mcnach

I'm not a huge fan of his double thumb and slap style, but I've got a lot of time for him when he talks about music. This short video below may seem a bit surprising coming from him, as he's best known for his technical playing, and he's playing a Precision with flats! but listen, the guy makes a lot of sense.

Ah, I wish I had known! (this was back in... 2013 or 2014) It was like that but not as dark, beautiful grain.

I had one of those... lovely even if it weighed a ton. Eventually I sold it to a guy who travelled from The Netherlands to Edinburgh just to pick it up (and have a few beers in the process )

If you're that close... go see them! They're not the cheapest option, but they will build exactly whatever you want, which then puts them actually cheaper than most other builders. They don't seem to advertise the fact clearly enough, but you can customise everything. My first one I went with a stock Jake except I wanted the neck of a certain profile/dimensions and lacquered. The next two I spec'd pickup position and orientation, neck profile and finish, same with body, hardware, all sorts of little things. I'm glad I don't live that close... I'd have to ask for a job with them just to pay for the instruments I'd be buying from them!

You will not lose that guitar in a dark stage, that's for sure! (and I love it!)

Yes, it does get warm pretty fast, and then it stays, however long I use it for. I even asked around because I worried that mine was not cooling properly, but it seems normal (I hope!) I do like that little amp.

That's true, I just found a review where they open it up. It's a tiny weeny fan. https://www.disssa.de/reviews/amps/tc-electronic-bam200/ I have used it at home quite a bit since I bought it (about 3 months ago), and it's always been quiet. I only used it loudly a couple of weekends ago, where we played a 'gig' at one of our usual venues (no audience, it was simply live streamed), but with all other noises I never even noticed the fan... It does sound like there's a problem with the fan in yours.

Hmm... mine is super quiet. So quiet that I didn't think it had a fan at all. If I get my ear close to it I can hear *some* noise but I am not sure what it is. I might open it up to check. If there's a fan it must be tiny. By comparison, my LMIII which definitely has a fan is a lot louder.

With those requirements, I'd go to someone like Maruszczyk.

If it's like the 2019 VM4 I've got... SUPERB!

Neither is what they used to be 20 years ago. I think you're just as good with either.

Because you like its features and sound? Frankly, I am not sure what the price of my bass has to do with what I pay for an amplifier

I haven't tried a Quilter, but every MarkBass amp I played (all in the LM range, actually, so others may be different?) had this thing where the volume will increase until the knob was at around 1 or 2 o'clock max. The Mesa D800+ seems to just keep going (I never maxed either amp). I think a lot of the difference you mention is to do with the taper of the volume control.

+1 Stewart or Designacable are both great options, very good quality and reaosnable price. Been using Stewart's cables ('Cleartone') since around 2001, and they are still in great condition (I lost a few in the usual chaos post-gig, which is why I started buying from Designacable, as they do coloured ones, and I don't seem to 'lose' them if they're bright red, orange, etc...)

Yes, I have used them on two Stingrays. Do it! That's all. Great preamps and the semiparametric mids are very useful. I also prefer the "2-band" character they have, as opposed to the EBMM 3-band, which I find a bit 'thinner' somehow.

oh crap... 😍

Oh no! That means I may be looking at their TT800, which I only put aside in my mind due to the price in the UK... hmmm

Soooo glad I bought the BAM200. Tonight we had our first 'gig' in months. One of our usual venues, doors closed, no audience, live-streamed into the interwebz. I was going to use the house amplifier, but I decided to put the BAM200 in the gig bag. It was, after all, the reason I bought it, a 'just in case'. Well, during sound check the volume would be erratic, louder, quieter, louder again... So here comes the BAM200. Beautiful. It looked ridiculous on top of a 410, but it sounded really good. As I had already noticed, I had to bring the mids up and bass down a bit to get it into the territory I prefer, and yes, it definitely is not a super loud amp, but it is loud enough for this purpose. It is pretty good sounding!

I didn't feel I gained anything, I never need to hang my bass from the cable. However I forgot *many times* that it was locking, and I'd be absent-mindedly talking to someone while pulling on the plug. It's not that it makes the instrument unusable, but it adds an extra layer of faff that I don't see a reason for. But the main reason for me, is that I prefer to have a system where if you pull accidentally, it'll give way before it snaps. Looping through the strap protects the plug/socket enough and the slack in the loop seems to offer enough leeway, I think. Beyond that, I prefer if the plug can come off rather than continue to offer resistance until it breaks. All those are considerations that don't really seem to have a huge impact, but I fail to see the advantages of locking sockets. I never gave them much thought, and when I got a bass that came with one I said "oh goody!", but hated it pretty soon. Are you considering using them? What is it that you're hoping they will improve?

Loop through the strap. I had a couple of basses with locking sockets... it seemed like a good idea until I used them. Not for me.

If you put it like that... yeah, I mean, nope. I find it hilarious when people don't take well being told that you went with someone else. I've only had to block one person, but that was insane... he kept sending us individually messages on FB and collectively in a chat, telling us how we made a mistake not choosing him (guitarist) and that it must be because we were threatened as he was so much better than us (he wasn't very bad, but he had an awful super distorted tone that he would use for everything, no dynamics, no leaving spaces, a real 'guitar hero' -in his mind-) and he kept going. If you ignored him it was worse because he'd get annoyed we were not engaging with his... monologues. As far as I know he may still be messaging us

True. Years ago I was in a RHCP tribute band and we needed a new singer. The auditions were amazing, for all the wrong reasons. It's incredible how many people think they can sing. The one I remember the best was this guy who was very nice, great attitude, good presence... and not only he could not sing (although, to be fair, it's not like Kiedis is much better ) but his sense of timing and melody was non existent. His phrasing was all over the place, out of key... We finished the first song and our guitarist, ever so polite, smiled and said "well, that was a song... it wasn't THE song, but it was some kind of song". The 'singer' took it as a compliment. We played two more to be sure, and we figured there was no way it would work. You can learn the lyrics if you don't remember them, you can learn many things, but if you don't have a sense for timing...

This is the guy who got back to you with a recording in 3 hours, right? That suggested he was able to come up with cool parts, but maybe he needs a bit of time to work out parts by himself and is not used to just jamming? Maybe his muse was not in that evening, we all get off days. Just trying to find a reason to give him another try... although if the rest of the band really did not like his playing, maybe they're right (but we all know that their judgement cannot be as good as the bass player's... )

ah, what a shame... it sounded so promising from that recording!

It shouldn't be a problem. I bought my VM4 with a black pickguard, and later I contacted them to order a parchment white one. They do sell all sorts of bits and pieces.