mark76

I had no idea there was already a thread for this

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_guitarbass_vs_vintage_series.htm?o=1&search=1486077036

£178 plus some small change with shipping.

Body shape is pretty much the same as the Squier model. Headstock isn't awful. Scale length is actually just under half an inch longer than the Squier. Instead of three individual pick up switches and a bass strangle/cut off switch you get a single Strat style five position blade switch and no bass cut off (unless it's hidden in the tone knob). Like it's inspiration it has a single master volume and master tone knob for all three pick ups. Unlike it (and any other Fender/Squier guitar or bass that comes to mind) it's gor a Gibson style hard tail/Tuneamatic bridge. Hard to tell, but looks like Jaguar style pick ups. No separate control plate.

Fretboard is actually maple (thermally treated, apparently). Not rosewood.

Am I searching under the wrong terms then? Because all I can find is that Zoom thing.

Are they not called amp simulators when bass is involved?

A friend suggests it's because all bass amps are bland characterless rubbish. Is that the reason or is it (a) lack of demand or ( technical challenges.

I'm seriously thinking of getting the RedSub BEQ-2 7 band graphic bass equaliser.

http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/RedSub-BEQ-2-7-Band-Bass-Equalizer-Pedal/H4W

Well, there you go. Three perfectly valid reasons why I should get a GEB-7

A fourth might be to tame particularly loud notes in conjunction with a compressor (though I suspect I'd need a sidechain for that).

Any opinions on this? http://www.artecsound.com/effect/se-peq.htm

So... Having bought a compressor I figured an equaliser would be the obvious follow up.

With that in mind, I have some questions[list=1]
[*]Does it have to be specifically made for bass, or can I get away with using a gutar pedal?
[*]I'd prefer to spend <£50. What can be had in that range (a) new or ( used, with a fairly high degree of certainty that any auction won't go above £50.
[*]Graphic or parametric? Which is better for (a) general tone shaping and ( feeding problematic frequencies into a compressor.
[/list]
Thanks.

Where does the idea that bass amplification has to be 4x more powerful than the sum total of the rest of the backline come from then?

I'd always heard the complete opposite about bass frequencies. That they didn't tend to travel very far unless you put a lot of watts into them. Say, 500 or so.

So I kind of assumed a sub 50 watt bass amp would be nigh on silent beyond, say, 20 feet.

Recommendations in the sub £200 range preferred.

Must be able to reproduce the low notes faithfully without being tenancy agreement invalidatingly loud.

I looked up the Ovni Labs review of the BBE unit.

Apparently the new version (with moustache) is one to avoid.

Cheers

The Ovni Labs guy likes the Buddha Chakra and it's only £65 from Amazon

http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/chakra.shtml

That can be bought new in a shop? Only I've noticed the two offerings from Ashdown and the Digitech Bass Squeeze get no love from here.

I've got my eye on the J bass equivalent now. The black with white pickguard they sell for £79.

I think I have GAS

Talking of which... Does anyone make a P bass with a maple fretboard south of £200?

Anyone [b][i]other[/i][/b] than SX, I mean (God, those headstocks are fugly)

Ever since the band I was in broke up I've been thinking about buying myself a bass; primarily for the purpose of recording, although I wouldn't be averse to jamming with some other musicians once I can actually play the thing properly

My initial instinct was to get a Squier, but then I came across the J & D's on the DV247 website. At less than half the price of even the cheapest Squier bass available locally (Affinity PJ at £206/210) I was sceptical that they'd be any good, but some write ups I read here and elsewhere convinced me to pull the trigger. So I ordered the white with black pickguard p-bass (£92 with delivery) because... Ramones f*** yeah, and it arrived early this afternoon.

First impressions. My! That's a lot of packaging. Two whole boxes in fact. Once I'd gotten over just how big the outer box was I got to work and soon freed my new wooden chum from his cardboard tomb.

Second impressions. This... This is actually rather well made. Neck sits nicely in the pocket; hardware seems decent; knobs and tuners operate smoothly and without any noise, and, after running finger and thumb down the sides of the fretboard I can tell you that I found no evidence of any lack of attention to detail in that department. All the frets look well finished, with not a sharp edge to be found. Also, the saddles on the bridge have grooves. Which is nice.

Third impressions. Plugged it into my Pathfinder 15 (because I don't have a bass amp), tuned up and... Oh no, it sounds crap. But enough about my playing (got you there ), it sounds bloody good considering what I paid for it. I'm in no great hurry to change the strings or the pickups. Though I am wondering about swapping the chrome saddles for brass. Just to see what it would do to the tone.

Anyhao, photos

[attachment=208849:IMGP2008.JPG]

[attachment=208851:IMGP2010.JPG]

[attachment=208853:IMGP2012.JPG]

[attachment=208854:IMGP2013.JPG]

[attachment=208855:IMGP2014.JPG]

Please ignore the date stamp