Leaderboard

Just got this beauty today! When I unpacked it I thought “this is not heavy as they say”. Here are a few shots before I write up some more;

Rough Trade in Nottingham on Friday night. I love playing here, there's something very cool about this place. This is our stripped back acoustic set, so you'd think the sound engineer would also strip back, but no, two mics on the bass drum (with no resonant head), close mic on the snare and hats. A good 10 minutes of EQing the drums. 5 mins EQing each vocal mic etc. During sound check I have to admit I was internally rolling my eyes a bit, but I've never heard so many compliments about the sound, and it was great on stage, so, shows what I know! About halfway through our set, an un-known punter with a very striking appearance made their way to the front. It was difficult to concentrate while she twerked, spanked herself, rolled around on stage legs akimbo, and periodically tried to stuff her bosom back into her "top". Very entertaining. There's footage on the internet but I'm not sure it's fair to share it around. Here's the setup from sound check Compass Cafe in Blackpool on Saturday. Only 70 people in here but it can't really fit any more. I had to do our sound so only one mic on the bass drum I absolutely hate doing live sound, and there's no way you can do it properly from on stage behind a drum kit, but whatever, we got away with it. This might be the only venue where I can order a beer from my drum stool

Finally after months of researching, collecting, and planning i finally wired up my board and i couldnt be happier. Thanks everyone for all the tips and ideas. I've always been big into effects, but never had put them all on a pedalboard like this. Also, everything fits neatly into it's case with the pocket on top holding the two expression pedals. Chain is: Polytune 3-> lusithand compresor-> switchblade pro Loop a : pigtronix mothership 2 -> mxr bass octave deluxe -> boss PS2 (for octave up) -> moose electronics custom dual channel od/dist ( the sunhammer)->ripply fall Loop b: dod fx25->future impact-> boss dd3 Midibeam 4connect underneath to run the expression pedal for the FI and the two button footswitch there in the middle. I have a countryman DI strapped underneath as well. Expression pedals for future impact and pigtronix. Everything outputs into a boss RC-20 Thanks to the BC members who sold me kit for this and a special thanks to whoever it is that used the embossed labeller for the power supply. I think thats a great idea.

Amazon doing some fantastic deals currently. Fender 5-String Super Bass 7250-5L Nickel-Plated Steel Long Scale Bass Strings - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003B0851C?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_dp_WPP1JYHHH9DYQ1F56G1Q Thomastik Einzelsaite G .044 Stahlkern, Nickel flat wound super long scale 36" JF36044 für E-Bass Jazz Satz JF364 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thomastik-Infeld-Bass-Guitar-Strings-Wounds/dp/B001633DPY/ref=sr_1_146?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788636&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-146 Rotosound RS66LC Stainless Steel Roundwound Bass Strings (40 60 75 95) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotosound-Stainless-Steel-Roundwound-Strings/dp/B0002GNSUQ/ref=sr_1_8?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788150&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-8 Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Nickel Wound Electric Bass Strings - 50-105 Gauge https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ernie-Ball-Regular-Slinky-Nickel/dp/B000MFL7UU/ref=sxin_24_ac_d_rm?ac_md=0-0-YmFzcyBzdHJpbmdz-ac_d_rm_rm_rm&content-id=amzn1.sym.0b27cf19-b0d0-4bf1-9dce-b0a41b6c66ae%3Aamzn1.sym.0b27cf19-b0d0-4bf1-9dce-b0a41b6c66ae&crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&cv_ct_cx=bass+strings&keywords=bass+strings&pd_rd_i=B000MFL7UU&pd_rd_r=d2f16d72-36f1-437c-b998-c87b6a8109b3&pd_rd_w=uB5yw&pd_rd_wg=EOWgP&pf_rd_p=0b27cf19-b0d0-4bf1-9dce-b0a41b6c66ae&pf_rd_r=SWNTPMKZZYNP6WZN8QG2&qid=1675788193&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=1-1-e2b79f78-a3a0-4cac-b70d-2a5e4ae8e724 Fender Super 7250 String Set For Electric Bass (045/105 Gauge) - Nickel Plated https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-737250406-7250M-String-Guitar/dp/B003B0CHG6/ref=sr_1_38?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788193&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-38 Rotosound SM666 Stainless Steel Hybrid Gauge Roundwound Bass Strings (30 40 60 80 100 125) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotosound-Stainless-Hybrid-Roundwound-Strings/dp/B0002GO3GE/ref=sr_1_54?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788193&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-54 Rotosound RB40-5 Nickel Medium Gauge Roundwound Bass Strings (40 60 80 100 125), https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotosound-Nickel-Medium-Roundwound-Strings/dp/B000VKEAUA/ref=sr_1_62?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788432&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-62 Fender Flatwounds for £36 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-9050-M-Stainless-Guitar-Strings/dp/B003ACL2CK/ref=sr_1_66?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788432&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-66 Fender 737250405 String Set For Electric Bass-7250ML (045/100) - Nickel Plated https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-Super-7250s-45-100-7250ML/dp/B003B067UI/ref=sr_1_94?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788432&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-94 Fender 5-String Set For Electric Bass-7250-5M (045/125) - Nickel Plated, 45-125 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-HN108820-Strings-for-Guitar/dp/B003AMX98A/ref=sr_1_152?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788784&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-152 Fender 5-String Super Bass 7250-5L Nickel-Plated Steel Long Scale Bass Strings https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender-5-String-7250-5L-Nickel-Plated-Strings/dp/B003B0851C/ref=sr_1_150?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788784&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-150 Rotosound Nickel Medium Gauge Roundwound Bass Strings (40 60 80 100), RB40 & Nickel Medium Gauge Electric Guitar Strings https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotosound-Nickel-Roundwound-Strings-Electric/dp/B0BM9DSWSH/ref=sr_1_199?crid=182SQ1WAQH7GI&keywords=bass+strings&qid=1675788910&sprefix=bass+strings%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-199 Warwick Red Label 045-105 Electric Bass Strings - £11.88 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strings-45-105-Red-String-Stainless/dp/B0002GVBIW/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1E91BT6HL7Q31&keywords=warwick+bass+strings&qid=1675788999&sprefix=warwick+bass+strings%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-2

I've had a few Mexican Fenders in the last 20 or so years, I know everyone's experience is different, but I've never had a bad bass or guitar from that factory. My Baja telecster is one the favourite guitars that I've ever owned. As said above the Goldfoil design looks flawed, the pickup looks too narrow for the string spacing, even if the bridge and nut were perfectly placed the outer strings would be right on the edge of the pickup. I'm not making excuses for the factory, obviously they should have noticed the issues during QC, but they should also have been picked up at the R & D phase before production had even started.

This also brings to mind the oft-quoted statement when referring to Fender bass/guitar place of manufacture (I'm paraphrasing slightly) ; "You can have a Fender made in Mexico by Mexicans, or a Fender made in the USA by Mexicans"

Ehhh... not quite. The C in CNC stands for Computer and weren't in use by Fender until the mid 80's, I believe. The idea behind the Mexico factory was to churn out high volumes of units at the lowest possible cost. This means minimising the human involvement and automating as much as possible. The labour intensive manual methods of the 50's and 60's are exactly the opposite of what the Mexican factory is doing. Whoever told you that is, I suspect, a little misinformed.

I have. Had Zoom pedals for well over 30 years. All have had plastic enclosures and all have sailed through hundreds of gigs. So why is there often a sneer when Zoom’s enclosures are mentioned? The technology has proven itself so what is the problem? Of course, plastic does not shield as well as metal but my experience is that the Zoom pedals are well designed and not susceptible to interference. So what is the beef with Zoom?

Having played a 5 string for many years, my then bass was a SEI headless that I thought was my forever instrument, sadly as time passed my arthritis worsened and I struggled with the neck width and eventually returned to 4 strings. However I never forgot the advantages of having that low B brought. Fast forward and this week I had the chance to buy an old Status Eclipse only an hour or so away, it turned out to be in a sorry state and while I was mulling over the prospect he mentioned he had several other interested parties, the subject turned to other basses and the advantages of a 5 string, then said, you might be interested in this, I put it together some time ago, producing a jazz bodied bitsa. The body was nothing special “BUT” it had a Wilkinson 4+1 conversion kit, the most incredible neck and a pair of USA emg’s. 24 hours later I had transplanted the neck and hardware onto my Warmoth P that was crying out for a decent neck, and here’s the result

Someone has made an 8 bit bass. That’s all. https://www.guitarworld.com/news/8-bit-bass

Gareth even the best of us make mistakes!

I see they really love Sid the Sloth from Ice Age

Yep. I'm very happy with it. It doesn't feel *quite* as nice as my Sandberg California, but it sits in the mix very nicely and weighs less than a duck. I loved the seafoam green finish available on the regular scale model, so I got a bike builder mate to refinish it to match.

Exactly, the player and vintera stuff is excellent , it’s a company problem not a country problem

I wish he wouldn't call it an "input". You don't send signals into a guitar!!!

Everything got rather put on one side for a while but I've removed the screws, filled the holes, and I've just been sanding everything down and rounding the corners over somewhat. I have just bought a palm router (for anyone who's looking for one, the highly recommended Makita is available from Alan Wadkins for £60 plus postage - https://www.alanwadkinstoolstore.co.uk/power-tools-c17/routers-c22/makita-rt0700cx4-router-trimmer-110v-or-240v-p24171) but I want to practice with it before destroying any painstakingly constructed object so the rest of the rounding will also be by hand. A bit of sanding of filler required round the battens on the back too.

Well this is an interesting development:

@fretmeister hits the nail on the head on all of this. @lobematt @LiturghianPope I also agree with your sentiment regarding the additional proper gear needed to create fully modeled amp tones with cabinet IR included. In addition to having a proper, powerful full-range speaker system at your disposal, so that you can monitor at gig-worthy volume, it also helps immensely to have not only lots of gig experience in a lot of different sized venues, but audio engineering/mixing chops (they go a long way to sorting this stuff out). - Speaking for myself, I have probably mixed as many live shows as I've performed (+/-200 mixing or performing gigs/year for a few decades). Having a solid foundation in the live mixing world was really the thing that allowed me to get along with full-blown modeling, understanding the challenges of sound reinforcement. As for creating the sounds (usually at home), I use an Atomic CLR full-range cabinet (it rolls-off below 80Hz) cranked up pretty loud (wife and kids not home). The accuracy of the speaker is the key, and any worthy full-range, relatively flat response speaker system doesn't come cheap, unfortunately. - Experience has shown me that if my sounds work on the CLR, then they'll work well for most situations with very little front-of-house tweaking necessary. I also realized long ago that the tones that can work on the gig may not sound quite like you'd think when isolated: for me, more "bite", less sub-low bass. As for the stage, I carry a GK1001RBII and either a pair of passive Atomic CLR cabs, or one or two ported full-range cabinets loaded with 15" coaxial (bi-amped) Ciare drivers. This all cost a pretty penny, too. - Since my stage rig is pretty much just for me and near proximity monitoring (for bandmates) I use my GK head as a clean amp that I can EQ for the specific environment at hand. The FOH mixer can worry about the rest of it...that's their job, and I've done all I can do to help them at that point. When there is no FOH provided, my stage amp(s) sound every bit as good as any other traditional rig I've ever had. - This was not an easy process. It cost me countless hours and a heap of coin to get to the point where things have settled in. Fortunately, the modeling tech gets better and better, but the aspects of proper monitoring to suss out your bass tone at gig levels is a necessary given. It most definitely can be a discouraging process, but IMHO full digital modeling of tones has come of age for guitarists AND bassists. If it floats your boat, keep at it and hopefully you'll find your way to unlocking it, mysterious as it may be.

So I have a mix of Ampeg heads SVT and SVT2 Pro along with the beautiful Ampeg 8x10 and the Barefaced 6x10. My conclusions are - SVT and Matching 8x10 - Absolute heaven SVT and Barefaced 6x10 - Absolute heaven but much lighter

Bump It Up ～ Elvis Costello and the Attractions

I don't tell them anymore in case they let it slip to my Dragon, she doesn't know the half of it & I'm pretty sure it's best that it stays that way 😁

I find it extraordinary that there are only a couple of posts in this thread that refer to the apparent pick up design error (is too narrow for the string spacing). Or are people on Basschat not worried about having a bass where the E string has 1/3 the volume (or less) of the other strings?! I can imagine that getting in the way of most bass parts I play!! Pity as the rest of the bass sounds ok (if you like that sort of thing). The other issues can be dealt with (although taking the neck off to adjust the truss rod is a buggeration (design feature/error/compromise) too far for me, unless it’s an actual vintage bass or exact replica thereof)!!

That, along with the rest, indicates you might have issues with midrange. In ear may not help unless you have EQ capability to boost the mids, for added intelligibility. As for the Missus, IMO they shouldn't use female voices for GPS, as I'm genetically programmed to ignore them.

Grateful Dead - Box of Rain

Or... Earth?

Sorry to cause you trouble , if I ever get time I'll start a new thread as someone who has gone this route, slowly and with trepidation. It's been a voyage of discovery You have to see if it going to work for you and fortunately you don't have to take it on trust. You can use rehearsals to try it all out and you can do this without disturbing the rest of the band or spending a fortune. Go wired to start with, just to try it out, Any headphone amp will work for a trial even an old mixer is good but the behringer PM2 is good and cheap. You can use any headphones at rehearsal (not bluetooth though) and the best phones are ones that blot out a lot of the outside noise. Over ears are great but I've got away with some £25 sennheiser ear buds. You can take a feed from the mixing desk or even from wedges or the pa speakers if they have a line level XLR out. Honestly the moment you get a proper mix through the phones you'll glimpse nirvana. It's like playing in a studio, you can hear everything, it's like playing along to the record. Nothing else comes close. In the end you'll play better because you really hear the music and every undamped note and mistake. Once you have it all working at rehearsal even if it is with giant Cyberman 'phones you can make up your own mind what to buy. I go wireless on big stages but most pubs you can't move anyway.

The factory is in Ensenada, looks like a nice place tbh. Lots of tourism etc:

I've taken them down quite a bit - and to be honest - no real noticeable difference in tone or volume - and hopefully no more hitting them when I'm playing!

I use this one normally, it’s mainly older basses but some good info on there http://guitarhq.com/fender.html

Loads of difference! Different drivers, different bracing / construction, power handling. Some are really two 4x10 that are joined together. Some are really eight 1x10 where each speaker is in it's own little box. Some are just a giant barely rigid shell. If you are going to go full madman with this (me, jealous?) then save up and get the Barefaced. Then you get 1 column that have been LPF'd to get as much dispersion as possible, you get the lowest weight, and unlike the old heavy ones nobody wants, it will keep far more of it's value. Do it once and do it properly.

This thread reminded me of these guys. Saw them at the Reading Festival in 1989 (I think) and followed then until they split in the mid 90s. Their Tea Chest player eventually graduated onto a 4 string for later albums, which was a Stingray if I recall.

also from Safari

Strange one on Friday evening: doing a favour for the committee of the Village Hall where two of the band live. We provided music for their pub night. Trouble was it had to be at a volume that would allow people to chat over a drink. Fortunately the drummer in this band uses an electronic kit, so we can turn the drums down! Still it is really weird playing at such a low volume, we couldn’t get any energy into the first set. Also a very small stage, so I had to stand right up against the BF One10 I used, with a Warwick Gnome running with the master hardly on at all. Everything DI into the hall’s tiny Yamaha Stage Pass PA (8” speakers I think). I couldn’t get close enough to my monitor because of where the lead guitarist had to stand, so I couldn’t hear myself, or the rhythm guitarist most of the evening. Fortunately, for the second set the dancing faction among the punters got their way and we were able to turn up a bit. Our energy levels went up and they repaid us by dancing for most of the set. Women of a certain age are great in an audience: they just want to have some fun and they don’t give a toss what anybody thinks of their dancing😀. We were doing this for free but it turned out that somebody had passed round a bucket (not to throw up into) and people had been pretty generous with their donations. It easily covered fuel costs and a couple of drinks each for the four of us. After the gig, the rhythm guitarist/vocalist, who is suffering with tinnitus, said it was really great playing at that stage volume and we should do it all the time 😱! We are now considering a wireless IEM system. Any advice/experience gratefully received.

It helps if you’ve got a multimeter to make sure that it is all connected and conducting. Sometimes the stuff with conductive adhesive doesn’t always conduct through the adhesive. What I like to do, when it’s all done, is add a strip of tape across the lot with the very edges of the tape folded underneath. Or you can stick down a length of stripped copper wire. If this makes any sense? I’m not sure I’m describing it very well.