm still looking.

As you chaps will no doubt be aware from my endless harping on about it, I'm a PJB owner and fan. They are front ported and do seem to have this quality. The cabinets are solidly made - the ports are not just holes cut in the baffle - and heavy for their small size, which must help. Mr Jones considers front porting to be best. However, one of the nicest sounding cabs I've owned was an old American made Ampeg SVT210HE, which was rear-ported. I bought it new many years ago and I've always regretted selling it. I looked for another for a long time without success, sold it and a few weeks later one - not mine - came up in the classifieds. Sod's law. So I guess port location doesn't matter that much, provided the cab is well designed and made.

Yeth. It ith.

In for a penny, etc

Inspired by the discussion on the thread about hilariously bad songs, can I invite you all to submit your nominations? Here's mine: The Flying Lizards - Money - YouTube

You can run a bass into the line input on a mixer if you push the input gain sufficiently. A Di box is a better option.

Hello. I use PJB cabs (C4s and 4Bs), which I like a lot. I had a Flightcase combo, which sounded lovely within its limited power output. The 400/Suitcase is considerably more powerful and more of the same. If you like a clean sound then I can confirm it has "beautiful low ends". If you want that "oomph" (which is often a little artificial to my ears), you may find it lacking. You really need to try one and judge for yourself.

I know. The Shaggs' father was no doubt proud of his girls and genuinely believed they were good, but his ignorance caused him to take things a little too far. There is naivety and honesty in the painting your child brings home from primary school. It's terrible, but you don't judge it by any kind of absolute standard, because it's the work of your child. You love them, recognise the effort they put in and want to encourage them. So you praise them, frame it and hang it on the wall (as I did with a couple of my daughter's paintings). Friends tell you it's sweet/cute and you thank/agree with them, but you shouldn't attempt to make any claim for its artistic merit (unless you are deluded). What irks me is the people who use The Shaggs as a vehicle for their own pretensions - claiming they are able to see or hear something special in their so-called music that we mere mortals are unable to perceive, etc, etc. It's terrible music by any kind of yardstick.

If you only want it for bedroom use, a small mixer with reasonable eq is a good option. You can feed the music you want to play along with into it, balance it and your instrument and listen via headphones, an amp or even your hi-fi. Plenty of cheap used small mixers to be had.

Many of the songs highlighted above are obviously awful, but either tongue in cheek or done with the obvious aim of cashing in (which is fine. I don't have a problem with it). Truly hilariously bad songs are those where a guileless writer/performer believes that they are making good music.

PJB or AER

You don't really need a Powercon on an instrument amp. They can handle higher currents than an IEC, which is why larger PA amps use them. However, no instrument amp will draw the kind of current that makes one essential. The fact that they are lockable is a bonus, although you can get locking IEC plugs and sockets.