cameltoe

So... price is king! I've looked into the Beta 52, the Audix D4 and AKG D112, all good mics apparently, but all nearly £150. Can anybody recommend a suitable mic for mic'ing up a kick drum on a budget? I'm looking for deep but tight thump, as a lot of our music is driven on the kick. Cheers if you can help

Bass Terror. Not just a gimmicky small thing, it is actually a phenomenal sounding little amp, and does the sound you describe that you want very well. I used Hartke for a long time and found myself fiddling all the time, every gig, to get the perfect punchy low-mid, hit you in the chest type thump. What I like about the TB is you plug it in, and the sound is there. It has growl, it is very punchy and warm, but it is a one-trick pony. Then again, I play a precision so that tells you what I look for in tone really. One good sound. The 500w is stupidly loud, but if you're hardcore go for the 1000w version. They supposedly sound very close to the all-valve AD200B. I've never back-to-backed so can't comment.

Yep, it has never distorted or the cab shown any signs of distress by having 500w of bass terror put through it. sounds terrific.

Mine says 100w! They were a limited run to go in hand with the Little Bastard head. Mine was purchased with one of the 100 UK handmade LB heads (I was not allowed to buy the head without the cab) so whether they only made these for the UK heads I'm not sure, but mine says 'handmade in uk' on the rear as did the head, and they certainly seem to have run out quickly. Yeah, it says 100w on the back of mine, but the drivers are 200w each as you can see by the LB112. No idea why, but Ashdown confirm they are 400w and it did say that for a time on their website, but the product is now in their 'Legacy' section with no info. I'm very happy with mine. I no longer have the head, but use it with a Bass Terror and it sounds great. Very punchy, warm and clear. Very light thanks to the neo-whatsit drivers, looks fantastic, and is the perfect height to put stuff on at a gig, like your amp head (or pint)!

'swhat I wanted to hear!

I played a custom shop '57 P recently, and although it felt similar to my roadworn, the thing that stood out for me was the fret work. The frets had been leveled lower and smoother than on my P, felt a bit better to play because of this, and given that I like the broken in feel is it something I should consider? I've never had anything like this done before purely cos I've not needed to, but I also love a low action, so I'm hoping I might be able to get something close to the CS set up with a decent fret job. Any thoughts?

Loving all the obscure characters! Can even see the guy who sold the RV to Homer in an early episode. "Mr Simpson have you ever known a siren to be good news?"

Looks like an MIM Standard to me. Maple on the back of the neck looks remarkably clean. Nut also looks very white.

[quote name='SteveO' post='1167529' date='Mar 18 2011, 07:03 PM']I can't see anyone arguing with your opinions, but rather pointing out that "Oh, it'll be crap, for that price." is a bit of an assumption, and an unfounded one at that. HB make cheap, but decent quality instruments, as do quite a few other budget manufacturers. This observation is made on owning and playing several of their products. You have played some HB stuff and found it to be crap. nothing wrong with that. Either your standards are higher than mine (quite possible) or i've been lucky. either way up there are 2 differing opinions on the quality of HB gear by people that have tried. the gripe is that the only comments concerning the bass in question are [i]'I've not tried one, but its cheap so it must be crap'[/i] which I don't think can fall into the category of valid advice to the OP. I actually thought that your comment (if you'll forgive me for paraphrasing your first post) of [i]"It's an unknown bass. It's better to go for a cheap bass that has a good reputation"[/i] is a very good one, and one that I agree with, however I can't see the point of getting defensive when someone points out that none of the people who says they're crap seems to have tried one. Oh and I'm from Teesside (Just live over ere), and that'll be my defense for pushing in and getting involved with someone else's argument Anyway, I'm off back to lurkers corner... see you all in another 3 months. [/quote] Fair enough, but then your posts have actually been a good counter argument and would actually help the OP to make a decision. What I didn't like about redstripers posts was the assumption that anyone who had said anything negative a) considered themselves to be experts b ) had no experience of the guitar or brand c) were obviously those type of people who just automatically assume cheap=crap d) were not giving any relevant advice. I don't think this is the case. I've tried Harley Benton stuff and it's not been good. Ok, maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'Crap', but then if you re-read my original post I think you'd find I didn't necessarily think this mattered. Crap to me means cheap materials, cheap electronics, cheap labour, lacklustre QC, and poor finishing. I think we can agree that for the money you won't be getting the best of any of those. In fact for that price, you'll probably be getting some of the worst. However, I placed much more emphasis on how well the instrument would play. If you can get a guitar that looks that good for that price and it plays [i]well[/i] then by all means go for it. This is impossible to tell when ordering online though, and would represent a risk. The reason I suggested fender over Harley Benton is that the OP mentioned he would like to modify the bass. I understand what you're saying about Fender marking up prices based on brand, but I actually think this works both ways. Fender have a reputation to protect, and hence will spend more on QC and finishing. However I don't actually think that cheaper fenders are up to much at all (with the exception of the Classic Vibe series), and actually tried a vintage modified Jazz recently and thought it was [i]horrible[/i]. Thin sounding, heavy, poorly finished, and played appalingly. However, if the OP was to buy something like a Squier over this, then given that fender parts are interchangable it wouldn't take much for him to float about in the Parts section and eventually pick up some decent pickups and maybe even a MIJ neck and end up with a killer bitsa. To be fair, it's not like we've all piled on and said 'It's Crap!' and dissapeared again. I could understand if so. But almost everyone has offered great alternatives that they [i]know[/i] play well and are made well, and offer far better potential than their own experiences with Harley Benton. I myself suggested the Peavey BXP that was in the For Sale section for the same price as this bass. I tried one very recently and thought it was amazing to play and sounded great. Against the Harley Benton gear I've tried, it would be a no-brainer. I guess this is why it's escalated to an argument (we all like a good tear-up on here don't we ). Ok, we may have made assumptions on [i]this particular[/i] guitar based on our experiences with other Harley Benton gear, and also with the retail price, but we've also actually offered the OP some very good advice based on our experiences with other budget instruments, whereas I don't see how anything mr. redstriper has said so far has actually helped the OP in any way. Like I said, it may well be better than the sum of it's parts and may play fairly well indeed. Do I think it's the next JV series? No. Are there better options out there for a beginner? Definitely.

No what I actually think is happening here, is a case of 'you don't agree with me then you're wrong'. People have given their opinions, and instead of offering yours (which may be different, and I would respect that) you're are actually doing nothing but arguing with them. It's incredibily disrespectful, and you're even jumping to conclusions and now making judgments about the characters of the people who have taken the time to offer advice to the OP, just because it doesn't fit in with the way you think. Again, if you have a different opinion, then by all means voice it, but just trying to belittle everyone else's perfectly valid advice to the OP isn't helping anyone. Have you tried this guitar? It's a bit hypocritical if not.

[quote name='redstriper' post='1165825' date='Mar 17 2011, 02:49 PM']Why is this bass so 'crap' ? Have any of you experts actually played one?[/quote] Sorry Mr. Benton. The stuff I've tried of yours has been a bit crap, yes. I think people are right to voice their opinions, especially considering that's exactly what the OP wanted us to do.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110074"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110074[/url] Just what you need. Bargain and great to play.