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You'll get plenty of offers doing that. Not sure how many bass related though.😱

Had a huge blast with the Fodera folks picking up my new Emperor Elite 6 last Tuesday. A dream instrument crafted by wonderful people with the deepest passion.

Been after an 8x10 for a while to complete the SVT rig. Went today to pick up one I got on eBay. Sounds good, except I can't really crank it at home right now to gig volume to really hear what it sounds like in anger. Pretty angry, I'd imagine. After hearing horror stories about carting them about, I have to say it's actually easier (provided you've got wide enough doors etc) to move than a couple of 4x10s, just because you wheel it about like a trolley. The head is more of a pain in the backside tbh Anyway, i'm delighted & wanted to share in the delight with you

Can I hear ya' say YEAH! 😁

Good question, and I genuinely haven’t a clue. Maybe it’s the wood selection, maybe the time they put into it. Or, (in a purely fun way) the cynic in me says maybe it’s...

Very nice!

It's the ultimate rig, isn't it? Ampeg do a video on how to transport it, but much like the Daleks, in the video Ampeg don't appear to do stairs!

For the Win..!

There are two ways of rating power, RMS watts and everything else. RMS is what's used when you want to give your customer accurate information, anything else is what's used when you don't. RMS watts might not be the best description, as RMS really only properly refers to voltage, but it's worked well enough for nigh on a century, so there's no reason to change it now.

If You Like A Lot of Chocolate on Your Biscuit, Join Our (Monday) Club...?

Sounds like a slightly more politically correct Black and White Minstrels dance troupe.

Shirley Bassey's vocals had to go through two studio compressors. If you heard her without compression, your effing head would explode. 😁

The newer Rays are great. But I would add the new Ray 25 for $500 and $550 for a 5 are good-playing basses. I played a blonde-colored one at the local shop and was impressed with the neck and the sound. They have a 2-band e.q. and ceramic pickup. The Ray 34 is nearly as good as my 2017 US Ray. The blue Ray 34 in the pictures was made in S.Korea. It has a mahogany back and quilted maple top. It sounds the same as a regular ash body to me. The 2018 Stingray is great and maybe I can buy one if I save up.

I was watched an old Open University maths programme the other day and I came up with "Allan Solomon and The New Integration" I may have to form a band just to use that name

Heel transition starting to get there...

Give it a few days and come back to it, then it will seem like someone else has done all the guitar tracks for you!

Neck carve is almost there. This is the excellent bit of the build because, like on @eude 's 6-stringer, you get to be able to play plenty of air-guitar! I get the basic shape using the profile templates taken from the future owner's favourite playing bass, but then go very much by feel. Still a bit of tweaking, but the basic shape is almost there: Certainly it's close enough for me to be able to feel my way into the heel carve. Here, there's still lots more carving to do to get to a smooth transition as you approach the body and good access to the top frets but the basic shape is starting to emerge: The carving is starting to create some really nice grain patterns too I won't have time to finish the carve today, but should be within maybe a couple of days. In the meantime, I'm doing a bit of experimenting with some offcuts of the top wood with different combinations of final coatings, including an interesting variation of the Osmo range - 1101...a very much thinner version of their 'gloss' that might actually come out as an alternative to using their thicker 3032 Satin Polyx. A helpful tip from Gillett Guitars Andy

The quality of EBMM is right up there. But, considering I bought a brand new untouched from the dealer Musicman Stingray HH guitar (not bass) for around £1150 about 6 months ago, and they are now £2400+ (although they do now have a lovely roasted neck) I really struggle with new pricing, and that applies to Fender. and Gibson! Bongos are now £1000+ more than a few years ago. They are excellent premium instruments, no doubt about it.

I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating. I paid just over £2k for my Helix and RCF745. My previous big bass rig which was mostly bought second hand over 10 years ago cost me more, and while it looks impressive on stage the Helix RCF combination is far more versatile. One thing did occur to me recently; a lot of the gigs I play are supports to well-established goth/post punk bands where the headliner will have brought an Ampeg stack or similar. I set up my RCF in wedge mode just in front, and still looks as though I'm using a big impressive bass rig while sounding infinitely better!

I used to get this in an old band, usually "just play twelve bar blues" yeah thanks but when you're just blaring out a solo I don't know where you're going next to support it. Or it would be the farking Status Quo medley. I know it's only three chords but which three... Oh you're now in a new song, great. It's demoralising and not a constructive use of time if you're not bringing everyone along. Maybe you suggest that either you jam around a structure so everyone can competently join in, and solo, or you don't bother with unstructured jams. It may be the height of guitar-god look how great I am wankery but if they can't explain the structure they're just bluffing. If they're not willing to then they're not good band band mates. Maybe you need to say words to the effect "I can't support your self indulgent ego build exercise without the most basic instruction so you can either look like a tit with a full band behind you or look like a selfish tit who excludes their bandmates, your choice"

I think I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never own this classic rig. I am jealous beyond belief!

I had one of those and one of the giveaways was the screw pattern on the control backplate. It's different to the MIJ ones. The one we are talking about does not have MIJ stamped on it but looks like it is one. SGC Nanyo is an absolute minefield to negotiate.

My fab four joining the fistful fiver fun...

Buy a bass in London, when you get down there, do the gig and take it back for a refund the next day. Tell the shop you don't like the colour or it's got too many/too few strings..

Trace Elliot were at one point in the 1980s THE best bass amp around. They were used up and down the country by a ton of bass players (who could afford them) and compared to what was available at the time, were light years ahead the competition. They had a unique, full, quality sound which was perfect for finger and pick styles but excelled in slap & pull style. You could see these amps being used by so many different music styles, from Reggae to metal, funk to pop. They were expensive at the time, but you really did get what you paid for. The one you have pictured in the Mk V series GP11 AH500 which was one of the best around at the time (early 80s). I had one, along with 4x10 and 1x15 fane speaker loaded cabs. The sound was absolutely immense and super loud, to the point where it really could get uncomfortable for drummer and guitarist. I used it with a 62 Fender Precision, 76 Fender Jazz bass and a Yamaha BB1100s fretless. The sound was amazing and as I said, it really was hard to get a bad sound out of the rig. Sound engineers loved them for their hand DI out at the back and the handy feature of a noise gate was the icing on the cake. I've used Trace gear in various guises for most of my bass playing career, in fact I remember the Series 6 being demo'd at the British Music Fair in 1986 I'm that old! The weight of them was what put me off, as there were lighter cabs around. The quality that went into them was revolutionary at the time, with the graphic, pre-shaping and sheer volume - not to mention the green and black colour scheme set off by the UV light just looked great on a dark stage. I used a small 100watt GP7 1x15 combo throughout the 1990s along with a Status 6 string and loved the sound. I finally gave up the ghost on Trace after using one of their Series 6 2x10 combo valve hybrid amps and the weight just being too much for me. Still love the sound of Trace gear and always feel nostalgic when I see the Series 5 and 6 amps. Can't believe the second-hand prices nowadays compared to what they used to be. Oh, by the way, they used to be manufactured in a place called Witham in Essex which I visited on more than one occasion for a service on these amps. They were superb there, with first class customer service too.

all want is for people to stop bringing politics into every thread

I had the AH350 many moons ago. Great heads - powerful, unburstable, reliable, heavy. If you can live with the weight, they are still great amps. TE's design brief was to mate a good quality pre' with proper eq to a PA power amp output stage. They were originally built in the wilds of rural Essex (I took mine to the factory for a service/repair and they did it on the spot whilst I went to the local pub for lunch). They were a bit of a revelation in their day compared to what else was available and that uv front light looked cool.

And it's pretty much finished... @eude is probably going to change the electrics so we opted to just put the old electrics back in. The jack is actually fine, but both pots are shot. I'll order some replacements anyway to fit while the finish is hardening. But, other than the final tweaks on the setup and a final buff up in a few days time, its finished. I've obviously gone heavy on the tru-oil because it's ended up at 8 3/4 lbs rather than the 8 1/2 I was projecting but it sits BEAUTIFULLY on the strap. Even my slippy cheap nylon strap - it rests level and will sit and stay at almost any angle you care to play. It actually feels lighter on the strap than it actually is, presumably for the same reason. The fretboard is just polished - progressive from around 2000 grit paper to 12000 micro-web. The figuring shows up great in real life. I'll probably take a few more fancier shots when the lighting is right, but here it is in the meantime:

I keep trying to start an INXS tribute band named Stranglew4nk, some right weirdos come to audition

Nice! That’s basically what I was going to go with on my much-stalled Jag build!

Band i was in last year was called The Monday Club. Reason :- we didn't have a name picked out yet and guitarist wanted us to play his birthday. When he booked the venue they needed a band name and all he could think off was The Monday Club because we rehearsed on a Monday night. Dave

.... some of my best mates are old farts, how very dare you !

Max is a great guy and one hell of a builder

So I sent SFX an email and was sent a great reply straight from the horses mouth so to speak. It goes as follows: Hi Dan, Thank you for your enquiry. When the micro-Thumpinator is in a pedalboard with an octaver, there is always the question - what is best: do I want to stop the low frequency noise at the beginning of the signal path or do I stop the sub frequencies generated by the octaver? Generally speaking, if the octaver is analogue like the Boss OC-2, the amount of sub noise generate by the OC-2 is probably negligible. The somehow limited tracking capabilities of the OC-2 stop the generation of frequencies that are below the cut-off frequency of the micro-Thumpinator. For digital octavers, the problem is different as they track the signal well regardless the frequency. With digital octavers, it is likely they generate frequencies that normal amplification systems cannot convert into sound. To summarise, I recommend the following. 1. From the practical viewpoint, I recommend you try different positions, included the amp effect loop. Based on the tone, speaker/cone movements and amp headroom/clipping, find the best position in the signal chain. 2. As an alternative approach, I would put the micro-Thumpinator first unless you have a digital octaver. If you have a digital octaver, I would put the micro-Thumpinator after the octaver. For instance, I'm pretty sure that Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) puts it after the octaver. And in his case, I think it is a good choice. He uses a digital octaver and according to Billy Gibbons, they want to stop the presence of super-low frequencies. I hope the above helps. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask. All the best, Max [sfx] think that clears a lot up, does for me anyway. Permission was granted for the copy/paste

I have had a fair few Jazz basses over the years. After a few years of trying to convince myself that all I need is a P bass I went back to the trusty Jazz. They just feel right to me. My experience of the Squier range is limited to the Vintage Modified 70s model in the natural finish. Those basses are incredible, the construction is top notch and the tone was great. The Squier you are picking up should definitely give you a feel for what a USA could offer. If you are used to playing a P bass with a fat neck then the Jazz will feel very different! It goes without saying that the USA models will be made with higher quality components, but the core sound and feel with be there with the Squier you are getting. Enjoy!

I think that was to adjust volume levels if you'd bi-amp'd your rig. Usually you'd have a cab for your higher frequencies and one for the lower frequencies. The levels could be adjusted by these knobs, which is a handy feature if you're on an exceptionally boomy stage, a simple flick and your lower frequency volume is lowered.

I think he's been practising.

I only really like drum solos if they swing, that limits it pretty much to Joe Morello IMHO...

Yeah, I found the same (having owned both a Compact and a pair of BB2)... and have ended up with a couple of Two10 that really suit me. They are not 'transparent' like the others, as I found that transparent really wasn't what I needed: the right 'colour' suits me best, and their 10" series are really cool in that respect.

I forgot to mention, I'm using Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Weich's. (not gut's). I emailed Pirastro & they confirmed that their string oil is for gut's only. I just found the Pirastro String Cleaner so good at making my strings feel smooth again, & removing light grime build-up from finger oils etc. I'll probably take a punt on the Royal Oak, Gewa Old Master and Nature Works at some point. Try out all three & see which I like best!

I've played for nearly 20 years (even though I'm now in my mid-50s) and have never learned to improvise. It's also a small matter of frustration. But it's just stuff... I can't slap or play with a pick either but I'm pretty confident that I could learn if I really had to. There are are only so many hours in the day. My day job is the same. I work in IT. People ask me to look at their home computers. No chance. I haven't a clue about Windows. I work with big servers and Unix stuff all the time and have no great need or desire to branch out.

Supporting The Dualers in Glasgow on Saturday... lots of fun.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here. You can do things like apply compression and eq to a miked kick and a drummer may be fond of that sort of tone. By and large kick is the drum you can't hear out in the audience without some sort of boost and not all drummers are shed builders. Equally anything below about 60Hz is usually an embarrassment of riches for most bass. It may be that by using a five you are encroaching upon his frequencies a little. As a band you'll sound best if you can lock in with the kick sonically as well in your timing. I suppose I'm saying be constructive. This is a sound engineers view. "A common trick to getting a unified sound between kick and bass while retaining clarity is to boost the lows on the kick (60-80Hz) cut the low mids anywhere from 150Hz to 400Hz (sometimes called the mudrange) and boost the highs at around 3000Hz. This will provide a solid low end, remove some of the mud in the midrange and accentuate the attack of the kick pedal on the drum. For the bass, we do pretty much the opposite; cut the lows where you boosted them on the kick (60-80Hz) boost the bass at around 120 – 150Hz which will provide a full bass sound (while occupying the frequency space we made by cutting the kick drum in this range), and boost the highs at around 900Hz since bass also provides information in that range as well. In short, we are emphasizing the frequencies that are important to the sound of each, while cutting the frequencies where they can conflict. Try this technique. You’ll get a full bottom with a clear thump with a defined attack in the kick and a clear, full bass."