Kiwi

no takers? They'll be binned tomorrow...

Well the Oct 19th committment has been brought forward to Wednesday so there's a chance...

make sure you are routing for the Delano pickup and not just a standard MM shape. I've discovered at least one brand of generic but commonly supplied MM pickup case won't actually retro-fit a stingray because the corners are too sharp on the newer pickup casing.

damn, I would be up for this if I didn't already have two other committments that weekend.

Other books to give away: The Semarillion - A R R R Roberts (a piss take of the Simarillion by Tolkein) Linux Pocket Guide - was a supplement in a Linux magazine The Greedy Bastard Diary - Eric Idle (a log of a US tour) Selected Jokes from Past Chinese Dynasties (Vol 2-4) an anthology of Chinese poetry (translated into English as well as original Chinese) Dodgy Daves Little Black Book (East End humourous insight into gangsters by some bloke called Dave Courtney) Fantastic Stories - Terry Jones (a collection of short kids stories a little like nursery rhymes) Bass Desires - DJ Lufkin (I was given this to review, its a short novella about a bass player in a band) The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown I'm in the middle of preparing a list of other books for sale, spanning science fiction, cooking, gardens, English culture and travel. PM me if interested and I'll email it to you when I've completed the listing. Prices are mostly around the 3 quid mark, but there are a few hardbacks that are higher. None of them are anywhere near what I paid for them retail and all of them are in pretty good condition so grab yourself a bargain!

hehe, Double Eagle by James Twining is left. It's a bit like a cross between Andy McNab and Dan Brown I guess...

okdoke, Harry Enfield, Croc Hunter, HHTTG 1 and heroine diaries are accounted for...I'll PM you all with postage costs on Monday.

The Double Eagle - James Twining Digital Fortress - Dan Brown Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy 1 - Douglas Adams Crocodile Hunter - Steve and Terry Irwin Harry Enfield and His Humourous Chums - Harry Enfield Heroine Diaries - Nikki Sixx I'll chuck in a Bass Day 98 DVD for anyone who takes the lot. I also have some extreme science fiction novels (Greg Bear, Stephen Baxter etc) but they're too good to give away. If anyone's interested, drop me a PM and I'll send you a list and prices. Its unlikely anything will be over a few quid.

Haven't seen the vids mate, but I'll add the kit to the list. Are you interested in novels? I might have a few pulpy ones to get rid of too, Dan Brown, that sort of thing.

I've got a candle making kit here consisting of 2 pairs of molds - one spherical and one column shaped 1 and a bit bags of basic wax probably enough for 4-5 candles a small amount of opaquing additive a small amount of oriental spice fragrance an opened pack of white colouring Probably about 35 quids worth of kit there.

I bought it in anticipation of needing another but moved flats before I had a chance to use it. Looks a bit like this: [attachment=14960:Charcoal_BBQ.jpg] but in different colours

I just discovered a horde of hotel toiletries collected while I was staying in a 4 star hotel in China. They consist of the following in 30ml bottles: 6x shampoo 9x bath foam 5x body lotion so thats 20 bottles together. I did have more but found them handy for sleep overs. Well, not really the body lotion. Honest.

[quote name='Josh' post='304489' date='Oct 11 2008, 05:46 PM']If your Pentabuzz sounds anything like Jeff Schmidt's then it is the best fretless sound I've ever heard, so clear and so much mwwwwwahhhh it's almost criminal. And you've got the perfect amp as well so it probally sounds even better.[/quote] Funnily enough I haven't actually had a chance to try the Pentabuzz with the Shuttle yet as I've loaned the bass to a fellow basschatter for the last few months. However hopefully it will be coming back home next week when I visit Mr Shuker so I'll be able to give it a blast after then. I think the wedge shaped GK combo I used to use made it easy to generate that feedback effect because I could stand directly in the cone of projection radiating out from the speaker.

I nearly creamed myself when I saw the back of that instrument. I don't think I've seen such a gorgeous piece of wood in a long time. You got a fantastic deal there too.

Hehe, the Pentabuzz and Smith 5 fretless are both very different instruments so its probably not fair to compare them to one another. Playing the Pentabuzz is a magical, almost surreal experience at performance volumes when the feedback effect starts up. The bass literally feels alive, like its playing itself, and the most dreamy sound comes out of it. But I can't use it for every song. Sometimes I've needed a more polite and warmer sounding instrument and the Smith 5 does the job nicely but the Pentabuzz still plays like butter. I can get the action almost as low as Ped's Vigier. I only needed matching fretted and fretless instruments for my last band which split up 18 months ago, so I don't really play the Smith 5 fretless that much any more.

Well if I don't get a permenant job before Christmas or I do get a permanent job but have to relocate overseas then I'm going to be facing a sell off of one kind or another just to reduce the storage or shipping costs and maybe raise some cash. If the Shuker headless 6 works out, the Smiths would be relatively easy to replace so I'd consider selling both and the Spector for the right price, perhaps also the Pentabuzz and the V8 too but the Alembic, Celinders and Stingray would be staying as workhorse instruments. Not sure about the Cutlasses yet, I keep vascillating over them whenever I think about options. In fact the whole prospect is a bit of a knee trembler to be honest. EDIT: The 5 string headless project is still going although progress is a little slower than I was hoping. So I wouldn't end up necessarily without 5 string fretted and fretless instruments in the medium term...

I wonder if its anything to do with market saturation and being too fashionable for too long? Thats a cracker of a bargain though!

Purely in terms of mid range punch, the EMG DC soapbars are very growly. However they can also sound a little sterile in the treble and upper mids too, so I wouldn't recommend putting them on basses that sound quite brittle or bright. There's something to be said for Delano pickups, I've yet to meet anyone with a bad word to say about them. Very clean, sweet, punchy and warm but a lot of the results you achieve will depend on the bass. The pickups are ideally like ears, ideally they shouldn't colour the instrument. A word of caution though, if you use different pickups then be aware that they may have different outputs and so when you switch between them you may have to adjust gain levels on your amp to compensate. If you install a u-retro by John East, the eq comes with input buffers that can be individually adjusted for gain. So it would be possible for you to have an active EMG DC soapbar in the bridge and a Bartolini soapbar in the neck positions and maintain consistent levels when you switch between them.

I guess its all a question of taste. I've gigged both and felt the Spector was definitely drier sounding and easier to hear in the mix. The Smiths are very refined and a little chocolatier by comparison. They're also superb recording instruments and great in a small group but I've always had to contend with the scooped sound they have while playing in a larger band (and particularly battling against percussion) so the Spector's slightly more aggressive sound does punch through the mix a little better. I don't really need a lot of low end for our gigs because we play a lot of small venues and the boom can be overwhelming on stage. Having said that, the soundman does keep asking me to turn up when I play the Spector. He usually expects to be hit in the chest by the warmth of the Smiths when I play through the PA...

Well the funny thing is Josh that with the u-retro installed I can get a pretty good fascimile of a Smith bass IF I dial a lot of the mids out using the mid-sweep control. Same levels of growl in both instruments to my ears but the Smith 5 still sounds fuller though. No question in my mind that the Spector Euro, if you can get one for a reasonable price, is better value for a gigging instrument with everything else being equal. The Smith has slightly better build quality than the Spector Euro and the Smiths do have a very distinctive tone which is why I got them.

[quote name='BossHog' post='304326' date='Oct 11 2008, 10:31 AM']Sorry, Been grafting away from home this week so wasn't really in a position to check the listing a lot. Smith basses, beautiful things! However the sale was intended to raise dosh for another purchase so thank you for your kind comments and interest. I've decided to hang on to the Fodera.[/quote] thats cool matey, I was just playin' Serious about the swap though if you ever change your mind...

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='304399' date='Oct 11 2008, 02:07 PM']Wow! Counting down the days, eh? Best of luck with that one! Rich.[/quote] Cheers Rich, counting down the days but not holding my breath. I told Jon I needed the bass for a TV appearance!