Salt on your Bass?

Always an upright guy in my book! I purchased an ARIA SWB Lite (upright bass - get the pun!?!) from him. Perfectly executed purchase and top bloke! Thanks very much!!

Well Ibanez came back pretty quickly! As follows: "Thanks for the email and sorry to hear about the problems with your pedal, my thoughts are that it maybe something in the pedal, possibly the main pcb board that is causing the problem, or it maybe something really simple as the pedal is sticking at a certain point and causing it to disengage. Either way my advice would be to contact your local Ibanez retailer who maybe able to have a look over the pedal for you." Off to the retailer. Guess it clears that up anyway, needs a fix!

Ah, I havent tried that - I've never messed around with the guitar setting. I'll give that a whirl tonight. Thanks for the reply, Just emailed Ibanez. [quote name='fretmeister' post='1144515' date='Feb 28 2011, 02:43 PM']Mine's never done that. Good pedal. As it happens though I use the guitar setting as I find the bass setting to be sh*t. IMHO of course!![/quote]

Afternoon all, This is a bit of a feeler, and I'm going to email Ibanez shortly, but has anyone else experienced this with their Weeping Demon..... On the auto Wah setting (the non stomp approach), when getting to about 85% of the pedal down, I'm finding that the red light disengages and my wah stops and my normal bass tone comes through. Rocking past or away form the 85% mark, and it engages again. This only happens when I freeze or move really slowly around this position. Rocking past it fluidly and its fine. Maybe I'm not using it properly, but I do like to hold it at various points - and why shouldnt I!? I've only noticed it recently, and owned iot for about a year now. I'll post with anything Ibanez come back to me with, but I wondered if bass chatters had had a similar experience. Thanks very much, and I'll keep you posted!

Hi Cieran, Im pretty layman, perhaps too much so, but i'll give this a go! 1. An amp can either be a pre amp or power amp. Often when talking, amp and head become interchangeable which is where i think confusion arises. A head comprises a pre amp and a power amp in one box. The pre amp shapes the signal, the power amp boosts it to a high level for output to your speakers. You can buy preamps and power amps seperately. A cab is the box and speaker that makes the noise that your bass and amp have generated. Again, cab and speaker get interchanged a bit. The speaker is simply that - the speaker thats inside the box. Then of course you can get combos which are an amp (pre and power section) and a cab all in one. There are of course excetions to the above - but thats it pretty broad brush. 2. Depends what youll be doing. Garge and rehearsal, and gigs to be honest, id start with a 115 (1 15 inch speaker in a box) or a 210 (2 10inch speakers in one box) cab. Id look for an amp around 200 to 300 watts and youll be set for most stuff, at least for a little. Lots of decisions ahead in this field. It'd be useful to know what your plans are - bedroom jams, garage/rehearsal rooms, a giggable set up? In my opinion, you're best off saving up a little more to get that little bit more that you want, rather than trading up all the time, which can become expensive, but it is fun!! Brands that are good to look at in my opinion are: Ashdown, Hartke, Peavey, ampeg, line 6 (comes loaded with effects). It'd be good to know what sort of budget your working to though as well. Best place for good affordable kit is right here in the classifieds. Best bit of advice that aways pops up on here is try as much as you can before you buy! 3. A multi fx unit is a good call if youre starting out. You can decide what you like/dislike. Have a read through the effects section, as I think theres a sticky or mega thread in there about multieffects which will probably help. I hope this is useful, I've tried to answer your q's without delving too much into other areas on tangents. I think others may be slightly more eloquant than I am, and may put it better! Edit: to try and make it sound like sense rather than ramble.... [quote name='Cieran' post='1144107' date='Feb 28 2011, 02:44 AM']EDIT: removed the questions regarding effects as I felt that I was asking too much in one go. Concentrating on amps and then will tackle effects at a later date Ok here goes....... I need some help understanding the basics of playing live. I have owned a bass for just over a year - getting the hang of playing it but so far I have only heard it 'plugged in' through a Vox amPlug mini headphone thingy and directly through my laptop. So far so good...... Now I am looking to step up and purchase my very first rig equipment so that I can play live with a few friends of mine. Problem is I have zero experience whatsoever! I have read through the Wiki pages which has made things clearer but I still need some help. I thought it would be best to summarise my questions so here goes: 1. Can someone explain the difference between amps, cabs, heads & speakers in layman's terms? 2. Out of the above what am I likely to need to start out with - size, brands, specs, any suggestions etc.......? Presumably I don't need anything too big to start out with but eventually I would like to get a full sized rig. 3. I was intending on getting a Zoom pedal as I thought this would be a good way to try out a variety of rigs and effects. Is this a good idea? 4. This question is for a little bit in the future but what type of problems are normally encountered when plugging into house mixer/ pa vs directly into an amp. 5. Anything else I haven't thought of! Sorry if this seems disjointed but I have done my best to be concise with my confusement! I also understand that there are infinite possibilites - I am simply after a very simple A, B, C type of advice if possible. Essentially I am after the most simple & bare setup that I am ever likely to need. If it helps with rig selection the bassists and bands I am mainly inspired by/ looking to emulate are: The Stranglers (JJ Burnell) The Jam (Bruce Foxton) The Clash (Paul Simonon) XTC (Colin Moulding) Television (Fred Smith) Talking Heads (Tina Weymouth) Also....Gang of Four, The Strokes and The Specials. As always any help, advice, suggestions or pointing in the direction of resources is welcome. I realise that this is not your average straight-foward topic so I appreciate any help in trying to educate me in the wonderful world of bass! Thanks Cieran[/quote]

The obt is 500w at either 4 or 8 ohms, theres selector switch on there for imedence. Im not sure if its possible but id im for an 8 ohm cab, so if you decided you need more speakers at any point you can just add another 8ohm cab. In terms of power im not sure. 500w, but i get a little confused if thats rms you should spec. Norma ratings i believe are thermal. Im sure someone with a vast amount of driver knowledge wil assist better with this. Im very envious! Try and keep the gas at bay to make sure the specs are exacty what you want, and futureproofed where possible.:-)

Bombtrack - Rage Against the Machine Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden Godzilla - Fu Manchu (Blue Oyster Cult) Whole lotta Rosie - Ac/Dc Listened to Rush a lot recently, never attacked any of their material, but seems to be a lot of love for Tom Sawyer. Think I'll give that a whirl tonight!

+1 for the obt. Just pulled the trigger on one t the weekend. Ballsy and aggressive and loud in spades. Not sure its one for moderate home use! This was going to be a backup, but probably going to be my go to amp now! Ive no experience with the ashdown other thn looking at it friday. It is a thing of beauty. Best of luck with the decision and enjoy!

Ive only ever tried the 15 inch 300w combo. I dont recall the model. It ws a bit beaten up and a studio amp, but i just couldnt get a sound out of it close to what i wanted. Too much stuff for me to get my head round particularly quickly. Ive always felt line 6 should have a straight forward amp that just does clean that suits their effects boards and pedals. Probably more from a sales perspective. I understand its useful having a lot of stuff on board, but i guess i have a fear that theres too much likely can go wrong. Of course im sure this only happens as much as any other amp out there, I'm not knocking line 6 as my experience isnt huge.

Ah, ok, I think that helps. So if the limiting factor in your rig is the speaker and you reach xlim with a straight forward SS, reaching the xlim with a valve amp will sound louder due to the compression, even though the speaker is still effectively working as hard as it can in both cases? Sorry if I've hashed this theory up!

I've always owned hybrids of various varieties as I've always felt the tube in the front end was sufficient to my tastes. However, I'm at a point where I really feel like I need to own a valve amp in my lifetime, so am looking at trying a few this weekend. I'm not sure if this has been covered in this thread, but I expect some people can help yet another basic question/principal I'm struggling to get my head round! Please correct anything that i state that is wrong, but some of this is probably very generalised! I pretty basically understand that watts arent db. I also understand that tube amps for their power rating seem louder than SS at the same rating. My understanding of this is that the tubes provide a richer harmonic content as they are pushed. My query is in repsect to cabs. If you have a SS head that pushes the cabs to their absolute limit, even if there is more juice in the head thats all you're gonna get. If you then do the same with a valve amp, and there is still juice left, is it still perceived as louder, or the same as the SS? Someone tell me if I'm talking b*ll*cks, or if this is one of the most ridiculous posts ever made! Really looking forward to trying so all valve stuff. Orange is on the list, marshall, but theres part of me that cant stop thinking about a Matamp!!

Thanks, thats really useful. Im considering another compact at the moment, ive realised ive been craving a 2x15 set up all along although my current set up still slams. I think i recall reading one of your previous posts about chabging tubes, which is good to know as well so cheers for that. I think i am leaning towards the 500 as 900watts at 8 ohms really doesnt sound sensible to me as i lack that after a beer! So does anyone own the 1000? Reckon ill be in the orange club in the next couple of weeks.... just need that chat with my good lady!

Give Panic Music a shout - authorised ampeg service centre: [url="http://www.panicmusic.co.uk/index.html"]http://www.panicmusic.co.uk/index.html[/url]

....also, what are the preamp tubes on each? I've seen 12AX7's referneced a lot, but on soundlive on the 1000 references ECC83's?? Cheers!!

Hey guys, thought I'd bump this thread as I'm looking at a second amp at the moment, and the orange TB is under serious consideration. I think its a lot of amp for the money, and I've been thinking about getting some orange in my gear for a while! I know this was discussed earlier a bit, with regard to the 500 or 1000W version, but for an extra hundred quid or so, is the 1000 watter worth it? Yup, the volume knob works both ways and I'm sure the 500 would be more than adequate for pretty much any situation I encounter, however, I just cant stop thinking that its good investment to just go for the higher rated model One question i had though, if there are any users out there, was does the power stage make any difference in the tone - i.e. getting to, say 2 oclock you get any more warmth/compression going on that enriches the harmonic content further, or anything like that? I also assume the 1000 isnt switchable, and is either 1000w at 4 ohms, or 500w(ish) at 8. I dropped orange a line about that the other day and am waiting to hear. I've seen a debate on the 900/1000w and necessity over on the streamliner thread, but wanted specifically orange TB users thoughts on this one! Thanks Andy

Thanks guys ill give that whirl and see what happens! Does that tube simply break up more/earl ier or does it change the pre tone altogether?

I find my 9 has plenty of thump down low, without the lf engaged. Its warm and organic. If had had one criticism of the shuttle is that i dont get any drive out of it, or crunch . I run a very hot active 5, and i like my distortion crunch and overdrive. It wont give you this, although the new streamliner serie from genz might. However i stick a vt bass deluxe infront and it is thunderous , grindy and full. Which makes the fact its clean great. I have no experience with ebs im afraid. Although i do think for the types of amps these are, that is pretty high end,the cab choice will make a massive difference - someone correct me if im wrong here!! My personal decision came down to portability and tone, and the shutte gives me everything i need and want. If i didnt like or want pedals though that would probably be a lot different!

+1 thats my understanding. Rather than boosting any frequencies, it extends them downwards. Wasnt sure of exactly how far though. [quote name='Soliloquy' post='1106434' date='Jan 28 2011, 04:59 PM']I'm told that by switching in the 'low' button, then you actually lower the bass roll off thing to 31Hz, which is a low B.[/quote]

[quote name='DanOwens' post='1103897' date='Jan 26 2011, 03:54 PM']This is what every purchaser of this amp expects. I'm sorry to say, it may not actually happen.[/quote] hmm, it does look like the Bugera, however I cant see the "Primary Power" knob on the bugera......I expect the clip is also roughly the same as the Bugeras life expectancy!! 3,600W!!!!