JTUK

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1412930978' post='2573330'] I wonder if you'd be saying this if you were selling them in your shop? Perhaps then you'd be highlighting the weight and aural delivery. [/quote] Maybe that is why some shops don't stock them. I've been to the shop in question and it has a lot of high quality kit so I would think... and I don't presume to speak for them,..that certain products aren't what they are looking for and wont work for their market. Shops live or die on those decisions... but I am planning a visit again soon....when TKS get a range in, as it happens.

250w into 4 ohms load is a loud as you will get from that amp, iirc. 250w, potentially, into 2 cabs is better 'volume' that 250w into a single cab, IMO. Your amp might mot actually produce 250w..without distorting, but 250w will be pretty loud. It might ruin your amp sound to drive the amp that hard as well... but it is the easiest way to go in getting a volume gain. At least a lower imperdence load will allow more volume to come out of the amp..and the 2 cabs you use to get it will fill out louder..

Something is either well made and designed or it isn't...in the eye of the person looking to buy a product. If it works for you then ok....if it doesn't work for others then people should be able to say so...and apparently they do. If something looks well desgined, then possibly it is..but if you can't get that right then you might ask what else is cobbled together. The problems don't seemed to have stopped at one little thing...as you now have people talking about the sound. ( That was actually the first thing I heard, and the cab making was just another thing, but sound is more 'subjective') If you are going into a design field, some people just have inherrent talent and others just don't and that is tough work as a one man show. That is why you get a team... as soon as you can afford to.

There are standards like Johnny B Goode that are a template for so many other songs so apart from the gtr riff... it doesn't matter what you are playing as long as you give it something. It isn't a song you learn, you busk it at Jam gigs and you go from there.... I don't think anyone puts it in a set unless you have a pretty special gtr ( and band ) as it is such a filler song...along the line of Mustang Sally etc etc .. You might play it ( Johnny B ) at a Social club if you have Rock n roll dancers needing a song..?? You need to be careful including such songs as it is so easy to play, bass-wise, that everyone cuts their teeth on it and the assumption is you are struggling to play/learn anything else.. This also does the song a dis-service but that is the way it tends to be.......... IMO.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1412858542' post='2572723'] I have an early gen 1 Compact and the handle has recently started showing signs of wear, hope I can get a replacement sorted when it does die. I'm not the original owner, and I've gigged pretty heavily with it in the last (almost) two years since I bought it, so not doing too badly when you consider Barefaced was probably a one man band when it was made. [b]I would like to upgrade to a Super Compact, which I understand has better handles, but they're a different company now.[/b] [/quote] Why does that make any difference..?

Once you get it upto YT, I'd think they compress it. I'm using Realplayer to copy off and the videos are coming off arounf 60mb.. ( it takes a bit of playing around to get them playback onto a DVD sometimes) Understand about upload speed tho...

I would think Avi would be about the same. Codecs are a compression in themselves as I understand it so what is the problem with putting up something on Youtube that is bigger that you'd like... as long as you can play it Space is cheap but I can't recall what size our uploads were but as I understand it they came off a HDD vid cam for the most part so doubt they were small. Does YT have a space limit..?

I like lots of cheeses... and we make more cheeses than anywhere else in the world. We must have quite a cheese industry I am chief cheese picker on our ski road trips...and the alpine countries make decent cheese as well.

I know the pub in question, I am surprised they don't have a doorman on fridays...I was there last week and I am not sure if I recal one,...?? It is a shame as that pub pay amongst the best around, so wouldn't want it to drop off the 'circuit'.... but the biggest problem seems to be their rosta as they have some strange bands up there that don't keep the people in. It has a lot of passing trade so you'd think it would be in their interest to keep the standard up. I was only talking to them the other week and they seemed to imply that have quite a line-up next year.... with a lot of bands coming down from London, and if they are anything like the deps we have...they wont travel cheap, so they need to get the people in...!!

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1412765797' post='2571730'] Interesting points. You're right that our Kings gave up their power and a lot of their wealth (though it has hardly trickled down to the same level as the majority of people) , but it took hundreds of years and wasn't always a smooth process. China's industrialisation in a global market context has only recently begun so it's probably a bit early to accurately predict how it will work out. Same with Russia. Anyway, the environment they are working in today is vastly different to what existed when we invented the industrial revolution, so it's probably not realistic to expect a similar outcome. Interesting times, but we're certainly no longer top of the pile when it comes to global reach and capability any more. [/quote] I think we gave some sort of 'democracy quite a long time ago... we allowed people to vote and we tried to clean up voting issues. All this happened 150-200 years ago which kind of empowered the 'lower' classes but the point is more that we had 'devolved' power of sorts ..compared to the rest of the world..and we had relatively benevolent leaders. Al this measured against the standard of the day, of course, but now we are coming across countries that are highly sospicated in some senses.... but pretty backward in others. As you say, it is a big gap to jump... Most of the progress made was made because people shared a bit more... whereas a lot of the countries we are competing against, don't seem to share very well at all. Again, share is relative Our recent PM's might have family money but even Blair didn't get his money from dipping into the states coffers. He may have done some other stuff just as heinous though,

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1412760209' post='2571627'] Good point about developing countries (terrible phrase really) starting from a higher technology base without all the legacy that can hold us back. We don't see India and African countries bothering to install miles of crappy telephone wiring that we are lumbered with for our digital communications. They go straight to mobile phones and optical fibre. And so it is with advanced manufacturing, which is why we've fallen behind. And yes, a big reason for the lower costs is the lower wages. It's an unpalatable truth that their standard of living is lower than ours so a typical UK worker needs higher wages to sustain his nice house, his own car, his 40 inch flat screen TV with Sky-everything subscription plus as assortment of expensive i-gadgets and foreign holidays. (Ironically, from a 'green' perspective, this is a good thing - but that's another discussion.). But their standard of living is catching up fast, so their current advantage won't last forever and then the world will be looking for the next area of low cost manufacturing. Perhaps this will be the UK by then? [/quote] This isn't catching up overnight... and it is argueable if the riches will be passed down. It took us an awful lot of laws and effort to get some of that wealth to the working man but we had a 'benevolent' stream by that time within our society. Maybe not enough but we had our Kings give up autonomy whereas the likes of likes of other countries might not. Russia, ..?? Cities like Moscow and St P seem quite cosmopolitan, but in the provincial cities, people still live in Flat complexes and single mothers go home to live with their parents in a two bed appartment and have their teenage son in the same bedroom..?? There is an argument that we should trade more with partners that have the same social costs but then we are left with trading with the E.U... Or, we could tariff certain countries if they knock most of our ability to manufacture our own goods. I have always said the only 'good' thing about Eurpoean states joining together is as a trade bloc. Never got why it it needed the politcal thing..?? And it is n't all about China, India, Brazil etc have huge potential. And finally, we will have to wait in line for our cheap labour option..the next stop wil be Africa, which...er.... China 'controls'..??

Same with 60's basses. They may play like dogs but I suspect the ones they didn't are the ones that lasted...the rest ended up as fire-wood somewhere alone the line... but we'd all still have one... as well as an Aston, so we could watch it appreciate in value. Astons would..so would Fenders.

I'd get the amp with the sound you want and an 8 ohm cab and that is your default rig. If you get the PF800, that assumes you can get 800 int 4 ohms..and around 475 into 4. Cab impedences are nominal so that is why you don't really know what your amp is producing and all your ears can tell you is that it is 'loud'. If the PF800 and PF115 is what you want to hear, then get that and bare in mind that the cab is not upto the output of the amp. Since you aren't in a loud band, you'll have to keep an ear out for any stressing of the speaker which should be easy. Maybe make a note of a position on the dial that you NEVER go beyond whilst running one cab.... it is likely to be more volume that you need anyway. Only on large stages and outdoors do you need to be a little more aware as this is where sound gets swallowed up ...and that is when you might like the extravagence of another cab to get potentially 800watts/full power. Depending on the amp... you may find it goes in to distortion before then anyway.. but we are talking about VERY loud. As long as you aren't going up against a very loud/deaf gtr, I think you'll be ok enough to hear when the rig is struggling. At that point, back off the volume a bit and tell the rest of the band to do the same. It is likely at that point the audience is getting blasted as well so no bad thing to turn down anyway..IMO.

Didn't Joe S pretty much write the book for that 'modern' style way back so you have him to either thank, or blame ..

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1412758592' post='2571607'] I would. When it comes to British cars of the 60s my rose coloured glasses are firmly put away in a drawer. [/quote] Nobody expects them to be daily runarounds... just as you wouldn't expect those present top marquess to do the mileage today. Of all those top sports cars, mostly with Italian names..or at least of that ilk, the only one that will drive all day every day, is a 911..which happens to be German.

The Chinese started from scratch with the technology of the day... It was deemed too expensive for the lies of us to do so..... plus we had 'outdated' labour laws, which weren't/aren't always a bad thing at all. One of the reasons the Far East is so productive/cheap is because they probably don't have the same labour costs, and not just the daily rate, either. Having said that, I'd be interested to know what the typical working conditions are over there. Anyone..?? So, if that is the case, it is apples and oranges, IMO.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1412709396' post='2571254'] Yes, after Ford bought it and dragged its production methods into the 20th century! [/quote] But who would turn their noses up at a 1960's Aston..??

Mag 400 is 500w @2 x 4 ohms..??? are you sure? I'd think it would do 500 into a 4 ohms load, but to run that, you'd either have 1x 4 ohm or 2 x 8 ohms. If you have been running a 300w 8ohm cab..... then you will be ok in the same band if you run the PF800 into the 8ohms portaflex. You can pair up another 8ohms cab at a later point if you need to. The only reason people suggest the PF800 is that it doesn't appear to have the history of failures of the PF500. Why Ampeg allowed the PF500 issue to fester and continue is beyond most people when they should have pulled it ages ago, IMO. Great sounding little amp, from what I've heard, but not helping the Ampeg name when threads pop all over the place pointing out a pretty common issue, it seems.

I keep looking west at Aguilar... they have really hit the market since they used to be a small studio brand. I know their product is generally expensive ..but I think it can justify the premium at the moment but there must be a very fine balancing act keeping sales up, supplying those sales, and producing local and small....i,e staying close to a family busniess. It can be done, if AC, Pensa, Fodera, etc etc ...are still doing it. With amps, it is probably harder..???

You can outsource pretty much everything if you wanted..and some U.K/western companies are no more than shells with a high level management/board level. So, that can mean no labour benefits in the local country and then you wonder why we never make anything and don't have a manufacturing industry. For this reason, I try and buy as local as I can. I can't be sure about all the components within, but most of my gear might pre-date the moves en-masse, to the far east. I think there is still a stigma about China, but then that get files under Far East ( IMO, to all intents and purposes ) and for quite a few things, ( white goods ) we aren't going to buy from the West. Even if labour charges were reasonable enough for the accountants, probably only assembly would be local as marketing is sensitive to 'putting' Westen labour on the dole, so likes the Made in (insert anywhere acceptable here ) on goods. I'd pay a premium for a good western product, ( it needs to be good ) but would want anythng from the Far east, CHEAP... Not really concerned about how good it is supposed to be, it needs to be cheap and workable. You pays your money and you take your choice. But remember all this when your company accountant outsources or makes people redundant as the reason will almost invaribly be someone else, somewhere else, is cheaper... and nobosy cares about that until it hits them in the face.

I think it is always a shame when a product ethic is over run by accountancy but almost inevitable in some ways. Typical story tends to be, Founder builds product over 20 years or so and just doesn't have the same drive anymore. Sells shares or part of the business and takes a back seat, or figure-head role, and spends the money he has spent most of his working life making or building up. Most companies consider cheaper components and far east production as something they will have to embarce at some point. I admire the ones you resist and try to make a point of supporting them if I can... but maybe we all need to retire on the cash we made, at some point, so this is a most natural progression. The best you can do is buy the older stuff but the market is littered with this type of thing.. We all want cheap fridges..... and will buy them. Not saying I know exactly what they have done in this case, but the industry knows the path trodden very well.

Preferred the first clip. Skimmed the second...........Noisey.

Most of the deps we have used..we've tracked down in part via FB...and booked them via FB once we have contact so I've found it more than useful. It is just part of today's social/networking media....but yes, also full of people and agendas you want nothing to do with but you can screen/legislate for a lot of them with privacy settings.

I use it as a music thing. Not interested in most peoples status and a lot of them come across as 'needy'...I feel, but as a promo and network tool, I find FB useful. In fact, I'd say you get more mileage out of FB than you do band websites.......... and if I could only have the one, I'd go for FB. Both need a degree of admin, of course.