Cosmo Valdemar

I had one for a while - good if you want to sound like Lemmy but not a lot else, unless you play at low volumes. When you get up to gig volumes it starts to distort quite heavily, and to stop it farting you have to cut the low end quite dramatically. The amp was a bit of a holy grail for me at the time - I was hoping to cop some Roger Glover / Chris Squire sounds, but in the long run I was sorely disappointed. If you are intending to use it in a loud-ish band it will really struggle. I've always considered myself a fan of old school gear, but have rapidly come round to the thinking that a lightweight, powerful head combined with an effective valve pedal will do the job just as effectively. Also consider something like the Tech 21 character pedals - I have the Leeds one which emulates a Hiwatt stack, and it is stunning. I sold the Marshall to a guitar player in the end, and he loves it. Sorry to be so negative but this is my honest experience with the amp.

[quote name='Stealth' timestamp='1352633568' post='1865300'] In my experince Ric 4003s dont really like being downtuned very much. [/quote] This. Which makes their popularity in downtuned Stoner metal bands baffling to me. Mind you, every time I've seen a Rick being used in this way they've sounded terrible, a wooly, boomy mess. Fair enough if that's the tone you're after, but if so, why use a Rick?

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1352726232' post='1866529'] They really go for it and have even given one of the pots a slight crackle! [/quote] Beautiful bass, but... Seriously?!

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1352494339' post='1863942'] I use Chris McIntyre in Edinburgh (and sometimes London). Setup including filing the nut £35 . Telling me it's a blend pot and not the volume I thought it was, no charge. That's why the pickup didn't work. Doh! [/quote] I used to take all my stuff to Chris when he was in Peckham, he's excellent. Edinburgh is a bit of a mission for me now though.

As neck breaks go, it doesn't look too bad! I've seen many worse examples that have been restored relatively easily (by a professional of course). I'm sure Jon will do an excellent job.

Let me know if you ever get down to London or the SE!

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1351894065' post='1856785'] Keep trying to put a Stranglers song in The Daves set. [/quote] I've got just the pedal for that Lozz

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352329333' post='1861924'] What exactly do Gibson have against chrome pickup covers and hardware these days? [/quote] They sound (and look) good.

I've just spent a lovely morning at Lozz's place, discussing all things Precision and fiddling with pedals... I could have cheerfully stayed all day, Lozz is a top bloke. I also came away with the Markbass amp he had up for sale on here. As before, the amp is in virtually pristine condition, very well looked after. Lozz even knocked off a few quid as he didn't need to post it. A great chap to deal with. Thanks Lozz!

I'll leave it a while before I contact him about making me a new scratchplate then... Glad to hear all's well.

Very helpful thread, this.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1351690858' post='1854201'] A local venue used to use an ashdown mag 600 through an ashdown mag 4x10 and the sound was pants (farting speakers). They changed the cab to a ampeg SVT classic 4x10 and now the sound is fantastic. So my advice is to get an ashdown amp but if you already have a decent ampeg 6x10 stick with it and see if you like the sound before you spend money on an ashdown 4x10 because an ashdown amp and ampeg speakers are a good combination. [/quote] I had the exact opposit experience - to my ears, Ashdown amps really don't sit well with Ampeg cabs. They make the sound a lot duller, a lot less top end. Mind you, that might be the sound you're after - I was going for the full-on, Entwistle treble and grind tone so it didn't meet my needs. I owned both the ABM 8x10 and 4x10 - same basic sound from both, although the 8x10 has that irresistable advantage of being higher so is much easier to hear and feel during a gig.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1351685456' post='1854101'] A few EHX ones do, try POG, HOG and even the Microsynth. Also a couple of Boss pedals will do it, as well as the Foxrox Octron [/quote] I used a Micro Pog once that was lying around the studio. With the higher octave setting at the same level as the dry signal it pulled off a very convincing 8-string impression... Very impressive. Cue band jam of Achilles Last Stand.

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1351277065' post='1849696'] They're fine. People talk enormous twaddle about their soulless sonic quality but they produce a nice even spectrum of sounds often requiring no EQ unlike other makes. Particularly underrated are the HZs - the passive models. [/quote] This. I love the HZs in my old Spector NS2000 - in fact I probably prefer the tone I get from it to the various Euro Spectors I've owned over the years. They're running at 9v - I've certainly never felt the need to upgrade in any way.

[quote name='basskit_case' timestamp='1351514747' post='1851960'] Went looking for more info on this pedal and it looks like Ashdown have canned it. The pedal is in their archive and appears to be no longer in production, [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?section=pedal&ID=276"]link.[/url] [/quote] Oh dear, this one sounded promising.

Done it for years, never had any problems. Why the aversion to down tuning? A P bass in drop D is a brutal experience!

I have a longhorn from a few years ago - if this Wild Thing is anything like it (and the hardware looks the same) it will sound excellent. My only qualm with the longhorn is it is inherently quite fragile, and is very easy to knock out of tune. I wouldn't fancy gigging with it, but I love the sound - very aggressive twang, and surprisingly deep and heavy. Drop tuned to C, it sounds immense. I agree they are a little overpriced, but Danelectro seem to produce each line in limited numbers. I had a hell of a time trying to locate a Dano 12 string a couple of years back.