Leaderboard

After yesterday's bad back episode I only did a tiny bit today. I cleaned up the wings, rounded over the edges with a router and sanded them. Before glueing I masked off the top edge on the wings adjacent to the body to stop any glue oozing out contaminating the surfaces, I didn't bother with the back as there is some final shaping to be done there yet, just blending the raised centre section into the curve of the wings so the bass feels comfortable resting on your body. A nice smooth convex curve rather than the more usual flat surface, Why? It's my opinion that players of this type of bass may tend to move it around more aggressively than other shapes, all part of the "bad" image So convex seems to be a good shape to slide easily in any direction needed. We're off on holiday for a month early next week to soak up some sun in the south of France so I'm not sure if this will be the last update until I get back Glueing the first wing on All glued and masking tape removed, I've wetted the surface of the left hand body to give an idea of the finished look Lastly another attempt to show the shaping of the body

.........well, resistance proved futile. 😔 This thing looks great, sounds amazing and plays beautifully. I quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t need a HH model. 😎

Just read through this thread, and have to say that what I have read doesn't tally with my experience of bands in the UK since I moved here from Finland in 2012. I am currently in 3 working bands, one I joined when it was forming in early 2013, and apart from a rhythm guitarist who couldn't play and was asked to leave after a year or so, and 18 months of trying to assimilate a former rock star singer (eventually also asked to leave), the four of us have all been there from the start. After depping with another band playing similar music but with a slight more traditional bias, I was asked to join them last Christmas. They needed a second guitarist, and so I recruited the guitarist from my first band, as we work well together and are good mates. I run bookings for the first band, and the leader of the second and myself regularly update each other on availability. My third band is not local, it's a 90 mile drive each way to rehearse, and has members from London, Nottingham, Leeds, Leicester, Northampton and Oxford. We rehearse approx every other month, and gig when and where we can. The only person that I am aware of having been unreliable about rehearsing was the bassist I replaced in January. I get asked to join bands about once a month, but turn them down as three sets to remember is enough for me. I do not consider my playing to be anything special, whenever I look at videos posted by people here I have no idea where to start to play like they do. All I do is learn my parts and turn up with solid and reliable equipment. If there are people who can't even manage to do that for something they love to do, then they must really struggle with the everyday necessities of life.

I've built a number of 8 and 12 string basses, building a Tenner was always intriguing. The stumbling blocks have been the neck and bridge. Neck: I stumbled across 34" six string dual trussrod Ibanez and that got the juices flowing. Donor: Doweled the original headstock holes and commenced the headstocectomy.

I can think of many bassists that play for the music. But not many who sing aswell as playing.. Alan Gorrie is just the master at this. I will be honest I think they are the best funk band/blue eyed soul band that has ever recorded said genre. Over the years I've heard endless incredible funk/grove/soul from them.. I will go as far as to say they one of the best soul/funk bands ever. I love there music that much. Seems incredible to me there roots stem from American soul and funk. A band from Scotland couldn't be this good surely.!!. The great records just go on and on with the AWB. Huge respect for them.. This track is a B side but is just killer groove funk. Its perfect for me as is the band. Lost it a little with my ramblings, but it still stands. Superb bass playing that never wanders from the groove. And that horn section.!!!

Well not entirely for free but for as low as $1. 1- Go to Plugin Boutique and create an account (free) 2- Go to deals and buy any plugin, you can buy any of those really cheap ones they have from $1 to $5. 3- Once you complete your purchase, they'll send you a code to download your version of Ozone. 4- Once you download Ozone follow the instructions to register your copy for free. Please notice this is the basic version of Ozone but it is still a great mastering tool.

So, like a few Basschatters I popped along to Andertons to try the new MM Stingrays. Got a pass for the day. Yes! As always, the staff at Andertons were friendly and helpful - without being pushy. I've shopped there since 1984 and it's still my go to shop even though I now live on the South Coast. Managed to get a free two hour parking space over the road. Result! Thoughts: The necks are fantastic. Smooth and well fretted. Easy to play. The hardware (black matte) is spot on. It sounds just like a MM should. The ones I tried (yellow and blue) were so light!!! The yellow was the lightest - about the same as my Matt Freeman p-bass. Wow. The blue one's neck was a bit chunkier - but only slightly. The yellow one just felt right. Tried a few other basses too - in comparison. A Fender Pro P-bass - nice but not as nice as my p-bass. Really. The Ibanez SR2605-CBB was rather good as was a G&L Tribute Kiloton which was rather powerful - even though it was passive. Nothing however was as good as the yellow Sitngray. In reality it is a more mellow yellow in colour. Looks more acid lemon in piccies, though. GAS-wise, although I would love to add one of these basses to my collection, there's hardly any GAS as there is no way that I can afford one of them. (Normally my GAS is around basses I can just about afford.) The Stingrays are so off the scale of affordability that I came away having enjoyed playing a few really good basses. Went and bought McCartney's new album in HMV (extended version) and listened to it a couple of times on the way home. I rather like it...glad I gave it a go. All in all a good day.

Spotted this while out shopping today... looks like the Anglican Church in the middle of Guildford are even throwing a few Nirvana hits into their services these days!

It’s got lots of lows, even roll the low freq back a bit, it’s so capable.

@Dood [email protected] - CEO UPS Global [email protected] - CEO UPS UK Go striaght to the CEO, this is what I had to do to make Parcel Force take the situation Hellzero mentioned seriously. Russ.

In truth, none of this is surprising. Lars and James will never admit to a mistake. Have they ever apologised to Jason for all the crap they gave him? The fact that they haven't changed this album is testament to this fact. In truth, I generally enjoy their stuff. Not for its content, but having a laugh with a few fellow producers I know about what innovative way they can ruin their new album with abysmal production. Each of us put in £20 and make a nomination with winner taking all. I got the Death Magnetic digital distortion debacle. The reason being is that Metallica are generally 5 years behind the curve with things. Loudness wars kind of peaked before that album 5 years beforehand with Foo Fighters. However, I digress. They're doing the checklist though. No audible bass, appalling drum sounds, St. Anger snare sound, digital distortion/clipping, atrocious guitar tones from Kirk. Let's face it, the list is long and extensive. They're tools. That fact was clearly brought out by the Napster hearings and Some Kind of Monster just put the icing on the cake in terms of them demolishing any sympathy for their respective public personas.

I didn't need to flatten it in the end it was nice and flat but here's it finished!!

Planes, we all need them but most people struggle with them through no fault of their own. The trouble with them is they are so abysmally finished which has fuelled the emergence of so called super tools such as Veritas and Lie Nielson... No I'm not knocking them, they are lovely things to own and use but they aren't really necessary your average Record or Stanley can be made to work far better than they do out of the box. How much better? Well get them fully sorted out and they are unsurpassable, many years ago I bought at huge expense some Norris planes, which are the Rolls Royce of bench planes but my Record planes work equally well now, I ended up selling the Norris'. OK so if we view the humble bench plane as a kit when we buy it and don't expect to take a fine shaving with it no matter how sharp your blade is we won't be disappointed. Planes to me come in two main types, your standard bench plane, smoother/Jack /try/jointer and the variable geometry planes such as the humble block plane, variable geometry? I'll explain later. Much of the way we can tune these planes work for both types so I'll concentrate on the more complicated bench plane. First lets familiarise ourselves with the thing and it's parts. We have a body, wooden handles, a Frog (that holds the cutting iron), a cap iron/chip breaker (curling iron in the picture below), a locking lever and lastly the actual cutting iron. Each of these parts play a critical role in how the plane works and none of them are even close to being satisfactory out of the box sadly so you'll need to spend half a day fixing them. The first job is to take the plane fully apart noting how it goes back together. We will look at each section in turn: The Mouth Looking at the picture above you can see that the leading edge is perpendicular to the plane base, that isn't good. We need to get a set of needle files and a second cut small file and file that leading edge to 45 degrees, it's not easy and will take a while. You need to bring that to an edge meeting the plane base and we need to check that the new profile is truly square with the plane sides. Why have we done this, it is to give room for the shaving to curl away from the cutting iron without clogging the mouth of the plane and that's it. The Frog Place this in position on the plane base, give it a bit of a rock to see if it wobbles. If it does you need to carefully file bits of metal away until it sits firmly on the plane base, this is a straightforward job. You also need to check if the blade supporting face can sit 100% parallel with the mouth's leading edge. Lastly you need to check that the cutting iron sits flat on it at the very bottom where the edge of the cutting iron bevel is, also at the top of the frog too so when the iron is locked down it sits 100% flat, so you may find yourself doing some more gentle filing. This is so the cutting iron is stable and vibration free during use, any vibration will render the plane near useless The Cap Iron Pay attention to this, the cap iron is at the very heart of the plane's function and more critical than a sharp blade. I'll explain its function first this time. It's whole purpose it to bend the chip as it is cut from the wood and basically break it, not into bits but breaking the chip from advancing into the workpiece and thus creating the typical curly shaving Notice two very important points in that illustration, the closeness of the chip breaker to the cutting edge (less than 0.5mm and the narrowness of the mouth opening, again less than 0.5mm. Those two things are what make a plane create a good clean cut. The breaks as said breaks the chip and the mouth stops the chip advancing into the work piece, with me? OK so the cap iron needs the following doing, it needs to sit flat on the cutting iron, at this stage your cutting iron needs to have been sharpened and the back made fully flat like I explained in the sharpening thread, if it isn't do it now. We need to ensure that the leading edge of the cap iron(chip breaker sits on the back of the iron with intimate contact as in 100% perfectly, if it doesn't shavings will get in there instantly and clog the plane and it will not work. Start off with a file and create a little angle back from the leading edge, there isn't one shown it the illustration above and that is wrong, why, well when you assemble the cap iron and blade and tighten the screw you bend the cap iron down and the blade up, this will open up a gap at the leading edge (clogs). Once you have that leading edge take the cap iron to your sharpening stones with are or need to be 100% flat and grind the leading edge with the 1000 grit stone, check it back on the cutting iron, look carefully for any gap on that leading edge and carefully work to eliminate it. This may be a slow job, it once took me nearly a day to get one done for some reason I forget. Once you have it on the 1000 stone you need to polish the front face (the bent bit). I find the best way is to roll it down the 1000 grit stone very carefully so the bottom 6mm or so is evenly grey, then take it to the 6000 grit stone and polish it to a mirror finish but also paying attention to the mating surface to the cutting iron too, very like trying to sharpen the thing but only gently just to remove that burr. Once done recheck that fit on the cutting iron just in case you've opened up a tiny gap, if so regrind it on the 1000 grit stone.... don't skimp on that, it is critical. Why did we polish the front of the iron, well it lets the shaving slide very smoothly away from the mouth, is it really necessary? Yes, try not doing it, trust me, polish it. So we are very nearly there! Now we need to reassemble the plane, firstly fit the frog, position it so the cutting iron is very close to the mouth leading edge. This is a variable setting, for fine bench work set it close, about 0.25 -0.5mm, for fitting doors and windows open it to 1mm; it just lets a thicker shaving through and advances the length of wood that can be lifted off the work piece during the cutting process. You also need to make sure the cutting edge is parallel to the mouth opening. Once set, carefully remove the cutting iron holding the frog firmly and then tighten the frog down with a screwdriver, recheck the cutting iron with the locking leaver in place and then fit the handles. Flattening the base of the plane Sadly the base of a new plane is a bit of a nightmare, they are finished on a belt sander believe it or not and are near useless for fine work, you need to flatten it. Now thankfully the base doesn't need to be flattened all over but it needs to have the front leading edge or toe, the front and back of the mouth and the heel all in one flat plane but the more you can get flat the better. You will need a roll or part of a roll of 80 aluminium oxide sandpaper, a long flat surface and some time. First job is to back off the plane iron about 0.5mm inside the plane body but you need to keep it there along with everything else, fully tightened just as you will be using it later on. Take your 80 grit (or coarser/faster, fined/slower) paper and clamp it to a flat surface ( a planer bed or circular saw table, anything that is truly flat, even a piece of 50mm wood if it is really flat) so that it is quite tight. Take your plane and put it on the paper, you will need to use the plane over the paper just as you would over a work piece, so pressure on the front handle pushing on the rear then relieving the front pressure and transferring to the rear, lift up and do it again. After a couple of minutes have a look at the bottom of your plane and you will see what needs to be done. Every plane I've done needed a lot of work to get the front and back of the mouth flat, maybe an hour or so work. You will need to change your paper when it gets dull too. Once it's done and you have a largely flat plane you're ready to impress your socks off. Reset the cutting iron in the cap iron and fit it, lock it down and adjust it so the cutting edge barely protrudes, run it down some smoothish wood, it should cut like nothing you've ever used before, the surface should shimmer, the shavings should come off gossamer thin looking like lace (if the wood is open grained) if you have paid attention to all the above. There are no if's or buts with this one, that is the only way to get a bench plane to work, some may be better or worse when you start but they will all work when they're done. Any problems, check your cap iron fit first, the chances are they will lie there. Ongoing maintenance, sadly there are a lot of strains and stressed in a new plane body, your nice flat plane will tend to get out of true, you may need to check it and reflatten every now and then, I seem to remember doing mine every month (just 5 minutes) when they were new, now 30 something years on it's just once a year. Variable geometry planes The block type plane, these are different as they have no cap iron and have the bevel uppermost, why? Different types of wood/grain direction needs different cutting angles. Endgrain (butchers blocks for example - block plane!) needs a low cutting angle, flat wood grain needs an average 45 degrees but some very difficult woods need a steeper 50 degrees (York pitch) which is more of a scraping action Looking at the above you can see on the block plane we can vary the angle of the bevel (you only need to vary the actual honing angle not the whole bevel). You can get block planes with a basic angle of 20 degrees and 12.5 (I think it is) to give you a wide range of possibilities. Setting these up is very similar to the bench plane except for there is no cap iron, the frog is also non adjustable so you may need to do some filing to get that flat and square but the mouth should be adjustable instead, remember to bevel the leading edge to 45 degrees like the bench plane. That is about it I think, I tend to set my mouth opening very narrow on a block plane, maybe less than 0.1mm to help get a better finish It may all seem a bit of a phaff but it really really is worth doing, I promise you your planes will be objects of great pride when you're done, planing will be a pleasure as shavings whistle off the wood leaving surfaces that don't need sanding (grain depending of course), joining planks of wood with invisible glue lines will be easy and the quality of your woodwork will increase tenfold

I bought a Sire Marcus Miller M7 in February. Most impressed. It has replaced my TRB5 completely. However, playing an open mic last night & turned the Frequency part of the stacked knob round to high end & turned up the Tone volume. Did number fine, then was turning back to flat when I experienced a big CRUNCH from the pot. Since I use this setting for several numbers I was concerned. Indeed by the end of the night this had progressed to several crunches quite close together. After I got home I stuck on my headphones and examined the problem. There were about 3 places quite close together crunching and if you got the setting right on top of one you got feedback overpowering everything. If you switched to passive mode you could still hear it. Not good. I changed the batteries to no avail as I know some preamps give this kind of signal when battery is low. Phoned Andertons this morning & was passed to their bassman, Dave, who asked all the right questions and after a a few minutes agreed it sounded like a faulty pot and would get the item collected and repaired. I've arranged for it to be collected week today. No probs. How it should be. Thanks Andertons. And I'm going to mark the circuit board so I know if it has been replaced or if they've just used a blast of pot cleaner. OK, I'm paranoid. Anyway it was much less painful than I expected. G.

Following on from the recently completed “Jazz Bitsas” thread, I bring you the humble P Bass Bitsa thread. I actually bought the P Bass body before I started the Jazzes (I’m definitely more of a Jazz Bass guy) but as it required a refinish it went on the back burner. I have one good P bitsa (first photo) but wanted another to either (a) try flatwounds or (b) eventually convert to fretless. I’m determined to broaden my horizons somewhat. I was lucky enough to find a P body on eBay that someone had started trying to sand the poly finish off and understandably given up on (evidently not au-fait with the heat gun method that most of us know about). As mentioned in the Jazz thread, the singer in my band is pretty handy with anything involving paint, so I just masked off the bits I didn’t want him to touch (neck pocket, pickup/control cavity) and set him to work. The second photo is the body as pictured in the original eBay listing.

Morning guys. Doing my first bitsa P bass and I have a blank Status neck ready to drill. I do have a Pillar Drill for the job. Quick question for any that can help out there. The USA body had pre-drilled Holes 5mm, and the screws I have glide through, which I am happy with. Doing a test hole on a piece of wood the screws bite with a 4mm hole Just about to match the holes and drill the graphite neck heel. Do I Drill the hole at 4mm so it bites when screwing (having slightly chamfered the entry point not to split the lacquer) or does the Graphite behave differently and you use a slightly bigger hole? This will be the finished as ever, no pics no bass cheers!!

Aye. It felt odd to me too. But rather than explaining why you mounted them on the wall, please tell how you did it. I can see neither hook nor screw!

Everyone welcome who is polite and follows the rules and doesn’t start any more silly “debates” about how tablature is better than nota....😈

Nice one! I saw that bass’s twin there yesterday and had a little play, it was gorgeous. There is something so stylish and classic about a single H Ray, they look so much better. 👍

Extensions attached and planed flat Waiting for the clampdown. 1/32" 3 ply veneer each side fully baked 10 and 12 string headstocks rough cut, drilled, and filled.. Tenner fretboard is Jatoba, 12er, genuine ebony

Thank you. I might have a thick graphite bottom layer installed myself. Just in case I ever go back to motorcycling.

Justice was the album that made me a Metallica fan & got me back into metal - I'd also say it represents a seminal moment in the birth of the prog metal genre. So I was just a little bit excitable when I read about this - right up until I listened to the Dyer's Eve stream. Gutted. Same old same old, and (from an ex-fan's POV at least) another slap in the face for Jason. Really, from the point of the Napster thing onwards, it's been hard to shake the feeling that Metallica had become a cynical, profit-motivated business being run by a bunch of cnuts. A proper remaster/remix of Justice would've gone a long way redress that feeling - but all this does is reinforce it.

Here goes http://www.status-graphite.com/status/pricelist/Neck-fitting.pdf

I have installed Status necks before. You do not require inserts and you indeed use a slightly smaller drill bit than the screws. But you need to go slow and steady. I would start with 4mm but also have 4.5mm on hand. Let me see if I can find the original instructions for you, should have them still.

After struggling with many different bass heads (markbass, ashdown, TC Electronic to name but three) and a mixture of different branded cabs with varying size speakers (15”, 2x10, 4x10 again to name but three) I was growing really dissatisfied with my tone as I could never get the tone I wanted or could hear in my head! I was fortunate enough at one point to be able to buy a new rig so after research and asking about, I opted for (all bought on recommendation from the market place here) an Ampeg SVT2 Pro and SVT 610 classic cab. I knew they were going to be good but all of a sudden, 4 years of buying/selling/trading different amps and cabs, BOOM! There was that tone I wanted without even tinkering with the eq section, over the moon and grins for days..... but what has REALLY impressed me..... i recently bought an Ampeg Micro CL stack for smaller gigs and home practice, solid state, tiny, low(ish) powered! I’d heard good things about them but wasnt expecting too much.......oh my! Those tiny little amps with the tiny little 2x10 cabinets are something else entirely! even at low levels, but turn it up and wow! Again! Unmistakable Ampeg tone through and through and loud, jeez can it get loud! Really impressed for something so so small, so huge sounding and for not much money!! If your after a small amp for home practice or smaller gigs, cannot recommend enough!!!! gratuitous photos incoming.....

This is a very good point - a lot of sellers are asking Thunder 3 money for Thunder 1s.

Sounds like a problem with the venue wiring to me. A couple of brief anecdotes; events from a few decades ago..? I was installing the lighting fx in a brand new disco complex. Cabling stuff up under the dj console, I had an intuition. No reason for it; just thought it a Good Idea to test the side-by-side sockets I was going to use. Both read 220 volts, as they should, but I also decided to check the tension between them, and there was the surprise. They had been wired from different phases, and so had 380 volts between them..! Plugging connected stuff into both of these would have certainly 'fried' something, possibly the tech (me..!) or a DJ..! Why did I check this..? No reason, it was (up until then..!) not part of my routine; just a hunch. Lucky escape. Less so for my unfortunate brother, 'roadying' for a local variety band. Plugged in the PA into the house sockets, turned it on, and smoked it all. The sockets were unmarked, but were 380 volts, not 220. The stack of Peavey 800W PA amps blew, taking every single HP with them in the JBL 8 x 15 columns. No FOH for the show that evening, and it took me several weeks to firstly order and receive, then install, all the elements that had suffered; there were a lot. Moral of the stories..? Don't trust house wiring, ever. It's rare that it kills, but it only needs to be once...

Please don't make one - it would be 100 times better than mine.

It was a master stroke hooking up with Arif Mardin in LA to record the AWB album, it really elevated them. (The Brecker Brothers are among the extra musicians on that album ). Below is one for the nerdy, Average White Bums (like me)... A rare AWB recording, it even has a slapped Musicman Bass on it.... It wasn't released at the time, because of copyright problems (just a demo I think). Of course, Boz Scaggs later recorded it (it was originally a Toto track/composition).

Aye... Haggis-powered funk is a thing to behold.

Earl Grey? Wasn't he the guy who kept getting his whistle tested?

Musician does well for himself by having fun. Branded a nob for no other reason. Makes sense 🙄 Si

Lost for words, eh? I think that 'doodle' had that effect on most of us.

It looks good on tortoises. I mean, you don't really want to be looking at a nude one.

I love the macassar ebony veneered ones except I prefer the raw state one as you can see the grain colour variations better but they are going to look epic when they are finished 😀

Ahhhhh... Yes.

Reading all of these horror stories I'll take a moment to be thankful that I haven't had any bad experiences yet... And I've sent and received a lot of basses over the years. Sorry to hear your plight! Hope it's resolved quickly Dood.

Mmm, tricky one. The 8 piece band I was in would sometimes take gigs for a 6 piece, losing two brass players in the process. However, once those gigs were done, we all agreed that we would only go out using the full band. This was decided as a result of a) being fair to all the band members, and b) to avoid confusion with people wanting to book the band i.e. if they wanted us then it was the full line-up. Although initially we did turn some gigs down, I think it was the best route. Must admit IME it's not usually the bassist who first suffers from slimming down a lineup, especially as it seems your band has bass on most songs they play. Hope you manage to get it sorted, otherwise you'll have to decide whether it's worth your time being what is ostensibly a part time member. How about them using you as a session / dep player i.e. you'll do it if you're available, but not guarantee exclusivity and therefore leave you free to pursue other stuff?

'James Brown Is Annie' are keeping the flame burning for Funk/Soul in Scotland. Hamish stuart is a fan, as you can see. Barry Gordon is the brains behind JBIA. They seem to have had a bit of a revolving cast of musicians, over the years. I hear Hamish is producing their album.

Yes Ibanez is another serious contender. To be honest mate at a 300 quid budget it's going to be very hard for you to get it wrong. Pretty much any of the basses mentioned on this thread will get you through every gig you'll need to do.

So do I. Then I'd buy two really nice Ibanezes.

Looks like it. I don't have it to hand, but I'll send you some photos later on.

Hi, a couple of days into ownership now so I thought I’d feed back a bit. This Guild is singularly the most special acoustic bass I’ve ever played - I could tell the Tacoma was a beautiful instrument; akin to a Taylor - clinically good, a real workhorse instrument with a solid, functional existence. I found it to very like the Furch acoustic I played at a trade show - another great example of this type of instrument. The Guild is much more like a Gibson or Martin, you feel like you’re playing something with heart and soul - the bass resonates and there’s a warmth to the sound you don’t get with other ABG’s. The problem is - it’s loud. So I can only play it while the kids are awake. When I play while the kids are awake they want to watch, or join in...so I can’t enjoy it in peace. Just had an offer accepted on a new house with a separate garage - so I’ve been given the nod on an external “studio”...bloody love my wife.

Very informative Christine, I know you have concerns about your writing which you really have no need to be the way you explain things in such an articulate way is brilliant and with your vast knowledge you really should consider writing a book, I knew most of what you have said but I've also learnt some new things that didn't even cross my mind? I now use the sand paper method to flatten the bases after some theiving little ******'s broke into my van and stole most of my tools along with my steel lapping plate which I found so quick and easy to use to flatten the backs of chisels and planer bases 😀

Please ignore all my other posts above about not being in the market for one...after a bit of curiosity, ‘clever accounting’ and a trip to Andertons I came away with one The purist in me wanted a single H, but having had a HH 5’er before I was interested again, and after clicking with this HH I had to have it so got the old plastic out. I was honestly quite prepared to come away empty handed, and almost expected to because I already have a killer Ray, but they really are fine instruments and 8.6 is a nice weight. . The new colours are great, the charcoal and burnt apple really sparkle in the light nicely. The stealth black hardware was cool, though surprisingly it didn’t call out to me like I thought it would the more time I spent with it. The older Rays in the Shop didn’t sound good at all next to the Specials, however my 2015 Ray is an exceptionally good one and next to my new Special they kind of compliment each other. I wouldn’t say either was better, just different. The 2015 sounds like it has more growl, ring and roughness, whereas the Special sounds like a Ray that’s been smoothed off a little. It took a while to get used to the tone controls as they of course react differently to the old style, but the results are great and I like it.

Recently picked up a digitech trio. That’s super fun with guitar. The bass it generates is tasteful and addictive. I really like it. Forced me to play lead guitar. Very fun. I kinda wish there was one aimed at bassist where you play it a bass line and it does the chords or rhythm for you. Then you can mix up the bass all you like. Expanding on making the most creative bassline for that phrase.