Woodinblack

One of those has turned up for sale if you are still interested in it

Interesting idea, it was a different pick in each situation, one was unusual but the other one was just a standard fender pick. I guess I need to sit down with it with an interface and try different styles and different pot positions to see if anything makes a difference. I replaced the tone pot with an alpha pot, as it fell off, but the volumes are still the original, maybe change that too. Certainly need to do the shielding like you did, although I didn't have any actual hum issues live - i know it buzzes noticably at home on the bridge pickup only, but I never play on just that one, might replace its volume with a switch. In fact, might replace all the volumes with a switch

love the look of the neck and the new pickups. I never got on with the size of the BTB necks, but they look great basses if you can

Like this? https://www.facebook.com/tessandthedurbervilles/videos/822316595421654/&show_text=false&width=560&t=0

Interesting - I use a spark for silent practice, but that would be smaller. The problem is remembering to charge it so that when I pick it up it isn't dead!

Certainly interested on your feedback on it - not sure it is something I could use live, but for practices and the like it seems like it could be good.

There was a post from Steven Wilson who saw the warmup gig, saying "One of the greatest bands ever for me and sounding better than ever."

Interestingly, I played the TMB-35 at a gig the other day, and it is one we recorded, both in video and straight from the desk (ie, the individual tracks). I went to do a video for the internet picked a track and started mixing hte audio. I noticed that the beginning of the track (the track was she, so it was bass and drums), there was clicking that meant it was hard to use without a lot of edting to get rid of (and it was really hard to get rid of it). I assumed it was the cheap chinese dongles, mentioned in the above post, so while I was faffing around, I thought maybe its just easier to rerecord the intro where it shows up most (its in other bits but don't realy notice in the mix). So I took the TMB-35, connected a lead to my U-Phoria audio interface into logic and rerecorded it. Listening to the recording that I had just done, it had pretty well the same clicking. Its like a dropout or something, but this is done on different interfaces on other machines (and I tried other basses at home with the same equipment, they didn't do it). The intro to She is probably a bit different as I am using a pick, which I don't normally use much, and it seems to be present in big transients so I thought maybe pickup contact, but it does happen at other less loud parts. I guess I need to shield it and replace the electronics (it has very bad pots and wiring) but anyone else had that sort of thing? The bass is great for what it is, so it is worth updating it

It was true though, Rod wouldn't be big for another 8 years Would be nice. How come of all the 'rock stars' they are the ones still around?

I dont' think I have ever tried identical basses in a shop, there always has been some variation (colour etc), but there is often some difference, even down to the setup on each bass. Last time I did try identical (and non identical) fenders in a shop, I tried 2 american P basses, 2 mexican P basses, 3 squiers and 2 jazzes because I am not a great user of P basses, so I wanted to find one I could live with (and did). None of them 'felt' or sounded the same in every way, although there were no specific QC issues with any of them. I would have thought that almost uniquely with fender, it is easy enough to find a shop with a lot of the current fenders in.

Unless money really is no object at all, going too cheap will not be a problem (within limits, ie, £150 upwards). I did a 3 hour gig last sunday on a bass that cost me £195 new, I did the previous gig on a £1500 bass. Noone noticed the difference, except the drummer said 'Oh cool, I like that one' for the £195 one (although that is more the shape). I did 50 gigs between 2015-2017 on a Squier 70s p bass. I had the choice of a fender P, I picked the squier as it was better. Obviously you spend your money how you want, but don't make the mistake of thinking that paying more money gets you something better. it can, but it doesn't necessarily follow. And as you say yourself you arent' familiar with basses yet, when you do find out what you want, you will probably want to get another bass, and that is the one worth spending money on. You buy the schecter that you want for £700, then find out it isn't right, you can sell it for £400. If you buy a s/h squier jazz for £200, when you sell it you can get £200 and get what you want.

If you can find a cheap second hand one it would be ok - all pretty well much of a much with fender Ps really. a used squier 70s p would be pretty good but they go for a bit more than the standards.

Agreed - actually if I was primarily wanting to do slap I wouldn't pick a 5 string at all, as it adds complications and gets in the way leaving you with ringing harmorncs (or more of them anyway). I think traditional isn't anything to worry about, if you are new you have no tradition - probably why I like narrow, my first 5 string bass had 15mm spacing, my first ric copy had 16.5, so now 17.5 is about the widest I can go before I get lost in the gaps.

If its your first bass and you are not sure how well you are going to get on with it, I would absolutely not buy anything new. There are a lot of very good second hand deals around. If you are going to buy something new, don't buy it unless you have tried it in a shop. From your list, I have an EHB, whcih is great, but expensive, and I could absolutely not play a fender jazz 5 string as the necks are way too wide for me and never found they really worked for me. Also the use of a 5 string has very little to do with if you are playing metal or not - I tend to only play 5 strings, but don't play much metal, and probably if I did it would be 80s metal on a 4 string). Also what sort of metal are you playing slap to? Get something cheap, second hand, and play it until you can work out what it is you like / don't like about it, then get something a bit more expensive when you know what it is that you want. If I was in your position I wouldn't be looking at paying more than £200. Get a used Ibanez 305 if you want a 5 string or a squier jazz if you want a 4 string.

If it was defective like that, you shouldn't lose money on the return.

I had a gig when I was getting no power through, but it turns out that there was something wrong with my pedalboard, the VU meter wasn't even moving.

Are there two good batteries in the original compartment?

Some gigs are just like that, put it down to experience and move on.

Well, it is on a blocklist because of a shared IP, but not sure that is the issue.

ok, Spelled it wrong, and it is now shown as a dangerous web page, but I am not sure why, so I will have to contact them and find out why - none of my checkers show a problem and the system itself watches for changes, and there are none listed.

I don't think there is an issue, but I will check it in case there is, can't be too cautious in these things. edit: I see no issues on it, and norton webscan on their site says its good

Mines in a bag and just gets put where it fits, not one of the things I worry about transporting

My oldest strap with schallers i about 25 years old, never had a problem. Wasn't aware there was that much of a skill to it, other than doing up a bolt. But if I did have a failure in a system that wasn't my mistake for not doing it up and not attributable to a one off defect, I wouldn't use them again. If I had two failures, I wouldn't use it again full stop.

I think what would probably work out better for me is to either upgrade the Alto 212s to something a bit more upmarket but basically the same size / shape, or to just get over it and accept it is good enough for what it does and worry about something else!