JPJ

Just bought a Behringer DI from Greg. DI box was in A1 condition, still boxed in original box with instructions. Fast friendly comms, next day delivery, I’d say trade with Greg with confidence.

So I restrung her yesterday with the Aquila Reds I bought at the same time as the Uke. The Aquila’s are noticeably lighter gauge than the Harley Benton strings, but sound no different in use. Add bonus is they do not smell like smokey bacon crisps, and it’s possible to slide up and down the neck without killing the note. Access for the string change was incredibly tight with my not so large hand only just fitting through the sound hole. The D string was a particular P.I.T.A due to the proximity of the bridge hole to a longitudinal stiffener. I also had to shorten the E and A strings to reduce the number of winds on each machine head. Other than this, the Reds are a massive improvement over the stock strings 😎

I’m not sure what’s standard in terms of size. If it’s any help, it fits snugly in a half-sized acoustic guitar gig bag? The preamp is a fairly simple affair, treble and bass sliders, volume control on a knob and a built-in tuner. The tone controls are useable and plugged in it sounds just the same as a fretless bass. A little bit of req and it’s a passable dB sound.

So a little while ago, I decided I wanted to try a bass Ukulele for fun and the odd acoustic gig we do. Not wanting to throw away the type of money Kala want for a U Bass, and after a couple of false starts, I decided on giving the Harley Benton fretless bass ukulele a try and ordered one from Thomann. As usual, thanks to UKMail, my delivery arrived two days late, and as I work away from home all week, meant I didn’t get to play with it until last night. A year or so ago, I bought a Harley Benton five string acoustic bass for my weekday home in Holland, and once that was restrung with some decent flatwounds, it’s been an unbelievable bargain, so I hoped for the same with the bass ukulele. First impressions are that the quality far far exceeds the price. The woodwork is excellent, the finish is light and uniform, and the woods even look good quality. The headstock is scarf jointed, and the inside of the body is clean and well constructed. The stock strings look like Aquila Thunderguts, but I have bought some Thunder Reds to try when I get around to it. But the best bit is playing it. It is so much fun to play and I haven’t been able to put it down this morning, oh and it’s one of those things that just makes you smile every time you look at it. And all this for the princely sum of £127.

I’ve just posted a “NBD” thread about a little Harley Benton fretless bass Ukulele I’ve bought. Amazing little thing for the price.

The advantage for me is as all my main electric basses are 5’s and that I only use the EUB live occasionally and then only on a few tracks, the mental translation is easier. In all honesty, the B string isn’t as authoritative as the others, and you need to be much more precise with your right hand technique to get a low C or D to really bloom. Maybe as I progress as an upright player I might get more out of the low B, but for now it’s little more than a visual/tactile reference when moving from the electric bass. My only DB experience prior to the KK is a Stagg EUB, so I don’t really feel the extra width as the KK neck isn’t as chunky as the Stagg.

Hi Al, It’s a 5 string KK Baby bass. I’ve fitted it with a pair of J-Tone Reds and blend these with the stock under bridge magnetic pickup using a Headway EDB1 preamp. Im relatively new on DB, but having played fretless for too long to remember, I’ve found the transition easier than I expected.

Here’s my ham fisted contribution

Yes, the Kill (and their Alta Ego’s Bon Jovi Forever) are indeed a great band, but all the bands played out of their skins on Wednesday (even if I say so myself) and just over £3,000 was raised on a cold mid-week January night. Hats off to the rock loving music fans of the North East who came out and made this event a huge success.

Any basschatters in Newcastle this Wednesday night might like to pop along to the O2 Academy on Westgate Road for a multi band charity fundraiser in memory of a lovely lad and fine vocalist who was taken way too soon last October aged just 42. Monies raised are going to create a fund to provide bursaries to young musicians. 5 top bands for a tenner and all proceeds going to help young musicians chasing the dream just as Rod was right up until his untimely death. If you are around, please come along and support this gig. You can even heckle my hamfisted bassery at no extra charge 😎

Lovely bass, and all them holes are just mojo - you'd have to pay Nash or Limelight a small fortune to drill them for you I've always loved the 70's telecaster bass with the mudbucker at the neck. I almost bought one on my travels in Europe a while back with a view to adding a P pickup in the normal position but stupidly decided against it.

And the third and final one, my Ibanez Roadstar RS940TV from 1982

The second is a bitsa I put together using a ‘vintage’ relic’d body, an allparts unlined neck, Tonerider P & J pickups, and a Kigon stack knob harness giving volume and tone for each pickup

Here’s the first of my three: Overwater Perception 5 defret and refinish by DWilson Guitars.

Me too, and its on my virtual wish list too!

Buy with confidence! I’ve used mine on stages large and small over the last two years. It does have a bit of a ‘baked in’ Aguilar sound but it does have a powerful but simple EQ to play with. Only problem I’ve encountered is the LED’s for power on and mute failing but my local tech sorted both of those easily.

I must have been lucky then, because the upgrade certainly released something that wasn’t there before. Maybe a happy coincidence of a better spec’d driver that just happened to work in the same box?

Take a look at the TC Electronics BG250 208, its pretty small but can still hold its own in a rehearsal or quiet band situation. I've upgraded the 8" speakers in mine to give a total load of 4 ohms meaning I get the full 250W output without an extension cab. Personally, I prefer this combo to the PJB Briefcase it replaced. It 'breathes' a little easier and is warmer and more natural sounding to my old ears.

I’m using J-Tone Reds in the wing slots on my KK Baby Bass to blend in with the magnetic pickup. I found the mag pickup either too dark or too thin on its own, adding the J-Tone Reds and blending the two with a headway EDB-1 gives me a realistic DB sound. Happy to recommend the J-Tones

I’m what you might call an SWR fan. I’ve owned at various times: 1) Grand Prix pre amp 2) Black Beauty 1x15 combo, paired with Workingmans 2x10 3) 750X paired with Goliath III and Son of Bertha 4) 750X paired with Goliath II and Goliath III 5) Marcus Miller Pre paired with QSC poweramp and Goliath II and Goliath III 6) SM1500 paired with Goliath II and Goliath III 7) SM1500 paired with Goliath Snr 6x10 I still own the SM1500 plus the Goliath II albeit reconed with Eminence Deltalites. You’ll find all SWR kit is heavy beyond belief (I can just about lift the SM1500 on my own) but it’s worth it for the tone.

Thanks folks, valuable advice, looking forward to tomorrow’s rehearsal now 😎

The rehearsal rooms we’re using at the moment have Ashdown bass rigs, mainly ABM 500’s. I’m really struggling to get to grips with all the knobs and sliders to get a decent rounded even tone. I can either get a nice sounding D & G string with no weight to the E & A, or a big fat muddy mess. Can anybody give me a few pointers to: a) getting the thing as ‘flat’ as possible; or b ) getting a decent rock/ alt country tone? By way of reference I mainly use an Aguilar AG500 through an SWR Goliath 4x10, and normally run it with the EQ ‘flat’.

So i've been playing EUB for a while, for a few songs in our set. As I work away from home all week, I only get an hour or two to practice with the EUB at the weekends, and then not every weekend. As a result, I'm really struggling to keep my hand strength in my left hand. So my question is, do any of you folk use one of those hand exerciser things, and if so, are they any good?