neepheid

It was anything but sterile last weekend, sound impressed the hell out of me - thick but punchy and clear, really authoritative, I really enjoyed my sound with the Puma. While in some ways I would hope that things have moved on with the Eich, I don't think it would be an awful outcome if it is basically a Puma with a ground lift switch added to the DI out in a different case...

I've encountered this a couple of times (Reverend Triad, Sire D5) and it was a bit odd to start with but I pushed through and I ended up quite liking it and finding it a very positive tactile experience for resting my thumb on.

My amp died last week, so I needed a new amp at pretty short notice. A local BCer kindly loaned me this Tecamp Puma 900 for my gigs last weekend and casually mentioned in passing that he might be interested in selling it. Fait accompli... Heaps of power/headroom, really punchy sound, simple controls, that Taste knob is a fantastic contour control - a little adjustment on it dialled the "boxiness" out of the sound of the single 12" cab right out of it into the kind of thick, hefty but defined tone I was looking for. And yes, that's where the master volume was for the gig on Saturday...

Well, the final finishing touch arrived today - the poker chip/ring for the rotary switch. The guy did an amazing job, exactly what I wanted. That's me done, I dunno if Harley Benton will listen to me at all regarding the feedback about the useless pots and the pointless three way switch as supplied on the prototype, but I'm happy with this now - it's how I believe it should be. Most entertaining bit of beta testing/prototyping I've done in a long time!

Not something I've ever looked into or felt the need to. Thank goodness, because I've tried just about every other damn thing!

Cheeky bas!

So, Gibson make picks as robust as their headstocks then? 🙄 Just getting that in there before someone else does.

Very impressed thus far, these gigs were its first "war volume" outings and it made an impressive amount of sound for such a small cab. The first night, it sounded a bit "boxy" but I was using a borrowed head which I was also unfamiliar with. The second night I had a play with the EQ and found a much more rounded tone which pleased me greatly. Was considering getting a second one, but honestly the single one was coping fine in the two pubs I was playing in. Might still snag a second NY121 anyway, but it's nice to know that in a pinch, one seems to be able to make itself heard no bother. Cheers, my finger's bruised on top and a wee bit swollen - it was a regular door rather than a car door and it wasn't slammed on it so hopefully it'll heal up ok.

Last night at Wilsons in Aberdeen, and it was a great night as usual. Great to see a few familiar faces and had a good crowd overall with lots of dancing and a few new folk getting right into it. Also had Gordon the "guitarist" up for a few numbers, showing us right up as usual! I played OK until near the end - I shut my left index finger in a door at work on Thursday and by the end of last night's gig it was starting to let me know that it had had enough of pushing down bass strings. Thankfully I managed to give it a breather in the second to last song (an easy 4 chord "quiet" number that I could busk through using middle and pinkie), which is just as well, as we got two ONE MORE CHOONs. It would have been three, but the landlord signalled no from the bar, lol. Two week rest now, finger is OK, just got bruised in its encounter with the door so should hopefully be fine by then. Last night's weapon of choice was the G&L Tribute LB-100, because I can't even P bass properly, let alone play the damn thing!

I don't think it's an accident that Cream LPs were in amongst the parental vinyl and I consider Jack Bruce to be one of my influences/reasons I started playing bass in the first place...

While I've owned many in the past, I've really gravitated away from 2 pickup basses these days to the point where only 2 out of my 8 have this configuration. I've come to the conclusion that I'm a lazy dullard - just give me one good pickup in the central position and I'm as happy as a pig in the proverbial. Not a big fan of bridge pickup sounds at all, be they humbucker or single coil. Current HH basses are my Epiphone Les Paul Standard (which wears 2x DiMarzio X2N-B pickups these days) and my Epiphone Korina Explorer. The bridge pickup on that is very useful as a thumbrest because that's where my hand naturally falls given the geometry of the situation, so at least I'm getting some use out of it... Having said all that, I cannot explain my fascination with 3 pickup basses, sorry

Necks can be specced when ordering new from a selection, not quite custom shop level of customisation, but still, they cover the main areas, a J like, a P like and a middle kinda one. Second hand, I guess you'd have to wait for the right one to come along!

Same here. Shame I don't like SIT strings - too rough for my tastes.

Last night was playing with Nine Lives at the Black Dog in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen. Usually this has been a bit of a damp squib of a gig with very low attendances (like single figures) but things were a bit better last night, double figures (!) like maybe 20 at peak. Just as well there were a few folk there who were well into it, they count double - up dancing for most songs, a few "FK YEAH"s after some songs, it all helps! Playing with a borrowed head (thanks to a local fellow bass player I've known for many years for stepping in and bailing me out after my amp died at rehearsal on Wednesday) and a single Markbass NY121 cab, it was surprisingly punchy! Using the Wunkay in OMG mode all night probably helped also... More fun tonight at Wilsons, slap bang in the centre of Aberdeen. Usually a great night there, looking forward to it.

Heh, no, it's a friendly gathering of bassists, a show and tell, an opportunity to ogle and play lots of cool basses...

Oh well, the sad but inevitable end is here. A couple of nights ago (at a rehearsal, thankfully not a gig) my RedSub BT5110, which has given me 11 years 8 months of loud fun, has finally broken down. Turned up beyond about half way it starts outputting a very loud, repetitive thump through the speakers, like maybe 4/5 times a second. For a couple of months now it had been getting cranky and overly warm, headphone output stopped working, cut out one time at the end of an (admittedly stupidly hot) gig. Gutted, but it's been a lot of fun for £300. Owes me absolutely nothing. I might look into getting it repaired, but I think I'll be taking this opportunity to refresh my amplification. Needs have changed - the removable head/combo thing I haven't really used for a long time now so I'm not tied to the idea - another cab and a small but powerful head is where I'm thinking of heading. Raise a glass to the RedSub BT5110 - the "Ricky Hatton of bass amps" (quoting some review I read) is dead. RIP.

Nope. The disease that has infected SBMM prices is organisation-wide, it would seem...

Inflation's a myth, right?

£300 for a regular gig.

Enjoy the view from the lofty plateau you have built for yourself? (genuine, not meant as sarcasm).

Eh, it's how it's going to look when it's tuned/just come out of the gigbag...

Definitely - a bass over here from the states for £50, tae me!

It is when you're spending £39 on three knobs...

Seems unneccessarily difficult at best and downright argumentative at worst. Not keen on hearing them try to dissuade you from learning to read proper notation if that's what you want to do. No spare bass amp? It's just lessons, a 30W combo would be enough. 5 guitar amps and 1 bass amp, I think that in itself suggests that bass is an afterthought for this guy. I hear alarm bells ringing, but maybe I'm being paranoid.

I was built for comfort, not speed...