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Hey guys, Finally got my order received, including 2 Yamaha BBs, Ashdown CTM head and cab and even an ashdown tone pocket to stay on the neighbours Christmas card list 😉 hahaha Obviously, matching 4 & 5 string BBP34 and 35 basses. Fit like a glove, sound amazing and don't break my back the way the BB1025 does. Extremely happy to have these. The ashdown is just pure valve bass amp goodness. Got less watts to play with but compared to my Trace Elliot 715 and Ashdown Touring 220w, I've got more tone to play with and its loud enough for what I need it for. I will be investing in some casters for the cab though, it's a heavy thing and the wheels on the back of the cab are practically useless unless you're 2ft tall, to use it on the 45° angle and don't need to move it sideways. All in all, feel like a kid on Christmas getting everything on his list to santa. So happy 😁

If not already sorted DM me your address and we will get a couple of fuses in the post today

Being let down due to illness or personal crisis is perfectly acceptable but being let down due to simply getting a better offer is beyond contempt. I would never work with someone like that again, they will let you down time after time.

Well time moves on and I’ve actually got playing again. Just home stuff in my little practice room. I am really enjoying getting back to ‘bassics’. I bought a Lakland Skyline P/J £600 off in the recent GuitarGuitar sale as I wanted a P with just 4 strings. I love it, such a good bass and the Plek’d board makes it a real joy to play. Then the desire for a matching 4 string J sorta grew and I bought a Mexican Jazz from Nick on here. In part I grabbed it because it had Hipshot upgraded tuners and luthier refined fretwork. It’s a joy also, two great basses (and my 2 ACGs and Rita) I’ve already added a Hipshot Type A bridge and some new pickups so some things don’t change.... What is different is that instead of learning theory followed by picking up tabs for songs I’m working on learning to improvise and use my ears more. Loving it all again. I hope a band opportunity doesn’t come along as I can’t afford a rig:)

Fixed properly

Trigger pulled on the A/O amplifier. You know, I've seen enough in the Darkglass promos past and present to know whatever I've seen is reasonably accurate, so no qualms. Delivery 6-8 weeks. Will report back on delivery.

My newly acquired 1991 S2 (or S2 'Matrix' as I think it would have been termed at the time being headed). This is a bit of a timewarp bass - it really is in mint condition. It recently came into this country from the Netherlands (where the original owner resided). Maybe a member on here? I did initially think that I had a problem with a noisy preamp/buzzing at higher volumes. Turns out that the equation of this bass + my old Trace SMX's + the electrical interference in my man cave = buzzing at high volume. Tried it elsewhere in the house, at different times of the day and through a couple of more 'modern' amps and it's as quiet as a mouse. I'm really enjoying it and as @MB1 warned me, I may end up wanting more than one!

Wasn’t expecting this at all, especially the voice... Good band too...

I've just been offered the opportunity to join a signed band, doing gigs at bigger venues than I'm used to around the UK. My current main band play pubs, clubs and functions. I decided I'd be better to tell the core of the band (hubby and wife) face to face, so I went round to their place on a Sunday morning. I explained my situation and told them that I'd like to continue gigging with them up until the end of June, by which time they'd need to have recruited a new bass player. This fitted fine with the new band's plans and has given my old band plenty of time to recruit. They've not been dropped in the doo doo and we remain friends. Successful conclusion!

Just wanted to say that Ashdown have been outstanding with a beautiful Hayden guitar combo that has caused me a few problems (problems mostly of my own making I should add). We've had some challenges with couriers, guitarists who've used the wrong fuses etc, but Ashdown's comms and customer service are second to none; I love the 'why don't you pop in, have a cuppa, and we can take a look' approach (which I wish I'd done as it would have taken the courier out of the equation). Anyway, shout out to Guy and Dave for great comms and a really helpful attitude. And when I look at this thread I started, and then at my collection of Mesa and Ampeg gear, I have to wonder why I don't have more Ashdown bass gear

So those pickups would be considered ceramic as opposed to alnico, or indeed neodymium.

I saw some overwound neodymium Martin Herrick pickups on eBay with a 'make an offer' tab. I offered £75 and was well chuffed when it was accepted. That is £45 less than the usual price. I fitted them today and after some fettling I'm very pleased. Punchy and bright with great mids. I think they look good too. I initially installed them the same height as the original pups that came out (that are actually surprisingly good anyway). The Neo magnets are so strong that, particularly with the E string they were seriously affecting intonation and causing fret buzz! Lowering the pickups solved this although I was a little confused about what was going on at first. The originals have magnets epoxied to their underneath. I wonder if this is a mod? As I say they sound surprisingly good for Mexican standard pups. Here's a photo of the bass now and the magnets stuck onto the old pups:

See? You can check out but you can never leave. Welcome home.

Looks like we may have a different winner of the 'who's travelled furthest to the Bash' competition. No prizes but just the kudos of sitting on a motorway for 6 hours...

Reading some of these posts, you can make problems for yourselves if you insist on playing the original lines note for note on every occasion. If you really have to play a line and you can't, then the only answer is to practice it until you can! If I'm learning a song, I check the original version, then I have a look for the original band playing live. Many times they aren't even playing the original lines themselves. I work out what needs to be kept and what I can add. I make sure I capture the gist, the feel and flavour of the original but I'm the player. It's perfectly acceptable to make these songs your own.

OP is right to feel aggrieved, it's not good enough. Here is the best place to rant though, I'm sure she knows what she's done, no need to make sure she knows she is Satan cos' it's a small world on each of our gigging scenes and you never know what's coming or what's been missed cos' two people on the same scene don't feel they can pick up the phone to each other. Let it out on this august forum cos' you're absolutely right then let it go. Les

Works well for a tour, poorly for frequent gigs around your home town.

Move it to Off Topic if you want to get some serious clickbait....

After a a month or two of umming and ahing about whether to get the HX Effects or the Stomp and watching countless reviews/tutorials on both I've finally put my order in and, subject to the vaguaries of the delivery service, the Stomp arrives on Monday.

That’s what I find hard. When a song changes the verses, it gets me confused. I like regimental. Verse , chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. I’m the singer, so it’s less to learn by muscle memory. Chuck in variations and Im like, that’s not fair!

From where I sit, that's Game Over, Insert New Coin.

'E's not a bass guitar, he's a very naughty boy!

I’m going to attempt to attend every Bass Bash this year so count me in. I’ll be bringing... Fretless Rob Allen Mouse Fretted Godin A4 FRFR set up ...@Frank Blank’s acoustic corner if you will.

Frisco I can handle for a guitar's brand name, but BRIAN?? Guy at gig: 'Cool bass, mate. What make is it?' You: 'Err....it's a... Brian'.

I got a second copy today as i thought it would make a good raffle prize at one of the upcoming bass bashes!

Now after I have had the Bugera BVV 3000 four years and eight months of heavy giging, the first two tubes have been reported fail by the Infinium-Circuit. The lights for tube Nr. 1 and 3 are on, which does mean that they run out of specs and have to be replaced. I ordered two Sovtek 6550 WE, and will replace the failed ones as soon as possible. As I found a source with tubes on an absolute reasonable price, the other four tubes will be replaced during the next 1 or 2 weeks, as the shop ran out of this model of 6550. They'll ship the other four tubes as soon as they have them in stock again. As the Infinium circuit is able to handle different tubes, I am fine with throwing in two new tubes to the old ones, as they advertised that you only have to change the tubes that are reported. Lets see if this takes influence on the tone, quite curious about that. I will post again when I have replaced the first two tubes, and again, when all tubes are replaced.

It's all gone too far! Basically a 3 channel rig that started life as a Muse rig...now I am back to 2 bass channels and one faux guitar channel...i guess think Royal blood. For those interested signal chain is P bass mid pickup.... tuner....lehle...to CH1...pitch fork with exp pedal (love this on bass and guitar)...T rex bloody Mary (seriously underrated)..Boss Os2. (Fantastic in a mix)..mxr micro chorus...Nobels trem....alesis reverb/delay rack (would like to change this for timeline/grand Canyon/dispatch master etc) ..out to Peavey Valve king.. (this gets guitar tone with octave up but flipping octave back to unity with exp pedal adds extra grunt when needed) CH2 from lehle ...Boss oc2.....animato (yum) ..big muff...sheehan deluxe drive (hell of a pedal) with ls2 in gain loop to blend in some crunch when clean...BMC (does a thing esp if you want mids boosted funily enough)...spectracomp....out to Marshall 7400 CH3 neck Pick up (woofer PU) on my adapted P Bass...Way huge green rhino (love this pedal) ....bass balls.(lol)..Big muff...FM pro rack..(love this) .EHX octave....prunes and custard..(great odd distortion sounds).. second Marshall 7400. P bass has 2 outputs. Board Works great as i like to play some G**tar as well.... if i plug guitar in to main input on board the signal splits through the lehle giving me the option to use wet/dry rig when recording. Downsides are power supplies and sheer weight...but sounds great from Sheehan to Motown .. looks good at night...lol

Got a new base last week (I blame the snow – I worked from home due to the travel warning a couple of weeks back, and found I could fill some of the time I was waiting for network connections by looking for bargain basses on my tablet. Ahem.) I don’t have easy access to a guitar shop with a decent range of basses, so I am dependent on basschat for working out which guitar will suit me best. Based on what I’d read on here, I began to focus on G&L, with my criteria for my next bass being: passive, 38mm nut width, not JJ pickups. There was a B-stock Tribute Kiloton on DV247 with about £120 off. It was white, with the reduction for a “chip in paint by the neck joint”, although there was no photo of the actual bass/damage on DV247 website*. It arrived, as promised, in 4 working days from Germany (got to say, I was impressed with the communications from DPD via their app). First impression out of the box is that it’s a bit chunky. Reviews mention the slimline SB body, but it’s about twice as thick as my Squier VM Jaguar. In terms of weight, though, both have basswood bodies but the Kiloton (counter-intuitively) is half a pound lighter. The plastic scratchplate protector had been removed, and there was no documentation at all in the box. The strings are not the standard stock d’Addario EXLs (no coloured ends or silks), and feel like they’re nickel-coated. I’m guessing that this is an ex-display model, and that the strings have been changed at least once. The serial number dates the bass as Sept 2017. However, the scratchplate has no scratches, so there are no actual signs of wear, and everything else is fine apart from the paint chip and the neck joint, which isn’t the neatest: some of the cuts appear not to be perfectly straight. Plugged into a practice amp, at first it was all about playing with the 3-way switch, working out which is series, parallel and single coil. Online reviews mention the increased output through the series setting, and this is clearly the case. The neck is nice and quick; the large inlay dots somehow make it look wider than it actually is. The tuners are smooth (noticeably smoother than the Gotoh GB707s on my step-son's SR1605). I was asked to play in a one-off band at a local church 4 days after it arrived so had an early chance to give it a proper test, playing through their huge Peavey combo. I instantly had to turn the master volume on the amp down from 5 to just under 3: this MFD pickup is certainly as hot as all the reviews suggest! The thing with the three-way-switch pickup variations is that they have such different outputs that I decided to stick to just one: in this case the parallel because it was a church, and I didn’t want to blast them away with the series option. I’m afraid my ears aren’t good enough to tell how closely this sounds like a Stingray, j-bass or p-bass in the various pickup settings: all I know is that there is a lot more variety than I expected, and that I can see each having its place. To me, the bass sounded brilliant – deep, rich, clear and with incredible sustain, I’ve never really considered why sustain is important to a bass, but now I think it means the full tone of the note lasts longer: for any notes of a minim or more in length, the outstanding, full timbre of the Kiloton just keeps shining though. And there’s no worries about getting lost in the mix: you won't. Even with the unknown strings , I didn’t want to stop playing. It's made me aware of my poor technique (particularly right hand) – there’s no hiding place with such a powerful pickup, but I’m looking forward to the challenge as it means more time playing this bass. Next step is some new strings, probably GHS Pressurewounds as I’ll be playing a fair bit of pick and I hate string noise. Overall, this was an excellent purchase, and for the first time, I can't imagine needing (or even wanting) any other bass. * BTW The paint chip is about 1cm across and ugly, but only visible to the player, and there’s no damage to the neck joint. I reckon a dab of tippex and some superglue on top will be good enough for me: I’m not selling this beast!

Lovely blokes they were too

@boroman @Dosi Y'Anarchy Correct!

The same happened when i bought some Entwistle Neos, and the magnets got close and ipso facto, i more or less needed a crow bar.

Yes, indeed, much as the others have suggested above, it will send a mono signal out to both sides if the pan control is centred. Just a couple of things to watch out for: - most importantly, I think some of those channels will only work as mono. I'm trying to do this from memory, but I think inputs 3 and 5(?) can be used as separate channels, or as the second part of a stereo pair, depending on what you plug in where. If you plug into one of those, you may only get a mono signal out in one ear! But the other two (2 and 4?) will give a stereo output if there's nothing plugged into their complementary channel (3 or 5, respectively). - there's a mic preamp on channel 1 only (hence the treble and bass controls on that one). This does provide some gentle colouring to the tone, so if you want a completely dry signal, you may be better off going into channel 2. I personally found it was a bit too much when combined with the amp sim element of my BDDI; that said it may be handy if you ever find yourself plugging a passive bass directly into the Xenyx.

Same. Give me a pattern and I can learn that and play it. Songs which seem like just someone improvising and playing different things on each iteration of the chord structure are a nightmare and I pretty much put my foot down over those as too complicated to learn!

I've got the same notification. I've ready got a copy from the initial run, it's a gorgeous book (and very big!!). It's well worth the wait. I ordered another copy in case I need a last minute bass related present for someone!!

I think it's pretty cool, personally - also don't think 10lbs (4.5kg) is THAT bad, for a six string. It probably 'wears' really well (for Nathan, at least). Good for him for getting something a bit out of the ordinary. FWIW I think headless basses look much better with a futuristic body style like this.

Amazing service. Thank you @Ashdown Engineering

I saw Knower at the Jazz Cafe last year. What a great gig and Sam Wilkes is a bass player everyone should check out. Love this track and video. . .

Stevie will be the best person to answer this but as far as I know, two identical cabinets would not be ideal. We had discussed this and this current full range cabinets would be best on top with an Identical cabinets below but with it's frequency response restricted so that only frequencies below 800 Hz reach the lower 12 inch driver. This would ensure maximum benefit and minimise interactions between the drivers in the two cabinets. So the lower cabinet would have no tweeter/horn and have a low-pass filter restricting its bandwidth. I must stress that we have not tried yet.

Have the same problem and my solution is: http://www.radialeng.com/product/bassbone-v2

Hydua facings always amazed me with the naturally photonegative grain.

Ah,you are following many of us on the pathway that leads to the dark side! Yes upright is addictive and wonderful and makes you feel free and you will play things you never thought of playing on EB and you will feel like (gasp) a "real" bass player.I have played guitar and EB for 58 years but became a better person and a better bass player about five years ago when I went upright with a Stagg EUB and then upgraded to a Yamaha SLB 200 EUB. After a trip to England last April and attending the BC Double Bass Bash I just had to have the real thing and three months later I bought a DB and I love it. I think part of the good feeling you get playing upright is due to the fact that you are connected to the instrument physically in a way that is unique.It is a difficult instrument to play in the strictly physical sense but with a DB you get the vibe from the sound and the vibration of the instrument...heaven! Welcome to the club, you are in for a great time!😊