JTUK

Many reasons not to show the thumb in my view, but if you think you don't have a problem playing, then it would probably take up too much time to 'fix'..

I just flit through Youtube and see where it takes me. Currently going through Michael Macdonalds catalogue looking for band material

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1429789873' post='2754978'] You may have a point there... Problem is that the used market is pretty depressed at the moment. It is a good time to buy but a poor time to sell. If I tried to sell my Big One (which I don't want to do!) I would be lucky to get £450 for it - and £375-400 would probably be more realistic. That wouldn't give me much buying power on the used cab market... I settled on the Big One after trying quite a number of cabs over the years. For me, it gives the perfect compromise in size, weight, tone and dispersion. Also, I don't have a large budget for music gear as my band is not regularly gigging and therefore not bringing in any money. So my bass purchases come out of the "family" pot - which means I would need a very good reason to invest an extra few hundred quid. Currently I can't justify that, and have no intention of trying. A pair of TKS 112s would no doubt fit the bill very nicely - but I can't stretch to buying them new right now So, on balance, it is a far wiser idea to look for another amp [/quote] Yes, I was kind of joking ... and you can guess why.. I saw a couple of SL112's the other day for £600... A few months ago I would have bitten the guys hand off but I have my cabs on order now... Hopefully they'll appear soon...

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1429800331' post='2755097'] [url="https://www.youtube.com/user/infusion26"]https://www.youtube....user/infusion26[/url] I generally look at this gents covers. He has covered a lot of songs we play. The bass is always clear to pick out, and usually pretty close to the original as far as i can tell. [/quote] Just had a look at that ABC link.... he seems to have an awkward fretting style but it isn't clear whether he plays like that, or whether he is trying to make it easy to follow visually... I would hope he wouldn't teach that and some of his fingering seems unnatural/clumsy...??? Just an observation, no biggie otherwise..

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1429797479' post='2755058'] Kind of. But when I'm playing in a shop or at a band practice I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm buying a bass or practicing with the band. If I'm on stage then I'm trying to entertain and maybe impress an audience. I don't think I've ever gone into a shop to impress shop staff. Seems a bit of an odd concept. Hence. I don't have a box of tricks to play. [/quote] But the other side of that is that we do play to impress... We play to impress to get in a band and we play to impress at a gig. Entertain and impress can be similar things here but music is also competitive in that there is only one bass slot open in a gig and you need to get it..? Auditions are all about that and in some ways you are selling your prowess in many other instances. At open mic and jam nights, you are often going there to network and get a gig. If you want to play with lots of people and you want the gig above the others, then impressing is going to be part of that. If I was playing in a music shop, I might make a contact or just get known by someone etc etc .... I can always turn down something if I'm offered in in the first place.... but conversely..? Of course, this 'intensity' has a down side, and the above instance might be part of that, but that is also is what drives you on over all these years so you have to accept the good with the bad... or that is how I deal with it.

Sell the cab, get one that works with what you have :lol; That is if you like the amp.. I think it will be easier to cab match the amp than vice versa..??? Again,

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1429719477' post='2754274'] Well if you set them up in the usual format of 410 on top of the 115, then what you`ll mainly hear is the 410 due to the height of the stack. So when only using the 410 that`s why it`s likely to sound similar. Try it with the 115 on top to see of there are any changes. [/quote] This... but you should notice the volume settings are different.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1429780269' post='2754794'] I have never used studio monitors for bass! For years I used Trace Elliot, them moved via Ampeg and Ashdown to Hartke and Barefaced. I was happy with that for several years too - but always wanted to get more midrange from my tone. The Big One could reproduce it, but only if the bass and amp were putting it out. As I mainly use Jazz basses with both pickups on full, obviously the bass is not chucking out a whole lot of mids! The Hartke's tone stack is notoriously mid-shy and the combination of the two was frustrating me. I tried various outboard graphics and EQ pedals - and even a Marcus Miller J bass with onboard J-retro preamp, but wanted an amp that could do it. Hence this frustrating quest to find an amp that is simple, powerful, clean, mid-capable and (most importantly) within my budget! I never thought of my tone as being particularly pure or clean, but maybe it is. I like to think of it as the sound of my bass(es), but maybe a lot of other bass players like to hear a bit of "warmth" or "grit" or "hair" around that sound too. That's not for me. I guess my ideal would be something along the lines of the LH500, but with sweepable or 2/3 band mids. Does such an amp exist for around £450 used? I have my eye on an old Fender 800 pro on here, but I know nothing about Fender amplification. At least it should have the power on tap to drive the Big One more efficiently... I have also been looking at two Ashdown heads with 12 band graphics - the MK500 and the JJB500. Again, I have no experience of either - but they are available at good prices and seem (from what I have read) to offer a clean tone with plenty of tone-shaping capability. I would love to like the TH500. It's lightness and looks are fantastic! It has a range of great sounds that, with a different cab, I would be able to use. But I just can't live with it in the real world [/quote] I meant playback thru studio monitors if recording as they are my version of clean and those amps don't strike me as the epitome of clean either, tbh. The Jazz on full is scooped ...and Geddy Lee's sound is definitely scooped. But then, again, everything is going to be scooped somewhere in the range as full on mids are very harsh on the ear. I think the best tone stacks are complimentary to each other, and sometimes this is not helped by having one extreme or another. That is why there are classic combinations ..like SWR and Jazz, IMO, and P Bass and Ampeg. And of course, this makes a mockery of the myth of being flat... All that means to most is that their amp is set neutrally on the controls, typically 12', but it doesn't take into account where the bias may be...and by the same token, how a cab has been tuned, what focus the pickups have, etc etc If you really want flat, then maybe you need no tone controls at all... but not many players will be able to cope with that, IMO... so it means that you need to choose and find where your 'colour' actually is... If flat meant anything scientifically, all amps would sound the same..??? and who wants that..?

Which is what gtrs have been doing for years. I don't know what your end goals really are regards sound but I suspect an awful lot of players don't or can't want ultra clean sounds. Ampeg have made their name on their version of a bass sound, which to some is still a benchmark. My theory is that Aguilar have stolen it and moved things on. Other bass players will put a drive pedal in front to dirty things up that the natural break-up of a cab used to do.. so there is a use for colour in the signal chain. Unless you are used to studio monitors for bass, I don't really see why you go for that, tbh... and even then I'd have to hear what you are trying to achieve to get a feel for it..?? The TH500 is a good amp and works with many cabs..IMO. it depends how expensive it will be to go thru a load of amps to find one which does what you have in your head.

They'd double booked the bass, so they offered to pay us both and we could both do a set. I took the money as I'd travelled best part an hour and let the other guy do the whole gig as I didn't see much point getting up and he was happy enough to do it. ( Truth be told I was annoyed anyway and this needed to be a lesson to the booker..?? ) I've never been asked back altho I do get invited to the bookers own Xmas party which is quite 'exclusive' among his muso mates. Still, to this day, I'm not quite sure what happened, tbh. and why I don't get any gigs from the booker. Maybe the bass player gets gigs as he carries the P.A..?

For tracks, I just put a live version up and play it. I am not sure I get what people can't hear about a line or a song unless it is something like 'Hysteria' where the part is very specific and it can't really be bodged. But since I learnt by wearing out vinyl then playback is very natural to me. MY aim is to get beyond the line and play it so it sounds like me and you need to groove in your ear and your playing to do this. I'm never fussed about an exact copy unless everyone else in the band can do that too... which doesn't really happen. I think you want to pick players who can bring a new take to a standard so that is my goal. Set the drum pattern and that is it and it comes alive. Without drums.... not so much, IMO. I like to play with people whose playing I like and that takes over the track.

Not back tracking at all....I stand by what I wrote and I've just enlarged on it. My thoughts about what this place is for related to someone asking me for clips of my playing but you'll have to ask them why they'd want it. I just said I wasn't interested in promoting or selling anything here which is why I don't feel inclined to post clips

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1429732369' post='2754461'] So how is saying that you laugh at people playing bass in shops sharing knowledge or resources? [/quote] I said I kind of laugh ( wry smile ) if playing a standard riff in the shop context, and half of that is that we've all done it thinking it would impress, when it probably doesn't, especially if that riff is one you recognise when you were a kid learning to play these standards ...-and the other half is that the vast majority of musicians I know have an ego...as that is what gets them up on stage in the first place. Some may hide it better than others and some may not wish it to be a factor as they know where they are in their playing, but it is there in most, IME. Someone playing in a shop is nothing to do with my thoughts about what this place is for.

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1429731490' post='2754450'] Do you have any links you could provide to audio or video of you playing? Just so we know what we should be aiming for. Cheers. [/quote] Not really, I don't come on here to promote myself or anything I do. To me, it's a resource/knowledge share that is given freely by members, I'm not selling anything

[quote name='Subbeh' timestamp='1429725712' post='2754350'] Yeah me too. I'll often prance around them with a cape and a crown on, really let them know how far beneath me they are. Bleedin' plebs eh? [/quote] Yep, all in line with top 3 bass riffs to try out if they are watching. I'd think we've all blazed away in a shop for hours trying to impress when we were young.....and it just doesn't. It is the same as that sound check riff...so if you are trying to impress, then make sure you can do so...

It is easy to work out by ear... and it gives you a nice little turn-round and then stacks the forths which is what you can use when the gtr wants a 12 bar.. That will get his attention. Use it as a stepping stone for ghost note technique AND a way to jazz up a standard 12. Piano players will get it in one...if they are reasonably musically educated, but way too many gtrs wont so it is a nice little thing to have in the bag and make them think you know a bit..

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1429693715' post='2753927'] lol! [/quote] It's only polite, ... if they don't want me to touch it because of the price tag, then no problem, but of course, I get the point about leaving it jacked up against a cab.. Have to say, I generally don't get Fodera's now even though I desired them from afar, some time ago. I've moved on as to what I want, and a Fodera doesn't fit.... atm.. Funnily, the same argument does not apply to a Smith... ????? Might search out an AC at some point to... and so back to the Fender vibe which is where I'm at, atm

I think I'd be tempted to pay that as a session rate as I'm sure I could a few great live tracks for £150 a day as long as the day was short-ish. Depends how you see the standard and purpose of a demo..... if it was just for recruiting, I think I'd settle on loops as anything else, I'd think of as overkill...

Look at it, maybe ask if I could pick up.. but would tell them I wasn't interested in buying it...as couldn't afford it.

A lot of lines are going to sound lame without drums... so I'll play a solo type piece that I've been working on... then I'll try a few things that are technical to see if the bass can do it...or I can do it on that bass. If I can't then why would I want a bass that isn't as playable as ones I already have. I can sort the sound out in a few mins..for my purposes.

How much..? And how much about his playing do you know?

You could be over driving the input gain on the mixer, but I assume you'd know it was clipping there.

Mud implies lack of clarity in the woofer, break up of the horn or distortion is more common and probably a blown unit. I am getting the impression that these cabs will not be able to perform reasonably and unless they prove otherwise, you are going to have to make provision elsewhere. They seem to me to be disco speakers so unless they were bought new, they've probably had a caning. Either the chassis units are poor or the amps are... either way, I would be seriously doubting these will do any sort of job..as your present rehearsal set-up is proving..?? I don't think you can magic up a good sound with these... sorry.

Cabs could be poor quality or shot. Can you get any sort of clear signal at any sort of level..?

I've heard people say very good things about Alto cabs, which are in the budget range price, but the point about Martin is that they are light years ahead of cabs like PV and Mackie, and also ahead of QSC which are the benchmark for local bands P.A IMO. Martin stuff will be old but assuming you can still get the drivers if anything is wrong..and you can lump the wooden cabs, then you'll have so much more bang for the buck. The downside of cabs of this grade will be that they will be old, wooden-made and will likely need a decent heavy amp rack with their own controller, but if you can entertain these issues, you'll have a very very capable P.A. We ran Martin ICT500 ( 410 ) cabs and the appropriate Crest amps and controller and that was our best and most capable sound by far. We replaced it with QSC KW which was lighter and quicker to set up and generally a better carry all round, but the trade off was the sound. That was a trade-off we could live with. Cost of the ICT500's with controller was £500 and we sold for the same money 18 months later. I wish I'd kept them.. as Martin is excellent gear but generally too expensive for us, if anywhere near new prices but then you pay for quality If it were me, I'd be looking at RCF 7/5/3 series with the 2" horns...and you may get these in active versions. For a pub band set up active makes sense... there is a valid argument that separates are better, but that is another topic.