Kateplaysbass

Thanks again everyone - I love how helpful this forum is. I now have some Speakon cables on their way - thanks for the recommendations - and I feel slightly more knowledgeable. I'll report back on how the LB212 fares against our drummer in due course! 

Actually, whilst I have all you knowledgeable folk assembled, can I ask a follow up question? 

I'm puzzled by the speaker outputs on the CTM 100. They look like 1/4 jacks to me, and that's what the Ashdown website says they are. However it says on the rear panel 'Use Neutrik touchproof connectors only'. This is confusing me. I know Neutrik usually equals Speakon, but these don't look like Speakon sockets. The CTM 300 says 'use Speakon connectors only' so I presume Ashdown are intentionally drawing a distinction, but I've googled 'Neutrik touchproof connectors' and not got much back.

It works with a standard 1/4 jack speaker cable, but I don't want to continue using that if it's liable to damage either me or the amp! I don't currently possess any Speakon cables, so I can't just try one out. 

Can anyone advise what cable I should be using? 

Thanks everyone for the advice. I don't know why I'd assumed that the 212 on its own wouldn't be enough, but that's definitely the easiest solution, so I'll give it a go at our next practice. We don't usually play gigs with PA support.....but they aren't massive either! 

1 minute ago, PinkMohawk said:

It's not ideal, really. My recommendation is to get shot of the 15 and pick up another 4 ohm cab. With two 4 ohm cabs, you'd be running them in series rather than parallel, all that means is that you'd go: 8ohm output - cab 1 - cab 2. The reason there's two speakons on the back of the cabs is so that you can use one as a passthrough to the next cab. Of course, you could always just buy my Ashdown 8x10 off of me...

I thought that might end up being the answer! But even in my wildest dreams I'm not going to justify having an 8x10!! 

This is probably a very basic question, apologies, but my knowledge of matching heads and cabs is limited, and I'm paranoid about damaging my lovely new tube head!

So, I've just acquired an Ashdown CTM 100, courtesy of a fellow Basschatter. At the moment, I've just got it set up with a LB 212 cab, which is 300w at 4ohm impedance. That's more than sufficient for home use.

However, I would potentially like to gig with this amp, in which case I'm thinking a single cab may not be enough to compete with an enthusiastic drummer! I also have an Ashdown VS 115 cab, which I had listed for sale, but now I'm wondering if I should keep it to use in a rig with this head, with the two cabs stacked horizontally.

This is where the technical side of things starts to exceed my knowledge. The head has outputs at 2 ohms, 4 ohms and 8 ohms, but only one socket for each. The LB 212 is 300w at 4 ohms and the VS 115 is 300w at 8 ohms. Both cabs have 2 sockets.

Is there a way I can make this rig work? Is it as simple as connecting the 4 ohm output socket to the LB 212 and the 8 ohm output socket to the VS 115 - or will that result in a fire?! Or alternatively can I use the 2 ohm output with some kind of special cable/ adaptor that allows me to connect both cabs in parallel? 

Please be gentle if this is a very stupid set of questions! 

The keys player in one of my bands jumped before he was pushed a couple of years ago...we were getting pretty fed up of him not bothering to learn/practice the agreed songs for a rehearsal, amongst other things.

A year later, his replacement leaves as he's moving abroad, and the rest of us decide to fold the band as it's just too much hassle to find another Hammond player. But the others have kept in touch with the original keys player, and eventually we decide to give him another go, on the basis that he's now semi-retired and can devote more time. 

Anyway, we sacked him a couple of months ago.... semi-retired or not, he was still obviously not as committed as the rest of us (which is saying something, because we're only looking to gig very infrequently with this band). 

So on the basis of that experience, I'd be wary, but every situation is different I suppose.....

If this had been the CTM-100, I'd have been in like a shot, but there's no way I can justify 300w! 

GLWTS - I imagine this will make someone very happy. 

Bought an Ashdown cab from @Thurbs yesterday. Cab was as described and all set up to demo with a couple of different heads. Altogether a pleasant, easy transaction, good comms, and bonus points for carrying it out to the car for me! 

Ashdown CTM-112 cab in tweed, designed to complement the CTM-30 tube amp.

I bought this direct from Ashdown in June 2023 and since then it's been used no more than 5 times, so it's in virtually new condition. I bought it as a lightweight alternative to lugging the VS-115 to rehearsals, but now I've got my hands on a LB-212 I no longer need it. 

Collection from near Ross-on-Wye, or meet up/ delivery within a reasonable distance. 

Ashdown CTM-112T-Tweed Bass Cabinet Specs

Dimensions - H x W x D (mm): 465 x 380 x 335

Weight: 12.2KG/26LBS

Ohmage: 8 Ohms

Power Handling: 250 Watts

Speaker: 12" Custom White Line

Tweeter: 3-way control (High, Low, and Off)

Finish: Custom Tweed with metal corners and metal grab handle

Ashdown VS-115 bass cab. Specifically designed for tube amps I believe; I've been using it with my CTM-30 and it is great - a lovely, warm vintage sound. Only selling because I want to start gigging with that amp and I've just managed to pick up a LB-212 which does a similar job but is much lighter. 

Tolex is in reasonable condition but the grille cloth is badly ripped as you can see from the photo. Collection from near Ross-on-Wye, or possible meet up/ delivery at a reasonable distance. 

Power Handling: 300 watts

Speaker Configuration: 1x15"

Impedance: 8ohm

H x W x D (mm): 710x490x340

Weight (kg): 29

Messaged you. 

Reduced to £320

Very interested to hear an in-depth review of this one Mike! 

On 17/02/2024 at 22:49, uncle psychosis said:

This thread has been far too inactive. 

 

Can anyone remind me of what the "normal" thinking is re:strings for a 32"? 

 

I can't remember if I can buy standard long scale ones or if short scales fit or if it's even more niche than that... 

 

 

La Bella do medium scale - I have their medium scale Low Tension flats on my 32" ACG and I love them.

Thomastik also do their Jazz Flats in a combined short/ medium scale length. I bought a set of these for an Artcore I used to own; hated them. Tried them on 2 other basses - same. I'd pretty much given up on them, but then I got a 32" Aerodyne which came with rounds, and the TIs were the only medium scale flats I had. To my surprise, I really like them on the Aerodyne, so perhaps they really do pair well with a J. 

11 hours ago, Pea Turgh said:

Recent convert to LaBella low tension flats (think they only do the one gauge).

Me too. I still have Deep Talkin Flats on my JMJ, where I want a very specific sound and they do that perfectly. But overall I think the Low Tension are a bit more versatile, so they're now my first choice on my other basses. 

6 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Nice bass! If it seems reasonably balanced across the strings, I would leave it where it is. Generally pickups are set a bit lower under the bottom strings than the top but there are bound to be some exceptions to the rule. You might be able to find some guidance on the recommended pickup height by searching online but that will be based on all other things being stock: i.e. string height, gauges, etc, which takes us back to: if it sounds OK to you, I would leave it where it is. You won’t do it any harm by experimenting with the pickup height though.

Thanks @Obrienp, I thought that was probably the case- I've just never seen that much of an angle. But it sounds great so I will trust my ears! 

NBD: Fender Pawn Shop Mustang

Picked this up yesterday - a 2012 model apparently, but it looks brand new. Very happy with it, but when I got it home I realised that the pickup is set at quite a pronounced angle - ie it's significantly lower under the E and A strings, which I presume is why those strings aren't quite centred over the pole pieces. 

The pickup is pretty hot and has a lot of low end as it is, so I'm guessing this has been done deliberately and I should leave it be. But I am pretty clueless when it comes to anything technical, so more informed views welcome! 

SOLD 

22 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

Ashdown heads mute the output if nothing is plugged into the input. Stick a patch lead or ¼" headphones adapter in the input and it should work. 

It did work! Thanks very much 😊

Got a few lined up for this year:

Simon and Oscar from Ocean Colour Scene at The Roses in Tewkesbury

Richard Thompson at the Bristol Beacon (very much looking forward to seeing Taras Prodaniuk on bass)

Delvon Lamarr Trio at Gloucester Guildhall (hopefully - tickets not on sale yet)

James, supported by Sleeper and The Pigeon Detectives, at Ludlow Castle 

Reduced to £800 - I'm probably going to take this to Bass Bros next weekend, so shout now if you are interested. 

I've been playing around with it a bit more, and I've found 4 pre-defined patches that would work for the majority of the setlist, meaning I can use it in Memory mode, which is so much easier. 

The hurdle I've now encountered is that, since these pre-sets use amp modelling, I understand I should plug into the Effects return input on my amp head (Ashdown ABM300). Which I did, but got no sound. It works fine when plugged into the instrument jack. I've never used the Effects return jack before, so I don't know if it's faulty, or if I'm just doing something very basic wrong! Or even how much it matters, if I like the sound of it going through the pre-amp.....

Thanks both- that's both helpful and encouraging! 

Acquired my B6 yesterday, courtesy of @paddy109. I'm wryly amused by all the comments about how intuitive it is because I barely know where to start- however, I'm determined to persevere, hopefully with a little help from you guys. Apologies for what are probably some incredibly basic questions coming up.

I've basically bought it for gigging, and ideally at gigs I don't want to do anything more taxing than click from one song to the next. In other words, I don't want to have to be thinking/ remembering what settings I need for a particular song. So am I right in thinking that I need to create a patch for each song, in the order of our setlist, and then use it in memory mode at gigs?

What I don't really understand is the point of grouping patches into banks - am I missing something? Is it just functionality that isn't really necessary for the way I plan to use it? Also, I understand that there's a finite number of patch slots, but can you organize your patches into a much larger number of different combinations - ie setlists? I think the answer to this is 'no' but I thought I'd ask.

[I'm kind of ruling out the presets because from what I can see they all use amp/ cab modelling, and as I'll usually be running it through my Ashdown rig at gigs, I should steer clear of that- right?]. 

Finally, and this is just a minor thing, but the character limit for patch names seems really low - about 10 characters, so you can't use full song titles in most cases. It's not the end of the world, but it's a bit of a shame- is it limited by the size of the display screen? 

Just bought a Zoom B6 from Paddy- all went very smoothly, and he very kindly drove a fair way to meet closer to me, at short notice. 

Helpful friendly Basschatter and a pleasure to deal with. Thanks again Paddy.