Hi all, bass newby here

[ossyrocks]

Hi All,

 

Whilst I've been a member here for about 3 years, I joined in 2019 just to sell one of my step-sons cabs, so this is my first proper post.

 

At the age of 56, a couple of months ago I made the decision to pick up the bass for the first time and see if I could actually play one. I've always admired great bass players, and have always recognised their contribution to making great music.

 

So I bought a cheap Squire P-Bass off Facebook locally and whilst it was in good condition, it was barely playable, the action was over half an inch! I spent a week trying to make it work and in the end I managed it, after putting about four and a half FULL TURNS on the truss rod to get the huge bow out of the neck, some soldering under the guard and some fret polishing. I put some new 40-100 strings on it, and bought a little Rumble 15 amp to practice on.

 

Well, now I'm hooked! I'm slowly improving I think. I'm following a couple of Youtube channels offering lessons, and it does seem to be sinking in. 

 

I've played regular guitar for many years, but I have had to completely change my approach in playing bass, my left hand positioning in particular, as well as playing with fingers instead of a pick. I'm mostly into blues, soul, funk with a smattering of blues & classic rock. I'm also hoping that one day I may reach a standard good enough to consider being in a band playing bass.

 

GAS got the better of me this week too. I've been looking at better quality basses, in particular Precision basses, and this week I bought a vintage '73 Precision. The sound I hear in my head, the sound I hear from my favourite players, particularly Pino Palladino, is a Precision.

 

Next on my list is a decent amp, but it needs to be light weight as I have a bit of a bad back. My local shop, Promenade Music sell Markbass stuff, and they have promised to give me a ring when the CMD121P comes back in stock so I can try it out.

 

I know of a couple of people on here already, as they are also on The Fretboard Forum, and I would like to thank them here too for all their help and advice regarding my bass journey and my latest purchase.

 

Anyway, thanks for listening, you haven't heard the last of me.

 

Cheers,

Rob

[Geek99]

Welcome - you night want to learn a bit of set-up as you can often get action much lower. I bought a jazz bass once that needed six turns  before it became usable - a bus would have fitted under. 

[zero9]

Welcome - you're never too old to start the bass journey. Enjoy!

[Thump]

Hi Rob 

 

Try an Orange crush25 bass amp, terrific for in the house and general practice at sensible volumes.

 

Four and a half turns?!? That is a lot! I've adjusted horrors before but never needed more than one full turn. You must have been able to fire arrows from it!

[ossyrocks]

8 minutes ago, Thump said:

Hi Rob 

 

Try an Orange crush25 bass amp, terrific for in the house and general practice at sensible volumes.

 

Four and a half turns?!? That is a lot! I've adjusted horrors before but never needed more than one full turn. You must have been able to fire arrows from it!

 

I have the little Rumble 15 for the house. The next amp I buy needs to be able to cut it at jams and small gigs, does the Orange do that? 

I've learnt over the years playing guitar that compromising on gear always costs more in the long term too, as I just end up selling and buying something better. The Markbass amps always sound great when I hear a band using them. What are you using?

 

Rob

[SpondonBassed]

Welcome Rob.

[Geek99]

18 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

 

I have the little Rumble 15 for the house. The next amp I buy needs to be able to cut it at jams and small gigs, does the Orange do that? I've learnt over the years playing guitar that compromising on gear always costs more in the long term too, as I just end up selling and buying something better.

This is called GAS - gear acquisition syndrome - rarely seen round these parts (said he, sarcastically). 
 

 

[Thump]

The Orange is my amp and its great for in the house but i would say thats its limit for volume. If friends come round and we have a muck about with my guitars it can hold its own with my 15W valve Marshall.

All at low volumes however, quiet cul de sac setting and all.

 

However you're definitely in the right place for advice, if someone here hasn't owned / played it then it probably doesn't exist and the wealth of knowledge here is staggering 

[Reggaebass]

Welcome 👍

[ricksterphil]

Welcome

 

I'd go for a bigger Rumble. I have the 100 and it's amazing.

 

Phil

[Richard R]

Welcome aboard! 

[police squad]

welcome Rob. I have a '73 p bass. Owned it for nearly 32 years. Best sounding P bass I've ever had.

Ampwise, defintaley look at the Ashdown RM stuff. They do loud combos and heads and lightweight cabs.

Not too expensive either, there's a lot of love for the RM stuff onhere

[ossyrocks]

25 minutes ago, police squad said:

welcome Rob. I have a '73 p bass. Owned it for nearly 32 years. Best sounding P bass I've ever had.

Ampwise, defintaley look at the Ashdown RM stuff. They do loud combos and heads and lightweight cabs.

Not too expensive either, there's a lot of love for the RM stuff onhere

 

I am seeing a lot of love for Ashdown stuff here, a LOT. There are a lot of comments regarding their after sales service too, all good I might add. This is the thing that has me concerned about the Markbass CMD121P I kind of had my heart set on. Whilst everyone seems to agree they sound great, if something goes wrong, then you appear to be a little cast adrift, with only one place in the UK able to repair them.

 

Looking online at Ashdown stuff, the Ashdown RM 500-EVO II Lightweight 500w Head can be had for £468.00, and the Ashdown RM-112T-EVO II, Super Lightweight Bass Cabinet for £269.00.

 

This setup is very slightly cheaper than the Markbass combo I was looking at. How do you think the Ashdown rig above would compare to the Markbass CMD121P?

Edited January 30, 2022 by ossyrocks
pasted wrong info on cab

[Nickthebass]

On 30/01/2022 at 15:55, ossyrocks said:

 

I am seeing a lot of love for Ashdown stuff here, a LOT. There are a lot of comments regarding their after sales service too, all good I might add. This is the thing that has me concerned about the Markbass CMD121P I kind of had my heart set on. Whilst everyone seems to agree they sound great, if something goes wrong, then you appear to be a little cast adrift, with only one place in the UK able to repair them.

 

Looking online at Ashdown stuff, the Ashdown RM 500-EVO II Lightweight 500w Head can be had for £468.00, and the Ashdown RM-112T-EVO II, Super Lightweight Bass Cabinet for £269.00.

 

This setup is very slightly cheaper than the Markbass combo I was looking at. How do you think the Ashdown rig above would compare to the Markbass CMD121P?

Personally - I would go down the head and cab route every time. It’s more flexible and gives you more room for growth. That Ashdown head and cab should be fine in a number of gigging situations. If you need more poke - add another 8 ohm cab and draw the full 500 watts from the power amp.

 

If I was picking cabs for you I’d point you at the Barefaced stuff and build yourself a modular rig. I run a pair of their older cabs - a 1x12 and a 1x15 - giving me in effect 3 rigs to pick from depending on what I need.

 

If / when I ever change them out it’ll likely be for the more old school sounding Barefaced rig - a 2x10 and a 4x10.

 

I am not knocking the Markbass stuff at all - it’s great. Check out their heads and cabs. There was an SA450 head for sale on here - something like that would be great. For me the only hard pre-requisite on a head is two Speakon outs. 
 

A head and cab will do everything that a combo can do and more!

[gjones]

I bought a Markbass CMD121P during the initial lockdown period in 2020.

 

I usually go for separate head and cab combinations (Barefaced and GK) but I liked the compactness of the CMD121P and had heard great things about it over the years. When I saw a great deal on Ebay, for an almost new one, I pounced.

 

I've only managed to play one gig with it and it kept up with a loud drummer. Luckily the gig also got recorded professionally to allow the Festival organisers to stream the gig and the sound in the video was excellent (P bass recorded with a mic in front of the speaker).

 

As mentioned before, a separate head and cab set up allows you to chop and change, if you want to experiment but the CMD121P is such a good little combo, it might be the only amp you'll ever need.