Leaderboard

Having a bit of a crap few days, so to cheer myself up I've built it up. I can live with the grain showing on front and back (sides are great!) but the recoat on the front isn't hard enough to take a full shine yet, so in five days or so I need to strip it again and t-cut. Nut needed a fair bit of scraping with a scalpel. Wasn't hard to set up. Will fit some different bits - got a Fender TBX I can fit and maybe some better knobs. Might also tilt the neck to get the action down a bit more on A and E, is about 2mm but feels like it could be a tad lower. Otherwise, pretty good, Maybe need to look at the top three or four frets on the D string. Doesn't feel or sound like a £77 bass!

Stew Sending you positivity and very best wishes. Though we have yet to meet you have cheered up my life in the past month, and the board/community would be a lesser place without you.

This is actually where you say "I'm sorry I did not mean to cause offence' and you take a long hard look at what you consider funny/wonder why there are so few women on Basschat....🤔

Loved it! Looks a bit dated now though.

Slightly OT, but just in case any Yes fans haven’t seen this yet...

I'm sure PMT have never heard that kind of incredibly funny joke about their company name.

After having joined a heavy rock/mild metal band, I felt that my Sunburst Maruszczyk Jake PJV, Godin A5 or 5 string double bass didn't really fit the bill, image wise, so the hunt was on for a Thunderbird type bass. I narrowed it down to either an Epiphone Pro V Thunderbird or a Jackson David Ellefson Kelly Bird V, and with the help of the good people of BC, and the fact that I found a mint one with upgraded pickups and preamp on Reverb, I went for the Jackson. It arrived this afternoon, so, after managing to smuggle it into my home office without anyone seeing (yes dear, I've had it for years), I plugged it in, switched on my Darkglass Microtubes overdrive pedal and launched into the intro to Ace of Spades. Now, I'm not a fan of battery power ie. active basses, but the upgraded EMG DCX (instead of HZ) pickups and 18v BTC preamp made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Oh wow. I was going to strip out the active setup and go passive, but I'm not going to now, this is so good. The strap buttons have already been moved (one to the body by the base of the neck, the other high up on the back of the body) so balance is perfect, with no neck dive at all and I also managed to buy a gigbag that fits the shape perfectly.

Commiserations, and big hugs from everybody. You are clearly a stoical and considerate man. Much respect to you.

Big favourite at the time - Clint Eastwood and General Saint - Another Ones Bites The Dust. Still sounds great.............oink!

I tend to opt against hiding and issuing a warning - which I can do very easily - in favour of publicly calling out posts like that. Many thanks to those who 'get it', as opposed to those who don't. Back to PMT codes, if there are any around.

Despite being a huge Genesis and Rush fan, I avoided Yes most of my life, ‘cos I always thought they were too flowery. Then, about three years ago. the penny dropped. I adore them now.

Okay, so had some time unexpectedly! Body rounded, tummy cut and arm contour sorted!

A Reality Check for us all, as there comes a point where this happens to everyone, some sooner than others. Too soon for you, old chum, which is a shame; make the best of what you can do, for as long as you can. That's about as good as it gets for all of us. Special kudos for the Positive Attitude; that's an example for others to follow.

Here's another of my home recordings using a classic riddim:

When a cab is described as 2x12 all it tells you is that the cab contains two speakers each with a cone diameter of 12". Nothing else. There is no given sound, power-rating, frequency response, sensitivity, cab size, weight etc. implied by a 2x12 configuration. These are dependant on the construction of the speakers and the cab. So essentially 2x12 tells you very little. If I was still interested in bass cabs the important criteria would be: 1. Is it loud enough for what I need when coupled with my amp? 2. Is it easily transportable by me (assuming that I'm not in a band with its own transport and crew)? 3. If the bass isn't also going into the PA does it sound right when coupled with my amp? And possibly 4. Does it look right for the band on stage? None of these questions are answered by the number and cone size of the speakers. In the past I've owned cabs with the same number and size of speakers but have been wildly different in sound, size and weight.

I'm rather fond of Ovation Magnum basses. I particularly like the outrageous styling of the Mk.II but there's nowt wrong with the Mk.IV either ... they share pretty much everything except body shape so they sound and play the same. I have one of each, but while my Mk.II is in a varnished natural finish my Mk.IV came to me in a rather unattractive translucent lilac 'wash', for want of a better word. It was neither transparent nor a solid colour, and the tint was unappealing. Apparently this was a popular finish at the time, although Ronnie Lane had the good taste to prefer a black one on Maggie May and Stay With Me. Apart from being unappealing, the finish had also developed a 'bloom' over the last 40 years. That stronger lilac tint that you can see on the upper horn and the upper bout is not a trick of the light or a reflection ... it was actually there. Not visible under stage lights, of course, but very obvious in daylight. It wasn't a surface problem either, that could be polished out, and I found it really, really irritating. I actually listed it for sale here on Basschat for a knockdown £800 because I was so irritated. Then @Beedster recommended Chris Bowling of Bow Finishing (near Godstone, Surrey) so I took the bass down to him. He agreed that the finish was way past its sell-by and also pointed out that the piece of wood being spoiled was an absolute cracker. So I bit the bullet and asked him to do a refin to match my Mk.II. This was NOT cheap, but By God what a job he did! Isn't she lovely? Isn't she beautiful? Ooh ... I've come over all Stevie Wonder ...

Need a front pic for that bit of bass porn please...... Back to the OP - refin looks stunningly good, and Chris Bowling was quite right about the body wood being an absolute cracker Ovation always used great tonewoods and the Magnums were made from 1 piece Honduras mahogany (NOT in fact chocolate coated ice cream.....) - I have a fretless Magnum 1, also in natural.

Bow finishing did this for me many moons ago, it was amazing as was the whole bass but sadly it was way too heavy for me.

The MM5 with the neons is Lauren "LT" Taniel. The bad taste neons must be a Beyoncé thing, cause her and Divinity Rox both use them and have played for Beyoncé.

I recall a similar conversation regarding the death of valves, soon to be totally supplanted by SS. That conversation took place in 1966.

Not my usual taste in basses, but once brought to my attention by Andy and John, I couldn't resist, especially given that it - or an instrument very very similar to it - was responsible for the bass parts on my fave album of all time, parts that I have been learning for about 10 years! What do I love? The nut is close to 45mm, the board is pretty much flat, the PUPs are light years apart, and it's bloody light. What do I not like? The colour Should be strung through, so a Badass III is going on at the weekend. The board is going to receive a damn good oiling at the same time. At some point in the future the finish may come off also. But in the meantime, I'm going to Graceland

How, in all my near 30 years of playing bass, I've never listened to this band I'll never know! The pick is out!

Thought I'd share some pictures of my recently-purchased Yamaha RBX765A! I've always had a thing for Yamaha so I had to take a punt when this one came up for sale at a good price. It's got an alder body with a lovely Ash top (I tried to capture some of the figuring in the photos) and a maple neck. The electronics are awesome and I love that the bridge pickup isn't tinny or weak - it stands up by itself easily. As a bonus, it's had Hipshot Ultralite tuners fitted and has recently been setup so it plays beautifully. Not too sure if I'll be holding onto it but for now, enjoy the pics!

You're a lovely bunch. You know that?

I've been all round the houses with this. I've had big old amps and cabs. I've had smaller class d amps, and half way cabs (barefaced etc). I even went small using helix stomp modeller and class d. All did a decent job. Cant complain. However, I've now gone back to using class a/b amps and a 410. The stomp was good, but not a great DI. No matter what I did, it just wasnt a great bass sound. It was there, but not great. Was that my fault or the helix? I dont know. Maybe theres too much to play with, or maybe the technology just isnt there yet. No one ever mentioned it, but it just didnt have the depth or sparkle to me. I plug in my abm600 and it's there. Every time. Great sound (pre or post) nicely balanced and no hassle. Has the power and sound I like on stage and the di sound that sound guys like. I always find a medium to big powerful amp and cab onstage help create a great rhythm section. It has that slam that you and the drummer can create with - remember hearing the bass and its sound isnt just for us bassist- and it just has that warm sound to make you raise your game. As much as I liked the stomp, I never really got that feeling with it.

Well, Reaper was a good bloody brilliant suggestion. To explain, our drummer works with about three bands, he did a lockdown version of Schools out with a band of teenagers. In under half an hour I managed to synch the drum track to their track as a guide, including snipping out the mis-timed first crash and move it to the right place. Then I managed to record myself and play it back. Need to polish it a bit, but everything working now.

Haha. My playing wouldn’t suffer if I lost all my fingers in a terrible woodworking accident. The Bass was fine. weirdly held into the neck with a nail. Classy.

New Bass Day. We also have a 'rule' that is so ingrained that we even have a BC emoji for it

Happy Saturday 😷 https://youtu.be/HRrYi-DpFD0

Amazing how the colour changes under different light. Very definite blue under LEDs. Very pale under fluorescent, photographing with a greenish cast. Some review type thoughts... Neck is pretty decent, the fretboard is effectively black, like ebony with more grain, does not look like rosewood at all. I think it looks really distinctive. Benefits from oiling. I didn't lacquer the back of the neck, it comes with a satin/matt finish that is very nice. Would build confidence if they had a guide to which screw goes where, especially as there are enough scratchplate and tuning head screws that you could swap them over. For those unsure: The larger headed countersunk screws are for the scratchplate. The four very long screws are for the pickups, beware of screwing them right down as they could pop out the back of the body... put them in a few turns and adjust when the strings are on. The same screws for the bridge and strap buttons. Personally I think they are a bit short for strap buttons. String guide uses a scratchplate screw; I reckon if you used a spare bridge screw it could come out the back of the headstock. The tuning head screw drillings weren't very well positioned. I had to take great care tightening the screws and the heads are all at a very slight angle. Body wood isn't super hard, but much better than the eBay strat body blank I bought a year ago. If I was redoing the build I would put on a light layer of primer then sand down until it was just left in any depressions, then skim the body with fine filler then sand with fine wet and dry. Videos that show people putting on 3 very thin layers of lacquer are over optimistic. Do more than that. Yes it is worth waiting a week to finally sand and polish, but give yourself enough paint thickness to work at with confidence. Sanding needs to be really light t-cut will take out light marks so you don't need to sand aggressively. Double acting truss rod needed to be tightend up, probably by 32-3 turns so not a huge amount. I expect it to need revisiting a few times as the bass settles down. Setting up meant adjusting everything, including the nut (except the A-string intonation was spot on...) Nut was cut very high, this does need care and courage as it's the one adjustment that isn't reversible. Pickup screw holes weren't ideally positioned, tilting the two halves forward. When I reassemble I'll move them so they are level. Controls work fine, no buzzes. When I reassemble I will strip a longer section of the bridge earth wire to make the contact more definite, am worried it could slip out but don't want to strip it yet to make threading it back through easier. Would be nice if it was about an inch longer too... Tuning heads very stiff until oiled with a drop of 3 in 1, get better with use. Not the best ever but I don't think they need replacing. A neck wedge may be a good idea as the E-saddle is almost at the bottom and I reckon I could drop it buy up to half a mm or more. Some of the scratchplate screwholes were way off, one or two not even visible. I put all the good ones in first, then fitted the other screws direct into the wood without a hole.

I have a digital 4-track (an old Fostex MR8-HD...) and it ain't easy to get the stuff out of it, after recording, and into the DAW (Reaper...). I've got it worked out now, but it's primitive. Far easier to record straight into Reaper, track by track.

And it's on Spotify, so it makes it on the playlist 😎

Amazing video....especially the percussion/bass medley at the end.

Good. Will be in touch within the next weeks.

Good, too much stuff doesn’t get called out but should. I’ve a few nice versions of PMT I was going to post re the member in question but I’ll keep them to myself

Metal aside he is a very good musician, awesome pick player and has great musicality. He speaks a load of sense. Nowt wrong with a pointy headstock at any age or genre

Absolutely the way to go to lift the tone of this thread.

I'm pretty confident I've got 0 out of 15. Not the first foggiest idea who any of them are.

Quickest way into peak Yes for a newbie ... get Yessongs, the triple live album. Seriously.

Here is the promised MKIII photoshoot after the refinishing job. The front of the headstock appears to have been left untouched, except for the rounded top bit, which is the same colour as the body. Two more of the near-twins together: