Bassybert

That’s all you need to know 😄

Oh dear. It appears I've had a proper brain fart. Apologies.

Music critics are for the most part, a bunch of narcissistic pond life, with over inflated egos and sense of self importance. The key word in the job title is the word critic. The best music judge is your own ears. If I'd listened to music critics before buying a record I'd never have heard and fallen in love with half the music I have. You only have to look at the scathing reviews of so many records that went on to become all time classics to realise they have no clue what they're on about.

Are we talking the Squires, Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, early solo? Not trying to be his best mate, but selfish in the extreme sounds a bit harsh when he was a young guy finding his way in a new country, with new music and ideas coming from every angle. It's such an underrated record. Crazy Horse were on top form = sloppy and loose but in the best way. The guitar tones are amazing, the acoustic tracks soothing, Wind Though My Sails is filled with perfect CSNY harmonies and Cortez the Killer is a track for all times. I find his whole 70's output staggering - there's no artist that comes close to being as prolific in that era than Neil.

I've heard mixed reviews about the PRC made stuff - I think that was the ABM III stuff that was made in China, but the original ABM and ABM II amps are UK made and solidly built. I've got a UK made ABM II 500w rackmount chrome head that's rock solid in build and tone, but (and I may be completely wrong here) the quality of the PRC stuff was patchy and there were a few issues. On the flip side, Ashdown are a brilliant company to deal with and are always willing to help with service/repairs if needed. As far as performance, tone and power go you can't really go wrong in my eyes.

It’s an Ashdown ABM. If it’s a made in the uk one then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be... a. A great sounding amp b. Well made c. Pretty heavy, but reassuringly so

Really? I've read the book a couple of times and have been a massive Neil Young fan for a long time. He's probably my favourite artist so I may be a bit biased here but I've always found him someone who just has to follow his muse - it's part of who he is and what he is, it's not something you can just turn off like a tap or walk away from like a 9-5 job. Yes a few people have been hurt along the way, but if you hear quite a few of them speak about Neil they've kind of realised that's just how he is and it's nothing personal, it's just his desire to create and move on that keeps powering him forward. For me I'd have my top 5 as... 5. On the beach 4. Rust never sleeps 3. After the gold rush 2. Tonight's the night 1. Zuma - have literally played this record hundreds of times

Great song and great cover. The puppy is the cherry on top.

looks like hot melt glue probably in place to stop things moving around/vibrating on the pcb, pretty standard stuff inside amps

HI Jonny, welcome to the forum. Where are you based in Somerset? I'm a fellow wurzel myself living in a village near bridgwater

$200k!!!

I only joined this forum a few weeks ago, but it's pretty clear to see there are some proper snobby musos on here! I'm so glad I love all sorts of music and love it for what it is, rather than look down on some of it from my ivory tower 😉 Anyone who says the Ramones didn't have a huge impact on music (especially punk/new wave/rock) and inspired generations of future musicians in general, are either seriously misinformed or slating it purely to get a reaction imho.

Or just maybe that he plays what the song needs rather than what it doesn't?

That is one hell of a performance!!!! All of 4 of the blew the roof off and nailed that song perfectly. You're right about the singer, she's got the feel of the track in her back pocket as much her mobile phone. Kids eh!

Thanks a lot @Al Krow, i'm already loving this thing!! I forgot about the built in tuner, what a bonus. Anyone else having trouble with the B1 being recognised on a Mac though? Have tried both Guitar Lib and ToneLib and the device isn't being recognised on either piece of software All sorted, tried a different USB lead and it works. Weird!

My B1 arrived yesterday and had the chance to try it out today for a quick run through. This thing is immense for 60 quid, I can see it being such a useful practice tool. Some of the patches are a bit gimmicky but also fun, but I was really impressed with the standard sounds, the SVT stack sounds brilliant, and the motown patch really nails that 60's soul sound I love with my P Bass. I might have a look at installing the software to edit the patches and have a bit of a cleanse of the patches, but for £60 this is an absolute steal.

I think @peteb mentions he's using a Windows 10 laptop @TheMaartian

I'd be very wary of poking around inside the power section of an amp unless you know exactly what you're doing. Some of those capacitors can hold 3-400v of DC current. Not something you want to be on the recieving end of!

Sounds like a great idea @stewblack thanks for the heads up 😀

I've just pulled the trigger on a B1 Four from Thomann - I'm looking for something to silent practice through headphones using backing tracks on my phone or an iPad. The fact that it has a load of rhythm tracks built in and the ability to edit a lot of settings and patches via a Mac is brilliant. I was looking at a vox amplug for simplicity, but for £67 delivered I don't think you can go wrong with the B1.

I can't watch bands like Iron Maiden or Megadeath without imagining a tiny Stonehenge being winched down to the middle of the stage, or them getting lost on the way to the stage. Spinal Tap has completely ruined my ability to take metal/heavy rock bands even remotely serious 😩

What exactly is average anyway - different strokes for different folks. As long as you're enjoying what you're doing then that's all that really matters. You haven't got to be Victor Wooten to have a valid opinion on basslines 😉 I've always loved the bassline, even more now for all it's quirks, and have always found Novoselic a really melodic player that serves the song. I'd take playing with feeling, warts and all over sterile technical proficiency every day of the week

One of my favourite Nirvana tracks and a great bassline. I've listened to this song countless times and have never noticed anything really out once everything is mixed down, but obviously there's some out of time and bum notes on this version. I don't think Krist will be losing any sleep, the band were never interested in technical perfection, just capturing the spirit of the moment. I'd much rather listen to this than some boring donkey trad jazz played perfectly in time 😀

This pretty much sums it up totally for me 🙂

This pretty much sums it for me - Slap bass makes up a tiny percentage of actual bass use in music, yet it's almost always the first thing I hear/see when I see someone demoing a bass and that tinny, percussive sound isn't something that sits well with my ears. Fair enough it's a tough technique to master and respect to those putting the hours in, but it's not something I choose to listen to music wise much at all, I actually want to hear some bass frequencies! A lot of the time for me it's the bass equivalent of some technique obsessed guitar player showing off their licks and saying look how much faster I can play than you, rather than serving the song.