dave_bass5

Yup, definitely the right choice, although i do feel the Thomanns ones would also have been ok sound wise. Still, the weight saving is worth the extra cost. I had thought about the studio we use, as they also have a pair of the same speakers. Trouble is getting them there.

All good, very good in fact. The band all thought they sounded better than then the old ones, other than the singer. She said they sounded a bit thinner. She had a point but as i pointed out, we need to start using thre EQ differently, and she was used to the more coloured tone. It certainly sounded better to me when I went out front. Its hard to really judge with just vocals going through We didn't put the kick drum through it, we didn't have time, but i have a feeling its going to sound better than the old speakers. When we played music during the break we really noticed how punchy the low end is, and at a very low volume. Much more hifi than th sold ones. I did notice the desk needs adjusting more. The output levels were low on the main meter, as we are so used to having to keep everything low to avoid blowing the old speakers, so the channel levels need brining up more. I didn't notice this until we started playing so ill do that next time. There was still plenty of volume though. The biggest improvement was the load in. I took both in at once, and could put them on the stands without any help. We all said we should have done this years ago. I did point out that only me and the singer put our hands in our pockets to do this, and i had been trying to get the band as a whole to upgrade but no one want to back then (this was the old line up though). We also had much more space in the car, and getting home after the gig and only making one trip up to our flat was as good as it gets. I cant imagine doing that with the old ones. So yeah, very happy. I have posted an ad on here for the old speakers already. It seems a shame to just dump them as they are working 100% but i might have to.

Yep, that was a very good call on these. Glad i asked first. It seems we can now get everything (PA and my gear) in the car plus our son who comes to most of them. Im still going to hate carrying them up to the flat after the gig but id hate to think how much effort the old speakers would have needed. Hopefully we will get to sound check to night so i can get to tweak the EQ a bit on the desk, but as its just vocals and maybe kick drum going through them im sure mostly flat will work as a starting point. Not sure if i should turn them right up and be careful with the desk, or maybe half way and see how it goes. Depends on the room i suppose. Its just a social club so we wont need silly levels. They definitely sound very different from my Ashdown, but i much prefer this new tone, seems a lot clearer at low volume. I dont think it will ever come to me needing to use one at a gig though. Heading off soon so ill post back tomorrow. Cheers again.

Cheers. Unfortunately ill be in the wrong place to enjoy them lol. Ill do a gig update on sunday. I use a radio system so will get to hear them at sound check. I think our singer has just brought a new monitor as well so it will be an interesting gig. One other great benefit of this type of speaker is i can use it as my home practice rig without taking up any extra room in the flat. I can now get rid of my old Ashdown combo that i keep around for very occasional home use.

Thanks Mike. I actually got the db's recommended earlier. Cheapest i could find them was £321 each, inc delivery from Digital Village. Cheaper than Thomanns. Like you say, at the moment they aren't as cheap as they have been in the past. Ive brought a lot of gear from Thomanns over the years, and cant fault them at all, but this time DV won on cost, plus i got next day delivery. First gig with them on Sat. Should be interesting. So far i love how light they are. Any of us can now carry both speakers at the same time, as opposed to our old ones needing quite a bit of effort to carry each one. With just a few mis of testing i can tell the new speakers dont have the heft and fullness our old Peavey's have, but thats not to say it's a bad thing. The EQ on our desk seems to be more responsive with the db's. I guess its a more open sound, and certainly the upper mid range is clearer. Now i just need to get rid of the old stuff and start enjoying the extra space in the living room again.

Not sure it was a Sire. Mine sounds nothing like that one :-(

So it wasn't just my imagination lol.

I believe ive just seen a V7 on Jools Holland. It looked (to my old eyes) like the bass player with the Temptations was using one. Could be wrong through as i dont really know my basses and haven't seen mine for a good few months.

Oh im not worried at all about digital, ive been using digital Power stages in my bass heads for a few years. i was just pre empting any replies about the difference. Ive got them in my basket, just need to press the button. I dont need them for a week or so but i cant see anything else coming up that ticks so many boxes.

Cheers Guys.I must admit i haven't really looked in to other brands so wasn't aware of the db'.s They do look perfect and we can just about stretch to that (dv has them a bit cheaper than Thomanns). At the moment we run a very heavy Peavey 2600 power amp in to some Hi Sys speakers. I think these are rated at 350watts (700 peak) in to 4 ohms (yes, we are very careful with the power input) so i know 700watts per side will be more than enough. Will probably order a pair today. The killer feature for us is the weight. The Thomanns are 30kg, the db's 17kg. Amazing reduction in weight. Not bothered than "maybe" being digital will have a thinner tone, my back will love them no matter what they sound like lol.

Our old Peavey PA speakers are getting on a bit. Much too heavy to carry around these days. Coupled with our Peavey power amp this set up feels like it needs to be downscaled, to save my back if nothing else. Looking around these Thomanns speakers might be what we need. Two boxes instead of 3, lighter and smaller and quicker to set up. We were looking at the RCF versions but really can't see the advanatage of spending more money. https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_box_pa502a_aktives_fullrangesystem.htm I wouldnt expect to be gigging for more than another year or so so long term use isn't a problem. We also put all the gear in cars so they won't get thrown around much. We only put the vocals, and sometimes a bit of kick drum through out PA so it doesn't need to handle a full mix. Anyway, just wanted to get some opinions from owners of these, if there are any. Not looking for the pros and cons of not getting a full blown PA with subs etc.

Did a wedding in a place north of London a few years ago. We set up in the beer garden in a marquee. This backed on to other gardens so we were asked to keep it down. It got to a point where we could hear the sound of feet dancing on the wooden dance floor over us. The couple and guests (rightly so) kept asking us to turn up as they couldn't hear us. The landlord stormed in a couple of times during the first set to ask us to turn down. During the second set he came in and pulled all the faders down on our desk during a song. The couple were dancing right in front of us at the time. He then had a go at us in front of everyone, telling us he might lose his licence if there were complaints and that if we we rent go to comply he would shut the party down completely. The wedding guests looked stunned but didnt speak up. We ended up turning the amps off and all going through the vocal PA. It actually sounded quite good at that volume but we couldnt really get in to it after that. To us it looked like he didnt have an entertainment licence, yet was hiring out his pub as a wedding venue. We got asked to go back once (these were through agents, not direct) but declined.

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1474556636' post='3138795'] Cheers for that.... looks much better. I had the problem that the Funp wouldnt fit on my status but this one sure does...... Did you buy direct from this site? [/quote] I did and it came from Australia so took a while. Send me your address and you can have mine. I really cant see me using it much so if you have a need......

This is the one i have. The good thing about his is the pressure is adjustable at each end so you can have it loose or tight. http://www.bassmuteclamp.com/

Ive got the other prisoner of this. Cant remember the name but its two pieces of foam with a Velcro strip holding the together rather than the plastic hinge. It does the job but as a pick player who rests his hand on the bridge it makes playing difficult, so i dont use it. As i do play with a pick palm muting is easier anyway, but if i did play finger style (more) id be happy with this.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1473618063' post='3131712'] Did some of the RAF bases in Germany back in the day. Happy memories of turning up for breakfast in the officers mess as they were at there for lunch in full dress uniform. Great gigs too, poor folk bored out of their minds and looking to blow off steam big time. In negotiations to do the local base next year. In reference to the thread I started earlier, we won't be filming that one- it's the sas. [/quote] We did some of the German bases as well, quite a while ago. Interestingly its the only time ive had curry and rice for breakfast 3 days running ;-) Quite disturbing seeing the squadies jumping up and down on tables with rifles in therm hands, prettying to shoot each other. One gig was in the dead of winter and our van was the only vehicle that would start. We had to go round the base jump starting some of the other vehicles. My last band did a few over here, but i cant remember how we got them.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1473765063' post='3132859'] The whole reason for setting up Fender Japan was to compete with high-end MIJ copies, which were consistently better quality and massively cheaper than the notoriously shoddy CBS-era US Fenders of the late 70s & early 80s. So unless Fujigen was making necks for Fender US, I doubt if that's right. [/quote] I might have been wrong about the USA, but they were definitely coming out of one of the factories that was also producing another, higher quality line

I was told by Chris (the tech at the old Bass centre) that the necks were the big selling point. The early Squire necks were coming out of the same factory as the American ones at the start. Ive never looked in to this but he seemed to know his stuff.

Bass in to my iphone or ipad via iRig HD interface and headphones. That all i use at home these days. Ampkit has both a TE and Ashdown rigs so plenty of variation for me, and no other power sources needed as it all works off the lightning interface. Probably not the best but certainly portable and can be used in car/van/train etc without any need for a power source.

Ah right. Well as I've never looked in the manual maybe I just missed that. It's such an easy pedal to use that I've never needed the manual.

Never heard of this before, although ive never read the manual for it. What is it that's said to be wrong?

I record all our rehearsals and gigs with a digital recorder strapped to the singers mic stand. Ive been using Adobe Audition for years to edit, Eq and cut these recordings. Ive got Sonar/Wavelab etc, and most of the other programs mentioned here, but i keep going back to Audition. I also use the Ozone mastering plug-in and that makes a huge difference.