BanditSid

I was wondering the same thing, I've ordered covers with my cabs, any chance of posting a pic of your covers Lloyd ?

I'm like a kid at Christmas, I ordered a pair of Big Baby 2's this week, just can't wait !!

Denny Lalouette uses one and he's probably the best session bass player in South Africa, can't be that bad a bass !!

I gigged my BB1100S for quite a few years on the standard bridge and, like you, thought it needed upgrading - unfortunately it didn't make any discernible difference to the tone or playability of the bass so I changed it back.

I take it they are being used with a high power resistor as simple voltage regulators ? If so, you might be better off (and cheaper) changing over to a pair of fixed voltage regulators (7815 and 7915) to provide your +- 15 volt supplies.

These inductors are often fixed to the board by their solder connections and possibly a bit of glue from a hot glue gun, it would be better to supplement this with a cable tie as well.

The GK Neo 410 cab is a great match with my MB800, I'd imagine it would be just as good with the 500 too.

You are a lucky man Scalpy, I wish my wife could sing......rather than moan when I have a two gig weekend again.

I have two MB800's, one from late 2013 and one from 2011 as well as an MB200 of unknown age - all of them are solid with no missing screws or loose bits......that sounds more like a returned/repaired unit rather than a brand new one.

A lot of higher end basses have separate bridges for each string, in an attempt to stop sympathetic resonance between strings, but having felt the ones on my Ibanez SR4500 when I removed them to clean it (I know, no comments !!) I don't think 4 of them weigh any more than a BBOT bridge.

I have a GK Neo 115 which I sometimes use on it's own but mostly stacked with a 410, it's light to move and sounds great - good bass and mids. I used to have a 212 and it's probably a better choice if you are going to use a single cab as opposed to a stack.

I have used Petz for over 35 years, creature of habit, I usually source it on Ebay when I need it.

I was going to have a go too, he took it off a couple of hours before the end and relisted it almost straight away. I had an identical bass in the 80s and it was really heavy after a 3 hour gig. It's on Gumtree for £1200 now........

I bought a Bass Collection bass from Alex. The bass was exactly as described, was extremely well packed and arrived within a week from Portugal......top guy with great communications, highly recommended. Also, if you like classic cars he has great taste in his car collection !!

I had a BB1100S for quite a few years, played a lot of gigs on it and it was a great bass, wide range of sounds available from it. I sold it due to a "too many basses" comment from the wife, wish I'd kept it now, definitely a collectable now that will be more so in the future.

Roar by Katy Perry is one we cover and the bass line is so dull !!

I have an MB800 which I gig at least once a week in various sizes of pubs and clubs. While it's not the 500 mentioned above it's broadly similar and I would recommend it completely. I am keen to try a Fusion version of the amp, but I wouldn't be disappointed if that didn't happen too soon. It's loud, versatile and light as a feather, it also barely gets warm even when driven hard.

I gig with GK Neo cabs, I used to use a 212 and 115 but now use a 410 with the 115, sometimes leaving the 115 at home for smaller venues. They are lightweight and quite robust, the 410 has removable castors which make it a breeze to move around. Sound wise they are pretty good, I play them fairly hard from an MB800 amp and they never seem to run out of headroom. The rig does produce a very convincing low E and when I dig out the 5 string it manages well with the B string too. I've heard people say they are aimed at rock music, which I can say they do very well, but I had a dep gig with a Big Band a few weeks ago and the 410 with the GK amp blended in perfectly well with saxophones and a brass section, playing jazz and swing. I would buy them again, despite the lure of Barefaced cabs - they look good, sound great, can be carried by one person easily, never let me down and can make windows rattle if required.

I spent quite a few years in the 80's lugging around a Carlsbro 2x15 bass cab, old magnet technology and very heavy. I've recently moved from an newer style heavy Trace combo/extension speaker to GK Neo cabs, the weight difference is the first thing you notice with Neo cabs - quite a bit lighter. To answer the OP's first question I run my 4x10 and 1x15 pretty hard from a GK MB800 and they have never complained, they always sound well in control. I think some of the weight reduction is also due to lighter build techniques, they seem to have thinner ply with better bracing - maybe they've finally realised we want lighter cabs that deliver and not just the cheapest ply box they can throw together.

The old trick to get HiFi speakers to run in and reach their true sound as quickly as possible is to feed both speakers from the same channel of an amplifier, but have one speaker reverse connected (out of phase), then place them face to face touching each other......with them being out of phase most of the sound cancels and they can then be run at high volume levels with very little sound into the room. I've done this a few times, normally leaving them on when I go to work, it does help accelerate the process. As for the OP, they do change over time - quite quickly in the first few gigs as they loosen up, giving better bass response, and much more slowly after that. Normally speakers are only replaced when they fail due to over driving the coil or an amp fault.

I have to say that gigging 2 nights most weeks and often 3 nights, plus rehearsing once a week when we can, one band is quite enough for me and my wife !! I do sub in with a couple of Big Bands I used to play with - it's nice to play some jazz and swing for a change and keeps my sight reading sharp.