Apeneck Sweeney

Just bought some Tempera strings from Rabbie. Very easy to deal with. Strings were well packed and arrived safely. Excellent communication. (Next time I'll try not to give my old postcode as this confused the delivery driver.)

I used it with my double bass for a while. I tried it with blending 2 pickups using left and right inputs (similar to a handful of the posts above) but ultimately found it too fiddly for this. A lot of my gigs had a very limited setup time and the less I had to mess with EQ the better. Someone better versed at dialling in a sound quickly might get on well with it. I also used it on a function gig where I had to swap between upright and electric. I tried this several ways; similar to above using left and right input so I didn't need to change patches and also with a dedicated patch that I switched between for each instrument. I did need an A/B switcher for this but did somehow manage patches with left and right inputs but I can't remember how. Again even though the gig required me to get there 3 or 4 hrs before playing the bass seemed to only get about 30 seconds of sound check time so I never really got it right. One other thing to consider is input impedance. if you're using a piezo pickup then you may be better off with something higher than the 1 Mohm on the Helix (I think). I think my (old) Platinum has 10 m ohm. If you have an fdeck or similar you could plug into that first before going to the Helix. I just picked up a Fire-Eye Red-Eye which has made a big difference to the sound from my Full Circle. There's a talkbass thread in the amps/mics/pickups forum you might find interesting. Headway are bringing out a new version of the EDB 2 in November with a valve preamp. It might be worth waiting until that comes out to see if it might be more useful to you for double bass though you may still want the Helix for bass guitar and guitar. I hope this hasn't been too rambling.

Sold my Ehrlund pickup and preamp to Rohan. Very quick and easy to deal with. Recommended.

Crispin bought an Allparts Jazz neck from me and was a friendly, easy person to deal with. Recommended basschatter. Dave

I have one of these https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/210217366881025--voodoo-lab-hx-current-doubler-cable though they are out of stock at guitarguitar atm. Maybe you can source one elsewhere.

Thank you all for your input. mcnach has confirmed my good luck.

Thanks nekomatic. I probably won't push my luck then, though the P15 sounds great in the clips I've heard. The trouble with smaller non VAT registered builders in the EU is they can only put cost of goods as including VAT on the customs form without an exact breakdown. This leaves you open to the possibly of paying VAT on top of the retail price. I really like the Gnome and Goliath but hate not knowing the final price. I think when I bought some double bass strings from the US I ended up paying enough to make them the same price as buying them here plus £11 to DHLfor the pleasure of paying them.

I've bought 3 Broughton Audio pedals recently. I budgeted for 20% + for importing and was pleasantly surprised not to have to pay anything both times (I bought two pedals the first time, one the next). A friend who got a Broughton Fliptop at the same time as me also didn't pay. I think one package was under £200 inc delivery and the 2 pedal package was just over £200. I'm in the market for a tube DI or tube pre with DI and have gone back and forth between the Broughton P15, the Khan DI and either the Gnome or Goliath from WR in Luxembourg. I'm leaning towards the Gnome as I already have a few preamps I like but the import duties are an unknown due to VAT. I don't want to pay VAT twice and import duties on top. I can't find any clear info on gov.uk. The P15 is around £400 which may tip it over the limit for Canada, I don't know. Has anyone had anything in that price range from Canada recently?