Leaderboard

This is my current board based on the Aclam XS1. In order to maximise space I replaced the end cheeks with pieces of right-angle aluminium faced with self-adhesive silicon rubber strip. Underneath is a Thumpinator and the rechargeable battery pack. It is my intention to replace the Sweeper, the Subnup and possibly the Tuner, BDDI and Thumpinator with an HX Stomp. There are however a couple of issues with this. 1. I need to change over from battery power to mains power as the battery pack does not have enough capacity for the HX Stomp. Not a big deal just need some cash. 2. Going from the the Cali76 to the Stomp will mean that the Tuner function is after the compressor which is not recommended. Would it be sensible to put an FX Loop as the first block of The Stomp and run the compressor on that?

Latest

And here is my guitar board

If I recommended someone as a dep and then found out that they were to not be paid but the permanent band members were I wouldn’t do the gig.

Still got my first ever bass… bought new in 1982. An Aria Pro 2 SB700. Fabulous bass. Still love it and sounds great. Playing it in a university musical around 1985.. Playing it last November for an “80s” set…

I still own the Fender Precision I bought new in March 1969. It went through a serious modding in the mid 80's and hasn't been used since 1996, when I switched over to 5's. I'll never sell it. I'll be buried with this bass.

Katana 500 and Cab arriving any day now for my usual 4k deep dive 😉

Hate the whole 'Hack' thing... How many times has the 'spring gone ping' and stuck to the magnet on the underside... so here is a P Bass Pickup Fitting Tip... works equally well for J and other pups... I added a foam off cut to the body, as the foam on the back of the pickups was not thick enough to hold the bobbins in the covers... the pickups were too low and the springs were also getting fully compressed... Cocktail sticks in the screw holes... Springs on... then pups over the cocktail sticks... you can get a pointy thing in there to sort the wiring run. Remove one stick at a time and replace with adjustment screw... Use a sandwich bag between screwdriver tip and screw head to protect finish. I like a fairly compressed spring as it makes the pup a stronger anchor, lightly compressed springs, and/or soft or lightly compressed foam allow a lot of movement... pushing in.

Latest iteration of my board. Still using the Rockboard Tres 3.0 and the Providence Dual Bass Station, but my purchase of the new Boss Katana 500 head means my trusty Boss MS-3 has been replaced by the Boss GA-FC, which switches the onboard effects. I’ve also added a TU tuner, as the amp doesn’t have one onboard. The Rockboard Power LT XL still sits on the shelf and powers the Providence via 12v adapter, as well as the tuner. Basses go into the Providence and out of the Mod 2.0 to the amp. A stereo cable also comes out of the Mod 2.0 to connect the GA-FC to the amp.

Wait for @bassist_lewis to post impressions soon. 3x10 due this week according to earlier post.

I have to love how the Japaneese always getting some extra limited run / one off Czech Spectors like this one Spector Euro 5 RST PJ with darkglass preamp Also in 4 string version

Before anyone gets near sorting out who might get what, bear in mind that £100 behind the bar from the landlord won't equate to £100 handed over by the landlord; £100 in drinks will be costing the landlord much, much less...and a rammed pub should translate into proper gig money for the band...round these parts that's £300. Cash.

Still owning: a Chinese dizi - a bamboo flute that has a hole (second from left in the pic) that you cover with a membrane, which creates a nasal sound. Instrument owned the longest but now sold: probably my Yamaha TX802 - an FM synth. Behind those few buttons are like a 1,000 parameters to adjust, if one wants to. Building just one sound could take me eight whole working days. Stellar synth, though, and one learned how to be quick at editing. Bass owned the longest: probably my beloved 2007 Bongo 4HH Dargie Delight - the original olive green version with martini glass fretboard inlays. Have to admit those inlays charmed me. BTW, this is my actual bass despite the shop pic. The inlays pic is borrowed from someone.

Price is now £5895.

The one I've had for longest, bought from a junk shop in Weybridge, very early 70's, is my Hofner Comittee. It has its own history of refurbishment, over a period of a couple of decades, when the headstock got snapped off. S'alright now, though, thanks very much... The bass I've had for longest is my Hofner Verithin bass, bought from a bloke in Nottingham, very early 80's. I changed the strings for a new set of Rotosound TruBass Black Nylon, which are still on it. Not for slap, but has a nice bassy 'thump'... Yes, I prefer semi-acoustic stuff, and I have never had any interest in 'flipping' stuff. I buy for keeps.

I do have a range of cabinets available including a notable FRFR beast, so it will be an interesting experiment that I may include in my Bass Gear Magazine video review.

Just got this and had a blast through headphones for 10 minutes. First thoughts are built like a tank and it sounds great, very warm but I had turn the volume down on my stingray to get a clean tone, so will need to spend a bit of time sussing it out. Hopefully get a chance to try it through speakers tonight. But quite excited by it!

Thanks for this, I have contacted the shop… and it will soon be mine!

The instrument I've had the longest is (I think) my Eko Ranger 6, bought new in the early 80s. I'm not entirely sure as I also bought a Roland D10 about that time that I also still have, but this gets used regularly for practice for open mics with Mrs Zero and for songwriting. String ends flying wild and free to make some here get all twitchy. The bass I've owned the longest is a Warwick JD Thumb, bought new in early 1988. I'd gone into Musical Exchanges in Birmingham to try out an octave pedal and they handed me another Warwick, a Streamer IIRC, to try it out. It was rather badly set up so I put it back on the wall and took down this one, and from the first moment I played it I wanted it. Absolute dream of a neck - at the time I had a Fender P and a Hohner B2 and it surpassed both of them by miles, so despite the £950 price tag (which Dave the Bass kindly reduced to £900) I took out a loan for £500 and PXed the Fender and the Hohner to get it. It appeared live on TV when we played in the late early hours on Telethon '90. It still gets occasional outings, and was going to feature in the Marillion tribute that I got dropped from, although since about 2007 I've been 5-string.

I've been playing various things since the early 90s but I'm not very sentimental and haven't kept any 'my first' instruments. Oldest thing I've still got is this daft item from 2002-ish give or take a year. Can't see me gigging it, but it might look cool for a photo/video at some point.

Just had a call from the shop. He has had 14 enquiries too date. It's in near mint condition. Pictures attached.....

My 1987/88 Jazz Bass Special. I got it in either late 1993 or early 1994 when I was 15/16. Around 1998 it was converted to fretless but the frets went back in a couple of years ago. The only other alteration is the Seymour Duncan Hotstack (Duff McKagan mod) jazz pickup (still have the original single coil in the case). It's missing the F cap on the tone/TBX control and the finish on the bridge has oxidised badly (it was brown/olive rather than black even when I got it, but it's more blue now) but the QC on these was great so it's still good to play after all these years.

I've asked for a technical contact at Boss, so I can probe further. The hardware hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't been able to try it myself. I'm intrigued as to how the calibration works. The calibration sounds heard aren't unlike those used to profile equipment in the likes of 'profiling processors'.

I do still have my Marlin Sidewinder, my very first bass bought in 1989. It's not in a playable state at the moment though. However, that bass most definitely influenced my purchase of the bass that I have played the longest, my (1989) Power Jazz Bass Special (as seen in many of my videos). Hmm, thinking about it, was it the PJBS in magazine adverts that infleunced the purchase of the Marlin?? Which came first, who knows?? ha ha!! This isnt my Marlin , THAT advert from Bass Player Magazine in 1989. (Which blows my mind to think that as a teenager, I'd never have dreamed I would write for my favorite bass magazine in years to come! It took me until around 2003, maybe as late as 2006 to get my first Power Jazz Special. Here's what it looked like stock. And here's what it still looks like today with my usual chameleon flip paint finishes, EMG electronics..

I got rid of everything in my life after my first marriage broke up in 2010, bar a small handful of items. The only musical instrument to survive from then was an F scroll black mandolin. It's solid wood and sounds like it cost ten times the £200 I paid for it in 2005. I've revamped it a few times with decals but it is essentially stock. For some reason, I also have the pickguard / wiring / pickup to my very original 89 MIJ Fender Precision. Because I thought I was so edgy (ahem!) back then, I used to stub cigarettes out on the pickguard. The 51yr old me wonders on what planet that was ever a good idea, on every level! Having owned more basses than most shops stock, I've actually kept the same few since around 2014-16 now and it's much healthier than the constant rotation I had for the decade or so beforehand.

I think Envelope Filters are quite niche, even within Funk and Pop, and very rare for Bass Players within Rock, Metal, Punk, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Country etc. They are good fun though so I expect they are used a lot at home, or sit there on boards just waiting for the day they can be used live for a small part of one song! I was talking to someone the other day about pedals and he didn't know what an Envelope Filter is, and he's been playing Bass in pub bands for about 30 years. I'd guess pedal popularity goes something like: Tuner, Drive, EQ, Compressor, DI/Preamp, Chorus, Octaver, Phaser, Loopers, and Envelope Filter pretty low down - just above things like Synth, Delays and Reverb. There was a video from somewhere like Scott's Bass Lessons years ago that stuck with me though: it said the first pedal anyone should get (after tuner) is an Envelope Filter - not because they are useful, but because they are fun, add a different dimension to your sound that keeps you interested in playing, and they can teach a lot about playing dynamics.

Worst amp I’ve ever used. Every rehearsal studio had them back in the day. Just awful, the later stingray was terrible too.

The thing about Eurovision nowadays is it's become too self-conscious. Put simply, it's not quite good enough to be good, but it's not quite bad enough to be entertaining either. Eurovision used to be captivating because of it's unintentional quirkiness. Now that it's contrived to be that way it's lost that unique charm it once had. I

I was actually there for that program. It was just up the road from where I lived. They used a disused station and brought all the artists in from Manchester Central Station by steam train.

Just arrived this afternoon can’t wait to get this in the setup as it’s mad! Big muff based fuzz with a ring mod!!!

Wow, loads of interesting stories! My first guitar was a nylon one I put steel stings on and destroyed, but I still have its successor, a KT-2 cheap as chips thin plywood body 'SG', much modified. Must have bought it around March 1980 as Running Free had not long charted and was the first song I tried to play on it. My first bass was a Hohner jazz copy (similar to but predating the Arbor Series). I must have bought it in 1986 looking at my cv (which is a bit shaky on dates pre-1988) I gave it to my brother 10 or 15 years ago, but he still has it, the pickguard is faded to an incredible two-tone colour. Secretly, I want it back 😞 I still have my second bass, a Hohner B2 that my brother converted to a lefty, gave to me, and I converted back the "DEATHBURGER". All original except the finish and knobs it has had several finishes - white, then refinned white, then painted with sunset and standing stones, heavily stickered, carbon effect vinyl wrapped, then stone effect paint! Gigged it in the late 80s to 96 when I lost my way, and did all my proper band demo recordings with it as it sounds incredible. Since then gigged (once) and jammed with it recently. Oddly, I don't have any decent photos of it, and it's at my partner's house being easy to tuck away in its custom fit case (bought s/h for a song in the old Bass Centre in Birmingham about 1988/9).

My 1990 jazz bass, been with me since around 93 I think.

The Squier Precision in my profile pic is my oldest. Not my first, as that was a Hohner Rockwood Pro I got for my 18th birthday, but I part-exed it for the Squier as it had annoying dead spots on the neck, and I fancied buying a "proper" bass with some student loan money I had burning a hole in my bank account - this was 1998 so the days when it was an optional thing you had to apply for and got paid it as a lump sum. Still have it, play it, gig it and love it.

Bostikus Autisticus ～ Ian Dury and The Blockheads

The instrument I've had for longest is my first ever bass, this '64/'65 Höfner Artist 2 that I bought from my metalwork teacher for £20 in 1982. Pretty much unplayable, at least one of the pickups is fubar. I really should get it going again, if only for old time's sake.

The bass I've had the longest is my 2004 Epiphone Les Paul Standard, which I acquired in early 2009 and stock it looked like this: It was subsequently tricked out with EMG-HB pickups, an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ, John East knobs and a pickup selector switch in the usual LP location: I then stupidly sold it. Then I found it and bought it back. It acquired Schaller straplocks on its travels. Then I got bored of the EMG sound and also wanted to make it black and gold. So it got gutted, then rebuilt with DiMarzio X2N-B pickups, a Babicz bridge (only there because I couldn't find a gold three pointer for love nor money), gold Wilkinson tuners and a passive VVTT setup with series/parallel push/push pots on the tone pots. So yeah, I've had this bass on and off for about 15 years. I did some of my earliest gigs with it, and I guess it's going to stay with me. Not my first bass, but probably my first "good" one.

Small and stylish.

A tenor recorder that I bought in 1999-2000. I have only one bass guitar, a Squier/Fender hybrid which I bought in 2020.

Might not be a great idea to post this but here's my pal Rick with his YOB bass 🤣

I've caved. I've ordered one. It's too new to find any secondhand yet, and I think this will be a great cab for me, having experience of a few of their other 10" offerings. Estimated lead time is 6 to 8 weeks, so I'm going to be waiting a while! Rob

I have a Three10 on order and it *should* be due this week. I will update when it arrives.

Turned out great, it looks even more like a Wal now Just a little sanding left before I screw them on.