Dan Dare

5 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Wellcome to BassChat. I'm guessing from your name you play guitar as well as bass so may have some experience? I think the first thing which would help us all to home in on suggestions is your budget. The AER Amp One in the video would solve all your problems but at £1939 is beyond most of our budgets.

 

No 2. on the list would be how you intend using your new amp. There are a few really nice sounding practice amps like the PJB's but they sacrifice sound levels for sound quality and if you intended jamming along with a drummer won't quite cut it. If you intend playing acoustic music something like that willbe really portable and room friendly at home.

 

No 3. Combo's are great, grab and go and nice and tidy with fewer leads and boxes to trip over if space is limited. Separate amps and speakers are a lot more flexible and the Micro amps like the Elf and Gnome are tiny enough to fit in a gig bag leaving your hands free to carry a speaker.

 

If you narrow it down a little then you'll get more relevant suggestions.

Someone else dropping expensive names such as AER and PJB. Why do this? Is it to demonstrate good taste and knowledge when it comes to gear? The request was pretty simple - a newcomer to playing the bass wants a nice-sounding bass practice amp/small portable amp for small venues. It doesn't need to be "narrowed down". It's complete as it is.

Nobody apart from the wealthy is going to buy pro-level stuff straight off the bat. Wealthy people do not ask for advice on forums such as this. They take the trusty gold card or, if they're old school, a wad of notes, to somewhere like Bass Direct or The Gallery (maybe even have someone else do it for them) and spend, spend, spend. There's no shame in recommending good honest budget gear.

When anyone posts along the lines of "Newbie here. Please recommend a small combo for practice, etc that sounds good", many recommend kit costing between £500 and a grand (Barefaced, Markbass, PJB and similar). Yes, they may be of good quality, but a lot of beginners don't have anything like that kind of budget. I'd go used and get something like the 100w Rumble combo mentioned above. They work well and are easy to sell on when/if you wish to upgrade.

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

What "real men play 34" scale" talk?

See above - exercise your fretting hand, don't give up, you'll be better for it in the long run, etc, etc.

A lot of these low budget offerings are quite decent as far as neck, body, etc are concerned. The fittings are where corners are cut (something has to give - £99 retail equates to about £40 at the factory gate). By the time you've improved pickups, tuners, wiring, pots, etc to a reasonable standard, you may as well buy a Squier or similar.

If you fancy short-scale, go for it. Ignore the "real men play 34" scale" talk. 34" is only the default because that Fender fellow settled on it. Some 5 and 6 strings are 35" scale or even longer. If you are struggling with the stretch, don't give yourself RSI or make yourself miserable. I'm fortunate in that I have large hands and find 34" no trouble, but we're all different. I also started on the violin when I was very young, so had good hand and wrist flexibility before I even picked up a bass.

Head for the shops or the home of a kindly BC member, try a few and see how you get on. It's what you like that counts.

2 hours ago, jazzmanb said:

Cheap basses are way better than when I started in 1979 

Pre Squier etc 

Only catalogue kay basses etc 

If you got the right bass in the 80s it's value has risen but it's not across the board . 

If I was skint I'd happily buy a £250 bass . 

This. Budget instruments are extremely good for the money nowadays. When I started in the early 70s, they were rubbish. £250 today gets you a used instrument of the quality we could only dream about back then.

In the size of room you have and with the requirements - no drums to compete with, etc - you describe, 100W should be perfectly adequate unless you want to shake the walls. Just about any decent quality combo rated at 100W or more with a 10" or 12" speaker would be fine. If you plan to record through it, an onboard DI would be useful if you want to capture the sound of the amp itself (although an external DI box would work for this if the amp has a preamp out).

In your shoes, I'd visit a few local shops, try things out to find out what you like and then look for it second-hand.

Brown Thunderbird bass? That instrument is obviously black. Clear contravention of the Trades Descriptions Act. Shocking.

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

The basses are aimed at rich folk who aspire to play like Joe Dart. Rather than practice, they’ll spunk £2k on a bass to pretend to be him in the mirror.

This.

1 hour ago, acidbass said:

I'm always surprised how EBMM get the pickup to string alignment so consistently wrong. Another G string lost in the mix

Pretty shocking, isn't it? The string is not even partially over the pole piece.

23 hours ago, pst62 said:

I was really expecting this to be you know who.

Even he has standards...

Make subjective judgments "apply more objectively"? Good luck with that.

All the terms quoted are used in an attempt to convey sound via words. A bit like wine tasters attempting to describe taste/flavour in print.

Doomed, I tell you. Doomed to failure.

On 13/01/2024 at 17:45, tauzero said:

 

Presumably that's why you advocate using nothing.

Spot on. It's why I take nothing for a headache (nothing acts faster than Anadin, after all)

13 minutes ago, Dood said:

A genuine thanks; I need to hear what viewers are actually thinking. I thought that there might be a place for reviews that go in to detail and maybe teach something on the way (hence why I will demonstrate what a semi-parametric is and how it works. for example) but, it sounds like there is a balance to be had and a few things I can learn on the way.

I create all of the material myself, I don't have an editing team, a producer or anything, so I'm still on a learning curve which is incredibly labour intensive along with finding time to teach, be a professional musician and a single parent to my lil demanding kids. 

Thank you and I welcome more views. 

I think readership of magazines and viewing of magazine-type YT channels and similar depends on where people are in their journey. When I were a lad and it was all fields round 'ere, I devoured magazines, articles and anything else I find to help me learn. Now I'm ancient and reasonably satisfied with the gear I own and the knowledge I have, I only read/watch them if I'm thinking of buying something and want to get the lowdown on it. Either that, or I might come across something new (to me) musically and wish to pick up tips on technique or add to my knowledge (such as learning what a semi-parametric is and how it works) to help me get to grips with it.

That applies equally to my interests outside music. I rarely if ever look at angling or hi-fi mag's any more, either.

That probably isn't a great help to you. Apologies, but I guess I'm not part of your typical target audience. I guess what I'm saying is that the most interest in what you do will likely be from people starting out or those wishing to improve their knowledge. So it's probably not a bad idea to aim a lot of your content in their direction. 

I read magazines/reviews when I'm contemplating a purchase and want to get some info about what it is I intend to buy. Apart from that, no.

12 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

That is not what was implied by being "forced into a job". Being forced into a job is being unable to make a living as a musician.

I realise that and my question remains. There is no automatic right to make a living as a musician, dancer, artist or anything for that matter.

I kept a day job for the great majority of the 50 years between leaving education and retiring whilst playing in the evenings and at weekends, with occasional, usually brief, spells of playing music for a (just about) living.

There are many reasons why someone cannot make a living from playing music - including lack of ability, not wanting to play what people are prepared to pay for, not being fortunate to be in the right place at the right time (luck always plays a part - I know plenty of great players who just haven't had the breaks), face not fitting and so on.

There is always a living to be made on the function circuit. Having slogged around playing functions and similar during my attempts to make a living from music, I can assure you that there are plenty of regular jobs that are preferable to doing that. Not only because the gigs themselves are not enjoyable, but because you can find yourself becoming fed up with playing music itself if that's all you have time to do because you need to put food on the table.

The advantage of having a day job is that you can afford to decline the soul-destroying gigs you would have to accept if you were solely dependant on music, meaning you can look forward to the ones you enjoy and keep your interest alive.

Stop it. It's 2 ohm capable and I'm not far up the road. I can only withstand so much temptation

Norman

13 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Let this post of mine be the last that mentions politics in this thread, please.

Why? There is no escaping from the fact that housing supply/availability is very much a political issue. Why tiptoe around the proverbial elephant in the room? If you do, there is no prospect of meaningful discussion.

3 hours ago, TimR said:

Nobody buys £1m homes as their first house. The people who live in them didn't pay £1m for them. 

 

I'd suggest most people move up the ladder using inherited money along with equity they have in their previous property. My peers in their 50s bought their first houses in the mid to late 90s for around £120-150k and spent a lot of time and energy doing them up and moving up the ladder as they went.

 

A big 'problem' on London is active retired people 'blocking', living in properties they can just about afford the rates on and who have no reason to be living in 3 and 4 bedroom houses. 

 

Ideally they should be the ones buying second homes and living off rental from their 1st property. Which I suspect is the case and a lot of these 'evil landlords' are just people trying not to lose money. 

Much truth in this. The last London house I lived in was worth serious money, but it certainly wasn't the first property I owned. I and my partner started out in a modest place in a run-down area, did some work on it, sold and moved up slightly, rinse and repeat. I moved out of London after retirement for the reason stated - I didn't want to be rattling around in a large place after my partner passed and had always fancied living in the country.

11 hours ago, tauzero said:

You start by confiscating the empty homes, at least the long-term ones

Good luck with that. Apart from the fact that any government that confiscated peoples' lawfully owned assets would be committing political suicide, establishing a precedent (even if it were possible) that enabled the state to do so would be the start of a slippery and dangerous slope. How long before a government used the power for political reasons, say be sequestering assets of those it didn't like? You need to think through the consequences before merrily  proposing such draconian actions.

On 08/01/2024 at 16:27, tegs07 said:

A combination of the attempt to regulate private landlords combined with the spike in costs of debt repayment is reducing the rental stock significantly and pushing up rents at an alarming pace. 

 

Once inflation is brought back under control the UK needs a good hard think about how treating homes as assets is crippling the young causing unprecedented inequality and stymying economic growth.

 

I doubt if anything will change though.

Agreed. The biggest problem (imho, of course) is that we don't have a healthy public/affordable housing sector any more, since many publicly owned properties were sold off. A healthy public/affordable housing stock acts as a counterbalance to the cost of private rented and owned housing, because people have a choice and aren't compelled to pay ridiculous prices to rent or buy privately. The crazy increases in the cost of private housing has coincided with the decimation of the publicly owned housing stock. If you suggest doing anything about it, people start frothing at the mouth about "socialism", etc.

I don't think anything can be done about treating homes as assets. Put simply, they are assets. That would be true even if they cost a fraction of what they do. Property prices are a simple consequence of demand massively out-stripping supply (in areas where people want or are able to live). People have no choice other than to pay the prices demanded if they want to live a realistic distance from where they work. The only thing that will change that is a massive increase in the supply of housing, but land is in short supply in populous areas, so where do you put the new homes?

Population growth isn't helping, too. Afraid I don't think anything will change, either.

On 05/01/2024 at 12:20, ReeV0 said:

Resale value isn't much of a concern.

Given that they are not SVT sized lumps and you aren't bothered about the money, I'd keep both. Always handy to have a spare tucked away.

1 hour ago, peteb said:

I don't dispute what you say, yet I am running a 2l diesel estate for not much more than half your £5k figure. The main difference is the depreciation - I tend to buy highish mileage cars in good condition for around £5k, run them for ten years or so and then sell them for a grand. These days, it is perfectly possible to run an OK car reasonably cheaply. 

Are you really motoring for £2.5k a year all in? As Tim points out, motoring is one of those drip-drip expenses that builds up to a tidy sum over the months without you realising it. £5k works out at only £100 per week. As an all-up cost, that's not a lot. If you're covering some miles in a 2 litre estate, how much are you spending on fuel? My car is 2.4 petrol and I live in the country, so I use it quite a bit. I'm spending at least £50 a week on fuel, often more.

Like you, I buy old cars for cash (so no loan repayments), do my own servicing and keep them on the road as long as I can, but even then it works out at around £100 a week all in by the time I've factored in insurance, VED, repairs I can't do myself, etc, which is the figure Tim stated.

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

I'm not sure this is true. It's very difficult to keep a vehicle running for less than £400 a month. However you slice that pie, £5k a year seems to be about the rate money disappears on any vehicle I've ever owned. Insurance, tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, depreciation etc.

 

I agree that £5k a year is about right for the total running cost of a vehicle. It's about what I spend. The original point that I disagreed with was that one can't buy a decent vehicle for less than £5k. My present car cost me £2300 four years ago. It's 20 years old now, not a wreck by any means and is large enough to carry me, my bass rig and PA easily. It's a bit thirsty, but I service it myself and carry out minor repairs that don't require specialist equipment or a hoist, which saves money. I've always done so. When I started driving, the only way to motor on a tight budget was to buy a banger and do your own maintenance. Many these days are unwilling to pick up a spanner.

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Yes. I used to gig in the 80s with a 100w vocal PA where the vocals were just about audible above the drums. My bass amp was 100w combo. 

 

We now gig with a 2x250w PA and my bass amp is 500W. Not that we don't play appropriate volumes for the venue, but many bands have that kind of power and don't. 

Agreed again. My current PA is 2x750W and I have a 700W bass amp. I certainly didn't start out with that. I had the obligatory HH 100W PA amp and a 100W bass amp. By the standards of today, it was crap, but it did the job and got me going. Since then, I've gradually upgraded to what I have now. Fair enough, really. There has to be some reward for working for 50 odd years.

2 hours ago, chris_b said:

The volume thing has gone crazy. It always surprises me how many audiences put up with it.

A lot won't, which is one of the reasons many music venues are half empty. Why would people stick around to hear terrible stuff at ear-bleeding volumes?

1 hour ago, la bam said:

Being a musician has always been seen as hard graft, being in an originals band trying to 'make it' was always fought with little money and being difficult to make ends meet. But, with a bit of luck it was possible. 

 

But now.... How are bands supposed to make it or even try when even renting a flat is astronomical, hotels and b and bs cost a fortune, you can't buy a decent van for under 5 grand, tax and insurance will be the same, and then there's fuel and food???! 

 

Most will be forced into a job before even being able to give it a go. 

Anything worth having is hard graft. The world owes us nothing. Everyone has to find money for fuel, food and accommodation. They all have to tax and insure their vehicles. What makes musicians exempt from this? 

"Forced into a job"? What makes a musician so special that he/she shouldn't have to work for a living? If you want to do or become something, it's perfectly normal and reasonable that you work for a living and treat that something as a side-line, hopefully building it up to become a profession over time. Work on it in your free time in the evenings and at weekends and don't expect a free ride from the rest of us whilst you "make it".

You can buy a vehicle that will get you about for a lot less than 5k. Of course, you may have to lift the bonnet and get your hands dirty occasionally (horror of horrors - don't you know I'm an artiste and have to protect my delicate hands?) to keep it going, but tough.

17 hours ago, NickA said:

now you mention it... I have a qsc plx3602 sitting in a cupboard at work

 

"offering up 775 Watts per side at 8 Ohms, and weighing in at a mere 21 lbs".

Blimey. 775W a side into 8 ohms would be well over a kilowatt bridged. You could vaporise your PB300 with that... QSC power amps are very good. I used them for my PA until I went down the active cab route.

20 hours ago, NickA said:

Yes I'd fit a ply or ally plate and a speakon socket.  Maybe also a mains socket and a couple of mains outlets so I could power the amp and the flight case combo from one mains lead ..daisy chaining the amp input from the flghtcase line out.  A lot of boxes to carry tho.  Maybe the pb300 powered from an amp would be enough.

 

I had the pb300 apart last week to fault find ( found nothing, but it sprang back to life) and forgot to measure the impedance.  The six drivers are in three parallel sets of two in series, so if 8ohm each, the whole thing is 16/3 = 5.33 ohm.  I'll check!

 

The pjb d400 amp is 350W into 4ohm ( current limit ) and 200W in 8 ohms ( voltage limit ), so should be 300W into the 250W pb300.  Perfect, and confirms that a d-800 is overkill. The d-400 is still £550 + tho, which is more than I'd hoped to spend on a temporary solution.  Which is why I wondered if a gnome (or something) would do ...might even fit inside the pb300!?

 

Thanks for the other suggestions ...quite heavy tho.

Ah, you're running it with a Flightcase combo. That must be a nice rig. I got into PJB stuff via picking up a used Flightcase. I liked the sound, but wanted more of it, so got a couple of C4s and drove them with a power amp fed by the Flightcase. Eventually sold the Flightcase and got three 4Bs, which I like a bit better than the C4s, plus a couple of 2 ohm capable amps. I mix and match according to the requirements of the job. I'm not so keen on PJB heads. I find them a bit too hi-fi when used with PJB cabs. I realise super clean is the PJB design intention, but I prefer my Aguilar or Carvin with them. YMMV, horses for courses, etc.

You could pick up a used power amp for not much money if it's only temporary. Wouldn't stack neatly with the Flightcase and PB300 (you'd probably have to put it on the floor behind the rig), but would do as a temporary fix whilst the PB300 amp is being repaired and used power amps are pretty cheap.