Leaderboard

Played it live

BOOM! Got the job!!!! Band is called Fraudio btw. Absolutely stoked and in need of a beer or two. Now begins the hard work!

Not a bass - my first-ever 6-string guitar was a quite decent Columbus SG copy which I had in 1980. Aside from a bolt-neck & fake humbuckers, it was a pretty reasonable facsimile of the original, down to having a very slender, volute-free neck/headstock junction. Can't quite remember how it happened but it probably involved the enthusiastic execution of inept powerchords, playing along with Motorhead or somesuch, and a surprise meeting of Columbus headstock and bedroom wall. I do remember a sudden loss of string tension and very rapid de-tuning. And then the "plop" as the newly-liberated headstock hit the floor. I lacked the skills to correctly repair my newly decapitated guitar - but I didn't lack imagination: I've still got it now.

Hi. In no particular order....(brain dump) Sounds are obviously identical. Addition of headphone output and master volume is Awesome! loving the colour screen, all the info in one place! and color represents block type so its easier to see at a glance what the blocks are doing. on the HXFX there's a lot of info, but its all spread around, and in B+W. moving blocks around the chain is harder, and unnecessarily so as there's plenty of knobs. You have to use Cut/paste the knobs seem to respond better. i love that it shows the midi PC on the preset selection screen. this makes it so easy if your using a midi controller. love the form factor Its TINY!!!! i wish they had put the screen on the RHS as i tend to play notes with my right hand and change parameters with the left. doing this mostly covers the screen with my hand. still, better than the HXFX i will miss ability to turn off more than 3 pedals on the HXFX addition of HPF and LPF in the global is awesome!!! HXFX doesn't have this copying blocks to another patch is easier on the stomp ill come and edit this post if i think of any more differences

Did you know....I only found this one out two weeks ago!........ When using youtube....Bottom right there is a wheel/cog/settings sign next to the YouTube logo. Click on that and you will find Speed. Click on that and you can slow it down to 75 % which also keeps it in tune. I never knew this all this time and have spent many extended hours trying to catch micro snippets of something going back and forth. Learning things slowly really gives me a chance to grasp exactly whats being played. Once I really know it slowly, I find it a lot easier to bring it up to normal speed. I can learn something I find complicated so much faster overall using this. Probably a bit of stating the obvious for a lot of folks but its a new discovery for me so if that helps anyone who like me didn't know🤩

Sold it on eBay for £26

Adam Clayton managed two gigs in a row once without a new signature model for the third gig, does that count?

So a while back I fancied having a mess about with a foam mute with the flats. Of course, dish sponges got sliced up as one does. But to be honest, they always looked totally naff and we’re a pain to thread into the tiny space between the bridge and pickup on my two Wals. Fine on the single pickup Aria. Still looked crap, though. Then I spotted these mentioned on a thread here or on Talkbass... https://www.facebook.com/pattonmutepadbassmute/ - maybe it was @wateroftyne who got one and posted about it a few years ago. Unfortunately by the time I spotted them they’d stopped making them. ☹️ Fast forward a couple of years and a few months ago Amy from Patton Bass Mutes drops me a mail saying, I’m starting making them again. So I ordered a set, one for each bass - she makes them individually to fit the dimensions of your bass. They arrived a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been messing about with them at home to good effect. However, last night was my first chance to try them in anger - on my ‘79 Wal Pro IIE. It’s got a slightly more old school sound than my other one so was a great candidate. I was so impressed. It worked perfectly. The custom size and little loop meant it was dead easy to pull in under the strings and gave the perfect amount of damping - also to whip back out for a couple of tunes I wanted to play unmuted. Played a number of songs fingerstyle and with pick and it really did add a totally old school tone. Particularly liked the pick sound on a couple of rocky, funky numbers. Brilliant. And picking without having to palm mute was surprisingly freeing! The big surprise was that it changed the pitch of the strings by about a quarter tone but when you think about the change in the free vibrating length of the string that makes sense. I was doubly surprised that it didn’t completely mess up the intonation which was still fine. The mutes are beautifully made and several cuts above some scraggy bits of old foam both on operation and in how they change the aesthetics of a beautiful bass. If you fancy trying that old Motown, Wrecking Crew style muted sound then the cost of around $15 plus postage for a Patton mute is well, well worth it. And hey, Christmas’s coming soon! Here’s the mute for the Pro Bass in action. Tell me this doesn’t look better than a bit of old dish sponge from Tesco...

Don’t 👀

Here's my twin Stingrays....and my real twins 😍 They're my babies, all four of them.

Hence the forum name then, Bassassin?

Blame it on Woody's tip off about the 10% discount. PMT had two delivered to the store on Friday morning and they had both been sold within an hour of the store receiving; I paid my deposit and they kept behind the counter for me to collect today. Look on the bright side, at least you got a £46.50 discount...not to be sniffed at! And in my case it was third order lucky so I'm not feeling too guilty at having finally got mine

Late 1970's - The roadie of the band I was in somehow managed to leave my '63 Precision (in it's case) overnight leaning up against his gatepost at his house after returning home after a Sat night gig - we were playing the Sun lunchtime and he'd agreed to leave the gear in the van but take all the guitars indoors overnight. Two little boys had knocked on his door about 10am on the Sun and asked him if he wanted the 'old guitar' that he'd left outside and 'was it for the dustman ?'.....

Took a bass off over my head onstage in Derry and smashed it straight into the lighting rig above me. About 25 years ago after seeing a Mr Big gig I decided to try supergluing three picks together like a clover and sticking it to a drill. Too impatient to let the glue dry properly I fired it up, splattering the bass with little beads of superglue which I never managed to remove. Oops. If anyone out there owns a black Charvel model 1 bass with mystery little bumps all over the front, that's the reason....

Here we go. All cased up for recording tomorrow, so the expression pedal is elsewhere. Compressor >. ES5 > Hall Fame. All the rest are in loops, so I can run the PS6 as a detune chorus after the filter or as an octave down in front of the Rat, with clean in parallel or bitcrush in parallel with the Okto etc etc. Game changer. The only downside is needing to bench the Mastotron because the Rat is so big. A mini clone will fix this problem for about 25 quid. Sorting the patch cables won’t be cheap though. I have a bigger board waiting, but this is the practical limit for band gigs.

You'd think that people like Sting and Bobby Vega could afford a decent re-fin, wouldn't you?

We've been looking forward to this one for a while: We were so grateful to be asked back to play the John Peel Centre. Shortly after arrival the exited manager tells us its sold out! We knew we were in for a good one! Sound was awesome, crowd were awesome, no technical hitches. Why aren't they all like this?

Major update. Stomp replaces Hxfx and the Es8 is back. I missed the loops

On Saturday we played a breakfast gig (8:30 to 11:30) for an investment company and its clients and staff.Our jazz quartet has done this gig for about six years now and although it is essentially playing "wallpaper music" we do get some occasional applause and a lot of comments from individuals.Over the three hours about 300 people came and went while we played some lighter jazz and some Christmas songs and we view the gig as a good rehearsal and play some songs that we don't play too often on our regular gigs. It's always fun to hear our singer/keyboardist do "Santa Baby" and we do some "jazzy" arrangements of Christmas songs and we all enjoy "Everyone's Waiting For The Man With The Bag" and "Baby,It's Cold Outside" which the singer and I do and is a lot harder to sing while playing a good bass line that it sounds but we nailed it.I used my DB and had fantastic sound straight into our Bose PA using just the Schatten Mini Pre for volume control and the EQ on the Bose. I know it sounds like a dreadful gig to some of you but it is held in a beautiful venue, we are fed well from a huge breakfast buffet, easy load in/out, nice friendly crowd including some young kids who dance up a storm and we are well paid and can pretty much play what we want.We are booked for next year already. Downside...I leave home at 6:30 for a snowy one hour drive for 7:30 load in.

Nah - he bought it relic'd by some guy in Denmark Street to make it look like he knew what he was doing.

I do it because I've seen other bass players do it, and I think it will give the illusion that I'm quite professional. 😁

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.

Hi everyone. My first post. I played bass when I was younger, but have not touched it in 30 years. These days I only play ukulele and so my next post will be a 'For Sale'.

Great thread. As a teen, I had a very tall cabin bed with a ladder and a climb akin to Everest. One morning, on my descent before school, I blacked out for some reason (possibly the altitude) and fell face-first onto my Squier Precision. I split my brow and chipped a tooth. The bass lost the ear of a cheapy tuner which I glued back on, other than that, no damage at all although the wardrobe it was propped against sported a very large gouge down its front. The bass still exists in some state although my brother in his infinite wisdom decided to paint it slime green at one point. 😊

When you start hearing things you don't like about your gear, it's time to move on. Time to upgrade and buy one you like the sound of right out of the box.

Result!

Really appreciate your input Stevie. I'm feeling a bit bamboozled by the number of options, including everything from selling it to buying a second one!! I am starting to agree that a second cab seems the best bet and if I can find one used it'd probably be as cheap as buying a new driver. Can I also thank you for your input into the other cab threads. I have really got a lot out of them. You guys should write a book! Cheers, Doug

I think Bobby's Jazz already has quite enough fins on it...

Bobby Vega’s “Shark Bass” - He’s had it since the 70’s

Marta Altesa does a good version of this on YouTube which could be worth a look....

Try not to stew about it if you can, but I think it's time for a serious discussion about how the band is going to work. If the guitarist is calling all the shots (or trying to !) and you're not happy with it then something has to happen. I'd try to canvas opinion from the other band members if you can - it's entirely possible that you're not the only one who feels this way, and see if you can all have a word with him. If the rest of the band works and it's just the guitarist who's the problem then he should be the one looking for a new band, not you. It's pointless just leaving without saying anything as far as I'm concerned, so think about what you'd like to say at the next rehearsal and see if anyone else feels the the same way and wants to raise it too. With some discussion and compromise you might be able to get things going in a sensible direction. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

A double-size one, obvs.

The only time its ok for a band member to dictate at this level is if the other band member/s cant keep up or lack the required musicianship or turn up not really knowing or understanding their parts due to lack of real interest. If you are playing some crazy bent harmonics with some tasty slap and tap fills every four bars then ok someone needs to reign it in and steer the ship. There can be a passion to drive a band forward but this is often a compromise and most experienced musicians that MD will be aware of band members limits, both mentally as well as ability and know when to stop pushing their luck. I would offer a meeting with him and explain that although you understand his need to do things in a certain way, and although you appreciate his dedication he also has to compromise and allow you as an individual to grow musically at your own pace. Any thing done in what he may perceive to be bad taste is something you have to live with not him. If its really bugging him that much but none of the rest of the band have issues with the way you play then he needs to decide at what level is he happy to stick around. Give him an option to just turn up and play. Any thing thats not to his liking is now beyond his control so he has no responsibility for it. If he finds it really hard at that point he can always go out and find himself a band of musicians that are on his wavelength and you can advertise for a guitarist thats on yours.

I have this bass in black but the five string model. Absolute cracker of a bass for the money. @NikNik loving the black hardware on yours.

Seriously, sod that. How do the rest of the band feel about this? Seems to me that he's the problem. Have the chat and ask him to give others a bit more respect as individuals. There's plenty of good guitarists out there...

I'm taking lessons. I told the guy I was bored with my rut and I wanted him to find me a new one. So far it's working really well. I'm probably tool old to carve out a completely new rut, but the current one is a lot wider and far more interesting.

Being "picky" about what you are willing to play is fine, but if you are sitting at home waiting for something "great" to turn up you're also getting rusty and dropping further to the back of other musicians memory banks. When playing you are meeting different players, you're networking, you're keeping match fit. There are possibilities you don't get with something like JMB. A band might be temporary and not your ultimate aim but IMO most playing is better than not playing at all and better opportunities present themselves when you are "out there" and part of a music "scene".

The V7 Jazz will definitely full a different sonic role to the BB and SR you already have - I say go for it!

Lower tension strings may help straighten the neck a bit. Ethically, any bass that’s no longer brand new should be sold as used, even if it’s absolutely immaculate.

I must be double-pro then, as I wear two (one on each wrist, two on one wrist would just be eccentric).

I always do it as I,m forever stepping on my lead. I always wrap the other end round the speaker handle too, just as a precaution.

I'm sure many will argue but the trick beyond a very basic technique is a good spraygun. Mine is a DeVilbiss SRI with a 1mm needle, it uses about 2 Bar of pressure and a very low air rate, it has a beautifully fine spray pattern no matter how wide or narrow your fan. It has a really nice airflow adjuster that can be used to balance out any adjustment in the needle. It was quite expensive at about £200 but can be used with a very basic compressor. The other problem is extraction for fumes especially with nitro, I no longer have a spray booth so outside is the best for me and then bring the bass inside quickly out of the way of dust and flies. This time of year it's too cold and damp so I'm spraying indoors and wearing a mask which keeps most of the fumes out but isn't ideal. Even with the cold I can still get four coats on in a day (between about 10am and 2pm) easily which is great Honestly a good spraygun is the answer, a good fine spray with no spits or splatters at any flowrate/pressure and it will give an even wet deposit with minimal usage, the overspray is negligable unless you are spraying edges. I think mine has paid for itself with just paint saved from overspray compared to a cheaper gun. Can you tell I'm a big fan of this gun? It is by far the best I've ever used, it's very hard to get it wrong after a little practice just to get a technique

Ok, The Filmore House gig was cool. Small rural party bar. Nice people come there to relax ,party and get loaded and they love live bands. I arrived at 7:00 and couldn't even find a parking space and eventually had to park illegally. Overall it was a fun gig, the band sounded great last night. Very "old school" rock bar gig. Such a nice crowd. It was an 8:00-12:00 gig, the BL didn't call for a break until 10:15. So playing 2 hours plus without a break was a little weird. At one point I thought it was 1972. I had a fun night guys. Blue

The Fuzz is stock.. Its just sort of nasty in a way that the zoom fuzzes aren't- i don't use the octave much! I like the fuzz in front of the wah too, so i can do that thing you get in EDM where it goes 'muffled muffled nasal fizzy BOOM'... Which is fun.. Yeah the EQ does a thing that's different somehow to what the Zoom EQs have. The sliders are different frequencies, that might be it!

Anyone played a Chowny SWB?