Kiwi

Google the following if you haven't already: Warwick Star Bass, Godin Acoustibass 5, Ibanez Artcore series and Fender Starcaster (not made in a 5 though)

[quote name='Mcgiver69' timestamp='1476361417' post='3153629']I noticed that when playing through yours, they weren't that impressive flat just natural sounding but when I used the EQ that's when the magic came. [/quote] I play mine mostly flat with a few db of boost around 250hz for better midrange definition and I back off the bass if I'm playing in a small room.

[quote name='Mcgiver69' timestamp='1476278918' post='3152964'] Tell you something that combination hit the sweetspot for me. Congrats that's an amazing setup. [/quote] Thanks! They're the best cabs I have ever played through in 30 years of plonking. At 20kg each they're not exactly super light but they're very compact, superbly designed, versatile on big or small stages and seemed to more than hold their own at the cab shoot out which was held at the 2015 bash. With the Shuttles, you could even turn up to a gig in a sporty two seat coupe with one cab, a bass and head.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1476278401' post='3152955'] Hahaha ha! As importers and clever marketing goes, yes![/quote] [quote name='Grahambythesea' timestamp='1476289665' post='3153095'] Does Tanglewood actually make anything in Britain? All the ones I've seen are Asian made "designed in Britain"! LOL[/quote] Yeah I was being slightly facaetious. Tanglewood seem (on appearances at least) to be one of the biggest UK based suppliers of guitars but yes most of their stuff is made in China. A percentage though are made in the UK if the video I saw a few years ago is any indication. I can't provide a link unfortunately. [quote name='Grahambythesea' timestamp='1476289665' post='3153095'] Even if made here the price will rise because there is a big hike coming in the price of fuel (has to be bought in dollars) so costs of distribution will go up and that affect the price of everything.[/quote] It doesn't take much for distributors in the UK to hike prices up - cost of exotic woods, cost of fuel, cost of oil, value of the pound etc. Can't remember the last time the cost of something went down because of a strong pound or low inflation though.

[quote name='Mcgiver69' timestamp='1476223827' post='3152547'] I played one of those cabs and amp at the bass bash of 2015 [/quote] Which one? If it was South East, you will have played through mine...

Me too!

It's taken about 20 years to identify it but I have 'my' tone. Lots of lower mid range articulation and warmth with some clean highs without being brittle - sort of where Wal are at but also Jaydee, some Status, AGC and Sei basses. Definitely a british thing, I think and probably 80's inspired. It's possible to achieve it through a range of methods but typically involves Class D amps and either of the following materials and construction: 1) Bolt on graphite necks with soft body wood, pickups close to the bridge and a bit of chambering or 2) Wenge and birdseye or flame maple through neck or 3) Soft/flame/birdseye maple through neck and ebony fingerboard plus some bass eq boost Occasionally I'll find it in a through body graphite neck but it depends on how the neck is built. Stiffer necks tend to sound less growly and more piano like. However, I will make whatever adjustments are needed to nail a specific sound for a part - which is why I have coil split pickups and three band parametric onboard eq.

I've admired the look of Thumbs and for the most part loved the sound of them on recordings but in the real world...1) they feel like a dead fish in my hands when I pluck the strings. 2) Without a bit of eq to boost the bass they sound like a Wal being played through a cheap 1x8 amp. I couldn't have one as my main instrument but I live in hope of an epiphany one day...

Single coil or humbucking pickups (in my experience at least) are a blunt tool when it comes to tone. They're useful for general changes in that you can move a resonancy peak around, boost/cut output level and cut the highs back but that's about it. If you throw a set of MEC's in a jazz bass you'll just get jazz bass, albeit with whatever changes MEC made to impedance, voltage and output to get the Warwick character they wanted. The most interesting (and sophisticated) pickups I've encountered are those on Wal basses. Each pole piece has it's own coil and is essentially it's own pickup. Potentially you could wire up stereo panning from that arrangement but the potential for tweaking the resonancy peak for each pole piece is interesting - and the effects of cross talk between pole pieces. It would be really interesting to throw some of those in another bass to see what happened.

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1476104801' post='3151291'] Exchange rates are always moving up and down. In my working life I've seen the dollar/pound swing between almost $1 =£1 up to $2.4 = £1 and back. Just because the rate is bad today doesn't mean it will stay there. [/quote] Cold comfort for those of us depend on importing for our livelihood. [quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1476100783' post='3151218'] Also, some Chinese stuff is sh*te, but a lot of it isn't. [/quote] Generally they don't solve problems very well unless they're in a crisis and they don't do things that require professional judgement very well but they do repetitive, mass production stuff incredibly well. Chinese stuff is only as good as the effort put in by the person responsible for quality control. US companies with Chinese manufacturing employ QC firms to check random samples off the production line are consistent with a spec sheet that should include tolerances on critical dimensions. Warwick do some incredibly neat work on their line of Rock basses. Overlord who make headless parts are rubbish.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1476109567' post='3151373'] Do we have a large scale producer in the U.K. ? [/quote] Tanglewood is about as big as they get here.

I haven't gigged since 2009. Not because I haven't wanted to but simply because lack of work hasn't afforded me the luxury of staying in one country long enough to develop contacts. f***ing recession.

Unless they're using a lot of imported parts...ABM's prices are bad enough in doubling within two years from 20 quid to forty five for a headless tuner (yes, ONE tuner). Goodness knows what impact Brexit is going to have. Chinese prices will no doubt fill the gap where products can be produced without too much professional judgement and retailers will start championing the value and credibility of Chinese made goods on discovering that the alternative is not selling anything because the majority of customers can no longer afford the alternatives. Or...someone will take the plunge and invest in a UK based 3D printing bureau capable of mass producing bass parts...

Yeah but I had a go on a prototype 5 string back in 2010 though. If he can get Warmoth to supply the parts and you ask him nice, he might compromise. It sounds like he's made huge progress in managing the false triggering issue too if the demo vid is any indication.

Speak of the devil... http://www.starrlabs.com/product/zbass/

I mentioned what Jam Origin were up to on the last post about MIDIbass/synth bass. It was OK but did have minor latency issues down the lower registers, no worse than on my Graphtec/Axon AXON system. The only way to avoid latency issues in pitch to MIDI conversion is to avoid pitch to MIDI. The best solution out there is by Steve Chick, who designed an electronic resistance based system that was licensed to Valley Arts, Wal and then Peavey. He's since developed his own range of basses under the Industrial Radio brand but none of those systems were cheap or easy to fix if they went wrong. More over, you still had to play very cleanly and deliberately on those basses too if you wanted to avoid false triggers...just like you do on all the other systems including the Deep Impact and Future Impact. Just something a player's gotta learn if they want to use the system, but it's possible if the effort is put in. Playing quickly and percussively is still pretty tricky though. It's a shame no one makes push button fretboard, game controller type bits of kit in a 34" scale. It might be an ideal solution.

Nearly a year since I posted in this thread. Guess it's about time for an update. Farewell to the Steinberger XL25A, the tobacco burst Spector and the 1975 Jazz. Lovely basses but I couldn't play them and they were just surplus to my forseeable requirements. Hello instead to..."one I made earlier". [attachment=229532:IMG_1082.JPG] If you haven't seen the build thread, the specs are:[list] [*]Moses MB145 graphite Steinberger neck [*]Semi hollow body from mahogany with quilted maple front and flamed sycamore rear carved tops [*]Custom Armstrong humbuckers with coil splits [*]Noll 3 band parametric eq [*]Custom hidden headless bridge arrangement with ebony/rosewood bridge cover. [/list] There were a few extra parts needed to make this bass playable which are still on their way and it needs a decent set up. I've also "invested" (ie. spent more than I expected to) in some pedals. Future Impact bass synth pedal [attachment=229530:Future Impact cut out.png] Bought as a replacement to my Deep Impact which was becoming worn out with use. While 100 presets are available I wonder why. I've still found the first 10 Deep Impact presets to be the most useful. Empress 3 band Parametric Eq [attachment=229529:Empress para cut out.png] I bought this to give an extra boost to a narrow range of snarly mids. The sort of thing a decent wenge and maple neck might provide too. Incoming: FEA Labs dual band optical compressor [attachment=229531:FEA DBCL.png] They're currently selling every unit they make - it's based on Trace Elliot's Dual Band compressor which I've always admired, but with higher spec components. Guitar wise, I've sold the sunburst MSG to a BC member and the Klein-berger is awaiting a replacement tuning knob but is otherwise complete.

I'm not a Fender guy but would probably go for a beaten up mid-70's precision with a maple fingerboard and jazz neck dimensions. Decent amount of snarl with those IIRC and they sound funky with flats or rounds.

I would probably go with an East preamp. They sound good and come with internal gain trim and input buffers. If you want more control over the bass and treble then a Noll 3 band parametric will do the job too but you won't be able to fit it to any bass that requires a deep insert input jack unless you enlarge the jack socket hole internally to take the whole 9 pin socket.

Update bump: Found out how to get a satisfying crunch - JJ Tesla 12AX7C preamp valves. Gorgeous mid-gain sound (I guess it could be boosted too.) The woofy, fuzzy Black Sabbath 70's sound I was getting was simply worn out preamp valves. The JJ's have given my GX3 preamp a new lease of life. Wish I had the combo with me to work on too...

I'm in the middle of sorting out a situation with a particular music shop on Denmark Street that I won't name in the interests of giving them an opportunity to finish sorting their mess out. However on the topic of retail generally - my second day back in London was memorable for the appalling level of customer service offered by at least three establishments I visited. After the music shop, the next worst was a phone repair shop that treated me like my phone was some kind of poisoned chalice. I have to admit I tore a strip off the guy in the middle of the shop. All they needed to do was listen, and get back to me if they encountered anything unexpected. I had gone well out of my way to reach them and jetlag lowered my ability to tolerate teeth-sucking,could-be-tricky attitude. I told them what I thought the repair was going to be and (when I finally opened up the phone myself - I was correct). That entire day was a total and complete waste of my time and train fare.

I have owned two F112's for a couple of years. I used a couple of GB Shuttles and want for NOTHING. Midrange is perfectly preserved and the cabs sound like PA speakers but with a little bit of extra bottom end definition regardless of volume. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. A couple of GK RB700 heads could be a nice compliment, with their boost control.

I have Floyd designed trems on my MSG's and I'm still struggling to see what the benefits are over a floating vintage trem and a teflon/tusq nut. I'm finding the string tension is a bit much though, maybe I need to go back to 9's rather than 10's.