bassbluestew

Hey bods, In Germany on Sunday I was doing a telly show to playback, but the house band bassist was using a Glockenlang rig and it blew me away. I'm really happy with my rig at the mo', but this was just killer, I was sitting some 40 feet away and could feel this baby punching me. And this was outdoors !! Not sure what the head was as I couldn't get a good close look, it was 4u, maybe a "Soul" head, but it looked to have vents on it which none of them do according to the website. The cab was deffo one of their new 1200 watt 6x10's ( downsizing for me here ). It was deffo more hi-fi than my MesaBoogie 400+ ( wouldn't be hard ) but it still had that punch that a lot of boutique amps just don't deliver. Anyhow, anybody out there use them or have any experience of them, I used one of the smaller amps and cabs years back and thought it sucked, but really, this was dynamite !! Any help gratefully received. S

Don't forget the legendary SKB Bass Safe................it's a steal at less than £100. Put your bass in it's gig bag inside and off you go !! Great piece of kit and at timeof writing I've done over 200 flights with mine ! Both Easyjet and Ryanair have so far failed to destroy it, and when they do, SKB will replace it free of charge !! S

[quote]damn thing weighs a ton mind you so looking to maybe shrink things down a bit![/quote] Oh yeah....................??? 6U ShockMount rack........... 4U Mesa/Boogie 400+ 1U Behringer tuner 1U thin air ( just as well really ) Weighs almost as much as a small car..............doesn't it Ped !! S

The Basson is getting some outings too.....I tend to use it for Ceilidh stuff and leave the 8x10 in the band van !! It's a great wee cab and I'm really glad to have it. It doesn't half get some funny looks when people hear it, it wouldn't be the first time somebody said " I though you said that was a two by ten". I just grin and say " It is". I'd love to try it WITH the big Ashdown cab as they do sound very different....................just haven't played a stage big enough to justify that yet. S

I am the lucky so and so who has Ped's Mesa Boogie 400 +. I use it with an Ashdown ABM810 and it is simply monstrous. I can get anything from a heavy DUB tone to the aforementioned cutting glass sound - neither of which I favour, but that's just my taste. I do find the amp will deliver a solid tone time after time. I had owned a 400+ about 10 years ago ( with a matching Powerhouse 1000 cab - both immaculate though gigged regularly ) and as soon as I sold it I regretted it. I am so glad to have that sound back - it sounds great with either my StingRay 5'er or G&L L2500. A big, fat, round, well articulated sound !! Just like it's owner really S

I'm sure I've replied on this topic in other forums...............Dr D you are right, it's a great piece of kit ( did you know it has a built in metronome too ) for the dosh, but it WONT handle low B on either my StringRay 5 or G&L L-2500. I certainly wouldn't sell a korg tuner to get one of these if you ever want to tune a fiver down to low B. I contacted Behringer in Germany and the guy said - and I do paraphrase a very little - "What do you expect for £40". I had to laff, but seriously when even the cheapest "pocket" style tuner will handle low B, why won't the rack version models ?? The lights DO look great on my Mesa/Boogie 400 +though. S

Cheers Ped, I KNEW you'd know. I have no intention of changing the valves btw, just really liked the purple boogie haze is all. Crazykiwi - good to hear my amp has such an esteemed pedigree. It's obviously been well looked after. I don't have any plans to sell it, but never say never, so I'll give you first dibs if I do. I have to say I HAVE had a few offers from Chaterrers / Talkers over the past months. I still have gas for a rig I played in Germany last year ( Ampeg SVT2 Pro -> Ampeg PR410HLF ). It was a killer sound on a HUGE Stage. I'd love to hear it again tho'. I'd also love to hear my 400+ with the PR410HLF cab...........mmmmmmmmm. Bloody gas..........it's a killer ! S

Research it carefully - I used a Bass POD XT PRO and Ashdown ABM500 stereo power amp, both top quality pieces of kit, and it just didn't float my boat as much as I thought it would. Changed to a MesaBoogie 400 + head and VIOLA, happy bunny. Same cabs, sames basses, but now a very happy bunny. S

I play in a relatively busy wedding / corp function band ( 2 gigs /week ) and we run our own rig and employ a soundman as part of the band. He gets half what we get and is happy with that. The band own the gear, it just doen't make sense to hire, we'd need to pay on average £400 a gig to get a good PA to fill the venues we play, so we'd be forking out £800 / week on hire fees - just not good commercial sense. Transport and srtorage are taken care of by a HUGE LDV Convoy van ( ex Water Board - low mileage, good nick and cost us the equivalent of 18 hires to buy ) which is parked off road in my drive and touch wood has been safe so far ( This was an upgrade on a trailer we used for a year or so and sold for just about what we paid for it ) Add on insurance to the van costs and we're up to about 22-23 hires equivalent ( about 5-6 hires worth for insurance ) so again it's a no brainer. Between us we can maintain the van, but it's not doing a huge mileage, maybe 300miles / weekend average. So for us it just made complete commercial sense to buy - and I was ALWAYS dead set against any band buying gear, but when you look at your diary and work out how much you'd be paying someone else and be left with nothing but a big pile of receipts at the end, it just doesn't take a lot of working out. Plus 3 members of the band can travel together cutting down travel expenses. It works for us. Stewart

As the current owner of Peds old 400 + ( I thank you every night I play ) can I ask WHY you'd want to run both channels together, what do you expect to achieve. They sound so different to each other, not to mention the difference in volume. Can I also ask what valves you have in yours ?? I was thinking about replacing mine with the original boogie valves when these expire ( I DO miss the original purple haze out back, but not to the tune of a few hundred squildies to replace them prematurely) , Ped can you remind me what these current valves are ? These are great amps aren't they ?? S