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A neighbour found most of my things (except my phone) dumped a few miles from here!!

Good news that most of your gear ws found and i hope the thief gets caught too. Hanging's too good for them. string em up by the short and curlies and throw knives at them for fun. I'm not a vengeful person. Keep us posted on final outcome. I'm very curious about the phone thing to see if it was your neighbour. At least if it was he'll be finding a new home soon............sharing a small one-bedroom apartment with big hairy Bubba Dave

Its funny that. I've always had a fondness for delays on bass and long before I ever heard Tool. Funnily enough, I did a solo album last year and one of my mates said I'd went a bit Tool with this song. The fact I'm playing a Wal with delay on it is in no way a problem.

Oh, I'm not worrying. Far from it. I've never been one to care what other folk think about my gear. 😀 I'm more interested in what others would do really. If you read many of the posts on BC, I think folk love to pull gear to bits and over analyse it. Everything from patch leads to picks. There always seems to be a certain nuance that makes one item inferior to another. Cost is often a common denominator. I agree with virtually every reply so far and firmly believe that if it sounds good, its good enough whatever the cost!

Chaps, I never thought I'd ever see this day, so I think a little celebration is in order. 50 years ago today (just after lunch) I walked into Maurice Plaquet's music shop in Acton, West London, with £22 10/- in my pocket and bought my first bass, a Framus small body Star Bass. 6 weeks of hard graft on my Grandfather's nursery in Kent paid for it. It was easy to play and I played it at home for a year before I could afford an amp. Everything I know today I started on that bass. Unfortunately it began falling apart almost from day one. With an ever increasing number of repairs and mods I played that bass for 2 years and only stopped using it when I joined a pro band. [url="http://s293.photobucket.com/user/chris_b_photo/media/CopyofFSBme2.jpg.html"][/url] I've been a pro bass player twice, made a few records, been to some interesting places, played some great gigs in great bands with some fantastic players. I've also played in places and in bands that weren't any of those things. Ho hum! I have no idea where the time has gone. Anyway, my life started with that bass. Here's to the next 50.

My organs will have no re-sale value, I can assure you! Also, I shall be bringing my security detail with me (Mrs Teebs - she's ferocious! ) 🗡 🔫 ☢️🏑🎯⚡🔥

The bass baby is home, that's the best thing.

Teebs ➡️ ⬅️ BonyHerr

Not if you're away all weekend sky-diving, or whatever it is that you do... actually you were missed (though not by me, obviously).

I've got a '99 NS2000 (Korean) and she's coming to the grave with me. Nuff said! 😁 She's a bit of a case queen these days as I want to keep her a close to mint as possible, but on the occasions when I do get her out, I fall in love all over again. Tone monster!

Interesting video, thanks and the answer is YES, they ARE great basses. I currently own 27 of them, from an original 1977 SB1, thru pre-Kramer, Kramer-era, SSD, Euro and custom Woodstock models. All superbly made and with characters of their own. Your video states that you have 'upgraded' to Bartolini pickups? I'd argue that is not so much an upgrade as a change.... and Spector offering more options now is, imho, simply a way of widening their appeal (like different size engines in cars for different personal preferences) rather than heading in a certain sound direction. Personally, I've never found any of my EMG loaded Spectors to lack in versatility. Rolling off the tone with EMGs or using month old strings can produce a very similar sound to your demo. My most recent purchase of the new EuroLT model, which actually has custom wound Bartolini PJ pickups and a Darkglass pre, again sounds very different to your bass. Any preamp or pickup change is going to change the sound of any bass. Are your strings flatwound or just well played? I only ask because there's very little real crispness or punch coming from that bass.... unless of course that is the pickups or the pre-amp? You also don't state what preamp you have put in it.... If that sound suits you then that's great and enjoy this fabulous instrument! Personally, no offence, but I prefer a little more 'life' in my Spector sound :)

The thief was a Fender man?

We opened the main stage at Off The Tracks festival on Friday night, and then played the 2nd stage on Saturday night. The atmosphere was great, loads of people singing and dancing along, loved my new snare drum, enjoyed a few ales, brilliant!

The quality of cheaper stuff these days is great. Not everything cheap is good, but there is good stuff that is cheap. If one has the money to spend, that's great as you get more to choose from, and having access to more expensive stuff usually means you have access to better stuff... but is the jump in quality similar to the jump in price? Nope. My current #1 setup live cost me a fair amount more than what I was playing 10 years ago, and I love it and I don't want to go back... but if I could not afford it I would not be 'suffering' (other than by lifting heavy cabs and amplifiers ) I've owned a string of Jazz basses from various makes and qualities... I own just one now, the survivor who saw all the others go. The survivor is a Korean Squier I paid £75 for. Yes, it has had the pickups changed etc, but it's still a relatively inexpensive bass and sounds and feels great. My fretless is a £60 Sue Ryder Precision that stayed while I sold my Japanese Fender 70s reissue... My girlfriend plays a Squier Standard P/J which is one of the lightest and most comfortable basses I've ever played. That again was under £100 at Cash Converters or similar. It's a good time to be a player. If you can't afford more upmarket stuff, you can still get more than adequate gear.

If it sounds right and plays right it is right.

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@Teebs can't be with us tonight, but I happen to know he'd like three or four thousand of his posts deleted, please? And he wants all of his daily reactions transferred to me, if that's OK. 👍

I bought Kevvo66's Trace GP7 SMC 112 130w combo today which cost £80 (Great deal. Thanks again Kev!). I originally wanted it to stick in a little studio room at home. Picked it up today and paired it with a Squier Affinity Jazz (from around 2002) that I bought off Gumtree a couple of weeks ago for £30. I've done a bit of recording with this bass as it plays and sounds really well. When paired with the Trace they sound marvellous! Really gutsy and loud. When recording into Logic, I've been using the Jazz with the vintage Ampeg emulation and nailed the sound that I've been looking for, for a long long time. I've now found, I can get the same sound and more with the Trace and this particular Jazz. I'm quite taken aback that after all this time and money, I've got a setup for £110 that I'd definitely take out and gig with (and now intend to do just that). I've used many many basses and rigs over the years and I can't think of any combination that sounded better than this one. On par, different yes but not any better. What a win! Maybe I'm just getting old! 😂😂😂😀

1) Hofner Club. 2) Carefully crafted EQ 3) Played with a pick. 4) Compression on 11 5) Tina Weymouth. 😊

I’ve never deleted a post and I’ve said loads of stupid stuff. I found one the other day where I said P basses were only for old duffers in covers bands 😕 I’ve bought several myself since then... then again I am a bit older now 😕

But if you delete @Teebs thousands of innocent emoticons will be rendered homeless!

The answer is complicated, because most of the Thiele/Small specs contribute to the driver sensitivity, as does the enclosure. There's no reason why you'd need a lower sensitivity speaker per se, but by and large what contributes to higher sensitivity also contributes to less low end extension, and vice-versa. For that reason if you see a single driver speaker rated at more than 98dB/1w it probably doesn't go very low. By the same token if a single driver speaker claims to be -3dB at 35Hz it can't have much more than 93dB sensitivity. And lastly, if a small speaker claims both low extension and high sensitivity they are, in a word, lying. It's all summed up by Hoffman's Iron Law.

Ah I see you have fallen for my bumbling old man persona...Teebs certainly has. I have a few days to source untraceable forceps and a new scalpel ( the old one is very worn) and then I'll be ready. Oh don't let Teebs know will you? ...he thinks he is going on a non organ donating night out and I'd like him to keep that illusion for a little while longer🤐

Do i detect a little bromance in the air? Hmmm? Just be careful meeting strangers off the internet - especially as they don't come no stranger than Young Teebs! Enjoy the gig - but make sure you see the bottles opened and let someone know where you'll be

That's the key question. Some manufacturers play fast and loose with their sensitivity ratings, quoting, for instance, what it measures in the midrange, rather than in the lows where it really matters. For this reason ignore sensitivity ratings that aren't accompanied by a chart of sensitivity across the full frequency spectrum. SPL (sound pressure level) charts are common with better PA speakers, but they're totally unknown in the electric bass cab industry.

Thanks Ricky

Yes I do! And no I didn't. If you're not going to be at your desk - at least pass your reactions over to somebody who can do some good with them! 👍

I gave the IMEI to the police. It was the 1st generation OnePlus One. You needed an invite to get it (was not so difficult). His had the exact same finish as mine.

Here you are The plain cabinet scraper is a vastly under rated tool, properly sharpened and prepared it can remove wood from the most difficult grain imaginable or it can smooth out a freshly sprayed or brushed lacquer in readiness for the next coat with absolute finesse. Sharpening it is usually a problem, I'm not sure why, it's not really that difficult but it does need a little care to get right but it's not a long or difficult job. You'll need, a sharp engineers file, a set of sharpening stones, I use Japanese water stones 1000 grit (coarse) and a 6000 frit (fine),a vice, a wooden guide block about 150mm long 75mm high and 40mm thick planed exactly square and a simple burnisher (a good quality screwdriver will do for this). The first thing you need to do is file the 2 working edges square so clamp your scraper in the vice alongside the wooden guide block so the top edge of the scraper is a hair above the wood. Now using the wooden block as a guide file the edge of the scraper flat without damaging the guide block unduly. You have now removed the remains of the last sharpening in readiness for the new one. Now to hone the working edges: on the coarse stone which must be perfectly flat by the way hold the working edge of the scraper against it so the scraper is vertical using your guide block as a guide to keep it exactly square and flat. When the edge shows no more marks left from the file move on to the fine stone. Do the same again, then put the scraper flat on the stone and hone both of the faces. Go back to the guide block and do the edge again, then the sides. What you are aiming for is a perfectly square edge with a near mirror finish all round. Your scraper is now sharp but still useless. Finally we need to raise the burr that does the work. Put the scraper in the vice so the edge is about 40mm above it. Take your burnisher, hold it horizontally, with firm pressure run it backwards and forwards about 10 times, this will harden the edge. After that continue but one side at a time carry on burnishing but ever so slightly tilt the burnisher down on the side you are working on, bit by bit until you get to about 5 degrees, with luck you should have a good burr, test it with your thumb. If it's there do the same again on the other edge before turning the scraper over and doing the other side. You should have 4 working burrs that will or at least should be capable of producing a near perfect finish. That's about it really, it does take a couple of goes to learn how hard to press to get your burr how you like it. With time and experience you can skip using the guide block but I wouldn't recommend it for a good while and then only if you sharpen very regularly, it's very hard to keep that edge perfectly square while honing otherwise.

Ah ok. Definitely dead so! Those SMX heads are great. Thick and punchy. I still have a great love for Trace. Have a few heads here. This is the main one. Have it since 1993 more or less (sold it for a short while and bought it back). Still a great thump, despite weighing a ton.

I've always got a perverse challenge out of trying to get the very best out of cheap gear, whether musical instruments or sports equipment. In my 20s and 30s I did a lot of gigging, own bands and as a dep, playing either bass, guitar or drums. My only bass was an anonymous EB short scale copy. My drum set was a 2nd hand Premier 4 piece and my only electric guitar was a Hohner 'strat' which was £100 new in the late 80s. I just had one amp, a 100w Marshall keyboard job which I used both for bass and guitar. In answer to the OP, you bet I would!

Just properly listened to 7empest again, beast of a tune that doesn't feel like 15mins IMO. Anyone claiming that Maynard has fully mellowed hasn't gotten that far into the album.....just goes to show that it's all creative choices. Si

I recently acquired a Squier Bass VI from the estimable @Al Krow and found that I get the best results when playing it with a plectrum, partly due to the narrow string spacing but also largely because I'm (whisper it!!) a guitarist as well as a bass player and so using a pick is pretty much second nature. Anyway, getting into playing a few tunes with that bass, and then catching the recent SBL course with Bobby Vega and yes, you guessed it, I suddenly found myself thinking about maybe trying out lots more stuff with a pick. Now you should know that I don't play that rawk'n'roll stuff, I play jazz of both funky and straight-ahead types, and the like. Playing with a pick wouldn't particularly be my first thought when it comes to playing technique, especially the sound of a plectrum with flatwound strings. I know that people will come up with lots of examples of how that might sound good in rock and pop and stuff, but the sheer horror of my parents' records by the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra - bass with the treble right up, pick, flats, horrendous clicky noise with a dead note sound - still makes me wince even now. (Swinging Safari, anyone?) So I tried it with care at Saturday's Jazz Workshop - lo and behold, reasonable results were achieved!! Sufficient to make me want to give it a proper try on all of my basses, even the fretless. After all, Steve Swallow uses a copper pick on his Harvey Citron semi-acoustic 5-string in jazz music, achieving a very nice tone; so no reason not to give it a go.

Lovely bass - I hope the courier *finds* it.

This. If you need more volume, add a power amp and extra cab and drive them from the TE preamp. You'll get the same tone but louder. Job done. Don't be daft like us and spend all your hard-earned on gear if what you have does the trick.

Looks like you have found the holy grail - A rig you are fully happy with! On top of that it only cost £130. My advice would be stop worrying about what others will think and start enjoying the bliss that is loving your rig!

I have a load of this sheeting, so if anyone wants any to try this with, PM me your address and I'll post some!

Sounds like they have their first BC customer! 😀

Haha - I know what you mean! Actually if we include his HX Stomp and the fact that SA Aftershock is really a drive multifx, Al Krow is on at least 5 and potentially up to as many as 50+ different drives. Now that is a hoard, agreed? 😂

Let's tread gently here. If we start a trend for Ashdown gear other people will catch on, the prices will shoot up and then where will we be? Scuppered.

Clamp , clamping, clamped. The face is now trimmed to fit and the neck pocket routed. Next comes sanding and finishing the sides and neck before final assembly. The F holes look a bit out of line (further from the bottom edge than the top) it looked worse in the picture than it real life but I have since trimmed the body a bit more to rectify it.

I was just sitting here, looking forward to my dinner. Now, I'm just sitting here.

One time I boiled my strings, got a spoon and drank some of the scummy water so I could say I'd cooked and eaten myself. IIRC, I didn't taste very nice.