Beer of the Bass

For me the presence of a telecaster would push things in more of a Western Swing direction, which can also be fun.

I've depped on bluegrass gigs a couple of times. It seems to really vary as to how purist people are in the UK - some will be happy with electric bass, and some will scowl at you if your double bass doesn't have gut strings!

I've found it a little awkward where I have gear that's at all idiosyncratic. Particularly on guitar where I've used a couple of different valve combos that I built - I've had people get annoyed there's no dirt channel, that it's not some big clean pedal platform amp to run their looper into, and a lot of younger musicians have never encountered valve amps at all. I've had someone struggle through a half hour soundcheck not figuring out how to turn an amp on while I was next door eating and then be grumpy at me, and others frantically toggling the power switch because it didn't make sound instantly (which is terrible for valve rectifiers). But if I hang around and offer explanation on how to use it, some find that patronising...

That seems like a good, solid choice, I remember quite liking the Zeller basses I've seen.

His actual playing's great, but that's exactly the kind of perma-chorus sound I was thinking of as my least favourite! Tastes vary, I guess...

Glad it worked out! Harmonica is weird for volume - it's not crazy loud but sits in a frequency range that we pick up easily and where there's rarely much else going on. Especially the higher key diatonics!

I don't know if these things still happen or if it was an early days thing, but I get the impression Ashdown would sometimes stick whatever driver was in stock into a combo rather than necessarily the one they designed and spec'd it with. Certainly my old Mag 200 tilt back combo in about '99 came with an Eminence driver that wasn't very well suited to the small sealed cab, rather than the custom spec Celestion they advertised and listed in the spec sheet.

Looks lovely, it's a very nicely proportioned bass.

I think bass balalaika players use massive leather plectrums, but I have no idea where you'd find those.

Favourites; a lot of just slightly not-clean Fender kind of tones with that high end detail. I also really like the sound of octavey fuzz pedals on leads. Least favourite; anything with always-on subtle chorus. I feel like if you're going to use chorus, make it an actual effect and use it strategically.

Are they the wood peg variety? I'm afraid I don't have any obvious solutions, but I agree those are a bit of a bugger and I've had rattles from mine from time to time. I think as things wear, all the parts don't fit together as well as they would have done new.

I used to have this problem from time to time, and never did find a completely satisfactory solution. People always talk about surgical spirit or other alcohol, but that's more of a preventative for firming up the skin a little - if you're already blistering it'll just smart and not do anything useful. Carefully applied micropore tape (wrapped right around to avoid the edges peeling) can work in the very short term, but you'll need to reapply between sets and it changes the feel and sound a little. Almost any other tape produces sticky residue at the edges and makes things feel unpleasant very quickly. And be wary of the idea of pricking the blisters and playing on through the pain - I did this at a party years ago, aided by drink, and the next day my hands were so bad that I had to take two weeks off double bass and do the gigs I had booked with electric bass and a pick... The main thing for me is just to relax a little and not try and push too hard to project if your hands are already suffering. It's better to be a little low in the mix and playing with good feel than to be wincing and missing notes by the end of the set, IMO. Running the hand under cold water and drying thoroughly between sets always seemed to help too.

I did put a B15N derived 6SL7 preamp in a Dynacord head I had, though that was with a very clean running power amp with high plate voltage and a lot of negative feedback, so the feel of the amp was probably a little different. I get the impression the inductor midrange circuit on the PF-50T has a particular sound, especially when boosted, that may move it away from sounding like a B15N and more towards the V4 and other Ampegs. I haven't seen inside the PF-20T to see how they did the mid control, but maybe that's where some of the difference is.

The cost factor is what has discouraged me from doing something similar. I enjoy building amps, but the PF-50T basically ticks all the boxes for what I want from a valve amp for bass, and I would have struggled to build a well-presented amp with new parts and similar functionality for the price they were at on the Kenny's deal.

I replaced the Bulgin mains connector on my old Hohner Pianet with this style of IEC socket. I think it's not truly intended for a round hole, but covers it more effectively than the standard IEC sockets with the holes on either end would. https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/iec-connectors/2378894/

Sounds promising! Are those Hammond chassis made from steel? I very much recommend buying a chassis punch to make the holes for the valve bases, as that will be hard to do cleanly with a drill. Fortunately you only need one size when all the valves are octal bases.

Where I do see bass cabs being miked in larger venues, there's usually a DI running too. So I guess they probably are using the mic mostly for the midrange character and high end roll-off of the cab, and getting clean lows from the DI. But that means two channels for the bass, which won't always be considered worth doing.

The Scottish equivalent greeting wouldn't make it past Basschat's profanity filter, particularly if you're from Glasgow!

Even if you don't stick with a valve amp in the long term, the experience might inform your use of modelling in a useful way. And if you find a decent deal used, you shouldn't be out by much if you do later move it on.

I've played a couple of small club venues in the last several years that routinely mic bass amps, which surprised me as I never used to see it in those venues. I wonder if the change is because many bassists on that scene are using distorted or fuzzed up bass sounds these days, which often sound horrible without a speaker rolling off highs, so that's just the quickest way to make it work. For myself, using a valve amp and occasional fuzz, I'm reassured if the sound guy offers to take a mic and DI, but if they don't offer, then pushing for it has never been productive and in practice it's usually workable with just the DI.

The double bass side has it's moments and can be useful, but even there you encounter a couple of extremely opinionated folk who wish to be treated as authority figures and assert themselves in a slightly tiresome manner.

Nobody *needs* one these days, but it can be a fun and satisfying thing to spend some time with one and get some firsthand experience of what they do rather than just hearing others talk about it. The Helix is probably going to emulate it well enough to satisfy from a listeners point of view - there are just some subtle player experience aspects that are worth trying out for yourself. I'm using an Ampeg PF50T for pretty much everything I do with electric bass. It's loud enough for my band, not too bad to move around and while I could probably get a similar sound with a modelling setup, using the Ampeg is a fairly simple and direct way to get there. I think we've got to allow ourselves to view instrument and gear choice as a creative decision in an artistic field, rather than an entirely utilitarian choice of functional tools, so sometimes the less tangible properties do count for something.

A friend had an Encore that was a solid colour which someone had attempted a half-hearted stripping job on. It was solid hardwood of some kind, but not one I could easily recognise. It was light coloured and fairly soft.

The weight seems a fair bit friendlier than the Portaflex cabs. Depending on how they've achieved that, that could make them more attractive to a lot of bassists.

It looks like it might be the same width as one of the Trace Elliot 1x15 cabs of the same era (1153?), and I know those came with port plugs so that you could lower the tuning or use them sealed if desired.