Twanger

On 29/09/2020 at 01:28, Bassmixe said:

i apologize for the necrobump. but was that bass purple by any chance? if so. i think that might have been the one that i happen to buy!

It's alright. I'm happy to come back from the dead.  It may well have been, but I honestly can't remember. 

Do you like the frets?

Bought a TU3 pedal off Justin. Everything swift and easy, no problems - and I now have a TU3, which has been on my "to get" list forever, but I just never got around to it. Thanks, Justin.

It's an amp which inspires memories rather than anticipation for me.....

If I had £500 I'd be tempted, but what I really popped in to say was that I have always found Chromes disappointing on P basses. A bit hollow and ungutsy. TI flats, or GHS pressurewounds or the good old D'Addario nickels work much better. Just saying. You might decide to keep it.

Mrs Twanger would divorce me if I brought something that size into the house, particularly since I'm retired from playing out. But if I was thirty, forty years younger and starting out,  and looking for a solid, punchy amp for blues or rock, this would be a great choice at the price. The BXR300 was the first amp I ever used which competed easily with a 70 watt Pro Reverb cranked up. The HPF cleared up the mud, and my P bass sounded authoritative and just magic. I'm assuming it's all still in working order including when cranked, of course!

If only I had a use for it....(sigh). These were great amps.

Buying an MIA Stu Hamm Urge 2 bass. However, it cured me of two misconceptions. First, that flexibility lies in having lots of pickups - two J and one P - and second, that flexibility requires an on-board preamp. I also got a third, very important lesson - if there isn't a usable sound in a bass, no amount of tweaking will bring it out.

4 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

"If one looks at an audio amplifier one will usually observe a rotary potentiometer marked 'bass'. This potentiometer is designed to increase or decrease the amount of bass. If bass has an amount and this amount can be adjusted it's a thing and therefore etymologically a noun".

Sir Roy Strong told me this when we met fleetingly at a drinks reception at the National Portrait gallery in 1971. Nothing since has given me cause to differ from his opinion.

Sir Roy Strong is not wrong. From a linguist's perspective, I would say that if the word can be preceded by a preposition ("amount of bass") then it is grammatically a noun. However, etymology ain't nothing to do with word class, so it ain't a noun etymologically. However again, it's possible for the word "bass" to be either an adjective or a noun. "The sound is too bass", for example. So, yay! Everyone wins. Everyone's happy!

Groundhogs, "Thank Christ for the bomb". Specifically, the track "Eccentric man". I've just listened to all the others. When it's finished, I'n going to play the whole album again.

Really rough, but very, very satisfying production on this record. 1970s for you, I guess. Bass sounds like it's clearly going direct. I can't work out if they've taken another feed or mike off the amp.

My take on it. A bassist is someone who specialises in playing bass. They are interested in the instrument, research it, learn to play the damn thing, develop virtuoso technique and so on. But the focus in on the instrument. A bass player is someone who holds down that role in a band or other ensemble. So the focus is on the music. I have absolutely no reason to think this way, it's purely my own view.

19 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I use mine every day. Great piece of kit. Tempted to buy a back-up.

Yup, but having slept on it I realise the reason I haven't bought one is that I dont want one....

I've been thinking of a bass buddy for years, but now there's an affordable one I've got cold feet.

I used one for guitar back in the '70s. Seriously creamy stuff.

On 28/02/2019 at 09:11, Davo-London said:

Is this the same 3 piece that plays in Tooley street by the Shard?  I'm always impressed by them.  The bass player has an Ibanez I believe with the ugly large headstock.

Saw them again a couple of days ago outside Waterloo. Yes, that's the one. I quite like the ugly Ibanez headstock...

Wow! That's quite an offer, and I'm grateful for it, but I don't think we need to go that far. I remember the drive to Southend - my gramdmother used to live in Benfleet. Which QSC do you have?

Another amp I have been considering is the new PJB Micro 7, but I have no info on them. Short of going to Warwick to try one out...and it's only a few quid cheaper than the Session 77.

10 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

Where are you located @Twanger? Come over and try out my FRFR setup, I think it would be perfect for your situation.

Croydon. FRFR is a definite option. I currently run through a set of reasonable powered speakers I nicked acquired from work when they were being dumped, which I have permanently connected to my recording interface. But an amp you can shove in a sling bag and take on the bus......

11 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I have recently got a bass cub but don't know if I can give much help as I don't have the other one for a comparison. I do have a RH450 and an Ashdown CTM-100 though if that helps. its quieter than both of those

I like the bass cub, it is small enough to drag round to friends, it isn't loud enough to play with any of my drummers (who are loud and extra loud), but good enough to play with another guitarist. Great amp at home, although quite sterile (which isn't a bad thing). 

I have used the other socket for a microphone, which is handy if you have to do that. 

The line in seemed a bit noisy, not sure if that was the cable or what. It does work though, but it isn't something i use much. I am glad I got it but it is mostly an in house or round a mates sort of thing.

"Round a mates sort of thing" is it.

12 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

If I were accepting my own mortality in the way you are I would be looking at a little valve amp, like one of these 30w ashdown @sifi2112 is selling.
For small size a vertical 210 optimised for efficiency would be good. 

If I were going the clean bass amp sound I would probably get a preamp of some kind (Zoom B3n) and a QSC K2 ... and then jamming can amplify more than the bass... 

 

I was thinking about a QSC last year. But that is a bit excessive. Home playing is my priority right now.

Yup. MUCH more than I need. But those are some amps.

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

Do you have an amp? You could use that and buy a good 110.

No. well, just a rumble 15....

Thanks, Funky...have you used the Cub at all?

I have to accept the fact that I am probably not going to be playing out in a band for the foreseeable future. Maybe never again. I am too busy working, don't have a car, have a mother with dementia and all that. But I am not going to give up bass, and I want a good amp. For three reasons - I need to play bass for the good of my soul, I will certainly jam, though probably "drummer free", and I have been playing for 44 years and in that time I have NEVER had a really good quality amp. I've been making do with Carlsbro, Laney, Fender BXR and so on. Fine for the kind of bar playing I was doing, especially when augmented with a SABDDI, but not the leading edge. I have even played bass through an old SF Fender twin, a Blonde Showman and a Roland Jazz Chorus, in my time. Interestingly, the JC was pretty good, in a low level way.

So I have decided to go for the PJB range. I've been looking at the Session 77, the bass cub and the double four. The 77 is possibly a bit too big for my needs. But I cannot decide between the other two. So I am asking you all. In your experience is there anything the Cub will do that the double four won't, other than accept two inputs and DI? I am getting mixed messages on this one.

Many thanks for all responses.

Both my basses are passive - a P and a homemade Jazz style. I've been using a Sadowsky outboard for - must be nearly 20 years. It's the original belt clip model, which is still going strong. I don't use it to sculpt my tone, but simply because when using it I can hear my bass in the mix without turning up the volume. It just sounds better. A much tighter, more defined sound. It brings out the detail. I occasionally add a fraction of bass, but never touch the treble knob. No other preamp, or active bass, has ever given me that tightness (though there are many I haven't tried), and I would dearly love to know what it is about that preamp which does this. I know it boosts at 40 and 4k, but I have never been able to find out why it works this way. Whether I run into an amp, or a SABDDI or a straight EQ pedal, or simply into my computer to record, the belt clip makes it sound better. Maybe there's some kind of built in mush cutter. Or maybe it's highly trained pixies.

I have a focusrite interface for recording, and I find I use it more and more just for practising. I have a pair of powered speakers that I run it through when I'm not headphoning it. It's easier to use than a mixer.