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First new bass in many years and I'm chuffed! Spector Euro LX4 DW (Doug Wimbush) in Amber. Great quality build, fantastic playable neck (and I'm digging the narrow nut) and a beautiful maple finish, reminds me of a Warwick thumb in many ways, but more 'grungy' Oh, and the pups are *really* hot! Lovely, lovely, lovely!

there you go, you're getting it! 🤣 seriously though, I apologise if my previous post sounded patronising - that wasnt my intent. ive often made the mistake of writing a sarcastic or fascectious remark on this forum only for it to be taken the wrong way because I didnt put a "lol", "haha" or emoji in the post so when I say this I say it because I have learnt the hard way myself. Not everyone will take the time to proof read or use "proper" English when writing a post on a forum - that said, you are right, your posts do generally seem to be more well written than most. I admire everyone who has taken the time and effort to learn another language as it is something I cannot do. I wasnt trying to be patronising, the sarcasm wasnt self evident as explained above. Peace

I couldn't resist - I've just ordered one. I'm going to be in so much trouble when the missus notices it.

All went good! :

Stanley Clarke (of all people) came out with an absolute diamond piece of advice once in an interview. He said "Learn all you can about theory and then forget about it". I didn't really get that until years later. It basically means learn as much theory as you possibly can, but just play what you think sounds best, regardless of what you think will impress.

had no problems with the sale, buyer has confirmed he's received the Bass in good condition

A musician, yes. Everything else is just detail. Professional, semi professional, amateur, talented, journeyman, good, bad, trainee, experienced, retired, Jazz, studio, session, classical etc etc.

Sorry about that. If you wait a few weeks it'll probably be up for sale, knowing me.

Gutted for the man. Is it me, or is just about every stolen music kit incident I've ever heard of been from the boot of a car? How do the buggers even know? There must be some times when its unavoidable, but I always force myself to unload the car after every gig, no matter how late or tired I am. I'd rather take the heat for waking the wifey and kids than find an empty car in the morn 8(

The Roadworn nitro is the one to have in my book, selected lighter woods me thinks.

NBD - Squier Deluxe Active Jazz IV *Revisited* I had been very smug and pleased with myself for getting down to just the one bass, a Bitsa Jazz that I assembled from parts and finished myself. Hipshot, Gotoh, KiOgon… all proper premium components, no tat! Very happy with it and its powerful Entwistle JBXNs, which sounds really killer through my 1997 Trace GP7 715 150W combo. BUT… dangerously, I allowed my mind to wander in an idle moment. What was the bass I most missed and most regretted moving on? Being absolutely honest with myself, it turned out to be (weirdly) a Squier Deluxe Active Jazz IV - which I bought and reviewed on this very board some four years ago and then sold, for a reason I can’t now remember. GAS, probably. So, as they’re not the world’s most expensive bass and as I was curious, I ordered one - an end-of-line display/demo model from Andertons. Notable features include a three-band active EQ circuit and an Ebonol fingerboard. As I understand it, Ebonol is a phenolic polymer that mimics the qualities of ebony in that it is hard and dense…but is synthetic and thus completely impermeable. I like it a lot. It’s a slab board basically and renders the underlying maple neck very stable indeed. The neck plays well with practically no relief in it and allows a lower (and more buzz-free) action than I would otherwise entertain with a more conventional wooden board. The neck is arrow-straight and the fretwork is superb. And I mean £1000+ superb. Completely level frets and not even a hint of an edge anywhere. To find this quality on a bass that cost less than £300 is truly remarkable. This board is smooth and fast and this neck alone is worth the price of admission. The controls comprise volume, pickup blend, stacked treble/bass and mid. There is also the so-called 'slap switch', essentially a mid-cut which boosts the lows and top end, ostensibly for slapping… I won’t be doing any of that, but it’s useful to have at your fingertips and in conjunction with the EQ allows for more tone-shaping options. The board radius is 12”, a little flat for me but I don't mind so much as the nut width and shallow neck are (unsurprisingly) very Jazz-like, so a flatter board suits me here. The bass feels good in the hand, isn't overly heavy (around 9lb) on the shoulder and balances well on the strap. It's effortless to play and after a few minutes the controls become completely intuitive and very easy to use. This bass punches WAY above its weight. There are always negatives of course - the bridge and tuners are not premium quality - especially when juxtaposed with the Hipshot Ultralights and Gotoh 201B fitted to my Bitsa. The bridge is a generic Gotoh-alike high-mass top-load affair with saddle-screw runners - and does its job perfectly well. The ubiquitous budget ‘vintage’ clover-leaf tuners work smoothly enough and adequately hold the bass in tune, which is all you can reasonably expect, so no complaints yet. The treble/bass stacked pot is quite a bit taller than the other controls and I can imagine it taking a knock or two. The pots could be smoother and more positive in their action and the midway detentes could be more obvious. But I’m guessing Squier had to cut costs somewhere. These are minor niggles. Would I use this as my main bass? With absolutely no hesitation, despite the fact I don’t much care for sunburst and especially not pickguard-free sunburst. But irrelevant cosmetic issues aside, it plays quite differently to my Bitsa Jazz and has WAY more tone options on tap. You can of course produce the generic vintage single-coil Jazz sound if you want it, but you can also quickly dial in more ‘modern’ sounds - and anything else you can think of - from fat, fingerstyle dub tones through clanky, gritty rock via hefty plectrum twang to full-on growl, burpy funk and mid-free hi-fi slap. It’s all in there. And you'd be very hard-pressed to tell the difference between this Indonesian Squier and a MIM Fender (or dare I say it, a MIA Fender) in a blind listening test. The Squier feels right, plays very nicely indeed and sounds fantastic. It’s essentially a wannabe boutique Super Jazz, but aimed at the budget-conscious entry-level buyer. Or those in my position - the seasoned (yet impecunious) overweight senior cheapskate-cynic. But is it as good as I remember? Very much so, and in some ways it’s better. Four years have passed since I owned one and my priorities have changed, my playing has changed and I see things a little differently now, as I’m sure we all do. But I’m very happy to have this back in the fold. I did have a little fantasy about refinishing it in vintage white (and I may yet do so), tinting the headstock, applying an F-decal and fitting a guard. But I don’t want to drill new guard holes in the body, the decal thing is really only of interest to bass players and other idiots and frankly I’m getting a bit bored with the ‘identity’ thing. Name-band pro players regularly rock up sporting the S-decal and if it’s good enough for them, etc. So for the moment at least it’s going to do its thing completely stock and original as nature (and Squier) intended - apart from the new DR Nickel Lo-Riders I fitted. Hardly a modification, but a very positive improvement on the iffy strings that came with the bass. I can easily see it becoming a bit of a workhorse and it’s already a go-to instrument. It’s one of those basses you just can’t walk past without picking it up and playing it. You won’t be surprised then if I recommend you add this particular arrow to your quiver - it can currently be got at a silly price, especially if you haggle - even if you’re not a Jazz person (and I'm not), you can’t fail to be impressed by the dead-straight and supremely playable neck, the smooth, hard and fast Ebonol board, the extremely versatile and intuitive EQ and the huge range of tones on offer. In short, it’s a bargain. But if you ARE up for it, get one ASAP - Squier seem to have discontinued this model and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Yes - it's much higher than the standard fixing screws. The i.d. of the standard fixing screw is 3mm and is usually - I think - mild steel, the i.d. of a stainless m4 machine screw is 3.24mm and is, of course, stainless giving 16% greater area over a much stronger steel. The o.d. of the inserts is 9mm, against the standard fixing screws at around 4mm. Wal are the only commercial basses I've personally worked on that fit machine screws and I'm pretty certain they are m4 too. The thing that staggered me was once seeing the tubular fuselage of an Auster light aeroplane. Welded on were 4 small brackets with the holes for the 4 machine screws holding the engine on. Now, admittedly, that will have been aircraft grade stainless, but they were tiny. I reckon 6mm tops - maybe even 5mm.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I haven't used any loopers before and wasn't sure whether swapping the lead would be feasible. I suppose I'll just jump in with the looper first, and look at splitters if I find swapping a fuss - or play chords on bass! Cheers all.

Hi Frank, Yes Times are good for the gigging Bassist. There is good Equipment for nearly every Pocket (pricewise), but no..that was not an exaggeration. We compared the two Amps at a small Bass Player Meeting from a german Bass Forum and the Difference was noticed by other Bassplayers too. When we really turned up the volume to get some performance, the mesa was much more sovereign, but of Course you're right, the Mesa is in another Price Class without a Doubt

You'll still be a musician but a jibbering idiot along with it.

Very tempted to bid in & see what happens.

Not bass related but.....I applied for holiday leave at work for a fortnight in 2019. Already planned what we were going to do - Eurocamp. Price was £1239 for a fortnight in a caravan in Italy (flights & car hire on top of this). My boss approved the holidays yesterday so last night I sat down to book. Black Friday deal with Eurocamp reduced the cost to £560 thus saving a whopping £679. Unexpected and a genuine saving for something I was purchasing anyway. Impressed!

This is sarcastic, in fact, you are the one who didn't get it, sorry. And by the way, the correct sentence shoud have been : "I'm not sure you understand sarcasm : furthermore, I guess English isn't your mother tongue ?" And certainly not this approximation : I'm a bit fed up with this "not your mother tongue" remark as I do write a way far better English than most of the natives on this website. Period.

I must say, the experience of being part of a choir has not only made be a better bass player, but a better musician all round. I didn’t have any formal training in music. I started playing as a teenager, so moved and inspired by the early output of Jamiroquai/ Zender, that bass was the direction I took. 25 years later and no regrets. Bass is still my primary instrument, and the one I love above all. My musical tastes have remained very much rooted around that hemisphere of music too, but deeper, naturally. However, a few years ago, by some bizarre accident of events, having had no previous singing experience and no involvement in traditional music, I found myself joining the local Gaelic Choir. It was a revelation, and there was no turning back. There is something ethereal and electrifying about standing in the midst of 30 voices when you’re locked tightly into a complex arrangement of a big piece. Whether it’s sensitive and beautiful, or vigorous and bold, the emotive power of the situation is huge and unquestionable. There are strict technical requirements though, and these are what have made me the better musician. Firstly, I had to learn how to read music and, by default of the learning process, my sight-reading is ever improving.By absolute necessity I’ve developed a greater sense of subtlety, restraint, and discipline. A more refined sense of place and, as a result, the whole. My natural timing has improved, and the basic nature of choral singing has made me infinitely more harmonically conscious. Also, the specific process of learning, breaking down into tiny detail and reconstructing a few select pieces over many months, and the inherently complex nature of the arrangements have allowed me to understand music in a way I never would have otherwise... and it’s all transferable to bass. Choir singing happened randomly, and out of the blue, but now that it’s part of my life I love it. I’m more of a musician than I ever was before, or ever would have been without it ... and I’m grateful for that. Are there any other choristers here? If so, what benefits have you perceived? Tell me something of the kind of choir you’re in 🙂 My choral experience has been entirely in the (Scottish) Gaelic language, in both men’s and mixed choirs, in performance and competition, Scotland, and abroad.

I tried googling all types of knobs and frankly this isn’t the website where I landed at all 🤗

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why the DI? Surely the mixer should have a "line" or "mic" setting on the input, and if the XLR out from the cab link is line level and the desk is set appropriately it should be fine? Our guitarist uses a Line 6 Helix and the matching Line 6 FRFR powered monitor as a cab and we take a line level XLR out from the cab into our Yamaha PA to round out the sound a bit. Works for us.

Gold or a nice deep tort. Black is just lazy IMO.

Is the cab link out at line or speaker level? If the former, you can do it, but will need a DI box with attenuation, to lower the signal sufficiently to avoid overloading the input stage on the mixer. If the latter, no.

Behind me I'm in. Already on my calendar.

Back in the late nineties I tried to put together an Eighties tribute act. I couldn't find a guitarist that would play the Pop stuff needed to get decent gigs. At one rehearsal I discovered that the keyboard player had an amazing voice....long story short... I purchased backing tracks, he sang and I mimed the keyboards. At first I took my bass gear along and played live on some songs because I felt guilty ( the agent and the venues always knew that I was miming) but eventually we realised that nobody cared and I stopped lugging it around. In two years of gigging two or three times a week only one person came up to me and said " You're not playing those keys are you?" when I answered" no" he replied " you do a good job of making it look like you are though!" Go and enjoy the gig ….the punters will just be out to enjoy themselves.

Am I the only one that thinks black pickguards on light colour basses look absolutely awful? Jesus christ, I think those Seafoam/Blue PJ basses would look MUCH better with a white pearl pickguard.

For Sale - A particularly grim copy bass which frankly I can't wait to get rid of. £1 I've checked the wanted ads - nobody is going to want this sucker. From the minute I got this I knew I'd end up selling it - it plays like gristle. Never been gigged. No way I'd risk this in public Trades gracefully accepted - even for a pack of old used Ernie Ball flats I have dogs and smoke like a chimney. I let the dogs sleep on it and chain smoke when playing - it's the only thing that numbs the pain I'd link to my gumtree ad, but it makes me look like it's a scam. Action at 12th fret - about 1' 5" Weight - more than me, but less than the missus. No photos coming soon - it's hideous enough in the flesh without a permanent record I'm based just north of Peterborough. I'll wait for years if necessary to get rid of this. It's likely to be discounted tomorrow and every five minutes subsequently until I end up paying you. I'll ship this in a brown paper bag. It'll only improve it. I'm prepared to travel about 3 miles from home, on my pushbike, dragging it behind on a rope. Feel free to lowball me. I quite like it - it's a chance to feel someone actually wants to talk to me. Is this what you meant @skankdelvar?

Sounds like my ideal gig, well paid, food, not using my own car and I don’t have to actually remember anything.

I play bass, guitar and drums so I'm three musicians.😂

Nice bass!

I would use two items. A Y splitter like a Morley one and a digitech trio plus. Those two items will do and are within specification. The trio plus will be the expensive part. You could cheap out and buy a Mooer looper for 40 quid and the splitter for 20-30.

If you want power, get a set of Alan Entwistle JBXN. Very punchy, supremely articulate and at around £42, not ludicrously expensive. I love mine.

I should add, if a bassist who doesn't play a 6 string bass comes up with a neck profile that's comfortable to them, it's pretty much guaranteed to be comfy to a 6 string player, most 5's and all 4 string basses feel like toys (in a good way) when you transition 😎 Eude

Hey guys! I just published a new video. Major Scale Positions Bass Players Guide. In this post, I explain the 7 position system and show you how to use it to master your bass neck! There's also a free PDF at the end of this video too Let me know what you think of this lesson. Did it help you? Cheers, Hugh

And the award for over patronising whilst not getting the joke goes to....

My you have a busy weekend: 'up' all night and then busy all day. You will wash your hands before handling any Basses...?

yes I've noticed people don't leave feedback like they used too, but it rings alarm bells when there's very little, the only bad experience I had on ebay was from someone with very low feedback, and if it's zero stay well away. As far as fees are concerned I try and wait for one of their sell for £1 days, as I did this time, and you do tend to get a better price, far bigger market

As would be Basschat, were it not for the vigilance and diligence of the Mod and Admin team. All sites on t'web are bombarded constantly with stuff of the sort; it's up to their teams to make sure that very little gets through, and what does pass, is swiftly removed. It would appear that jmb are less fortunate, s'all..?

Gilles has bought a 66P from me - very nice guy, quick payment, super communication, real Gentlemen! Thanks a lot again!

Nice looking bass. I rate Squier highly and this looks a particularly good one.

I’ll let him know if you like 🤣 Si

She was actually 'watching' Eastenders with earbuds in while looking at Instagram on her phone.

Good post, Fionn. The short answer is yes. Maybe better bass but certainly better musician. At the age of ten I was packed off to boarding school wher I started in the Chichester cathedral choir. My dad was no fool because it meant I had a good education on a choral scholarship (50% discount). We rehearsed and sang at least one choral service six days a week with one day off. That day we would go on all sorts of expeditions, swimming in the sea in summer and crawling under the Goodwood motor circuit fencing. And we received a bloody good education. But to get back to the music. Being immersed in that stuff you couldn’t fail to have a good ear for all parts of the harmony and without trying I became an ace reader. A bit like learning to speak by hearing talk all round you. I left a fair bit before Leonard Bernstein came to conduct the premiere of the Chichester Psalms but we went to sing the hymns at the British Legion Festival of Remembrance. I can fairly claim that the first stage I performed on was at the Royal Albert Hall. To stand on that stage in the silence while all the poppies rained down was an emotional experience, even for a twelve year old not long after the end of WW2. Several of my contempories went on to glittering musical careers. I just play the double bass.

It's been a while since I did a mahogany neck - and I'd forgotten JUST how easily it carves. Thank goodness for the carbon rods! The spokeshave took around 30minutes to sharpen and about 7 minutes to get to the stage where I needed to stop using it lest I took too much off! Then onto the micro plane to get the rough carve of the volute and heel transition. This took a further 10 minutes: I don't use a handle on the micro-planes. I just wear gloves and sometimes use it on pull and sometimes on push, then for the join up of heel to nut I just lightly drag it along a bit like a gentle spokeshave. All the time, of course, I am going nowhere near the spine, which is already at final thickness. Another 15 minutes or so with cabinet scrapers and some basic sanding and it's at the stage to stop and assess the feel and look, both for the main part of the neck and also consider how deep to scoop at the body transition. I find it a lot easier to assess this in 'air bass' style to actually feel where it works and where it doesn't. As a number of you know, I'm a bit quirky in that actually finalise the neck scrape and finish once the bass is fully strung and playable. Anyway, this is how it is at the end of stage 1. I will now leave it a while and come back to it to work out where to carve, and how much to carve, next. But, in the meantime, it's definitely starting to look like a bass now :

Not last night, but recent Jo Burt gig. I'm obviously wiping away the spiders web up the dusty end, whilst doing my world famous Larry Grayson impression....."shut that door Isla.."

I liked the tone of my One10's but I had concerns over the fact that they couldn't keep up with my band's moderate volume in certain pubs (acoustically damped by carpets and furnishings). Despite everything they are very small cabinets and do not defy the the laws of physics. I confess that I succumbed to the hype and believed they might be as loud as, say, a Markbass NY121. Unfortunately they're not. I actually replaced the 2 One10's with one Markbass Std121HR and have done a number of gigs with that, with no issues and plenty of spare volume available. I also think there is a valid criticism of using non-standard optimistic specs on the website ("usable frequency range" etc among others) and the general tone of the site inferring that other manufacturers are "behind the game" in design terms. Don't get me wrong, Barefaced cabs are a good option among many good options but there are other cabs out there are on a par or maybe even better.