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Had a fantastic day yesterday in the company of Billy Sheehan, have been in contact with billy for a number of years, always had great chats with him etc, he arranged for me to meet up with him yesterday in Glasgow, just can't put in words how cool that experience was, i take part time photos of bands for fun, and billy asked if i would take some shots, Mr Big are a very slick set up!! Pro all the way, i was listening to Billy's onstage sound which is just incredible he has the smoothest low end with just the right amount of grunge on top he is an expert at sound control of a bass guitar , he can manipulate that bass to sound any way he likes it, so happy i got the chance for this experience, great bunch of guys too, i took a pile of photos if anyone fancies a look. cheers Geo Billy Sheehan pics here https://www.flickr.com/photos/139327844@N08/

This isn't a shot of the Alembic-esque - but it is related. And it should warm the pink torpedoles of @scrumpymike 's heart: It's his veneer going on his Lyte back, because I've got the bench back....BECAUSE I'VE FINISHED THE ELECTRIC! Here are some finished shots: There are a couple of tidy-up jobs to do (but none that need the workbench, Mike ) including adding the hatch to chamber contact strips to those that notice such things (and centreing and gluing the nut for those that notice those things too) but this is pretty much how it looks I've done some sound clips - I'll post those shortly. As always, thanks very much indeed for your interest, support, comments and suggestions along the way

For the love of God folks, update your profile with your location...

It’s not that I’m “fond” of it. It’s that my literal career depends on it. YouTube’s algorithm heavily promotes clicks, and the more times people click on a video, the more it gets recommended to you. Consider my position, please. I want to create in-depth video essays, or good-faith critiques of other musicians to help them improve, or comment response videos answering questions from my viewers. This is what I want to do for a job, for a living, because I think I’m pretty good at it, and I have the opportunity to do so. How should I title my videos? Should I appeal to your own personal sensibility of what titles should be? Remember, YouTube will bury it if I do. So, if I dont clickbait it, you won’t see it, and then nobody else will see it either. I constantly have to play a game of how much I should clickbait, and what that clickbait looks like. It’s not something that I enjoy at all, so I hope you judge my stuff by the quality of what I offer in the video itself rather than how it’s packaged for you. Because there is little that I can do about that.

Sounds like a fault to me. Head over to this thread on Talkbass: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/source-audio-sorcerers-society-s-a-s-s-part-3.1056621/ and get in touch with rsmith601 (president of Source Audio). He’ll sort you out in a jiffy.

Oh yes of course, me too, always have done.

I had that prob with mine. Opened it up & removed speakers to find cable resting against cone. Tied it back, all ok. Worth a check. G.

So what you're saying is these manufacturers move production from countries like Japan to countries like Indonesia to help the Indonesian economy? And you think the guy in the video is being naive? I'd say he's not the only one. What you describe is a side effect of companies chasing the lowest cost of production. Plain and simple. As soon as it becomes cheaper to produce guitars to certain standards and schedules and in the required quantities elsewhere in the world, a corporation will move production because the bottom line profitability is all that matters to them. It would be nice to think they're moving production from country A to country B just to help out all the B population, but that is rose tinted viewing at best. I've seen it in every company I've ever worked for, current one especially.

Interesting video, and he seems like a lovely guy, but his economic and political naivety is quite extraordinary. His constant references to "cheap production" and "exploitation" ignore the reality, which is that for example Fender making "cheap" guitars (branded as Squier) in Japan created jobs and helped to raise the standard of living in Japan to the extent that they moved production to Korea, then to China, then to Indonesia, then to Vietnam, in each case creating a new population of skilled workers earning more than they earned before, and now capable of pushing ahead without further investment from abroad. That's how economies work. The people who live in those countries, just like the people who live here in the UK, don't constantly look abroad and wish that they had the same standard of living as someone richer. Most people look at what they have now, compare it with what they had before or what their parents had before, and judge on that basis whether or not they're doing well. And when those Third World countries benefit from this sort of inward investment and develop their economies, guess what - they stop being Third World countries and become Developing countries. "Exploitation" definitely exists in many unskilled industries, most famously textiles, and I don't condone that for a second, but this luthier's definition of "exploitation" and his clarion call to cease "exploiting" these countries would see those very country's economies damaged and their workers thrown into unemployment. Is that really such an achievement? Basschat's tentacles extend a long way around the world. I'd love to hear from some Basschatters in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam as to whether they'd like to see the big instrument factories closed down. For their benefit. I'd even more like to hear from Basschatters in Kenya, Mozambique and Sierra Leone who are likely to be the next recipients of this sort of inward investment. Because, of course, their labour is now cheaper than the workers of Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. There's a reason for that ...

Well OK, but don't leave it too long! It's part of the learning process!

So many great bass scores. Thanks for all your hard work. Cheers

38 years ago today Metal Box was released and kickstarted my Bass playing journey. Thanks Wobble!

So far I haven't found the solution. -I liked the EBS valvedrive very much, but cumbersome and boring to feed at 12v AC I tried the runoffgroove Ginger, very good mild OD but one trick pony . then Scientist Elements, lacked bass compared to the valvedrive IMO, otherwise very good and obviously very versatile. The mxr bass OD was a bit muddy for my taste and lacked personnality I went to an Agro, I sold for a B3K, I sold for an Agro, and bought a new B3k. The aggie is very good, versatile and pleasant before an EF but gets a bit lost in the mix IMO (a bit noisy too, and the heavy steel box bothers me. I wish it came with a blend and aluminium standard box). The B3k is very good at what it does, but not very transparent and by no means creamy (too harsh to use before an EF ) I also have an idiotbox blowerbox clone which is cool in a rat-esque way. Useful but gain past noon I don't like the sound all in all the B3k and Agro comes first, maybe the agro is better yet because it is very versatile, can be aggressive but has enough body to sound sweet and natural. Maybe I'll try the chase bliss next.

Damn, I forgot about Mr big gig! For anyone unsure of Billy's sound, I can vouch for his live tone... It really works! One thing I'm pretty surprised about though is Billy with a beer! I got the impression he was one of those live clean kinda guys! Dunno why!

Another AJR masterpiece...I'm sure the new owner will be as please with this as I am with the Silk Bass and the Psilos bass.. Good work sir...

These have always interested me, but have never actually twiddled with one. I shall be interested to hear what replies you get. As for the extension speaker, I believe these are wired in series rather than the traditional parallel. The previous generation CB100 was like that too, with a maximum external speaker impedance of 8 ohm, rather than it being a minimum specified. Cheers Geoff

Good evening, Hal, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Still have it in it's original now very dull tin box. One of the few bits of vinyl that I still pull out occasionally and listen to. One of my all time favourite records...

I like your list, actually I love your list. It's taken a while but our new drummer has everything on your list. Most important he sings fantastic high harmonies, has a great look, he's a great guy and people tend to gravitate towards him at every gig. Him and his wife set up and tear down his kit in 15 mins. At first I didn't think he was going to work out. Boy was I wrong. We're lucky we found him ( open mic ). Blue

No ones mentioned JV's yet. The ad's for those are sometimes like reading a fantasy novel. The only reason these basses have risen so much in price is because mugs are prepared to pay for them. I get that when they came out they were amazing for the money. I had one, but you can easily beat the quality these days for a lot less.

Well I’ve never had any issues daisy chaining my Source Audio pedals. Hmmm. Might be worth contacting SA themselves - their customer service is excellent and they’ll definitely help you out.

Plus one to the above. Had this happen on one of my old Marshall cabs, which had been rewired prior to my ownership for unknown reasons.

I watched it to the very end. I also suspect that the reason many people have latched on to his views on exploitation and ethics is because that was in the first five minutes and it may be all they watched. It's not the most visually stimulating video, to be fair, but it is worth listening to in full.

Apologies Alan. I did find the video thought provoking. My first thought was how come Alan doesn't charge more?... I say that fully acknowledging the irony of it considering our recent email conversation!

Welcome Hal. Isn't it good? All that wood.

Never mind OMs. If Ringo got where he did by farting into a paper bag then really, the sky's the limit for novice bassists.

Nope. And I don't believe that you're stupid enough to think that's what I wrote.

Just to add, this thread is a great idea and must qualify to become a sticky!?

Music is the art of sound and art is subjective...thus there are no rules. Some say that variety is the spice of life. This thread is akin to me declaring that my favourite dinner is fish and chips and that I hate Chicken tikka masala - then pointlessly debating with everyone else out there in basschatland who loves Indian food. Pointless.

@Al Krow it's easy to get a clean flat response from channel A: Bass in, bass/treble to zero, adjust gain until it distorts, back off a bit, then switch between unit off/channel A to adjust output vol to unity. Then fiddle with bass/treble until you have an (almost) identical sound when on unit off/channel A.

Nope, Channel A does it for me. No mid scoup - just dial bass & treble all the way down and take it from there. A plus B in cold fusion is also really useable.

Boy am I glad I pulled the trigger on Le Bass, I can tell me and it are going to be very good friends for a long time. Bought it for it's cold fusion mode, and that seems to be where I favour it, but it or either channel all work amazingly with my two dirt pedals (Chowny Fuzzster and Darkglass B3K), but in different ways. With the Fuzzster into channel A I can get a fair impression of Mr Wolstenholme of Muse, into channel B I get a nice vintage-y kinda Fuzz sound, a little thin but cool sounding. The Darkglass is a little more baked in, but the more subtle changes are still appreciated. But with the Fuzzster and B3K run in parallel (Boss LS-2) into cold fusion mode... Special feelings. Filthy high gain special feelings. Well I enjoyed it! Made me hanker for a new paperweight though, maybe a tremelo-flavoured paperweight this time...

Let us know how you get on with them johnpaul

I don't think biscuits would add anything. Titebond once cured is stronger than the wood.

Like everything new it takes a little while to get used to and get your preferences set right but it does seem to be a very worthwhile upgrade and genuinely better than the old software. Knowing how long such things take it’s a big thanks from me for all the hard work by everyone involved.

@honza992 was concerned about glue witnesses in his butt joints (Pipe down you lot at the back!). I described a process for mating matching parts that is more often used in metalwork. In short; when you've cut your timber, rub the mating surfaces together. Use short strokes with a firm pressure to keep the mating surfaces square to each other. Then take down the high spots (where you see a shine from rubbing) with a scraper until you've got even contact across the joint. If you have a plane and a shooting board however, I'd recommend that above all else.

ISP decimator II

As far as learning goes, this may sound a bit mad but you should try to join a band as soon as possible. It's the quickest way to learn an instrument. If everyone in the band is better than you (not always a given, actually!) then you tend to play up to their level very quickly, and learn much more quickly than sitting at home practising. You're not only learning the bass, but how to play with other musicians and how to do gigs. Getting out there and doing it isn't practising, you're already flying!

It can be a bit disappointing but it’s not worth getting upset about. There are also many basses in sale in the classifieds that are not modified or badly treated and yet been on sale for months. I can think of 2 that have been popping up for years. Clearly they are also overpriced for the current market. But the owners have clearly decided on the money they want and refuse to accept less. Up to them, it is their property. still on the plus side their repeated payment of subs to the site can only be a good thing!

I'm not a massive drop-tuning fan on bass, although I don't mind it on guitar. At the start of this project the singer decided to tune to Eb standard, but between the increased low end on the guitar and the tonal changes to the bass I was having trouble cutting through. Now I tune G#C#F#B a fourth up just to be awkward; definitely cuts through! I've got a spare bass in Eb for recording and found 115s solved most of the tension issues if not the sound.

I have a hipshot d tuner on one which gives me CGCF if required.

Open Strings: Does it Djent. Pretty much always

Classic and Cool is run from a private home but, having been there twice, Mark is only too happy to meet arranged visitors and puts no pressure on you to buy at all. A thoroughly decent bloke.

As has been said previously, there's nothing nonsense about Jaco's playing, no accidents etc. Of course, towards the end of his life he fell apart and very much relied on his past to prop up his artistry to some degree, but he was ill. And suggesting that Jameson (whom I love a great deal) had some kind of rhythmic mastery over and above Jaco is just silly, they applied it in very different ways, but Jaco was an equal rhythm powerhouse, incredible drummer too (that's him drumming on Teen Town). It also seems that you're judging his playing on how you think the bass SHOULD be, whereas actually it's simply another instrument that allows the player to express themselves, its role has simply been dictated by western musical styles. He wrote the music, and so why wouldn't he step out and fulfil what he feels he needs to play, he's not doing it for anyone else other than him, whereas Jameson was on a wage, playing through songs that were just put in front of him on the music stand.....who knows what he would have done given full creative freedom. If you haven't already, listen to Jaco play through his Big Band albums, perhaps much more your thing, because it's a large band and he understands placement within a larger context. Weather Report was a much smaller band, and so more ability to step out, fill space (where appropriate) and have fun. But just to further the conversation, I do love leaving this video hanging around :): Just to be clear, i'm not saying that everyone should like Jaco, obviously not.....but appreciate him for what he was in total, not simply that he played music you don't like. Si

What's a You Tube? Sounds like a euphemism to me.

Made a start on the plate and fittings.. Jack socket and pots on. Popped the knobs on (but they need aging at some point.) Thought I had enough pickguard screws but I'm three short (d'oh!) - will have to order another pack. Tonight I will have a look at darkening the board.

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