fretmeister

I'm really liking the Solid Gold FX Beta V at the moment. It has an ampeg flavour to it. Works great at low and high drive levels. No clean mix though if that is important to you.

I am also a big fan of the EBS Billy Sheehan Deluxe - a lot more versatile than people thing, and the Darkglass Alpha Omega.

Bit left field - but I love the kind of dirty drive the Fairfield 'The Accountant' compressor does when compressing a lot. It's absolutely horrible on its own, and just amazing in a mix.

No wonder most of my instruments are German or Japanese!

Also - WTF can measure anything in imperial?

What the smeg is a 32nd of an inch?  

I had no idea that shorter ones could be purchased! So obvious!  

If anyone has a link before I trust google that would be very useful.

Saddle height screws. 

The bridge crews on my bitsa stick out a lot.

What is the best way to cut them down?

Hacksaw?

Dremel type thing?

ta

I took out the black labels from my TT4 and stuck in EMG J set and their preamp.

Fully up is the same as any other fully up.

It’s the amount of treble cut available that is the change. I really like it.

It’s a plastic Fender one.

I’ll try that first.

My bitsa P has a “pull the strings through” bridge and it’s annoying me already! I’m used to quick change bridges now.

I’m looking at replacing with a Hipshot B Type Fender mount, but are there any others with the usual 5 screw Fender mount that are cheaper? The Hipshot is quite expensive.

I don’t want the hassle of having to plug holes and redrill for something that isn’t a Fender mount.

ta.

I need to lower the nut slots in my bitsa.

Can someone recommend some serviceable nut files that don’t cost the earth?

ta.

How do you mount it on the strap? Does the light unit unscrew from the goose neck clip?

That's a neat idea.

I'm just disappointed the pink hair isn't real.

20 minutes ago, TbirdnTalman said:

it looks lovely - how did you finish the body?

I bought it like that from the classifieds on here.

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

You cannot beat a decent bitsa 👍

I should have done one years ago. I always wanted a P with a J neck.

I might start planning another one now! It does seem to be quite a good way of getting another bass into the house past the boss.

Parts arriving is far less obvious!  

I can't afford a EBMM Joe Dart but I do have a good MM type pickup (Aguilar), tuners, an old BBOT bridge and a selection of old pots lying about. Might have to start looking at ebay for cheap bodies...  

Won't even have to be painted!

That's very kind but I actually found one - they are the same as PRS strap buttons and when I had a PRS a long time ago I swapped the strap buttons for strap locks, so there was one in my random jar of metal shiny things.

There's a thread on it in Bass Guitars now.

Just needs some good strings on it now.

it’s sounding mostly ace, just getting some warbling on the G string on high fretted notes so I suspect either the pickup is too high or the string is twisted.

I’ll sort that out tomorrow.

I went with a 0.1uF cap and it goes super dark and reggae like with the tone fully down.

and I did my maths right… it’s bang on 7lb. 

Ashdown have new sig amps for Shavo and for Rex Brown

https://ashdownmusic.com/pages/namm25

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFLB1L-Pqqo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

They look lovely!

https://www.gallien-krueger.com/rb-legacy

I really like the look of that.

8 hours ago, Peaty said:

It's the body shape that I find uncomfortable, the split pick up is totally fine.

 

'possible can of worms alert'

Does the split pickup configuration (normal vs reversed) have any meaningful effect on the tone?

I think so, it can reduce a little low flub just by having the EA coil further back.

57 minutes ago, TorturedSaints said:

This thread seems to explain why I found it so difficult to find a replacement for myself!  As I posted in another thread here a few weeks ago:

 

It looks like from all the comments above that it’s a bit of a niche “ask” 😀

That sounds fun to me.... but it's about 400 miles away!  

2 hours ago, solo4652 said:

Update:  After another rehearsal with the orchestra, I've decided it's not for me. Fish out of water. I asked for the rehearsal tracks and bass tabs for the last rehearsal to be sent in advance so I could practise at home. Some arrived, some didn't, which was frustrating. Also, to my ears, many of the backing tracks for rock songs really did not sound much like the original rock songs. They sounded like - errmm - an orchestra playing a rock song. All of that, together with my complete absence of experience of playing with an orchestra, meant it was clearly not the right place for me.

 

A drummer friend has contacted me about setting up a pop/soul/funk band from scratch. Drummer, bassist (me), keys player already in place, with a couple of female singers showing interest. Now then - that's my scene... 

That's what most community orchestras are like - they often get a wide range of instruments to deal with - lots of them brass or reed instruments so they naturally end up sounding like an orchestra or a jazz big band.

I still remember my first rehearsal with one - a jazz band. Seven Nation Army to start - nice and easy even though it was in a different key.

Then it was Stevie Wonder (in a different key and with a completely jazzed up middle section) and things started to fall apart. Not helped by the look I got from an 11 year old (yes, really) trumpet player who was already Grade 8 and looking to study at a conservatoire already.

I finally quit last summer after a total of 12 years there in different ensembles, with about 7 years in the Jazz Band.

I learned a huge amount. I only started because my kids wanted to attend and it wasn't worth driving home and then back again to collect them.

On 20/01/2025 at 23:46, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I cropped the page quite a lot. All the missing information is on the original.

 

Most sight readers would struggle to interpret 'Portrait of Tracey' with all the notes played as harmonics.

 

To me the shortcomings of tab are lack of key information and not making chord inversions obvious.

 

As I am incapable of retaining anysight reading skills for more than a day or so, I will make the best of tab. Sadly most tab is inaccurate (but then so are many of the traditional scores for bass I have painstakingly worked out a note at a time).

I think you've hit the nail on the head there - until it becomes a genuine second language it needs practice every day. It's a perishable skill.

But so is reading English if you have enough time away from it.

It's also why any teacher will say "10 minutes a day" rather than 3 hours on a Saturday. 10 mins a day is only 70 mins a week, but it is far more effective doing short daily practice so the brain gets programmed with it properly.

On 20/01/2025 at 23:48, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Just search round. Both tabs are out there. The main riff is a doddle it's the chorus that's trickier.

I know - I bought the book in about 2004/5 as I was going to a jam night and one of the scratch bands wanted to do it and it was quicker than transcribing it myself.

Wasn't as many tab sites 20 years ago!