The Last Bass Outpost

there are some real gems as you scroll down:

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/audio/

I have a chance to get a MarkBass 210 Combo "CMD 210P" (350/500W) at less than half the retail price.
I've read some reviews and most seem really happy with it.  The retail price of $1,150 seems scary high to me, but folks seem to love 'em.  I understand that it's hard for some people to pay $1K+ for a combo and write that they hate it, so I'm pretty careful about not believing everything I read in reviews.

I just wanted to replace my heavier than all-get-out Peavey combo with something more portable (this 210P weighs 44 lbs.) for small bars and small gigs with FOH support.

Since I come here for answers to important questions (OK, and for the airplane and motorcycle pictures), I'd be interested to see if any LBO folks have any experience with MarkBass.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

I was driving from one job to the next this morning and I passed a Pawn Shop 20 miles south of Raleigh. I've been here a few times before, and I remember that they had about 20 old basses and guitars hanging really high up on the wall - they are not for sale. I had about 10 minutes to kill - I walked in there just to look around. after a minute, an elderly gentleman saw me eyeing this old Vox Bass and he starts talking to me about vintage stuff.

Turns out this guy is Larry Bailey, a supremely talented jazz, blues, country guitarist and musician. I had no idea who he was. Turns out that he was very good friends with Chet Atkins and has worked with some of the greats, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Reeves, Pearl Bailey and recently was asked to open a few shows for Tommy Emmanuel. After chatting for a few minutes, he goes to the safe in the back and gets out his baby - a 1952 Telecaster - a REAL 1952 Telecaster.  It was an amazing piece of equipment that certainly looked 60+ years old. Although a few parts have had to be swapped (output jack, bridge tray, saddles and the neck pickup (which now a vintage Les Paul humbucker), it still has the same body, pots, switch & neck. The luthier who did some repairs, embedded a 1952 dime into the body. I can tell he was extremely proud of this guitar and the stories behind his history were as clear to him as if they happened yesterday.  His eyes lit up when he told me about being on stage with Pearl Bailey and doing a few skits with her.

He also told me a great story about how Chet Atkins called Les Paul and told him only to pack a bag and fly to Nashville to meet him there. Les Paul didn't ask any questions and arrived at Nashville and stayed the night with Chet.  The next day, they fly to LA, where Chet leads Les Paul through the door and behind a stage curtain and tells him to stay there. Chet Atkins goes through the curtains to an enormous applause and begins to speak to the audience, who are mostly musicians. The curtain opens and Les Paul is led on stage for a birthday celebration - If I understand the story correctly, it's the first of an annual birthday celebration that still continues in NYC/Mahwah, NJ to this day... Who's in LA for this party?  The Beatles, Keith Richards, Eddie Van Halen and most notables from the NYC & Nashville music scenes.  Larry Bailey tells me that Chet Atkins asked if anyone had a harmonica, and McCartney whips his out and blows a C - everyone sing Happy Birthday and the party starts. At some point of this party, Les Paul blows EVH's doors off after EVH start fingerboarding.  Les Paul replicates his work then proceeds to one-hand it.  What a celebration that must've been.

To my surprise (I should have been back on the road 20 minutes ago) Larry plugs his beloved '52 into some crapola amp and for the next 45 minutes plays an amazing array of music that blows me away. His abilities and to be at arm's length to such mastery is pretty mind numbing.  Anyway, after 45 minutes or so, I had to excuse myself and apologize - I really could have stayed there all day and listened to him tell me stories and play tunes associated with those stories.

My oldest son is taking a Music History course in college, so I'm going to see if I can get him over there to meet Mr. Bailey and get an interview.  More people need to know about his talents and acquaintances, and I'll bet he'd be able to fill volumes with his tales.

To me, these things are drop-dead gorgeous, but isn't $4k USD a bit of a stretch?
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/msd/3851488854.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/msg/3792826632.html

He also has an unloaded 2x15 Sunn cab.

Steve

I apologize if this is a lame qustion, but I was troubleshooting a bass last night where the tone pot (on a V/V/T passive P/J) was acting like the master volume.
I had a feeling that the Cap may have been shorting against another lug on the pot when pressed into it's cavity.

Anyway, I was trying to isolate the problem and was getting frustrated. A new Cap didn't change anything - neither did a new Tone Pot w/ a new Cap. I ended up eliminating the pots altogether to start from scratch. Now, I have all the Hot (white) wires wire-nutted together and all the Grounds (black) wired together.  I wanted to check and see that both pickups and Output Jack worked properly before I went on to troubleshoot further.

Belive it or not, it doesn't sound bad - I have a little bit of hum that goes away when I touch the bridge with my hand, so I suspect I have a Bridge Ground issue. The pickups are on full and it sounds like they would if I have the Tone rolled all the way on.  Depending on where my fingers are (at the neck joint , over the P, over the J), I can really get quite distinct tones. It's kinda neat to not have any knobs on a bass.

I intend to get new Pots (I'm guessing that 250k is the way to go for V/V/T) and a new Cap (.47 uF?) and replace the Bridge Ground wire, but I was curious to know if I could possible be doing any damage to the pickups by straight wiring for the time being? 

Any useful advice would be welcomed.
Steve

Hey all,
My son's band has a gig this Sat night at a small club. I found out last night that the club does not have a PA.
I don't know much about live sound, so I thought I'd ask some rudimentary questions on LBO just to get them through the night.

I don't own a PA per se, but I do have a spare Peavey Mark VIII (600 W) bass amp and two 15" Eminence loaded cabinets that I'm guessing that I can use as Mains (1/4" speaker cable inputs).

I have mics, cables and stands for vocals.
I was thinking that I can run the 3 vocal mics (XLR) into a small mixer (I have a 12-channel Samson passive mixer) and run the output (XLR to 1/4" converted) into the bass amp Input, and then out to the Mains (1/4" speaker).

I don't have stands for the Mains, but I was thinking about putting the Mains on amplifier kickback stands for that night.

I'd imagine that I can dork with EQ on the Mark VIII to get the vocals decent and the band will play through their backline - I'll leave the drums un-mic'd.

The club is decent size (probably 45,000 sq. ft.) and will hold about 200 people, (I'm expecting about 100 people to be there) although they will be spread out amongst pool tables and fixed eating booths.  The kids will be playing classisc rock (yeah!!) and some originals.  They have 2 guitarists playing through a Vox 120 Valvetronix and a Fender Mustang IV amp.  The bassist will probably use a TNT130 combo or a Peavey Pro500 w/ 115 & 210. The drummer (my youngest) is pretty loud, so I'm hoping to not have to mic him at all - unless suggested to do so.

Does anyone see an issue with what I'm planning here? I only have a few days to come up with a solution for the kids (other than buying a PA system), which still leaves me not really knowing what I'm doing.  When I step away from the situation, it seems pretty simple and my equipment will do the trick, but I'll take all the advice I can get from you guys.

Thanks,
Steve