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Music Gear

New gear!

I have had a Stagg BA-20 bass combo amp for ten and a half years. I was given it for Christmas in 1997, after I had been playing bass for a few months. It’s quite weak, with only 20W power output, but I actually used it for practises and small gigs for many years.

I was then given a real bass rig by my mother for my 21st birthday. It consisted of a Peavey Nitrobass head and a Peavey 115BX BW cabinet (which contains 1 15″ Black Widow speaker). The Nitrobass head is still manufactured under the name of the Max 450. I used this rig at a few gigs, and much like broadband internet, it set new expectations for my bass sound. The little Stagg bass amp now sounded pathetic and barely useable by comparison.

My mum gave me a second 115BX BW cabinet, I think it was for my 22nd birthday. However, I haven’t done a gig since, so I’ve never gigged with both cabinets together. In fact, I haven’t used both simultaneously for at least the last four and a half years. These days I keep one of them upstairs in my music room, and the other downstairs, so that I can take the head and one cabinet to band practises without needing to lug an 80lb cabinet downstairs and then back up again (also, I don’t really have room upstairs for both cabs!)

I’ve been considering getting a combo amp that is more appropriate for my needs. My dad was down this weekend, and when I mentioned it, he said “well, it’s your birthday in a couple of months, so let’s go shopping, and I’ll pay.” In the event, he forgot to take his credit card, so I paid, but he will reimburse me.

So I now have an Ashdown EB 12-180. It’s not as loud as the Peavey rig, but it’s loud enough for my needs. It weighs less than each 115BX BW cabinet, and will fit in the boot of my car. If I’ve done my calculations correctly, it has the portability of the Stagg amp, combined with the volume of the Peavey. It’s the only bass amp I need, and I can now sell the others (though I don’t expect much for the Stagg).

There is a possibility that in a few years I may find myself playing larger venues, and the Ashdown won’t have enough oomph. If this happens, then it will have made sense to hold onto the Peavey rig. But I think the chances of this are slender – if it does turn out this way, then I guess I’ll look for a second hand rig. But let’s assume that this isn’t going to happen.

The Peavey rig is in great condition, and it will be a shame if I don’t get 50% of the original price for it. My mum has a very generous streak in her, which sometimes leads her to buy overly extravagant gifts. In this case, she spent £900 on a bass rig for me 7 years ago, which I have never really been able to push to its limit, and all the money lost to depreciation has just disappeared into the ether (or into the pockets of the Peavey company, technically).

That said, I don’t think she’s expecting me to pay her back for it, so I’m actually going to end up £450 better off (albeit at her expense). Maybe I should just shut up.