dannybuoy

...Boy gets bored playing said bass and wants to bring in another one to 'spice things up'

Get the Joyo clone, fraction of the price and has more low end! I ordered one for £25 delivered from eBay, might be arriving today! Clip: https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-ultradrive

Yes! I lugged a Line6 300W 15" combo to an open mic once upon a time and felt like a right wally. Best to take a DI or some kind of pedal, most places have simple mixers and simple soundmen that will plug your passive bass into a standard low impedance line input which won't sound very good. Don't have to spend loads, a Behringer BDI21 or a Joyo/Harley Benton American/British Sound pedal would be perfect. In fact get one of those for the guitarist as well unless they're playing an acoustic!

Bass Direct is in Warwick, so that's a little bit closer at least!

Mostly, yes. It can also just be polished brass, or anodised aluminium, or just painted.

I normally can't stand gold on a bass either, except for on this Warmoth SG I used to own:

If you check the diagram in the manual, it looks like the second tube only drives the FX loop and DI so therefore shouldn't have an impact on the main tone - so just changing the V1 tube, which should be the one on the right nearest the input should be enough to change the sound. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/SXtkx8w.png[/IMG]

You have to order direct - it's £125 though: http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/order/

Check out the new MXR M81 preamp: http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/bass-preamp If you're looking for something small and simple, SFX may be an option: http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/microeq/ http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/b3/ A good cheap option though is a Zoom MS-60B - it's a cut down version of the B3 and has some very good clean DI/preamp models, as well as loads of other FX.

Chandler Guitars in Kew might have a few, their site only shows one 80s Fender on there right now but it's worth giving them a call just in case their site is not up to date. I popped in there once and they had a few to choose from: http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/bassespreowned.php?brand_name=Fender

Looks like you have a BDPG lined up now, but if you're after any of the other two pedals you were considering, it just so happens I've put mine up for sale... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/230692-wren-cuff-phat-phuk-b"]Wren & Cuff Phat Phuk B[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/230694-catalinbread-sft-new-version"]Catalinbread SFT (new version)[/url] I'd trade for a Rusty Box too if you still have it and want to move it on.

I would reverse the order of the first three, but that's just purely down to my personal preference which shows there are many ways to do it! Reasons are I prefer filter before fuzz, as filter afterwards sounds too much like a synth, and I prefer octave after fuzz to layer a clean sub tone under the dirty signal.

I'm not sure if changing the valves would give you a much brighter sound though - more range on the gain knob before things get too fuzzy, but the overall character won't change massively. It's a muddy sounding amp, and all the ones I've tried so far have been the same. Maybe they changed things a little on newer batches... or maybe it was just a brighter cab with the tweeter turned up on full?

The SFT definitely has a smoother more natural break-up than the others you listed. I have two of em that sound totally different though, the original one with the big white knobs rolls off a lot more treble but sounds a lot fatter in the low mids. The newer one has deeper lows, more treble and upper-mids growl. It also sounds different run at 18v so be sure to try that out if you get one too. For only £23.89 though, it'd be rude not to try out the [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ultimate_drive.htm"]Harley Benton Ultimate Drive[/url] first. Listen to the clip [url="https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-ultradrive"]here[/url] to see how good it sounds on bass, it's a clone of the Fulltone OCD. Have you tried the VT Bass? If not, you should.

As the man said: [quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1392989350' post='2374992'] Good luck getting hold of ANY of those for £30-40! ... [/quote]

He also posted a comparison between the Blueberry and the OFD: [url="https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/bbbodvsofd-01"]https://soundcloud.c...0/bbbodvsofd-01[/url] Also general overdrive sounds here: https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/ofd-overdrivesettings I agree the analog pedal sounds better in both cases, but the OFD does get pretty darn close, and is much more versatile. As much as I like it, I might be moving mine on soon, since I really just use my SFT and TAFM and it can't quite nail those sounds.

He has plenty more clips on his soundcloud that aren't on that site too, they tend to be posted in random Talkbass threads. Good thing is he tends to play the same lines with the same gear, which really helps.

Also, the RunOffGroove Ginger I mentioned is a DIY schematic that you could build within budget if you're up for the challenge! [url="http://www.runoffgroove.com/ginger.html"]http://www.runoffgro...com/ginger.html[/url] https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/ginger-wav

Aha, didn't spot that! In that case check out some of these: [b]Joyo / Harley Benton Ultimate Drive[/b] £23.89! [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ultimate_drive.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...imate_drive.htm[/url] (what the heck, I am gonna order one of these myself!) Clip: [url="https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-ultradrive"]https://soundcloud.c...joyo-ultradrive[/url] Also:[list] [*]Joyo / Harley Benton American Sound - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...an_truetone.htm[/url] (Clip: https://soundcloud.com/johnk_10/joyo-jf14) [*]Joyo / Harley Benton British Sound - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_britsh_truetone.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...sh_truetone.htm[/url] [*]Behringer BDI21 - [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Behringer-BDI21-V-Tone-Bass-Preamp/6LV?origin=product-ads&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA+Behringer&utm_content=Yb7xhCqt|dc_pcrid_39000656599_plid__kword__match__"]http://www.gear4musi..._kword__match__[/url] [*]Digitech Bad Monkey (also £23.89 - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/digitech_bad_monkey.htm"]http://www.thomann.d..._bad_monkey.htm[/url]) [*]Danelectro Transparent Overdrive - [url="http://www.hotroxuk.com/dan-electro-cool-cat-transparent-overdrive-cto-2.html"]http://www.hotroxuk....rive-cto-2.html[/url] [/list]