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So for purely ergonomic reasons I decided to part ways with my Guild Starfire I as it just wasn't working for me. I did however, miss the weight as I've got an issue with my hip that (although healing slowly) is still problematic. A few days ago I saw a used Spector Bantam advertised on Bass Direct and decided I'd go and try it out. I've never owned a Spector before but was attracted by the weight (just over 7.5lbs) and wanted to see how the bass would sit, given the top strap button sits a bit further up towards the dusty end than my usual Fenders which are near enough level with the 12th fret. After kindly being lent a strap to try out, I found the placement of the strap button meant the nut and lower frets sit pretty-much in the same place as my 34" scale basses so the Bantam immediately felt familiar and my hands didn't feel cramped at all due to the shorter scale. The bass is immaculate and I loved the EMG electrics so decided to take it home. We have our first proper date tomorrow but the way things are going right now, I think I'm on a promise.

You do know theres all kinds of bassists on here? From beginners, pub players, club players, pit players, pros, people who do it for fun, touring bands, famous bands, famous bassists and a lot of genuine legends. No ones opinion is worth more than anyone else's. That's what makes this site great - it's a discussion forum, not a platform for im right and youre wrong statements.

Well, she turned up and she is good....welcome the new 'Ruff Pub' Bass

That's good news. Over the next 2 weeks I have gigs with 4 different bands. They only have vocals in the PA, so my game changers were great sounding cabs that weigh 21lbs each and top quality D class amps. I don't do "humping". I skip from car to stage like Julie Andrews in the Sound Of Music. I hope we can be happy that each of us has made the best decisions with regard to our differing requirements.

Has anyone ever thrown away a set of flats off a bass? No, I thought not. Ergo, every set of flat wound strings ever produced is still in existence. Bass players who use flats are the ultimate eco-warrior... just saying!

Cutting the pickup chambers meant that I could do a mockup to talk to Alex what his preference for the position of the controls is before I cut the control chamber: And then the control chamber could be cut and the carve continued at the back - this time switching to the trusty gooseneck card scraper: Next was fitting the trussrod, cap and gluing the fretboard after laminating it with a maple and a black veneer to give me a demarcation line: Time to start the neck carve and then blend that in with the continuing body carve.

Lightweight cabs here , I smile every time I pick one up. And my stage sound is gorgeous.

I think that's how some folk get their kicks; either that or the OP is so conceited that they are incapable of differentiating between opinion and fact or that other opinions can be equally valid.

I fail to see what kind of point you're trying to make here. I'm a big fan of IEM's, silent stages and getting "my sound" via the pedalboard, but I also recognise that approach isn't for everyone. Are you just trying to start an argument?

My very basic board but all doing something ! LMB3 always on GEB7 always on Sparkbooster always on

An approach that worked for me in determining if a shorter scale helped was to pop a capo on at the third fret and retuning. Depending on your string gauge you may find things feel a touch floppy, but it should allow you to see if the shorter fret spacing helps your fretting hand or not. S'manth x

Maple Road Saturday May 27th Burlington Jamboree 3:00-6:30 Burlington WI I'll let you guys know how it goes. Sound and lighting provided and nice hours. Blue

As mentioned above, it is because the whole scale has been moved back and inch or so that the upper frets are not reachable. This is one of the advantages of it being a custom build for a particular player. To get better access with the better balance could have been achieved by a deeper cutaway...but then the 'Essence of Firebird' starts evaporating rapidly - and Alex doesn't, and tells me he doesn't ever intend to, play up at the dusty end but, instead, prefers retaining a passing nod to the lower horn of his Epiphone. Once I've finished the carve, my guess is that he will be able to do top string bends up to around 19th fret but no further. And so a few jobs I can do in between continuing morphing towards the final shape. One of those is the Humbucker pickup chambers. As with the weight relief, chambers, I prefer to use a router only to deepen a chamber with a fully captive flush bearing bit. So I start off drilling the corners using a drill 1mm dia larger than the radii of the pickup and leg corners: Then I hog out with a forstner right to the very edge of the pencil marks: Then I remove the forstner 'waves' with sharp chisel and mallet and get the finished dimension to around 10mm depth to act as a guide for the router bearing: And then, and only then, I get the router out with fully captive top-bearing bit to clean up the sides and achieve full final depth: To my admitted surprise, the rout slot I cut for the cables before adding the ebony top did line up in the right places. Phew!

hopefully my evening should be fun!!

Another benefit for flats is that people can live in them.

Mini pedalboard for most of the gigs. D'addario XPND 1 so that I can add a couple of more pedals (Relay G30, Aguilar Fuzzistor and MXR Poly Octave Blue).

Time for a technical rehearsal IMO. This is where the band concentrate on getting the sounds rather than the notes right. You'll probably find that whole band will benefit from this.

Awesome. Just played the main stage at Buckle and Boots festival near Manchester. Wicked fun, great feedback from the crowd. Can’t wait to see some of the photos and footage! www.katyhurt.com

+1 for the G&L Fallout.

Also did a so called Fringe Festival thing somewhere or other, and my "witty" parting shot was.. "if this is a fringe festival, I reckon I've won already.. Thank you an good nite..." ( I'm a card ain't I ..)

I'm getting a more TB than BC feel about this one...

I think people's stance on this subject may depend on the type of band they're in. I was in a busy covers band where they had an ampless stage and IEMs mixed through a laptop. I was never that happy with my sound (admittedly cheap IEMs) until I had an amp on stage to rumble the floor a bit. My current grunge/djent originals band is very much old school, we like our amps and much of our tone is dependent on them, also - a band with amps always looks cooler than one without </thread>.

Someone's used an AI software like Moises to isolate the bass. Whilst it does a good job in general, it doesn't work well for showing a single instrument soloed, where you can hear some bleed, noise gate and digital artefacts. It works way better for removing an instrument from a mix, I think. But these results are enough to help you pick up the lines.

Ahh.. In my younger days... (falls over...) 😁

You'll be pleased to hear that, with the latest forum update having finally satisfied Norton not to block the site for me on my system, that I've already started posting progress on this build on Guitarchat. And, as it's a 6-string electric, do feel free to ignore it here - I will fully understand My building has slowed down quite a bit - partly the pesky arthritis in my hands and partly the usual life's distractions - but there are one or two projects that have been on my list for years that I simply have never had the time to get round to. And this is one of them. It is a variation on the theme of the iconic Gibson Firebird electric guitar. 'Essence of' is probably a closer description as it aims to tackle some of the compromises of the original and is being built for a specific player and the specific way he plays. And that player is my son-in-law who plays the excellent Epiphone Firebird. And can I make something better than an Epiphone Firebird? Of course not...but I can make it different - lighter (maybe) - easier to fret in the specific fretboard zones he plays - better on the strap and over the knee - less (hopefully no) neckdive - less flat-bodied It's also a chance to use this type of ebony again for those of you who saw the build thread a year or so back where I used it last: So off we go!

New Amp Day! (well, Friday was 😅) I took a bit of a gamble on this amp having not been able to try one first, although I have had a number of markbass amps so kinda feel like I know what I'm getting. As my Little Mark Tube had sold in record time (and before this one arrived), I had my fingers crossed that it was going to be good! 😬👍 Going by the specs and reviews, it seemed like it was going to suit me well. First impressions: Oh Damn! It's bigger than the usual markbass amp size! 😮😂 I honestly was not expecting that! Fortunately I have a bag that's exactly the right size for it. It's also stupidly light for a 1000w amp. I don't know if it's an illusion because it's bigger, but it feels lighter that other MB heads I've had (and definitely lighter than my LMII). Well, I needn't have worried, this thing sounds absolutely incredible! The usual markbass quality is there, but this amp seems to have a little special sauce somehow! Someone whose opinion I value described these amps as having some extra 'Mojo' above the LM range, and I think that's a good description. The seperate solid state and tube gain knobs are a bit of a gimmick in my opinion, certainly where you only have a single tube in there, as its not enough of a difference compared to a full tube preamp to really be that exciting. That said, there is a discernable difference between the two sides, solid state is tighter, faster and more articulate, and the tube gain is softer and rounder. I don't think I'd describe it as warmer as it doesn't seem to add any tonal qualities, it's more the dynamic response that's altered. I was unsure how I'd like the graphic eq, as I'm a fan of simple and I like the usual markbass 4-knob eq, plus of course the VLE/VPF, which are handy for quick adjustments. This graphic is great though! Clearly you have a lot more control over your tone, but the frequency bands they've chosen and the way it's been executed means that the tone is always musical even if you cut some fairly extreme shapes! I normal roll with a low mid (and slight low end) bump on little mark amps, but I seem to be able to get more pleasing results on the Stu, and able to find just the sound I want more easily. And man does it sound great! 😍 Oh and by the way, YES IT'S VERY LOUD!!! I nearly had to get a structural engineer in to check the house out 😂👌 PLUS.... The illuminated eq sliders and Jack sockets are super cool! 😎 So, I'm very happy thus far! Two gigs this coming weekend, so we'll see how it fares in real use. Massive thanks to the team at Bass Direct for their excellent service as always 😉👍

Che-kin All Over - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

Ah...milk stout! I wish. It's actually MrsAndyjr1515's ceramics glazes that she has the audacity to put onto her my shelves!

Saw that at BT Martlesham Heath in the 1980s', they took the C Pre-Processor and wrote a lot of macros so it resembled Basic but was really in C. Debugging that garbage was painful. In the end, I taught them how to use C to save my own sanity.

Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F (Extended Version)

I Only Have Pies For You - Simon & Garfunkel

🤦‍♂️

change to covers with no holes ?

Another vote on the Danelectro Longhorn Bass. Don't let the cheap building materials fool you (and the neck is still Hard Maple with a Rosewood (Pau Ferro on more recent ones) fretboard), this is a seriously great sounding bass that is extremely comfortable to play. And honestly personally I think it looks pretty amazing too.

Ive used shorties pretty much exclusively on gigs for the last 5 years. I got the first one, a Mikey Way sig Mustang because of the large flake finish which suited the band ‘look’ but quickly realised the benefits of using it on a small stage with a singer who flaps his arms a lot. Since then I’ve added a JMJ and a US Fallout and have also found them a bonus with my aging digits.

Short scale basses are having something of a renaissance and the choices really are bewildering these days. I believe you are a Fender man so are spoilt for choice. The JMJ Mustang has been mentioned and I think in your shoes that would be the first one I'd try. I find myself using a Gibson Les Paul Jnr DC or - in particular - a 1970s Eros EB-3 short scale these days as the tone fits my band perfectly.

We're playing at The Fulford Arms in York on Sunday. Come check us out! We're 'Shreds.' York - May 28th - The Fulford Arms: https://www.facebook.com/events/490763603183758

I don't have a favourite bass amp. I tend to choose them to compliment the bass where the colouring of the amp doesn't filter out key frequencies in the bass needed to hear yourself on stage. Some nice matches in my experience are: Fender Jazz -> Markbass CMD103P Fender Precision -> Ampeg SVT Musicman Stingray -> Mesa Boogie Bass 400 Musicman Stingray -> Warwick Pro IV Spector/Smith -> GK RB400 or 700 (or Eden WT400) Status, Modulus or indeed pretty much anything with a graphite neck -> SWR SM400 and 4x10 Status, Modulus or indeed pretty much anything with a graphite neck -> H&K Basebass Status, Smith, Vigier or anything with scooped mids -> Genz Benz Shuttle (flat response power amp) Status/Jaydee -> Trace MkV AND 1048 4x10 Less than great combinations: Status -> Ampeg SVT (just too gritty) Smith -> Eden WT800 (no mids) Status -> GK (highs are too brittle and harsh) I do like Class D amps because they preserve the midrange more honestly to my ears than other designs. If i had to pin my colours to the mast over most satisfying amp, the Mesa would win, with the right bass.

Bi Fet is one of the best pedals ever made, roll the tone off and it’s a huge bass boost I mean HUGE, every setting is really music. I really need to stop selling them

Huge +1 on this. We did this recently with one of my bands and both our “on stage” and FOH sound benefitted massively.

Beautiful venue last night.... the Swansea Grand Theatre! More than decent turnout on a school night and lots of happy faces and positive reviews after.... 👍😎

I've gone rechargeable the 9v supply system is gone, replaced by this: Works a treat. I like the fact that it has seven separate outputs, as I'm not keen on daisy-chaining. I think that's it for the time being, apart from maybe some tweaking to the STFU pedal. I have vague back-burner plans for a DIY replacement for the BDI21. EDIT: won't be bothering now I've done the mid boost mod to the BDI. Sounds a zillion times better.