tauzero

And after cutting through it, it wasn't. Problem solved.

In further news, got a response on the 1st to say it was on its way (when I ordered it, it was supposed to be shipped by 23rd June). It's got as far as Frankfurt.

While it's not in the manual, I would like to say that you should always ensure that the one marked "Transmitter" is plugged into the bass and the one marked "Receiver" into the amp/effects chain. Failure to ensure this will result in disappointment. Or so someone told me, anyway.

I'm sure something with that same R on the headstock came up just a few days ago on BC and it wasn't a maker that started with R at all.

It seems a little strange that the connector is TRS but it only makes use of a single footswitch, either tap or hold to scroll up or down. A double footswitch with one up and one down would be handier.

I do actually have a Jamstik Studio guitar which has a USB-powered rechargeable battery, but that also has a MIDI converter in it which takes a fair bit of power. I've also got some Variaxes (Variaces?) which also have large current drains and use two different types of battery. The older ones use a 9V supply (generally in the form of 6xAA batteries), while the JTV ones have a slide-in battery like a smaller version of the battery pack powering cordless power tools. The latter is more convenient, and would be more convenient still if you just plugged a USB lead into the battery pack. One day, all basses will have an on-board computer. Except Fenders, obviously.

Generally, everything set flat, with the tone controls on the amp set mostly neutral but bass down a bit, but if it turns out I'm a bit too bassy (the most likely situation) I'll back off the bass on the instrument a bit too.

You'd spend more time plugging and unplugging the USB lead than replacing a battery once a year.

I sometimes ask about things, sometimes not. As the most recent one was a swap for a bass that's been sitting in a wardrobe for about 15 years, I could make a good case for it. However, I operate on the general principle that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

First rehearsal for a while - singer has been quite busy rehearsing for his part as the monster in Young Frankenstein (at the Core Theatre in Solihull from 22nd to 26th July). Successful run throughs of three songs that we're putting in the set (we've played two of them live once apiece but wanted a further brush up) and then we had a go at Hotel California, which our singer was a bit reluctant to do but after we'd run through it he was pleased with it. Seeing as we hadn't planned to do it and were doing it unpracticed, it was rather good. Guitarist had had the bridge replaced on his Variax JTV-59 (the Les Paul-ish one) and only just got it back, and we're not sure if this was related but he broke the top E twice. Feeling pretty ready for the next gigs, successive nights in Polesworth and Gloucester on 11th and 12th July.

TL;DR - it works but needs some extra bits to work with certain basses with recessed sockets, eg Ibanez SR series.

New gadget day. Mentioned recently in a topic about changing batteries, it didn't seem ridiculously expensive and I thought I'd get one and give it a try. It seems it's only available from Thomann at the moment, so I felt obliged to buy something else (an sE V7 microphone, as it happens) to slightly reduce the pain of the £10 shipping. I've very recently bought an OLP Tony Levin, and the battery in it was a non-name brand of indeterminate age which was still able to make the preamp work. I left that battery in so I'd have a reasonable test subject, along with the other basses I have knocking about. First thigs first, I put in a new Procell 9V battery and checked the self-test, which was fine. The first volunteer for testing was an Antoniotsai dragon bass which showed a healthy 9.06V and 404 hours of playing left. Then I went for the Tony Levin, and that was 6.6V and showed LO. The Sei Jazz BC bike was a little under 9V with 240 hours remaining, the Sei Flamboyant 5 was rather lower and only 36 hours remaining. I wanted to try it on a Variax but either the socket is recessed a tiny bit too far or the switching is done by means other than shorting ring and sleeve. That did make me wonder about recessed sockets, so I tried an Ibanez SRF705 which I think has the same recessed socket as all the SR range, and that also didn't work. I need to make up a short stereo jack extension lead to test recessed socket basses, or get a stereo coupler and use a stereo jack-jack lead with at least one straight jack. My one and only 18V bass showed 10.2V, as expected. So it's an effective measuring device but with a minor design flaw. And I've got two basses (at least) to replace batteries on.

A batch recently became available so I ordered one. No sign of it being dispatched, a week after it was supposed to be, and they're showing as unavailable again. I have emailed them but no response yet.

The venue. Forgot to mention, it's an easy load in/out as you can back a car up close to the doors which are just out of picture to the right.

According to the Grauniad, every artist was worthy of five stars. <checks> Tell a lie, Nile Rodgers and Chic got four stars and well-known Enoch Powell fan and Reform supporter Dino Rod only got three.

"For interest I looked up the Trace Elliot 1200. I was very disappointed to see that it is incapable of driving a 2Ω load. In my mind such a capability in a bass amp is almost a necessity!" OK, you were lamenting.

I brought my Barefaced One10 home from That London in the topbox of my Tiger (illustration is of Tiger and topbox, not of the landscape en route): However, the sound quality of any LFSys speaker (judging by my BC 112 which is the distant ancestor of same) is definitely higher than that of the One10.

Did you have to take the dead body out first?

The Behringer app won't install on the most recent Android (15), as I discovered after I bought a new tablet largely for it. There is a new app called MX-Mix but it seems to be an alpha or beta version.

That's the ancient dinosaur rocker? Dino Rod?

Neil Innes: "I've suffered for my music, now it's your turn."

The description: "Increase the speed of your favorite Precision Bass with the P to J Conversion neck." Surely the terminal velocity of a Precision will be almost exactly the same when dropped off the official Relicing Building, regardless of whether a P or a J neck is fitted.

Yesterday morning got a phone call asking if I could dep that evening as their regular bassist had got sunstroke, so I said yes. Got there and found that the drummer was also a dep. Very hot day but we were all prepared with a fan apiece - ironically the drummer's fan was the smallest (the tiny little black thing tucked under his hi-hat). The stage (a real stage!) was next to open doors just by me, so it was bearable. The thugball was on on two large tellies but we carried on anyway to a smallish but appreciative crowd. A slight hiatus when after the break I plugged my wireless dongles back in and was rewarded with silence. I switched bass but that didn't help, I swapped the wireless out for my spare wireless dongles and continued. When I got home, I checked the wireless and it was fine. My conclusion was that I'd managed to swap them over and plug the receiver into the bass. Note to self - look at the big Dyno labels on the dongles saying "Tx" and "Rx". Basses used were Sei Flamboyant 5 fretted and Sei Original 5 fretless, through Lekato WS-90 and then WS-50 wireless dongles and Zoom MS-60B to a Tecamp Puma 900 and GR Bass AT212, and footwear was once more the Caravelle memory foam trainers.

Plus the bottom two pins are insulated to halfway up so when the plug is partially inserted there isn't an exposed bit of live pin (though older plugs don't have this feature).

I had a couple of Grind BXPs, a 5 and a 6. I tried a US Cirrus 5 string and decided I preferred the neck on the Grind. I'm sure the original Cirrus was quite a bit cheaper than the reboot version.