thodrik

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

There used to be a website called 'phat fingers' (or something) where you could punch in (for instance) 'Squier' and it would search eBay for near misses, like Squire, Squeer etc.

 

Right, I'm off to search for a Febner Jizz Base.

That is handy. I got a great deal on a Trace Eliot Base Kab once.

I’m in Orkney, nearest music shops are Inverness or Aberdeen i.e the locality where the OP is. 
 

If I am looking for a bass, I browse BC, the Gallery, Bass Bros or Bass Direct, all of whom deliver here unless I’m ordering something silly like an Ampeg 8x10. 
 

Some local folk here have seriously good kit, but it rarely gets sold, though if it does a bargain can be had because folk don’t want to post. We have our own local FB for sales which works okay though selection is limited. It is what it is.

Outside of that local group I don’t look at FB marketplace owing to potential scams. 

I had the Scout 15 combo for about 16 years. 

I found that the passive radiator could really penetrate through the floor when I was living in a flat. I didn't have the money available for a speaker isolation pod (or frankly know what a speaker isolation pod was when I got the amp).

I would practice with the amp sat on a sturdy coffee table or another cab or I would turn the cabinet on its side so the passive radiator wasn't directly facing the ground in the hopes that this would reduce the sub output. 

In the end I accepted it really wasn't a 'tenement flat' suitable practice rig if I wasn't living on ground floor.

It is very much a 'never sell' piece of gear for me. I just consider it to be a classic amp design.

Bogren Digital are doing an Autumn sale of plugins.

They don't have a lot other than 'Ampknob' amp sims which are controlled by a single gain control with predetermined EQ, impulse responses etc. I was very sceptical but downloaded a free trial of the 'Rev C' Mesa Dual Rectifier and Bassknob STD Ampeg SVT. 

Plugins are £35 each. Not expensive, but not cheap either. You can get some bundles of 3 for £70 or so. 

The sound? Really impressive to be honest, especially the guitar one. The bass one is very good, but is it 'better' than a Brainworx, Softube equivalent? Not in my opinion, but the Bogren is very easily to set up with a 'that'll do' tone for quickly putting an idea down without having to mess with 10 different settings. For that reason I bought it.

I have an UAD Apollo interface on a Mac. Thankfully it is really good because if I wanted to switch it for something else getting rid of all of the DSP plugins and UAD software would be an utter pain. 

46 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Thanks for the 'heads up', but Failure on all counts. Download needs a 'sign in', which requires filling in a daft tiny questionnaire. Once that's done, a Connect 'downloader' has to be downloaded and installed. This does an un-announced PC reboot (luckily I don't have several tasks ongoing, but they don't know that...). The 'Connect' software brings in iLok, again unannounced, which wants to tie in with UA. OK, why not; this is becoming ridiculous. I finally get to the plug-in Download page, which doesn't download the plug-in, it installs it. Where..? Default is to the 'C' drive (where nothing is installed; I 'change' to my 'J' drive, where all my Vst's are, but this applied change does nothing, it still says 'C' drive).
All this for an amp sim (I have real Fender amps, but... Whatever...).

I think I'm going to have to forgo this one, and spend half the evening ripping out the stuff that has been installed, everything but the Vst amp asked for. Oh well, it was a Good Idea, but... 😞

Sounds annoying.

A great majority of Plugin manufacturers require a plugin management tool (UA Connect, Softube Central, Slate Digital/SSL etc) and or an iLok account AND some kind of online account and password with the manufacturer’s website. It is bloody ridiculous.

38 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

Free guitar amp plugin from UA based on a Fender until the 31st. Not had a play with it yet, but I'm sure it's most likely not bad. 

 

https://www.uaudio.com/products/showtime-64-tube-amp?utm_source=general&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=uadshowtime

The other ones are decent to great, so this is a great deal. They just did a free LA2A compressor the other week as well.

I think UAD are getting ready to launch Luna 2.0 (their self created updated DAW) soon so probably trying to get as much engagement as possible.

I was in a band that literally played to a barman, one man and the man's dog. 

We did sell album to the man. We didn't ask if the album was for the dog.

1 hour ago, SimonK said:

Ta-da!!

 

Well done!

Quote

The purpose built caps on top of the amp to secure another cab, instead of just resting on top. Proper detail

Trace Elliot probably stuck the caps on after realising that Geoff Capes was the only human capable of lifting a Trace Elliot 4x10 combo on top of another cabinet.

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Wouldn't work, part of the tone was the direct result of the gravitational field that was itself the result of the mass of the cab 

This is also the case with my Powerhouse 6x10. 

On 02/09/2025 at 21:07, Paulhauser said:

Also some new RST Zebra limited ones

 

 

I love these finishes!

1 minute ago, agedhorse said:

we have tried hard to make the bass product owner’s manuals solid, accurate and educational documents. In the bass team’s opinion, players buying premium amps with a premium price tag also deserve a premium manual. It’s just part of a premium experience.

 

 

 

I still have my manual from the Walkabout from 2008 and it is a really quality document. 

I have a couple of high end amps where the manual is simply a schematics design, some very obvious warnings (this amp is loud, keep away from fire) and all the different things that will invalidate the warranty. 

The extra effort is really appreciated. 

Great manual as well. Mesa generally do very good manuals which deliver technical information in a really player-friendly manner. 

I normally expect to see selectable mid frequencies on modern amps, so it is nearly refreshing to see an amp with simple pre-set bass, middle and treble controls like an old school valve amp. 

Yepp, definitely on my list.

 

My go-to is the Softube Bass Amp Room suite. It is limited to an SVT clone, a retro solid state thing (which isn't great) and some kind of overdrive amp (which again isn't great). Only the SVT is actually useable but it is seriously good because it is easy to use and understand. The downside is that there is no dedicated bass amp overdrive which I think would be solved with a plugin version of the Agro pedal which I owned for about a decade.

I tried some Brainworx/Plugin Alliance, Bias FX and Amplitube sims but never really go on with them. I like the idea of the Helix but I think it would just present me with too many options. 

I really like Aguilar kit, so this is tempting. 

I do like the tone controls, simple layout and overall retro look.

£999 is good for a Mesa bass amp. My Walkabout combo cost me about £1500 quid in 2008, and the Big Block 750 I really wanted at the time was £1800 which is more expensive than any of the current heads in 2025. 

This is very much the Mesa amp I would be looking at if I was going to get another one, unless they release a class D Big Block...
 

I run a Clarett +8 octopre ADAT expander to my main interface (Apollo 8xp - not the current model). 

The stock preamps on the Clarett+ are really impressive and easily on par with the UAD stock preamps. The UAD preamps only become superior when you use the Unison DSP preamps, however with good mic placement I don't consider the Unison preamps to be the be all end all (especially when most of the popular UAD preamps are going native). 

Prior to the Apollo I had a second generation Scarlett, which was perfectly fine, but I did think that the Clarett + was a good step up. The new model Scarletts are exceptional for the price though.

The only thing I don't like about the 8 input Clarett interfaces is that phantom power is done in banks of 4 rather than per channel. Normally this isn't a problem but if I only had a Clarett 8pre to record drums and had 6 dynamic close mics and two condenser overheads then I am kinda screwed unless I get additional channels via ADAT. I think that the 8 channel Scarlett would be a better bet as I believe that it has independent phantom power per input. 

The Clarett stuff definitely gets a big thumbs up from me.

Is it any good? 

I am kinda tempted just because of the Agro pedal in plugin form.

4 hours ago, Mcgiver69 said:

Guys remember that Purafied audio is giving their everything bundle for £2 That's 7 high quality plugins.

 

The bundle includes:

- A guitar amp

- A nice reverb modeling every room of Panda Studios

- 2 compressors: A moded Distressor and a moded 1176 (all 3 versions)  and LA-3A

- An EQ based on half SSL and half API

- A snare sample trigger

- A limiter modeled after the famous Micro Limiter

 

https://purafied.com/products/the-everything-bundle

The snare trigger is intriguing by itself!

2 minutes ago, cetera said:

Scott's Bass Lessons next vid:

 

"Why Boutique Basses Crush Everything!"

Bass number 5 will SHOCK you.

3 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

And?

 

    ?

I quite liked it. Probably a solid 7/10 for me. 

16 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

Well I'm another who wants to give it the benefit of the doubt. I'm quite looking forward to it but with realistic expectations.

This how I approached the last Tool album after hearing the first single.

I have taken the decision to rid myself of additional delays, fuzz effects and additional drives now that I am doing more ‘meat and potatoes’ rock music. The result is my smallest board since about 2011.

Tuner, drive, compression, Sansamp.

Not especially original, but it works!

Forgive the cable spaghetti…

I was hoping for Lars Ulrich to appear on a version of Big Bottom and for him to insist on all bass guitars being lowered/removed from the mix in order to make space for more hi hat, kick and snare drum. 

. 

16 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

I disagreed with a decision to slow a song down to half speed.

 

 

In a stoner doom band this would be a sackable offence.