chris_b

Early solid state amps sounded awful. What you played was more important than how you sounded and for that reason (and the fact that they were very cheap on the second hand market) gigging musicians did use them. The first good sounding solid state amp I heard was my Dynacord combo that I bought in the mid 80's.

There used to be John Kelly in Camden, a genius with amps, but that was 20 years ago. He used to do a lot of work for the Gallery and touring PA companies.

IME Talkbass is a good place to be. It's a very friendly environment and a good source of info about all things bass. I have no experience of the Mods, but you only have to look at the comments on Youtube videos to see what happens on Internet forums when there is no responsible adult in charge.

I'd put it all through a good cab first.

Have you seen this? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMe3e-fQeyo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMe3e-fQeyo[/url]

I've had terrible gigs, with a bad sound that I was unable to fix. You've just got to wonder what's going on when you have a night like that and people come up and compliment you on your playing and sound!

Leo Fender made some turkeys and CBS Fender made some classics. Generalizations are misleading as most of the basses made by both companies were fine and fit for purpose and even on a bad day the worst of them was preferable to the competition. I doubt if many people could tell a Leo bass from a CBS bass on a record. Most of the popular music recorded since the mid 60s has been on CBS basses. I find it hard to believe that they would have sounded any better on a Leo bass. I have a vintage P bass and my Lull sounds much better. I saw some of what went on in the studios and, unless you were either "a name", paying the bill or brave enough to face everyone down and lucky enough to win, (back in the day "problem" band members were regularly replaced by "session" players) your fantastic bass was mostly going to end up compressed to buggery and sounding just like the producer wanted anyway.

I don't know what the Foo Fighters bass sounds like. All I'd say is get an amp that makes a great sound and lets you sound like you, not someone else.

[quote name='Ant_On_Bass' timestamp='1461488330' post='3034954'] To be honest knowing what I'm like, I'll end up buying one, whilst keeping hold of the Mesa for the time being. The Gas is to strong in this one! [/quote] That's the right way to do it. I never sell anything until I've gigged the next piece and proved it's a step up in tone and fits exactly with all the other parts. Barefaced cabs will sound very different. There's a learning curve, where you have to readjust your ears, when you start hearing your playing in more detail and definition than you've been used to. I used Mesa Boogie EV 115 and 210 cabs for 10 years and I'm now using 2 Barefaced Super Compacts. In between I owned Epifani and Bergantino. If neo cabs didn't sound good I wouldn't be using them. If the SC's didn't sound better, a positive upgrade, I'd have sold them and kept the Bergs.

If people think the BF 410 is just another 410 they should read the info on the website. It isn't 4 full range speakers.

The Bass Direct videos don't project the level of professionalism that such a great business deserves. I understand the thinking and desire to make them in house, but they are lacking in ability and sound quality. I'd remove and replace all of them ASAP.

Professional touring PA systems are all D Class these days.

Very sad news indeed. This guy was massively talented.

[quote name='rhythmbug' timestamp='1461167940' post='3032114'] I need a new cab [/quote] What amp and cab do you have at the moment? What's your budget?

If Carling made 410 bass cabs. . . . they would probably be the second best in the world.

[quote name='SiriusBlack' timestamp='1460981758' post='3030327'] i guess i just wanted to try the difference between the two. [/quote] IMO it's one of those differences that only some people can hear and maybe then only in the studio. On a stage standing next to a drummer I'm not sure there'll be any appreciable difference. As far as I've read the are some sets of La Bella Flatwounds that they recommend you don't string through the body. Some La Bella flats you can. Which isn't surprising as the original P bass only had the option of stringing through the body and there were only flat wound strings in the 50's. The La Bella's are labelled so you can tell which is which. All round wound strings can be strung through the body.

I'd spend a day at Bass Direct and Bass Gear checking out the amazing basses they have in stock before I bought a Fender that cost that much.

So far I've bought 4 fantastic basses from Ebay. 2 were in London, one was in Northampton and the other was in Bexhill. Every time I drove over to pick them up and had a play before I handed over the cash. If you discover they're trying to pass off a lemon it's not too late to back out at that point. If the seller wants to screw around you can threaten his feedback as well, or you can both put it down to experience and walk away. You just need patience to wait for the bass you want to come up within travelling distance.

VW is an amazing musician and one of the few around pushing the boundaries of our instrument. We usually see him in full slap/tech/circus mode in a solo, bass clinic environment but that's not the whole story. He shines in the Flecktones, gigs with Herbie Hancock and when I saw him, said that he was sad that he didn't usually get called for regular bass work because he enjoys just laying down grooves. Keb Mo must have been listening. He used VW on his Relfections album. Brilliant playing.

Why do you want to do that? I tried stringing through the body and not on my US Lakland and I didn't hear or feel much difference between either way.

. . . . and the funk keeps coming [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PfQ_Ux970k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PfQ_Ux970k[/url]

Get a set list and start working your way through Youtube. It'll be mostly 2 to the bar and Root and 5. Then maybe a few choice passing notes.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1460805960' post='3028914'] It's in France so who knows but in the UK it's illegal, actually fraud. [/quote] I suppose he could be topping up what ever is in the jug to make what he's agreed to pay the band. Which I guess isn't fraud. Barristers make a very good living splitting these hairs. IMO the band is only getting ripped off if they end up being paid less than they were lead to believe they would get. Like my band gigging in a Paris club for a percentage of the bar takings. We only found out at the end that it didn't include credit card sales, which were a very large part of the evenings take.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1460799549' post='3028818'] All those names from the past ... [/quote] Bass_Ferret!!! I never got on with that guy. Mr "blinkered opinion"; always telling people their gear didn't sound good because it didn't exactly fit the rule book, and he could argue for England. The only person I've put on the exclude list.

Obviously it's not illegal to send the pot around or for the pub to say "it's for the band", and then keep it. We've had that happen in the past. Currently all the gigs that put the jug around give us the money. There are no "rules", so there is nothing you can do except cross the gig off your list. If it's a good gig I'd still do it.