Kiwi

Isn't Jack Cables a mate of Allen Keys?

London SC is closed for the forseeable apparently.

you'll be well and truly screwed if you ever play that on a hollow stage too.

In my experience: The fundamental character of the instrument comes from the neck and body materials and the type of neck joint construction. The fingerboard heavily influences the treble, attack and sustain. The bridge and hardware can detract from the highs and lows if not rigid enough The pickups can detract from the highs if they have too much resistance, detract from the lows if the pickups are very low impedance, the pickups can add midrange if they are overwound. That recipe can be mixed and matched a bit but it won't add character (eg. more growl). The position of the pickups also influences how the tonal character of the instrument is emphasised. The preamp can offer the most significant source of tone tweaking if you preshape the degree of boost and the frequency centres. Spector's 'tone pump' has a substantial amount of preset bass boost to compensate for the bright character of the maple wood that the NS5XL/NS5CR or NS2 is made from. You'll very rarely find a warm sounding all maple bass with a passive bypass. However the danger with tweaking the preamp is that if any of the boosted frequency centres coincide with notes on the neck it will make those particular notes jump out more. lower action = more growl and midrange (and mwah on a fretless) higher action = rounder tone with more bass

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='217532' date='Jun 12 2008, 12:31 PM']Not really picking on Mike and yes the editor should have spotted it but he did write both the offending reviews [/quote] and quite right too, the impacts are bound to be deep and far reaching. He's single handedly shaping the minds of tomorrow's musicians with shoddy writing like that and it just means more work for you, doesn't it ferret?

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='217491' date='Jun 12 2008, 11:07 AM']Aw man, it seems a shame to single out Mike... remember, it's up to the editor to spot such things also![/quote] I agree, I'll be surprised if Mike responds to be honest. Its not really fair for him to take sh*t on behalf of the editor.

I've just come back from Zavvi Oxford Street and the basement is barricaded off with a notice saying Sound Control no longer trades from these premises. The basement itself has some display stands but looks basically gutted.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='217346' date='Jun 12 2008, 07:58 AM']There is a lot of variety in the current BGM - signature rigs from Lemmy and Jonas Hellborg. Talk about opposites. There I was reading the Lemmy review when Mike Brooks says the 4x15 cab "...is capable of delivering 800 watts at 8 ohms". ARGH! Cabinets dont deliver watts they deliver decibels Then when reviewing the Peavey VB-2 amp Mike is "...surprised by the excellent power handling of the amp..." Its no wonder newbies struggle to understand all about watts and decibels when the writers for The UK's Number One Bass Guitar Magazine (sounds so much better than The UK's Only Bass Guitar Magazine) get it wrong. Perhaps they should have a feature on how amps work [/quote] I've forwarded this post to Mike, because he's a member of the forum.

For project managers like myself, this is the total sum of the working day. Project delivery dates get broken down into stages, stages get broken down into milestones, milestones get broken down into progress reports and each week meetings set out the achieveable for Friday. Each day should have its own set of tasks to be completed. Very soon you lose your will to live under the never ending onslaught of deadlines. Unless you can find some personal challenge in there somewhere. I've managed to make even the most mundane tasks like specification writing and fee bid proposals have some aspect of interest.

[quote name='vmaxblues' post='217118' date='Jun 11 2008, 07:09 PM']Now guys, what am i missing here?[/quote] A tuner? But seriously, the only way a string will snap at correct pitch is if there's something else putting strain on it somewhere. Or the strings could be crap? Is the bridge too far out from the body?

[quote name='coasterbass' post='215225' date='Jun 9 2008, 09:09 AM']It covered the subtle sections admirably (even without a compressor) and then tore the face off everything in the rockier stuff. It has the real growl of the SVT's that I love, and bit through two guitars, keyboards, synths, and the drummer.[/quote] I can't help but love your description.

There are some demo videos on Youtube I've seen. The design intent seems to be to recreate a system that has a very full dynamic range - something that Hellborg has always pursued in his signature gear since getting into acoustic bass guitars. The marketing seems to be promoting something akin to a hi-fi system. Hmmm. Personally, I don't think I need that level of dynamic range in my music and certainly find it difficult to understand where my money would be going if I bought the amp system. The stage is a very crude listening environment, I think that all the refinements on offer here would probably be completely lost unless I was doing a solo acoustic gig.

I recieved a East MM preamp from Nick today (found it "tucked" under the door mat in full view of the street. Don't know whether to be pissed off at the lack of consideration over being nicked, or pleased because the postie saved me a trip to the sorting office...) Anyways, *ahem* Super smooth transaction, great price, super quick delivery too. A++++ great eba-um, Basschatter. Thanks Nick.

LOL nice intro Chris, you'll enjoy Basschat I'm sure. Welcome aboard!

[quote name='Marshy' post='216495' date='Jun 10 2008, 11:14 PM']Well, damn, don't I wish I'd read this a while back. I had two basses there on commission sale: a teal green stringray 5 and a yamaha fretless 5. Got a call in *February* to say the shop was closed in favour of online only, would I collect the 'ray, and the fretless was sold. I note from earlier comments that the retail shop shut before Christmas. That's a long long delay before calling me. And, oh, I had to burn a day's holiday to get down on a weekday to pick up the 'ray too (thank god I did though, eh?). They couldn't find the paperwork for the Yamaha, and said a cheque would be in the post. That was March 6th and guess what: I'm still sat here three months later with no money for the Yamaha sale. Lots of phonecalls from me to them, lots of empty platitudes or unreturned calls. Barry owes me a phonecall. Again. He knows it, Nick knows it, the other staff there know it. They owe Companies House a set of accounts too. Will I ever see my cash? I'm guessing not. Having spent two grand with them just before they closed the shop up, this is all a touch disappointing. If you're watching guys, please do the decent thing. --Chris[/quote] Unfortunately it sounds all too familiar. I hope you get your money soon. It sounds like they're heading for bankruptcy though. I wonder if Barry took all his money out of the operation just prior to things going downhill?

Bob you're not going emo on us are you?

[quote name='SJA' post='216280' date='Jun 10 2008, 04:07 PM']a mini-bodied bass like the Status Streamliner or Zon Vinny would interest me. trouble is, I'd like a D-tuner on the E string, and AFAIK the only detunable headless bridges, by Steinberger and Hohner, are narrow-spaced- I'd prefer 19mm spacing.[/quote] Mmmm, it sounds very exotic. Jon's good for that kind of custom work but I'm not sure about how much demand there would be in a function band. Maybe you could have a chat to him? It's probably not going to be possible for me to supply a neck for that purpose though, I'm sorry. However I'm certainly open to suggestions and ideas if there's a general appeal for them. My ideas are going to seem very pragmatic by comparison, based on the problems I've actually enountered while playing rather than a Ned Steinberger level of engineering innovation. (That might come later though, if it all works out. But I'm taking baby steps for now and beginning with first principles ie. a bass that sounds good). EDIT: Here's a pic of the neck and the East MM preamp If anyone would like to swap their black East control knobs for a set of gold ones, please feel free to PM me.

Hats off to you Andy

[quote name='SteveK' post='215855' date='Jun 10 2008, 12:11 AM']Doubtful, there must be an imposter! Seriously though, it'll be another SteveK[/quote] Yes you're right. I can tell by your bass collection.

[quote name='walbassist' post='215701' date='Jun 9 2008, 08:50 PM']Ah, so it's the CK signature series Shuker bass line![/quote] Mmm lets just call it a collaboration rather than an endorsement because I'm underwriting the financial side of things. I'm not really able to endorse gear as such, but Jon is definitely helping me out with an idea I've been mulling over. Anyone who has already seen my comments on graphite necked basses in other threads could probably put some of the pieces together. But there's some new bits being designed and prototyped as I speak which will add some extra versatility for players in covers bands like myself. Because I haven't tried any of it out, I don't know how good it will be in practice so its better I say less for the time being.

[quote name='dood' post='215654' date='Jun 9 2008, 07:49 PM']No necks going spare then?!![/quote] Not to sell by themselves I'm afraid. But I think you might like what I've got planned.

Welcome aboard Mr K! Don't I know you from some other forum?