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Am I sure the Ampeg will be an upgrade? Time will tell . The Fender cab I have is a big old thing from (I suspect) the 90s. It was probably designed for guitar rather than bass, weighs a ton and takes up half my small office/practice room. It's complete overkill for what I need, which is just home playing at the moment whilst I relearn bass (had a 30 year break). I would much rather a modern, light, compact 2x10 or 1x12 cab but who knows, perhaps the Fender cab will sound fantastic and I'll learn to live with its size.

thanks for all the comments guys. And particularly for recommending OBBM. It's so weird, he must have been making cables for a few years because I've just checked my old 1/4 cable that was hooking the Fender cab up to a HH head and it's one of his -well it has a bassicbits.co.uk sticker on it anyway. I think I will get a speakon to 1/4 from him. The advice to change the 1/4 input to a speakon on the cab is a good shout but I only intend to use it for a short while until I upgrade to an ampeg or barefaced cab

panic over. just discovered the head has a speaker AND a quarter inch input so I presume I can use either/or?

Sorry if this is a daft question but I am returning to bass after many years and equipment has changed for me out of all recognition. I am about to buy an Ampeg head which I want to mate in the short term to an old Fender 4x10 cab that I already possess. What concerns me is that the ampeg head has a speakon connector, which is something I've never even seen or heard of before, but the input on the old Fender cab is just for the normal 1/4 jack that all cabs and amps used to connect with. Does this mean I cannot hook the two up together or is there such a thing as a cable with a speakon plug on one and a jack on the other (or indeed some sort of adapter)?

Lol. No, quite!! Think I will use it with caution until I can afford a bass cab

quite, and I'm almost certain that at low 'home practise' volumes the cab will easily be sufficient. I ask more out of curiosity than anything - i'm a very 'untechnical' person and didn't know if there was some way to test speakers or not, I suspected not to be truthful.

Sorry, should have also added, I only want this set-up for home practise, not for gigging.

Sitting in my spare room I have an (oldish) Fender 4x10 cab that I bought a few years ago to match to a HH 100w guitar head I was messing around with. It's a curious thing there is no rating plate on the back and no labels on the back of the speakers, there is just a tiny little plate by the rear speaker input that says Fender L082163. It's unported and completely sealed at the back - I imagine it was built as a guitar cab rather than a bass cab. It had no problem at all being matched to the 100 watt HH head but I'm wondering if there is any way to find out the maximum output of the speakers? The reason I ask is that I am about to get an Ampeg PF-500 and I'd like to hook itup it to in the short term until I can afford a proper bass cab. I know all I need to do really is plug the amp in and see what happens but it would be nice to know!!!

I've always thought Orange were just a bit too, well, orange really....

Btw, quick question (probably daft), can all D class amp heads with headphone sockets be run unloaded just through headphones?

Thanks for the responses guys. To answer a couple of questions. I would certainly consider buying second hand, particularly if it was through basschat rather than eBay, but being new to bass I'm a bit wary of not really knowing what I'm buying. If I buy new I know that even if I don't like it (within reason) I can return it. That Genz Benz shuttle btw looks tasty but maybe a bit powerful? Even running one cab at 8ohm I'd need a mighty powerful cab I think. What do I like about the Ampeg? Well in truth it was one of the first I came across with the spec I want and I've kind of stuck with it. I do like the design I have to say, which is not the most important thing but a consideration when it has to look good in the living room. The matching cabs also looks good and are a decent price. I know there is no reason you have to go with the matching cab but in my case there is no reason not to. I also like the simplicity of it. I'll be honest for a long while before I landed on the ampeg I'd made my mind up to get a TC BG250 but i know what i'm like and i'd get too distracted playing with all the tone print effects when I should be practising. I know all about the stories of the PF-500s shutting down but to be fair that was a few years ago when they first came out and speaking to current owners that problem seems to be resolved. I mean even though i've only really picked up the bass in the last couple of months i've always known the name Ampeg, they're pretty iconic right? I don't think i need to over think it. I'm sure it will do me fine and i can slways sell it down the line later for something better but I just though i'd throw it out to you guys in case, not really knowing the market, there was something else out there i was missing that blows the ampeg out of the water.

I'm looking to upgrade from my little Vox Pathfinder amp as I continue my bass learning journey and would like an amp head with headphone socket and aux in so it can be used without a cab through headphones for home practise (not flush with money at the moment so this way I can add a cab later). Not bothered about effects but onboard compression would be nice. Budget hopefully less than £400. So far the Ampeg PF-500 seems to fit the bill on all counts but just wondering if there are any other alternatives I should look at before making a purchase.

Could it be bouncing because there isn't enough break angle past the nut?

man, you haven't seen my attic - it could take a day to find it lol, but yeah I know what you mean.

Can anyone tell me how well the Carl Martin Red Repeat delay pedal works on Bass? I've got one that I bought for guitar a few years ago, up in one of many boxes somewhere in our attic! I don't want to spend hours turning the attic upside down to find it if it will be rubbish but will be quite happy to create mayhem up there if they work well!

Hi guys, just a quick update and apologies for not posting sooner but I've been working away in Sheffield for the last few days. Anyway, picked up the bass on Thursday and it's like a totally different guitar. Plays beautifully with really low action and absolutely no fret buzz. Still think £75 was pricey considering they didn't even change the strings but I'm a happy bunny that my beautiful bass is now OK. Only just got back home today so really haven't had much time to play it yet but I've a few days off now so will get some pics up soon. Just like to also say thank you to all the people who posted with advice/sympathy/well wishes - I'm new to basschat but this really is a great community.

at gear4music, rrp £99. None in stock at the moment but more on the way for delivery next week and the website just accepted my online order

To be fair he was a bit pushed yesterday. All he had time to do was tune it up and confirm the problem.

Quick update. Having spoken to the guitar tech on the phone today I'm a bit more hopeful. He seems to think that a combination of things like the guitar being shipped with strings slackened off and change in climate will have caused most of the problems and that he can get it back in with a truss rod adjustment. He said there were several other 'little things' that needed doing to it but he didn't go into details and I didn't ask as I'd pulled into a lay by to talk to him when he called me whilst I was driving. He's quoted £75 all in. Bit steep I thought but then the guitar shop are going to take a chunk of that for their commission. I know I could get it set up a lot cheaper if a took it to a local retired guy I use but he takes ages and I'm impatient to get it back. I'm not going to quibble if he can set up perfectly as he promised. With luck it should be ready for me to collect tomorrow afternoon, so fingers crossed!

I'll see what the tech says tomorrow, hopefully it won't be as bad as I'm fearing. I've got seven days to return it but I'll have to spring the £50 return postage which seems a bit off to me if they've sold me something unfit for purpose. I really hope it can be sorted as it's a beautiful bass. To rub salt in the wound though I had a mooch around the bass room at guitar guitar whilst I was waiting for the tech and they've got a Flea bass hanging on the wall!

Well after a week of anxious waiting Father Christmas finally arrived at my house today disguised as a TNT Delivery man. After a frantic unwrapping my new beauty was revealed and what a gorgeous beast she is. First impressions; wow, superlight compared to my brickbat of a stingray copy and the neck is so much slimmer and more comfortable. It also came with a nice padded Fender gig bag and the Japanese inspection ticket and manual. The strings had been slackened off for transport as I had expected but on tuning it up it became quickly apparent there was a serious problem. There is serious fret buzz from about the tenth fret up on all four strings to the point where it is actually unplayable. Knowing this was more than serious than a bit of fettling with the action I whipped it down to the guitar tech at GuitarGuitar (which is fortunately at the bottom of my road) and he confirmed my fears with a no holes barred 'yep, the neck is dead'. I've left it with him and he is going to phone me tomorrow to tell me if it can be sorted with truss rod adjustment but I'm probably going to have a sleepless night tonight. How can they sell a guitar in that state, or is it possible that the neck has warped in transit with all the strings being slackened off?

Ok. Well I got mine the other day but so far have only been able to give it the briefest five minutes check over. Bear in mind that I'm learning the bass at the moment so don't really have a wealth of experience to fall on. What I would say is that almost certainly this is designed for guitarists, not bassists. Yes it will work with a bass - it doesn't need to hear chords in learn mode to work out a rhythm, it will respond to a bass line and then you can turn the bass down completely to just hear the drums but as a drum machine alone it's not that brilliant. They are not that convincing and as Al points out the rhythms it produces are random so for my needs as a practise tool it has limited value. What I need is something that will produce a consistent rhythm every time I practise the same piece, not a different rhythm each time to keep me on my toes. Would I have ever paid full price for one of these? Hell no, but for the £40 I splashed on it its an OK bit of fun. A dedicated drum machine would be much more useful though.

'Tis bought and paid for! Now just the long wait for it to arrive from Spain! Pics to follow. Thanks all.

Just a quick update, the seller has now countered my counter to her counter (lol) with an offer of 740 euros + 50 euros postage - works out at a smidgeon over £700 all in. Think I'm going to go for it. Some very good points made by Marc in favour of the Flea Bass but I figure as its still a current production model I can always get one at a later date. I've got a few hours before the offer is retracted but reckon that's what i'll do.