Light Grenade

It sounds like just one of the perils of mixing, finessing the mids to make them cut-through without being overly honky, and making sure the lows are big without being loose. Good mixes sound good on everything, but obviously, that's easier said than done! I tend to make bass fuller in the 90-150hz section, and cut everything below that to leave space for the kick drum. It sounds counterproductive, but it makes the entire low-end sound bigger when the bass instruments aren't competing for space. You can also try cutting some low-mids from other instruments (300-500hz ish) to make space for the bass mids to push through. These numbers aren't absolutes but are good starting points. Multi-band compression is worth a mess with too, but you can easily destroy things if you're too heavy-handed.

Nice, I'll need to give them a try. I like the tone of Chromes. And yeah, you are right. Chromes are on the higher side for me, but definitely still okay. LaBella's were in a different ballpark when it came to tension, I really couldn't get on with them.

I made the switch to flats about 5 years ago and have never looked back. I play TI Jazz Flats. The midrange is full and punchy, I find them easier to play, and I find they just slot in a mix much easier than rounds. Especially when mixing, I can get flats to sit a lot easier than rounds. For a while, I really favored rounds, as I could really dial in the zing and hear myself clearly on stage, but when I listened back, the smooth punch from flats just sounded better with the band. I like the balance of flats with a pick. I've switched between Chromes, Dunlop Flats, LaBella's and finally landed on TI Jazz Flats which are definitely my favourite, although it took me awhile to bond with them. I was really skeptical, but It's true what people say about TI Jazz Flats, the older they get, the better they sound, it's pretty bizzare. Chrome's and LaBella's sound great in their own way, but the tension is insane. I've adapted my technique to suit the lower tension of TI Jazz Flats and it's made me a better player. When I played rounds, I was switching strings all the time. Not with flats.

Lakland basses have never let me down. My first was a Skyline 44-01. It was great, but I always fancied a Fender P-Bass, Took a trip around the cities, tried multiple Fenders and ended up coming home with another Lakland, a 44-64 PJ. It's perfect for me and I have zero desire to play, or buy anything else.

I had to do some jiggery pokery with this mini pedal board to get more tonal shaping options before my signal hits FOH. Swapped out the Fender Downtown Express for the Tech 21 Q-Strip (thanks @SumOne) and Maxon CP-9 Pro+ compressor. The Q-Strip is really excellent if you favour clean tones. The midrange beautiful and you can craft smooth sounds with ease. It's great for tailoring the honk you get from TI Jazz Flats. The Maxon compressor uses a DBX circuit and is very clear and smooth. I'm very impressed with the build and sound quality of these Maxon pedals in general, worth the higher price point. The chain runs into a Rupert Neve RNDI that goes to FOH.

I had a LiveTrak L-12. It's a very, very good piece of equipment that can do pretty much everything you will ever need. I had a really good experience with it. I only got rid of it due to needing more channels and upgrading to an Allen and Heath, with some external mic preamps. The sound quality is good and clear, and the simultaneous SD Card/DAW recording feature was really handy. It's a bit plastic fantastic, but it feels okay and this keeps the weight down significantly, they are as light as a feather. I loved how lightweight the L-12 was, even with the protective case. I'm already starting to hate lugging this Allen and Heath around. The headphone amps are also great. When you use the desk, it's obvious they have opted for feature set over build quality. I'd have no issues tracking through the LiveTrak. The only cons I can see with the L-20 is the width of the channels, this might make things awkward for labelling.

Just picked up a Denon DHT-S416 for the telly, but I've been using it for checking mixes and listening to music too. It's really good and mighty powerful. Decent, preset based tone controls available via the remote. Very good bass response, treble is a hair sharp if I'm being pedantic, but nothing ridiculous. Easy to set up, no faff. Bit of space required for the bar and accompanying subwoofer, but it was well worth the £279 from Richer Sounds. https://www.denon.com/en-gb/product/sound-bars/dht-s416

This was the video that changed everything for me tone wise. I've always played rock styles, but never gelled with the standard modern rock bass tone, especially overdriven sounds. I then came across this video and was blown away. His tone actually thunders yet it's clear as a bell. TI Jazz Flats & Lakland basses I'm sure.

Cheers!

Can anyone point me to any custom cable builders who can create some dual instrument/IEM cables? We use a wired system with UE Soundtap boxes and used to get these cables created by Rock-Wire but unfortunately they have ceased trading. The spec is essentially the same as this TC Helicon cable. https://www.tc-helicon.com/product.html?modelCode=P0CM2 3 of us are still going strong with rock wire cables, but a new member is looking for something a little more sophisticated that two cables taped together. Cheers

I've been on an equipment purge over lockdown. After some trial and error, I am finally content with this board along with my Lakland 44-64 and TI Jazz Flats. I'm using the Fender Downtown Express for some parallel compression and EQ before the bass hits FOH. The EQ is really nice and the unit in general is a steal at full price, so I'm especially happy at getting it for £90 on eBay. The drive is cool, I don't have a lot of use for it but it sounds good and certainly serves the purpose. Mute switch is useful as I use the tuner out to the pitchblack mini which saves some cable space. I don't use the DI out, I reserve that for a Rupert Neve RNDI that sits on top of my amp. Ibanez Bass Tubescreamers seem generally disliked and I totally get why, they are a bit farty when used at higher settings and are generally a million miles away from that modern Darkglass thing. I use it at very moderate settings for simply colouring my tone and adding some mid-thump and I like it for this. I use it as an always on pedal. It also makes the Fender drive sound much better. Maxon CS-9 Pro is just a dream chorus. There's not much about it online but I'm happy I took a punt on it. Expensive, but I'll never need another chorus pedal, it's very rich and deep, and it also has a blend knob. Not much of that hissing thing some other chorus pedals are prone too, it sounds nice and juicy. Mooer shimverb is cool, I use it sparingly in some sparse sections and it does the job just fine, and for £40 I can't complain. I'm only using the room setting so this piece might be changed for something different. I now have zero option paralysis and it feels good.

Bought these for the first time (45-105) last month and been playing them all week. I think I've found my favourite flats! Perfect string tension, plenty of thump and the perfect amount of zing when you push the tone or play with a pick. Mega smooth and easy to play I predominantly played Chromes before this, for around three years, and although they sound great for rock (especially with a pick), I got tired of the high tension when I played fingerstyle, they became too much of a workout, and were grabby until broken in. TI Jazz flats I loved in terms of tone, but they were just too loose, LaBella DTB didn't have enough sustain and Cobalt's felt a bit too close to rounds. Happy to have found these Dunlops. Chromes now feel incredibly sluggish in comparison.

Thanks for the help so far folks. At the very least, I've talked myself out of getting another Mark Bass. I have a Trace Elliot Transit B, so I'm even toying with the idea of running this into a Baby Sumo Power amp. Thought about the ELF amp, but the portability of it sort of defeats the purpose if need to take my two cabs to get the full 200W I'm going to have a look at the Peavey's, a brand constantly overlook but when I think about it, every Peavey amp I've played has been great.

I didn't know about this TC product. A lot of power for not a lot of money. I guess I could run my board into the aux input to go direct to the power amp. That also leaves me with a backup pre-amp should I need it. Interested!

How are you finding this? I'm currently evaluating my bass amplification/monitoring options and have similar requirements to you (always have PA / on IEMs). I'm thinking I could run a Trace Elliot Transit B Preamp straight into the Baby Sumo. I'm also on a minimalism kick/equipment purge so this could be a satisfying solution.

How are the compressor and drive circuits on the rootmaster?

Yep, that's it. The same thing happened to my friend and he was quoted £250 repair not including postage. I sold my Big Bang as parts/not working and made a decent wedge. The amp was generally long in the tooth, and with Ashdown and other companies offering 5 year warranties this seemed like a sensible shout considering the price of repair. Very much interested in the Ashdown OriginAL, but would like to stick with a small head. Sometimes I share cabs at gigs so I'd rather not cart around a combo when I don't need to. Thanks for the heads up though. I know you can't tell much from YT demos but what I've heard sounds great. This Laney RH500 at £200 for 500W is really intriguing me, five year warranty too.

Hi folks, looking for some advice for picking up a new amp. My Mark Bass Big Bang died right before COVID-19. I loved the tone so I was going to buy a straight replacement, but I thought it might be overkill for my current situation. The band I play in always has PA support, and I'm DI'ing to FOH with a Rupert Neve RNDI before my bass hits the amp. Additionally we've been on IEMs for a few years and won't be moving back anytime soon. So I came to the conclusion that I was only using the Big Bang for stage rumble and the occasional non-IEM rehearsal. I've been eyeing up some cheaper models with the thoughts of saving myself some coin. Potentially moving down wattage to something like a 300W, which I think would still be plenty loud? However, I'd still like to have a solid amp, and something that could fill a small room if I need it. Options Laney Richter RH500 - Anything Laney I've played before has been no frills solid, but the low price of this is making me think twice. Hartke TX300 - Zero experience with Hartke amps, or wattage this low Ampeg PF-350 - Not sure if this is based on the classic Ampeg SVT tone or not, every write up has contrasting opinions. Markbass Little Mark 250W - I'm assuming this would have a similar tone to the Big Bang, but perhaps under powered in the wrong situation Ashdown OriginAL 300W - The last Ashdown I played was an EVO head about 10 years ago, can't remember loving it but my memory is cloudy. Any advice would be great. I'm looking for something small, portable, sub £300 if possible. For context, I'm playing a Lakland PJ 44-64 with D'Addario chromes in a instrumental rock band, cabs are two Eden EX112's. I normally warm towards smooth, rounded tones with wide lows (like the Big Bang). I can get any tightness and grind from my pedal board when I need it. I felt like I had miles of headroom on the Big Bang so I'm generally unsure how low, is too low. Thanks