dannybuoy

I bought a set of the licensed (i.e. made in China rather than USA) 1/2" Hipshot Ultralites from Bass Direct. Beware that the USA ones are reversible but the licensed ones aren't, so you need to order 4x bass side and 1x treble side. I've yet to fit them however, but there was a recent thread on here where someone confirmed they can be fitted without drilling holes however the tuners will be at a slight angle - so new holes will need to be drilled if you want them dead straight as they should be.

It does depend on which overdrive distortion you use as well... I have a few to play with and found my favourites changed when trying them out in a band mix to beef up the sound during solos etc. I settled on a SolidgoldFX Beta for this purpose purely for the big bump in the low mids it has, it increases the presence of your bass but still leaving plenty of sonic space in the upper mids for the guitar to do it's thing.

+1 I used to bump my thread, then on the 2nd bump, delete the old one, which was a lot of overhead that's now been replaced by one click. And of course most people just posted endless bump posts one after the other. Anyway, what's the problem with it looking like you bumped the thread? Once people get used to the new system they will no longer assume the last poster bumped it anyway, as you can work it out from the timestamps on each post.

I had (and regrettably sold) a Kala U-Bass a while back, and want to get a cheap clone to mess about with that I can keep tucked down the side of the sofa! These look to be cheaper than all the others I’ve seen out there, has anyone tried one? Not sure whether to spend a little bit more to avoid disappointment, but cheap, buy twice and all that! https://www.musicstore.de/en_GB/GBP/Jack-Danny-Ukulele-Bass-UK-BM1R/art-BAS0007299-000

Can’t you just beam the toneprint via the iPad speaker and pickup, with no need for a cable?

Well the pickups are the same in the 1025 and 2025 so I know what to expect there. The new range of BBs have gone for a totally different more vintage construction with alnico magnets... the 434/435 have the ‘V5’ pickups while the 734/735/P34/P35 have the ‘V7’ pickups. I don’t think there’s much difference between them though, I was hard pushed to tell the difference between the 434 and 734A in passive mode! I’d give them all another good play through before I ever decided to splash the cash!

I've not tried the new Pro line but have tried a 434. The new pickups sound quite different and I consider the old ones my 'signature' sound, plus the BB2025X looks cooler IMHO with the blade pickups and all that chrome.

My BB1025X weighs about 4.8, but best in mind they are slightly heavier anyway due to the pickguard and metal knobs and control plate. 4kg is pretty good going for a 1025. I tried that BB2024 thinking I didn't need that B string but I've found I do depend on it more than I realised, so I'm very much tempted to get a BB2025X and call it a day!

There was an orange sparkle BB414 with a fretless conversion that changed hands on here a couple of times. I was very tempted to get it at the time!

I don't know if this has already been raised, but the site is broken on my iPad Air 2 in two ways: 1: In portrait mode (since it doesn't appear in landscape mode), pressing the hamburger menu (needed to get to notifications etc) does nothing. Works in Chrome on the same device but not Safari. 2: I can no longer reply to threads. All I get at the bottom of the screen is a grey speech bubble next to my avatar, with 'this field is required' in red, the 'notify me of replies' checkbox and the 'submit reply' button. But no white text editing area! Again, works in Chrome but not Safari.

If it's the black one, I played that very bass a few weeks ago and it was very nice indeed. Hope you got a good deal, the guy was more than willing to price match anywhere online such as Bass Direct!

PJB Bighead does it for me and a lot of others around here. Battery powered and rechargeable via USB, simple 2-band preamp. Sounds pristine with zero noticeable noise. Also doubles as a USB audio interface so you can play music through the USB connection and also record from it.

There's a chance the USA Ultralites might be slightly different in size to the licensed ones, so maybe one matches up perfectly and not the other... They're not exactly the same, the licensed ones are not reversible for starters.

A travesty. The P+J setting on the BB is absolutely killer and my whole reason for owning one! I too have some licensed Ultralites just arrived from Bass Direct to go on my 1025X when I get a chance. Word is they pop straight on without having to drill holes as they line up with the existing one?

Also you can use shipito.com to forward any parcel from the US. I've done this when buying from TB'ers or sellers that don't ship to the UK.

I love the Tonehammer for more vintage sounds, but for punk I like the clang that a VT Bass brings. If you get the DI version that features a blend control so you can make it subtle if you like too. Lozz on here is a punk man and is a massive fan of the Tech21 Paradriver. Another option could be a compressor. They are a subtle effect but can definitely have a positive effect on improving your general tone and volume consistency.

1025X (pickup switch in the middle position, i.e. with the noisy J pickup in the circuit) into a compressor, then into a Darkglass amp with distortion and boosting the hi mids and treble (all of which should highlight any noise!) - but still can't hear any! https://www.basschat.co.uk/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=3191

I find the buzz from the J pickup is highly room dependent. At home I hardly hear any buzz at all, I really have to crank the volume up and listen out for it. It was a lot more apparent when I tried one out in a store though, with all the fluorescent lighting around etc. I still say an easier route would be to pick up a BB435 where those Nordsrtands would probably drop straight in!

They are not a standard size, so you will struggle to replace them without leaving gaps unless you get some custom pickup surrounds made up, you might have to do some additional routing also. Why in such a hurry before you've even heard what the stock ones sound like? The stock pickups are louder, more lows and less highs than typical PJs, but they sound great. If you want to drop replacements straight in, you would be better off looking at one of the newer BB models (e.g. BB235, 435, 735A) that use traditional size pickups. The stock ones on the new models are voiced more like vintage pickups (more mids/highs, less lows) and you may be surprised to find they sound as good as whatever you were planning on putting in there!

Indeed they are. Actually I've used some cabs with horns that sounded pretty good with distortion (Orange OBC410 springs to mind, and I bet the Darkglass cabs do too of course) but it was the piezo unit in the Markbass CMD121P that was responsible for turning me off tweeters!

I keep the gain between all the way off and 9 o'clock, tone around 2 o'clock. Then that's what I consider my clean tone, and add a pedal on top when I need to. I solve the high frequency issues by using a cab without a tweeter, as every proper bassist (i.e. none of this slapping, tapping, chords and harmonics nonsense) should.

@Al Krow converted eh? As in using it clean, or have you come to enjoy the microtubes engines? As I've said I'm a fan of the B3K mode at low gain not as a distortion as such, but more of an 'enhancer' with a pre-baked EQ curve.

I'm not sure if it needs to be shielded (or since it has a humbucker, just needs to be grounded properly) but I have certainly played some that are noise free and some that are very buzzy. I still need to get my head around why my Yamaha BB is totally silent (on the P pup at least, the J pup adds a tiny bit of hum) yet my Fender P can buzz a bit - reduced by touching the strings, but then coming back again if my hand hovers over the pickup.

If only. I have about 20 pedals, 10 basses and an amp I need to shift but I'm just too damned unimpressive and undisciplined to list them! Fortunately the prices of most of this gear has gone up in the last few years, so I look at them as investments!

They've apparently got plans for 5 string versions of the Cutlass & Caprice in 2018 according to a post I read on the main Talkbass thread about these basses.