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A few photos form last week's Hurtsfall gig at The Bodega in Nottingham supporting Midnight Danger: And a photo of the table in our dressing room - there was also a fridge full of beer and water plus cow's milk and oat milk.

It finally arrived today, and I must admit that my first impressions were rather mixed. It was perhaps unfair, but I took delivery at work, which meant that the only initial go I could have on it was through an old 30W amp and not very loud - basically "is it working?". I was initially impressed with the fit and finish. The tuners are excellent - smooth, easy turning but with no play. The neck is what one expects from Sire - satin finish, lovely rolled fingerboard edges. But I have to say that I was not impressed with the knobs - they feel lightweight and cheap, and to cap it off the passive tone ring was loose and kept turning beyond its end. I wasn't sure if the knob was loose or it was a dodgy pot. The pots are all different in feel especially in the detents - the bass knob has a very severe detent that engages with an audible click, but the blend pot's detent is vague and very easy to turn past. Anyway, I got it home and things got better. Thankfully, the tone ring/knob was just loose, pot was fine. Giving it a proper blast through my pedalboard things really opened up, tone-wise. The pickups sound great to my ears. The neck pickup, despite its diminutive size compared to the bridge holds its own when soloed, but admittedly does get a little lost when blended. The preamp is OK once you get used to it. I find that the bass pot does very little. I have found that the best way to control this bass is to leave the treble and bass centred, dime the mid control then use the mid sweep as your primary tone control, using the others for seasoning. The passive tone works in both active and passive modes, which pleased me. It doesn't have a huge range, but glad it's there. The blend pot is a bit all or nothing, but that doesn't bother me as I'd be using it like a switch anyway. Little creature comforts include the passive mode working even with the batteries removed, making it a full on "get out of jail free" card in case of battery depletion. There is very little volume difference between passive and active - in fact with the preamp set flat, I'd say passive is louder. My wireless bugs get along fine with the bass regardless of it being in active or passive mode - I know some cheap wireless bugs don't like active basses, but mine is happy enough (Lekato WS-70 for reference). So my main (and to be honest only) beef is the knobs. I think they're ghastly. They'll be getting changed - replacements have already been ordered. But that's my only complaint, apart from nitpicky points about the preamp. Enough waffle, have some pics.

It really is a positive that BD is interacting on here.

Bit late on this again I'm afraid. I mentioned about my 4 gig week last week - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And just had the Saturday and Sunday to report on. Saturdays gig was a wedding with the function band. Converted barn in thr middle of nowhere. Arrived and apparently their old 'non cut out' limiter, had been replaced that week, with one set to 95db, but right above the stage - knocking out stage sockets, if the red light was solid for 9 seconds. Utterly ridiculous. The couple who run it were lovely, and gave us a long extension lead to another room. It was put in by the owner (farmer and landowner, and a more obnoxious bloke you'd struggle to meet anywhere else). He turned up two songs in and went ballistic, pulling the power out. We were already playing really quiet, and I mean really quiet. A few , let me say discussions were had with the tw*t. We demonstrated that at the back of the venue, the smart phone apps of a few of the guests were reading mid 80's, and just outside, it was mid 60's. He wouldn't have it, as apparently he'd had an 'expert' to install it. It was eventually agreed that we'd carry on, as we'd started and a good night was had by all. He said he'd get it moved to end of the barn. Ho hum Sunday's gig was a pub with the Northern Soul band (exactly the same line up, but different drummer). This was an absolute belter of a gig. So it turned out, that out of the four gigs, the cheapest and least plush one, was the best. I've got a Ska gig tomorrow (two of the members of the function and Northern Soul bands are in that too- sort of a big family of bands really). This will now be back up to a five piece, as the sax/guitar player who's dying, has said he'd very much like to carry on and gig as long as he can. I'll be surprised if he sees Christmas really. Many thanks for the comments about this on the previous page (my last post). I'll try and get a picture of tomorrow's gig. Though any of you in East Anglia may recognise him, as he's been around for a bit. He's quite private, so he may not want anyone to know outside of our close knit group of three bands. Thanks again guys for the comments earlier - death and taxes eh?

My last contact with BD was a phone call asking about lightweight 4ohm cab options they available, the response was "Everything we have is on the website" - not interested in helping me or any discussion. So I called Bass Bros, Will was very helpful so I visited in person and came away with a awesome cab and a new bass!

Apologies again for this, all of us here are constantly trying to improve how the shop runs, and coming here and seeing some of the comments is further inspiration to be better BD.

Yup, and their website does not offer filtering by impedance so a phone call made sense IMO. If one of my team told a customer to look at the website when they phoned for advice I’d be raging. Best answer from BD would have been “Leave that with me, can I call/email you back?”

We will do our best to get on here and respond to any questions/queries/general chat, glad to be here!

And finally, it be here. Not quite the over the top fab grain of one i have seen on the owners page (pic shown for reference ...omg thats perdy) My new ride has landed safely without the QC issue of some poor souls here. First impressions Neck Dive: a little but not on the strap Heavy?: No 9lbs and a bit. Lower horn embarassment?: Yeah a bit noticeable, access is a lot better for the dusty end but looks better in the flesh Controls: I quite like the knobs, a bit sadowsky like and definately better quality than the really cheap plastic ones one my v3, v7 etc. But still plastic (even on the sadowsky metrolines they are aluminium) Neck: Rolled edge is great, no fret sprout Pickups: Mman pickup is very articulate and quiet. Single coil on the neck position has 60Hz noise at high treble settings (Nordstrand drop in perhaps). Took a peek under the controls plate, spareate pre to the controls, getting a parallel/series switch will be a squeeze so probably wont attempt. Four wire Mman pickup though so technically possible. Looks like wired in series. Am I happy with my purchase: ?. Yes, first impressions are good, pre amp seems a bit tighter voiced than the v7 (maybe thats just my looks like a stingray so must sound like one eyes..), hardware looks ok. Just for a laugh a laid a musicman scratchplate over the pickup etc. Looks like the Mman is about a cm further forwards towards the neck. Edge of the plate overlaps the control panel. De-condoming the scratchplate the drills holes are tidy as is the routing, so it can be 'topless' without looking crap. I so want to add the musicman style lugs to the bridge....i have some...it may happen Anyway check this.. Mine's a more modest

Not trying to get into a fight, but to be honest these days it's a reasonable response. First, it's probably going to take him longer to look it all up while on the phone that it would have taken you, and he might have more calls waiting a shop full of customers also wanting attention. OK he might have been. alittle more polite if he only said what's written.... Second, given it's all on the website, what more can he tell you over the phone about the pros/cons of what they have in stock that you can't get one one or more internet forums (if I were going to buy any gear new the last place I'd trust for advice would be the shop and the first place I'd trust would be Basschat) Good to hear that Will at BB was very helpful, but I've hear bad stuff about him also. Bottom line is that you can get lucky and catch someone at a good moment, or get unlucky and catch them at a bad one. Doesn;t make Bass Direct or Bass Bros or the people who work in them good or bad, just human 👍

A couple of shots of my Squier CV60s P Bass with Aguilar Pickups at a recent studio recording session, I don't know what it is but this bass is very special.

My new love arrived today. Added Rotosound 77s for reggae, 60s pop & Northern Soul.

Now, some people may construe this as political.... I couldn't possibly say. It is, however, bass related.

We will speak to our website developers and see how that can be changed. Thank you so much for your feedback, it really helps us improve things from a customers point of view, which of course is the most important.

Seeing as I've done a new poster design...

Officially finished 👍🏻

NGL, I absolutely love the look and sounds of this thing. Yeah it's a tad disco but dayum 😍😍 https://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-basses/jazz-bass/limited-player-plus-x-blu-detiger-jazz-bass/0149410376.html

I don't have a fancy poster but this is my social media meme for Deadlight Dance supporting Canute's Plastic Army at The Tuppenny in Old Town, Swindon in 7 days time.

The yellowing actually looks like it's just the glue or the filler used to seal the gaps between the fingerboard wood and the inlay. Looks very minor, and might well clean up easily. The control knob issue sounds like an easy fix too, that wouldn't bother me at all. Either the potentiometer isn't properly fixed to the bass and turns along, or it's broken and won't stop which is an easy replacement that will only cost a few pounds. The dent is not that bad, and for something that has lived on the store floor to try out, I guess it happens. All things I could live with at more than 50% reduced price, and the pots and fingerboard I would definitely try to fix myself

Ampeg went the "design your own" route and had to do around 10 revisions to the PF500 before it was more reliable. With class A/B amps, the power amp design was often a variant of a standard design published by semiconductor manufacturers. The same was true of early valve/tube amps. The beauty of ICEPower or Powersoft is that the power section is tried and tested also already meets the major international safety, RFI and EMI (interference) standards. The problem you have, and several manufacturers have produced Bass amp model numbers implying higher power outputs than specified by the module manufacturer. Of course it is possible. by careful design to extract a bit more from these modules. @agedhorse has developed the techniques to squeeze 800 watts from the ICEPower 700AS1 module. Many other manufacturers use that module and include "800" in the model number when the maximum power at 4 ohms, with reasonable distortion, is 700 watts. I am sure @agedhorse can explain this better than I can but hopefully that answers your question.

My favourite for a transparent, doesn't affect the normal tone at all is the Boss BC-1X. It's so good I sold my Cali76 / Darkglass / Empress etc etc It just works in every setting, and doesn't do any annoying volume dip and swell that some compressors do with high output pickups. For a dirty compressor that is really a tone changing machine my favourite is the Fairfield The Accountant.

Got to meet Ian a few months back. He was doing a clinic thingy, mostly concentrating on getting interesting sounds out of his Helix. Genuinely nice guy, proper bass nerd too. I met Scott back in the dim and distant past, well before he was doing SBL, and he was nice enough. Not seen him since though, so I’ve no idea what he’s like now.

This is so true of my my Mustang too. It’s plainly a short scale thing. Time to upgrade the pickups on my HB ‘stangalike methinks (once I’ve got over my current Spector GAS).

One thing I didn't like much is teh pickguard shape... but the routing is reasonably clean Passive tone control doesn't go as dark as I'd like, I might change the capacitor... however, while playing around adding a bit of the neck pickup while rolling off the passive tone and the treble control I found some really tasty sounds, fat and rich... This is a lot of bass, and not just 'for the money'.

Of course, rough trade around Denmark Street used to mean something very different ...

HERE

Good grief. Apart from the pot, which shouldn't be hard to fix, they are the most trivial quibbles for the price.

All those comments are totally fair, and I'm definitely not quibbling the price. Hard to say no to £600 off. The condition report on the listing was: "ex-showroom/demo model from Cort. This product might have slight imperfections or light play wear but is otherwise as close to new condition as possible at a discounted rate." So was definitely willing to take a punt on it based on that text. And I don't really mind the headstock dent at all. But the yellowing would just annoy me, and the goosed pot shouldn't be there. Also noticed some yellowing on the finish too. It's a bargain for someone, but not for me I'm afraid.

Now I've got Tuba GAS. Thanks for everything Herbie ❤️

That was a brilliant thread @ped. What an amazing range of tones from your choice of pick ups. The Bridge pick up reminded me of an EB3 Andy Frazer sound and then you moved into a more mellow P sound and no actives to help. Love it. Dave

Completely agree, it's also a bit one sided isn't, we get to moan about them, sometimes by name, they get to apologise or similar. I'd love to hear what they have to say about some of us (note I have an excellent solicitor)!

Yeah, I mean that alone ends the argument of whether it was the right response or not...

"Hey man, I loved your bass tone tonight. It was really... efficient." Said no-one, ever.

This seems to be the result of poor customer service training, unless it was Mark you spoke with? If I worked at BD and were too busy at that point to discuss your options, I would've asked for your email address so I could send you links to some relevant cabs in stock when I was able. That shouldn't be too hard and would keep you interested. In my experience, many music shop employees are budding musicians first, with little to no CS training.

As a cable maker I often get requests for 4mm speaker cable to connect heads to cabinets, usually 0.5-1m in length. I always advise that this is both expensive and unnecessary. Here is my explanation. The reason thinner cable is OK for shorter lengths is the lower resistance/impedance. The current carrying capacity becomes the most important here as over 0.5-1m it is irrelevant for most cable CSAs. I always argues that 4mm is way overspec'd for bass heads to bass cab connection. The cable current carrying capacity is far higher than even the speakOn connectors and the output of bass amplifiers. 1mm = 10A 1.5mm = 16A 2.5mm = 25A 4.0mm = 32A 10A at 4 ohms = 400 watts 16A at 4 ohms = 1024 watts 25A at 4 ohms = 2500 watts 32A at 4 ohms =4096 watts If your load is 8 ohms the power limit is twice those figures and remember that these are continuous ratings at 25C. If you look at Sommer Meridian Mobile speaker cable, the resistance is 7.5 ohms per kilometre or 1000 meters. So the resistance is less than 8/1000s of an ohm. So of 2500 watts you would dissipate just under 5 watts in the cable of 1 metre. Of course none of us are using 2500 watt amps... 4mm cable was is useful for those massive line array PA systems but not useful for bass amps IMHO. So why do I recommend 2.5mm and why not mains flex of the same size and rating? Well I have it in stock. However the real reason is that the Sommer Meridian Mobile cable 2.5mm is very flexible, unlike either mains cable or many competitors speaker cables. Sommer use 140 strands of copper while some well known competitors use 50 in their 2.5mm cable. So they bend more easily and are a delight to use.

It's really very hard to find and back in the day, I ended up asking my friend Christophe Leduc to build me one sixer EUB, a totally unique piece. It only took 7, yes seven, years to get it...

This might be the rarest of the lot. I think I've only ever seen one other Peach Sabre and that's the one Tony Levin played in the Peter Gabriel: Live in Athens 1987 concert. Maple board, 3-band EQ. Sounds phenomenal in his hands. I seem to recall someone saying it was destroyed in a fire - I sure hope not! It's a concert worth watching with Tony Levin playing a variety of Music Man basses. I got mine, a 1988, without the original guard unfortunately, I suspect it would have been a clear one.

Landed a second BBII cab today.

So Rough Trade are opening a new branch on Denmark St, not sure exactly where but I'll be in the area tomorrow to nose around. Hopefully it'll get some of the young folk interested in guitars and that. Assuming there are any guitar shops left! https://www.nme.com/news/music/rough-trade-first-tin-pan-alley-music-shop-london-denmark-street-store-3792587

It would be rude not to, thanks for the cue, drT! Very rare indeed. Actually most of the Peaches I’ve seen were from 1988, with the odd one from 1989. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a 1990 but there might be the odd one out there. The bass on the left is from 1987, it’s one of the prototypes EBMM made for the SR5. It has some unusual features, as does Tony Levin’s, so his might also fall into that category. The SR4 is a 1988, the other SR5 a 1989.

My brother asked me to do this one (I didn't learn the little bridge at the end properly, just a rough take!):

No? what about this one? This is partly why I sold my Celinder - the 70s jazz sound from this bass is massive, I have never had such a good P and J sound in one bass and if you told me it would be on a mustang I'd have thought you were mental!