gjones

I like it. Those orchestral samples are incredibly realistic. As sampling has got better, the chances of employment for orchestral musicians must be few and far between.

Bin it and buy a new one.

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]A venue where I gig regularly has the bass amp going through a really nice Ampeg Classic Series SVT 410he. They started off pairing it with an Ampeg PF- 500, which broke, the replacement was an Ashdown Mag 300 which also broke, and now they've hired an ancient Peavey firebass 700 with a broken input (you have to use the effects return thereby bypassing the preamp completely). [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The amazing thing is, whatever amp they use, the sound out of that cab is always great! The 410he cabs are not cheap.They typically sell for around £700. Which leads me to the conclusion that you're much better off spending your cash on the best cab you can afford and economising on the amplifier rather than the other way around.[/font][/color]

[quote name='tommania' timestamp='1390093746' post='2341492'] My local music shop doesn't have that much variety of stuff other than Ashdown so it's a shame I can't try different cabs out myself. I really liked the Ampeg set up I used though, so I'll keep an eye out for any ampeg cabs. Do you think my head is worth keeping or is there better I could be using? T [/quote] If you liked the Ampeg sound, the PF-500 and PF-800 get good write ups on here by people who know what an Ampeg should sound like. I liked the PF-500 when I used it with the Ampeg 410. Ampegs have got a great rock sound if that's what you want. In my experience it's the cabinet you play through that ensures a decent sound, as however good your amp is, it will sound crap if your speakers aren't up to scratch. The Ashdown amp you have is pretty good but those Ashdown Mag speakers you have are bottom of the range. A venue I play at regularly used a Mag 300 Ashdown head and a Mag 410. When they changed the cab to a Ampeg SVT 410he the improvement in the sound was HUGE!. If you want a better sound I would recommend you start with a change of speaker cabs. Here's the review of the Ampeg PF-500 [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/136339-ampeg-pf-500/"]http://basschat.co.u...9-ampeg-pf-500/[/url]

An Ashdown through a Ampeg Classic SVT 410he is a great sound. I know because I played through that setup recently. The Ashdown cabs are not my cup of tea. The Ampeg PF-500 is a nice amp and sounds good through a Classic SVT 410he as well (I tried that combination too). It's bears up well against a tube SVT head I tried recently. In fact if I was to recommend anything I would recommend that Classic SVT 410he cab. Everything I used sounded great through it.

I assume they're knackered and for sticking on the walls in bars etc.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1390053280' post='2340925'] .... and if it's hired, and broken, why wasn't it replaced? [/quote] Because they're a cheapskate bunch of bastards! But saying that, they must have got a bloody good deal on that Ampeg cab, cos they ain't cheap. Edit: How did the word 'bastards' get through the profanity filter?

You can't go wrong with DR Hi Beams. Same kind of tension as Roto swing bass. A clean sound and keeps their high end longer than the Rotos do. Here's Ed Friedlands review, with sound samples. http://bassemporium.com/?p=4444

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1388583378' post='2323604'] Do you know of any other similar bands worth checking out? [/quote] If you like this you'll like Snarky Puppy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZBlRkF0-to

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1390059303' post='2341033'] Just curious as to what the quality is like on Ashdown now? I know people give them a bit of a knocking compared to some of the other specialist brands like MarkBass and Aguilar etc, but I was just wondering is the build quality good, has the sound changed at all over the evolution of the ABM range? I used to own a old ABM 300 which was pretty good, never had any issues, and have suddenly started looking at them again as an option to possibly change my amp. I have been using a Class D small amps for a while and just find them lacking somehow, they just don't seem to have the low end grunt and power that I used to get from my old trace and ABM heads. I also played a big old Peavey head recently and it just seemed to have more presence. I figure a lot of players use the Ashdown kit and if its good enough for the main man Pino, surely its worth considering? Are the ABM still made in the UK? [/quote] I've used and owned lots of Ashdown stuff, from an Electric Blue combo to a ABM 500. Right now I use a 550 Mibass head. They're all excellent but I don't recommend their cabs. An Ashdown head with an Ampeg, Barefaced, or GK cab is a better combination in my opinion.

I heard a young guy playing one down at Whighams in Edinburgh. He was in the house band at the 'Blues Tuesday' open mic night. It was a reasonable sound but didn't sound like a Stingray. As soon as he got the chance he swopped it with with a very grungy 70's Jazz Bass, with a horrible action, that a jammer had brought along. So I assume it's not his first love, just a bass that he could afford. I recommend you play one, if you can, before you fork any money out.

[quote name='Hugh971' timestamp='1390045131' post='2340794'] HI, I'm after a cheap fretless bass. This will be my first fretless so a big part of this is so I can see if I like fretless and stick to it. My main influence in fretless playing is Jaco's more groove oriented stuff (not so much the soloing) but I'm not trying to be Jaco but I am specifically after a jazz due to the the bridge J pickup though I will consider other suggestions. At the moment I'm looking primarily at these 2 options[list] [*][b]Vintage Fretless Icon [/b]([url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/vintage_vj96mrjp_fretless.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...jp_fretless.htm[/url]) - This seems to be regarded quite well around here. [*][b]Cheap Harley Benton Fretless Jazz [/b]([url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_40fl_sb.htm"]http://www.thomann.d..._jb_40fl_sb.htm[/url]) - I've found next to nothing about this online. It looks very good for the price but it's a bit of a risk. Has anyone ever played a Harley Benton bass and if so was it any good? [/list] Can anyone help here? I'm leaning towards the Vintage at the moment. Thanks Hugh [/quote] There's one on ebay at the moment http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Squier-Jazz-Vintage-Modified-Active-Pick-ups-Bass-guitar-/291058945956?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item43c4770fa4

These are good too. You can pick them up for £200 or under secondhand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVP7EEl8HfE

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1390045370' post='2340797'] For Hifi they used to advise spending 50% of your budget on the speakers. As Liam says a bad cab won't make anything sound good. I'd take your own amp to this gig. [/quote] I will next time

My advice is to pick some songs you like which have simple bass parts and play along. Eventually you'll pick up the bass lines. Repeat this process until you find it easy to pick up simple bass parts by ear. This process does take time but everything worth doing takes some effort. I'm sure there's beginner lessons for free on youtube. Once you've learned a few songs start going to local jams and meeting musicians and like minded people. They'll probably encourage you to get up for a jam.This will give you the motivation to spend more time practicing and eventually it will be you who gets up and joins the guys on stage. After I got my bass It took me about a year before I played my first proper gig.

A venue where I gig regularly has the bass amp going through a really nice Ampeg Classic Series SVT 410he. They started off pairing it with an Ampeg PF- 500, which broke, the replacement was an Ashdown Mag 300 which also broke, and now they've hired an ancient Peavey firebass 700 with a broken input (you have to use the effects return thereby bypassing the preamp completely). The amazing thing is, whatever amp they use, the sound out of that cab is always great! The 410he cabs are not cheap.They typically sell for around £700. Which leads me to the conclusion that you're much better off spending your cash on the best cab you can afford and economising on the amplifier rather than the other way around. I wonder if there's any other Basschattters out there who have had a similar experience of playing a cheap and cheerful amp through a high end cab and getting a great sound?

It's a nice sound you have there, it doesn't sound like a inexpensive bass. And the playing is great, considering you've only recently started playing DB.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1388929886' post='2327698'] Right guys, I've taken your advice and tried to straighten out the truss rod a bit more. It looked fairly good before, but I thought I would see if I could get the neck a touch straighter. The truss was very tight to move, 1/4 turn then left a few hours to settle made no discernible difference to relief, so I tried again with 1/2 turn. Left overnight, no difference. Both times it appeared to have moved ok on retuning, but when settled had returned to as it was before. Tried one more 1/2 turn, left to settle, same result. Removed the neck fully last night, released the truss nut completely and greased, re-tightened truss again and it snapped. Seriously. It's sheared off right under the truss nut. Holy f*** If someone has any helpful advice right now, or just an optomistic comment I'd love to hear it as I'm feeling this could be damage beyond repair and I've just destroyed my new bass. I can't believe it. [/quote] I have an original Mighty Mite Precision maple neck on my Precision. It was manufactured in the early 80s when Mighty Mite first started make replacement parts for Fender basses and guitars. The truss rod on this neck sounds a bit like yours, in that although you can adjust it, it doesn't change the relief as far as I can tell. So in order to get a decent action on it I inserted a shim in the neck pocket (a cut up plastic morrisons loyalty card if you must know). This raised the angle of the neck sufficiently to adjust the action via the bridge. I now have a very nice neck, with a decent and playable low action. The point I'm so long windededly trying to make is, have you refitted the neck to the body and restrung it? From what you've said, adjusting the truss rod didn't make much of a difference, but even so the action was pretty good. If you haven't already, I recommend refitting the neck, restringing the bass and seeing what damage has been done. You may find that, although you've damaged the truss rod, if it wasn't having much effect on the neck relief when you were adjusting it, the neck may still be playable. If it is playable but you need to adjust the action, do what I did and insert shims of various thicknesses until you can adjust the action, via the bridge, to your satisfaction. Good luck. Edit: a quick google comes up with this. This guys neck stayed playable for quite a while without a shim. Maybe all is not lost. [url="http://www.carvinbbs.com/viewtopic.php?p=30839&sid=ef4228680c3b8d7e6c76d0162ac89d8e"]http://www.carvinbbs...c76d0162ac89d8e[/url]

I think the problem is playing boring songs not boring basslines. Simple basslines in a great song don't bug me as much a complex bassline in a boring song.

A Geddy Lee with a John East J retro pre amp fitted, would knock spots off a Fender Deluxe. Search for John East retro pre amps on basschat and you'll see what I mean (they get a lot of love). But be aware the Geddy neck is ultra slim and doesn't have the graphite rods the deluxe does, so tends to need truss rod adjustment regularly if you like a low action.

Hmmmmmm......I was thinking. There is no risk in pledging to pay a decent wadge of cash for this, as it is collection in person. And if it's a piece of trash, you just tell them it's junk and walk away......without paying a penny.

Here we go http://basschat.co.uk/topic/226512-jazz-bass-on-ebay/page__p__2330831__hl__78__fromsearch__1#entry2330831

There's another thread about this bass, somewhere on basschat, where the OP was asking the same thing. The conclusion was that it is kosher but possibly not 100% original.

The brother they are selling for isn't a bass player? Why buy a bass. It's like buying a car........when you can't drive.

Georgie Fame is the thin end of the wedge as far as Jazz is concerned. This is from his album 'The Blues and Me'. There's some great musicians on this album (I believe they were the band from The Letterman Show). I love the album but this is one of my favorites. You can listen to the other tracks from the album here on youtube too. Bassist is Will Lee and he plays some very classy bass this album. [media]http://youtu.be/qf-cadFwums[/media]