fretmeister

I’m loving the East preamp. It’s really good.

The revolution is coming!

Courtesy of JoeBass of this parish I now have a lovely new-to-me Sandberg Superlight TT5. Some will know I'm a big fan of the SL basses and I have a 4 string already. I have been looking for a 5 string for ages and this one is a particularly lightweight example at only 6lb 12oz! Under 7lb for a full scale 5 string is amazing. Even Sandberg suggest most of the 5 string superlights are just under 8lb. It balances perfectly and the neck is very comfy. Sandbergs have my favourite necks of all basses. As an added bonus it's got the East J-Retro Deluxe preamp. A massive confusion of stacked knobs and switches. My first thought was "that's coming out and EMGs are going in" but after playing with it quite a lot it now makes a lot of sense. I wasn't a fan of the Sandberg pickups with the stock preamp in my 4 string but with the East they seem to be much better so I'll hold off from ordering my usual EMGs for a while. It now has some Thomastik Jazz Roundwounds on it and I still need to tweak the intonation a little but it's nearly there. However - it will, at some point, get a finger ramp to help with my finger injury (I did warn @Andyjr1515 when he made the last one for me! ), and I will put some stickers on the neck for fret dots. Most of all though - that tort plate is going! Tort is only for the type of pervert that puts pineapple on pizza! I'll get a black one for that classic black & maple look. It will then match my 4 string. #OCD Thanks again to Joe for an easy transaction, and a lovely bass. Next big band rehearsal is in about 2 weeks and we've got a new band leader (not met them yet) but I will be taking this.

There's a huge number of 45mm nuts on 5 strings. I think 47.5mm is less common these days. Anyway - I'd recommend trying a Sandberg TT5 either the regular or the Superlight version if you like a really low weight. My own Superlight 5 is under 7lb / 3.2 kg and it sounds amazing and is perfectly balanced.

Just bought JoeBass’s lovely Sandberg Superlight bass after a meet at the salubrious Newport Pagnell services. Its a great bass and Joe is a gentleman. A hassle free deal. Good to meet you Joe!

Helix is the answer. Run one set of outputs to the powered speaker for your personal monitoring, and the other outputs to the PA at the same time. You'll get every sound you'll ever need out of that. 50s at one end, to Periphery metal at the other - and can swap it with a single button mush. The Headrush powered cab isn't in the same league as the Yamaha and the RCF stuff, but they are a lot more expensive. If the PA is doing the hardwork then you only need the powered speaker to be your personal monitor anyway.

I've tried the Nordy's on other basses and I found them too clanky for my current needs. Great pickups though, but the Aguilars are just lovely. They now do DCB versions of P and J pickups so I'm tempted to get a set for a different bass.

If I'm playing in my jazz big band... then there can be 25 of us and there's very little room to tart about. If it's a rock gig - then I'm all over the place apart from when I'm actually singing. For a little while I had a radio unit for both my bass and for a headset mic for backing vocals and I WAS that idiot who would go to the bar during a song. Top Tip - only do that with a headless guitar as otherwise the comedians in the crowd will flip with your tuning on the way past.

One of the stock sounds is a great normal drive sound. A bit tubey in character, but without the woofy-ness that some valve amps get in the lows. I was really surprised by it - I bought it for the silly sounds, but it is now my main drive pedal too.

I forgive that one - they spell it differently and the say it how they write it. I did see someone on the telly say "Wives Sainttttt Laurentttttt" and didn't get it for a moment. Death is too good for them!

Yeah - but we improved ourselves. The Colonials kept with it. And don't get me started on crossaaaiiiiiinte either.

ickea is the proper Swedish way of saying it. Funny how for some words we use local attempts and for others the original. We don't say "Pari" for Paris. But we do say "Ypres" properly - rather than the American way of saying it as "wipers"

You sir, are a scholar and a gentleman.

You could have fixed the "of" in the title as well. That's giving me the shivers!

Those Aguilars are really good.

I’ve done that. I had a board with a lot of high draw pedals so I had three 20,000mAh packs underneath. Worked great, but was annoyingly heavy and the charging process was a pain in the derrière. I now have a 6m IEC cable instead!

I can’t think of a single one that will do 12v. I think you’d have to get janky. Use a 20,000maH power pack and then run a voltage converter cable to get 12v, and then use a second 9v one for the other pedals. You’ll have to do the maths to make sure the set up will give enough current draw for your pedals for long enough for a gig. Digital pedals in particular run them down fast. By the time you’ve done all that you might as well get a nice long power cable and a traditional isolated power supply.

I wouldn’t touch anything by Vertex ever. Not after the scams they pulled, and eventually admitted. Absolute grifters.

Nothing lined up for me at the moment. I’d quite like a random night out at Ronnie Scott’s though for an over priced burger and to discover some artists I know nothing about. I like a musical surprise.

The drop only goes down. The other two go up as well. I liked the drop (not tried the others) but ultimately decided it was better to learn to play tunes in multiple keys. I’m still working on that!

it seems to be a product advertising system interspaced with scientifically illiterate “wellness” posts and underfed women bending over wearing thongs.

Everything about being in a band other than the performance.

I like a proper magazine too. I understand that they aren’t economically viable anymore, but I miss them.

I’m reasonably ambidextrous from performing magic but playing bass left handed is a nightmare. Stick with right handed. Far better choice of instruments and loads of amazing players don’t use their pinky anyway.

There's a Lionel on ebay at the moment at a good starting price. I don't know the seller. If I hadn't already ordered a new one (8 months to go!) I'd be all over this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175380368113?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=ccdce764b5e443c19f2f458ac74c8cc2&bu=43119054589&ut=RU&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1~1&crd=20220811070706&segname=11021