Beer of the Bass

I have more or less settled on D'Addario XL nickels on my guitar; they keep their brightness well and seem pretty consistent and dependable. So the bass version might well be worth a look.

I've used various flats for the last few years, but in the band I'm playing with at the moment I feel like rounds might be the thing. It's a kind of blues/rockish trio and I just want a bit more grunt and more upfront tone, though not all that "hi-fi" modern sounding. I'm about 80/20 fingerstyle/pick, no slap in our set. The last time I regularly used rounds must be a bit over ten years ago, when I used to just buy whatever stainless steel rounds were cheapest in a local music shop (sometimes Rotos, sometimes Elites or various other brands), so I haven't given a lot of thought to the differences between brands and types. I've got a set of .045" to .130" Warwick Red Label stainless steel on at the moment. They're not bad, I like the B, E and A but the G is maybe a bit thinner and zingier than I want and they're kind of abrasive feeling. I'm thinking perhaps nickel could be worth a look. Any particular recommendations? Premium brands like DR are a bit more expensive than I'm up for, especially since I'm looking at 5-string sets...

I like it. There's a slightly wider palette of sounds going on compared to "One Did", but still very recognisably yourselves.

A lot of the weight of those old cabs is in the wood (I think at least some of them were MDF), so it may be only a little lighter with neodymium drivers.

It's got the same Radiospares knobs as were used on a lot of 60s-early 70s British amps. They could have been changed at any time, or it might point towards it being cobbled together in the UK around that time.

I think it's Michael Henderson - sounds like him anyway. I love the moment just before the trumpet comes in where McLaughlin changes chord, Henderson doesn't follow him, then instead of fumbling it they hold what they're doing and let the tension build for a few bars before they hit it together. It must take some confidence to keep pedalling away in E under a B flat chord! The nasty distorted organ that comes in later is great too. Can you tell I'm a fan?

I can't figure out, under what set of circumstances would someone end up with three identical basses of a model that's not all that common, with the headstock broken in the same way on all three? There are some strange people out there...

That's fair enough, and as I'd posted in the other thread, a lot of small luthiery businesses will contract out their nitro spraying as doing it safely is no trivial matter. The liability issue of build diary threads is an interesting one, and something I've wondered about myself as I sometimes post about building and modifying valve amps. I take a lot of care to do things safely, but I would not like to be somebody's source on how to do this stuff.

The Ampeg website lists all the current PF cabs as 8 ohms, hence the assumption.

For the cheap string aficionados, how do the Legacy cheapies from Strings Direct compare to the Red Labels? I've been using Fender flats, but as what was a bluesy sounding trio steadily drifts towards rock I'm thinking I could maybe dabble with some nickel rounds.

Part of the usual reason for not using a 4x10 and 1x15 together is that the 4x10 typically handles more power and is more sensitive (louder for a given amount of power). So with a high-powered head you can be feeding too much power to the 15" and not even hear it distort because the 4x10 is louder, and the 15" often ends up blown. With the PF50 this will be a non issue. If you've already got the two cabs and they sound good together there is a case to be made for not overthinking things!

Be warned if you're considering ordering from Banzai, their order handling and communications are awful. I tried to order from them a while back, never got an order confirmation, they ignored multiple emails and I only managed to get a refund after both opening a paypal dispute and commenting publicly on their facebook page. I'm not sure that I was just unlucky either, as their facebook page shows a number of similar posts from customers. Personally, I would buy from elsewhere if at all possible, even if the price is higher.

I've tried them; they're bright, clanky, slightly rough feeling, which is more or less what I expected from Stainless Steel rounds. They did remind me a lot of Rotosounds, but I've not had a set of those in years.

Phil's suggestions seem spot-on regarding which speakers would work in that cab volume. You would want to double check the port tuning if you did change speakers - anywhere from 40-50Hz is viable for the Beta 12 or the SM212. Another possibility; I've noticed that Full Compass in the US carry some GK spares. Is your speaker there? www.fullcompass.com/brand/GKR_Gallien-Krueger/Replacement-Service-Parts.html Shipping from the US might be costly, but you would only have to replace one speaker and the cab would retain its value better if you ever sell it.

If you can measure the internal dimensions of the cabinet and the diameter and length of any ports, people might feel better equipped to make recommendations.

In order; 1 - No, it's a classic sound that's on many great records 2 - Yes, see 1. 3 - Again, yes 4 - Sort of. You can get a tight, punchy, middy tone that's very recognisably a jazz bridge pickup, though it stops slightly short of the full Jaco "parp". I prefer the flats version, personally.

I've just ended up agreeing to play in a band which has not rehearsed yet but has a gig booked already. I thought that was an entertaining way to go about things. It's the side-project of a friend I've played with on and off for years and various others from semi-overlapping projects. The first rehearsal is arranged for a date one week before the gig, so she must have some confidence in us!

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1489767127' post='3259689'] From memory, Nexus were either Valve or class A/B. Of course they could have added Class D later [/quote] I was thinking about the Nexus SL models on their website, which have a blurb about "cutting edge class-d technology". I noticed that the R500H doesn't use that phrase, though the review above suggests class-d. Not that it matters especially (IMO), but I know there are some on here who look for class ab amps.

The feature set looks like a lot of '90s amps, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Since their Nexus amps mention being Class-D in the specs and this one doesn't say anything about it, I wonder what sort of power amp they're using? It looks like it's less than £300 too.

[quote name='Bassman Rich' timestamp='1489140625' post='3254639'] Great looking amp, you have those skills down to a T. I tried an ampmaker se5, and it worked great first time, so I didn't learn too much, just how to follow instructions to the letter!!! [/quote] [quote name='stevie' timestamp='1489521349' post='3257666'] I doff my hat to you. Really nice work! [/quote] Cheers! This one is off with the guitarist I'm playing bass with, and I've just got around to making some progress on its little brother for myself. Mine is going to be a little more compact and I have some different ideas I want to try with the reverb circuit. I'm also determined that it will be red, just because I fancy a red amp.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1489586383' post='3258170'] I can see the sense in discouraging other manufacturers from making designs where the headstock snaps if you sneeze, yes. [/quote] The silly thing is, they went a long way towards sorting that issue in the 70s with 3-piece maple necks with a volute at the headstock, and nobody liked them because they weren't exactly like the old ones. Musicians can be a fickle bunch...

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1489522370' post='3257676'] Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I think Vintage are owned by JHS, who the lawsuit was filed against. [/quote] I'm not up on legalese and haven't spent a long time reading about it, but it doesn't look like Gibson actually won against JHS initially, but that was still enough to prompt them to change their designs. [url="http://www.musicincmag.com/News/2016/111416/111416_Gibson.html"]http://www.musicincm...416_Gibson.html[/url] It looks like it doesn't really matter if Gibson are able to win any threatened legal actions, merely showing willingness to go to court is probably enough to deter many smaller companies from selling instruments that closely resemble their designs.

The Weltron bit isn't entirely made up; there are some pictures online of the same model with Weltron on the headstock. I presume it was one brand name among many applied by the importer or dealers.

I'd noticed that in the last couple of years a lot of SG and Les Paul copies have adopted an asymmetrical shape, and similarly some 335 copies are now going for a thinner horned variant. It does mean that anyone on a budget who is particularly attached to the original shape is going to either seek out an Epiphone or an older copy.

Are you sure you've worked out that 15kg weight saving correctly? Light weight neo 12" drivers might be around 5kg for a pair, so that would mean that the current drivers are 20kg total or 10kg each. Very few drivers used for bass guitar weigh that much.