SamIAm

Sadness that the years/life can afflict us so! A back injury (Which ended my bedside nursing career) and pain in my fretting hand when playing a normal bass has meant that I now Play sub-short scale, which helps with both issues as they are short and light. Cannot stand for any length of time ... playing on a stool is still OK tho? S'manth x

My bass playing has to date been mostly using battery powered combos. My first was a Roland Micro Cube Bass RX and I loved it, but not a lightweight! I replaced it with a Boss Dual Cube Bass LX which suited my needs ... battery powered, under 6kg and appropriate volume for my playing. At the recent most excellent SE Bass Bash I realised I wanted ... more! Hearing the thunderous tones from the various setups that other BCers brought along kicked off a quest and my need for a mainless system has passed. I've a cab (PJB C4) that can handle 400W and I now need an amp head to match. I'd love to hear your suggestions for a head, I'm looking for one that: Is lightweight (<2Kg). Can drive 250-400W into 8 Ohms. Able to cope with low B (5 strings are my delight). Does not have a noisy fan. Has an FX send/return. Affordable! For me this is roughly £400 or less ... used from a BC member would work. The last item is because I use a multi F/X unit and would like to be able to send its signal (Replete with all the various fx including amp emulator) into the power amp section of the head. Thanks in advance S'manth x

Oh wow ... such great stories to be found here! I'm a relative toddler ... from a bass playing perspective 🤣 After years of trying to learn to play the acoustic guitar, I was successful learning the sax ... sadly some nerve damage ended that as I can no longer hold embrochure for more than a minute or two About 12 years ago I picked up my first ukulele at a friends BBQ and fell in love! When I moved down to Brighton area a few years later I joined a ukulele band and about 2016 fancied a change, so put down my tenor uke, picked up a bass uke and fell in love all over again; by the time we reconviened after covid, I'd started playing a sub short scale bass guitar (Intonation adjustment being much better) and ... that was it for me! Still playing sub-short scale bass and bass uke (My old fingers struggle with the fret span of long scale and my injured back likes their light weight). S'manth x

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! So this afternoon was another test to try to find the source of the sound ... all fired up and recording (Tho the wretched SD card won't appear on my laptop!) and try some of the suggestions. Sound still there with the cab on its side or upside down. Face down sound still there, but applying some pressure with my foot to the middle of the back panel and the sound reduced, perhaps even went when I weighed it down ... hmmm, this tends to steer my thinking away from an amp problem. I need to try the amp with headphones but I can't find the jack plug converter thingie, oh the joys of moving! OMG ... NO!!! The only bit on the back that slightly hints at being removable might be the panel with the speakon connectors on it (YELLOW ARROW) ... but this is 'above my pay grade'! And when one looks at their construction technique, there is nothing that makes me think removing anything more is even possible, they seem built like the proverbial brick out-house! The RED ARROW is pointing to one of the six holes left by the removal of the two rear skids (As was shown in the BC listing) and I discovered that, with low notes, if I put the back of my hand near any of these holes I can feel air puffing out; Might this be related to the sound. I could try covering them, but don't want to leave any sticky residue from gaffer tape which is the only thing I can think of that might be strong enough. Once I've been able to read the recordings off the SD card, I'm going to send off an email to PJB and seek their insight; also planning to see if GAK have a C4 in the shop I can try (They do sell them) and see how it sounds. I can get low notes without the sound when the amp master is set to 9 O'clock, but at that level the sound output is lower than I achieve comfortably with my Dual Cube Bass LX which is only 10 W (5 W+5 W), which totally defeats the point of having a 125W head driving a 400W C4! Oh mighty BCgods of all things cabs (Such as @stevie, @Phil Starr, @Chienmortbb) have you any ideas/suggestions? It's all taken the shine off what promised to be 'new cab day' S'manth x

Cool! I’d not thought of doing this. I’ve also a scope so could maybe wire up something to directly my monitor/analyse the amp output. S’manth x

An update. The previous owner of the TC amp shared that he’d had no such issues, so less of a suspicion of the amp. S’manth x

Brilliant! I’d thought about recording the DI output but then realised it would not show any issues with the power amp, but hopefully the headphones will 😊 S’manth x

I’m not sure. Amp is running at 50%. The higher strings sound lovely, perhaps I’m just asking too much low bass. GAK seem to stock the C4 so I can compare an Apple with a newer Apple lol S’manth x

It's recorded using a Zoom H1n placed about 2m away on a 15cm tripod on floor; This afternoon I'm going to see if I can find my H2n, use better settings and try another recording. S'manth x

I'm confident it's not the bass (My other bass produces similar sounds and is very different, peizo active pickups; both bases also sound fine thro my combo) Great idea! S'manth x

The recording is not great (I'll try to get a better one tomorrow) but even with the TC 208 cab there is some 'rattle' (It's the best word I can find) which does make me question the amp, coupled with the previous owner having mentioned 'something' about it. I don't have a second amp to try, but am trying to figure out how to get hold of an alternative for long enough to give it a go. I could consider lugging the C4 along to my local guitar shop to try an amp or two (Which would be GAK). S'manth x

Thanks @Downunderwonder, there is nothing but unadorned (well, they are painted) walls within 2m and the floor is carpeted ... I'm sure the sound is coming from the cab itself. Like your 'sit' test, I'll give it a go tomorrow. S'manth x

Thanks @PaulThePlug, I've tried it tilted and rattle remains., It has feet on one side only ... tho that does not preclude me from trying it in different orientations, I'll give it a go tomorrow at a more 'social' hour for my neighbours S'manth x

Thanks @Lozz196 The C4 is a 4x5inch layout, no tweeters. All the cones appear fine (visually) S'manth x

Hi BC massive! I've little experience with head/cab setups and need your help/advice regarding a problem I have with such a setup. After attending the SE bass bash I concluded that my small/light combo needed a big brother. I purchased a PJB C4 from here on BC, it arrived yesterday, nicely packed, condition as described (As you'd expect given the glowing feedback for the BCer I bought it from). Set it up as follows: Bass = Ibinex GSRM25, passive pickups. Guitar cable = brand new Fender Deluxe Series Instrument Cable - 5m Amp = TC Electric BH250 (Well, to be accurate it is the amp section of a BG250-208 that had been disconnected from the cab by the very kind person who gifted it to me after my fire. I have vague memories of him mentioning it had been done due to some 'thing' that no longer seemed to be a problem) Amp cable = brand new Stagg 2m S Series Speakon to Speakon Lead Cab = PJB C4 <bass> -> <head> -> <cab> Amp settings: Gain: Passive Pickups. All tone controls set to 12 o'clock (neutral), TonePrint all the way off, master at 12 O'clock. I am finding that when I play the E or B the C4 'rattles' , the sound seems to eminate from the rear of the cab. I have moved it around, away from stuff it might be rattling. I cannot feel any movement of the rear panel. Not a great recording, but with headphones on it does illustrate the rattle I'm talking about ... yech! PJB.wav I would usually go through the process of swapping out all the different bits to try and identify the problem. Different bass, same thing. Different guitar cable, same thing. I've just the one amp, but I moved it back to the TC cab (this also meant a different speakon cable) and .... hmmmm ... not the same, but not good! TC.wav What could it be? The seller said they'd not had this issue and they used a 250W Markbass (So simple old me imagines it is not a power mismatch) Can you share your Advice/Experience/Suggestions please? Could it be the Amp? S'manth x

🤯 There I was thinking I was beginning to understand! lol S'manth x

So in simple terms @Phil Starr, if the amp is quoting 250W into 4Ω and I hook it up an 8Ω cab, it will be pushing out circa 125W, maybe a tad more? For a 100W rated cab, one would need to avoid going full volume, otherwise the cab might get pushed too hard, will sound bad and perhaps even be damaged? The amp will not being running at its max and distortion will likely be less? For a 300W rated cab even at full volume the amp cannot overload the cab (Tho will not sound as loud as it could)? Presumably in the real world, driving an amp at full power will introduce more distortion? Would it be fair to assume that IF these two cabs had the same sensitivity (Which I don't really grok) that the sound perceived would be in the same ballpark or would it be quieter on the 300W cab? In tangible terms, in this demo, the amp can't blow the cab as the BP-800 has Power Output (RMS) of 800w/4Ω, 400w/8Ω and the C4 is listed as Handling 400 watts (RMS) and is 8 Ω? (Please note I do not ask about RMS lol) S'manth x Did someone mention a C4!?

If it takes 10 men, 43 hours to dig a ditch, how long ... ooops, wrong question! One If a head is rated as follows and the speakon connector sayas 4 ohm min load. Is it fair to think it will put out half of these figures into an 8 ohm load? Two I'm using a multi f/x (MOD Dwarf) that has amp modelling capabilities. If I want to get an approximation of FRFR, and use a cab that gives low colouration ... can I use a head that has an F/X loop and use the multi f/x into the FX return to bypass any EQ in the head? Three If the answer to Two is yes, would it be reasonable to expect the head to not add colour when used in this way or would this require a 'special' head or simply selecting the 'right' head? S'manth x

Might not be small enough, but you can do neural modelling on the MOD Dwarf using the Aida-X plugin. https://mod.audio/modeling-amps-and-pedals-for-the-aida-x-plugin-best-practices/ You can get a version of MOD software that runs on Windows/MacOS/Linux to have a play without spending any pennies. https://github.com/moddevices/mod-app/releases/tag/0.0.4 And there are a number of captures to be found https://forum.mod.audio/t/list-of-shared-models/9631/8 There is also a NAM plugin for the system https://pedalboards.moddevices.com/plugins/aHR0cDovL2dpdGh1Yi5jb20vbWlrZW9saXBoYW50L25ldXJhbC1hbXAtbW9kZWxlci1sdjI= tho it is reported to suck more CPU than the Aida-X S'manth x

Hofner 500/1 Violin Bass 1962 - Mersey Would do very nicely for me as it is a short scale Tho the one pictured is for sale at £10,000 🤯 ... even the reissue comes in at about £2k ... but a girl can dream! 😊 S'manth x

Yes, Ibby FTW with 5str shorts. I tried the TMB-35. I found the neck dive drove me mad! An option would be to replace the tuning mechanisms with lighter ones, but not sure how much difference it would make. It went back to GAK. I landed on the GSRM25, it is a sub-short scale at 28.6 inches and the low B does need a gentle touch, but I really like it ... very light and great balance. https://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_gsrm25_bk.htm S'manth x

PM'd

Sadly not I tried my Mac with various USB cables and even upgraded MacOS (Which got it working with my MOD Dwarf as it had not been doing before). I also installed windows on another Intel laptop and it also would not recognise the Core. In addition, I had some odd noise issues, I would get crackling sounds when I touched the knobs. I saw on the 'other place' a user who reported similar and had to return the Core as faulty; I was also able to do so with the one I'd bought. I'm back to using my Dwarf (Or my Zoom B1XFour). As well as being nice and tidy, the Core ran off 9v (The Dwarf needs 12v) and it allowed on device editing of stuff (The Dwarf has an amazing UI but it needs a seperate device running web browser to access, onboard parameter tweaking is possible but you can't change 'pedals' or edit 'pedalboards') I'd be tempted to try it again if I could find one at a good price, but at present I'm fiddling with my Dwarf f/x (And also again exploring a self build based on the MOD software). S'manth x

Brand wise I'd give YIHUA a double thumbs up. I bought one of their rework stations (temp controlled soldering iron + hot air gun) June 2022; it worked well and felt nice and solid. It 'survived' my fire (as it was low down in my study so only got soot stained). Just inside the 12 month warranty period the hot air gun stopped sensing temp so would just keep running ... and then glowing!! I contacted YIHUA who were very responsive; after sending in a video of the problem I received a replacement hot air gun in about 4 days ... that did not sort the issue and a few days later a totally new unit arrived! If I were going for an iron, I'd be tempted by this one. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BX9JPSZX?pd_rd_i=B0BX9JPSZX&pf_rd_p=2d7f55fa-4115-4b0b-9563-c60c7ced8ca1&pf_rd_r=VKE44HP0VBN8SQ9QQ2MN&pd_rd_wg=IaVs3&pd_rd_w=JeDaF&pd_rd_r=309846bb-f4df-42de-a794-c83b50720d00 The helping hands are removeable (similar to the setup I use), so only there if needed ... it seems to have good reviews and is a few quid less. I've a multimeter made by Kaiweet and it is fab quality! S'manth x

USB class compliance seems a must! I've seen a review of the MOTU M4 (Which uses class compliant USB) and using jack/alsa/qjackctrl it supports all 4 in/outs: The MOD software is built on top of Jack so should work (Of course until I actually try it ...) it's the latency that concerns me 🧐 S'manth x