Phil Starr

The same thing still applies I'm afraid. It will sound like a Trace amp with a modern cab in all probability, on the plus side it will look like an all Trace stack.

I use a Hartke Kickback 10. The old 120W one, there's a new one out but you will have to pay too much for those. You can pick the model I have up for about £100. It's got a typical Harke tone but it's a proper grown up bass guitar sound and can be quite revealing which is what you need for practice. I also use it for rehearsals and open mic nights so it goes fairly loud and I have done small gigs with it but it struggles if the drums get really loud. A mate who heard mine went out and got a Kickback 12 which sounds fairly similar with a bit more bottom. Generally speaking I'd avoid the 50-70W jobbies, without having heard all of them (so there may be a gem in there) they seem to be engineered to match a price point rather than achieving a good sound. Too loud for home practice not enough for gigging and not enough spent on the speakers so they sound bad. If you have space then go for some of the older combo's or even a separate stack. The old heavy stuff is really cheap as we all turn to stuff we can actually lift. If your's is sitting in a corner weight won't matter and the big old heavy stuff sounds lovely. The old Peavey stuff with Black Widow speakers is well worth looking for if you get it for a decent price. Alternatively practice through headphones, studio quality sound without annoying the neighbours. Zoom B1ON will let you mix in with recorded music from your phone, has a tuner and drum machine and allows you to emulate a whole series of amps and speakers for around £50

PMT are great as they are one of the few places you can get to try out a range of cabs. I do this the same way I audition hi-fi speakers, by taking an iPod loaded with 2 or three recordings I know really well with well recorded vocals and a good range of instruments to cover the frequency range. Shops get a bit twitchy if you take in recordings of test tones Anyway after my last audition of 12's at PMT I decided the Yamaha DXR's, JBL EV were all good, and like others I'm a fan of the Yamaha reliability/build quality but that the RCF's are a class above all these in terms of sound quality, especially the ones with the bigger horn drivers. I found a faint but noticeable veiling of vocals in the DXR's, especially female vocals, which were the best of the rest. There was just so much more detail from the RCF 312's and the better one, now replaced by a new model was a really smooth performer. Out in the world of gigging bands the people who use QSC seem to get a really good sound, so I'd try and get to listen to them too if you can. All of these speakers are terrific BTW and the limiting factor is going to be more about how you use them but for sheer sound quality I think RCF are currently the ones to beat.

My wife generally comes to see the bands I'm in a couple of times a year. The sets don't evolve that quickly and she's not a live music fan generally so that's pretty supportive IMO. Generally she comes along when we have friends visiting, by the time I've set up knocked down and maybe chatted with a few of the audience and the promoter there isn't much time with her at a gig. She'll make a point of coming to a first gig with a new band though.

The thing is that it isn't the box that really gives the cab it's voicing, it's the speakers. So, you could replace the speakers and if you matched them carefully and were prepared to fiddle with the tuning of the cab then it could work, it might even sound quite nice. What it won't do is sound like a Trace. You'd have the cosmetics of a Trace only, but the sound of something different.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1490482633' post='3265492'] No pressure then Phil? I am building the MK2 as fast as I can but illl health has put me behind schedule. I might have to bring a Wet Paint sign on Sunday. [/quote] I sent the MK 1 to the last one with the paint still wet, Graham probably has the marks on the back of his car still

I'm going to try to get along for a couple of hours. Unfortunately our band are rehearsing in the afternoon from 1.00pm but it's just the other side of Taunton so I should be fine for the first couple of hours. I'll bring along the original Basschat 12 in case someone is interested in building one. It'd be interesting to compare it with the tweetered Mk 2 versions. I could probably leave it with someone if people want to go on playing with it. GrahamT you know who you are

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1490352944' post='3264493'] Not really a purchase, as BC member Alyctes generously gave me a Behringer BX4500H head; I just needed to replace the internal fan to get it working properly. Anyway, I took it to a two-hour rehearsal recently and kept switching over from my normal Tonehammer 500 to the Behringer - both set flat into a very transparent cab. I listened very carefully. There was *[i]no discernable difference[/i]*. How is that possible when the TH500 is considered to be the cream of the current amplifier crop and costs about £800 while the Behringer originally cost about £180 and can now be picked up for peanuts? This was a bit of a reality check. Definitely recommended for anyone on a budget. [/quote] Hi Stevie, if 'set flat' genuinely is flat then all amps should sound the almost the same unless you are running them at their limits. The distortion created by most amps nowadays is pretty minimal, you might be able to detect differences in an A to B test under ideal circumstances but even that is getting difficult. With a band playing around you any difference in sound with a bass ought to be down to how the preamp is voiced. Most bass amps don't sound very good with recorded music played in through the guitar jack so I assume for a lot of them there isn't a flat frequency response with all the controls at 12 o'clock. It would be interesting to see if these two do sound good with music and the controls set flat, and perhaps to compare them to a DI'd sound through the PA. Makes you think though, if the only difference is down to the tone controls then why spend so much on an amp.

[quote name='funkle' timestamp='1490286381' post='3263977'] Same. I put a pedal in front of it for colour - Zoom B3 - and use the Fliptop or SVT modes. Haha [/quote] Like That's the point of some of the newer designs, you can do that successfully, they give you choice. I'd imagine the Greenboy would be the same and the Mk2 design would be more flexible than the Mk1. There is a certain irony in making your hi-tech cab sound old school. Good for the back though

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1490135661' post='3262607'] London... The London Eye is amazing. Walk along the South Bank of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge. You'll walk past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral, HMS Belfast, The Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern (pop in there for a look around for free) and the Tower Of London. Walk from Parliament Square, down Whitehall past Downing Street, past the Cenotaph, past Horseguards Parade to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column (pop into the National Gallery, also free). Hang a left under Admiralty Arch and walk through St James's Park down to Buckingham Palace. Go to Horseguards Parade any morning at 11am for their changing of the guard. Much much better than the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. That is 100 yards away behind a fence and a 30 deep crowd of tourists - you'll barely see a thing. At Horseguards you'll be about 20 feet away from the horse mounted honour guards of the Household Cavalry with just a rope in the way (#bestkeptsecret) My fave music venue in London is Green Note in Camden - great for Americana, blues, folk and other roots music. Nice veggie food and organic beer too. I also like the Borderline in Soho, near a Tottenham Court Road, depending who is on... Go to the last minute ticket booth in Leicester Square, queue up and see a West End theatre show or musical. [/quote] I'd agree that Ireland and England in three days is just too much. You'll have a better experience if you pick one and even then you'll only scratch the surface. I'd spend at least a day in London, the tourist and historic sights are pretty close together so you can pack them all into a day. I'd recommend the two walks above, you can take in a lot of the sights in a couple of hours. Don't forget the museums (the Natural History Museum is in a fabulous building) which are mainly clustered together. If you don't have time to do your own research then the open top buses are probably a good use of limited time. If culture is your thing then there will be quite a choice of classical music along the South Bank (close to the London Eye) more art galleries than you could take in three days and of course all the theatres which again are conveniently grouped together. Food! Whatever you've heard about British food is probably out of date. IMO this is one of the best parts of the world to eat because of the sheer variety. We are an immigrant country and London is one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world, look for the hundreds of 'ethnic' restaurants. We have discovered fine dining and you'll find many Michelin starred restaurants (at a price) to choose from. Street food is becoming trendy here too so if you want something quick and tasty it's worth keeping your eyes open. It's worth getting out of London for a day at least. Most of England (unless you like lots of traffic Scotland and Wales aren't really reachable in a whistle stop tour) There are plenty of lovely spots in the green belt around London, I was born in Downe, Kent it's been a village of about 600 people since before the Roman invasion and only 15 miles from London Bridge. There are two pubs in the village, a cafe and lovely country walks all around. Charles Darwin lived there and you can visit his house which is now a museum. Alternatively Google (Areas Of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to find some lovely countryside and visit one of those. If you want to hire a car you could follow the excursion we organised for some American friends this year. They caught a train out of London to Salisbury, It has a magnificent Cathedral with the highest spire in the country. You can see an original Magna Carta there. The cathedral area has many medieval buildings and walking around has a very different vibe to London. We then drove them across Cranborne Chase (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) To Shaftesbury a small market town, very pretty with Gold Hill a really well preserved historic street and a good cafe at the top for lunch. If you can keep out of the pubs. Then we drove on to Stonehenge which is about 35 mins away and back to Salisbury. Car hire will be around £100 a day. Whatever you choose to do, have a lovely time.

I still use the original Harke Kickback 10 for just such a purpose. It actually gives me my best on-stage sound but I don't get to use it much as most drummers want the bass louder than it will go. The new generation Kickbacks seem to go louder and should be an easier carry, I haven't tried them though.

Again with the original Basschat 12 design which I've been gigging with for over a year it takes some getting used to. With a flat but extended bass response and no upper mid peak as per the majority of bass cabs it is odd sounding at first but responds really well to eq tweaking. Starting with no colour or very little lets you get to the colour you want. If your cab is coloured then it is going to be difficult to dial that out completely. It's a whole different philosophy to design, a cab whose design will give you 'your' sound and which effectively becomes part of your instrument or go for something that is flexible enough to dial in the sound you want. Ironically having designed a neutral sounding cab I dial in something not too dissimilar to an Ampeg sound

My lot have just started using Band. So far it seems useful and not too intrusive.

You didn't describe your genre. There's all sorts of songs with interesting little challenges for the drummer but if they don't fit in with your set then you won't find the suggestions helpful. In the end though most of the great British public can't dance to anything in an unusual time signature so most of your set is always going to be 4/4 with the emphasis on 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

You say if, do you have any evidence or is this just hypothetical? I'd say it is immoral and potential illegal depending upon how adverts etc were worded and what contracts there were with the bands. If the bands were recruited on the basis that their time was donated to raise money for (insert charity) then if the donation was less than their combined fees then I would say there was a possible case that the bands had been defrauded. Equally if the public had paid an entrance fee 'for charity' then they could reasonably expect that money to go to the charity in question. The bar takings are another issue, firstly the extra £7k takings won't all be profit (though you'd expect maybe £2k profit), and there may have been reasonable promotional costs for advertising, staging PA etc. It's interesting, charity Christmas card from the supermarkets usually only give a very small proportion of the costs of a card to the charities (and the price of a charity card is usually higher than a non charity card by more than that donation) but they get away with it because they clearly state what the donation will be. Legal if not ethical. I'm a born trouble maker, I'd be contacting the other bands to see if they knew that their goodwill was being exploited and I'd be contacting the charity as well if I had any evidence, copying it to the charities commission. I might even ask the organiser to give you a breakdown of the takings profit and accounts for the event. They won't give you them but it'll certainly rattle their cage. I really hate this, it gives the cynics all the reason they need to condemn charity and undermines the generosity of the rest of us.

I feel for you having gone through something similar in the last 18 months. I'd expected to get back into music pretty quickly but a few weeks stretched out into a year before I found a decent band. Like you I scratched around with a few side projects but I realised I had invested a lot of time and effort into my gigging life and really missed it as a gaping hole. Thought I'd use it as a chance to catch up on some music theory and learning a few things on the bass that are long overdue, the truth is that without a goal in mind I barely picked it up. It's ended well for me but it is a big hole in your life. Mind you I'd swap it all for a couple more years with my kids when they were young. Good Luck

Beyma manufacture in Spain, you might get a better price than here. Just a thought. I'd still go for a like for like replacement though.

[quote name='lagartortazo' timestamp='1489772699' post='3259774'] [color=#191919][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I would need some help to choose another, at the moment I'm looking at Eminence Beta 12A-2, Delta 12A or 12LFA, Gamma 12A, Fame Sovereign 12-300, 12-250TC or Celestion TF1225/1225E...[/font][/color] [color=#191919][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Which one would be better option? Any other one for around same price? Assuming that I'll have to buy two units I can't spend more.[/font][/color] [color=#191919][font=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Thank you[/font][/color] [/quote] The Beta 12A2 is a good choice. The delta has a really strong peak in the frequency response, you might like it but I don't think they sound good for bass, just too coloured. The Gamma isn't good either excursion is too limited for bass. The Fane 12-300 and the two Celestions you mention are designed as the bass driver in PA speakers and will work but aren't ideal for bass. The 250TC is a full range driver, it might sound 'interesting' but again bass isn't what it is designed for. The other speaker to look for is the Beyma SM212 used in a couple of designs here or maybe this http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=CELBL12200X&browsemode=category In the end though I think this would be a mistake. You are putting two different speakers in the same box and they will interact. That means you won't get a predictable sound out front and at the same time the excursion of one speaker will affect that of the other potentially reducing power handling. If there is any difference in their tuning then you can't tune the cab for both speakers at the same time. You really need to replace both speakers at the same time. I'm hoping you find a fixable problem on you speaker, if not I'd strongly advise you to look into getting another GK speaker, it'll be cheaper in the long run.

The guys here will work out the tuning for you, I'm going to take a slightly different tack. Buzzing from a speaker doesn't mean its terminal. possibly the most common cause is something loose in the cab. Check all the screws holding the speaker are tight, that there are no loose joints near the speaker or foreign objects loose inside. Check the speaker cables inside the cab aren't touching the cone. Now examine the speaker itself, any tears in the cone? examine the dust cap in the middle of the cone, has it come loose? Now work your way round the corrugated surround, has it come away from the speaker frame or from the cone itself. Just about all of these things are a very simple fix, just re-glue with a latex adhesive like Copydex. If you find anything let us know and we can give details of what to do.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1489791478' post='3259998'] One of my bands have been dropped in it more than once by the drummer not turning up, & rather than cancel a gig would you use a pre programmed drum machine ? Or just use one for a basic tempo or cancel ? any suggestions . [/quote]Hi Kevin, my experience is that you certainly shouldn't try it without a lot of rehearsal. In the absence of a drummer I've been rehearsing with a singer/guitarist and programmed drums. It was OK ish until we got a second guitarist and then the mistakes multiplied. You'd be surprised how often playing live a mistake is covered up by playing an extra beat or an extra bar, you can't do that with pre programmed drums. I reckon every third song failed to end on beat. Playing to a recorded track is a skill in itself and needs to be learned.

Probably not relevant to all types of music but I find playing bass with a guitarist/singer in my covers duo that I end up playing the drum rhythm more often than the bass rhythm and end up varying the attack on each beat more than when playing with a drummer. Making the 1 and 3 stand out in one song and shifting to the 2 and 4 in something else if that makes sense.

There are genuine problems about just swapping any old speakers into a tuned cab. Many swaps work but equally some mean that you can reduce the power handling and bass response considerably. At least one BC member has blown a speaker with an ill conceived swap. Swapping speakers for a different model will also completely change the sound of a cab, it could be better or worse of course. I'm not telling you not to do this, there is satisfaction in having a unique cab and having done it yourself, and you'll learn loads from doing it but the sensible answer if all you want to do is to play bass and love your sound would be to sell your cab as it is and put the money plus the cost of the new neo's towards a cab you can try before you buy. If you want a challenge though then take advice from people here before you go ahead and you are far less likely to have a real disaster.

[quote name='The Shrek' timestamp='1489382382' post='3256441'] My cabinet is finished and I am proud to say it sounds great. Nice and fat and loads of punch and very loud. Unfortunately I had to get my brother to help me to the finish line as I had a groin hernia op 2 weeks ago. Probably caused by lugging 2 Eden xlt 2 x10 cabs around for years. Thanks for all the help guys. Michael. [/quote]Really pleased for you, let's hear a full review sometime. Well done.

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1489342858' post='3256197'] Doing Chuck Berry stuff properly is a damned sight harder than you may think. Getting the feel of the originals is notoriously difficult, with the drums and bass often not playing the same styles ( straight / shuffle etc. ) As Keith Richard once said, most bands can rock but few can roll..... Also it's easy for songs to descend into a Quo type thrash, and for the chord changes made the same. ( For example , in 'Johnny B. Goode' so many people insist on playing the IV chord towards the end of each verse when it stays on the V etc.) Good luck, hope you enjoy the gig! [/quote] When I pointed this out to my guitarist all I got was a blank look and 'it's a 12bar isn't it?'

Honestly I don't think it'll make much difference, even the more heat comment is a bit spurious, you wouldn't notice in practice and the amp will run at 4 ohms all day long, but it won't be enough louder at 4ohms to make much difference. Save your money.