thodrik

31 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I used to put Elixir strings on my Thumb bass when they first came out but i found them a little stiff. Maybe the new versions have less tension.

What did you find with them.

I killed a new set of D'Addaios at a very hot gig where i was sweating a lot. I've never experienced a set of strings going after one gig.

Dave

Elixirs are definitely a bit stiffer. However I use them to tune down so that is actually a plus point. I did try a 105-45 set in standard tuning but though that the strings were too stiff for slap and popping stuff so I should have got a 100-40 set.

11 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Thanks for that, longevity was one of the reasons i was going to change over to them.

No point changing as they are both similar prices.

Dave

No problem. For longevity I find that the D'Addario NYXLs last a bit longer. Though frankly I generally use Elixir these days. I prefer the tone of new D'Addarios but a set of Elixirs can last me 18 months as opposed to about 6-8 weeks on a set of D'Addarios.

I used to use them. Irrespective of any tension issues I found the nickle versions went 'dead' quicker than the average D'Addario set, so I didn't use them for very long. I think I went through two sets on a week long tour. 

 Nice enough strings, though I felt D'Addarios in the same gauge had a bit more tension. 

On 03/10/2022 at 16:24, Dood said:

incidentally , just to others help, the LH1000 bridges it’s full output in to 4 ohms - and, when measured properly, dumps out 1100W RMS in to said load. The power supply is hefty and definitely delivers a weighty sound.

 

Although it isn’t advertised or suggested, technically each 500W module in the LH can handle 2 ohms (hence the 4 ohm bridge capability).

 

/geek 

I tried a LH1000 through an EBS Proline 8x10 once. The owner of the rehearsal studio turned the master volume up just over halfway for ‘a laugh’ in bridged mode. I honestly thought I was going to be physically ill.   There is a serious amount of power on tap in bridged mode.

At ‘normal’ volume levels it was a really great but not very portable set up. 

1 minute ago, msb said:

I had a Mesa Walkabout for a bit , but it was too much to carry around. Just using it for rehearsals , and parking there was difficult.

I had blown up my GK MB150. It was off to repair , but took forever to get a replacement module for it. 

Liked the Mesa , but it was cumbersome and weighed a ton.

The combo is a lump to carry and is decidedly underpowered compared to modern class D amps. Though it was portable compared to my old Trace Elliot combo!

43 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

It's free. You can take it or leave it.

 

I have absolutely no idea who you are or how long you've been playing but when you say you struggle to be heard in a low metal band I assume you might need a pointer. 

 

Carry on. I'll continue to give advice where I think it's appropriate. You can continue to be rude to people who are offerring help. 🤷‍♂️

Okay, first I apologise that my first response came across as passive aggressive rather than having a bit of fun. That was not my intention. 

However, I did find consider that your post to be a bit condescending and did not really take into account the whole point of my post. 

In my post I was giving an account of my experience of using a Mesa Walkabout, an amp I have owned for over thirteen years (which I specifically stated in my original response which at least gives an indication of how long I have been playing and using that particular amp). The amp is well known for having a lack of clean headroom so there is a limit to how much clean volume is available, particularly when it is used in its combo format. This is well known to anyone who has used the amp, it is part of the reason that Mesa developed the WD-800. 

In terms of using the combo I actually wrote: 'It struggles in a two guitar format when the band is playing loud, low tuned rock/metal, but through a decent cabinet it is totally fine.' 

I was considering the limitations of using a 300 watt combo with limited headroom and volume capabilities in a high volume environment in the context of a thread which is discussing high power heads and just how much power is really required. With a different cabinet I can cut through just fine with the Walkabout head and I said as much, as did a couple of other posters on this thread. Yet you wrote 'Doesn't matter how loud you are, you won't cut through that without some serious EQ adjustments'. 

I felt that your post really didn't take what I wrote into account. I felt that you instead focused on the issue of low tuning and immediately came to the conclusion that issues faced by me when using the Walkabout combo in a high volume environment are due to me not knowing how to use EQ in order to cut through and also partly down to my bandmates being unable to use EQ and also being a bit juvenile for down tuning in the first place, as detailed in your reference to 'guitars who belive that a load of what they think they're hearing is guitar'.

So, respectfully I didn't actually consider that you were offering any meaningful assistance or advice that was relevant to what I actually wrote. However, I do apologise for the sarcastic nature of my initial response.

9 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Is that a touch of sarcasm I detect there?

Just a little bit but not really enough to cut through, probably on account of the low tuning. 

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Doesn't matter how loud you are, you won't cut through that without some serious EQ adjustments, especially cutting EQ from the guitars who belive that a load of what they think they're hearing is guitar. 

Wow, thank you for the advice. From playing bass guitar for over 20 years I had never before considered that EQ was important and I particularly appreciate your expertise which is based on a presumption that the guitarists in my band don’t know how to use EQ to compensate for their chosen tuning.

Cheers!

20 minutes ago, Muzz said:

I've yet to squish my '300w' (it may be more) Walkabout hard at any gig - for a loud gig without PA support (and why wouldn't I want that? I count it as a fail if I don't get it) I've run it through two BF cabs (full disclosure; it was a rock band, we were headlining, and it was far more for the Stacktastic look than anything else), and it was 'put-your-earplugs-in' loud...at that point you don't need any more backline power, you'll be through the PA, which (hopefully, depending on venue) has more power than you, anyway...

I have the same amp and it has been my main gigging amp for the better part of 13 years.

Usually I have used it in the 1x15 combo format. For three piece acts it is ideal though I have often had the master volume dialled to 60-75%. It struggles in a two guitar format when the band is playing loud, low tuned rock/metal, but through a decent cabinet it is totally fine. I have played outdoor festivals and stuck it through an Ampeg 8x10 and had headroom to spare. 

I used to have a Mesa M6 Carbine but sold it because it was too loud, clean and aggressive sounding. In addition to that the master volume had virtually no taper and acted like an on/off switch. So it had to go. I got a Mesa Big Block 750 instead which is a bit like a more powerful Walkabout but with more gain and a less sophisticated EQ. I don't think I will ever need a more powerful amp than that and it is 'only' about 500ish watts at 4 ohms.

I tried one Elite Jazz and thought that they were the best 'American Deluxe' type active Jazz basses Fender had ever made. 

Not tried the Ultras, but I was a big fan of the truss rod wheel on the Elites so in several ways I though that the Ultras were a bit of a regression rather than progression. However if the pickups and preamps have been improved further on the Ultras then maybe I could be persuaded otherwise. 

I personally think that the Elites looked nicer.

Generally I leave my Trace Elliot V6...at home!

Seriously, after finishing a gig, I would ideally put the amp on standby for a minute before switching it off. Then ideally wait a couple of minutes more before moving it. Get your bass put away, cables put away. If you still have time to spare offer to help the drummer. Then finally move your own (hopefully cooled down valve amp head) off the stage.

The reason I leave my V6 at home is with multiband gigs there is often a quick changeover so I might need to move my amp almost immediately after I play or I potentially have to let every bassist on the bill use the amp. Generally, if something goes wrong it will be incredibly expensive to fix (6 power amp tubes). Just not worth it. 

Big triangle Stubbys: either 1.5mm or 2.0mm. But this is with five strings and downtuned basses with thicker gauge strings. Very difficult to drop during a gig, every side works equally well, last for ages and easy to spot on the ground if I drop it because they are massive. 

With guitar either .88 or 1mm Dunlop Tortex. I would probably use the 1mm for bass when using a 100-40 set in standard tuning. 

‘     ‘
 

That was the band A but with one letter removed.

‘…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dad.’

I have generally always used single coil basses. Recently I have been keen to buy a bass with a humbucker or dual JJ pickups in the bridge position, potentially a Musicman or Warwick Thumb five string.

I can generally change from Jazz to Precision to something else entirely without difficulty. 

However the main switch I have done lately is from using fingers to using a pick. After 24 years of playing it feels like a revelation!

1 hour ago, Graham said:

I love that Lulu exists, because I swear Lou Reed trolled Metallica into making it, convincing them it was a work of profound art, laughing his derrière off the whole way.

 

I will however, never subject myself to listening to it a second time.

My friend bought the deluxe version for about £100. The person serving him in HMV asked him ‘are you sure?’ three times before he presented my friend with the chip and pin device to enable my friend to complete the transaction.

44 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Here's where the bar is set

 

I would offer the Lou Reed/Metallica Lulu collaboration with Metallica as a further bar.

Ian Astbury from The Cult loved it:
 

Quote

 

"Lou Reed, he's a 67-year-old man," Astbury continued. "His body of work is stellar, he is one of our greatest laureates. If you know anything about Lou Reed, he's not well right now. He's deteriorating, his body's sick, he's getting frail and fragile. He's chosen Metallica to be his muscle, to be his armor, so he can come out one more time and make a statement of what's happening in his internal life, and he's using this Weimar Republic play, Lulu, to put himself over."

"If you actually listen to the record, there's some phenomenal moments on it, by anybody's standards. 'Junior Dad' for example, I think is a flipping brilliant piece of music."

 

https://thequietus.com/articles/07865-loutallica-lulu-ian-astbury-the-cult

Frankly, there is more artistic beauty in Astbury's defence of the album than in the music itself. 

On The Cult, I actually think that Beyond Good and Evil is their best album. It was released on 2000 and they were kind of going for a harder edged sound to fit in with the nu-metal crowd. They then made a brilliant psychedelic/stoner rock album almost by accident. I still really like it. 

Played last night at the final night of a local rock festival. 

It was our fist proper gig since last November when we opened for the Wildhearts and even then one of our guitarists missed that through COVID...

Anyhoo, the venue was jammed. Very sweaty and very much like a pre-pandemic gig. There ended up being a mosh pit in the last song that spilled over on to the stage resulting a large semi-naked man crashing into me, also bashing the jack socket in my Vigier Excess, resulting in the jack socket falling out of the bass with the lead still attached! The bass was somehow still working, albeit with the loose lead and jack socket hanging from the bass, so I just kept playing until the end of the song (and with that the gig). 

Inspected the bass when I got home and discovered that the problem was that the nut that holds the jack socket in place must have been knocked loose and then fell off. An easy fix. I've had the bass for 18 years now and it has always been used as a 'workhorse' bass rather than a 'boutique' bass, so it has had a few bashes and knocks over the years.

All being said, it was a pretty fun gig and the band are looking to finally get things going again after a period of job changes, house purchases, engagements, marriages and kids over the last couple of years which tend to happen to people in their 30s.

30 minutes ago, Clarky said:

Don't shoot the messenger*

 

I was just sharing for entertainment/comment

 

* Which ironically sounds like a Megadeth track title, although they [ie Dave M] would probably remove the "Don't" and replace "shoot" with "nuke"!

The track would also open up with audio of either: 

- the US President ordering some kind of nuclear strike; or

- slightly eastern sounding music to signify some kind of terroristic threat

2 hours ago, Clarky said:

Rave (9/10) review of new album from Blabbermouth, asserting that its their best album since Endgame or Countdown to Extinction

 

https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/the-sick-the-dying-and-the-dead

Pretty much every new rock/metal album by an older metal band is considered to be their 'best' album since their last good album by most of the mainstream rock/metal press. Even St Anger got pretty positive reviews on its initial release. From reading Classic Rock and Metal Hammer and Kerrang for years, I could pretty read the headline for most album reviews by certain 'legacy' acts before I had even heard a single note.

Every new Megadeth album is the best since Countdown to Extinction;

Every new Metallica album sees them 'return to their roots'; and
Every new Def Leppard album is a 'return to form' which is entirely unrelated to the fact that the magazine reviewing the album is also co-sponsoring the tour;
 

3 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

Liam Gallagher, Brian May, Krist Novoselic and Stewart Copeland playing Come As You Are, please

If I am being honest, I would actually pay to see Come As You Are performed by Brian Johnson, Geddy Lee, Lars Ulrich and Nile Rodgers.

A regular Sadowsky 5 string comes with either a 1 3/4 inch (essentially 45mm) inch or a 1 7/8 inch (essentially 47.5). The Will Lee five string basses come with the thinner neck but so do some of the other Sadowsky five strings (not sure about the modern German made Metros though)

My 2009 NYC has the 45mm width neck which actually seems pretty wide to me, as my other five string is a Vigier Arpege which has a 42.5mm width nut! Both are very easy to play.
 

Generally very good service to me. 

The correspondence I receive (on the phone and email) is very short and to the point as opposed to the gushing, flowing,  'I am your friend' type of correspondence a lot of businesses try to deliver to customers these days. It doesn't bother me but I totally understand why some would find the whole  process a bit 'unfriendly' compared to some of the competition. However I generally get a reply to an email query within 24 hours. 

They also deliver to the Scottish Highlands and Islands without making an issue or kicking up a fuss, which is entirely welcome as some businesses frankly don't. 

Ordering something that is detailed as in-stock and is then suddenly out of stock though is infuriating though. I had that issue with the old Bass Centre before it stopped stocking decent gear. I waited on a Mesa Walkabout combo for 4 1/2 months despite it being 'in stock' when I ordered it. The only benefit is that I received the newer blackface model rather than the old silverface model I originally ordered, and I paid the 'old' price rather than the updated price of the blackface so the delay technically worked out in my favour. 

Again, I will continue to use Bass Direct. Mainly because the second-hand section is brilliant and they deliver (as opposed to 'collection only' private sales which are not possible in my location).

6 minutes ago, 2elliot said:

It'll be out of date by the time it lands in the UK.

It will also be downgraded to 800 watts, feature only a single band compression, have one mid control and the  footswitch will be an optional extra at the cost of £250.

58 minutes ago, Rich said:

Likewise. I love the old Trace gear, the GP12SMX is still my favourite preamp of all time, and I desperately want this new TE amp to be completely brilliant. It'll have to be, to a} replace my current Shuttle 9.2 and b} be worth the likely pricetag.

I used a Trace non-stop from the age of 12 to 22. It was eventually replaced by a Mesa Walkabout which has been my main amp since 2009. I even had an GP12 SMX amp for years but sold it because by the age of 30 I was just fed up of the graphic and pre-shape. Kinda regret selling it now though.

My only Trace Elliot product now is the V6.

A ‘drive’ feature on the new amp is one thing I would have liked to have been included, but I suppose that isn’t in keeping with the classic clean Trace sound.

I saw that Trace Elliot had stuck a 5-6 video on Facebook providing an overview of the amp and the 4x10 cab. I'm at work and can't provide a link but it was vaguely interesting. However not much sound samples beyond the standard 'slap in the key of E' stuff and no demonstrations of the EQ or compression. 

It does look nice, however I did roll my eyes at some of the marketing talk. The shots at competitors using 'off the shelf parts' (i.e. the ICE power modules used on many bass amps) was a bit amusing. Trace Elliot may not cut any corners in terms of the design if they do indeed everything from the ground up for specific use for bass guitar (if Peavey have designed their own bespoke power amp then great). However, production of the amps and cabs takes place in China and the items are priced higher than a lot of the boutique USA amps who manage to keep costs low on account of using said off the shelf parts. At a probable price of £1500 or so, it is a hell of a lot of money to spend on a class D amp.  

I'm still interested, but given that I can get a Genzler, Trickfish, Bergantino, Aguilar or Mesa (when they appear in the UK) for probably less, the TE 1200 would need to be one hell of an amp. However, the possibility that it very well could be has still got me interested.