neepheid

Suppose I'll add this to the pile - who hasn't modded one of these? It's my first 32" scale (that I remember) and has been modded thus: Ibanez CAP double humbucker (from an ATK810) Series/single/parallel switch added Cheapo Amazon high mass bridge (not that I buy into that, but the original BBOT had a rattly spring which was annoying me) Black/white/black pickguard made by earlpilanz "Block inlay" stickers

You're cursed, mate!

Been through all that rigmarole (except the video) - their offer was derisory.

Radio silence for 2 days, very inefficient. So I get my webchat on. They still don't seem to have it yet (although they can see it was picked up from me and got to wherever it was supposed to go in the UK a couple of days later, so at least that's something) and suddenly it's 20 working days to process a return, not 15 as mentioned in all the emails about it thus far. OK then, you might want to edit your emails to reflect this. Well, I've shaken the tree, hopefully some money will fall out of it soon. Must confess, this faff is beginning to sour my opinion of Thomann - not to the point of boycott or anything, but eye narrowing is going on.

Drool. Making me sad that my 20th Anniversary JC is unwell though. Feeding back like a mofo at the slightest provocation. Tightened everything up that could rattle or move, still bad. Suspect pickup or coil has become microphonic as all hell. I'm intending to do gear abstinence next year, so unless I can convince the abstinent massive that purchasing what I need to fix things is within the rules, then my JC will be mothballed for 2025

John made me a couple of patch cables to help me tidy up my pedalboard. Top service, received the cables in 2 days. Excellent work, keen price, fantastic stuff. I'll be back.

RIght, last go for a while. Just finished some tidying up with a couple of @Chienmortbb patch cables. That's me done now (ha ha).

Tempting...

"The estimated return delivery can take approximately 15 working days" Well, that's been 3 weeks and I haven't heard a peep. Have given them a prod.

I think if you go into this wireless game expecting it to sound exactly the same as wired, you'd better come prepared to spend. TL:DR you are being too analytical.

Where are you finding all these Lo-Z pickups? Do you have a scrappie's yard of Les Paul bass husks somewhere?

I thought it was satire...

Right, that's a wrap. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. It will be known henceforth as the ATJ (Jaguar with ATK pickup). Summary of mods: Pickup replaced with Ibanez CAP double humbucker Bass rewired with a parallel/single/series switch Bridge replaced Black pickguard fitted Block "inlays" (stickers) added I can hear why people hold the Ibanez ATK in such high regard - this is a fine sounding pickup, very punchy and authorative, loads of power, but tight and defined at the same time. Played it at a gig this Saturday past and it was glorious. I really like the 32" scale, it's not noticeably toy feeling like a 30" scale, just subtly different, maybe slightly easier to play, maybe it's all in my head. But it plays really well, that I can say. Fitting the chunkier pickup and bridge seems to have removed some of the natural tendency of this bass to neck dive, as a bonus. TL:DR - it's a big improvement over the original, IMO.

Another weekend, another new (to us) venue. Nine Lives playing at the North Bar in Peterhead on Saturday night. Peter-where? Exactly

Interesting thought - to be honest the amp I was eyeing up for the job has a single speakon output, but I'll think on some more. Glad I asked, what started off as something relatively simple in my mind has typically grown arms and legs as usual!

Thanks for the input and the advice. I should have added that the kind of small head I'd be looking at generally only has a single speaker out connector (because it would need to be small/light for toting around to gigs to potentially not be used), hence why I'd have to go from head to cab then back up to combo speaker, utilising the cab's parallel wiring of its two speakon sockets.

Look out, BC hive mind, here comes a daft question! I'm scheming about getting a small bass head for use in emergencies (or when I get bored). Currently I have a rig consisting of a Markbass Mini CMD121P IV combo and a Markbass New York 121 cab. If I was to get some sort of mini head and I wanted to use both speakers, would it be as simple as getting a cable made up with a Speakon at one end and a jack socket at the other end, so I can simply disconnect the combo's speaker from the combo amp and then do the following: Emergency head > speakon-speakon > New York 121 speakon socket 1 New York 121 speakon socket 2 > speakon-inline jack socket > jack plug coming out of the back of the combo And therefore present a 4 ohm load to the amp? Pictures for context:

Another weekend, another new venue. Played at the Railway Club in Keith last night with Nine Lives. Have you ever rocked up to a venue, only to wonder if it's even open? We feared the worst when the drummer and I arrived first and parked up outside. Tiny door which looks like it should be a side door or something turns out is the main door - pub is actually upstairs. Ugh, stairs, where are the roadies when you need them? So we recce the place and it's empty - save for a guy at the bar with an acoustic guitar playing it, who turned out to be someone we auditioned to be our singer but rejected. I did wonder if this would be awkward. Thankfully, it was not - he was bang up for a good night and came up and said hi afterwards, no hard feelings, good vibes only. Anyhoo, we get set up and just before we start, some people thankfully came in and it grew from there. Turns out there was some sort of fireworks display that night which explains the absence of folk at the start of the evening. It quickly filled up, ended up with a good crowd - it's not a big place by any means but the beauty of that meant that the 40-ish folk who were there seemed like way more. We had a fantastic sound, place was tiny so I didn't even bother with the PA, just used my bass rig to provide the boom on its own. We played really well, no major bloopers. Got lots of good feedback after and the landlord was impressed so hopefully we'll be back. It's a bit of a trek, but I'll travel far to play to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. Gear: Sire D5 then Squier Jag H (or the ATJ as someone suggested on LowEndLobster's discord server), into the Markbass terrible twosome.

It may come as a surprise to you, but you're the reason I'm being "mardy". I've got a gig tonight, I've got next week off work, I've got a whisky tasting on Tuesday night - I was in a fine mood until you showed up.

Simmer doon yersel!

Nope, I put D'addario XL nickel rounds on everything. It's the strings I like. If the stock strings don't annoy me when I get a new bass, I'll leave 'em be until they wear out, then I'll put D'addarios on it.

Bet you it's some imperial/freedom units size...

Again? You've got me nervous now - my only plan B is DI from the pedalboard into the PA. Perhaps I should invest in a wee backup amp...

Well, that's it done now. New pickguard arrived from earlpilanz (Brian Pillans) yesterday - excellent as always - fit first time, even around the chonky ATK pickup. Bear with him if your pickguard is taking a little longer to arrive than you're used to - he's moved from Glasgow to Newcastle and is working through a backlog as well as the general upheaval of setting up a new workshop and all that. I had band rehearsal last night, so I quickly fitted it before bed and took a couple of quick pics: Will probably take some nicer, whole bass pics at the weekend to wrap this up, but apart from deciding whether or not to keep the block inlay stickers, that's it done. Very happy with how this turned out.