basexperience

As a n00b, what's the process here? Do we bring as much gear as possible?! How does that work?!

My Warwick thumb rocks 26 frets, and I do love it. I took a solo on it a few weeks back and was astonished by how easy it was 😄

I've got a Trace V4 Mk 2 which I love, and it's got a lot of history behind it. I don't think I'll ever part with it. Itused to be a 15" combo, but the band who were using it (who I spent a season with in Andorra at the Aspen Bar in Soldeu) finally wrecked the cab so badly - and the drummer partially dismantled it before asking for help as it was languishing in a leaky shed. No joke. Miraculously, the amp survived completely intact - after supplying dimensions to Zilla Cabs, they constructed a gorgeous head case for it, to my specs (with the V4 and V8 carry handle arrangements on it - which is so useful), and now it lives at home in the studio, although I do take it on gigs occasionally. The amp has some surprising features which make it ideal for studio use, including the ability to turn off the entire power amp section and use the all-tube preamp for recording. Aces.

Speaking with my real name hat on - Andy Watt - I’d suggest I might have to get one of these. 😁

I misremembered my story. I did exactly what you did - there was no custom in there. Squier, standard and American. Thanks for reminding me!

I've got a theory that because you can play just off the end of the board, through the string, a little further up the string (towards the head), then it's the equivalent of plucking over the bridge pickup vs the neck pickup, as it were - with a 24 fret neck, on the same scale bass, the 21 fret bass would have a little more room to play through further up the string towards the head of the bass. Scott from SBL says he prefers 21/22 fret basses for slap and it got me thinking why.

Bought a Kiwami from @Lunoxx - thanks again mate, superb pedal - which needed some TLC and a pot replacement. I’m no electronics engineer, but I know enough to replace parts like for like, and I’ve fixed a few circuit boards in my time. I jumped on the chance to get one of these mad filter pedals, and the repair was interesting. I detailed some of the job on here: https://www.basexperience.co.uk/new-frontiers-pedal-repair/ anyone else repair their own electronics? I learned a lot on this job, particularly about desoldering.

I used to have a prejudice against basses that weren't 24 frets when I was younger (like 20 years ago...) - now I can see the utility, particularly for slap and getting more bottom end into that tone when playing double-thumb. These days the thing that makes me 🙄 is stuff like Facebook groups where people humblebrag about using Squiers. I do actually have a slight prejudice against Fender, over a decade ago I popped into a bass shop on Denmark st in London and tried a back-to-back comparison of 3 jazz basses - a squire, a fender standard, and a high end custom shop, and TBH through an identical amp, with identical EQ, I really couldn't hear enough difference between them to warrant the price of even the standard. Mind you, I wasn't spending a lot of time with each bass, so it's not like I was assessing the really quality points like hardware, finish etc. Just tone. I guess I've played long enough that my irrational prejudices are all around irrational prejudices, which probably means I've lost my edge 😄

I’m another very satisfied customer of Luke’s - I got one of his own designed Aotearoa Intermodulators too. Great little pedal, well described, the little handwritten instruction sheet with it is ideal. Well packaged and well made, and extremely competitive compared to a prunes and custard(!!). Thanks Luke!

Super easy transaction with Lunoxx, great pedal and a good honest description of a fixer upper which needed a little TLC to get it back to 100%. Super fast delivery, really well packed, seamless stuff. Thanks dude!

Sometimes those are the best gigs. If nobody is really responding, you can enjoy a little time to really key in with the band. Like a paid rehearsal - almost.

Anyone else plotting to bring an Ibanez Ashula SRAS7 with? It's a weird one...

Just discovered my Wordpress website has moved to new faster servers. Damn, it's now usable so I should start posting on it again! I done a gig round-up post, innit https://www.basexperience.co.uk/gig-round-up-time-ladies-and-gentlmen/

A great little gig last night for jagged little Alanis. A fan of ours wanted an extra special birthday… so we played a full gig in their kitchen! great little event. Drum kit was a scaled back cocktail one, the vibe was excellent. my gear was the usual pedalboard plus my stingray HH, which sounded great. I used a little Roland bass cube RX as a monitor at head height, worked quite well but I reckon I’ll use my own in-ears if we do this again 😂

I noticed someone selling a whole load saying the Anagram meant they were just downsizing everything (although they had specific stuff about travel in there) - I wonder how things have changed since the days of e.g. the bass pod xT (I still have one of those... I should put that up for sale, really) - have recent multifx releases seen more people sell off their pedal collections? I built a truly huge pedalboard a few years ago for a synth / electronic project which didn't happen, and downsized / rebuilt this year. It's definitely revitalised my appetite for effects units - I've built PCs in the past, and it feels a little like that, with a pleasant degree of self-build. I solder my own cables, etc, and sourcing parts is good fun. That said, it's an expensive hobby: the filter board I'm building has definitely hit £500 in new spend on new filter pedals, etc, and I've been sourcing secondhand a fair amount. That only hit me yesterday: I mean, that's nearly half an anagram.

If he can do what he did replacing the truss rod in one of these - https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/maruszczyk-elwood-absolution-5a-gloss-blueburst/ - then replacing the one in your beloved Mighty Mite neck should be a walk in the park! (there's a blast from the past name, I bought a Warmoth neck in 1992 and both those names take me right back...) I watched a video he posted the other day of him actually removing a fingerboard. It's meticulous work, methodical and steady, and explains how I literally can't see a single mark around the edge of the board. Amazing stuff.

I recently had a Maruzczyk whose truss rod ran out of adjustment room and the head snapped off (not a great rod on that bass at all) - and yep, I know, they work in reverse, was aware! I got @Manton Customs to replace the rod and fit carbon strips, and the work he did was frankly amazing. This is a heavily ornamented neck, too - pearl binding all the way around. He did a great job, recommended if you want the rod replaced.

They’re definitely more a studio thing for me, but they’ll quickly dial up some harmonic differences with the various in phase / out of phase possibilities. Only slight allowance I have to make is not to get too enthusiastic with my thumb and catch a micro switch on the neck pickup. I love them!

Uncanny. My Rikkers Bodyline actually uses those switches on the humbuckers!