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The Amps and cabs for sale section earlier today.

Look what just showed up at work! Obviously I can't plug it in yet but it feels comfortable, no neck dive when balanced on my knee. No fret buzz or dead spots. Great fit and finish as far as I'm concerned and the size and weight feel very natural for a short guy like me. Came with an excellent Gibson soft case that is heavily padded. I'm impressed, but for what it costs, I'd expect to be. I have a practice amp at my parents and I'll try to do a quick phone recording on my lunch and do a better quality run through tomorrow when I'm back at mine.

Nobody would care about them if they were on a Dingwall. Mainly because the only questions that would be getting asked is "I need everything made by Darkglass now!! How much will that be? How do I sound like Nolly Getgood? Does lime green Djent? Will it downtune to drop F?" The fact that the pickups might look like my 4 year old son's attempt to draw a triangle would be of little importance.

You were unbelievably restrained. I commend you for remaining so polite. That you now apologise as well without any need to speaks volumes for your character. It is you and people like you make this place worthwhile.

I know everyone is chomping at the bit to get their CNC cabs and not a lot seems to be happening, but progress is being made. The CNC company is currently altering their program to take account of what we found in the two pre-production prototypes. The prototypes are now back with the CNC company so that they can rout out the back of the cabinet for the input panel and the two Speakons. As soon as I get the cabs back next week, I'll start assembling one in earnest (with glue) so that we know that everything is A1. I'll then start fitting it out and will post the photos and instructions in the thread. Luke has now designed a brilliant logo for us, and is producing artwork so that we can get grille badges and vinyl stickers made. Another piece of great news is that Celestion is supporting the project. They have offered us such a great deal on the compression drivers that I have taken the executive decision to go for the next model up - the CDX1-1425 - which has the same great sound as the 1415 but twice the power handling for a weight penalty of 150g. They also sent me the sample I need to reconfigure the crossover, which shouldn't take long. So, a big thanks to Celestion's European sales manager Aidan McFall - a fellow musician no less - for his help on this.

I was never a massive fan of Motorhead but Lemmy dying absolutely hit me. It was one of those things that after a nuclear war, the only things surviving would be cockroaches, Keith Richards and Lemmy. He wasn't supposed to go.

Two last minute attendees. MarillionRed and Cytania.Two last minute attendees. MarillionRed and Cytania.

Maybe 6 people have just had eye surgery and realized how dammed ugly those things are. 😂

Elvis is not dead

Then It will feel quite good for 19.4 seconds before you suddenly recall what you don’t like about them

I heard John Hall has left the business to start a band. With a guy called Daryl Oates. I'll get me' coat...

I have to say after playing this for a while they are lovely basses for the money.

What hooky said, also if the screws are close to the old ones, then they may well start to go in a bit wonky. If there's a risk of that happening, I would first fill the old holes with wood glue and cocktail sticks and leave it to harden.

Aye yir weird Ped. Different things affect us in different ways. Some people (including myself) get very upset when they lose a pet while others don't see what the fuss is all about. I guess i'm just a sentimental old git these days. People like Bowie it wasn't just his musical influence it was the whole image that i found fascinating. I was even in the Bowie fan club at one time as a young teenager. I think we all deal with things in different ways. Some show it more than others and others don't see certain events as important to them. Just means we are all slightly different. No right or wrong with that. Its just how it is. Dave

FIRST!!!!!! 🙂

That's not a buzzard. It's a B2. Here's my buzzard. The last one ever made thanks to a certain div in Germany who shall remain nameless.

One proof of ownership as is the law: The grain is pretty nice on both sides - it has a kind of iridescent look to it depending on the lighting - and although tobacco burst is not my usual 'thing', the comments from the rest of the band with regards aesthetics were all along the lines of: "it looks like a bass - you could turn up to any gig with that so it's fine". I'm really not a fan of any kind of patina / mojo / road wear, so I hope the finish holds up. I don't expect bulletproof but I'll look after it as best I can, and I expect it to hold up its end of the deal! We'll see. Sound-wise it's very useable just with the volume at full and the balance and eq all on centre detents. I ended up giving the balance a slight nudge towards the bridge pickup for a bit of definition and then adding just a bit of low end with the eq, but certainly nothing drastic. The preamp seems to be quiet, the controls are smooth and definite and the passive mode isn't just a failsafe for a dead battery - it actually sounds nice in its own right. The best thing I can say is that I got it sounding right within the first song and then left it like that for the rest of the rehearsal without feeling like I had to keep fiddling with the sound. So far so good; it plays nicely, feels like a quality instrument, sounds classy and looks.. acceptable.. 😉

Thanks for all the comments and the support - much appreciated; and you were all right - it did go by in a flash and I went from terrified to hooked within the first track. I got called up and was very nervous - the sound check took a little longer than we had hoped as they tried to set up the in house PA and by the time everything was ready, people had started to arrive, so me going up for a play through would have blown the gag. So when I was called up I hadn't played at all so was cold, hadn't had the chance to iron out any wrinkles and I really should have discussed a few points before hand; to say I was nervous was an understatement - as I picked up my bass, I noticed my hands were visibly shaking and I tried to play Seven Nation Army riff to get everything moving and quick warm up and totally blanked (I can normally play that one in my sleep) - quick change for Hootchie Cootchie Man which worked then heard the singer and others asking if I was ready; which meant I had to be... First up Blockbuster as it's quite easy and first crash course in playing live. I'm waiting for the siren effect and drum to effectively count me in and the band jump straight in leaving me dead - jumped in on second bar and not too bad after that although the big drum solo went a bit wrong from my point of view (one of the things I should have discussed on how to handle) although the rest took it all in their stride. Second track Ballroom Blitz and I started to enjoy myself more although totally missed the start again. Drummer started great and I was then waiting for the singer to come round the band 'Ready Lawrence? Ready Ted? Ready Ash? Alright fellas, let's goooooo!' that sort of thing but again they jumped straight in. Caught up by bar two again and did ok - I moved on to one bit as per the track I had played to but the band extended this bit and I'm pleased to say I just went back to the previous line and joined in. Had to scramble a bit on on or two of the runs but did OK, then I got a bit too into the groove and timing of the main riff towards the end and totally missed the change in to the outro so just kept going with the ball-room-blitz riff I'd been playing until I could work out where and how to jump in; then realised the guitar player, Lawrence, was playing an absolutely incredible solo over the top of this and the drummer had locked in too. I just thought to myself 'Ok, I'll be the rhythm then' and carried on until I heard the guitar join in my Ball-room-blitz riff which I took to mean we were about to finish. Looked up when I heard some shouting on stage and the singer was holding up one finger (polite way round) so I'm thinking 'Finish after this riff? ... Yes we did! PHEW!' Final track 20th Century Boy - Nailed the start for once, absolutely loved playing along although I messed up some of my well rehearsed improvised fills 😉 but as many have said, I don't think anyone noticed. I even had time to look out and see my Son busting some moves on the dance floor during this one which was a nice moment. The ending of this one is a bit odd on the track and again the band did a fantastic job of relaying how to do it the way they normally do it (very different to the track but really effective) and we all nailed the stop. That was my 15 minutes over and all too soon too, but I will definitely be doing it again. Not sure if anyone videoed it but if any turns up, I'll post it. When you're related to most of the women in the room - and married to one - that WOULD be a problem!

😂

Just a short one this time - both the thread and the bass A couple of weeks ago @tauzero contacted me to see if I was up for taking on a small job on his beautiful Sei headless: He explained the problem: "Six years ago, I dropped it in a gig bag and it landed on the lower edge of the bottom bout. Because the core is quite thin, there's not a lot of meat around the jack socket area, and the impact cracked the centre core and sheared it away from the front and back laminates" At the time @jayDee did the fix and - wow - FANTASTIC job! It was an invisible mend and, honestly, I STILL can't see the join! But in recent times a second problem has shown itself - a bit like @TheGreek 's Alembic-esque of a few years ago - the top wood had started cupping and had pulled itself away to form an impressive gap! : The lines on the core, by the way are just lacquer cracks - probably from the original impact. The failed glue joint of the top was probably weakened, although not visibly split, at that same time. Two of the challenges were: The cupping is strong. I could only JUST close the gap with both hands pressing as hard as I could. Again - a bit like @TheGreek 's The joint area - the control chamber goes very close to the edge - is very narrow round that curve. We are talking 10mm max - in fact before the curve levels off at the top The glue joint that had failed is actually the bottom of a 2mm wenge demarcation strip which further round you can see the crack has also split the wenge So the challenge, apart from working on such a beautiful and valuable bass, was how to find a glue that was going to be strong enough to hold the continuing considerable force of the top wood trying to pull itself away. And how to try to fill and level any rough and damaged bits of the crack edge. I gave it some thought and also bounced off my ideas on a pro-luthier friend, Rob Hodgson, who gave them the thumbs up. The glue? Old fashioned leave-it-all-night-to-harden Araldite original. This is much stronger than the Rapid version or other shorter set epoxies like ZPoxy, etc.. Filling and smoothing? Wenge sanding dust mixed in with the epoxy Application? Syringe for the main gap, encouraged in with some very thin cellophane, and then re-syringed This was a test mix before I added the wenge dust. I did LOADS of trials of shapes of cauls. The top and back cantilever over the control chamber so you have to be VERY careful not to apply pressure to the edges. There was already a hairline crack at the back, maybe from the original bump. So the back clamping caul needed to be as big as possible to spread the load: The clamping would be on the very edges, with a middle clamp to act as the fulcrum. As such, I could leave the electrics in place: Masked right up to the gap line and epoxy syringed in. I also wicked a couple of drops of CA into the disappearing gap at either side of the main crack to prevent future spread of the glue fail Then clamped, 3 clamps at medium pressure - until the gap closed but not much tighter than that - with the load balancing clamp nearer to the body centre: I removed the bulk of the squeeze-out and then left it the rest of the day and overnight to fully cure. Next morning, I gingerly loosened the clamps - and it had held! To smooth off the joint lines, I just used a single-edged razor as a mini scraper. Quick wipe of the scraped joint with Osmo-dampened cloth, and we have the fix: The top is the repaired one I'm well chuffed (and moderately to majorly relieved)

Yes, it sounds much better than their more complicated ones that have the MM pickup too close to the bridge!

Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson

I am just looking forward to shaking Jon Shukers hand and thanking him for making one and a half of my favourite basses.

I just dug out the cases for the basses - I'm actually excited pretty excited about this. Will see what fits into the car (coming down that way with the wife and child as it's pretty close to the inlaws) For @owen I'll try and fit 4 basses and an amp in there! The odd bitsa I've got is worth bringing as I reread the first post and realised Jon Shuker will be there and he sold me the ash for the body. Not that I play it much mind I probably would have sold it if it had any value!

Ooo, I just won a fleabay auction for one of those bad-boys, for my maximum bid of £15.05p. (beat somebody who's maximum was £15.01p. If you're looking in, D***4 - sorry about that! 😃) 👍

Credit where its due. One of the reasons this project is so affordable compared with similar quality professionally produced cabs is because manufacturers recoup the cost of their time invested in research and development. Time you and others are putting in for free on our behalf. Basschat can (as can all other Internet forums) attract some silly egotistical people. Folk like you balance that tendency and keep this place special.

I think I'm already on the list, but Alan (Cytania) has now confirmed. We're in! Raffle prize sorted.

Good call. I was unaware of the details of her death having only listened to the brief news item at the time. I remember thinking at the time that she was just coming into her stride as a world class musician. It was a sad loss but it seems she was a strong mother to the end. Kirsty MacColl Death

Might be more than you need but if you are looking for quality... AER AMP ONE AER AMP THREE

My roadie is coming too, well, my wife. @seashell, she's looking forward to seeing you again.

Not sure if your post is meant as a snide remark...that's how it reads... You're right though...there have been very few class D which IMO come up to the standard of a classic Trace Elliot. Included in that list that DON'T come up to scratch is the TE Elf. You'll see that there is a steady wave of people returning to Class A amps because they too are finding that many Class D amps don't live up to expectations. I've had loads and I'm prepared to share my views in the hope others can learn from my mistakes. Those class D units which I consider do merit mention include the Glockenklang Soul and Rock, the EBS range, and considering how inexpensive they are, Ashdown....and don't forget the great service that Ashdown provide.... I make no secret of advocating for Trace Elliot, as do many others who are using that brand - despite it falling out of favour with many....not because of the tone but because of the weight!! I did not say "NO ONE cares about bass tone" - I was referring to the test at the last SE Bash where very few people could distinguish between amps. Check out the thread for more info. When I'm nolonger allowed to express my opinion on this forum I'll probably leave...till then...

I agree about the foot switches as well, and it would also help spread them out. I hated my B3 because of the closeness of the switches, although the B3n was a bit better. Ive still not played through the 4 yet, but i have played with the switches and settings etc. im very impressed at what Zoom have accomplished. The main knobs on the front adjust overall Bass/Mid/treble/Master Volume, and are active all the time. This is very handy and not something any of the previous Zoom boxes have (AFAIK). When you go in to patch mode each of the 5 buttons correspond to one of the 5 effects, so you can turn each effect on and off using just the button (or foot switch) without going in to any menu or selection routine like on the B1-on. It all just seems more intuitive and less button pushing and scrolling around menus. Very happy so far.

Main problem for me is I hate the look .Just looks tacky and cheap (in my opinon of course )

Forgive the playing and sound quality, this was recorded through my phone playing through a practice amp. Here's me noodling and going between the standard and coil tap. https://soundcloud.com/theseeyesradiate/gibson-dc-tribute-bass-2

It's difficult to quantify shock, that feeling you get so infrequently it's difficult to describe. Not a royalist, I was genuinely shocked when Princess Diana died, or watching the second plane hit the World Trade Center. I was genuinely saddened/borderline upset when Joe Strummer passed away; the circumstances of hearing the news weren't best either (Robert Elms/BBC London, playing a load of Clash stuff while I was driving back from the bank. I was thinking, 'Well, this is odd.'). I frequently think of Mick Karn (Cancer/expected) and Stuart Adamson too, he was such a lovely bloke. The flipside here is how staggered I am that certain musicians are still actually here, considering the quantities of drugs they took back in the day.

Dimebag Daryl really shook me - shot on stage, awful.

John Lennon. I never knew the man and never even met him but when the news came over on that morning in 1980 I was shocked and moved. The radio played his music a lot that day. When I got home from work it was on in more detail on the TV news, and I started to cry. I had no idea why, but have since rationalised it as the death of my youth and innocence. The Beatles were the soundtrack to my youth and popular culture was heavily affected by them from 63 to 70. I think it brought home to me in 1980 that I was no longer young, and the hippie dreams of the late 60s were also dead. RIP John.

Weirdly I haven’t ever been affected by the death of a musician I’ve liked. Or is that weird? I don’t know... I liked a lot of Michael Jackson’s music but his death didn’t worry me as I didn’t know him. Same with Walter Becker. Maybe it’s because although I love their music I don’t necessarily love them - I’ve never met most of them and even if I did my interest in them starts and ends with their music. I don’t know if that makes me cold or something but I always think it’s strange when there’s a national mourning when someone like Witney Houston dies and all of a sudden everyone loves her music. Obviously it’s sad when anyone dies so don’t get me wrong, but unless they’re family of a friend then it just seems too abstract to me.

Liking the pics of the basses. That's exactly what i'm finding with the passive mode. It still has a great tonal range while acctive just gives it a bit more push. I'm also finding it sounds better with a touch of extra low end boost on the bass but not by much. With the strings being new i had the treble cut a little too but as the strings are starting to settle down a bit i'm bringing the treble back towards centre position. As for the weight and balance of the bass its perfect for me and can't fault it. Dave

I'm totally in agreement with this. I think life throws enough misery and loss at us all on a personal level without dipping into the trough of public grief. I'm not really emotionally effected at all by the loss of a public figure (musician or otherwise). Don't get me wrong. It's sad to lose such talented people, but more in a respectful acknowledgement of a passing talent kind of a way than any true emotion. Numerous thousands of people die every day, we can't grieve for them all, and I've always find it a little distasteful to value one life over another because they can play a guitar or kick a football or whatever.

That Guildford gig was ace. Even Mrs Mert had to admit she enjoyed it, and she doesn’t enjoy any music I like!

@Ed_S the finish does seem thin. But, I think if it doesn't prove robust, it will wear nicely, a bit of natural 'road wear'. Dunno about yours, but the grain on mine is beaut as well. More so on the back than the front 😂 I just got in, very very happy with the bass! You guys were correct about it being a bit shy for low end. But this suited me well and I didn't actually end up boosting it. I can't believe how comfortable it is to wear. It wasn't just the weight, but the neck and body size and balance. Unfortunately didn't mess with EQ too much. But... Punchy! Amazing slap sound, really clean on the higher registers, lovely ring to chords. Great B string and a nice growl to it. I actually liked the stock strings alright too. They're not too rough for SS. Blurry spare room floor, un-vacuumed carpet photo to prove ownership ⬇️

While I've been somewhat saddened for a short while by the death of a few famous musicians I can't say I've ever cried/been shocked/'absolutely gutted' etc especially if it's because of a drug overdose etc. I enjoy music as much as the next man but it's never been the #1 thing in my life. I may sound callous but I never join in mass outpourings of grief like when princess Di died.

Emperor's clothes...

I did a few sums and worked out that this is OVER 100% correct👍 But these things are cheap so best get an assortment and see what works best for you. I'm a very firm advocate of really stiff/hard picks - if you try a fast down/up sequence with a pick with even a bit of flex in it, bad things will happen. Stands to reason - pick strikes string, flexes back an amount (which is beyond truly accurate control) then releases, note sounds. If you're down to 8th or 16th notes, tiny timing errors really show up. We should all just use the picks we get along best with, but my reasoning, playing feel and experiences make me a very firm advocate of the zero flex variant. and p.s. - the gang who look down on picks are SO missing out. Where would punk have been without a beat up P and a pick?

I use these too, but only the 3mm ones. Good for scaring guitarists if they ask fir a pick, too!