EmaTheMirror

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='817740' date='Apr 25 2010, 01:16 AM']I can vouch for both, I have a Q/Pounder in my 51 reissue Squier and SPB-1 in Squier Precision, well the Squier needed the beefy q/pounder because the original pickup didn't do it justice at high volume[/quote] thx 4 Ur answers isn't that the single-coil 1/4£ anyway?

Hi, I have a Precision Classic '50, great bass for the buck, but I'd like to upgrade the pickup. My decision is between the original vintage-like SPB1 and the quarter-pound SPB3, feeding a colourful Ashdown ABM and 4x10 (and passing through some FXs as well, mostly o.drives)... The Classic '50 has a nice maple fingerboard and IMV has naturally bright and present sound which I like combined to the P split and its warm wooden tone. The Ashdown (and my eq) has a warm colour as well; for my band I like Brit-style bass tones like the ones from bands ranging from Doves to Radiohead, Placebo, Muse, Interpol (etc) which usually rump and have a distinctive colour. I don't know which pickup could be the best choice... somewhere I read that the quarter-pound is a great mate for rosewood fingerboards given its extended range and I actually fear it might give a sort of "colder" "less characteristic" or somehow "less inpsiring" tone in the overall mix (we're a trio and the guitarist plays through a great fender valve combo, I'm not overwhelmed by tons of things and my tone does matter in the mix)... I also read that sometimes it can result in less presence in the mix, dunno if it's true by now I'm more biased towards the vintage-correct SPB1, though I'd like to know opinions from you, especially from those who've played those pickups with an Ashdown amp and a similar setup Of course, I know about the "hot" overwound and (in the end) darker SPB2, but I fear it's not the best choice for an already hot, drivable and warm Ashdown p.s. I also care about the high-end of my tone, warm but not muddy, deaf or dull!

[quote name='basshead56' post='733418' date='Feb 2 2010, 09:19 PM']Careful mate, ashdown can arouse contempt round these here parts.lol[/quote] why? are they averagely considered "smoke and mirrors" on this forum? I think they have a character and mid-freq "pronunciation" which can be quite annoying in some settings, but for my needs I like it

I think you should specify what kind of tone you'd like from the more portable head and the budget... I have an Ashdown ABM which I love, but that'd be the choice for a similar tone character, which is not what I guess you want. For a more hi-fi (I'd prefer to call it "transparent") choice, you might want to try David Eden (expensive though), "our" Mark Bass (too "transparent" for my taste but well built), Gallien... for a good-value-for-price choice I'd go for an Ashdown, unless you hate their tone... I've never tried one, but I know that the MarkKing Ashdown head is more on the clean side than their other products. Since you have the VT pedal you might also consider to buy just a power amp as well, though it's not that easy to find a good and really portable stand-alone PA

Since you're talking about an "Italia", I'd like to quote the name of a great Italian pickup and electronics (onboard preamps) maker, AKA Piero Terracina, haha! ... I have a pair of "custom" built J stile pickups made by him, he's the kind of person who has a great international curriculum, you can easily ask him for the best option depending on your needs (he replies to emails within 10/15 minutes), he seals his magnets in epoxy and if required routes your existing custom size covers and rebiulds your pickups. this is his site: [url="http://www.magneticspickups.com/eng/"]http://www.magneticspickups.com/eng/[/url]

[quote name='raze' post='731871' date='Feb 1 2010, 05:14 PM']Wow can tell im not on Talkbass if someone had posted this on there it would have been flamed by about 50 miserable old C***S that spend more time on bass forums than they do playing bass saying Use the search function you noob !!![/quote] on the Italian Megabass forum as well, they're fairly strict about rules, though they're averagely not c*nts and I agree that some posts are really useless and petty For what I've seen (quite little), I like the atmosphere of this forum Getting back to the topic: I personally like both, but by now I favour my Classic '50 P in my band settings, it's got the sound I need and like, and a good neck feel (a thick one... well, not so much for me, being also a classical double-bass player )

"Active" and "Passive" are to me somehow confusing ways to label amp inputs if considered literally, they were early simplicistic associations to the assumption that "active is loud" which have been kept since their appearance. I would somehow relate them to the term "hard disk", contraposed to the "floppy disk" which at first (the big one) was very flexible... everybody still uses the HD term, though nobody really thinks of its "solidity" Though chances are that an active bass signal is probably beefier, it's not the law: active preamps mostly provide low impedance signals, a wider freq. response and give more onboard flexibility[color="#FF0000"][b]*[/b][/color], but I've heard more than one passive bass with higher volume outputs than "hi-fi" active ones, it also depends on the preamp design... a MusicMan or G&L preamp is on the "beefy" side, whereas others are designed for tone control. To sum up: I'd personally use the "passive" input (or the pad button set to off) for both passive and active basses, the Ash input knob has enough headroom for a good adjustment. I'd use the "active" (or pad button) input only for extremely loud basses which would otherwise clip, basses passing through extremely loud and "preamp-like" pedals (say the Tech21 VTbass), external tube preamps (that was my case with my former MAG and a Presonus TubePre, before switching to the ABM), line signals and so on... if your active bass allows a good input adjustment in the "passive" one without the need to keep it below 8 or 9 o' clock, go for it. I'd personally call them "low" or "high" inputs (just like in the MAG series) than active/passive [color="#FF0000"][b]*[/b][/color]by now I prefer passive basses, so it's not a discrimination at all

I recently had the chance to find a mint condition used Fender Precision Classic 50 for a very good price (€400, I wonder if you can find those prices in Britain as well), it's been one of my best buys so far for what I spent, the Classic's a lucky line

[quote name='Toddy' post='704488' date='Jan 7 2010, 06:39 PM']Sold the bugger to pay for a night in a hotel,,,Long long story......... [/quote] ... sounds like a catchy interesting beginning, I'd say I'm surprised to read that you were all satisfied by their loudness... I've often had problems about tone definition in the mix with TE and SWR, due to their scooped sound

I've tried some solid-state TE over the years and I don't like them so much. IMHO they all tend to have a "gummy" trademark sound, no matter what you plug in them, very scooped, and sometimes I had problems hearing myself... I also think these solid state models don't have a great wattage/loudness ratio (I mean what's written on the amp compared to how much you effectively hear), plus I'm not a big fan of those "clicky" volume knobs I'm much more happier with the somehow related Ashdowns (different concept and sound, BTW); they have a trademark sound either which I like

Analog gear wise, the Ashdown ABMs have the valve drive, eq, eq shape and sub-harmonics footswitchable. Therefore you can control overdrive, an octaver, a different eq and some added contour via footswitch... this is something, but for better flexibility, given the fact that Ashdowns add their own colour to the sound as well, I'd go for something else. I also have a BassPod XT, IMHO good value for money. BTW, I wouldn't switch to many different amp models in the same live setting (that means presets which model diffrent brands with very different tone qualities) , if not strictly necessary

As I wrote a couple of days ago, now I have the ABM evo II as well... great thing, deeper and more articulated (I'd say keener to deliver "pro-tone") than the MAG, I coldn't care less about the evo III add ons. Just one thing: the footswitch was not in bundle with the evo II, right?!? I thought so a first, but the vendor told me he didn't get any with the head... by the way, that's not a big matter, for the (low) price I got it

I've recently recorded with my band in a nice studio here with a very good sound-engineer. He opted for D.I. plus later reamping and tone shaping (I also use effects: overdrives and a chorus), and the mixdown results are brilliant. In fact, he made me and the drummer record each song about 8 times in the same room, while the bass signal was being sent to the desk - no bass sound was captured by the drum mics, of course! Well, since I was also stomping on pedals, I recorded a reference FXed track as well, so that he knew where the chorus, od or fuzz was, but AFAIK he didn't use it in the mixdown, there was a sort of hiss coming from one of my pedals as well... nothing relevant in a live set, but that wasn't a live set Later, I wrote him something like a "wish tone" list, citing song titles which I associated to each of our song in terms of bass tone. This way, he had full tone control and the result is that my tone is quite varied to best fit the overall mix for each song. One might prefer a "single sound" (though it's never really so in nowadays recordings) for the whole EP/LP, that's fine as well, all the options are open once you have your inst. signal down. Well... there's actually a downside to this: at the time being, I don't know how he exactly processed each single bass track, therefore what amps/cabs the signal was sent through later! But I'll ask him... by the way, I'm really happy with the overall result, and that's what counts

By now one of my amps is a MAG 4x10 combo, but I'm almost sure I'm gonna buy a (rarely) used ABM 500 evo II with its 4x10 ABM 410 cab tomorrow from a guy living here, then I'll sell my combo. The vendor told me he felt his evo II sounded slightly louder than an evo III he once tried (same wattage), but that's just his word and perception... I personally don't mind buying the earlier version, my MAG doesn't have the comp. either and I've never felt it was a lacking feature, I wasn't even told so well about those "overeasy-like" comp. knobs spotted on newer Ashdowns... in my experience, if you need compression while playing live, it's better to add it post-amp, relying on the pro racks besides the mixer which affect the PA sound, especially if you use "tubey" amps such as Ash or Ampeg, whose warmth reacts to your dynamics. If you want to use compression as a colouring FX, IMHO there are some nice "lo-fi" stomp boxes around doing it.... I personally used to like the Compression-Sustainer, if you think of it as a box which literally squashes your sound and therefore compresses it.