Minininjarob

Not sure what sort of t-bird this is but was surprised to see the bassist in the Levellers playing one - I thought it sounded great in this video.

Not sure what sort of t-bird this is but was surprised to see the bassist in the Levellers playing one - I thought it sounded great in this video.

Not sure what sort of t-bird this is but was surprised to see the bassist in the Levellers playing one - I thought it sounded great in this video.

Not sure what sort of t-bird this is but was surprised to see the bassist in the Levellers playing one - I thought it sounded great in this video.

That looked awesome. It’s my dream to play something in front of people one day.

He can’t. He’s got his IEMs on.

Exactly.

I’m a newcomer to bass playing and if any of the IEM evangelists hate their big amps so much send them my way. Seems people want to get rid of them but won’t sell them cheaply. Hmmmm. Anyway, I’ve had my fair share of manual jobs over the years and the weight doesn’t bother me if someone wants to give me a valve SVT head and matching 8x10. I’ll give it a good home. 😂😂

To be honest if they had the money easily available I would say yes, but maybe steer them towards a slightly cheaper bike and the rest of the money on clothes and accessories. £2k isn’t expensive at all in bike land anymore.

After picking up a bass for the first time ever (never played any other instrument either) that I borrowed I went and bought a brand new Fender Precision then a week later a really nice GK amp. I figured buying some nice gear would make me want to practise and it worked, I love my P-bass and I get excited every time I pick it up (although I suck playing it) and the nice powerful amp sounds awesome turned up. Makes me excited to just play one note! In every hobby there’s people that spend a lot of money on their first set of gear, some stick with it, some don’t. One important consideration is that different hobbies or skills have different costs and to be honest I think playing the bass is relatively cheap so you may get more people getting nice gear to start off with. It’s all relative. I have ridden MTB bikes for pretty much 30 years and I sold half of a bike to buy my Precision. I would have not hesitated to spend £2k on a mountain bike so £700 on my first bass didn’t seem so bad and I figured if I looked after it I’d get a lot of my money back if I got a Fender (and that’s what I wanted after demoing them - wow that can be a bit embarrassing when you can’t play anything!). I’ve been looking at a bigger amp and found a nice GK setup on eBay which is £650 - I’ve spent that in the past on a set of forks for my bike! I don’t need it but wow I’m tempted! (Need to pay gas bill first though 😂😂) I reckon most people don’t mind people who have all the gear and have no idea as long as they are honest with it. Every bass player I have met has been more than nice to me and helped me along. It’s the people who have all the gear and think they have an idea, or think that expensive kit someone makes them more important.

The Spectadrive looks great for me, but do they still make it? Doesn’t seem to be in stock anywhere. I do prefer to buy new but will look out for one 2nd hand.

Hi All. I have a Fender Downtown Express which had EQ, overdrive and compression sections on it. I thought I needed the overdrive for the sound I wanted but I can’t seem to use it in a way I’m happy with. I like the EQ section I can use it. The sound I really like is when I put a little bit of compression on and turn up the drive in the compression section a lot. Thinking about it I want to explore this more but I’m not sure what I need if I go for seperate pedals. Would a separate compression pedal allow changes in the drive section or is there a separate drive pedal I can buy which would allow a fine tuning of the drive separate to the compression? I play with a pick mainly fast punk stuff. I think I want to sound of an overdriven tube preamp, is that what the drive on the compression section of my fender pedal is emulating? My GK amp really growls when I turn it up which is almost the sound I want but that extra drive turned up is perfect.

Anker cables are some of the best you can buy, I would recommend. And they don’t cost too much either.

I think basses and electric guitars are generally pretty cheap nowadays and you can get great quality for not much money. I’ve seen a lot of videos where famous players talk about never even thinking they could afford a fender or even a decent copy, having to play on poor quality copies as younger musicians. Nowadays all a teen needs to do is have a summer job for a few weeks and he/she can get a Fender P and an amp.

Exactly what I wanted for my first bass. I wanted a Fender P and I realised after trying a few cheaper options that were probably as good that I just wanted the Fender name on the headstock. Was it better quality than the £400 squire? Not really, but it was better than the £200 stuff. Is it as good as the made in the USA models? Dunno really but my £700 PB isn’t £300 better than the Squire, no way. From a build quality perspective I couldn’t see the difference between my Player series and the next models up which were pretty much twice the price.

The GK extension cabs for my amp are powered so I don’t think this will work.

I really can’t use it, it’s too heavy for me where I need to use it. I have to store mine in a bedroom and move it between rooms in the house when I use it. I did borrow it for a few weeks but it just wasn’t practical. It’s a shame really. If I had a room downstairs to store/use it and only move it for a gig or something I’d have it.

I have a friend who has a similar amp with the extension cab who may want to sell. Not sure if it’s the same model but man alive is it loud. EDIT - found a pic - if anyone is interested I’ll ask about it. He’s not an internet regular I don’t think. He really looks after stuff and it’s pretty much in brand new condition.

A good friend of mine lent me his TE combo and I think he wanted to sell it (he might have given it to me tbh as he is really generous) but the weight of it was unbelievable. I need to be able to move it round often up and down stairs - I’m strong having worked in manual jobs and sports and I nearly caused myself permanent damage moving it! It also came with an extension cab…… if it wasn’t for the weight and lack of a headphone socket I would have it in my house now.

Yeah I’ve seen those but they are very expensive, and rare to find 2nd hand. I’d also like a separate drive and master volume on an amp which mine doesn’t have for some weird reason.

Yeah we all know that’s the answer. I know that’s the answer.

I’ve been looking at them but they aren’t cheap. Something to save up for I think. They don’t seem to be easily available though.

My first amp is a GK Mb112 combo. 200w, 1x12” driver. It’s pretty loud at home but I’m thinking in the future I’d want something more. Looking at the TE Elf for sale in the ads I can see it’s 200w - if I combined that, for example, with a 2x10” cab would the volume be any different - I know the sound would be - being as the wattage would be the same? Would I be best going for 500w plus? I do like the sound of my GK amp (sounds better when driven hard!) but I don’t have any experience playing through anything else. I’d probably keep what I have now for practice and would need something easily transportable so older second hand stuff is probably not the best for me. I don’t think a heavy head would be a problem, I don’t have any issues with my back, but I reckon a lighter cab would help me in the future.

Oh and if anyone had an SVT I can play a few notes through in Hudds area I’d be grateful! I’m a relative beginner but I’m kinda obsessed with big amps but never experienced one. Can’t afford one or even need one for a while but it doesn’t stop me wanting one. 😂😂