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I've cracked. It's on the way.

Just a little note to mention the sterling service from Pete at Laney Service dept.I obtained a rather tired but working RBG400 bass amp.It needed new knobs and EQ slider caps so I emailed Laney last night,This morning an email said that the required items were on their way at NO charge.So this is by way of thanx to Pete.Good to know there are reliable companies still out there.

Allow me to explain. Bass Direct are a small company that provide a pretty unique niche service to musicians in a challenging market, and I have used them quite a few times and always found them to be very helpful. However, if I knew nothing of BD or Basschat and was searching on the internet to see if I should use them or not and came across some of the posts here, I might get an unduly negative impression if those posts were to go unchallenged. The thing is that they are not a big box mover with lots of staff and they are never going to manage their online operations as well as a company like Thomann. But Thomann, good as they are, are never going to give you the level of in-person service / advice that BD will, nor will they give you the opportunity to actually try out gear out before you buy. Every thing you say about BD you can probably say about Bass Gallery, who I think are great even if their website is even worse than the BD one! Now I know that BD really don’t need me to champion them and they're doing OK despite a few negative posts on BC, but there’s not many of these types of small companies left in this country and we ought to appreciate them (or at least cut them some slack) while they are still in business…!

Rather a personal question for a public forum, if you don't mind my saying.

Getting close now! A few tweaks here and there but the end is in sight!

So… I treated myself to this a couple of weeks ago. After an initial wobble where I was tempted to move it on I have decided it is likely a keeper. Super lightweight at just over 3 kg and just about the best neck I have ever had the pleasure of playing. It does quite a nice P bass impression with the neck pickup and a decent Stingray impression with a little bridge pickup rolled in… And as for the wood choices… ♥️♥️

Isn't Mark a member here? I think that we should give him a chance to reply - when they're not so busy. I've had replies from Mark and Marcus at out of hours times and found them really helpful. I appreciate that not everyone has had this service but I like that at least I still have BD to turn to when I need something. I always say "great service " not "perfect service ".

I don't see anything on BC I would describe as pop ups. I see banner ads at the top of the page, which I find completely unobtrusive, but nothing that intereferes with using the site. I would define pop ups as those ads or vids you get which open in the middle of a page, usually obscuring whatever it is that you're trying to look at. I've never seen them on BC. Tbh I have no problem with the people that own and run the site trying to make money off a service I use everyday. Which reminds me.......(Finally gets round to renewing supporting memebership)

Great service!! Let's keep giving page space to those who deserve it.

No probs at rehearsal last night so the LMIII rides again. Ay caramba!

Emails can also act as a very useful ‘audit’ trail should anything go horribly wrong. Something a ‘phone conversation cannot do.

I've never been completely happy with the ZS10's smiley face response. They are really remarkable for the money and the bass is outstanding but I sing as well as play bass and I need the midrange to be up there. Even with four band parametric eq my voice sounds unnatural and makes it difficult to control timbre. I love them for music listening where the 'enhanced' sound makes listening to rock a lot of fun. Full disclosure, I have some high frequency hearing loss and a bit of tinnitus. I also have unusually small ear canals and my left ear is very different from my right so fit will vary for anyone else. Recently my 15 year old Sennheiser's I bought to use with my iPod finally broke, I think they were CX somethings £20 from Sainsbury's, nothing special. I was browsing the Studiospares catalogue, as you do, and they had a special offer on IEM's. A few quid off Sennheiser IE100 Pro and I pressed the button to use for personal listening. They sound great, like a decent set of studio monitors, a bit forensic but you can hear everything and clinically clear. Bass goes down a long way and isn't emphasized at all. neither is the top end everything is where it should be and vocals sound great. The fit is great, they are small and light in my ear and the exit tube sits nicely up my ear canals, all my collection of buds fit so I had plenty of choice and the memory foam buds provided gave a good and comfortable seal. They are a bit bigger than my old buds, around the size of the Shure 215's and have a single driver. I stress these were bought for music listening but I tried them anyway at home for practice instead of my RCF monitors or my £200 over ears. I generally practice with the original songs so i'm learning the arrangements as well as the bass and vocals. Impressively I was hearing the same sound through the IE100's as the more expensive 'phones. Curious I turned them up and up and stopped when it hurt and turned them down 10db, at no point did they sound stressed. I tried some bass boost and they were happy with that too. These things go way louder than I will ever want and the isolation with the right buds is better than any in-ears I've tried yet, as good as ear defenders. I tried that on my ride on mower and with a chainsaw So I wanted to try them at a gig I gigged last Sat with the Sennheisers. An almost complete success, they are more comfortable than the ZS10's and didn't move all night, the isolation is a problem if anything because it is so good I can't hear anything other than the phones, so when band members start to shout at me about the PA and forget to use the mic I can't hear them. The sound through the 'phones was the best I've ever had. The vocalist in particular was the clearest she has ever been in the mix and the cymbals on our drummers e-kit were crystalline. The snare was lovely and crisp too which really helped with my timing. The only downside were my vocals but that was my my own fault, I handed the laptop to our drummers partner to mix FOH and forgot that I hadn't set up my monitor mix too. I should have set them up before relinquishing control. Bass isn't as prominent as the ZS10's but the volume went all the way up to pain levels and I turned them down several db so I know I had plenty of headroom. you do sacrifice a bit of bass compared with the ZS10 pros but I found it better not to be drowning in bass and if you sing the balance is much better with these. I'll report back after a few more gigs but I think the ZS10's are now relegated to be spares. Of course fitting my ears better won't be the same for everyone but with a single driver they are smaller and lighter which probably helps. If I get the same sort of sound consistently I might go for sleeves or get them reshelled. I'm going to live with them for a while first though.

I bought a bass from BD. It was sent with 24 hour courier and they also reduced the price of a pedal as well. Sadly, the bass (vintage Fender) had a couple of issues and had to be returned. They arranged pickup within 24 hours and refunded immediately. This was the third bass I’ve bought and all my experiences have been positive. Thomann have lots of customer service staff, but BD only have a few. I’d give them the benefit of the doubt.

Still heard nothing a further 29 hours later. I've had a read of the posts saying just phone which is fine if someone picks up, however I have a busy working life so I can't spend hours waiting. I'd also point out that I'm the customer so why is it my problem. If you can't support the service then surely just don't offer it.

Took advantage of a rare bit of garden sunshine for a quick snap. To suit my preferred playing style/position, I've added a dummy pickup ramp made of ebony I had made by Chris at Alpher Instruments a while ago that I never used. Works well 🙂 (don't panic, the screws are part of the aesthetic, it's held down with tape 😉)

It's the online buying that's a bit hit and miss, not the company itself. I've been there in person, tried basses, bought them, and had a very pleasant experience. Buying online: not so much. BD is a great resource. Meanwhile, my advice is phone or email to check stock before ordering anything.

I started out in the fifties. Money was still tight post war so we didn’t have anything like the goodies we take for granted today. We all still owe a lot to Lonnie Donegan who kicked off the skiffle movement and with it the ability to play music on the most rudimentary materials, such as tea chest bass and washboard which was my starter instrument. It wasn’t long before I graduated to double bass which I bought new for £45. Recording was single track, unsophisticated, but we had a very nice reel to reel Ferrograph. I met up with Guy and Ted Fletcher and recording time was curtailed because we had plenty of gigs coming in. But I remember Ted made me a simple compressor - the first TFPro model? - soldered together which didn’t seem to have many components apart from a 2v light bulb that glowed dimly or brightly according to the strength of my amped signal. Amp was a 50 watt Leak with KT 88 outputs. At the same time my younger brother cobbled a bass guitar together, with a body made from two sheets of blockboard glued together and a hand crafted fretless neck - a very early fretless indeed - because he didn’t have the skills to put the frets in. The pickup was canibalised from a moving coil headphone earpiece. The Fletchers went on to do very well in the business but I kept music as a hobby. Happy days

It’s still hard to believe someone would go on that kind of rampage in rural Nova Scotia. I’m a bit nerdy about gear and do enough gigs to justify buying good stuff. I use it. I usually just play mid sized bars and am frequently not in the PA so my stage sound is the room sound. I put it in the car , drive downtown , set it up play , and drive it home. So I like modern cab design that’s smaller , lighter , and can pack a good wallop. This cab checks all those boxes , but I’ll keep this mostly for home use , although I’m tempted to try it out downtown this weekend. I would love to hear it at room levels…

Bicycle clips..?

I love my acoustic basses, have an Ibanez 24" scale and an old fretless Ozark I've had for 23 years. When people claim they are useless what they usually mean is that they don't play like a conventional bass or fulfil the same role - they aren't meant to and you can sorta tell that by looking at them! Depending on how they're set up and what strings you use you can get a lot out of them - a fretless with nylon tape wound strings can have loads of old school upright style thump and have an entirely different palette of sounds to a fretted acoustic bass with bronze strings. Similarly my little Ibanez with the bouncy multifilament core/bronze wrap strings sounds different to both, almost like a bass version of the bottom three strings of a classical guitar and is a very lively little bass to play, not to mention pretty loud acoustically. The focus on here has always been about volume - "but they aren't loud enough, use a Precision" which is rather strange unless your only goal is to rehearse unamplified with a guitarist in which case then maybe they're not for you. If you like the sound they produce - and you really need to try a few of them, preferably with something other than the standard phosphor bronze strings - and feel yourself wanting something convenient for sofa practice then they might be up your street.

Arrived this morning. Had an hour spent with it so here goes The good: Love the colour, looks brilliant with the tort plate and matching headstock. After a set up the bass plays great with no noisy electronics and I have zero complaints with the tones on offer. No issues with the tuners either which appear solid enough. Lastly the weight is only 9lbs 2oz/4.14 kg. The not so good: Fret ends were a bit rough (sorted now) The bad: Bass has been dropped in transit by the looks of it. Small chip on the end of the headstock which has taken a small piece of the paint off. At the other end the strap button has been pushed in past the paint and is bent slightly. Bass doesn't appear to have suffered any other damage. Not quite sure what to do now as the small cosmetic issues at both end of the bass don't bother me that much but they shouldn't be there.

I’m getting married in August. We can’t afford anything flash so it’s just a small modest ceremony with no plans for a honeymoon. My poor Mrs hasn’t been on holiday for 13yrs! My first thoughts after winning a grand? Reverend Mercalli 4 in metallic Alpine green. 👍🏻

On my home made Nordymutes I cut the foam to be pointy. So pushing it on more means a greater surface area, and pulling it off a bit means a smaller surface area doing the muting. It works quite well and is easily adjustable on the fly.

I don't get the aversion to phones at all.. I'd rather speak to someone on the spot and hopefully get a resolution there and then. It's usually far better to have a conversation with a human being (assuming it's one with common sense!).. think of all the stupid "tiffs" that arise on forums, most of these would never happen if the same conversation took place in the pub for instance. The one occasion I dealt with BD I ended up speaking to the bloke on the phone, all sorted in 2 mins.

These strings are gold - old ones Jon is using to set the saddle. I’m going for blacks. Custom ‘S’ knobs look pretty cool I reckon.

We've just done 3 gigs last week after a month's layoff due to health problems with some of the band. We still were a cellist down (damned Covid again) but did the gigs as a 7 piece. Started off in High Wycombe, then down to Weymouth finishing with a nice ferry trip over to Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. The gigs went well, audience figures holding up too despite all the financial woes around at the moment. Good to be back doing it again.

Get a magnetic pickup.

Haha...fun thread. I've done some weird singy stuff over the years, probably the oddest was a three piece pub reggae type thing back in 81 when for some distant reason we ended up doing 'Forget Me Knots' too with muggins here doing the lead vox over that cool slap bassline.....I bet the whole thing sounded bloody awful. Happy days.

One man's meat.... On the lighter side for Harley Benton JB's from what I've read but is that just for the JB75? Personally 9lbs 2oz doesn't feel like a lot to me. I have four basses all +10lb and one touching 11. I've messaged Thomann re the damage will wait and see what they come back with

Mr Macca comes to mind he could sing it all because he co wrote and or wrote it all. That and he is a clever clogs as well

Too late! in all honesty we hoped to remove all ads and rely on people becoming supporting members instead. That was the plan but I don't think any moves have been made to help ease that transition yet.

The title of my forthcoming autobiography, there.

This should do: The typeface used is a pre-digital version of Bookman. I haven't been able to find an exact match with the flourishes from any of the digital foundries but Bookman JF Pro made slightly bolder will get you very close.

A few from back in the day might remember me buying, selling, buying it back, selling it again….. I’m an idiot. It was easily the best bass I’ve ever owned, but I was so skint… I had to finally sell it, and I’ve missed it regularly since. A Kinal MK5. It was perfect. The perfect neck, and those Aero pickups….. sigh

My mate from back in the day recently sent me this photo, which was taken just a couple of years or so after the Teac cassette days. This would have been around ‘85/86. By that time we’d pooled our resources and invested in this setup with a Tascam 38, which was a considerable upgrade from Teac cassette deck (which was still in use for producing cassette copies and is on top of the outboard rack).

Matty Carroll is the bass player but also the Musical Director for DL. Very talented lad. Personally, I love it, don’t care if it’s a midi line. Also love Levitate by her.