warwickhunt

I might have been having an off day with the early IEM experiments but I was finding that I needed to have the volumes up more than I felt comfortable with to offset the drums. Oddly when playing with backline and regular attenuated plugs in, I found it filtered everything uniformly and attenuated the drums better.

I think it is difficult for drummers to embrace the SS idea because trad acoustic kits have a different feel to electronic or 'flats' kits and if you maintain a full acoustic kit with no backline I think (or experienced) that it is fraught with problems.

Old story but I got tired of being the only band member who knew how or would set up the PA so I gave each band member a job, from putting stands up and speakers on to putting out the 2 floor monitors and associated leads etc. I would do the actual sound and levels. 2 gigs in with new regime and I found the singer hadn't bothered to plug in the monitors (power and lead)... well I certainly wasn't going to so we did the whole sound check inc the obligatory "Can I have a bit more vocal in the monitor" AND gig ,with no monitor! Nobody even noticed when we were stripping down. Not a word of a lie but it happened at EVERY subsequent gig for about 15-20 gigs. It was only spotted by the guitarist and when asked I just shrugged and said "That's not my job, have one of you not been doing it?". Conclusion to this fine story: you'd think would be that we'd have had a more thorough system; nope the singer decided if we'd managed without monitors then there was no point in having them... thus absolving himself of a job! Genuine story.

Were they 'identical' cabs (drivers and physical dimensions) other than the port position? That is an all together different matter. Agreed in which case the OP liked the tone of the cab potentially/partly/possibly due to the size as opposed to the porting location. You could equally get a larger cab that was rear ported and that could/might sound as good OR a front ported cab that was smaller and it might sound worse!

Why front porting specifically? It has no impact on sound projection etc.

Natural discolouration from daylight; the finish under the guard never sees the light of day. The extreme of this used to be when smoking was allowed in venues. Your bass would have a yellowish tinge in no time regardless of finish or colour... and your case stank of it.

LOL indeed. When I clocked the pics I was 'Having that!'... then I saw the weight.

For £250 more, you can buy an absolute 79 stunner... hmmmmm. https://bassbros.co.uk/product/1979-music-man-stingray-4/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1c0u0Cu5rU4-fTPdVp2cPPa6B5RQlUqefbZYCLiuO-lXf4zJ-d_mdh50Q_aem_AUwg8Kvw2nyzVzRiY6XMcYvlX66J62YE38Y2VjvoQ7KE_qsCuXyvyclajQfFFQdpFN8_-x4z-gLx1TeL3z1xgt44

If I'm honest I play in a tribute band which is 'probably' best known for having a big hit with the poppiest/bubblegum sweet song ever... I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick); yet that song is about unrequited love AND that is about as light as that band get! They have songs about suicide, STD, murders, sexual grooming, male prostitution, depression, mental illness, drug abuse. Literally every song is 'dark' if not depressing... and I LOVE playing them!

So that will include everything that comes under the banner of 'blues'... well for me personally!

Ludicrous price for a dog's dinner of a bass! There are plenty of Pre EB Rays that are in perfectly good nick and they are cheaper than that. Why would you pay more to then have to refinish and lose even more money?

I've shared most/many of the experiences of the above @JPJ / @Phil Starr and in a very short 12 month period went from 'old school' backline projecting to FOH for guitar + bass + loud drummer (I've worn custom plugs for 20ish years... still lost a bit of hearing), to silent stage, IEM, PA carrying everything; in the process I've also ran bass/others through monitors +/- IEM +/- backline etc etc (as @Phil Starr suggested). Some/most of these have 'eventually' worked for me but my main two caveats have been that your IE have to isolate effectively (designs/shapes vary and make this tricky) and more importantly the person working the initial PA/mixer set up has to know what they are doing! I spent many frustrating months trying to get a sound through my IE that even resembled bass never mind MY bass tone. I dabbled with all sorts of pedals / DI's et al to no avail, eventually establishing that the mixing desk had some architecture that had (guitar) pre-sets integrated into the desk/interface input I was using. I was all but ready to say 'stuff it' and I remember reading all the threads and thinking many on BC were putting up with rubbish tone for the sake of the Emperor's new clothes... but it worked for me eventually! As it happens I am now happier that I do not have to go down any one route; I now regularly swap between ALL combinations depending on the situation - there is no right/wrong!

A little 1x10 or 1x12 cab will work for you. Don't get hung up on wattage or even ohmage, most manufacturers give half truths and sometimes even tell outright lies. A 4 ohm cab will get the most from your amp but tbh the kind of useage you intend (at the moment) it won't make a jot of difference if it is 4 or 8 ohm; an 8 ohm cab that is possibly more sensitive than a comparable 4 ohm will even things out. An 8 ohm cab choice will mean that at some point in the future you can add a 2nd 8 ohm cab. You may need to go somewhere to A/B a few cabs to find something you like the sound of... all cabs do not sound the same!

Sadly since Brexit, you can't simply send and/or receive a bass and claim it is swapped/free! You will need to pay tax on its true market value; whether you can then go about claiming back the tax is another matter (I simply ceased considering a swap when I established this).

It wasn't a 'standard' for Warwick to have hardware in any particular finish back in the late 80's early 90's. I've seen gold coloured hardware (knerbs and bridges) as often as I've seen black. The only other finish was titanium (dull nickel coloured) which was introduced on the Dolphin iirc.

I don't generally use pedals at all (one tribute band I do), hence I don't like the uncoloured sound of some cabs inc Barefaced... and by Barefaced I mean I have tried a range of the cabs and not liked any but I can't categorically say I dislike every single one.

I don't like the tone/sound.

Fixed it for you.

You are hitting nails on heads mate! I don't want or need a staggered driver 3x10 (though 3x10 makes sense) as the width of the cab doesn't make sense to me and drivers in a vertical cab are closer to my ears. If I start buying quality cabs and dismantling them/building new boxes it will be silly/expensive.

There's an Ashdown ABM iii 500 Evo for £175 (North East) but the guy is a BCer.

"Would anyone know of a commercially available standalone cab that is less wide than your bog standard 19"?" The ABM210 compact is either 21" or 24" depending on how you stack or carry it and isn't likely to be any better as a stand alone cab than my present TC RS210!

Ah so you certainly have the option of putting bass through to support your 1x15. Oddly the doubling up on my TC210s is less of an issue on gigs where we take a PA with bigger tops and a bass bin (or 2) because the backline then is solely for me (and the drummer) to hear; PA does the heavy lifting and other band members have IE options. This scenario is really only relevant when my backline is carrying to FOH punters without PA support.

I don't know enough of the science but I'd have thought a single 2x10 (tall) such as the TC would be able to carry in a small venue (such as the Bebby you played on Sat) without PA support; we'll see how it pans out though. re. putting a trickle through the PA - what size PA are you putting a trickle through? I'm not sure there'd be any benefit trying to put it through the QSC K10 speakers with no sub.

Well summarised but to clarify a couple of things (and expansion on the last point). In terms of 12" driver derived cabs, I have owned (I might have owned other 12's years ago): TC RS112 (x2) - compact to the extreme but boxy sounding Aguilar DB112s - tone I like, manoeuvrability awful Berg 212 - handles everything but not the tone I'm looking for and I used to blame that on Neo drivers but I realise it is essentially down to design... + it was a little too wide TKS 112 (x2) - very light easily manoeuvred but they had that tone which I attributed to 'neo' or lack of cab colouration Tech Soundsystem and Schroder 212 - essentially the same design which had excellent dispersal but in certain rooms almost honky/nasal + handles on the side made it awkward Genz Benz 212 NeoX - a loud upfront cab which seemed to be less sterile but not quite right and even after I fitted spring loaded side handles it was awful to manoeuvre. Of these cabs I've owned I've established the larger heavier cabs tend to have a baked in tone which I like and I've yet to be able to EQ an amp (of which I've owned some very good ones) to get the same tone from featherweight cabs. NOW... that does lead itself to the point that if I'm going through the PA then the tone of the cab that I am hearing is not the same as punters BUT I am wanting the tone I hear to be pleasing to 'me' which is probably why I don't get on with IEM... does that make sense? The drummer is a firm/hard hitter and his kick is invariably mic'd even in small venues. The TC RS210 cabs have a form I like (weight is about as much as I'd like but I could take a kilo or 2 more), they sound right for me BUT I have that issue of 1 isn't quite enough in some venues when we have downsized PA (to QSC K10s) but 2 cabs seems almost too much. Don't get me wrong, I'm only talking about me maybe walking a few hundred extra meters, up/down some stairs 'occasionally' but I'd like to establish if there is a single cab solution right for me. As you say it isn't a big ask and Ashdown's 310 isn't such a bad idea as a solo cab. The final point re. BF 1x15 - I do also own a TKS 115H (under the Aguilars in the pic) which is a very small, light 15" that can be carried 1 handed (14kg top mount handle) and I actually like the sound of it. I rarely gig it on its own due to 'my perception' that it can't cut it as a solo cab as opposed to the pair of TC 210 cabs (a single TC210 at certain gigs tends to not project and I have tried to elevate it or position to get the most from the room positioning). However, that is my perception and I've not tested it in anger so to speak... but I am going to this weekend. I've asked the lads in the band and someone coming along to the gig to see us (who I trust as a musician) to give me an honest appraisal about it's ability to project the bass without PA support (small venue). Their views on the tone aren't my primary concern (so long as it doesn't sound awful) as I'll judge that for myself. It could be that I already own the answer to my problem but I've avoided it as I can't imagine a single 15" being able to do more than the 2x10" and almost as much as the pair of 210s. This was me trying to test a few scenario out recently (I took each rig out to different gigs)... certain cabs are now gone as I eliminated them after trialling in different settings. Apologies for the long winded reply @Phil Starr but I'm putting stuff down as I analyse it in my head on the hoof. LOL

Gawd, I go out of my way NOT to play this. It is down to your musical tastes and the circles you move in but it's a staple of a lot of pub rock bands... not many of whom actually carry it off very well.