dave_bass5

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1334168' date='Aug 9 2011, 08:52 PM']I know, but no chance at the moment. Id love to be able to gig both, and see which cuts it. Then, what happens if I also took the STL900 and that worked better?! Haha. What a nightmare.[/quote] Thats what happened to me when i thought i was trading my STL600 for Clarky's F1. Used both on two gigs and ended up buying the F1 as well :-)

I know what you mean. Ken has a certain style and he likes a certain tone but thats not for everyone. Seeing as your thinking about the LMIII why not lower your sights slightly and think about a F1. Its a lot cheaper than the F500 and has the same EQ (although its missing a few other features).

my stickers have arrived so hopefully ill get them on my neck before the next gig. They do seem pretty bright once activated with my LED keyring torch.

Ken's got this F1 vs LMII comparison video. Thats the closest i can think ive seen. To my ears the F1 did sound nicer but both were so close i doubt it would matter at a gig.

I went through exactly the same process. I got a BDI21 4 years ago for a one off gig where there was no back line. I tried to use it over the following years but never felt it was better than straight bass tone. I was about to sell it last year so got it out for a gig, just to test it out and it was like i suddenly got it. Its all in the blend control. Im not after any real grit or fuzz so maybe it works better for me, but once it all clicked in to place i started to use it at every gig until i finally got a "real" BDDI (i also had a VT bass but sold that after a few weeks). To my ears (and most peoples IME) there isnt a great deal between the two tone wise, so maybe yours is faulty but like i said, i dont push the Drive up enough to get in to that type of tone. Another member has my BDI21 at the moment but i can get it back if you wanted to try it. In fact if you wanted to come over and try yours next to my BDDI let me know.

Is this the P bass special we are talking about, the one with the jazz pups? I had one of these and i must admit ti put me off 5 string basses for a long time. I had already been playing a Steinberger 5 string but swapped it for a Squier. I just found the neck too wide for me and promptly sold it. Its the only 5 string ive struggled with. Its a nice bass though, and for £150 i guess its pretty good value.

Mine are ordered and im hoping this will do the trick.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' post='1331864' date='Aug 8 2011, 11:30 AM']They look ideal. Think I'll give them a try. Thanks for the tip! Sam[/quote] Same here. Ive been struggling a bit recently on dark stages, these look ideal and i guess they can be taken off if selling the bass.

We had a long weekend but most of it was enjoyable. We did about 1000 miles since Friday morning. Friday night was a gig in Edinburgh. I was looking forward to seeing some of the Fringe but due to the M6 being a bit or a nightmare we got there a bit later than expected (although not actually late). Most wedding over run so we weren't panicking untill we called the venue and was told the couple had moved everything forward by an hour. Still, it wasn't a problem. The hotel was nice (gear in up a fire escape but it wasn't too bad) and the guests and staff were fantastic. There was a very embarrassing, classic moment when my drummer came over to where i was talking to the bride and groom asked the groom if he was the brides father . Luckily we all laughed it off (and before the laughter had gone down i'd already posted it on Face book) Gig was fantastic though, and the small crowd were up for it all night (some more up for "it" than others ;-). Ive now gone 100% to my F1 + 1212L and this is working very well. Nice controlled tone and not boomy like i sometimes found my LMII to be. As much a si love my BDDi ive yet to need it with the F1. Sat we drove back down to Bury St Edmunds (another 400 miles) for a gig at Hengrave hall. We got there early so set up and went and go ta Pizza. Now, the hall we were playing is had a very high ceiling, tiled floor and wooden wall panels. To be honest i was dreading it but again, from my point of view i had a great tone. Now here's the killer. On the way back from the pizza hut we bumped in to the owner. We got chatting and he was explaining about the hall and why the sound meter was put in. Eh? what sound meter we asked. It turns out there is one, thats high up on the wall BEHIND the band. FFS, a meter is one thing but one you cant even keep an eye on is something else. We sound checked at a very low volume and to be honest it sounded fine in the empty hall, half way across the room. As i was walking around it while we played a few numbers i could see the meter hitting the red but it wasnt staying there so all seemed ok. It was mainly the vocal monitor and drums that were triggering it. I doubt we could really be heard in the opposite corner once the room was full though. Of course we set it off a few times, all down to the drummer having no idea about dynamics, other than there's loud and louder. I must say its nice to be back at work today.

Ive a lot to catch up on as ive been away but just a few points, IMO of course. Crap equipment. Well, other than very, very cheap gear (i agreed with John about the SR basses) who's to say whats crap and what's not? IME the GK head i owned was crap, as was the Epifani UL212. Neither cheap but both pieces of gear that i wouldn't touch again. Ive loved a MAG C-115 deep cab and that cost me £85. I hated a MB 151P traveller and that cost close to £500. So, i think the use of the word crap is a bit meaningless unless you state why its crap, and of course this might only be your opinion so it doesn't really make it crap, just that one person thinks its crap. I totally agree that it all starts from the bass but IME its the whole chain that gives us our tone. Most heads ive owned have sounded very different, so the amp plays a big part for me, as does the cab. Ive used different cabs with my old set up and had different tones, and no amount of EQ was ever going to balance the differences out. I do agree that if your using use amounts of EQ then something isnt right, but look at how most users use MB heads. Almost every post ive ever read states the owner has the EQ pretty much flat so there must be sometihng the MB heads have going for them.

While I've never tried their tube heads I do have ther studio 1 amp simulator. This has a T501 head and one of the other tube heads and I really can't hear any tube effect. Maybe this isn't a true indication of how they sound but I really don't see the point of the tube in these heads.