Vasquez Rich

Yes, take your amp to the shop and try everything you can afford. My recommendation would be anything from the Hartke XL range though as they are very good cabs IMHO. The 410XL is an excellent piece of kit. Richard

My main amp is a Hartke 3500 coupled to a Hartke 410XL cab and these are awesome bits of kit, very loud, very punchy and very robust although very heavy as well. When I was in the market to get a big cab, after using a smaller one, I took my HA3500 to the shop and tried everything I could afford (that excluded the Ampegs and SWRs) and the 410XL came out best (I wasn't surprised). The Hartke VX range was cheap and muddy by comparison, the Ashdown cabs were quite awful, Peavey not very good, few others I can't remember. I have played gigs through kit shared Ashdowns and have always thought that my Hartke sounds better, with one exception at a gig in Leeds but that may have just been the room/setup etc.. in general I would always prefer the Hartke. I have recently "aquired" an Ashdown Mag200 combo (1x15") but have not pushed this to any volume yet.. doubt though that it will rival my other stuff though. In short. Hartke all the way, VX range not worth the money, XL range definitely worth the extra. Richard

Maplins used to do empty cabs.. not sure if they still do. www.maplin.co.uk I think. Richard

I just bung a mic direct into my Dell laptop, works fine. I actually use some video editing software to record the files in wav but the normal sound recorder will do it just as well. Edit the files, write them down to mp3, mail them to the rest of the band before the next rehearsal, job's a guddun. Richard

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='170605' date='Apr 6 2008, 10:57 AM']You have not heard of light weight ply and neo magnets then?[/quote] Neodymium? I have a Ph.D. in metallurgy, so yes. They are actually iron based so are not really lightweight. Either way you are paying for the ability to translate electric signals into air movement and big magnets do this better than small magnets. Richard

Had it switched on for 4 hours and no ill effects. Looking good. Will give it a good run at a rehearsal next week. Richard

I always apply this rule of thumb... if a speaker cab weighs a tonne then it's likely to be LOUD. After all what you are paying for is big magnets... and generally big magnets have higher sensitivity.. of course the cab might be made of ebony with a lead lining... but that's another issue . Richard

Simply yes. I had one for 2 years, nice amp, robust, loud. I traded it for a Hartke HA3500 for a bit more beef and the DI out on the back that the HA2000 lacks. Other than that they are good amps and will do just about any job you ask if allied to a decent cab (I used a Hartke 410XL). If you can get a HA3500 amp for about the same or a little bit more then go for that. Plus Loud Compact Graphic Solid/tube preamp Negative No DI out New ones are silver coloured (I prefer the plain black) Needs a decent rack box (I made one to fit out of chunky chipboard, plastic corners from Maplins) Richard

Yes, it may have been dodgy soldering leading to a bit of heat build up, maybe a small bit of arcing.. anyway will test it and let you know. Thanks, Richard

Dave, Thanks for that. I re soldered the capacitor connection as it was on a direct run on the circuit board to the point at which I was getting the DC on the speaker out terminal. I rebuilt everything up and it seems to be working, there is no voltage at the speaker terminal and the speaker itself sounds normal with just the normal hissing when it's turned up. I take your point about having probably repaired a result of a fault and not the fault itself.. I will test the thing out properly in the next few days. If I keep it it will be my 3rd best amp in anycase. If the fault returns then it will be a dead giveaway with the loud buzzing. Thanks again, Richard

The older Fortress's were all passive, mine is/was, 1993, and I'm told one of the first in the UK , you can tell the older ones by the extra contouring and two small scallops either side of where the neck bolts to the body. I replaced the passive circuit with an EMG active one shortly after I got it. I still have a diagram of the old layout somewhere if you'd like me to dig it out. I probably kept the components as well. The original circuit had no battery for the MEC pickups. Richard

Without a shadow of a doubt my beautiful Warwick.. over there on the left. Richard

I've just stripped the power stage out and one of the large electrolytic capacitors (4700 microfarad, 100V) has one of it's connections loose. In addition it looks like something has got it hot enough to melt the solder connection leaving the metal strip loose through the circuit board, there are some small black "burn" marks on the underside of the circuit board, but only around where the solder should have been. I can obviously resolder this back, but was wondering if the connection has got hot enough then is it likely that the capacitor has blown? What could get that connection so hot? Richard

A mate of mine had this combo left in his rehearsal room and the owner don't want it, he's a drummer so he's thrown it at me. It has a loud, and I mean loud, buzz from the speaker when it's powered up. The speaker is fine when connected to my Harke so is in decent nick. There was a loose end of a jack plug tip stuck in the high Z input, and I have removed this.. the input section appears fine and the meter thing these Ashdowns have on them responds OK to a bass played into either input. I think the issue may well be in the power section as there is a 2.1V appearing at the speaker out jack (tip of the jack) that I an sure shouldn't be there. The input and output potentiometers have no effect on this. I am OK with electronics and soldering so if I have a clue as to which components are bust or need replacing then I can do that, just need some help in either finding the problem parts or finding out how to find them. Thanks, Richard

Spent a lot of time on both sides in various bands, even in the middle in one!.. much prefer to be on the drummers hi hat side then I can see his crash's before he hits them and see his right foot on the kick pedal if I need to, in any very noisy unhearing parts. Richard

Voted Fortress, the best balanced bass I have ever played. Have a Spector also (from which the Streamer is copied) which is very nice also, especially when combined with a nice finish. Richard

Yep, my money's on a 60s Burns. Richard

On my picture on the left

Eh?? Replace them... no..... the Hartke cabs are excellent, just get some help lugging them around. IMHO when you pay decent money for cabiniets you are really paying for magnets, that's what makes them work and what ultimately produces the air shoving power you get from these cabs. Can't see the point in replacing the speakers just to make the cab a bit lighter. Mine is paired with the Hartke HA3500, works fine, pumps loads of air, never had the amp up above 5 in a gig, even on a big stage. Richard

[quote name='King Tut' post='97517' date='Dec 2 2007, 10:13 AM']+1 for trios - more room to play, easier to organise, more money each per gig. Col[/quote] Money?? I must definitely be in the wrong part of the world. Richard

Saw an all girl band in the summer... called "Tits of Death"... no, honestly, they had two bass players. Richard

Paper centres with aluminium outers??? How's that gonna work when you're wobbling 41Hz though them, need some pretty darn good glue in my opinion. I have Hartke 410XL and it's very good, if it ain't broke... Richard

Yeah, am trying, want to do some psychedelic slanted indie, all wobbly synths and driving bass/drums with some spoken word.. just sort of getting it together with guitar/singer and drummer but finding another guitarist and a keys/synth player has been tough. My last band was excellent (IMHO), but I supposed I'm a bit biased, but there were too many things against us carrying on, mainly half of the band not living in the same city! I'd drop back in with them in an instant tho. Richard

Avon, EB copy, high action, duff strings.. still got it, my son plays it... when he's not nicking my Spector that is hehehehe. Richard hey.. that Burns above, there's one of them chucking about in our rehearsal room, missing a couple of strings... just lobbed in the corner, dunno who's it is, just got left there.