Muppet

What's your interpretation of gain? Volume?

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='21832' date='Jun 22 2007, 12:21 PM']Hi Steve,

I've been looking at the DTR1000 but I haven't seen one advertised anywhere for less than £139. Where can I buy one for £95?[/quote]

Hi Alan

From Thomann here. With the 10 Euros shipping it comes to just over £100, although if you spend a tad more you get the shipping for free!

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/korg_dtr1000_rack_tuner.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/korg_dtr1000_rack_tuner.htm[/url]

My wife bought me the DTR2000 from Thomann and it arrived in a few days. Euro plug mind, but that's a minor niggle.

cheers

Steve

[quote name='MB1' post='22085' date='Jun 22 2007, 07:27 PM']MB1.

I did try to explain, alas!

nobodys asking anybody to buy one![/quote]

The title of the post was "Planet Waves Gripmaster, Opinions?"

You can't complain when that's what you end up with!!

[quote name='MB1' post='22050' date='Jun 22 2007, 06:17 PM']works for mr sheehan![/quote]

I image the cash he gets from the endorsement helps a little.

[quote name='guitarnbass' post='22033' date='Jun 22 2007, 05:48 PM']Practicing bass is damanding enough for your fingers, I think that if you practice enough and practice properly, using a gripmaster would be ott. Also, how strong do your fingers need to be? Mine are long and weak as anything, but I don't have any problem getting around, maybe if I wanted to do full bends at the 3rd fret I might struggle but it's not like I'd ever do that anyway... If your bass is hard to fret, lower the action and use soft strings.[/quote]

I agree completely. Having strong fingers is not what it's all about. If it helped technique then I'd have no issue. Pressing a few springs in and out is no better than drumming my fingers on a desk. You're more likely to get RSI than improve dexterity.

From left to right

Eden Nemesis RS410
Ampeg SVT4PRO and SVT610HLF
Ashdown MAG300
Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird
Ampeg BA115 HP

[quote name='MoJoKe' post='21937' date='Jun 22 2007, 02:57 PM']Happy birthday old chap!![/quote]

Good spot!

Happy birthday Chris! It's a Friday too which is a bonus - have a few beers.

Can't see the point to be honest. You'd be just as well playing the bass. I'm not sure building finger strength is useful on it's own, unless you're planning to throttle the life out of your bass neck.

[i]Features 8/10[/i]

This is the RS410 combo amplifier From Eden’s Nemesis range. It’s 300w @ 4ohm (or 400w depending on what specs you read) in to 4 Eden manufactured speakers plus tweeter. The RS stands for Rock Series and is I guess designed to build on the successful Nemesis NC range with a bias towards rock musicians.

The amplifier is all solid state with a three band EQ, integrated compressor, a switchable semi parametric EQ section, a variable Edge control that adds a tube like sound and an ‘Enhance’ control which I think appears on a lot of Eden amps and is a variable single EQ knob that increases lows, upper mids and highs whilst cutting lower mids all at the same time.

DI out, with pre or post EQ and a DI level control, a tuner out, an effects loop and option to connect an extension cabinet can also be found at the rear. The speaker can also be switched off and a headphone jack completes the features.

It’s carpet covered, with casters and a footswitch for mute and ‘Enhance’ on/off switching, solid handles, and apparently weighs apparently 30kg, so not too heavy but not Markbass light either (thought compares well against the CMD103h).


[i]Sound Quality 7/10[/i]

I play Fender Precisions, a Lakland Darryl Jones and a Tanglewood semi acoustic through this.

I have tried the NC210 previously and also heard it used in a live situation which helped me make my purchase decision, though I can’t tell any difference in the sound quality between the RS range and the NC range.

The immediate impression of the sound is that it is very clean and very very tight. There is no boominess or woollyness in the tone and there is a surprising amount of bottom end for a cabinet loaded with 10s.

The Edge control adds a nice tube warmth to the sound, but is very subtle in the lower ranges and needs to be driven by careful use of the input gain to get a right sound as it can make your tone really awful if too much is used.

The compressor also functions from the gain control and is a little tricky to use, Once set, it’s not too bad, but I tend to use it very sparingly.

The Enhance function is very clever BUT, it is fixed. It boosts bass, upper mid and treble and cuts lower mid, increasingly as you turn it up. Fine if you like the settings that it’s tuned to operate at but if you don’t then it’s difficult to use. You could spend hours assessing all possible combinations of Enhance settings together with various manual EQ settings and miss your gig entirely. I would rather have the ability to set and store the enhanced frequencies myself.

The parametric EQ works on one selectable frequency only but is a nice touch for fine tuning, or to nail a specific sound. Again, a little goes a long way.

I’m not absolutely blown away with the sound but I’ve not found an amplifier yet that takes my breath away. I will say that for the money I am impressed and compared with similar priced combos the sound quality is much better.


[i]Reliability/Build Quality 9/10[/i]

Still fairly new so I’d hope there’s nothing wrong with it. It is built in China. That might put some off but I’ve been round it with a fine tooth comb and from the outside the build quality looks great, although I hate carpet covering.

All surfaces fit cleanly, no sharp edges, the pots are firm and turn smoothly, the knobs are metal, the speakers don’t rattle and the tweeter doesn’t hiss and unlike Ashdown stuff the metal grill covering won’t slice your fingers off.


[i]Customer Support 4/10[/i]

Well I can’t say much about the Eden customer support as I’ve not had the opportunity to deal a lot with them, I did email them about UK availability of this particular amp and never got a response back, so I guess that counts. They seem to place high importance on their relationship with their users and try to promote their user forum in their literature, though cynics might suggest this is just additional cheap advertising and support.

I really hope it doesn’t go wrong as I’ve no idea whether there’s a UK service centre. I don’t even know if there’s another unit in this country given the difficulty I had in obtaining one. Given that there is no UK distributor and that I had to source the amp from Germany (who in turn sourced it from The Netherlands) then any warranty claim is going to be fun.


[i]Overall Rating 7/10[/i]

I have a number of niggles with this amp. The blue lighting is impossibly bright to the extent that settings are obscured under low light (as during gigs). This is not good. The knobs are a lovely dark nickel with poor markings so even without the light it would be difficult to see your settings.

The handle placement means that it’s difficult to lift the amp any great height so stairs are a nuisance and a two man lift results in grazed ankles.

The quality of the casters are not too good, though this might be a ‘feature of other Eden products also.

It’s front ported and the port is right in the middle of the four drivers which make it look a little unfinished.

It’s a high end budget combo; but budget only in comparison terms with other Eden gear. At £650 imported from Germany, it ain’t cheap but good value for money.

This compares well to the Markbass CMD103h in terms of weight, size and power output but at around £250 cheaper is well worth considering.

Mike Swain at Panic Music

[url="http://www.panicmusic.co.uk/"]http://www.panicmusic.co.uk/[/url]

The UKs only official Ampeg repair centre, they do virtually all types of amps, PAs, mixers etc.

Very busy so worth booking in advance

Great looking pair there. I think your photography ain't too shabby either - you certainly know how to take great photos of basses!

Steve

The DTR2000 is great I agree (I have one) although I suspect it's a little more than £120. Thomann do it for £162, but the DTR1000 is a much more reasonable £95. Value for money wise the latter would be my choice.

Steve

[quote name='paul, the' post='21607' date='Jun 21 2007, 09:41 PM']Lakland: Lindy Fralin pup, consistent quality control, legendary endorsement.

Fender: Time honored mojo, the originator of the design, all my favorite electric bassists play(s/ed) one.
I'm not the person to answer though, I own neither a Lakland, nor vintage Fender.[/quote]

DJs have (or had) Aero pickups. Body is smaller but still Jazz shaped, quality is astounding. Block inlays, bound neck, string through bridge.....

You'd need to really play one to feel the difference. Sounds trite I know but true...

[quote name='The Burpster' post='21608' date='Jun 21 2007, 09:42 PM']I knew I'd read some other stuff about this see below thread put on by Beedster P bass 2 P pups...

Its like a precision Elite II made between 83 +85..... about as popular as a KKK grand master in a Black Panther meeting.......

[/quote]


With the pickguard from hell..not an Elite pickguard that..

I am three bands. All bands are aware of this situation and the rule is that I accept the first confirmed booking on the date, including rehearsals. My part of the bargain is that I keep all bands up to date of what bookings I have when and I also accept that they have the right to find a dep for me and arrange rehearsals with him/her and without me. I will never cancel a confirmed booking for one band in favour of the others even if money is involved and they all know this.

It's hard work and you have to run a very tight diary and communicate well with all bands and be honest about what you're up to. Don't think of doing stuff without telling the others as they'll find out and it'll damage your relationship.

Steve

I've asked myself this question many times, with no satisfactory answer, so with my covers band I use a Precision and a Lakland DJ. Myself and the guitarists sort out the set to minimise the number of guitar changes we need to do between us without ruining the dynamics of the set.

If I HAD to choose one, it would be the DJ, on the basis that it has J retro fitted which makes it very versatile and has a wider range than the Precision.

I know some guys actually remove the volume knob (leaving the shaft in place) as they're constantly hitting it as a result of their playing style. Maybe this guy as suy says took it one step further?

Just listened to them - I think it's fantastic! Best of luck.

No idea about the speakers but I have the BA115HP (not the T which has a tube preamp) and it's a great amp. I have tried the T version and I struggled to make out the difference between the tube preamp and the non-tube preamp. Might save you a few pennies?

It can get a great approximation of the Ampeg sound although isn't majorly loud on it's own. I use this amp when travelling to venues with good PA support and it handles the situations well. I've used it at The Cavern, Bull and Gate, Dublin Castle etc all with no problems.

The top one comes with casters and side handles. I don't think the bottom one does. They're both heavy so the handles and wheels are very useful. Remember the 200R does not have a horn, whereas the HP115 does (the variable attenuator is at the rear) so assuming you use it, you sound maybe quite different.

I would imagine at all depends on whether you need the vintage vibe or not.

Didn't buy a bass off him (surprise) but did sell him some bits that'll no doubt find their way on to a bass that someone WILL buy off him ;-)

Hardly needs to be said, but I'll state the bleeding obvious and say 'top bloke'.

Chris - it's Psychoandy's! Check out the 'For Sale' forum...

Steve

[quote name='chrisgil' post='20354' date='Jun 19 2007, 07:13 PM']REALLY?

thats one of the ones I had my eye on.
Wouldnt mind trying it out somewhere but I doubt anywhere will have one in.

p.s. I would never go to the Bass Celler
They are a miserable bunch of w@nkers that work there[/quote]


Well, I think so from my experience, though that're not light by any stretch of the imagination. I don't know if any member currently has one, but it's worth asking, maybe?

[quote name='Musky' post='20419' date='Jun 19 2007, 08:53 PM']The pick up layout is like the old Precision Elite 2. Fender have never bothered to revisit this format, so I'd guess there's probably a good reason for it.

So I wouldn't either, though mostly because it just looks [i]wrong.[/i][/quote]

The Precision Elite was just the same although they had sensor pickups. Don't know whether that was because they were so close to the bridge? They had well chunky bridges too. That looks like a Stingray bridge in the photo there Chris.

[quote name='Mr Cougar' post='20465' date='Jun 19 2007, 10:39 PM']Hey Muppet do you still start every sentence with either "tell ya' what" or "now then"? If you do you are a definitely still a Lincs man.[/quote]

Rumbled

And me missus is smelly Skelly born and bred.

[quote name='Platypus' post='19394' date='Jun 17 2007, 11:53 PM']I still have her all right - have added a J Retro and Hipshot bass extender, must put a picture up some time. My main bass before that was a Fender American Deluxe Precision and the DJ neck was super slim by comparison. I've since sold the the Fender and now use either the DJ or the Bob Glaub that I got on EBay about six months back

P[/quote]
How do you find the j -retro, Platypus? Did you get John to make it for for you or buy it in from the States?

It's such a huge sound with the preamp that I can pretty much get any tone I want out of it!