LewisK1975

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1464949811' post='3064015'] I took my Ashdown toneman 300 combo in to the rehearsal room last night for the first time to give it a push before gigging it. It did well at 70% volume up and with all my pedals running direct to the input instead of to the effects loop. Lots of compliments on sound quality. However, my first gig with this band and this amp is coming up. It's in a marquee. I don't think this combo is going to shift enough air and I don't know if the PA will be able to handle bass input though I hope to God it does... Question is what would be the best way of getting the necessary welly out of my kit? Options are: 1. Buy the 15" extension cab - don't know how much extra this will give me though 2. My singer has an "old but massive" peavey bass amp. I could use this alone and hope it holds the tone clearly (I use a hartke vxl for tone shaping) or even slave it up with the Ashdown. I'm yet to see this Peavey... 3. Buy a new more powerful amp... Which I don't want to do because I am a bit short of cash Any advice or other options gratefully received! [/quote] Whats the PA setup? That seems to be all important here, if it's a sub/tops system with guitar and drums mic'd then just DI and you'll be fine. If it's a vocal only PA, then really speaking you only need to be as loud as the drummer / guitarist / vocals to achieve a good mix. EQ wise, don't go for scooped tone, focus on pushing the low-mids to project a bit better.

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1464867828' post='3063274'] Funnily enough I was looking at them, they seem ideal. Sadly they appear so few and far between on the second hand circuit! How does it sound without effects because I would like to have a nice tone overall when playing clean. [/quote] [quote name='M@23' timestamp='1464905110' post='3063763'] I recently acquired a Puma 900. It's is the nicest amp I've had. It is clean, but more versatile than the Markbass LM3, which is similar, but the Puma has better EQ, IMO. It is very punchy and articulate. The 900 has masses of headroom too. It's a really great amp. [/quote] M@23's pretty much nailed it there. The Puma is very 'open', and really all you need to do with it to get a useable tone is to fiddle with the 'taste' knob until you're happy. I found the other EQ points more suited to dialing in the room rather than sound shaping, if that makes any sense!

Really been considering this for some time. Our singer HATES it if the stage volume is too loud. I by my own admission get sulky at being asked/told to turn down to a point where I can barely hear myself, and it obviously sours the whole gig for me. Seems a good fix for everyone if I switched to in-ears! We probably need a better mixer to get it going properly though.....

Yep - Done it recently. Was up to 11 at one point, went down to 5, now 6. 2 Precisions, 2 Jazzes, and 2 Yamaha Attitudes.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1464712079' post='3061720'] Sandberg VS4 Passive. The Mk1 version, as the Mk2 has a slightly different shape. The necks are all the same across the VS and TT range - very jazz like but with a flatter 'board. Very comfy indeed. [/quote] This is what I was about to say!

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1464536229' post='3060165'] It's far more versatile on a Jazz than on a Precision. I took it out of my Precision as it just switches to a weedy pointless sound. [/quote] Ditto, first thing I did on a 2006 US precision I had a while back.

[quote name='jaketheape' timestamp='1464635230' post='3061039'] Hi, just reopening this topic. I recently bought a second hand EVO II (uk manufactured) and the VU Meter bulb flickers on and off all the time. Nothing wrong with the output from the amp at all, but the flickering light is annoying. I've tried as others have suggested, removing the 4x screws from the front plastic in front of the vu meter, but they are firmly in place and just turning - 1x of the philips screws is badly worn so I am assuming the previous owner/s had already tried at some stage. Is there another way I can access the vu meter maybe from the back? My amp is one of these ones that fits into a Gator case, so has a chrome front. If anyone can help or provide any suggestions I would be very grateful? Thanks in advance. [/quote] Take the 'lid' off the amp and get at it that way.

We have 2 Mackie SRM1801 subs and 2 JBL PRX625 tops. 5k total. It's a spectacular sounding rig.

The low tension on them is exactly why I like 'em so much, I've been using the 45-105 nickels for a while now. I was looking for a while to get away from high tension steels and these seemed to fit the bill. I don't have my action super low as am a heavy handed bugger, but the OP is correct, they will usually require the truss rod to be adjusted if you've had other higher tension strings on. I will say you can get them cheaper than £25 though. My last ones (last week) were £17.50 delivered.

I suggest having a look for a used Tecamp Puma. I had one (PUMA 500) and it was SUPER clean, perfect for fronting up with effects if you ask me. I used it set flat through 1 or 2 BF supercompacts and got all my sound shaping from my pedal board. Worked very well. Obviously if you can afford to buy new, then EICH amps are the 'new' Tecamps. But they are essentially the same thing.

Yep - the Tom in the top photo is a great guy, did me a great deal on a Fender Geddy Lee a few years ago, and sourced me a couple of thing I was looking for too. Excellent!

Update - Mark at Bass Direct was a real help and spoke to Sound Technology about it - upshot, it's been sent to them today and they will return directly to me! Let's hope it doesn't take too long, I really love that pedal!

Again Top marks from me - had to deal with them today to get my EBS Billy Sheehan deluxe pedal fixed under warranty. No hassle, got back to me with 30mins, with a returns authorisation number and where to send it. I thank ye!

Update - Sound Technology told me I have to go through the dealer I bought it from to get it fixed. Bass Direct about to get an email! Hope this doesn't turn out to be a tortured path to resolution!

There's been a bit of a situation with these - on some of the pedals, there is a volume issue on the clean channel - you have to max out the volume of the clean channel to achieve unity gain. EBS have identified the issue as:- [b] [i]Do you need to crank up the Clean level all the way to achieve unity gain?[/i][/b] [color=#444444] [i]We have discovered a misaligned factory calibration with some of the Billy Sheehan Drive Deluxe pedals that has been shipped out so far.[/i][/color][color=#444444] [i]The fault is recognized by the fact that you need to crank up the Clean level almost all the way to achieve unity gain when the pedal is engaged.[/i][/color][color=#444444] [i]If you experience this issue with your pedal and want it properly aligned, please contact us at[email="[email protected]"][email protected][/email] for further assistance. It is covered by warranty.[/i][/color][color=#444444] My Pedal definitely has the issue and I contacted EBS who are doing the fix themselves if you're in Sweden, but as I'm not, they pointed me at Soundtech in the UK, who I think are the distributors. I emailed them but have had no reply as yet, sigh.. [color=#222222] [/color][/color][color=#444444] Billy Sheehan has chimed in on this on the Yamaha Attitude Facebook page and reckons the fix can be done DIY, and is going to share how to do it. If he does post the fix, then depending on the difficulty I'll either have a go myself, or use a local guy I've used before who knows his stuff.....[/color]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1464098888' post='3056533'] Definitely have a go on a Ric before taking the plunge... they are VERY different in both tone and playability to pretty much everything else. [/quote] Can't argue with this - I'll just add that IMHO it's also worth trying it in a standing playing position as well as sitting down. That's where I went wrong.

These for me:- [attachment=219955:Capture.JPG] Still give a nice attack, but not as snappy as a thinner pick. They give a nice thick tone somewhat like using fingers, I find them a good compromise..

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1464091712' post='3056461'] ....I've compromised.... [/quote] Therein lies the solution! If everyone is willing to compromise somewhat, then everyone is generally as happy, or as unhappy as everyone else is. Sorted!

Saturday's gig was a blinder for us. Venue we've played twice (I think) before in the Newport Valleys. Shockingly bad load in/out (stairs to concert room and then carry through crowd), but we knew that anyway.. In the covers band, we have a primarily modern pop setlist, so we usually go down better where there's a youngish primarily female crowd, and try and keep most of our gigs to venues that are populated in just that way, for them as much as us... This particular venue we played on Saturday night has an older crowd, very much a workingmens club really. We've met with everything response-wise there, rapturous whoop-whooping, through to polite applause and even complete indifference. We've obviously noted that for the venue concerned and we made an effort to learn a few (and I mean a few, 3 actually) older songs. Don't know if that's what made the difference (we didn't play them until the 2nd set), but they went mad for us this time, my particular favourite moment being during 'Jealous' by Labyrinth. We play it with just the guitar player and a very subdued, thumb stroked bassline, and let the vocals shine through. During the course of the song, you could actually hear the conversations stopping and the attention turning fully to us (well, our singer anyway!), it was one of those moments a regular gigging working band gets every so often and it'll stay with me for a while I reckon. Even made the load out quite bearable!

I think it's a case of everyone being flexible when it comes to this. In our band, if we turn up at said gig and the space is smaller than expected, we all just work together to make it all fit, I've even seen our drummer just go down to Kick / snare / Hi-hat and 2 cymbals, to help make it fit, Cabs go 'on-end' etc...I've long since gone past having the patience to deal with egos in bands. I do realize I'm lucky to be in a band with other like-minded people though..

Met Dan yesterday having bought a stunning Yamaha Attitude 3 from him. Excellent dealing with Dan from start to finish, no problems at all, very responsive to all communication beforehand and very welcoming even though I turned up earlier than expected! Thanks again Dan, pleasure doing business with you!

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1463561436' post='3052255'] I think it's very easy and reversible to change wiring around / get some different pots. I'm going to change my jazz from VVT to Master Volume - Blend - Tone once I've worked out the easiest way of doing it [/quote] The '75RI I recently bought had the east j-retro fitted, but didn't have the original control plate with it unfortunately. I'm really considering changing it back to passive. If I do it, I'd like to go vol / blend / tone as well, can't be that difficult surely? EDIT: Or maybe even Vol / tone & a 3-way switch? Controversial?

Look at it this way - I had a Fender Steve Harris sig and a Geddy Lee recently, both of which had BAII's on them and both had the saddles filed coming out of the factory. That's good enough for me!

[quote name='AndyF' timestamp='1463412883' post='3051136'] It is indeed the same CRS - under new management since the Ezra days but I remember them well (before I became involved with the organisation I was a regular CRS punter and played for them several times). I have the first CD on the Cyclops label...my band at the time were signed to the same label! [/quote] Small world. I shall pass on to him that the CRS is alive and well and in good hands! What band were you in?