Beer of the Bass

I don't mind it at the light, subtle end of things, like the Gibson VOS models, but if the more extreme examples are falling out of favour I'm OK with this trend!

It's something I'd love to try sometime, but the extra setup time, transport hassle and soundguy acceptance factor (when it's already a 6 piece band with brass) put me off. The gear I already have around would probably make for a fun setup though, maybe using my Schalltechnik HPF to roll the lows off the guitar combo rather than doing the octave thing.

Could it be down to the cabs rather than the amps? I'm not sure of the model numbers and age of the various ones I've encountered, but quite a few 8x10s have been way darker sounding than I like, or in the case of some of the 4x10s, had an annoying gap in the upper mids between the 10s and tweeter.

Emmett Otter only needed one string!

I've noticed that a couple of places have these very cheaply, but reviews are mixed, to say the least. In Ashdown's own demo it sounds good in the intro, but terrible during the actual demo part of the video. https://youtu.be/mm9kXJ3RYxo So, what's going on with that? If anyone here has used one, can you get anything worth having out of it?

If the PF-20 is anything like the Pf-50t and other Ampegs, it shouldn't be mid-scooped with all the EQ knobs at noon, and should be capable of boosting the mids. From what I've seen of the Ashdown LB30/CTM30 schematics, I'd expect the Ampeg to have more mids on tap than the Ashdown. So it might not be a change in the direction that you're looking for.

I guess the change must be driven by the new CITES regulations on rosewood.

Same here, but to my mind doing it right involves only pulling it out in the moments where it really adds something, which for most bands is a very small proportion of their set!

Cheers, I've gone ahead and ordered one of those.

I don't have a steady pedalboard at the moment, and since I use no more than two pedals in any current project, I don't feel I want to go that route. A simple wall wart type power supply with a small daisy chain would be more convenient, but I keep running into noise issues with the ones I've had. For double bass gigs, I'm running a Schalltechnik Vong HPF/LPF and a Harley Benton tuner that's pretty much a TU-2 copy. For electric bass gigs, it's a fuzz (either a Superfuzz or Big Muff clone, I haven't settled on which yet) and the HPF/LPF. Both a Dunlop/MXR 9v and a generic 9v plug top supply from eBay have high frequency noise in various situations, and it doesn't appear to be a daisy chaining issue since it still happens with only one pedal powered. Both are SMPS types. I have a Harley Benton Powerplant Junior (linear supply with isolated outputs) which is quiet in all situations, but the form factor is less handy for my purposes. Everything is quiet running from batteries too. As far as plug-top supplies go, is something like a 1-spot going to be more reliably quiet than the other ones I've had? And are there other specific ones known to be decent?

Which venue was that, out of curiosity? It's always handy to keep track of which ones have useable backline!

The Ampeg PF-50T is 8.8kg, and might be a better comparison as it's also a 50 watt amp. It saves quite a bit of weight by just having a cage on top of the chassis rather than a full wooden cabinet. Mesa had a couple of surprisingly light valve bass heads too.

I did once email them and ask, trying to determine if it would make a good piezo preamp. At the time, they didn't have that information available.

If you do stick with the double bass, don't be afraid to drop your bridge adjusters right down, go for some low-tension strings and use lots of amp. Also I feel like much of the physical challenge is in carting the instrument and gear around, so some help with that might go a long way.

Yes, that bit puzzles me. I can understand getting heated over the political stuff that can make a big difference to people's lives and wellbeing, and I've definitely done it myself. But to do so over the minutiae of bass amplification, flats vs. rounds, whether 4 strings are enough (etc etc) seems plain daft!

I don't know if it's a recent phenomenon - I have a relatively light presence here these days, but I can recall things getting just as heated 4-5 years back.

It may be a little harder on the valves, depending on the amp and how hard you run it, but it's unlikely to be very severe with a smaller mismatch like that.

I'm at the worrying point of being happy enough with what I'm getting from my bass and other gear that I can rarely be bothered plugging pedals in, let alone looking around for anything else! I wonder if it'll last?

I've been thinking the same - with the right strings and amp, and favouring the neck pickup, my 5-string with J pickups gets pretty close to what I'd want from a P bass.

I'm kind of fond of that; I started on an Ibanez ric copy, then an Aria TSB, then a homebuilt 4-string with the bridge off the ric copy (later a Hipshot), then my 5-string with the same spacing as the MM fivers, with only a couple of briefer spells with Jazz basses. So I've spent most of my playing time since my teens on string spacing that's narrower than Fender.

I wouldn't mind a Rick, if it was one of the newer five strings without the daft bridge and pickup cover!

I don't have a P or a Rick, or an iPhone. Lucky me...

I'm confused now - do we ask you, or not?

Does their dad Sydney have a video where he explains about the tiny bubbles in his wine?

Aspiring session players care, so it's probably sound advice for people looking to work in that specific environment. As a window on working practices in one part of the music scene what they're saying makes perfect sense, but it shouldn't be taken as a commandment for all bassists.