AlexDelores

Last night was a frustrating one. All day wedding so we did the ceremony and then I hit my cajon for an hour during the drinks. The evening was okay. Very receptive audience! But, possibly the highest ceiling we’ve ever encountered made the low end so boomy. First set sounded terrible in my ears but apparently wasn’t that bad out front. Spent the break tweaking the eq on my B6 and our Bass drum pedals’ module. And, the second set was a lot better. The frustration with of weddings of course is the quick evening turnaround not allowing a fantastic soundcheck & the fact that it’s just the two of us. It’s hard to tweak on the fly when we have issues. That paired with the fact that I’m still recovering from a pretty bad fall a few weeks ago which blew my knee up like a balloon, thus making it hard to kick my bass drum pedals for 1.5 hours made it one of those gigs where I was in my head a lot and not really as present as I would of liked… Oh well, still a great night enjoyed by all it seems. 4 weddings coming up this week starting tomorrow so on to the next 🙏

Very nice that. Thanks for the heads up. I definitely think I’m done for a bit now though….I think 😅

Ah that’s good to hear. Thank you. Yeah, it’s definitely quite a middle of the road, un offensive kind of tone. But, it works for what i need. I was looking for something like that, that I can eq to fit in a variety of things, and it does that well I think. There’s also a wide variety of Pickups/preamp options down the line if i want to make it sing a little more.

That’s a flippin’ good idea! Thank you 🙏

My First Ever Five! I’ve been wanting a 5 string for about 15 years but have never got around to it. Well, as I’m fairly set with my main gigging bass now and recently sold my Mustang, I decided that rather than putting the cash back into the mix to get spent on everyday stuff or ‘bits and bobs’ I was going to put it towards finally getting a 5. I was shopping around and nearly pulled the trigger on a Ray35 when this popped up… If money was no object, I’d buy an Overwater Jazz and in honesty, i think Cort Jazz’s have that kind of aesthetic (IMO) so I think this is why I’ve always been drawn to them. The finish on them is gorgeous to my eyes and I’ve seen so many good reviews, i thought it would be as good as any to make my first. I bought it Monday and it arrived Tuesday. I’ve not had loads of time with it yet but so far, I’ve got to say, I’m well impressed! OVERALL The fit and finish on the bass really is superb. Especially given the price point. The birdseye maple neck is stunning (my first ever maple neck too). THE B The B string seems pretty solid, and not floppy, or clangy. But, I’ll caveat that with saying I’ve not got a huge amount to compare it to other than friends 5er’s I’ve played in the past. TONE Again, not really got stuck in too much. But, well it sounds like a jazz bass. It’s a very clean/transparent sound I would say, and it’s only really when I boost the mids and roll off the neck pickup a bit that I’m getting a little growl. But, it’s a very nice sounding instrument without much colouring to the sound, which I sort of expected. Albeit not the loudest/hottest bass I’ve ever played (could just need pickup height adjustment) But to my ears it seems nice and balanced across the strings and I’ve no complaints as i wanted something versatile, which it is. One little annoyance is that it doesn’t appear to have any eq control when switched to passive. It just seems to make it flat. Kind of defeats the object other than as a battery failsafe. WEIGHT Compared to a lot of 5’s I’ve picked up and played on in the past, it’s pretty darn lightweight. I’m not sure on the exact weight. But, I was concerned when the box arrived that it was even in there! WAFFLE I’ll likely change the knobs out to black metal ones, as the stock Fender style, feel a bit cheap and look unappealing. I’ll also probably remove the clear pick guard for now. Might potentially look at getting a custom black pearloid one cut but for now I might just leave it off. It’s also another first for me. It’s a bass I’ve bought myself, purely because I wanted it. I didn’t buy it to fill an imaginary gap in my live set up or because I’ve got a few gigs I’ll need ‘X’ for. In fact, I’ve no immediate plans to gig it at all. I’ve just bought it to play, learn on and enjoy. Which feels like a very nice/fortunate thing to be able to get to do. ROSE MORRIS AND…. Big shout out to Rose Morris in London who were superb to deal with and got it boxed, shipped and delivered in just over 24 hours for free. I’d seen it online and had a few questions and David was really responsive and friendly. I ended up getting it for a really good price and even after I’d paid, he kept me updated with getting it shipped (Which was about 1.5 hours after buying it 🙏) CONCLUSION Overall, a very happy bass player so far. My ‘daily runner’ is a 30” passive 4 string, so it’s a bit of a jump up. Almost feels like learning to play all over again. But, a few hours in the den and I’ll be fine i think. If you’ve made it this far. Thanks for reading my waffle. Here’s what you’ve clicked on to see (Not the best pictures but i was in a rush to play it!) …

Is that an 8 string bass?

Bought a Zoom MS-60B+ from Ian. Super easy to deal with and shipped the item out quickly. All as described. Over all, a lovely transaction. Buy with confidence. Thanks again, Alex

I thought exactly this. If you’re specifically looking for a medium scale then it’s not a bad shout as the only other ‘affordable’ medium on the market is the affinity range by Squier and that’s a lot cheaper (happy to be corrected). But, between the Jet basses and this, is it going to be almost twice as good as the Jet basses which is what the price point indicates? Hmm. Looks to have slightly better woods than the Jet basses, and a ‘bone’ nut. Otherwise, likely to be a very similar beast in terms of quality. Be interested to hear some first hand reviews on them!

SX do a very nice looking 30” P bass copy. Looks the part but can’t comment on the sound or quality of them.

You know, when you said you needed a red bass, I wondered… but now I get it completely 😅 Looks great 👌

Any big ‘Cure’ fans here… We’ve got to perform ‘Mint Car’ as a first dance in a few weeks. Just going over the lyrics in the background to get them good and familiar… After the first chorus, there’s a random bit of vocal ‘waffle’. Google tells me he says ‘Slinky as raccoons in the roof’ Can anyone confirm this? I’ll be honest, i probably won’t sing that bit anyway, but, surely, just surely, it can’t actually say that can it? 😅

Missed out on one of these on EBay a few months ago. Stunning looking instruments. Congrats!

These look really nice! Nice unique shape too. Have no doubt that they’ll play lovely too If their Jet basses are anything to go by!

Another cracking weekend of weddings for us just gone. All complimented by a daytime and early set yesterday which meant I was home by 9.30pm Only downside is some idiot decided to try and balance a pint on a speaker on Friday nights Which of course didn’t end well. Seemed to continue to work for the remainder of the night. But we didn’t need both yesterday so I’ll dig it out this week and check it over before next weekend. People.

Sold a pedal to Rick. Super easy and friendly to deal with. Pleasure, thanks Rick. Enjoy!

Yeah I looked at the POD they do look very good! I just wanted more tweak ability. Thanks, had a triple gig weekend, and the B6 did not disappoint at all! Really impressed with the IR’s already on it! As it’s quite big I think the only downside is I’ll probably need something different for fly gigs but I’m thinking of grabbing an ms60b+ for the handful of those we have as I could stuff that into a pair of shoes in my case!

If it’s just the pickup config you wanted I’d go for one of these… Fancied one for quite a while but always talk myself out of it… https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-tc30-thundercaster-bass-30-short-scale-dark-grey-flame-top/

Thanks everyone for their help. I’ve ordered a B6 which should land today. Decided to stick with Zoom as i know the brand and looking at videos, It seems to do everything and more that i need. Also, the fact that it has a colour screen for the tuner was a big winner for me. I’m often tuning while singing the first verse of a song so rely on the colours rather than the actual screen. But, we’ll see. There’s a Stomp for sale in my local 2nd hand shop, so if the B6 doesn’t impress, I’ll give that a whirl. Thanks again all. Alex

Shameless plug, but I’ve got my very nice Vintera 60s Mustang up for sale in the classifieds if anyone is looking 👍

That’s very kind of you! I’m not a million miles away from Hereford but too far to justify it though I’m afraid. (Telford, Shropshire)