dmccombe7

Decided i would try a set of DR Sunbeams on my Jazz bass so started looking for cheapest. Heard a few people say Amazon so had a look. Found them at £31 and as i was in a hurry to go out hit the "1-click" order button. Brilliant till i came home and checked my emails and found the postage was £8.50. Quick search and found they were being sent from Germany. Put in a cancellation request right away and to be fair the company did cancel the order first thing this morning without issue. It was my own fault for not checking but really Amazon should show typical P&P costs on main page same as Ebay. I guess i just need to be more careful when ordering. I finally ordered a set from Bass Direct for £32 incl P&P. Should have gone there first anyways. Dave

Jean Genie - Bowie Blockbuster - Sweet Get it On - T.rex Alright Now - Free Oddly enough the bass riff on 1st 2 are almost the same Dave

When i decided to get a custom for my 50th i searched many different luthiers to give me an idea of what they had already built. I then started to narrow it down based on the ones i liked. Some luthiers make great basses but the styles they have kinda put me off some. There are different levels of custom too. Full custom from design to completion - never been done before and could well be a shape that you wanted and then the selection of woods, electronics and pick ups etc. Standard custom - that's where the luthier has a specific shape of custom and you can select the woods used, pick ups electronics etc and how you want things positioned on the bass. I personally decided on an Overwater. Main reasons :- 1. i liked what they had already built for others. I had followed them since 80's and knew who they were. 2. reviews were all positive and could find no negatives at all 3. They were close enough for me to visit during build 4. Budget played a big part too 5. Luthiers attitude to you and what you wanted 6. Luthiers flexability during all stages of the build - by that i mean both ways. If he thinks something isn't going to work he may suggest an alternative. 7. Luthiers ability to sit down and discuss what you want, make suggestions, discuss how different woods will sound and any number of initial thoughts before agreeing to go ahead with the build. The decision on the woods was down to the Luthier for me. I told him what types of bass sounded good to me and sound i was generally looking for. As it was a 6 string fretless he suggested some options and highlighted the weight issue which i hadn't given much thought to. Being a fretless he told me what woods would sound best and he then showed me some wood facings and the wood he would use for my bass should i go ahead. Its not something to take lightly. Its a lot of money and you need to do as much reasearch as possible before going ahead. Take notes of what you like in a bass, what sounds good to you, what looks good to you, 4, 5 or 6 string, fretted or fretless. Take notes of anything you don't like in a bass. This all helps when meeting with a luthier. I love the sound of my Warwick Thumb NT but would never be able to play a 6 string version of it for any more than about 30-40mins becasuse of the weight. My Overwater is the one in my BC pic on left. The pick up covers were a suggestion by Chris from Overwater and they just finished it off really well. I've looked at the ACG basses too and they definately are very well built and Alan i've met at bass bash he runs and he knows his stuff. I would be happy to buy an ACG next time. All the very best if you decide to go for it. Dave

Another legend of music. RIP Mr Watts Dave

Had a few but most memorable ones :- WAL Custom fretless bought £740 back early 80's. Traded for a Ric if i remember right cause it had a dead spot on G string around Eb. WAL weren't interested even tho it was a new bass. Guess i wasn't famous enough for them. Gorgeous flame sycamore lined fretless too. Swore i wouldn't buy another but then again i'm older and wiser now. Also had a Shergold twin neck 4 & 8 string. (£630) This was the 1st 8 string they made and was based on their 6 string bass at the time. Traded in for an Aria SB1000. Dave

Sunbeams are round wound with a round core. Think you can get flatwound DR strings tho. Bass Direct have a fair selection in stock and bit cheaper than my usual Strings Direct and Strin Busters. Also noted that GAK strings are a bit cheaper than strings suppliers mentioned above. Dave

[quote name='Dropzone' timestamp='1485265244' post='3222591'] I have to go to horsey things like show jumping. I don't hate it but I would rather be covered in chocolate and thrown to the lesbians if I had a choice ;-) I will be at download suffering so you guys don't have to. [/quote] I don't think the option is a punishment. Sounds like a great plan to me. Dave

I'm lucky that my wife likes same music as me so not an issue. Dave

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1485255141' post='3222443'] These: [url="https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_valuestrings_bassguitar_medium.htm"]https://www.thomann....itar_medium.htm[/url] [/quote] Wow they're cheap. Any good and do they last. Dave

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1485196435' post='3222020'] Sunbeams are nickel roundcore. Lo Riders are nickel hexcore. Fatbeams and Hi Beams are steel roundcore. Lo Rider steels are steel hexcore. [/quote] Excellent info. Quite fancy trying the Sunbeams just for a change. Dave

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1485186214' post='3221890'] Ditto - lovely strings, currenty some 40-100's on one of my basses IIRC, aren't the Nickel windings over round core instead of the usual hex core ? [/quote] From what i've read yep they are a round core. Dave

Cracking buy. Well done. Can you not adjust the pre-amp to bring it down to the passive level. I see there are 2 small pots in the photo. ?? Dave

I mostly use 40-100 gauge and was wondering what everyone else uses. ? Some manufacturers class that as light and others as medium or regular. Dave

[quote name='Davo-London' timestamp='1485178498' post='3221774'] Massive fan of Sunbeams here. Worth a try if you are a nickel fan. Mine seems to last a long time. Even when the initial freshness has gone (ie zing reduced) they have a lovely tone. I would also say that if you generally find you are missing fatness, punch or growl - turn up the amp! Davo [/quote] Don't seem to be missing the fatness but some of the growl which i had always assumed it was down to using my fingernails for more attack. Could well be i need to reduce bass levels, add some more mids and as you say turn up the amp a little. I tend to run my amps flat with occasionally a touch of mid boost. Dave

Electricians still call a Fluke insulation tester a Megger and yep i can remember when they were huge bix wooden boxes. Think we still have ours in the substation altho its for HV only. Its the flying lead part i was missing and that explains it all. Cheers Dave

I've worked with many engineers of all disciplines over 40yr career in engineering and found that not everyone takes routine checking as seriously as everyone else. The advantage of PAT testing for me as a Manager was that it provided proof for audits that the routine inspections were being completed correctly and that we had the evidence to back it up. The audits were either by HSE, Insurance companies or internal engineering audits. That may percieved as being just a tick in the box but at the end of the day routine checks were actually done and not made up as i have found in industry where jobs were written up as completed but not actually done. (yes that does happen where engineers are too lazy to do the work) Years ago i would find plugs with earths disconnected or loose. I have come across plugs with 3 cores clamped rather than the sheath. All of these were fitted by people that were regarded as competent. For me being the person on the firing line at audits it was an easy way to show we were taking things seriously and believed in a safety first culture. I do appreciate that mental attitude to safety has improved over the years and maybe PAT testing just helped us get there. Its not perfect but it helped reduce accidents in the workplace. A visual examination if carried out correctly would have captured many of the issues tho. I don't know the intricasies of PAT testing and i'm not sure how it works but assuming its a form of megger test to check insulation. 1. How does it check continuity of cabling ie how do you know your earth cable is actually connected inside the unit ie amp in this case. ? 2. With regards my own personal equipment i check a cable with a multimeter and check earth to amp casing. I think perhaps buying a small PAT tester might be very handy. Dave

What about the DR Lo-Rider nickel strings. Anyone compared them with the D'Addarios or Sunbeams. Did see the Fat Beams but description on them wasn't clear as to what they were made from. Certainly Marcus Miller has a really nice tone on his Jazz altho its an active bass. Anyone got comparison with the D'Addarios V's Ernie Ball Slinky nickels. ? Dave

Before PAT testing people never bothered rechecking items after installation. That led to items falling into disrepair. The good thing about PAT testing is that it forces an inspection. Dave

Currently using D'Addario nickel 40-100 on my Jazz bass. Used Fender equivelants before that. Historically i always kept my plucking finger nails just long enough to catch the string and produce a nice sharp attack. As i've gotten older my nails are occasionally breaking and causing changes in tone when playing. I have since cut nails short to keep a consistent tone. My query is that i'm finding the D'Addario nickels don't quite have enough punch or growl and i seem to just get a lot of low end. Does anyone have any suggestions on strings that might help give me some clearer mids / hi end. I'm currently playing funk / blues material. I've been looking at DR's and Ernie Ball nickel strings but not sure which would be best. The DR's are quite expensive and don't really want to waste £36 on a set of strings that don't work for me. There's also some debate about DR gauge. Some suggest going to 45-105 as DR's are more flex. I've searched BC forums but don't see any similar topics in recent pages. Dave

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1485101260' post='3221104'] I`d probably go for the Ernie Ball Cobalts, they`ve enough zing to sound like rounds if required, but can be tamed down to flat-sounding, so pretty much the best of both worlds. [/quote] I've tried Elixirs on my jazz but because of the coating it makes the buzzing worse so went back to nickel. Are the cobalts coated as well. Better still i'll just google them. Dave

Trekkin and Wombles of Wimbledon song were great fun. Everything else already listed kinda falls into my suggestions of crap songs. Dave

I switched from Stainless to Nickel and find they helped a lot. Not just as hard on the fingers. They don't have quite the same zing as stainless tho. When i used the Rotosound strings when i was younger i literally had blood coming from my finger tips at one gig. It was dripping down the front of the bass. Adrenalin rush meant i didn't spot it or feel it but mate who was in audience clocked it.. Those were the days of heavy metal. Now i play lighter with nickel strings. Dave

Not used flats since 80's when i had fretless basses. Might give them a go on the Jazz once the PJ gets here. Any recommendations on flats for Jazz ? Dave

That's an impressive and expensive collection. Those ACG basses look fantastic. Alan isn't too far from me either and usually see him at the Bass Bash. Always helpful and always showing a great collection. I am also a fan of the early Warwicks and love that Thumb growl but they are a tad heavy. Nlthing compares to that combination of woods and electronics IMO. Nice and thanks for posting. Enjoyed it a lot. Dave

My goto bass is my Jazz but i def find in many band situations it doesn't seem to cut thru the band mix. More noticeable in bands with kys. Sometimes it depends on the style of music. In a 3 piece originals band with a Cream / Who type sound the jazz just wasn't suited and had no mid punch to cut thru. On the other side of the coin a 5 piece Prog band it was great during the quiet sections but when full band really going for it the bass was "just ther" with no clear definition. I've just ordered a Precision Deluxe to hopefully give me best of both worlds. Currently playing Funk / Blues and the jazz works in some songs but not others. Dave