thodrik

A good guitarist/bassist is a good guitarist irrespective of whether they are playing through vintage valve gear or digital models. Can you tell the difference? Depends on the person using the gear. Generally though I think its easier to tell a triggered digital drum kit than a digital guitar/bass rig. Being old fashioned in mindset I always prefer the sound of a properly miked rig/drum kit/non-autotuned vocals. Digital amps can sound great and are generally really flexible, but I always love the 'band in a room vibe' you get with miked up set up: the hum of the amps/end of song chatter between the band/general ambiance of the room picked up by microphones etc. I don't think digital amps or effects capture that, even if they capture the actual playing of the amp. As a result they can sometimes sound a bit clinical to my tastes. Though I appreciate that those looking for a really clean recording don't really care about those things anyway.

I like the general look and features, I just do not like the gold hardware on the bridge and headstock, but then the black EQ pots. All black or all chrome would look better in my opinion.

Merchant City Music in Glasgow usually stocks the Bass Terror 500 as well.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1334188014' post='1612463'] Paul, you don't need another bass, you need to join a band. [/quote] Also, this!

Play a lot of basses until you find 'the one', or at least a company/luthier that you would be confident to build you it. Given you already have a few basses that could easily be 'the one' for somebody else, I would be wary of getting rid of them while your search is ongoing. It really depends on whether 'special' for you equates to a hefty pricetag, amazing build quality, great feature, or an instrument that you pick up that just feels like home. If you are lucky a bespoke custom bass will do that but it is never a guarantee. I love all my basses, but my 'one' is a beat up late 1970s Fender Precision. Its a vastly inferior bass in terms of build quality and features to my other basses, but it would be the last possession I'd sell.

In terms of gnarly cutting overdrive I prefer the EHX English Muff'n to the EBS, which I think comes with 12AY7 tubes. Still the EBS is a top notch pre-amp for giving warmth. On topic I'm not sure that changing to another 12ax7 valve will really drastically alter the tone of the of the pedal, though it also wouldn't exactly hurt either. I would say though that the Valvedrive has a strange/interesting 'flat' position, which is something like bass and treble at 0 with the mids on full. Maybe start from there and start raising the treble a bit while you raise the gain. That should give a tighter grittier sound with more emphasis on mids.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1334183529' post='1612406'] How much?? For that price you can get a Compact and a cover. Ok, the BF may not have a high frequency unit, but even so.... Of course you could also look at the Super 15, but I prefer the modular approach of two 15s. The BF alternatives are much lighter too. Cheers Geoff PS Looking at the recent threads on here, Alex doesn't need a marketing department - we do that for him lol [/quote] I know, its like the Sadowsky Talkbass equivalent at times. Edit: I have no idea how I quoted that twice!

I'll say it before someone else does. Check out Barefaced bass for lightweight 2x15' speaker cabinets. On the Fender front, no I haven't tried them but they do look really cool, though I tend to think that £500+ asking price is quite a high for a single 15 cab, so buying two is probably going to end up costing £1100 all in. For that you could afford a lot of other high end cabinet. Still I can't really say anything against the Fenders until I try one, its just worth keeping those things in mind. If the Fender is what you are really after then go for it. To match the amp you could even check out some of the newer Trace Elliot 15s, which are fairly light in comparison to the older lines and cheaper than the Fenders, while the Trace 2x15 is a good bit lighter than the Hartke model, though not exactly lightweight really. It would also match your amp if that was of any importance to you.

The EBS HD 350 (which has now been updated to the HD 360 I hear) + Proline/Neoline cabs and the Drome/Gorm stuff is very sparkly in the highs. Anything by Gallien Krueger or Aguilar is going to be good as well. Glockenklang could be worth a look if you are willing to make a big investment. Markbass is probably the best shout in terms of portability, although if I'm right in thinking you have an RH450, do you really need another lightweight portable bass head? Can it not do nice clean sounds if you dial back the 'tubetone'/spectracomp etc? Other than that you could decide to go 'old school' solid state and pick up an old Eden, Trace Elliot or SWR Redhead secondhand. Loud, reliable, very clean sounding and potentially cheaper, although decidedly lacking in lightweight gear street cred!

Simply too many to name!

Tried one with an EBS Proline 8x10. Sounded great. The fact that lh 1000 has such a simple and tried and tested pre-amp design means that it should perform well with any number of different cabinets.

I may be in the minority but I'm not sure I see much of a market of a 30-120 watt switchable all tube amp for slightly over £1500. An ultra nice practice amp that should 'just about' cover most gigs if you have a decent cab. I suppose they are not going to be mass produced on a huge scale anyway. 60-150-300, yes that does make a lot of sense. Prices are the usual Mesa prices, but since I saw in another thread that the rrp for a 2012 standard US Jazz is £1400, I really don't know what to think anymore in terms of how much is too much. I suppose the 300 watter is in line with the Ampeg Heritage stuff. Still, I do generally like the Mesa bass stuff, no doubt this will sound nice as well.

Probably a 4 string Musicman Stingray. I never really liked the aesthetics of the pickguard even though I like humbuckers. After trying a couple, I didn't like the neck profile either. Great basses but not for me.

I love Black Sabbath up until around Never Say Die. I like a lot of Led Zeppelin but I am uncomfortable with some of their blatant lifting of riffs and songs without giving due credit. Also I find some of the Zeppelin stuff to be a bit overblown past IV. I generally don't like listening to the Beatles, Queen, The Who or much of the Rolling Stones. Doesn't mean I don't recognise their influence/talent/genius etc. Just not to my taste. Luckily opinions on music are allowed. If somebody thinks Sabbath are terrible it doesn't bother me whatsoever.

I think it looks really good. The finish and amount of chrome on display makes the whole thing look a bit too 'bling' for me. I preferred the earlier Jack Bruce Reunion model, which look like a cross between an EB3 and a Wal. I'm all for more deluxe EB3 type models though. I just like the design, flaws and all.

[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1331901685' post='1580629'] Must be a TD650/60 thing!? My HD350 hasn't skipped a heart beat over the 8yrs I have used it. Has anyone had a similar fault with their EBS amps? (HD350, Fafner) [/quote][quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1331901685' post='1580629'] Must be a TD650/60 thing!? My HD350 hasn't skipped a heart beat over the 8yrs I have used it. Has anyone had a similar fault with their EBS amps? (HD350, Fafner) [/quote] I've had a Fafner for over three years. No problems whatsoever. Hopefully that hasn't put the kiss of death on it!

My rig has been a keeper for the last four years because it does that job and I have no money to replace it anyway.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1331552813' post='1574518'] Ah well, first imagine a 4 string drop tuned as being a 5 string in open tuning without the redundant string there to get in the way. Then if you use a "normal" 5 string set, strangely enough you're actually tuning [b]up [/b]to get drop C, not down as is the perception. Then because with the style of music you are often using the open strings as an integral part of your riffs a 5 string in standard tuning won't cut it so well. True, on a 5er in standard tuning your final note goes down a semi tone lower than (for example) me in CGCF and all the other notes are there... but for this reason standard tuning doesn't have that required "evil" sound. I have nothing against 5ers. I have one and have a 4 banger strung BEAD. It's just a case of the right tool for the right job. [/quote] Exactly.

It really depends on the tone you are looking for, the style of the band, and how anything you record is going to mixed. You could have the greatest most cutting bass sound ever but if you decide to mix it like ...And Justice For All, then it doesn't really matter. From experience, if the guitarists are also downtuned, using an amp like the dual rectifier with a big scooped eq, and the drums are using obscenely massive sounding triggers, it can be hard to get a bass to cut through. Being honest I prefer the no 2. I just don't like the blend personally, its like two different bass sounds with each sound fighting against the other. I prefer something that just sounds a bit more cohesive, though I'm pretty old fashioned. With no 2 (even number 3) the grit might actually get lost in the guitar mix so anything you hear might just be the clean part. Both good sounds. Maybe no 2 for some kind of bass intro to a song, but number 3 would work better in a mix. No right or wrong answer really. Personally for any 'metal' metal with lots of double kick drums I would use a fairly clean sound verging on gritty, based on some kind of emulation of a valve amp being cranked, or failing that a valve amp being cranked. Then get somebody to mix it so the that the bass is heard.

I'm sure I've read that the Sandberg 'hardcore masterpieces' or whatever they are called get some kind of vibration/acoustic treatment that the non-aged and less-aged basses do not. Normally I take these things as marketing mumbo-jumbo but when I was trying out a few Sandbergs I did notice that the said 'hardcore masterpiece' had a lot more acoustic resonance which in my opinion translated to a much nicer tone than the other Sandbergs I tried. I was very tempted at getting it, but I didn't, as I don't like false-aged finishes. I prefer to 'age' the basses myself.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1330178996' post='1553774'] Heavier strings. Setup. [/quote] Usually the first thing I do with a Precision, or in fact just about any bass!

Ah yes, its 'that Sadowsky thread' time of year again. Just like some people will always consider TC Electronic amps to not be loud enough and giving an overly compressed sound, some will consider the Metros to be too expensive and not as good as bass X which is available for much cheaper. There is no better when it comes to a Musicman, Rickenbacker, Sandberg, Fender, Sadowsky or anything else. Just play them all and decide which one you like best. You might end up with a Squier or Mexican Fender that plays awesome. On the JTUK sub-topic I would also say that there is nothing more annoying that going into a shop to try a high end bass which is so badly set up that it is impossible to tell whether the bass is actually any good.

Percentage of my effects that I need?: About 10%. I have about 6-7 variations of preamp/overdrive/distortion pedals (Boss ODB3/Aguilar Agro/EBS MetalDrive/Sansamp Bass Driver/EBS Valvedrive/EHX English Muff'n/I have an old Bass Pod somwhere). I will generally only use two at a time, three if I'm feeling fruity. I have a Boss Noise Suppressor, Bass Chorus and Aguilar octave pedal too, these rarely get used these days (I sometimes walk 40 mins to and from rehearsal so can't be bothered with the extra weight). I like the ability to mix and match what I have, but I could probably live without them. If I had a nice two channel Valve Amp or something like the EBS Fafner II or Mesa Big Block 750, I could probably happily run without any effects whatsoever, since most of my effects are essentially trying to achieve the sound or a driven tube amp.

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1329237103' post='1539348'] :-) I had a guy ask if he could use my Roscoe at a gig about 6 months ago. We played a live show with ska & punk bands (odd mix for us to play with) and one guy was drunk out his face and wouldn't let it go. Asked about 5 or 6 time if he could use my bass rather than his Mex Jazz. I thought he was joking around to start with... turns out he does it at every gig and often people say yes! [/quote] I've had that before at a gig, except substituting a Roscoe for a Viger. Worse thing was he asked if he could borrow my Ibanez, which I assume is the drunken name for every bass not shaped like a Fender!

[quote name='margusalviste' timestamp='1329081770' post='1537020'] Well, I have had 3 Sadowskys and I can easily compare them with Sandbergs. They are a bit different though but the quality is there. [/quote] I have a Sadowsky Metro and nearly went with a Sandberg JM4. Build quality seemed about the same, as in very high. I just preferred the modern 'snap' of the Sadowsky sound, but it was very close. The Sandberg I tried sounded pretty vintage to me, though it was one of the 'hardcore relic masterpieces', so may differ from the non-relic models.