Bigwan

Why not repaint it? It'll look like new and be a WHOLE lot easier than tolexing (which I will never do again as long as my ar$e points south!)

They're not what you'd call the perfect modding platform with their proprietary pickups and bridge so I'd go with chris_b and get another bass. The pickups and electronics are what make it a G&L so if you change those you'd killing your resale value. If it's just a noise issue have it looked at by a tech. It'll be something simple. Beyond strings and tuners (which I'd only change if they didn't hold tune or were too heavy) I'd leave it well alone.

Beautiful work! Always in awe of people whose work comes out so neatly!

Sire V7? It's 18mm spacing.

The effect itself isn't digital (it's a tricked out muff circuit), but it doesn't use the "standard" 3pdt footswitch. Has some sort of digital bypass control circuitry from looking at pedal gut pics - all SMD devices. Difficult to modify, even if you did know what the circuit was doing. I'd live with switching the pedal on if I were you! Or get yourself a clone made from the pedalparts.co.uk engorged gherkin kit if it bothers you greatly: https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Engorged_Gherkin_Fuzz/p847124_14535415.aspx

Yes I arrived home the other day to find a courier bag on my front doorstep containing exactly the same box they were sent in... unopened ... and a t-shirt. Ironically I'm considering moving the associated cab along through lack of use...

Altogether very meh...

I think Tom made a second for his demo board...

Which is why I had Tom at COG make me a custom Mastotron/T65 combination in the one box to run in the loop of my 3Leaf GR2. An AWESOME setup for all sorts of synthy goodness. All gone now alas, and I was sorely tempted to buy back the COG when it was on ebay recently, but the guy wouldn't budge much on his price, and knowing what it sold for a few times after I sold it it was just too much money considering you could do something similar WAY cheaper. The COG had a series/parallel switch and I found I always preferred the octave in series with the fuzz to take advantage of the gating. The effects loop of the GR2 is good too as all the dynamics are taken from the pre-effected input, rather than from the post octave+fuzz signal. Much more expressive!

I use a Mastotron clone I built and it sounds SICK! Gated fuzz is the best if you can get it, but to get you started any fuzz (or even a heavy distortion a la Scott Devine's favourite pedal) will do.

Depends what you mean by synth. If we're talking moog type sounds then I'd go with a combination of individual pedals. A cheap OC2 clone (or EHX octave multiplexer. I had a chord OC-50 which has a drive/distortion option which ALMOST negates the need for a fuzz), a cheap gated fuzz (an ebay woolly mammoth clone, or cheap muff clone, but the gated fuzz really helps) and an EHX micro or mini qtron (in that order) will be much better for these sort of sounds than any synth pedal I've found, and you'll get a good variety of sounds for little outlay, with the bonus you can use them individually. For more spacey stuff the boss, behringer or digitech pedals would be better. Or you could try the synths on one of the zoom pedals, B3, MS60B or B1on. They're ok...

Proper bargain!

It's all relative...

Or just under the Big Sis there's a Musicmaster humbucker...

Their product range changes pretty frequently though, and they do come out with some random nonsense... your request is about 100 times more sensible than some of their products... And size didn't stop Genz Benz or GK...

Can't argue with that. Always liked the look of Leduc basses!

You know I couldn't even tell you off the top of my head! Whatever the standard Pyramid Black Nylon Tapewound Uke bass strings are. I bought them for my U-bass about 18 months ago, at which point it went in the corner in shame as it wouldn't play even close to in tune ANYWHERE one the neck. But I transferred them onto the Harley Benton about a month ago and I'm liking both basses much more now. Always liked the Benton, but have disliked the U-bass since I took the original black strings off it. The Thunderguts at least play more in tune than anything else I've tried on the U-bass. Edit: I will say that restringing the Harley Benton is a nightmare. Probably easier with virgin strings, but with the strings previously on the U-bass... let's just say there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth trying to aim the spiral end through those little holes blind and at the very end of my contorted wrist's reach. I don't have the smallest hands in the world and there's no rear access hatch like there is on the Kala. Interesting times.

@MoonBassAlpha Short out C12 on the pcb, or short the junction between R8 and C12 to ground, whichever is handiest. Haven't done it myself yet, but I've modelled it in LTSpice and C12 is the culprit. When I get around to it I'll be playing with the MOSFET clipping in the circuit too... There are differences in the overall circuit between the CTM15 and the MiniMOFO, but not much until after the tone stack. The minimum gain available is very slightly lower on the CTM15 (different value for R9). Now maybe shorting C12 will highlight a deficiency somewhere else in the circuit, but to get a quarter turn of travel on the gain control without it turning to crap I'm willing to give it a rattle! Some plots to show what simulation says. I've only simulated up to just after the tone stack, and have bass and treble cut, mid boosted to get the flattest response (fender-style tone stack). Should have measured before the tone stack, but you get the idea... Obviously there is some high and low passing going on elsewhere in the circuit, but I'm not planning on playing with that... yet... First, minimum gain, original circuit: Now minimum gain with C12 shorted out: Now back to original circuit but gain about half way up (assuming 100k ohms on 1meg ohm log taper pot): Now half way gain with C12 shorted out:

The did something similar with the Little Bastard 550, so not sure where the complication lies... I wonder was it too complicated, or too pricey... or not enough of a market... or market too saturated with other valve fronted class D amps...

The truss rod needed a half turn, but other than that there have been no issues.

The CTM15 has a bigger problem in that the further you turn up the gain control, the more low end you shave off. It's a hangover from it being a common design between it and the Hayden MiniMoFo 15 guitar amp, which is built on the same PCB... I've been meaning to experiment with a few mods to my CTM15 but haven't got around to it yet. I'll maybe slot the EQ values into the Duncan Tone Stack calculator tomorrow and see what it spits out.

Just the originals (Thunderguts I think) and the Pyramid tapes. I put the Thunderguts on the Kala and they're the best I've tried on it from 4 different sets. The pyramid tapes put the Harley Benton in a different league though.

Kala not worth the money. The deko Harley Benton I have kicks my Kala's behind. I have Pyramid black tapewound strings on it and it's killer for what I paid.

In my experience, my deko Harley Benton Uke beats the crap out of my Kala, so Kala certainly don't have this corner of the market sewn up!