jensenmann

A lot of transistorized instrumental amplifiers suffered from poor electronic parts or poor electromic design. But this gave them a distinct sound. So if you want to sound like 70s get some of this equipment. Acoustic or Kustom comes to my mind.

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If I transfer this expierience to 2000 gear I´m asking me what will people in 2020 think about nowadays??? ("I need to get the bass-pod MKI first series with# below 666 for the sickest XXX-sound. That´s real vintage, hehehe!"). Maybe, who knows what time will bring.

nice shoes, I got the same

Well, Alex, my facts were correct, at least until times when I stopped caring for the latest speakers in the nineties. The scene of instrumental speakers that times was getting empty compared to PA speakers which simply didn´t do their job for instruments well. So probably you´re right when it comes down to ultra modern speakers - I stand corrected.
Anyway, I still have to hear the modern 15" cab which does the same that these old JBL speakers do to me.

You should try a 2x15" with JBL D140 or K140 speakers as used in the ole Fender cabs. Forget about all new 15" speakers in conjunction with tubeamps. Old speakers were made to have high efficiency which was paid by lack of lowend. Todays 15" speakers are tailored to more lowend which give them less efficiency. Old speakers had worse material for the cones so they generated a lot of presence because paper at these times could not damp membrane resonance very well.. Modern speakers have highly damping cone material which doesn´t generate that much presence and hence sounds boring or indirect.
hope my humble english is understandable

Ampeg B15 or Echolette BN40 tubeamps with 30-40W were the smallest thing I giged with. Usually I prefer 10x the power of these old suckers. But for small pubs I still love my B15

For sale is an Acoustic 470 bassamp. If you´re looking for the ultimate 70s sound: here it is.
Don´t ask me how much I want, I have no clue what it´s worth. Just make an offer. But remember that I´m located in Germany. Shipping costs ( between 32€ and 42€) will be added on top.
cheers
Jens

[quote name='Alun' post='292141' date='Sep 25 2008, 08:01 PM']I've just posted a clip on YouTube from last Sunday's [url="http://www.panicroom.org.uk"]Panic Room[/url] gig at the Point in Cardiff.

Our guitarist strained a muscle in his fretting hand mid-gig so this was my attempt at covering the guitar solo sized gap in one of the songs

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDigx5J_e0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDigx5J_e0[/url]

Cheers
Alun[/quote]
very tasty solo, mate. You found all the goodsounding notes.

Is your ESP from end 80s or beginning 90s? 400 Series?
I once played one from that (cheapo) series and holy Moly was totally blown away. Very nice tone. Unfortunately I was broke that time and had to let it pass by

sh*t, don´t remember me. I owned one longtime ago. It was metallic green - factory custom colour. Then there was my bank and a bunch of gigs that were canceld....something had to go. I was so sad. Never have I seen something like this again. It gives me heartache upto now.

Forget about transistor amps with the SVT8x10". The only transistor amps which I found to work with my 8x10 cab were SWR Baby Blue (yes) or SWR SM400s. Everything else I tried sounded just plain wrong. Tubes are the deal. Check if you find an old SVT or get the SVT classic. Boogie 400 sounds nice, too, a little cleaner as the tube ampegs. If you want it to sound harder and more agressive than the usual creamy-mid Ampegsound then go for an old Hiwatt Custom 100. Then there was a 150W tube Marshall basshead a long time ago which sounded not bad, but it´s supposed to be an maintenance nightmare. That´s why I never bought one though it sounded cool. A comination a friend swears on is the Fender Bassman 135 + SVT8x10.

I just got a reply from Paul. Spareparts are available.
THIS MADE MY DAY

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='278641' date='Sep 6 2008, 02:19 PM']Those venues will have a full complement of monitors, both wedges and sidefills, as well as in-ears in many cases, so Uber cabs aren't required. This side of the pond tens remain the #1 driver size seen on tour w/major acts. The problem venues are those large enough to require PA support but not sensible enough to provide it. But even then four tens vertically aligned are enough to do the job, which is providing adequate output for the stage and the first 50 feet or so of room. If there's no PA to cover beyond that it's the promotors problem, not yours.[/quote]

You´re right but what I like is to hear my rig, no matter how big the stage is. I don´t want to hear the DIed signal through monitors. I hate to hear my bass with a compressor inserted - but that´s what those PA guys are always doing (though it´s important for FoH sound). Anyway it´s a matter of taste.

At times when I used to gig much I was forced to carry my cabs without helping bandmates with me because I played in so many different bands. That was the reason why I used 2x 2x10" cabs. Everything bigger than that is a nightmare to transport.
On bigger stages where you´d expect that you need a 1x15" for extended lowend there are so many PA subs that you will have enough lowend on stage through the PA. Only exception from that are very modern line array PAs with cardioid subs. They will throw the bass only into the crowd, not on stage. Here you need something bigger than 10" speakers.

Don´t worry about the impedance. Piezo tweeters won´t do no harm impedancewise. But it might be too loud. Maybe you need a pot in front of the piezo to adjust it´s volume.

My 9098 is probably not exactly what the racked 9098 pres are because there were differences between the rackversions and the deskversions. My DIYpres are derived from the desk schematics.
They are great allrounders with a very rich tone. Not colourful, more on the neutral side but they deliver a very detailed sound. Everything is there, nothing missing, nothing favoured. These are my goto-in-a-hurry pres, I can´t go wrong with them in any application.
Never tried the Buzz audio stuff. I´m trying to stay away from the 500 series hype. I remember people throwing API desk away because they sounded too coloured - well, long time ago. Same with the old german broadcast stuff. Today the hype goes the other direction. Everybody´s crazy for analog nastyness :-)

The U47fet is what will be my next purchase. People always tell me how good they are for bass but I never had the chance to check it out. This has to change. If you know someone selling one let me know.

Oh, you asked for preamps. Did you mean basspreamps or microphone preamps?
As for the latter I´m DIYing a lot of studiogear. So did I with my mikepres.
A phantastic preamp is the Gyraf G9 with a stunning sounding DI. It´s fully tube and gives great control about input distortion. Not in the sense of cranked Marshall but more in the sense of harmonic enhancement. Very creamy sounding, esp. for fretless. Here´s a link to the DIY-project: [url="http://www.gyraf.dk/"]http://www.gyraf.dk/[/url]
Then there are some Neumann v476, Telefunken v676 , Siemens v72, Langevin AM16, RCA BA31 racked pres and my version of the Amek9098 pre. My next DIY preamps will be Hamptone Jfet preamps. They are famous for nicely coloured bass-sounds. I´m really looking forward to get them finished (after having completed the overhaul of my Amek desk - which will surely take another year and a half). Hamptones are available as kit if it´s from interest for somebody: [url="http://www.hamptone.com/HJFP2.htm"]http://www.hamptone.com/HJFP2.htm[/url]

[quote name='Mcdrewson' post='275764' date='Sep 2 2008, 08:42 PM']Jensenmann - what mics and pres do you normally record with out of interest?[/quote]

Fortunately I have around 60 mikes and access to boatloads more. So there´s pretty much choice.
The above mentioned mikes are no brainers, you can´t go wrong with either of them. I´ve recorded with each of them. They are kind of industry-standard for PA and recording, hence they are available in most studios and in most PA companies. I´ve been recording (bass) with beta52s, too. But they are not no-brainers. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don´t. Some Neumanns are pretty good for bass. The last recording I did was a bigband where the upright was picked up with two U89. I´ve been using SM57s for basscabs successfully when the lowend isn´t that important - means: recorded through DI+mike. Lowend came from the DI, life has been added with the SM57 sound.
Other mikes which I have been using: Beyer Opus99, M201, Sennheiser MD441, MD409

Do yourself a favour and get a real microphone and stay away from cheapo BS.
Sennheiser 421, EV RE20, Beyerdynamic M88 or Shure SM7B are the ones you want. Everybody and their grandma uses these mikes for basscabs since ages (besides AKG D12 which is no more made) and there is reason why. These mikes deliver everything you need but without too much coloration. This will keep your sound flexible.

Bassdrummikes often have a presence/treble boost which you don´t want for bassguitar so you have to be careful with some of these mikes (D112, Beta52, e602). They might work - or might not, depending on what you want.

I know, late reply but I thought it´s worth to mention

I saw this amp once. It had (IIRC) three power amps: 300W+300W+600W
The cab meant to use with it was 2x 2x10 + 1x15 (yes, in one enclusure)
The idea behind that was a stereo bassamp with biamping capability: Lowend mono and topend stereo

could you show us a picture to see how much it has been damaged?

Still no reply from Paul. Maybe my mail got spammed? Did someone over here actually have email contact with him?

[quote name='tayste_2000' post='270243' date='Aug 26 2008, 12:34 PM']Yeah I always try and take that approach, I think you are right in the whole feel thing especially with my music, I still want to improve my whole sound out front (FOH) though was thinking of getting an Avalon u5 but wasn't sure if I should put that through the amp as well?[/quote]
Ask your FoH engineer what he thinks would improve your FoH sound. I´m pretty sure there will come up very different opinions than you´d expect.

oh and btw if you buy an inear do yourself a favour and get a Sennheiser. They are the most reliable. Surely they cost more than others but they will give you less trouble. Once buying professional gear saves you from having to buy twice.

Inear monitoring is not made for me. I prefer to hear what´s going on on stage and in the crowd and I don´t want to be acoustically isolated. It never happened ever that I couldn´t find the sweetspot on stage where it sounded perfectly balanced for me.
Inear doesn´t rock. Too much control, no sensations.
Get yourself whatever bassrig really thrills you and be lucky with what you hear.