Paddy Morris

BTW I just googled the Safran Iris. What an amazing looking instrument. Post some sound files once you've got your pickup sorted.

I tried one for a bit. It was very like an Underwood. Had the same sort of muffled quality the Underwood and DG Copperhead have. Some very respectable players go for that, but it wasn't for me. I have a big mariachi guitarrón, and eventually I put an Ischell C3 on it. Sounds mint. Don't know if that would work for you?

Hi Pete Yes, when they turned up they were normal weichs in weich packaging. Maybe just an acknowledgement by Thomann that Brits speak no language but their own? They took a couple of weeks to arrive. Patrick

That's interesting Joe, thanks. I might see if he'll have a look at it then. Also I don't think the nut has ever been set-up for the thicker, low tension strings I tend to use, so I wonder if maybe the A is it bit tight in the slot. It arrived with thin Chinese steels on it. Part of it is, the guy builds £10,000 basses and I'm slightly embarrassed by my plywood and car body filler box!

I had a bit of a search for this but couldn't find a result, so apologies if it's been covered in depth. What is the effect of a sound post tweak? I took the nicer of my 2 cheap basses to the excellent luthier who did the initial set-up for me, to get bridge adjusters fitted. He was going to 'tweak' the sound post too. In the end he said it didn't need it. So I still don't know what the effect would have been. My other bass, a cheap plywood slapper which I love dearly, has never had a proper set-up and has always been slightly quiet on the A string - this has been true regardless of the various string setups I've had on it. It might just be the limitation of a cheap bass, but I'm now wondering if a soundpost tweak might improve the situation?

Very neat indeed.

3rd vote for Spiro weichs. Growly sound, easy on the fingers. For some bizarre reason they're cheaper on Thomann than anywhere else to buy in the UK. No good for slapping though.

Very neat looking set-up. Do we get a close up of the pedal board? Always good to see what other players are up to.

Definitely. My bass with Spiros = blisters after a long gig. My slapper with guts and EP slaps = no blisters after an entire weekend of playing.

I'm an upright player and I found Spectracomp, Keeley Bassist, and EBS Multicomp, all tend to suck the attack out of a plucked string. They give a lovely smooth sound for slapped bass guitar, but not for upright. However, I just tried the Keeley Compressor Pro and it's just incredibly good. You can put soft knee in, and back the attack time off. You get great levelling of the notes and improved sustain if you want it (I don't) but the initial attack of the string passes through cleanly.

Next time my Mrs complains about the amount of gear in our den, I need to show her this thread.

Brilliant report back. Like a wine tasting, but louder.

Thanks for all the replies to this. I really appreciate it. So it seems as though most of these amps share the same generic output board and switched mode PSU. But the front end is where the designs are all customised.. Interestingly, just looking on reverb / ebay / gumtree, there are very few BAMs, Gnomes or Ants that people want to shift (none in fact) but quite a few Elfs (or Elves, whatever)

Thanks. Just found and read that comparison between them. All very interesting.

Are there any really differences between the Gnome 200, the TC BAM 200, the Trace ELF200 etc? The exact same layout of the front panel and rear, and identical feature set makes one think that they are probably the same, Chinese pre-assembled PCB, and what you're actually choosing is the case that it comes in. I have no problem with that, because they're all very good value for money. But is there a subtle difference between them?

I have 2. A Westbury and a Hidersine. I've got to say that the Hidersine is the one I use all the time. The padding is more or less the same in both. The more expensive Westbury looks slightly more rugged, but all the straps and handles are in the wrong places. The cheap Hidersine bag has been yanked from one gig to the next for about 5 years and seems to be surviving ok. And any minor damage to the instrument has always happened due to my own carelessness once the instrument is outside the bag.

It looks to have a set of natural gut strings on it (£100 right there, if they're in decent condition) and the wear pattern in the fingerboard suggests some pretty full-on psychobilly hammering. That finish looks like it had a lacquered coating applied that has been removed. I think you should arrange to meet up and play it first, but it might sound amazing, who knows?

I don't know if you ever need a dep upright bass player? I'm from Colchester and I'm back down there quite often. I've picked up a few one-off drop-ins to bands whose regular upright player can't make a specific gig. Let me now.

That's good to know. I just had a quick look at the IP300. That's a pretty convenient-sized rig if you're getting a sound you like

All true. There's loads of amp threads I could go at, including my own previous ones. Part of the difficulty is that you only have the recommendations of other players to go on. The gear is too expensive to just buy on spec. And most music stores don't have a double bass avaliable for you to try out an amp.

It's true. I did ask last year. I had actually forgotten that I did. But the quest to get a decent amplified sound from a difficult instrument seems never-ending to me. And I work on the principle that everyone is here because they're broadly interested in the subject, so there's no harm in asking.

Morning all. I've had a PJ Two Four for a few years now. There's no doubting that they are a very clever piece of kit. But I've gone off it. The tone is so highly tuned that it's a permanent feedback hazard at the sort of small room gigs it was designed for. At outdoor busking gigs, no feedback. But the tone is all that muddy, plumby boxy stuff that makes an upright sound like a cheap Hofner McCartney bass copy. Or at least, it does for me. Given that the design is a few years old now, and amp designers are clever people, I was wondering if there's anything else out there now that does this job better. The Two Four is incredibly compact, but it's actually more compact than it needs to be for me. I'd be happy with something twice as big (still very small, after all) but with a nicer, more neutral tone. Has anyone discovered a new killer compact combo?

Thanks for that. I bought one and will try it out. I also ordered some open cell rubber foam and I'm going to try and replicate some F-Its for my carved bass. I would love to get Bob to make them, he does such a beautiful job. But his website has been taken down and his FB page seems to be inactive. I'm sure he has good reasons.

This is interesting. So the Thumpinator fixed it for you? Do you feel like it has affected the tone much? I bought a Westbury, just after f-its stopped producing covers. It's a lovely dark instrument, but real handful to amplify. If I can't get f-its I might try a Thumpinator.