Kiwi

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='40300' date='Aug 2 2007, 08:28 AM']Hey CW, love your collection, especially the JayDee & Alembic. It was also very interesting to read about the history of all the instruments on your site. Pardon my ignorance, but are the Smith basses UK made? Listening to the sound clips, the 5-stringer sounds very Status-esque [/quote] CW? Does that stand for Crazywiwi? The Smiths are made in the US - Perkasie, Pennsylvania and you can read more about them here: www.kensmithbasses.com The Smith does sound Status-like with some eq settings and I think this might be due to the pickup placement more than anything. I think that's probably the only thing that the two instruments otherwise have in common.

Dunno if it counts, but here's some amp porn too.

Your ID photo isn't big enough for anyone to see all the basses. Stick some photos under this forum and we can all see them in more detail: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=4"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=4[/url]

go talk to Chappels in Wardour Street, they are a Yamaha stockist and do have the Yamaha Silent Bass which might be of some interest.

I'm stunned that those of you with more than three pedals don't end up with masses of hiss going into the amp - they must be making pedals way better these days. Anyways, my "board" isn't that impressive. I'll probably end up putting the MPXG2 with the MIDI rig and running just the Deep Impact through a chorus and pitch shifter of some kind into the Trace head. I'm open to suggestions on what to look for if anyone has a good idea?

*ahem* On the topic of left handedness... [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6212972.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6212972.stm[/url] [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4242419.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4242419.stm[/url] [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4073775.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4073775.stm[/url] [i]"Scientists have discovered the first gene which appears to increase the odds of being left-handed. The Oxford University-led team believe carrying the gene may also slightly raise the risk of developing psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia."[/i] So that makes us quick thinkin', rufty-tufty, crazyasses... ...y'all bin warned.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='39862' date='Aug 1 2007, 09:22 AM']I'm talking about the energy displaced from the driver.[/quote] Oh good grief, here we go again...

London's retail scene seems to wax and wain according to the shipments that come in. I reckon the Bass Gallery probably has the best selection of used basses at the moment, quite a few 70's Fenders were up for sale recently and they've had a load of other interesting stuff from UK builders like Overwater, Goodfellow and Status plus a Fodera. The Bass Centre has mostly Warwicks and Musicman basses with some Fenders, Sandbergs and Laklands left after the last shipment. Not so many second hand basses tbh. There are rumours about Soundcontrol's liquidity circulating at the moment - the London branch got off to a great start with Spectors, Schecters, Yamahas, Musicman and Fender but seem to have pruned down their stock down a bit. Have you had much contact with any japanese luthiers?

Hi dutchwife, welcome aboard - a lot of boutique basses must make their way to the japanese market. Do you get to see many?

lol I dare Dood to ask Jon Shuker about building him a bass with an H string.

[quote name='Oxblood' post='38858' date='Jul 30 2007, 11:31 AM']Stone me! That George Dennis stuff looks tasty. Thanks for the link, TPJ. [/quote] Yeah I saw the same site just before Christmas, it looked pretty good value at the time although I suspect they're not priced keenly enough to tempt people from established brands. If the 200w tube head was going for £600 it would be pretty tempting. Thing is that the louder they shout marketing bollocks, the less impressed I become. Its like if they under estimate the intelligence of their potential market in their promotional literature, what does that say about their committment to quality control? The [url="http://www.traynoramps.com/products.asp?type=5&cat=40&id=263"]Traynor stuff[/url] would spark my interest more if I was looking for a tube amp on a budget and its [url="http://www.musik-service.de/traynor-yba-200-all-tube-bass-head-prx395754545en.aspx"]available[/url] from Germany. Those 6550 tubes are probably going to have a fairly grindy character though - much like an Ampeg.

er...ding dong?

[quote name='G-bitch' post='39611' date='Jul 31 2007, 05:00 PM']one that is really designed to deliver the peaks, GK are the tits at this. A GK400rb through an Ampeg 810 is just astonishing.[/quote] My GK combos (rated at 380w into 8 ohm) absolutely wipe the floor with everything else I've played at the same power rating. The first time I played an RB400 combo it was literally love at first listen. [quote name='warwickhunt' post='29182' date='Jul 9 2007, 05:08 PM']I agree with the recommendation for Peavey's reliability, I've seen them get heaps of abuse in rehearsal rooms and just keep chugging away. Massively under-rated and cheap considering![/quote] That would explain why they're in every friggin' rehearsal studio I practice in... .. the guitarists get marshalls and what do the bassists get? Peavey and the cheaper end of Trace. Time for another thread perhaps...

[quote name='OldGit' post='39598' date='Jul 31 2007, 04:41 PM']Maybe we should call Sound Control's bosses and offer some consultancy smile.gif[/quote] LOL, we'd probably spend most of our time discussing what to agree and then we'd eventually decide that the original remit was insufficient and go back to first principles...

[quote name='Mr Cougar' post='39620' date='Jul 31 2007, 05:17 PM']Mind you didn't you once say that the neck on that Cutlass was like a bannana?[/quote] I did and it was. But one man's banana is another mans... ...umm, lets just say its a question of player preference.

[quote name='Wil' post='39587' date='Jul 31 2007, 04:26 PM']Cass Lewis nearly bought your bass?! [/quote] Yeah, he was offered the bass but turned it down because he was more interested in buying Harleys at the time apparently. He's a Cutlass collector, so the Bass Centre tell me. Dave Swift from Jools Holland's band also gave me a call about it, but he wanted to refinish it! I never ended up finding out who it eventually went to.

oh blimey Al, is that a 1 piece body on your sterling?! Phwoaaar. [quote name='Wil' post='39573' date='Jul 31 2007, 04:02 PM']I thought you sold your Cutlass Kiwi? I remember it was too expensive for me, but the Cass Lewis fan in me wants it so much! wub.gif[/quote] I did sell it (funnily enough, Cass Lewis almost bought it) but then I found one that was even rarer than a normal cutlass - one with a 3 bolt neck and there's only about 5 of them known plus mine is ex AC/DC

[quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='39571' date='Jul 31 2007, 04:00 PM']In a similar vein, it occurred to me that I don't go into SC as I did my local music shops when I was younger because they don't do lessons. Seriously, if they had 'Local Academies' or whatever that taught too then they'd have a lot more people through their doors, which eventually means more sales.[/quote] One of my regular music stores in Christchurch, New Zealand has done exactly this for exactly those reasons.

Well if Dave's gonna name drop then I will too COUGHCOUGHCLIFFWILLIAMSCOUGH! AND its black Plus my 77/78 slapper. If you can find a graphite necked cutlass, or even a status necked NAMM Stingray you might find they bridge the gap in sound between your statii and the stingray. A Status Groove Bass might also help keep you faithful while letting you play around a little.

[quote name='G-bitch' post='39519' date='Jul 31 2007, 02:06 PM']I have to agree, it's mostly talkbass - I don't think that valve amps for bass have ever caught on here for a number of reasons, my personal biggest gripe being that the bass amp never gets mic'd up! I swear to god, if a sound engineer looks at my (Ampeg) V4 and hands me a DI box without putting a mic on it will be garrotted with the mains cable whilst having a spare set of 7027A's inserted in their rectum.[/quote] There are a few valve users on this forum too, but the amps are a bit of a hassle to lug about. Especially for those of us in London with the lack of parking around some of central London venues, and we can forget about taking an amp on public transport. But I don't think there's anything that can beat the sound of a stingray (or any other warm sounding bass for that matter) through an all valve amp (and I play through a solid state GK combo almost all of the time.) It's aural chocolate.

pm returned my dear fellow.

[quote name='JPJ' post='38823' date='Jul 30 2007, 10:39 AM']I think you'd better get the number of Ped's surgeon, that amp and cab look great but getting them UPSTAIRS![/quote] Yeah Kev, I really need to find somewhere with either a lift or on the ground floor.

[quote name='G-bitch' post='38904' date='Jul 30 2007, 12:24 PM']Reliability seems to be the only other problem after rarity! I suspect that it's just the case of a few duff units but I do know one person who had to have the same job done to both a V4 and V6 - nothing major but still a good £100 worth of bench time. It's cheaper to get Ampeg valve amps now, and I actually prefer that sound; not better or worse just different.[/quote] The only significant criticism of the amp construction that I'm aware of is here (http://storm.ca/~rheslip/ampmods.htm). Some heater circuit wiring that isn't designed to take the voltages that are being put through it. Phyrexian had a biasing issue with his V8 (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291451&page=11). Tony, who was the previous owner of mine, didn't have any issues as far as I am aware so I have no reason to believe the amp is going to be anything other than reliable. You're right about them sounding different to Ampegs matey . Its horses for courses innit? [quote name='G-bitch' post='38904' date='Jul 30 2007, 12:24 PM']A lot of people rave about their amps and it's only the V series' rarity that has built up the cult following for these amps - they're damn good, but they weren't a gift from god so try before you buy rather than taking the hype as word enough.[/quote] You mean a lot of people rave about them on Talkbass? I don't think people such as your good self are going to start getting as excited about them in the UK somehow.