thodrik

Trace Elliot V6 owner here. Pros: tone for days, loud as hell, heft by the buckets. Cons: re-valve costs which can run into the hundreds, needing to be careful with speaker inputs (mine works 4 ohms and 2 ohms, so I'm not risking an 8 ohm loud), the fear for something just going wrong at a gig, heavy (mine isn't SVT heavy but it is too heavy for the one carry handle it has!), limited EQ (on this Trace, the passive EQ takes a while to operate, particularly with an active bass). An Ampeg SVT though is an absolute classic of an amp. What model did you get? At the moment I am torn between getting another all valve head or going the 'modern' route of getting either the new Mesa WD800 or a Darkglass Alpha Omega 900. My concern though is that now matter how clever modern designs are, nothing beats just waiting for your valve amp to heat up, flicking the standby switch and just playing a low E (or better, a low B) at high volume.

I bought a Mesa Powerhouse 6x10. If you want lightweight definitely look elsewhere. However in terms sound projection and clarity it is the best cab I have ever played through. Okay it isn't saying much since I played through the same Trace Elliot speakers for most of my 20 years of playing and I'm 'only' 32, but it also includes all the hire or backline gear, which includes all manner of Ashdown, Hartke, Marshall, Peavey, Eden, Ampeg and EBS cabs I have played through over the years. For the combination of portability, sound projection and general awesomeness though I think that the Bergantino NV610 would be pretty tough to beat. My two cents from my 6x10 experience: In some ways it is actually more difficult to load a 6x10 into the back of a van or a car than an 8x10. The height of an 8x10 allowed me to kind of lean it back and just slide it in (no innuendo intended) with a bit of leverage. My 6x10 doesn't really have the height to allow me to do this, which means I have to lift it up into the car, which is a bit of a struggle for me on my own because it weighs nearly ten stone. I'm not very strong to begin with so it is pretty much at my limit of physical feats, but I'm happy do it just now for the short term while I am young enough to still do it. In time though, yeah, definitely something more portable!

For £3000? Well, the first thing I would do is to find a bass worth £8000 and ask why the bass for £8000 costs so much more than the basses I can find for £3000... Apologies. Seriously, I think that the best idea for the original poster would be to head to Bass Direct or the Bass Gallery and try out a number of the modern non-Fender builds and seeing which one he likes the best. Each bass player has different likes and dislikes so buying a really expensive instrument without trying it first is pretty risky unless you know exactly what you are getting and you have complete faith that the chosen bass is 'the one'. Walking into Bass Direct and 'stating, "Hi there, I am looking for a new bass and I have £3000 to spend' would surely result in a pretty awesome day. I love the process of looking for basses and trying them out. My bass buying days are done for the foreseeable future though. Okay, maybe a Mike Lull T-Bird...

Ah you've got a Will Lee? Nice! Yes, when I got my Metro back in 2009, I pretty much found the sound that was in my head. 9 years of gigging and I'm still impressed with it. I have generally not touched the VTC, it is generally on full. I have an old Fender Precision that can do an old Fender sound and I have Vigier Excess for a 'big modern sound'. The Sadowsky sound kind of sits in between the two which is why I love it.

Just tried this the other night with my Metro and my NYC five string through my old V6. Works really well! Makes the bass sound more like a vintage Fender and doesn't overload the pre-amp with heavy bass. I love the Sadowsky pre-amp, though my default position is the pre-amp turned on but with treble fully off and the bass EQ barely turned up past 0. Wouldn't mind a black pick guard for my sunburst MV4 with a maple neck...

Quite a deal, even for a non-US. I'm surprised it hasn't gone!

It did, but on reflection I am okay with that. i think that the tagline of the show was 'Tina Weymouth on Bass'. So if the show was a documentary detailing Tina Weymouth's thoughts on the bass in popular music that was important to her then I think the documentary was pretty great. If the show was meant to be 'the history of bass guitar presented by Tina Weymouth' then it left a lot to be desired.

Good episode. The distinct way in which the invention of the Fender Precision was completely ignored did irk me though. Also, no Jaco or any focus on bass guitar virtuoso talents like Jaco, Marcus Miller or Wooten seemed a bit strange. All in all though, a very good show.

I think you could piece it together from bits of every other BBC rock documentary. Save the Royal Blood guy, might not have so much stock BBC footage of him.

Not grunge but similar time period and some cool bass lines (if you don't mind tuning a bit lower): Kyuss, Sleep, Monster Magnet.

Outside of the most obvious ones (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana), you could check out stuff like Melvins, Green River, Mudhoney, Tad, Screaming Trees which to me are far more of an example of 'Sub Pop' grunge than Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains. You won't necessarily get great imaginative bass lines but you will get cool songs that are fun to play. 'Grunge' was a generic term to encapsulate a bunch of rock bands from the same geographic area. Some were way more or less 'punk' sounding than the other. There is so much Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath influences in parts of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains that I would probably recommend that you listen to them if you are not already.

Decent sound. Heavy as hell. Good low range extension. Probably a two man lift unless you are Thor.

If it is already on the floor, it can't be knocked over! I have been guilty of that. The overhang is ridiculous. It looks a bit like what my waistband would look like if I started wearing skinny jeans,

Hi, for that tuning I use a set of D'Addario EXL160BT. The gauges are 120, 90, 67, 50. They are my go-to strings from any kind of D Standard/Drop C or C# Standard/Drop B. The best bit is that a full set can be bought for under £20. The equivalent prices for DR DDT strings, Circle K or Newtone strings 'optimised for downtuning' are usually double the price. As said you can also build your own set to your own preferred tension using the D'Addario guide. I am lazy and a cheapskate so prefer buying full sets. Also I have tried the DRs and ordered a set of Newtones and ended up preferring the D'Addarios anyway so I'm very happy so long as D'Addario never ever discontinue this set.

I do. Bought it on the BC marketplace back in 2016. It is a fantastic amp but I prefer my Walkabout to be honest, just because I love the slightly gritty tone I can dial in that I can only get in the M6 via use of a pedal. I have been tempted of selling the M6 just because I don’t need that much clean headroom. The volume the M6 is capable of is just ridiculous!

Agedhorse will know more than me, I am pretty sure that the Trans-class Mesas (the M3, M6 and M9) have a single tube in the Pre amp section and the power amp is entirely MOSFET based. This is opposed to the 'Simul-state' Mesa's like the original Walkabout and M-Pulse Line which I believe used valves along with MOSFETS as part of the power section. The Simul-states like the Wakabout were designed to behave similar to an all valve amp. I think that the voicing of the Carbine series was designed to be a lot cleaner with lots of articulation with a more immediate response. This means that the M6 will have huge amounts of clean headroom and you won't lose any definition while you turn up the Master volume. The M6 also puts out a hell of a lot of low end grunt, especially if you pull out the 'Deep' switch which adds deep lows and adds a bit of sparkle up top. So basically, the amp delivers 'heft'.

Okay, that is actually pretty damn cool! What is it?

Another ‘I don’t like single cut basses’ vote here. Of course I love single cut guitars and own a Les Paul. I wouldn’t play a headless bass either. I like modern approaches to instrument making but those are my only two exceptions. A headless single cut bass is bound to exist right?

I really enjoyed the show last night. I was fearing it would the usual BBC rock music documentary full of Keith Moon and John Bonham anecdotes, but I really enjoyed the look into the evolution of the drum kit and the coverage of drummers in the era before rock and roll. I love Stanton Moore as well so glad to see him on TV. My fear for the bass show is that it would be a bunch of stories about McCartney, Entwistle, Flea, Sid Vicious, Mark King and the guy from Royal Blood as the ‘new’ bass hero, with 20 seconds on Marcus Miller and Peter Hook. The drum show has convinced me that I don’t need to worry. Nice to see the BBC doing a music show with a bit of depth.

I think I am the same. My MV4 was £1500 or so back in 2009. The same bass was £1200 or so when I started lusting after it in about 2006. The rising prices are a similar theme for lots of brand though so it really isn’t just a Sadowsky issue. At £2500 or so now, I don’t think I could justify buying a new Metro if the Metro Express quality is really good. That is saying something because the MV4 has been my main gigging and recording bass for nearly 10 years and will probably still be my main bass in ten years time. The Xotic basses look really good value for money as well. Though wooden pick up covers are not a deal breaker for me. It’s a great option though for folk looking for a sub £1500 bass. The fit and finish on my Metro is exceptional. The only thing that lets it down is that the wood neck and fingerboard is pretty plain and doesn’t have any fancy figuring or flame that you would expect on a ‘boutique’ jazz bass. I have seen NYCs with necks like these though, so I think it might be a design choice by Sadowsky to go for a very ‘clean’ look. The main thing that keeps me going back to Sadowsky is the Sadowsky preamp. It isn’t for everyone but I love it.

Okay, bringing this thread back to life as it seems Guitar Guitar have received their first shipment. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180206322275007--sadowsky-metro-express-mv4-tobacco-burst https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180206322274007--sadowsky-metro-express-mv4-candy-apple-red Well, they look pretty much indistinguishable from the Metro MV4 I have, which is great. I guess the real question is what they are like to play and what they sound like. It seems that they are located in the Birmingham store. I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of anybody lucky enough to try one, as the chances of me getting to Birmingham is slim to none at the moment!

Bass Gallery in London as well: https://thebassgallery.com/ Along with Bass Direct they would be the main two ones that come to mind.

I may be wrong, (in that I writing this from memory of reading other threads from years back and without checking or verifying anything) but my understanding is that: Part of the reason was cost efficiency. The new Series IV basses could be produced more quickly. This resulted in the Series IV Arpeges being available for a much lower price than the Series III basses. I also understand that the equipment that was being used to create the neck through models were getting old, so it was becoming more difficult and time consuming for Vigier to produce the neck through models. Also, I think that part of it is that Patrice Vigier doesn't see in any tonal advantages/disadvantages between bolt on vs set neck vs neck through. This could explain why the GV Guitars (the Vigier equivalent of a set neck single cut Les Paul or neck through PRS) are all bolt on designs. None of my basses have neck though designs and I don't think I am missing anything in terms of tone. However, I will accept that a high quality neck through bass like a Vigier (or Spector or Warwick or Fodera or equivalent) is real work of art in terms of design and gives the instrument a real bit of 'Je ne sais quoi'... I'll get my coat....

I have a Series IV (when they started to go bolt on). I love the shape, but in my opinion the shape of the Series IV models are slightly more mainstream and bit less 'uniquely' Vigier like the Series 1 and 2 models. The fit and finish to Vigier is generally top notch whatever the time period or model (I have an Excess as well and my brother has an Excalibur).

Calling @ped!