Leaderboard

Classy colour combination! I love the look of that double-P one. The bridge pickup looks pretty close to the position in a Stingray. Nice pair of basses! I went for metallic orange and specified as little 'aged' as possible. I actually went to pick it up a few hours ago... and it just looks like a high gloss new instrument, with a couple of very very very minor marks. It's pretty light (8.1 lbs), feels and balances great. Not a huge fan of the strings it came with but then I don't like new stainless steel strings ever... I'll wait a bit and see. I'll probably end up with DR Fat Beams, or maybe nickel Sunbeams as they're a bit mellower. The colour is very vibrant, much nicer than I thought from the pictures online. Here's a couple of pictures taken outside just now, taking advantage of the sun, as the pictures look just like 'in the flesh'. I haven't yet adjusted anything, I think it needs a *touch* on the truss rod as the relief is a bit higher than I'd prefer... which is not unusual as it was set up in Germany and the temperature/humidity here will be different, but even as it is it plays nicely and feels very "solid" despite its light weight. A quick test made me smile... good start Not sure I love that preamp, there's few 2-band preamps I love... we'll see. I've got a John East U-Retro in my drawer that could go in there if the original frustrates me... but first strings. Never judge the electronics in a bass until you've got the right strings on.

We do have a lot of fun! Here's tonight's set lists. I was sooooo pleased with my sound tonight, and I'm incredibly fussy! My band mates noted the time and date at the end of the first set when I joyfully announced that my sound was perfect! 😂 I've been chasing something for a long time, but didn't know what it was until recently. A bit of trial and error and a few gambles have paid off. I was playing the BB435 all night, through my pedal board and into my fairly newly aquired Rumble 500 combo, which I've had for a month or so, and 1x15 ext cab which I only got last weekend and hadn't gigged yet. This setup tonight was by far the best fit sound I've ever had for my band, seriously awesome! The BB435 itself performed admirably, I was very impressed! My prior research and careful consideration was worth the faff I feel, and I've ended up with the right bass for me. It was hard for me to put my own prejudices and preconceptions aside, and accept the fact that the mid range model was likely going to give me exactly what I wanted, and resist the urge to go for one of the higher range models. The traditional solid alder body, passive electronics, etc gives me just what I need. The neck profile is lovely, I'm not completely sold on the finish right now, but I can imagine it'll be just perfect once it's played in a bit. I was a bit clumsy to start with, due mainly to the unfamiliar string gauge, but actually even that was alright in the end. Very, very playable bass! Once it's set up with my usual strings it'll be even better. The pickups are just incredible, I have absolutely no desire to change them. Gives me enough of the Fender style tone, but actually a lot more too. From my brief affair with the Fender Player Jaguar recently I realised two things: firstly, that a passive PJ setup have me exactly the sound I was after, and secondly that a no frills but well made 'traditional' style bass would give me what I wanted. I need that organic, full, traditional tone to sit in the band mix right. Even though my previous setup was excellent, it perhaps didn't work quite as well in the band context. It's kinda where my comment about my 'perfect imperfection' epiphany comes in. I've never considered myself a gear snob, but equally it's very liberating for me to realise that I don't NEED expensive gear to give me what I need! Anyway, I'm rambling on, I'd better try and calm down and get to bed..... .....can't wait to gig it again next weekend though! 😁👍

UB40 split and became two, as if one wasn’t already too many.

I’m exhausted just reading that. I do whatever I usually do through the day, then put my stuff in the car and go to the gig.

There were more exhibitors and more visitors. The noise was slightly less harsh than it would have been in a smaller, flat-ceilinged hall, but it was still tiring to the ears, with distorted guitar soloing and loud bass slapping. The place, however, is beautiful.

But you’ve just spent all that time making it look nice a shiny??........😜

So...after a FIVE month wait on Bass Direct to get my order to me...it eventually arrived on Thursday...!! Time for a mock-up... The pup is a bit tight for the routing as is, might need to try file the tiniest wee bit away from the pup base, but shouldn't interfere with the fixing holes... Very happy with it the way it looks...however, my playing style, I generally play tight to the neck most of the time, I rest my thumb just on the thickness of the pickguard...so I'm thinking, do I go with head over heart and reposition the thumb rest to be practical rather than aesthetically pleasing...?! 🤔

Photo from one of our followers last night.

Heresy, heresy, HERESY! Mods please get this chap thrown off BC for use of such offensive, contented, language. 😁

And, on the same principle, it's time to STOP for the top and sides: Again, not flawless...but I know that if I try any more I will add more issues than resolve them I will leave this for the best part of a week to harden enough for general handling - by which time the neck will be fully sorted. Then assemble and string it up to make sure it all works OK and do the final setup. And then wait another week before it's hard enough for its final polish. And then it can go to Matt

Well, at the risk of being flamed I'm sticking my neck out and saying I'm not going, despite the waste of a ticket. I have scoured the programme and can't see its more than a pale shadow of last year's event. If I lived in norf Larndon and it was a few minutes walk away perhaps, but I'm not juddering across half of Britain on a bus and rail combination for what's listed. No early bird ticket for me next year, I'm waiting to see the full programme, even if buying late will cost me more.

Everyone on the waiting list for the first batch of cabs should now have received a pm from me with all the info re. payment and delivery. If you haven't received one, please let me know.

That's what trade shows are!

As a complete guess I've always assumed that it was useful to know where the octave was so let's put a marker there. Then it would useful to have other markers so you knew at a glance where you were. If they were on every fret there would be nothing to differentiate them so every other fret was opted for. Now the choice is on the odds or evens, if evens were chosen then the octave at the twelfth wouldn't stand out, so odds were chosen. Markers on every other fret help you count quickly and the octave is easily rocognised by being on its own with a pair of unmarked frets either side. A quick glance and you know exactly where you are. I told you it was a guess.

Orange had a nice vintage area, as well as the normal stand.

Always take a baseball bat to gigs. Use this to apply corrections to your drummer's timing instead of whipping them with your lead, and they will last much longer*. *the leads that is, not the drummer.

Check the very first post in this thread - I've posted a comparison table there, which I did a while back for another BCer, for ease of reference. Shows the difference in design and materials between three of the Series 3 basses. The P34 will be pretty similar for actual materials to the 734A but is purely passive. In terms of finish: it's MIJ and has one of the Yammy bespoke sonic treatments (and I think dB mentioned having the fretboard additionally oiled also?)

If you're going to gig with it put the rest where you need it. Otherwise it is a trophy piece.

Defo gotta improve the quality of dem jokes Mr DB5 😁 Have a great gig! 😊

But he doesnt. It`s a Status Tele he plays now. Andy Bown has been in the band since 77 ish and Rhino since 85. Good enough for me. Still miss Rick though.

Link to our band FB page if anyone's interested: https://m.facebook.com/TwoPushCharlieUK/?locale2=en_GB

Normally after a visit to this website 🙂

I lied. I didn't rush. There was a car crash on the M8 near Edinburgh, but that wasn't me. The weather is beautiful so I drove gently doing 60-65mph, windows down and calm jazz playing (well, at times blasting to compensate for the wind noise but it was actually a nice fun drive, just under one hour to get there). As I arrive there, Teo sees me and smiles, but then his face changes and he says "Yes, the bass is here, but unfortunately..." and my heart sunk. What happened? Someone sat on it and broke it? They sent the wrong bass, what??? There was a problem with the finance. I took the 0% over 10 months finance option because I was going to sell a couple of things and that way it buys me time and I don't have to touch my wallet. It seems that Barclays was only paying if they deliver the bass to me, not if I collect it However, by now I've sold one guitar and two basses that alone more than cover the cost of the Sandberg, so all is good. I asked to cancel the finance and I'd just pay straight. Teo looked very relieved, and we proceeded to look at the bass and give it a quick run through some amp I didn't even pay attention to. The bass is really nice. The colour is better in person than I was expecting from the online pictures, and the ageing is practically non-existent... so very very very pleased with the finish. The neck is just right although the edges of the fingerboard could have been a little less sharp (I guess the more aged ones are a bit more rounded off?) but that's nitpicking, it really feels nice... The bass balances very well, it's 8.1 lbs, so nice and light, yet it *feels* solid. I can't describe it. Really happy with that. Sounds... early days. I like the basic sounds I'm getting, but those strings are not the ones I'd have chosen and they're far too bright, so I'll reserve my judgement until I have some of my favourite strings on it. I nearly returned a Schecter Model T once but I completely changed my mind after I put a set of DR Sunbeams on it... The preamp, I need to experiment and see how the controls interact to find my sweet spot, we'll see. If it bothers me I'll either make it passive or put a John East U-Retro that I already have in my drawer (was meant to be for the Maruszczyk Jake I just sold, but I ended up leaving it passive). Having said that, I am pleasantly surprised as I expected to dislike it like I dislike most 2-band preamps. The treble control does a good job at cutting just the amount of top end that I want. Many preamps just operate way too high or take too much off the mids. This one is nice. The bass is... BIG. I don't see myself boosting much here, but a quick try allowed me to see that I can treat it much like I treat the Stingray's 2EQ to get to the right amount of mids that I want in my sound, but turning down the bass a tiny bit and leaving treble flat or reducing it a bit too I seem to get a nice thick well defined sound with both pickups on. I'll have to play. I like that with the preamp EQ set at the centre detent it sounds just like it does in passive mode, and it's a good sound. The P pickup in particular I am enjoying. It's got a really nice bark, when you dig in it growls, but it can be mellow if you play more gently. The MM may be lacking a bit of 'oomph' on its own but when both pickups are together they sound very good, so I'm not inclined to change anything. I may investigate to see if it's wired in parallel, and see if I can wire it in series for a thicker sound... but I wanted this bass for the P and P/MM sound, and those are good. I have no idea what pickups are these, they are whatever Sandberg uses by default these days and they're good. Anyway, here is the beast...

The Bootleg Beatles have been together far longer than the real thing were. And they’re very good. The Feelgoods relaunched with the last lineup that backed Lee. He wanted them to continue, and given the number of tributes - many of a high standard - why shouldn’t they? Also, every member of Dr Feelgood still earns from them thanks to ‘fifth member’/manager Chris Fenwick. That can’t be bad...

The new BB looked and sounded great last night. See through cherry red colour, bolt on neck, matching headstock. Satin finish hardware, 3 tone controls, one volume and one switch. The second one had what looked like an extra inlay on the fourth fret between the d and g string.

I left my ABM on an angle in the back of the car once. Took a whole day to clean up the heft that had leaked out through the effects send, you can still see the stain and when it's warm the fillings in my back teeth hurt. Mythical? Hardly.

Some of richard cheeses stuff is brilliant, not the friends one you posted. How about this: Bearing in mind I really like the original.

I ended up the only original member of a blues band I only joined as a stand in favour for, very weird.

You may be correct. I was too young to know anything about that. It did have a ground wire under the pick up cover that was left off the CS reissue in the photo. I used only flats on it as that was really all you could get back then and I hated how bright they sounded when new! LOL. I purchased that old bass from a guy who had been in a fifties band for $75.00. I certainly wish I still had it! I have only one photo of it from my very first gig. A church picnic when I was a teenager. The amp was a cheapo piece of crap but I loved it.

Look what someone found in the loft. My old Aria SB700. My kid brother still has it. I got because Jack Bruce was endorsing them and I loved his sound on Cozy Powell's Over The Top. This photo must be 35 years old?

.

Is your long term memory broken?

Turn up. Set up your gear. Play. That is all.

To be fair to Richard Cheese, his reworkings were always tongue-in-cheek. Smooth Jazz in its more earnest form is, of course, an abomination, and I do believe that when the Four Horsemen rend the very skye and ride upon this mortal plain, bringing unto mankind the woes of death, of pestilence, of famine, and of war, one of them shall hold aloft a saxophone, yea, even of the soprano register, lo, and his name shall be Kenny G.

But sometimes it's the band themselves doing it: 😁

Interesting! What are the first 3 letters of the serial no?

I'll follow this with interest. I play with Stray - Del Bromham is the only 'origina'l member although we do have Pete Dyer with us who was a long serving member through the seventies. Having loads of fun and meeting loads of interesting people - Roger Mayer popped into our dressing room last night and I've also met a guy who guitar teched for hendrix and shared a flat with Lemmy - Neville Chesters. Blooming amazing experience!

They sound amazing, great work! I have absolutely zero idea how you've achieved that though, does that work on an expression pedal being in different positions to determine which chord is triggered?

I’ve nailed the minor II-V-I too. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vIML8STlWGly0FTaV3ONQbE3oAxa7vjl/view?usp=drivesdk

Not yet 😂. Not until I find a P5 I want Si

No, I meant loosening the truss rod a bit while using the SAME strings you already had detuned. That would increase the relief a bit and reduce the buzz somewhat, and *might* be enough. By detuning the strings, you reduced their pull, so by reducing the pull of the truss rod by the same amount (ish) you could get to a position where the bass plays well again. However with the lower tuning the strings may need a bit more room to vibrate freely, which is why I said that it *may* be enough to slacken the truss rod a bit. You need to try and see, If you already changed strings to a thicker gauge, then don't loosen the truss rod: you have higher tension already and if you slacken the truss rod the action will likely get too high.

It's actually a pre-L screw, dating to 1963, or could be 1964. Many people confuse these, as the width of the cross on the head is .95782344 mm for both years. The only way to tell the difference is to measure the depth of the cross - for 1963, it's 1.09761524mm, for 1964 it's 1.09761522mm. People who know their Fenders can hear the difference, there's clearly more depth in the sound of the 1963 screw.

Just recently joined BC and have been perusing some amazing set ups you guys have! Particularly appreciated you taking the time to set out your signal chain @Al Krow - really helps make sense of the board and why it's been set up as it has. See that you're a bit of a fan of drive and fuzz pedals, that's quite a hoard! 😀