chris_b

18's can be woolly and indistinct. I'd test the 118 on it's own and see if it sounds good or not. You may have been given a large door stop.

I would stick with the 2 x 112's.

27 minutes ago, Ruarl said:

I have been wondering about this set up. I already have a BB2 and would like something a bit smaller for small gigs & practice. How do the two compare?

Alex recommends not running the SC and BB2 cabs together. I forget why. Maybe you could email him and find out?

I use an Aguilar TH500 and SC for small gigs, for most bands an Aguilar AG700 or TH700 and SC/SM and for the very loud rocky stuff I'll swap the SC for a BB2. For playing at home I have 2 One10's. I'm not keen on the sound of the SM on it's own. I need more low end. I think the SM pairs well with the other cabs, adds mids and higher end. I rarely use 1 cab. IMO 2 always sound better, even at low volume.

IMO the difference in size and weight between the 112 cabs is minimal. For me that difference wouldn't make me use one cab over another. I choose my cabs for tone and volume.

17 hours ago, BassmanPaul said:

. . . .  If a cabinet is rated for 750W you need at least that much to make it 'sing'. 

You, your bass and your amp should be creating your sound. The cab should be distributing that sound to your audience not changing it.

You're depping with a band. . . . and you're saying you won't play certain songs?

IMO the job we take on when we agree to dep in a band, is to play their set to a level that they don't notice their regular bassist is missing. . . . period. That includes all the songs on the list. Whether we like the numbers or not is irrelevant. 

No gods here. . . . but the guys that shaped my playing from day one were Bill Wyman, Duck Dunn and John McVie.  Everything I do stems from those guys.

I've got 2 you could buy. . . . I'm trying to help.

On 15/05/2024 at 10:56, scrumpymike said:

Great bunch of guys but they don't make flats IIRC.

Last year I called Newtone and asked about flats. I was very surprised to hear they don't do them!

Is that fuzz Gibson sound supposed to make anyone want to buy these amps?

I've heard more musical dentist's drills.

5 hours ago, cetera said:

Just logging all my gear and realised I now have 87 basses and 10 guitars. 😲

Should I buy 3 more basses to hit the magic 100 total? Or sell the 10 guitars and concentrate on basses only? 🤔

In the last 50+ years I owned 1 bass for 26 years and 2 bases for the next 25 years. For the last year I've owned 5 basses and I can't shake the feeling that that is way too many. Many years ago I decided that I'd rather own 2 £2000 basses than 8 £500 basses.

I'd sell the bass and guitar you play the least. Keep doing this until you get to a sensible total. . . . . or. . . . sod it,  just buy another 3 basses.

A few years ago we were looking for a singer for our blues/R&B/Soul band and a singer turned up from a Rolling Stones tribute band. He looked like Jagger, sounded like Jagger and moved like Jagger. He wanted a change but couldn't not be Mick Jagger. We said no. He was a good singer but he would have turned us into the Rolling Stones!!

Most guys I see in pubs and clubs doing this are a "tribute to xxxx" rather than being a "Tribute" band. If you just want to focus playing the songs of one band, then most punters will be happy if you just look like you. I know guys who copy the same gear, clothes, wigs and accents. If you want to break into theatres then levels of authenticity and "the show" have no limits.

I've played in Free, Led Zep, Fleetwood Mac/Peter Green and Allman Brothers "tribute" bands but we just played their songs, so not really "tributes" at all.

8 hours ago, therasonic450 said:

. . . .  I reckon my playing career has been extended by a good few years by going down the Barefaced route.

I feel exactly the same, and D class amps and Neo cabs are sounding so good these days.

IMO we're in a golden age of bass gear.

On 18/12/2023 at 17:28, neepheid said:

Or more accurately, what they're about to do next year... https://sire-usa.com/pages/2024-models

 

Z series - looks like a mashup of a Stingray and a Lakland 44/55-0x to me

F series - single cut, Fodera shaped objects?

G series - semi hollow confections

some extra Vs (Jazz-a-likes)

and a full scale U series.

I wish they'd come up with an L series for bass (I know there is an L series for guitars)

L series - lightweight; ie anything under 8lbs/3.6kg.

They'd be tapping into a whole new, and very lucrative, marketplace.

...

I don't care about the words, I always play happy bass lines.

Never give in, never give up.

19 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Love this (apart from Greg Koch, who can't seem to resist playing a pastiche of everything), but Guy's a great singer as well as being mighty handy on the geetar.

 

Greg's just Greg. Guy King is always on the money.

I like that bass players left hand technique, effective and economical. All the right notes in all the the right places and not an ounce of energy wasted.

12 hours ago, Misdee said:

If it's a vintage P Bass you find it might be twice the price of the Lull rather than half the price. 

 

I've got a nice USA Lakland PJ that I play more than anything else.  It's probably the equivalent of your Lull. It sounds great, but not really different to a good Fender bass. I've had it a long time and it's a superb amalgamation of the best things about old Fender basses and modern construction. Just a very very useful bass. It's much better made than a Fender but in sonic terms it's essentially the same.

 

That's no bad thing because Fenders sound good, but contrary to a lot of what I see on YouTube from supposed experts, if there is a better rendition of the Fender tone then it's a subtle difference with all of these basses. I'm talking about basses like  Moolon and Olinto et al. I'm not including Sadowsky because that's all about the preamp and how it compliments the bass overall. 

I loved my 2 Lakland's but the weight finally got too much.

I believe Mike Lull worked with Seymour Duncan to make a P pickup that sounded exactly like Mike's 62 Precision. 

I thought my bass sounded good from the start, but when I did a comparison with Happy Jack, I discovered his Lull sounded better than mine!! I finally tracked down the difference. . . . flatwound strings! I put flats on and my sound hit the jackpot.

1 hour ago, Misdee said:

What about the phenomena of the boutique P Bass?

I play a Mike Lull PJ5. It's a boutique bass in every sense.

If I could find a P bass at half the price that played and sounded as good as my Lull I'd buy it in a heartbeat. 

Until then the Lull will have to do.

DR make strings specifically for down tuning. . . .

https://www.drstrings.com/ddt-bass

Many years ago we did a gig for a corporate lawyer, his mansion in Stokenchurch actually had a ballroom! He showed us his collection, in the old stable block. It had been converted into a studio by a previous owner, Ian Anderson. He had about 50 guitars out on stands and twice that number in cases. He had several 1957 Strats and many other "collectable" guitars.

How the other half lives!

I saw Knower at the Jazz cafe. Great gig and Sam Wilkes was amazing.

I think I covered the Chines ability in the Mars Rover comment.

Why does Warwick feel the need to go to the expense of sending over a technician to monitor the production process of their basses?

3 minutes ago, Nicko said:

It doesn't matter how much you spend on a P type bass, it will always be a tool and will never be beautiful.

Heresy!!!!

3 minutes ago, Nicko said:

Chinese QA/QC on industrial equipment is definitely not as good as most industrialised places.  When I was working we would insist on resident inspectors, up the non destructive testing and the like if we were buying from China

The Chinese can put a rover on Mars, but it seems they can't make something as simple as a bass. The issue with the 1st generation Sadowsky basses was caused when Covid prevented the Warwick technicians from travelling to China to oversee production, and the Chinese carrying on making the original line of Sadowsky basses without supervision!!

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

 

But the OP has already fitted the Schaller. Besides the Dunlops aren't any better, just different.

Schallers are legendary for having issues. Dunlops are not.