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Rare-as-hens'-teeth lefty Eminence, with massive thanks to @Happy Jack for his generosity and organisational skills in a. ordering it as a pressie; b. having it secretly delivered to his little sis in Pasadena; c. flying both of us to Pasadena on holiday, and collecting the parcel and taking it with us on the flight home. Since it was packed in a golf club case, I was none the wiser until we finally opened the parcel at home in London. Kudos. The bass is NOT as red as these photos show, despite my desperate attempts at colour correcting in Photoshop. It's more of a brownish-red tobacco colour. I feel I have finally graduated from beginner's upright to a slimmer version of the real thing! 😄😍

Hi Those of you who follow my threads will know two things: My workshop is TINY I absolutely HATE routers Well, based on MrsAndyjr1515's assertion that I fill every room in our house with my c**p already, the first item is unlikely to change But I ought to do something about the second one - if only because there still are certain things I have to use a router for and, hand routed, they remain the messiest and most risky operations pretty much of any of my builds. So, with a short break between actual builds, I decided to rethink my cellar / workbench arrangement and ask the question of whether there was any chance of all of getting a small router table in there. And I've just done it and I am so, so pleased with how it's turned out. The research and thinking process was long and painful (especially the thinking bit ) This is what I ended up with: Anyone who has also looked at tables will know that it is a complete minefield of partial and/or ambiguous information of what each option will do or not do, how portable, how big, what routers they are compatible with, what guide rings they are compatible with, what comes in the box and what is extra, how heavy, how easy to disassemble, how stable, etc, etc.. I also had a requirement to be able to easily store it in a very small space when not in use and small enough to be able to use it in the narrow standing space in front of the workbench And this latter requirement knocked 90% of the options out. So a bit of lateral thinking. Was it madness to consider using the folding stand from my £12.00 (yes £12 !!!! from Maplin, god bless em and RIP) lightweight workmate and do a 'bitsa' job on the table itself? Could I use my Draper router fixed base (on the right in this pic) that - against all odds - actually does fit into a so-called universal sub-base: ...and therefore be able to still use it as a hand router with the plunge base and remove it easily for storing the table and changing the router bits. And the answer was yes. Not cheap, but I think meets all my requirements. And - if early trials are anything to go by - SO, SO, SO much safer, more accurate, easier to set up and cleaner than hand routing. This photo was taken immediately after rounding all eight sides of a test piece. The sawdust in the tracks were from an earlier tryout without the vac attached. The rest of the chips - ie none - were what were left after the cuts: Can't tell you how chuffed I am

Is this another example of the necessity of correct punctuation..? Hmm...

The other week a fella wanted opinions on the Peavey T45. Being an honest soul I chipped in that the T45,like the Sarzo, was a great looking bass but sorely lacking in the tone department. The single humbucker T45 is 1 vol 2 tone set up and would've been better wired parallel 2 vol 1 tone IMHO. You'd need to rewire the pickup to get parallel and I don't have a spare so other options were needed. Being a fan of Warman pickups, that decision was quickly made 4 wire MM humbucker. Spare Peavey Foundation body would finally see some use 😎 First snag was the 2 pickup Foundation body, I'd need a scratchplate big enough to hide the pickup cavities.Printing off a Stringray plate showed the trouble,tight to neck heel exposed the bridge pickup/moved back to cover the holes and it was shy of the neck heel. OK I can live with shy of the neck heel 😀 Pearloid plate arrived yesterday,as did the Warman. Dropped the pickup into the plate then marked pole positions on masking tape. Popped a neck on the body and run 2 wires from bridge to tuners. I looked into pickup position/frequency response,sweet spots etc but the bottom line was the pickup position would be decided by the plate hiding holes and lining up with strings. Plain sailing followed 😎 Routed out for pickup,wired it up,fitted stings, took a photo. Then decided a maple neck would look better so took it apart again 😂

Was always quite proud with how this came out, a playthrough of an old electronic/dubstep band I was in. You absolutely need headphones or decent speakers, listening on your phone or laptop speakers? Don’t bother pressing play . There’s no bass sounds on the track, all me! The verses are just OC-2 (-1 Octave, no direct) and this slow gear effect on the ME-50B (basically a volume swell). The synthy ‘choruses’ are all tapped on my fretting hand so my right hand can operate the Hot Hand for the enevelope changes. So that’s a Source Audio BEF, OC-2, Orbit CoPilot Fuzz & the ME-50B for some chorus and the whammy bits at the end of the phrase. Worked nicely live. Basically every modular bass synth sound is Envelope filter, fuzz, modulation and pitch in some variation. Si

Well Darren sold his 🍌M and then bought a replacement(!)**. That kinda told me it's a pedal worth investigating - 'cos there have been MANY pedals that have crossed Mr Gisser's pedal board, most have come and gone and very few stayed! [Aside: the only pedal I've ever done that with is my Zoom MS-60B - bought my first one back in 2013 when they first came out...and I'm more convinced than ever that they're probably the single best value for money pedal on the market, particularity with the advent of the Tone Lib editing software!] I pulled my weekend's effort into a crib sheet for future reference, which I've attached in case this might be useful to you (if you do decide to get another one!) or any other BCers who might be interested in this pedal. At the moment it seems to be quite complementary to my Markbass SS in the sounds it produces, so I can see a place for both of them on my pedal board; besides the octaver on the MB SS is surprisingly good (both in terms of tracking and also having an octave up). Having never owned an OC-2 but in the knowledge that, together with @Sibob, you're our BC expert on those ancient emblems of glory: the third BM clip I uploaded is how I imagine an OC2 would / should sound like. (The clip is not a million miles from the "full filter" sound on my COG T16 v2 which I recently moved on and whose place the BM has taken on my board). I'd be really interested to hear from you how close that third clip is, if at all, to the classic OC-2 sound? (And please do feel free to upload a clip so we can hear them side by side). Bananana Matryoshka.pdf [**Edit: and has sold it again now. Lol!]

I was tempted , but i decided it was too obvious Carry on Christine - the world is watching these incredible axes

My turn to make some belated contributions to the thread. Here's a couple from my Markbass SS: MB SS (1).WAV MB SS (2).WAV

That was what I was afraid of.

That was aimed at Jack.

That's a voluptuous pair of volutes you have there. (I like a volute)

Not really, and it's back with its current owner. I'll see if I can grab it again. Here's some other general pics:

Whereas I'm a Yank...nuff said.

I bought it yes! but I obviously didn't know it was stolen until after Received it! --As I said I will give a full report once it is finally sorted so no more silly accusations please! Will.

No, he's a footballer...

And before anyone asks, yes I paid full Duty & VAT as we passed through LHR. First time I've ever walked through the Red Channel.

Hahahaha! No. I'd look at owning one in the same way that I'd look at dating a supermodel. Having wet dreams about one is okay but living with one is totally different.

Don’t broadcast it, I want to increase my chances of winning!

Well; you try getting the strings taut without one, it’s a right pain!

Here are my thoughts of the Genzler Magellan 800 bass amp after having gigged it for the past several months. I've deliberately left it a while to make sure that the honeymoon period was over so that any issues or quibbles that I may have with it have become apparent. For reference, I play in a 5 piece, female fronted, rock, pop and party band playing a mixture of pub and club gigs as well as some private work and functions. My cab is Tecamp M212 and I use a variety of basses, usually with a bias towards the neck pickup. I play finger style more or less exclusively and am pretty heavy handed too, I love to dig in when I'm playing! If you're not already familiar with the amps here's what Genzler themselves have to say about them, the Magellan 800 and the Magellan 350. When I originally bought the amp, I tried it against some of its peers. To see how I thought it stacked up at the time see the thread here. Overview The 800 amp has both a transparent clean channel (that can be coloured by the Contour control, more of that later) and a coloured Drive channel. That makes it extremely versatile and usable for pretty much any and every musical situation that you're ever likely to find yourself in from soft jazz to the lesser extremes of metal. Clean channel The clean channel with the eq set to noon and the Contour control dialled out sounds even across the frequency range, there are no peaks or troughs in the signal. This sound works great in the mix straight out of the box. The Genzler marketing talks about a “weighted feel to the notes” and this is absolutely correct, the low end is definitely forceful, punchy and powerful but without being overbearing. Those that claim that class D amps lack heft should take an objective, unbiased listen to the Genzler. Pre-amp The EQ frequencies that the Magellan uses are absolutely perfect for real world live use. The bass EQ is voiced at 75 Hz which is great for adding audible bass to the sound if you're in a room where the bass is sounding a bit thin, or for backing the low end off if things are booming on stage. In my experience this has proven to be a far more useable frequency for controlling your low end than 40 Hz that many other bass amps use. The semi-parametric mid covers a wide range from 150 Hz to 3 KHz. It sounds perfect with the mid eq control at noon, which keeps things flat but I personally like to give it a slight push in the upper mids to help the bass cut through a busy mix. But you have massive flexibility here to control those critical mid frequencies whatever you want to do with them. The treble is voiced at 6 KHz so is useful for adding some presence to the tone or brightening up dead strings. Or backing things off a touch for a great retro tone. The treble never gets harsh and the tone is never completely dulled when the top end is backed off. The simplicity of the tone stack and the choice of frequencies that they operate on cannot be praised enough. The Genzler just delivers everything you need and nothing you do not. To finish of the awesome eq section there is also the dual voiced Contour control. A button on the front panel allows you to choose between curves A and B; Curve A is a mid-scoop pre-shape. However, compared to similar controls on other amps, this one is more gentle and is more usable because of it, it is usable throughout most of its range. Its only when its cracked beyond about 3 o'clock that the bass sounds like it could potentially to disappear form the mix. Curve B bumps the low mids while rolling off the upper mids and the extremes of the frequency range to give a great retro vibe or to tame a bright sounding, scooped rig . As with Curve A, things are still kept subtle and musically usable with this control throughout its range. Drive channel The 800 model also sports a footswitchable drive channel that has its own gain and volume controls. Genzler have wisely allowed the use of any generic latching footswitch to be used rather than forcing you into using a proprietary one. Although the drive channel is completely valve-less, it is one of the most convincing, warm, valve-like sounds that I've heard. When engaging the drive channel a pre-set eq curve is applied that subtly rolls off the high and low ends and leaves you with a silky smooth, valve like drive that never gets fizzy. Even at full gain, the drive is always usable, it does not get into the realms of distortion. The slightly mid biased voice of the drive is more suited to Motown or classic rock than it is for anything extreme. If you want more gain, or a modern scooped distortion then you'll need a dedicated pedal. But for those of us who want that touch of hair or a light, usable drive that works in the mix, this is, as with everything about this amp, perfect. HPF There is no mention of any form of high pass filtering by Genzler, but I emailed them to ask about it and none other than Geoff Genzler himself responded to say that; Yes, we do utilize a High Pass filter with the MG-800. It is a very steep slope and set low around the 30 Hz range. This allows us to achieve a clean, solid and authoritative low end without potential flubbyness. This also helps with protection from over-excursion for speakers under high power situations. I hope this information is helpful. Best Regards, Jeff Genzler How's that for customer service??? Construction and finish The amp is a great looking design IMO and the quality of construction is flawless. Genzler describe it as; aircraft-grade, brushed aluminum (sic) chassis with a sleek custom extruded front panel. It certainly looks classy and feels substantial. Anyone concerns over quality because it was built in the far east are misplaced. And it has 4 ultra-important blue LED's on the front panel. Nice. Niggles As you have probably gathered by now, I'm struggling to find fault with the Genzler Magellan amps. However I do have a couple of very minor criticisms. It'd be great if the Contour voicings were footswitchable so you could switch between the different curve options on the fly. But this is just nit picking, and not something that I'm likely to ever do anyway. And then there's the name. No doubt there is a reason or story about why Magellan was chosen, but it just seems a bit of a daft name for a bass amp to me, It's more like a name you'd give to a dog! Summary Honestly, I can't fault the Magellan amps. Everything about it is just right. It delivers everything you need in the real world. I've played many gigs in many different venues with mine and I'm yet to get a bad sound out of it or have ever been in a situation where the sublime eq section wasn't able to eq the bass to a room with poor acoustics in a matter of seconds. In fact, I like it so much that I bought the baby 350 model as a rehearsal and back up amp. The 350 has the same great tone and features of its big brother but it does lack the jaw-droppingly brilliant drive channel. However is makes up for this by being smaller, lighter and cheaper. I've also gigged the 350 and don't let its nominally low power rating put you off, this thing has more volume than you're ever likely to need on a typical pub, club or function gig.

Last one for tonight. OC2 & bit crusher Mother Garten SYNTH BASS TAKE END.wav

Ha. You have sharp eyes. Yes 5. I've got 3 on 3 separate boards and one floating around for recording and messing on with. I've also now modded two of them which is cool. But this one is boxed so y'know thats cool! I've had and moved on: Bannana - issues as noted Markbass SS - editing URGH EHX Microosynth - too monophonic for me at the time but would like to try again Currently using: OC2 Chunk systems Octavius Squeezer (such an editing nightmare but some of the sounds....oh boy!) Gojira 8ve pedal - dirty! Prunes and Custard - dirtty in a fuzzy synthy kind of way Currently trialing: TWA great divide - jury currently out Broughton synth voice - jury currently out

Busy weekend for us; on Friday evening we played at Banbury Music Mix, a new mini festival in our hometown organised by the town council. Five bands, full on stage in the market place, a beautiful sunny night. I love playing these kind of events, the FOH sound and on stage sound was great, big crowd of all ages and a real effort made by everyone to put on a good show for the local community. We played a forty minute set which went down really well, despite a bit of nerves. On Saturday we travelled up to Kelbrook near Burnley to play a wedding. We were very well looked after with food, drink and yurts provided for the overnight stay. We played for an hour, were paid very well and had a blast. Brilliant crowd, really up for it. We followed a Commitments-style soul band who warmed up the crowd well. We had the floor full from the word go and we were absolutely on fire. One of the best gigs we’ve ever done, probably top three. It was great to have a drink and join in the fun after we’d finished, we ended up outside around a fire pit with some of the more hard core guests drinking and laughing well into the small hours. I’m absolutely shattered today but it was totally worth it; one of those nights where everything falls into place and reminds me why I do this. Next stop for us is the Fairport Convention Fringe in neighbouring Cropredy the weekend after next. We’ve been trying to get on this for a while, can’t wait!

Ah okay, am working up to that...just home use at the moment

You wouldn't have been the first!

So I'd get change from a queen's ransom? Excellent value for money. Three months is better than some folks have to wait for too.

Very cool. I've still never managed to get hands on an Eminence EUB, but my old beat up BSX has served very well in getting me gigs I would have otherwise lost out on over the last 15 years.

They'll have tons of crap note choices if I'm playing it!!

I shall keenly await a TC-like witchhunt about the fudged power ratings... 😃 If I won it, it'd all be up for sale on here the day it arrived...still, it's a lot of cash... 😉

I did enjoy the BC podcast. Perhaps you could expand in the next edition on suitable PC / laptops on music production and how to build a simple PC tower for dummies. I think it would benefit us BCs 😉

Aye - I forgot to add a smiley! 🙂

Had a BBQ this afternoon, and had Original Musiquarium playing and I will always be amazed by the musicality of him and the musicians on this particular record, The horn section, the rhythm guitars , the backing vocals, his piano playing. The bass playing...Its up there with Willie Week's bass playing on Donny's live album, very different record of course. This spectacular playing from Nate is way up there as is Stevies harmonica playing and vocals. Don't be fooled by the shorter version. The full album version is the best. My ears are saying Andrew , you are at 100% musical enjoyment.

I suggest you check out a Protection racket case. I bought mine for £85. It's semi rigid and offers lots of padding and plenty of storage space. It appears very sturdy and I expect it will last me a long, long time.

I’m just guessing but I suspect his post was in relation to “how do you clean your strings” and not your post.

I'm convinced that when stings go dull, it's mostly because of the flat spots that are created in contact with the frets, not the actual accumulation of dirt in the string... Any fretless people have a view on this?

I don't sweat much and wash my hands before every gig. I can't remember ever cleaning strings. I change my strings every 12 months, whether they need it or not. That's enough maintenance for me. I don't particularly like the "zing" of new rounds. My DR Lo-Riders have been on since last Christmas and are just coming into their prime.

Arguing over string choices, is this TB?

P.S. No problem with my bridge. I have been careful not to stress the wires when removing it.

Ah so it's my remark that provoked you. Sorry about that.

Both of these gigs should be decent. I'll give my review Sunday Night. "THIS THURSDAY! 7/26:Maple Road will be serving up some outdoor rockin’ blues from 6pm-9pm @ Bilda’s Friess Lake Pub! Come on out for a great dinner and one of the best beer selections around. Bring a chair, tables fill up fast! New CD “Follow the Moon” is now available! 🍻🎸☀️" "THEN ON Saturday! 7/28 see Maple Road @ Washington County Fair Do Drop In Music Stage 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m"

+1 for the Schaller 3d. But on looks, adjustability and having lots of screw holes for solid mounting. Massively improved my project bass in every way ... Except perhaps the sound.

Probably my Dingwall Super P. Yes, I knew it was going to be good having previously traded up my Combustion to a Super J (which I still own), but the Super P just does everything just right with such panache and classy simplicity that it’s honestly hard to imagine a more refined instrument.