DirkThrust

Interesting that the winning bidder's user name is a similar form to the the seller's and also has zero feedback. Could be that they are the same person. Either that or some mug has just blown £900 on a scam.

[quote name='largo' post='16305' date='Jun 12 2007, 03:31 PM']Always wondered why being made in China is such a bad thing ?[/quote] It's not necesarily a bad thing for the consumer if the quality doesn't fall and the price reflects the labour costs of the country of manufacture. The musical equipment market is so competitive that if one manufacturer does it then the rest have to follow to remain in business. I expect that Chinese manufacturing will follow the same model as Japanese manufacturing. The Japanese started out making cheap crap and through a process of continuous development Made in Japan has become a byword for high quality goods. The downside is that manufacturing is the lifeblood of a country's economy and our trade deficit, which is currently running at something like £5 billion a month will only get worse as more manufacturing jobs are exported

[quote name='hookys6stringbass' post='15365' date='Jun 10 2007, 11:59 PM']I've found you again, took me a while.... Anyway has anyone used the Ashdown ABM 115 cab??? What did you think? Ive heard so many different things good and bad about Ashdown that I'm a bit confused. If i do get this cab I'll be running it with my trusty Peavey Pro Bass 500 and ideally I'd like to run 2 1x15 cabs...[/quote] Which particular ABM115? There is the Mini 15, the compact 15 which is the middle sized cab, and the ABM115-500, which is Ashdowns biggest 15 and is about tyhe size and wieght of a washing machine. I've owned all three. They are solidly built, good sounding and good value for their price but none have a tweeter which can make them sound a bit dull to some ears. It depends what sort of sound you're after.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='14845' date='Jun 9 2007, 11:24 PM']Little Mark 250 with EQ set flat: The preamp's inbuilt roll-off on the lows reduces both the demand on the power amp and on the speakers - which is a good idea as most cabs are hopeless in the true lows below 80Hz. On the other hand it may not be what you want when recording or feeding a PA system. Or if you use cabs that do go low. Alex[/quote] Very interesting. So that's why they sound louder than other amps?

[quote name='Soulfinger' post='14223' date='Jun 8 2007, 03:00 PM']Ok, so Markbass manages to fit a pre and power amp into a tiny little 500W bass head weighing less than three kilograms. Surely someone must be manufacturing similarly small, lightweight and powerful power amps? I seem to recall that Dood had one, but that was a couple of websites ago...[/quote] I've been wondering the same thing myself. I'd like to see Markbass stick a couple of their power amps in a chassis for a twin channel 1000w power amp that only weighs 5kg

I've got a 1210L and a 410L. The 1210 is very small and lightweight. Probably the loudest and punchiest cab for it's size on the market and has a very cut-through sound. The only downside is that it is quite mid prominent, which is not a sound that is to everyone's taste. You really need to listen and try it out before you buy. The large cabs like the 21012 and 410 have a much more neutral sound. Again they are very loud and punchy. They were designed to be a one cab solution and you really don't need more than one. I run my 410L with either an ABM500 or a Markbass LMII and I can't imagine a situation where I would need more volume or punch.

I found the same thing. I was expecting the Stingray to have a higher output than my Precision. I thought it was faulty so I took it back to the dealer who compared it to several other Stingrays in the shop to demonstrate that it was ok. Apparently it's normal.

[quote name='stewblack' post='7728' date='May 27 2007, 06:10 PM']Speaking as a publican it's simply because I would have to alienate an enormous - and I mean overwhelming - percentage of my customers, for the comfort of a tiny minority. The non smokers drink less too. Don't ask me why. Just to avoid any confusion I reiterate I do support the ban (turkeys voting for christmas I know) but am simply pointing out the facts from a business point of view. There simply isn't a huge mass of people waiting to flood the pubs, who currently stay away because of the smoke.[/quote] I see

I never understood why more pubs didn't become non smoking voluntarily. We used to play at a non smoking pub down in Gosport and it had a really great family atmosphere. They served food anywhere in the pub and it always packed with all age groups up to real oldies (and they were the first ones to get up and boogie), no yobbery or binge drinking, and there was a proper smoking area outside so no-one minded going outside for a fag. Maybe it's wishful thinking but hopefully the smoking ban will change the ambience of pubs for the better, and I speak as a smoker.

[quote name='BOD2' post='7675' date='May 27 2007, 03:44 PM']Slightly off-topic but that's something that has always puzzled me. Where are all the basses and guitars that were manufcatured over that last 5 decades or more. There must have been millions of them made. And when you add in all tjhe copies etc. etc. Where have they all gone ?[/quote] I saw a Fender feature in a guitar mag a few years ago and they interviewed a bigwig at Fender and he said much the same thing. Bearing in mind that they were making 500,000+ guitars and basses at the time, they had no idea where they were all going. There is an insatiable market for the relics in Japan though. When I started playing in the 1970s I could only afford one bass and everyone I knew was in much the same position. If you look at the price of instruments then relative to the average wage, even a bog standard Fender was a major investment. I started on a no name Ric copy then upgraded to an Aria, then a Gibson. It wasn't till the late 80s that I could afford a genuine Fender.The norm was to have only one guitar. These days they are so much more affordable in real terms that people think nothing of having two or three or more high end basses or guitars.

Some people believe that the crystalline structure of the material that the magnetic pickup pole pieces are made of alters over time, and this produces a subtle change in the sound which is impossible to replicate in any other way. Whether the sound it produces is better or just different is down to personal taste I suppose. As for being played in, this may be true up to a point. All the rough edges caused by the manufacturing process will smooth out after a certain amount of playing, but Eric Clapton put his beloved Blackie up for auction only after it became so "played in" that it was virtually unplayable. I would love an old Fender. Not because I think it will do anything better than my new one, but they just have the character that only age can reproduce. As someone else stated, pick virtually any great recording from the past and the chances are it'll have a Fender on it. That link back to the roots of Rock n Roll keeps Fenders in particular in demand, and demand is always gonna outstrip supply.

A good old Fender P. The GAS started the day I sold my last one.

Very nice. I was looking for a 62 Reissue Jazz and played a Mexican one in the shop. Fantastic bass. Almost as good as the USA made version and close to half the price. Sorry. This isn't helping your GAS pains.

I used to have a Stingray and a MAG 250-15 combo and they sounded great together. In fact I've always found the warm, fat Ashdown sound to be a perfect compliment to the sometimes too toppy Musicman sound. Maybe the Ashdown was faulty in some way.