neepheid

"Can you give me a strap button for my Kay?" "Aye, that seems like a fair swap..."

Replacing regular ones with straplocks would be... Just use Grolschlocks, one free with every beer!

I would imagine so.

I should point out that this is banter, I fear I might be coming across a bit too serious. Just digging you in the ribs...

Oh aye? Got an order number, have you?

If you pay the luthier a deposit in this calendar year, I'd say you're out. Talk is cheap...

Agreed, don't mess about with it any further. And if it is dodgy then shame on the retailer for flogging it as B stock - gotta check these things

In my limited experience with Bax, they'll deliver in the end. Might take a while, but I got mine - even a company bankruptcy didn't stop them.

This smells like preventative maintenance to me. Nah, I'd be inclined to ignore this.

This example is a T1 for me - it's going on a bass pedalboard. It's being used with a bass. There is a certain "spirit" to this challenge which should be upheld, and use case is an important factor otherwise we'd have everyone claiming that every pedal which is not specifically marketed as a "bass" pedal is a T2. Nah, I'm not having it. People gotta be honest with themselves. If you fire bass signals through it, it's a bass pedal. Come on, you're fooling no-one I know this is a bit of fun, but that is a principle I am going to stick to in any of my adjudications. Yes, Neep is the mean judge, the one you hope you don't get, the one with the gavel worn down to almost the handle...

If they were out of phase, you would hear a very noticeable drop in output and a thin, nasal tone. From what you've written here, I think you're in phase. If you're feeling adventurous, swap the hot and ground wires of one of the pickups and see what difference it makes. Or just leave it, because what you describe sounds fine to me.

Well, I'm going to be a meanie and call shenanigans on this one. Was it necessary to make the MultiFX work? Presumably the MultiFX worked fine before, it was just a bit fiddlier to select stuff? You could argue that it's not specifically bass gear, but it's being used to control bass gear and you could argue that a Line6 M5 is not specifically bass gear and then where would we be? It's a T2 fail at the very minimum, and that's if I'm being charitable. It's creeping into T1 territory because of the use case. I would also argue that something which manipulates the signal chain IS in the signal chain. It's not a strap, is it? Seems like an indulgence to me, but maybe I haven't had it explained sufficiently for my pea brain to figure it out. Happy to hear any rebuttal of the above.

No. You tell with your ears.

Well, you're the one who declared yourself out, I'm just going by what you said. I don't even know what one of those is, except what the words mean. Can you give us some detail about what it is and what it is used for?

Well, someone's gotta be first. Congratulations!

Not in the signal chain, an accessory. I don't think it counts.

I've only ever played one Rick, and it was... ok. Wasn't awful, but didn't blow my hair back either. Looked nice. But it never sparked a desire in me to ever own one.

I wish you good fortune on your downsizing quest.

Well, I gave the Drivetrain a good go the other night with the band and honestly, I was rather underwhelmed. It was too muddy/mushy and got a bit lost in the room. Needed quite a bit of EQ help to make itself heard, not quite as bad as the "Fartolini" kit in the Cort Curbow, but certainly reminiscent of that experience. I had a plan B for this eventuality - ordered a MM4 at the same time as the Drivetrain in case such a thing happened. So last night I did yet another pickup swap... It may be the confirmation bias running riot, but I do think that there's a bit more aggression to the sound of this pickup vs. the Drivetrain, in my headphones at least. Will find out next time I'm playing live in the room with a band.

Damn, I had forgotten all about those. A lot to like - might add one to my hit list for 2027 (aff it this year).

You are permitted to conclude last year's business (ie. something ordered in 2025) with a final payment.

Is this a confession?

Cards on the table and seeing as you asked, I bought the bass last year knowing the pickup was broken. The pickup's been with my mate for a while (like since last year), but he's a busy boy and he's doing it for free so I don't like to nag (much). But am starting to think I might need a plan B, hence the spitballing ahead of time.

I have a scenario to run by you all (and I'm just speculating at the moment) - I have a Yamaha SB500S with a knackered neck pickup. I didn't break it, it arrived that way, it's second hand, it's no longer in production. I have the broken pickup with someone just now attempting to repair it, but should that fall through what would be the collective's thoughts regarding ways forward? You can't realistically get an exact replacement pickup for the current, broken one, but it is basically a J pickup in a bespoke Yamaha housing, because Yamaha. If the broken pickup is unsalvageable, would I get a pass from the jury if I was to get a Tonerider or something similarly inexpensive to replace it with? It's not like for like (other than dimensions), but I wouldn't be using this as an opportunity to procure some fancy, boutique pickup. I just want the bass to work properly again. I hope the OG pickup gets repaired successfully, that is deffo Plan A, just formulating a Plan B... Thoughts? No wrong answers (including "wait until next year, play your other basses")