Happy Jack

I find your lack of umlauts disturbing ...

The best recording session I ever did on DB was a couple of years ago now. I was (and remain) far too inexperienced to modify my technique as between live and studio work, so I just played the bass. The professional sound engineer knew exactly what he was doing, and my playing has never sounded so good. He close-mic'd my Andreas Zeller with a microphone which cost roughly twice as much as my bass. It all seemed to turn out alright.

Yes. The previous incarnation of The Junkyard Dogs (a 4-piece pub band) was a 5-piece including keys. The first keys player was a mindgames player who thought it fun to secretly sabotage my basslines by furtively using his left hand when no one was looking. No accident, he really did that, because he thought he was oh so clever. When the band finally discovered this, he jumped just before we could push him ... but not before he had recruited his own replacement. Seriously. His replacement was a much nicer guy but nowhere near as talented, and very lazy too. He couldn't be arsed to learn new songs (Quote: "Why do we need new songs when the audience isn't yet bored with the old ones?") so he used to fake them - play the first three chords loudly, pretend to play for the rest of the song, and then play the last three chords loudly. Again, I'm not making this up. Eventually we'd had enough, invited him to leave and never bothered to recruit a replacement. We're a far better outfit as a 4-piece than we ever were with a prima donna keyboard player.

Maybe your Ric has something to do with it!

And here is the more elegant cello version, in a dedicated cello shop in St. James, one of the most expensive areas of London:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-musicians-wanted/bass-player-required-for-power-trio-blues-rock-psych-/1302224964

I'm guessing that each genuine dent you add increases the value?

And as always JMB is absolutely stuffed with flakes & fantasists, plus it has arguably the worst search engine in the entire history of IT. I still use it occasionally because, as you say, it has a large user base, but it ain't fun and it sure ain't pretty. No idea where you are Bassix but you may have a decent jamming / open mic scene near you.

Fixed.

They have a keyboard player?

Many more of them live next door ...

You don't adjust it! It's a 'screwhead' type adjustment on the side of the pedal, which you set in the studio, or perhaps during the soundcheck, purely to equalise the input signal from your two sources. After that, you never touch it again until you change the instruments you are working with. My DB goes into channel #1, my electric bass into channel #2. So long as I was using the Mike Lull electric bass I had the channel #2 setting in one position. When I moved to the Ovation electric bass (with a hotter pickup) I had to move the channel #2 setting to another position. I won't alter it again until I decide to use a different electric bass in combination with the DB.

Trump has, at most, another three years. The anti-Trump backlash, both in the USA and abroad, will be sufficient to see a complete reversal of all his insane policies. IMHO.

I've not seen any reportage that musical instruments have become part of the new tariffs imposed by the EU - have I missed something?

I do like Mooer stuff, and that would certainly be one possible solutions, but what are you missing? Well, the BigShots can work perfectly well in passive mode and can therefore be used anywhere on stage, without the need for power and/or a pedalboard. In fairness, that means that the LEDs won't work, of course! The BigShot is also available in two different flavours, the BigShot I/O and the BigShot ABY, allowing you to choose exactly the feature set you want for your needs. Both BigShots have a dedicated tuner out. A key difference between EUB and DB (for live use) is that a DB does not have a volume control. The BigShot I/O assumes that you will plug your DB through channel #1 and your bass guitar through channel #2, then use the DIM/BRIGHT controls to equalise the two signals without altering your bass's volume control and therefore its tone. It also has a Mute button (very handy for switching between instruments, especially when one is a big noisy feedback-prone thing which must either be laid on the floor or placed in an awkward stand). If you're playing EUB rather than DB then the BigShot ABY probably makes more sense, and of course it is a direct competitor for the Boss LS-2. As opposed to the Boss LS-2, the Mooer has a (reversible) 2 --> 1 plugging system whereas the Boss LS-2 has a far more flexible 1+2 --> 1+2 system. Equally important is that the LS-2 has separate Level controls for each of A & B. And whilst the LS-2 needs power, it runs very happily off a 9V battery. I think that's about it. Whether or not that makes the two BigShots worth £89 (each!) or the LS-2 worth £82 is obviously an individual thing. If I already owned neither a BigShot nor an LS-2 then I'd certainly look at the Mooer as a starter for ten - £25 is a good price. But you get what you pay for.

Making your debut by playing on Albatross is a tough act to follow ...

Excellent stuff Jensen ... I just wish I understood it all better. I assumed that I couldn't go far wrong by plugging my passive basses through good-quality DI boxes by Radial. It seems I misunderstood the situation.

Not so much 'more' as 'different'. I've had both, loved them both, but used them in different ways. The LS2 is a classic Swiss Army knife; there's no limit to the number of ways you can get your money's worth from it, just a pedal that every bass player should own because ... well ... just because. The BigShot is a dedicated tool for dealing with this one particular issue, and dealing with it really well. If you routinely swop between (say) electric and double bass during gigs then I would recommend the BigShot without hesitation, and I would advise you to practise always using it in the same configuration. If swopping is something you only do occasionally, then the LS2 makes more sense simply because it will spend less time sitting in a drawer and gathering dust - you'll find other uses for it as well.

Covering the entire fingerboard of a cheap double bass with epoxy, and then sanding/filing the whole thing back to a useable finish, would probably rank right up there on my list of things never to waste my life doing!

I'm guessing you don't have two Boss tuners ...

Mind you, there's a reason ... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Resonet-Arco-Stand-up-Bass/153047838486?hash=item23a25caf16:g:T8sAAOSw0LhbFAl-

I'm liking that TKO a lot ... everything you need, nothing you don't.

The only place I use Pledge is on my skull!

Sounds like a great gig, but watch for the band politics - you'll still be the new boy in that band in five years' time ...