fretmeister

They are definitely my favourite bass amp. I moved away from them a few years ago and went through loads of different heads and cabs from a variety of makes at modest and stupid price points but then came back and it felt like home. I've used them in big band jazz and in power trios. 99% of the time I just want a touch of compression, an MB head and cab and I'm happy. I find they take pedals well when I need a bit of grit. MB heads work well with a variety of cabs but I'm not as convinced about MB cabs with other heads. That way round seems to miss something to my ears. All the heads have the MB sound, some with some valve flavouring, and others with a different EQ set up with different number of bands and centre points of the bands. Most of the time I leave them all at noon or reduce the bass a little to stop any booming if the room is a bit crap. I am not that precious about "tone" - as long as I've got a good compressor then I'll plug into pretty much everything, but MB kit makes me smile.

'Arry has his own Seymour model now as the QP wasn't really anything to do with him. That just happened to be spec'd for the first Japanese signature. But this pile of arse should have had at least the sig pickup in it. And the right bridge.

If I did get another one, then the other would get an EMG P-X. That's my other favourite P pickup!

In my ongoing quest for the perfect shortie strings I stuck a set of La Bella IMA signatures on my Lionel. I really like the feel of these on my 34 scale Sandberg but the tension of the set is a bit high in regular tuning, but on a shortie they feel perfect. The Lionel has full sized machinehead posts so there's been no string damage winding them - the strings are groundwound rather than a flat and still very round feeling to me, but with much lower string noise than most others. Very reasonably priced at Bass Direct as well - I will be getting more of them. I asked IMA himself on IG about other options and he tells me that there won't be other gauges coming (boo!) but short scale versions are expected (yay!). So for basses with smaller string posts it looks like some will become available.

I play my SL Lionel a lot more than my SL TT4 these days. Sometimes I wonder about selling the TT4 and maybe getting the TT Lionel version instead so I still have P and J options. Or just another P Lionel. I seem to be moving away from J sounds in general.

I like him a lot. Nice to see irreverent and often self deprecating stuff in an age of “I’m the best” shite.

I put a set on a shortie as well. Also very nice!

Sandberg’s online shop won’t ship to the UK since the “thing” so if you want a different ‘guard it will have to be a special order via a UK dealer. Or get someone else to make one.

Thank you!

My youngest daughter likes to wind me up by expressing "her personal truth" about things. I blame her mother.

4: I nearly have that reaction to The Beatles - but it's not the music as such, it's JL's whiny voice. I think L&M were stellar songwriters and I have a massive collection of covers by other artists. I love the songs. I just can't help thinking how much more popular they would have been with a real singer....

Everything sells if the price is right for the current market conditions. Everything. Even a Lost Prophets album only signed by the singer (who shall not be named) will sell at the market appropriate price. That may not be the same value as you place on the item so you have a choice of dropping the price or being patient or adding value - such as tuners. There's loads of strat and tele type necks on ebay - a quick look will show that the ones with tuners are only a little more expensive - not really covering the cost of the tuners themselves - but they do sell a lot easier because it reduces hassle for the buyer. The ones without tuners often sit there for ages or sell for a pittance.

Send it back. It doesn't seem to have the things that would actually make it a bongo. It's just a 5 string you don't like at this point.

Extract from an interview with Nile Rodgers:

It does sound a lot like A and C have intentions to control the entire thing together. If C is already in a band that is working why would he want 2 jobs that will clash. The more I read it, the more I think that A&C won't be waiting long before binning the OP as well and replacing with another pre-arranged mate. This sort of shite is why I'm not in a band at the moment.

OP - where are you based? Maybe you are close enough to a friendly Basschatter to pop round and get it sorted. I believe the standard payment is a cuppa and a biscuit!

Options: 1: Fire A for the same reasons he has about other people. Replace him. 2: Leave the toxic environment completely, but throw that grenade on the way out - "I am leaving the band. I cannot believe A is secretly plotting to bin B and even set up an audition for C. That's is appalling. A band should be like a marriage - if it's not working you end it. Not try out a side piece first" 3: Seduce A's partner. (Seems to be a rule).

I have strong suspicions that it is just a way for guitar makers to speed up the drying process of their stock and then come up with a suitable reason for the colour change that punters will believe.

I'm 5ft 9 so I'd have to get some Gene Simmons boots to get anywhere close!

I like the little Mooer blue chorus - it's a perfect clone of the Boss CE-2 but has a very useful level control. Sounds just like my real CE-2 I've had since 1989. I think it sounds great on bass. Well - if I was still in the mid-eighties or in a Type O Negative covers band!

That looks amazing! Sandberg do the best relic jobs in the industry.

I stuck a J pickup in my Lionel so the P pickup is the Fender way round. Just with a 3 way switch. I pretty much never use the bridge pickup alone on it, but the P+J is very useful.