thodrik

3 rigs for me. Nothing really fancy or technical.

EBS Fafner through Trace elliot 1518 and 1028H Cabs. Gigs when we have a van.

Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout. Gigs when sharing a car/getting to and from gig in a taxi

An old Trace Elliot GP7SM 300 combo. When I have to supply a bassamp for all the bands playing a gig and I'm not familiar with the other bassists there (or I know that they are clueless!). For some reason I just don't trust other bass players when it comes to tube pre-amps so the Mesa is out of the question. Also, I bankrupted myself to get the Mesa, why should someone else get to enjoy it for free? Also, the Trace is a good combo, so I'm not exactly being unkind to them!

[quote name='Sibob' post='645856' date='Nov 4 2009, 11:42 PM']I'll let you know when I get hold of both the Squiers due to me lol
Looking forward to it nomnomnom

Si[/quote]

Cool, I await the results with baited breath!

[quote name='Sibob' post='645781' date='Nov 4 2009, 10:17 PM']Surely this is just an issue with your perception of the Squier brand?
If an instrument is built to a good enough standard and sounds great, then surely it deserves it's price to be based upon those qualities rather than the name on the headstock.

Si[/quote]

Ah yes, the old 'if it plays well then it doesn't matter what is on the headstock' argument. Lots of cheap basses play and sound perfectly fine, it is down to player most of the time to make something sound good,unless the instrument is just rubbish! The fact that this is a 'signature' bass means that the argument that the bass should be priced solely on build quality, quality control and so on doesn't really apply. Would the same bass, minus the Biffy association be sold at the same price? I very much doubt that!

I'm not putting down the Squier brand or looking down on the brand. I own one of the Affinity jazz basses and it plays great. Its just that as Squiers are marketed as the budget end of Fender, there comes a price point where they might as well stick a Fender logo on it rather than a Squier one. The Johnston bass is only a little bit cheaper than a standard mexican jazz, so why would I spend 400 quid on a squier when I could just as easily get one that will play and sound pretty much the same for less than 200?

I'm not sure if the Johnston basses are different enough from the other Squiers, paint colour and Biffy sig aside, for me to consider paying the extra money. Are Squier Johnston's going to be on such a different level compared to other Squiers, in terms of build quality, electronics and set up to justify the extra price? I'm not a massive fan of the band, so I don't really want it for the reason of band association etc.

I have absolutely no doubts that the basses will be cool and play well, if people are willing to pay that price for it, good for them.

[quote name='Tait' post='645749' date='Nov 4 2009, 09:47 PM']i've said for a while now the next signature bass squier need to bring out is a mark hoppus one.

think about it. blink 182's target audience is teenagers. how many teenagers have £500 spare to spend on a bass? is there a similar, cheaper bass out? nope. you either have a precision or a jazz. and you dont get many squiers in those bright colours either.

squier missed a perfect opportunity as well, they could have brought one out just for blink getting back together, or for the start of their new tour. the next best time will be when the new album comes out, i'm just hoping someone at fender thinks of this by then![/quote]

I'm pretty sure that there has been a Mark Hoppus bass out. I think it was a Fender Mexican(Japan maybe?) thing with the body of a jazz bass and the neck of a precision. Wasn't that much more expensive than what is being charged for the Johnston bass in this thread. Unless I imagined it having ever existed!

I think that the bass looks pretty cool and no doubt there will be a lot of teenagers in around Glasgow that would really want one! I think the bass has a cool look with the matching headstock. So at least it doesn't look like another Squier.

Price just now is about 400 odd quid from where I've looked, which I consider a bit much for a Squier. However, if it plays well and people like it then it will be a good bit of business for Fender/Squier/Biffy.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='645507' date='Nov 4 2009, 05:39 PM']"That whole Jools thing was a like a mass meeting of the middle of the road millionaires club."


I very much doubt Stornoway are millionaires.
I've supported them in Oxford and the music was pleasant enough, but couldn't quite see what the fuss was all about.[/quote]

I think it was pretty obvious that my comment was not really focusing on Stornoway! Yeah, I could have worded it better. They are probably not millionaires, no. They just got a guest pass to the club for one night.

Yeah Sting is releasing an album inspired by winter and nothing says 'winter' like a big beard. He looks like some kind of metrosexual lumberjack. But he's okay...

That whole Jools thing was a like a mass meeting of the middle of the road millionaires club.

If you are using a combo on its own there shouldn't be a big difference volume wise. I've got one of the older GP7SM 300 combos with the 15 inch speaker, which is even more of a lump than the new 715x. I'm pretty sure that 715 has a compressor too. Also yeah I think they have recently been discontinued. They are still in shops everywhere though, I've seen two already this week!

Probably a bit too obvious and not exciting but I personally think Jeff Ament is due a signature bass. That said he tends to change basses a lot so that makes the whole thing pointless.

I would personally love a Geezer Butler signature model, since he is with Lakland I'm surprised its not been done already.

Some Squier level Nick Oliveri thing would be fun as well

The Walkabout head kicks ass!

Since the walkabout is 300 watts into 4ohms, if you were going to just use the one cab I would get a four ohm cab. Any number of quality 4x10s are about for under 600 quid, both new and used. Eden Nemesis stuff is pretty good. Also have you thought about a 2x12? I'm sure Eden XLT and EBS Proline 2x12s go for around 600 quid new. They would handle the lows.

I wouldn't discount the Trace 1015H either. I'm pretty sure its the equivalent of putting the 1518c and the 1028h in one box.

Really you just have to go out and try a few things to see what you are exactly looking for and what works for you.

Best of luck!

For me its going to have to be a MIA Fender Jazz bass. I've been playing bass for 12 years now and have never owned any type of jazz bass. I've wanted one for ages but lack of funds have prevented me. I blame tuition fees!

Hey there, I've played through an older version of that cab a bunch of times without any issues. I thought it was a very functional piece of kit that managed to cut through two marshall 4x12 guitar cabs on either side of the stage. A cool thing to have if you are going to just use one cab and don't really fancy a 4x10. It puts out a nice bottom end.

I'm a fan of the new Trace stuff as well and play through a 1028H and a 1518 cab for most gigs. Nothing really fancy about them, but they more than do the job and I'm happy with them.

Are you looking at a new one, or is it second hand?

Doing a gig this Saturday. Singer in the band wants us to dress up as the Blue Man Group. I can't be arsed with halloween to be honest. The very idea of having to go out, buy a bald cap, black clothes and blue facepaint seems to me to a waste of time and money. Its gonna be great...

Used to have a fetish for overdrive pedals when I was gigging with a solid state Trace Elliot combo. I bought a Fafner at the start of the year though and really think it sounds best with minimal effects for what I'm doing. Now, my set up is bass-tuner-head most of the time...well sometimes a overdrive pedal sneaks in there but not that often.

They do get a bit boring after a while. For me though, the Metallica shreds is the best, the timing of the drums for the machine gun riff at the end is quite awesome!

Money no object?

Would probably be an EBS or MESA 4x12 if money, space transport were all taken care of!

In a practical getting gear in the back of a car, I would take a good 2x12, Aguilar, Bergantino, Glock or one of the two aforementioned names.

That said, I'm not going to actually be buying any amp gear for quite a while, so I won't actually be getting any of these!

First of all, I'm delighted to see the Wal name alive and well!

The price? Well, if you want a Wal you will have to pay! A Wal is a Wal like an Alembic is an Alembic.

I had my chance for a second hand Mk 2 for £1800 earlier this year. I didn't really like the neck shape (a tad chunky dare I say?) but the general tone was outstanding. Still, I didn't bite.

No doubt there will be those that complain about diminished build quality just because its somebody new, but I would guess that these are going to be quality instruments. At least now, those that 'have' to get a Wal are able to get one without trawling through 2nd hand markets and ebay fraudsters!

I own a Gibson EB3, 1974. Top heavy to say the least. Really unbalanced, really heavy, awesome tone. I'm gonna guess that the Gibson basses that Jack Bruce and Andy Fraser used were pretty unbalanced too. However, I could be (and generally tend to be) wrong

Well, on occasion I tune to F# on a 4 string P-Bass. Not gigged in that tuning for ages though, I'm usually drop B, drop D or standard. All on 4 strings. If I had money for a decent 5 string I would buy one, no question.

In my one instrumental band though I'm tuned to Drop D#/Eflat, which requires tuning up and down and the same time!

I also don't really like drop tunings on the bass, it does throw your fretting off and took me a while to get used to. But young guitarists these days insist on them!

Well I always thought Cliff was a great player. A shame though that a lot of his stuff is hidden in the mix. Orion apart, I find it difficult to make out or even hear a lot of his more intricate stuff.

I appreciate loads of different styles of basses, but I always end up coming back to the Precision. 4 strings, maple neck and a cool sunburst.

After that I think it comes down to Fender, Rickenbacker and the Gibson EB0-3 styles really. Vigier as well, but that is more due to sound rather than cosmetic looks.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='594363' date='Sep 9 2009, 10:17 PM']Looks like a good bit of kit.

Who has tried the head through larger cabinets???!?!?![/quote]

I own one of the new blackface amps, and have done a few gigs with the head through an Ampeg 8x10. It was quite frankly awesome and I had no problem being heard despite the two guitarists round me using two Marshall 4x12s each on both sides of the stage! It does snarl and growl when you crank it, which I really love, though I think you have to take care with the gain and master volume, as it is very easy to overdo it when playing a hot active bass. If you are looking for lots and lots of clean headroom I would maybe suggest a bigger amp.

I haven't tried it at 2 ohms though, as I generally just use it with the 1x15 cabinet the head originally came in. A lot of people seem to run it at 2 ohms without problem, but knowing my luck my amp would die on me if I tried!

In my opinion it is fantastic amp and very 'tubey' for being a hybrid.

Expensive but just about worth it as a combo/stand alone head package

[quote name='bentdice' post='593188' date='Sep 8 2009, 07:24 PM']This is the problem with Rickenbacker - the likes of Lemmy & late '70s post punk players (where a lot of current indie styling is coming from) would have bought their Ricks when they were seen as a decent workhorse bass in competition with Fender. The Fender US standard series are now around £900 new, but a new 4003 is nearly twice that & I can't see how they can justify the price tag. They [u]are[/u] beautiful instruments, but the company are riding the wave of trendiness while strangling supply, to the point that players are losing interest. Not a good long term strategy...

The thing I don't understand is why the company haven't gone down the licenced quality copy road - they'd clean up![/quote]

I always thought that the Rickenbacker was a 'love it or hate it bass'. A very much different interpretation of the electric bass than Fender, which some see as a good thing and others see as pointless. Personally I think that they are amazing basses when in the right hands (not crappy indie bands that have money or endorsements). Nobody else really does the Rickenbacker bass, while there are loads of high-level (and budget) Fender clones about, so in that sense why shouldn't they charge a bit more, it is a unique bass and I havn't really come across a bad Rickenbacker as much as I have dodgy Fenders (US delux stuff too).

I also wouldn't like it if Ricks became as numerous as Fenders on stages around local scenes. I like it that Ricks are a bit more difficult to find than a P-bass covered in stickers played badly with a pick. If Rickenbacker lowered the price or started to produce Squier-level copies, then even more trendy indie bands would end up using them, which actually annoy me more than now. By the way, I bloody well love Fender basses!

Back to bass things I find to be overrated, ummm I'm wasn't exactly blown away by a Sandberg bass I tried, it was the California J, and the neck profile for some reason just seemed a tad chunky for a jazz-style. I also miss the lack of dots or markers on the fingerboards, though more for aesthetic reasons rather than need of help navigating the neck! Horses for courses I know, but I did expect a little bit more as I generally get on well with Fender-style basses.

Given the usual weight of Trace Elliot stuff I find it difficult to believe hoe somebody could 'accidently' throw it away!

Well, you couldn't really go wrong with another piece of Trace gear, lots of second hand stuff about and it generally does the job (in my biased opinion anyway!)

In terms of new cabs, I personally don't think you can go far wrong with the Peavey TVX range. Headwise, I think that the the GK backline and Peavey tour series series seems to be worth a look.

in terms of getting quality though I would look second hand, you never know what awesome piece of gear you will find.

[quote name='Golchen' post='584078' date='Aug 28 2009, 09:56 PM']Dream Theater don't have a bass pla.......... oh no, hold on, it's just that he's always mixed out of the CDs.[/quote]

In a similar vein, I would add Metallica ...And Justice for All. Some great songs ruined or held back by lackluster production, but then again, that is often their trademark.