Bassnut62

1 hour ago, JPJ said:

Result! Looks like you got it for a good price as well so congratulations. One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post was how good the PJB one-knob limiter/compressor is at just tightening things up. Enjoy!

Yes, I tried the limiter a bit last night; ultra quiet and very effective when needed.

Well I scored this PJB stack https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/227075033581 for what I reckon is a great price. I collected it yesterday before rehearsal with full five-piece band last night. I am SO impressed! It needed both units in action to give full presence that I could feel as well as hear. I could still hear just the combo on its own, but that thump and flood-of-bass from adding the active monitor was just what I was looking for. It can give me a slightly more modern tone if I want it and most importantly still has all the warmth of my old Fender Bassman135 rig. The PJB transparently gave me the exact sound of my old Stingray, which was what I wanted. Almost as importantly, my chiropractor bills will now be greatly reduced!

Thank you all for excellent advice and experience shared.

3 minutes ago, JPJ said:

My experience was generally positive until I needed a repair. I owned both the Briefcase 2x5” combo until redundancy forced sale and the Bass Buddy preamp (basically the front end of the Briefcase amp). All was well until the Bass Buddy developed a fault and went off to Selectron, the so called UK service centre. After almost a year and numerous chase ups Selectron decided my Bass Buddy was unrepairable and wanted a ridiculous amount of money to return it to me that I didn’t bother, swearing to never touch another piece of PJB gear. Might also be worth searching out the thread “Phil Jones in crisis” posted in the general discussion section by @cetera back in May before parting with any cash. 

Thank you. That’s alarming and outrageous by Selectron. Sorry for your loss. Will check out that thread too.

Dan and EZ, I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience. Thanks.

16 minutes ago, ezbass said:

My 10 do the job for me, although 2 are upwards firing.

Great, that’s the scenario I’m seeking. Do the two facing upwards help hear the bass, especially on a small stage, where you might have to stand right in front of and close to the rig.

16 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Use enough of them and you will.

Good, I’m looking at up to 12 of them and up to 500w….enough to feel it at small gigs?

19 hours ago, Beedster said:

I used several PJB units live around 10 years back, generally I could hear them, but could never feel them

Hmmm, I am used to feeling the presence through my Bassman 135 rig, as much as hearing those lovely phat tones.
 

Please can any other PJB owners share their experience of ‘feeling’ the bass through multiple 5” neo speakers in a gig situation?

thanks

On 01/02/2021 at 13:54, mcnach said:

 

I thought the same, but even placed over the nut where it barely affects sustain it does affect the sound (which you can easily test by removing it), and of course you can adjust how tightly it sits.

Is it necessary? For the most part no, but you may like what it does. Or not. I wouldn't say, 'though, that people buy this under some kind of delusion, just because it's not for me. Personally, I don't think I need one, but I liked the effect it had when I tried them. The effect, as far as I could tell, is much more substantial than... rosewood vs maple fingerboards, or high mass bidges vs BBOT, or a few other things that people consider when buying an instrument. Is it an improvement? That's for you to decide.

I pretty much felt the same about the 'lack of' need for fret wrap. I've been playing for just over 40 years and good technique has always taken care of unwanted sustain or harmonics; but I do like the different tone you can get from using a mute. Luckily my old Stingray (1979) came with bridge mutes that you can lift on to bottom of string, Jameson style. I find they are great for slap, which I do relatively little of compared to many modern layers, as I prefer the less is more approach of Larry Graham; I also find they sound great for Country style bass. I hope that people using fret wraps so much these days don't get lazy on technique, as this is an important part of sounding good, and sometimes you want the full sustain of not using a mute, so will need that technique then to control the sustain, and for dropping in ghost notes.

19 minutes ago, Rosie C said:

I had a 'double 4'. It sounded great but after about a year something in the pre-amp stage blew. I suppose that can happen with any brand, one bad one in a batch, but it put me off buying a larger PJB amp.

 

Oh, that is rotten luck. The little PJB BG110 I have seems to be incredibly over-engineered and built like a tank, and I imagine it would be much less prone to failure than many other bigger brands. Were you able to get yours fixed?

12 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

It's equivalent to a 1x10 in terms of cone area, but things such as excursion are also relevant. In practice, I've never found a 1x10 that betters one of my C4s or 4Bs. I felt a couple were equivalent - the baby Barefaced was one - but none were superior. That's imho, obviously.

OK, that's good to know re comparisons of cone sizes, and even better to know how the PJBs compare to other good 1x10s. Think I'm going to take the plunge deeper into PJB land!

Hi ezbass / PJfanboy!

Thank you for your share.....I am seriously looking at a more powerful PJ combo for light gigging and adding a powered monitor for bigger gigging. I love the transparent tone, and can barely believe that I am saying that of a solid state amp. The only other solid state bass amp I've ever liked was a huge old Accoustic rig with horns on top and a 1x18 on the bottom, and I think it was 2x12 n the middle.

On 23/10/2025 at 20:07, ossyrocks said:

Well, I've pulled it to check. D140F with the orange frame. Reconed, but with paper dust cap.

 

I've fired it up tonight, and it's got a proper old school vibe going on with a P bass with flats.

 

My wife is not convinced however.

 

Rob

The best bass speaker known to humanity!!

Yup, humping the Bassman rig around is a bugger. I used to run my 135 with a Bassman vertical 2x15 cab, but it could fart out. I glued & screwed all the seems to full lengths of 1x2 and braced the baffle to the back panel with three lengtts of 2x2; this made a huge difference.... no farting and tone to die for; but it took two to move it! Even my 1x15 and that heavy head is getting a bit much to lump about now; hence the likely move to modern gear, and I probably don't want to even try to recreate that Bassman tone, as I think I will only be disappointed and always be thinking of the Bassman. I really like the hifi transparency of the PJB gear and am amazed so far at how well those little 5" neo speakers can hold the bottom end at home, through my PJB BG110 (2x5 and 20w).

Luckily I have two very good basses that produce plenty of natural tone, and happy to just hear that.

One Q...isn't 4x5" the equivalent of 1x20" or 2x10"?

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Hi Dan,

 

Thanks for your very helpful reply.

 

I am mostly playing Soul, Funk, Americana, Blues, even some Country and some Reggae, with a hint of Rock now and again, and mostly small local gigs. So it sounds like the bigger PJB powered combos and active monitors will do the trick well. I am not interested in just a PJB amp. I currently run an old Bassman rig with a big old 15" alnico JBL D140 in the (actually MusicMan) cab; so reckon the PJB gear would be a lot easier to wield, especially as I'm in my 60s now!

 

Coincidentally, I had been looking at the Aguilar TH amp and cabs too, and like their sound. 

How do you think the PJB compares to the Aguilar?

 

It would be sad not to have cooking valves for bass anymore, but it may be time to join the modern world! And I still have some nice old valve amps for guitar anyway.

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6 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

I had a similar experience to yours - bought a small PJB combo, liked what it did and decided to try a full rig.

 

You can certainly do it, but it won't be cheap. They will deal with fat tones happily, but you'll need a few of those small drivers to shift enough air in a live situation. The good news is that they often come up used and, as they are often bought by jazzers and non-headbangers, they are usually in good shape and have not been caned.

 

They cut through very well on stage in my experience. However, I am playing in a soul band and doing functions, pubs and clubs. I am not competing with heavy-handed drummers or guitar players. Your situation may be different.

 

They also project well into a room. I used to play in the house band at a local jam night and it surprised me how well my two PJB 4x5 cabs filled the space when I listened to others playing. 

 

If you want to make a bit of noise, especially with fat, low-end heavy tones, you will need a few drivers as I mention above. I have five 4x5 PJB cabs and run three or more of them when I want to shift some air. They are inefficient, so you will need powerful amplification. If you buy the PJB powered cabs, that will be taken care of, but if not, you need at least 250W per 4x5 cab to get them singing.

 

I'm not so keen on PJB amps. I find them a bit too hi-fi. I use Aguilar and/or Carvin amps, plus a PA power amp if needed, which give me the warmer, more old-school tone I prefer.

HI all,

I recently got a Phil Jones BG-110 20w 2x5 combo for practice at home and am SO impressed with it. I am now tempted to get a full Phil Jones rig. Maybe just one of their powered monitors to amplify the BG-110 or maybe a bigger combo. I'd use it for small to medium size gigs and maybe recording too. I am thinking of getting power up to 250w or 500w.

I want to know:

• How well they stand up to fat bass tones (from a '79 MusicMan Stingray or an AVRI62 Jazz Bass)?
• How well they cut through a mix on stage?
• Whether they have enough headroom to cope with small-to-medium gigs?

What are your thoughts and experiences of Phil Jones gear?

Thanks.

These are some of my favourite genres too, and agree that modern gear can do a reasonable version of that old school tone; but to my ears you need an old valve amp to get THAT sound. I use an early silver-face Fender Bassman 135 on a MusicMan HD115 ported cab, loaded with a JBL D140. This rig produces the best bass sound I have ever got by a country mile and a lot of people (incl. audience and other musicians) have said as much. The right bass is an important part of the mix too. You need a Fender P or J or a real MusicMan Stingray (the EB versions don't sound or play as good IMO).

For recording I've run a line from the amp and a mic from the cab and blended the two signals to get THAT sound. I don't use any pedals either, as I want to keep the signal from bass to amp to speaker/desk as free of interference as possible. This really does make a huge difference! However good the pedal/s it/they still compromise the signal from the instrument.

I sometimes run a Randall bright box on top of this rig too, for extra brightness and definition, and if I want to get the sound a bit phatter and dirtier, I jump the channels to use both sides of the preamp.

Very high-quality polyphonic guitar tuner, which also functions well as a mute button. Small footprint on pedal board and very accurate and easy to see in the dark. In immaculate condition with box.

Collection from Loughborough LE11 or can ship fully insured for £8.50 to mainland UK.

Two awesome true bypass loopers from Vein-Tap. Silence noisy pedals and kill tone suck. Just enough rope to sound awesome!

Brand new in box; completely unused.

Any questions please send me a message. Collection from LE11 or £8.50 posted to mainland UK only.

NOW SOLD, thanks

On 22/06/2024 at 12:33, Jack said:

Ashdown, Stoneham and Handbox all do small tube amps. 

Barefaced 10" cabs are voiced very old school. 

 

Some if the suggestions above aren't in the same tonal ballpark as your current rig. Sorry @BassAdder60 the Eich you mention is fantastic, I would prefer it to the Fender Bassman all day, but if you want something close to the Fender it's miles out. Is it really getting you close to your V4B? 

Never even heard of that Eich amp, will check it out, thanks

On 22/06/2024 at 12:05, chris_b said:

I had the 210 EV version of that cab. Jeez. . . it was as heavy as a small planet! And they only give you one handle!!

 

One thing you'll have to accept. . . . your new rig won't sound like your old rig. So your adaptability is key. You'll have to accept that your sound is going to go through a significant change, and after 30 years that might be a hard thing to accept.

 

I decided on a 30lb carry limit when I went lightweight. My Barefaced Super Compact is 22lbs. It's light, loud and puts out a great sound with the right amp. My amps are Aguilar. The TH500 sounds very "vintage". You have plenty of choices and many/most cabs are designed to a much higher standard these days. Good luck.

Interesting, I recently got an Aguilar Octamizer and am very impressed with its quality, sound and controls; which has led me to look at their TH500 amp. My current rig is going through a big old ported Music Man 1x15 loaded with a JBL D140, which gives a very clear almost hifi tone in the vintage amp context. Any particular cabs/speakers that you would recommend with it to maintain or get close to that phat, warm, pure vintage tone I am used to?

1 hour ago, NHM said:

How about replacing your rig with a modern Bassman 500 (or 800) plus a neo 1x15 or 4x10 cab? It will look pretty much the same which might be enough to convince you it sounds close enough too. The amp is a one finger lift and the cab is very manageable in and out of the car.

That sounds interesting, I'll check them out. Thanks.

I have used a 70s Fender Bassman 135 head with an old MusicMan 1x15 cab loaded with a JBL D140 for nearly 30 years now. It absolutely nails the gorgeous valve tone, dynamics and responsiveness I want and pairs extremely well with my 79 Stingray and AVRI 62 Jazz. Over the years I’ve tried a few modern amps, like Mark Bass and Hartke; but none of them do it for me like the Bassman rig.

i am now in my 60s and finally accepting that I may soon have to get a rig that is less heavy and bulky.

Can anyone recommend a modern light weight rig capable of genuinely delivering the tones, feel and sheer joy of a big old valve amp like my Bassman rig?

Item is now SOLD

23 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Boss OC-5, just read these 12 pages to get all the details:

 

Thanks, very helpful and a lot of love for Boss OC5