martthebass

Cheers Dave, I’ve often looked at replacing them but cant find anything as good that fit in the boot of me Mini 😂

Yes, for a 'Businessman' Trump is showing clear signs of a total lack of understanding of supply chains and global manufacturing. He clearly has no strategy for re-domesticating manufacturing industry - he would do well to study re-engineering in the 'Chinese' vein. There are areas where the retool/re-eng time would be measured in years and that's even with a fair wind and an expectation that final unit cost would increase. Using tariffs as a blunt tool can only fail....

Well I wouldn't class myself as a 'bread-head' when it comes to gigging. However, I generally look to stay 'net-zero' at least on the finance side so that expenses and gear bought to support gigs is paid for along the line. I've never really made much from the activity, being 40% tax bracket for many years put me off earning sufficient to interest the tax man. Charity gigs we nearly always do pro-bono or for minimal mileage expenses if a longer hike. For venues where they are making significantly on the exercise then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect remuneration in line with that, for venues that are more financially compromised we normally charge accordingly but don't take prisoners if they aren't active in promotion etc.

Great gig at a local WMC this last Saturday for the Glam Lads. It's one of those old school clubs that saw the likes of Bob Monkhouse et al in its heyday but fortunately is still doing well...a pretty packed house as it seems the locals were up for some 70s Glam. A prospective agent showed up to view the first spot (looking to fill a few little gaps in the gig calendar left by the previous 'booker') so we were on our game and thankful for the large and enthusiastic crowd. The agent, also a bassist, was complimentary on my sound...he said his expectations weren't high when I said I was using just a couple of MarkBass 12" but he was surprised with the clarity and punch. So all in all a cracking night and our next visit there will be NYE which should be a stormer.

Is the fingerboard on the graphite necks this composite or is it just a slab of phenolic? It's blacker than black on my CW-1 so can't tell; there dosen't seem to be any surface features so to speak.

That’s interesting. When I worked in R&D, I did a lot of work on phenol formaldehyde resin systems (aka Bakerlite - I assume the main component of ritchlite) and the levels of the catalyst, resol and novalak made a big impact on the modulus of the cured resin. I guess Rob did a lot of work getting the mix right to achieve the properties he wanted for the overall sound.

Often wondered what factors are at play. I had an early Streamline, with its basic 2 band EQ I didn’t find it brittle sounding at all and could get some quite warm tones from it. My CW1 despite it having an alder body seems far more hifi to me.

Yup, no doubt the ‘ministry of truth’ will be rewriting documents and destroying old ones to support this as we speak.

Sadly you can’t cure stupid Cat!

Quite a few have made the mistake of thinking because it looks a bit like a P it’ll sound like one. I’ve never been too keen on the P bass sound on stage and prefer a hotter set up (hence my other basses being EBMM and Status) so I appreciate the more aggressive take in the Lionel.

I had the Sterling shortie before the full fat version came along (took an age to get one…..). Yes the US one feels better but sound wise I’m hard pushed to tell much of a difference. I do need to change the strings though it’s got D’Addarios on and the gauge is a bit light for me on a shortie. Yep, the Lionel is gold finish….soft core aged, you can only get the gloss finish in soft or hard aged at the minute. It’s alder so it’s lightweight at about 7.5lb.

Wish I had your level of versatility Pete…..I go ashen when someone requests Sinatra at a jam night 😂

Great review BBS. I know some change out the pups to something more old school, to be honest I quite like the extra bite and have no intention of doing a swap out. My Lionel is alder with a rosewood fb so there might be some slight tonal differences. Do change the Sandberg strings I found them harsh on mine and got rid quickly, it’s wearing EB hybrid slinkies Shortscale no (50-105) which seem to suit it. The bridge isn’t too tough, and one positive certainly with mine is once I’d set the action nothing has moved in 6 months. If you can afford to keep the Ray and it’s a good one, I would, it’s always good to have a different tone I tend to alternate gigs with my 2.

Lovely, gotta admit that the Lionel is my favourite gigging bass. In terms of shorties the Ray and Lionel is a combo that’s difficult to beat…..great minds think alike (fools seldom differ?).

A ‘charridy’ job for the Glam lads last night supporting Leukaemia and bowel cancer charities. We were asked to finish the night off but for various reasons we asked to be penultimate. Didn’t get a sound check as time was tight and we were rushed on….consequently I struggled the first few songs as there was no backfill or monitoring on my side of the stage….still the show went on and apparently it sounded fine out front. A fairly full gig list until the end of May now…onwards and upwards.