BigRedX

If you can find the acrylic telecaster guitar build, you'll see that it is possible to polish all the internal surfaces too including the wiring channels and control cavities.

It was special glitter acrylic. I thought the bass played fine when I tried it (although it was heavy) but no attempt had been made to pretty up any of the internal faces where the wiring channels and control cavities were, plus with the acrylic neck you could see every cut for the frets.

It's short scale - 30"

I've seen the Crimson Charlie Jones Acrylic bass up close (and played it) and it's a horrible mess. One of the downsides to using acrylic for making guitars is that all the bits that are normally hidden away are still on show and any unpolished internal surface just looks plain nasty. There was someone who made an acrylic Telecaster Guitar (on one of the Telecaster forums IIRC) and he took the time to make sure that every surface was properly polished up and that looked really brilliant.

I don't know what your problem with my statement is? Rehearsals are for making the songs sound right in a band context. One of the things that makes the songs sound right is having the right sound for each of the instruments. Certainly both the band's that I play with use rehearsals to tweak the sounds of the various instruments so that they all sound right together. I try and get all my various patches on my helix sounding right before I get into the rehearsal room, but I know that I'm still going to have to do some more tweaking once I hear them in conjunction with the other instruments at gig volume. I think that one of the biggest problems that musicians have with complex equipment is that they don't take the time to learn how to use it properly. You are unlikely to join a band the day after you buy your first bass guitar, so why do you think that you'll be able to get a complex multi-effects process working properly for you the same evening you took it out of the box for the first time?

That's what the global EQ setting on the Helix is for.

That’s what rehearsals are for. There’s no way you can tell if any aspect of you sound is like in a band context without playing with the band.

AFAIK none of them were long scale as the OP requested.

@Sibob It seems weird that the Saffire Pro 24 is exactly 1U high but there is no way of properly rack mounting it. Normally with devices like this if the manufacturers didn't want you to rack mount it they would make the casing slightly larger so that they occupy more than 1U. I had a look at the alternatives that you suggested. The Saffire Pro 40 appears to be discontinued, but there is a "refurbished" version hidden away on the Focusrite web store (I had to use Google to find it as there weren't any links for this model anywhere on the Focusrite site). What does refurbished in this case mean? And how long will Focusrite continue to support the Saffire range? Apple have depreciated the FW protocol so I am assuming that very soon it won't be possible to run these devices if I want to stay up to date with my Mac OS for the other applications I need to run.

Whenever you want to.

Thanks. However MoonBassAlpha is right and looking at the Dual Lock there won't be enough room for it plus the Saffire in a space that is strictly 1U high. The Sugru looks interesting. How easy is it to remove when I no longer need the Saffire in the rack?

My Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 interface is now a permanent part of one of my band's gigging set ups and I would like to get it rack mounted with all the other stuff that goes with it. However there doesn't seem to be an "official" Focusrite rack mounting kit for it. At the moment I have it "clamped" between two rack mounting shelves, with a bit of effects pedal velcro attaching to the side of one of the shelves. This is not a particularly good solution as the shelves don't clamp it firmly enough in place and the velcro at the side isn't enough to hold it effectively. After each journey the rack case has done so far the Saffire has become dislodged to certain extent. So I am looking for a solution to fix it permanently in place, but without unduly damaging the casing of the Saffire. Ideally I would use effects pedal velcro over the base but as the Saffire is exactly 1U high, there isn't enough room the fit both the Saffire and velcro in-between the two rack shelves. I had a look at the base of the Saffire, but there don't seem to be any screws that I can repurpose to screw through the lower shelf. @Sibob What do Focusrite recommend in this situation? At the moment the only thing I can think of is to cover both the base and the top of the Saffire in strong double-side tape which will attach it to both the top and bottom shelves, but that seems a bit extreme and either still won't be strong enough to hold the interface in place while the case is being bumped around when it is carried, or it will permanently mark the casing of the Saffire which I don't really want to do. Does anyone have any other ideas. There isn't any room for some of the more obvious solutions as it all needs to fit into a 3U case with a removable top which is full as follows (from the bottom up): 1. Patch bay for all the external connections 2. Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 on a 1U rack shelf 3. Rack shelf holding a MacBook Pro surrounded by flight case foam. All these also need to be on the same face so I can't be creative a move some to the back of the case (which is full of rack-mounted mains distribution unit anyway).

Roots and fifth at the same time is the BEST!

I suppose if you like most bassists have spend most of your bass-playing life playing Fenders, copies or instruments whose designs are very similar to Fenders, you will have little idea of what I am on about. I'd been playing bass for over 25 years before I bought my first Fender-style bass (A Squier VM Fretless Jazz). My previous basses had been a Burns Sonic, Overwater Original and Gus G3. Admittedly two of those are serious high-end basses, but even so the shape of the Jazz felt all wrong - big, clunky and cumbersome. It hung in a peculiar manner on the strap and I couldn't reach the G-string tuner easily. Because of the balance it felt heavy to play standing up for a long time. I persevered for about 3 months before giving up and selling it. It was definitely down to the design, because the Overwater was bigger and heavier, but it managed to balance properly on the strap and despite being 2" longer scale length than the Squier all the machine heads were easy to reach, and it was never a burden on long gigs or rehearsals in the way the Squier was. I subsequently tried a very expensive Jaco Pastorius signature Jazz Bass and all the problems I had with the Squier were still present, so for me the issue is about the design rather than the quality of the build.

@intime-nick Those feet look great and would be interested in a set. However I had a look at my Helix at rehearsal last night, and because the case is a lot more sculpted than the LT version, some of the feet are further from the edge and these replacements might not work. I'll send you a photo of the base when I get the chance - hopefully later today - so you can see and advise.

IME and from what I read on here, Ashdown customer service is either excellent, way beyond the normal, or completely indifferent to the point of ignorance. There seems to be no middle ground. It also seems to be very difficult to get a poor initial response turned into an excellent resolution without a lot of badgering.

@intime-nick how much will a set of replacement feet be? I think I'll probably have to go for a custom-made case, maybe with the all the pedals and other stuff on a lift-out board so it doesn't take up too much space on some of the smaller stages were we play. Any recommendations for a company who can make that?

Actually you might need to. Having the tone control on full treble isn't the same as removing it altogether - usually the sound will be even brighter since the tone control is always removing some of the top end from the sound. You can replicate the circuit in its full treble position with a resistor of the same value as the tone pot and the capacitor in series wired between the signal and the earth.

My basses are playable works of art, that look and sound great. My amp is simply something to make the bass sound loud.

If the weight is the main downside of the Wal, have you thought about having a lighter chambered body made for it?

Since there appears to be a possible issue with unwanted phantom powering going to the Helix XLRs and the fact that we use whatever PA is in the venue, I don't think I can risk using the Helix without a passive DI between it and the PA feed, just in case there is phantom power applied. @intime-nick where did you get your replacement feet from? Also I had a look at the Swanflight cases but couldn't see anything big enough for what I need - Helix plus another 6" at the side and enough extra depth to accommodate all the plugs when the case is closed. Also the base looks quite clunky. How much higher does it make the pedals and how obtrusive is the lip there the base and lid join?

I think if there really are issues with phantom powering and the XLR outputs, I'd be better off using a DI. I already have a couple of EMO passive units that are IMO better than the Radial, so I'll just have to try and find room on the board for it (and the the plugs going into it). I was hoping to keep the unbalanced leads to a minimum, which means that the connection to the RCF cab ideally needs to be balanced since it's one of the longer cable runs. BTW I'll soon be looking for a flight case type pedal board to mount this all on - one where you take the lid off and everything is fixed in place on the base all ready wired up. Does anyone have any recommendations? It will need to be deep enough to allow all the connections at the back of the Helix to be made permanently with the lid on, and about 6" wider than the Helix to fit all the extra bits and pieces. And then the most important question is how to fit the Helix to the base?

For me all the things that would make playing a Squier hard work are also present on the supposedly "superior" Fender models, in that the basic design simply doesn't suit me. That might be because I've spent the vast majority of my bass playing doing it on instruments that have very little in common with either a P or J style bass, so I never got used to their idiosyncrasies.

I really didn't want to read that. The "pedal board" that I'm going to have to fit this to, is already looking oversize with extra space needed for the Linn Adrenalinn, two Sony Wireless receivers and a PSU and mains distribution to power them all, as well as enough space to have everything permanently wired up. So I really didn't want to be adding another unit in the form of a DI box. :-(

I bet some of you will be surprised to learn that I voted "yes". It would have to be a 5-string as there are songs in both band's sets that require the low B string. Also it wouldn't be much fun to do it as I don't find the shape of either J or P basses very comfortable to play, but I could do it if I really had to. Of course I'd also have to customise the body shape and finish to make it more interesting looking. And get rid of those horrible over-sized clunky machine heads...