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It was a moving service I'm glad I was to be considered his friend/compadre we go back to '82 together. I offered M many deps that he was more than capable of doing but no... " integrity over covers 😎 but what's the dough?" he never caved in ( I can hear him in me head ) as the celebrant said he was " easily the best Bass Player in the room" I will miss him deeply. as for flowers and wreaths he probably have said " flip that spend the money elsewhere useful " in fact he would have insisted but be touched by the offer nevertheless it was nice all the same... MB1 was sent in his next gig his signature double denim, docs and ACR Tee shirt how Manc is that? good journey M see ya in awhile our kid... god Im gonna miss him so much so sad..... He wouldn't have said " Flip" btw ........

Its an Atelier Z as you can see. Im sure I said I didn't like the Jazz bass thin sound any more. This bass is anything but thin sounding. It's huge. Im not sure why, the preamp is Atelier, the pickups are Atelier. Its all original. Ive been playing it for a while now and its just Marcus Miller. .. I said my Suhr sounded Marcus Miller and it did but it didnt have the girth that this Z has. It is beautifully made. I have carefully taken it apart and it is stunning the way they make these. I literally had a hard time getting the neck out from the body. The neck binding is perfection. . One thing that stands out to me. The Gotoh resolite tuners are just engineering magic the way they stamp out the Gotoh Resolite on the tuners.! . Thankyou Jo.

Although in the meantime, here they are alongside my ‘71 Precision, MVP in the middle, Moollon on the right: Si

So which phaser do i have to order to get one. 🤣

To complicate matters further... Even if it sounds OK at the rehearsal, it's all going to change on the night of the gig itself. Fish batter is a notorious acoustic sponge - it'll soak up all the reflections, which will have its pros and cons. You might lose the slapjack / timing issues mentioned earlier, at the expense of being to hear the other half of the band. Is it too late to suggest a change to pie & chips instead? That might mitigate the problem somewhat.

Bought a cheap phaser. Nearly. The eBay shop sent an entirely different pedal which I kept in exchange for them sending me a fiver back. Its one of these and I was shocked by how well it turned my pretty, but bland, Cort bass into an active beast. The drive control also adds as good a low gain break up as I've ever heard. Cheapest way I know to transform your bass without tools.

Following on from the @Bobthedog thread last week about consolidation, I think I've finally reached as consolidated position as I can myself with regards to guitars and basses. A few months ago I found that I had in excess of a dozen guitars and basses and honestly, the majority of them were getting no playing time whatsoever, so I decided to really try and whittle down my collection to what I consider would be go-to instruments: my toolbox if you will. Anyway, after a pleasant trip to Bass Direct this morning I traded in a few basses (at very reasonable valuations I hasten to add) and left with my new Stingray Special 5 String. This bass wasn't a stranger to me as I'd nipped up several times to try it before but finally decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. It's a super super bass in my favourite colour scheme. So that leaves me with my P Bass, my Fretless and my new SR5. That's it. And I feel happier for it. Guitar-wise I'm left with my Martin D18, an American Original Thinline Tele and my American Pro ii Strat. Again, I think this will do me for what I really need and want, and I'm hoping that everything will get played significantly more than it had done. I feel strangely cleansed

There has to be enough space somewhere in the room so the band can all be in one plaice.

Fired my new RM800 EVO II up in rehearsal yesterday, with a Super Compact. My initial impressions playing the pair together at home has been reinforced. The Ashdown head works well with the tweeterless, 4Khz max, Barefaced cab, and this is a much more suitable pairing than the Super Compact and my MarkBass Little Marcus 500, at least for the stuff we play (mainly rock). I've never had a head with a notched volume knob before and I like it. It enables me to turn the volume up and then back down to exactly where it was before. I am really pleased with this rig.

I’ve been lucky enough to play with 3 very talented keys players, one of whom has become a very close friend. However, he had to be ‘told’ a few times in our early days…

A bit of a ramble, but last Saturday we played at Alfold Rock and Blues Festival. We had a great slot at 8.05 pm - the last band before Martin Turner’s incarnation of Wishbone Ash. It was our second post lockdown gig, the previous being four or five weeks prior. Sadly we couldn’t rehearse - our drummer’s daughter had been isolating with Covid, then I had Norovirus, then the drummer had to go abroad for work for a week - so we blagged it! I’d been looking forward to gigging my lockdown acquired Peavey VB-2 for a second time but was uncomfortable because I’d not really got to know it at volume. Also I’m recovering from a screwed up back and although we have roadies, I still had to manoeuvre it into its case and get it to the door and was really worried about putting my back out again, so I decided to use my Bugera Veyron - the one with the valve pre. I’ve never seen Wishbone Ash before, but I have the Argus Album and it’s one of my top albums, love Martin’s bass on it and how much it contributes to the songs. Del had promised to introduce me to Martin, and true to his word, prior to our set, he introduced us and what a lovely bloke he is. We talked about his Rickenbacker which turned out to be a rare one with the extra fret. I asked why he changed to a Thunderbird. Apparently, the neck on the Rick got broken and he needed a bass desperately so he borrowed a Thunderbird from the bass player of Mott The Hoople. The Rick stayed at the record label offices from where it was stolen and he’s never seen it since! Anyway, we played our set and played a bit of a stonker. Big ups to the monitor engineer, he quietly asked each of us what we wanted in the monitors and set them (no sound check) and off we went - none of us had to ask for anything to be changed. My little Bugera? Well I think I got the best sound I’ve had yet with Stray, so if any one’s looking for a Peavey . . . . . No just kidding - I’m going to spend some more time with it yet! I really enjoyed Wishbone Ash. There were a couple of Jazz moment but it was lovely hearing most of the Argus album played live. And Martin’s tone? Wow - awesome. It looked like he was using an Ashdown ABM head through a couple of maybe 2x10 or 2x12 cabs - hard to see. Really solid sound. All in all it was a fabulous day. To top it off it was my final official day of employment before retiring from the railway after 42 years of service, so a fabulous way to bow out!!

My band Black Atlas played a local weekend festival called Balstock. wonderful gig in a small pub. Had the privilege of playing just before @Salt on your Bass? Absolutely wonderful sound he had going on, and he let me borrow his cab(s) (same as what I use which was brill, I didn’t have to bring mine)

I read the text before looking at the photo and that is not boring, that looks ace, good work, Sir! If it were me, I’d colour the headstock, as it would tie the head to the body very nicely as the fretboard makes it look disassociated from the body (plus, you have the reverse for the complete head to tail look).

I say leave it, bassassin says stain it, so just do half 😁

That looks great! It may not be the colour you intended but that really works. As far as the headstock's concerned, I'm leaning towards colouring it - the stained wings give the bass an Aria-esque look, & the SBs had a head veneer matched to the wings. It would also even out the look of the darker section, which stands out more on the headstock than on the body.

Indeed (although this was some years ago).

OK crisis averted, I think. The ink that went all patchy looking says non water fast on the bottle, so a good rub with a wet sponge should even it out, right? What's the worst that can happen? 😄 It worked!! As well as evening it out it took some of the colour off again. I had to keep rinsing the ink out of the sponge and really rubbing quite hard to kind of make an ink slurry, then just wiped it off. I've left the heavier, dark ink in the curve of the top horns, around the bottom and right beside the centre stripes and it's given it a cool aged look. It's still slightly uneven but I think that's more the wood than the ink as when I tried it again it dried the same. I've managed to turn boring pine into boring mahogany. The only downside is that the water has lifted the grain and made the surface a bit rough for lacquring, but a couple of extra coats and good wet flat will sort that. I could try lightly sanding the wood to reveal the grain more but the grain is pretty dull and I don't want to risk making it more patchy and having to start again. The colour will 'pop' more (as the cool kids (probably don't) say) once lacquered. Here ya go! The control cavity cleaned out nicely, until I got ink all over it.

It is worth checking that the screw driver you use is in good condition and is the correct fit. It makes a huge difference even with poorly formed screw heads. A poorly fitting screw driver will ruin a screw head faster than most other things.

Two midweek (instead of weekend) gigs this week which makes a change. First Reading and then Folkestone, both great gigs and well worth the trek from Yorkshire. Again, good to see audiences prepared to come and and support bands, certainly makes me optimistic for the future.

Me too, but I can put my finger on it. The person who suggested the idea is an idiot and no-one appears to have the front/knowledge to explain why.

Really interesting video! Thanks for sharing! I now want to buy at least 3 more basses 😂

Decided against a refin build diary, a good diary stripping lacquer does not make, so here's a couple of photos from the basses first reveal coat of oil, this is applied with sandpaper and should reveal any lumps and bumps I've missed, after 4 hours or so I can lightly sand it again and then start getting the oil on it properly, feels so much better than the heavy lacquer before it. Can't whack stroking a good bit of wood! The neck woods are also a lot clearer now, definitely Walnut sides, wenge stringers, but, the jury is still out on the center wood though... could be an Ash or Oak... the neck and body look alot more balanced tonally, should be a stunning looking bass when done.

Mind you at yesterday’s gig the notched options were “not loud enough” to “deafeningly OTT” in a single click 😅 Had to tweak the gain level to tame it, oh the hardship 🤓

I realise that descending to factual solutions is disapproved of, but I felt that desperate times call for desperate measures. So I messaged the seller. Me: Is it an Ergo instrument? Seller: Yes, it is. Case closed without having to play rock paper scissors lizard Spock.

Our drummer wore ear plugs for the first time at our rehearsal yesterday, so possibly my acquisition of tinnitus will have helped to stop or postpone someone else getting it.

Deciphering this, there's going to be a drummer, bass player and trumpet player in one area (A), a keyboard player and a guitarist in another area (B) and two singers wandering around an area between the two groups (C), one of which will singing acoustically, the other singing through a small amp that's also being shared with the keyboard and guitarist in area (B). Area (C) will also be full of people at tables, eating. I'm not going to sugarcoat things here, but everything you've posted indicates this has all the necessary elements for this to be an unmitigated disaster on so many levels. Please report back after the event. Let us know how the fish supper was.

Really glad I read this thread. About a month ago I suddenly developed bad tinnitus in my left ear. I've had high pitched ringing in both ears for years but this is much louder, lower in pitch and variable in volume. I've worn ear plugs for 25 years but assumed it was down to the band I've recently started rehearsing with - I've even been trying different ear plugs the last couple of weeks. I couldn't understand why the sudden inexplicable change. Then I read the above quote & a realisation came over me. I suffered a head injury last month when I split my forehead open by whacking it off a rock while walking in the Lakes (loads of blood/concussion/Ambulance/ A&E/ stitches etc) & that's when it started. It never occurred to me there was any link between tinnitus & head injuries.... you learn something every day!

I think that would make me a ZX81. 😆

Can’t beat white LEDs.....sorry not a MM.

So... this was a bass I was watching with a very keen eye on eBay last week. It's a ZAK bass, which, from some of Mayones history information, seems to be an export brand name used by Mayones in the mid nineties... check out this old catalog page for instance... vintage! The ZAK branding appearing in the upper right of the page. And here's Mayones founder at a trade expo showcasing the basses in the early nineties... So for the moderately small sum of £215 I got; The Zak BeJJ BO4 bass £? A new Warwick Rockbag worth £70 A brand new unused 5 Pot pre wired Bartolini preamp HR5.2AP/918 worth £145 Ernie Ball replacement knobs worth £13 So already a bit of a good deal all things considered...BUT... this just isn't a cheap bass... it can't be, the quality for a start is superb, for a bass that must be 25 - 28 years old it's oozing quality parts and timbers. The body wood is Etimoe, which is highly curved and shaped, very much like the early Warwick Basses, note the matching control cavity cover and look at this cuuuurve! The timber also has lovely figuring and good matching, and is solid, very solid. Speaking of Warwick Basses... I was pleasantly surprised to see this... I thought, a ha! a fake Warwick Bridge... but no, a Schaller Bridge manufactured to Warwicks Design! Again really solid, nice and heavy, very classy. The neck is a 5 piece, if it's maple it's very dark, possibly cherry / mahogany but I can't see it being much else, stringers are either Wenge or Ebony, but again under the lacquer they're very dark, stamped number 54. Japanese Gotoh tuners. Matching headstock veener cap and truss rod cover. Plastic nut, Wenge fingerboard and mother of pearl inlays. I'm currently stripping the lacquer off the bass as it's very very thick and glossy which I can't stand and I'll be giving this a brief sand before oiling and waxing the finish, but from the parts shown above the bass has the following hardware; Japanese Gotoh Tuners Schaller / Warwick Bridge & Tailpiece MEC active 2 band EQ MEC active jazz pickups it's a super looking and feeling bass, with a little TLC i'll get it looking a little fresher and hopefully for £215 have myself a bloody bargain at long last! I'll be doing a refin build diary over in the build diaries forum for anyone who wants to track that. Cheers!

Things stalled a bit this past week. I chickened out of drilling the bridge holes and thought I’d do something simple instead; mounting the machine heads. Well that turned out to be less straight forward than I expected. First the headstock ferrules were loose and kept falling out so I tried packing them with a bit of tape. That was less than satisfactory but I pressed on. Then I didn’t have a drill bit small enough for the mounting screw holes so I used a bradawl. Also not great. This totally amateurish approach caused me to ruin several screws so I ordered a couple of packets more. When they turned up they were the wrong ones and I ended up with 20 string tree screws can you believe! I decided to leave things and stepped away from it for a few days. Today I remembered that I had another set of no name machine heads and the ferrules from those fit the holes perfectly. The mounting screws from that set were also a shade narrower than the ones I’d ruined and fit the holes nicely. So job done, that’s another step forward.

Gah! You’ve ruined my post 😢😆

Oh, there's always a pedant, isn't there? (In fairness, it's usually me...)

With @binkybongo today… shame we weren’t sat in a pub with @three but we’ll get there again soon.

I think that may be dependent on the room. I have used mine on large stages and once in an outdoor gig and it sounded fine. I have never heard any mud or boominess. The band I play in, do classic reggae from late 70's early 80's and so I whilst the cab is really heavy on the bottom end it's probably too much so for that era unless you are doing dub and not going through the PA. But there is enough low mids to keep the note clarity but as I mentioned earlier i think it is a much more balanced sound with a big baby II. Actually what Alex recommended was putting my power amp into bridge mode and put them both on the same channel and they will blend nicely. I did that and it does work well but having the two cabs on different channels means I can control the volumes independently and adjust the Dubster so that it does not overpower the overall sound of the bass. To be honest if you A & B'd it side by side with a Big Twin 2 with the tweeter off, the amount of low end difference I hear is not that dramatic.

Twin 18 200watts + Vitavox horns, one box on each side - massive !

Quick update - tuners installed, covering many ugly holes! Being a novice with extremely poor eyesight, I threaded 2 screws and lost another 2. Otherwise, perfect!

It is, finally managed to get another Status after letting my Streamline go some years back.

It’s absolutely packed! I used to go pre covid. Now I imagine much of the bidding is done online. The guys there are good and you can travel down the street before to check things out but you’ll have to take their word for the condition of internals and the integrity of an instrument and its components because understandably you can’t take things apart! There are lots of dealers who attend, but also some members of the public who want to buy stuff. One guy dressed as a cowboy bid on (and won) some sort of Les Paul which cost him £5k pre commission and he was shouting like he’d won the lottery. That was great to see! Even if you don’t end up buying or bidding it’s still a great day out and some lovely walks and pubs nearby too.

Interesting. The message sender does know that sound isn't instantaneous don't they? This is like a live slapback and you could get some timing issues. It is cacophony waiting to happen.

So you're saying I don't come across very well in this ad then!

It looks like it's fretted in the way that medieval instruments were fretted, by wrapping gut or string round the neck. I recognise the maker - it's an Ergo bass. I had a 5-string Ergo EUB - sold it as I couldn't cope with 5 strings and 41" scale (I can do one or the other, not both).

Is it him again?

I do wish you wouldn’t keep showing my work 😁