Andrew Truscott

Thank you everyone for your help. Especially I enjoyed Phil Starr's explanation of speaker development and it has taken me a long way towards understanding why they sounded as they did. One of the advantages, Phil, of being 73 is that I saw Free at the IOW in 69 and they were brilliant. I also owned a Marshall 50 watt in the late 70's, then traded it for a solid state, but I wish I still had it. My stage tone comes from overdriving the valve pre-amp a little, using the dirty switch on the amp, only using the bridge pickup (often turned to full treble) and playing with my fingers right up near the bridge, which as you know is hard work. I always ask for my cab to be mic'd, rather than DI, and I get a reasonably close sound to Andy Fraser, but it's still not clear enough and tends towards too much bass. I wonder if my bareface super compact could be some of the cause. One of their cabs can fill a whole venue by being multi-directional, and maybe this brings the room acoustics into the equation more. To be honest I am not very technical but I am grateful for any opinions. Pic is me in 69 in my first band. Back row, left.

Hi everyone. My name is Andrew and I have been playing bass for 56 years, when career allowed. At last after retiring I have formed my dream band which is a tribute to FREE and BAD COMPANY, although to me it's really all about FREE. I own a 1973 Gibson EB3 and play through an Orange Terror 500w amp with valve pre-amp, into a lightweight Bareface 1 x 12" (maybe 700w) cab + a Lightweight Orange 1 x12" 400w cab. For years I have been focussed on getting those punchy, overdriven but precise notes that Andy Fraser produced with Free. I have the right guitar, although maybe 6 years newer, and I play through the bridge pickup and use my fingers close to the bridge, so I have got close to his style. What alludes is the tone. I can get pretty close but never clean enough and I wondered if anyone has a view about gear, especially speaker cabs. At our local studio I use their huge Roland 4 x 10" combo and with everything set flat this gives the right sound, but at 73 years old I am past lugging big gear and I only use light weight now. Does anyone think using 10" speakers, like the Roland, would add more clarity?