NancyJohnson

Burp, ponk and shizzle.

Surely the first thing we have to ascertain what 'punchy' actually means; I've seen and heard it used tons, 'Oh, that sounds punchy,' but the word in isolation means zero. It's not like adding bass, middle or treble to your signal path...nobody ever says, 'Turn up the the punchy control.' Everyone here will have an opinion, but they're only going to be citing what's good on their ears and achievable from the gear they've used or seen used, so you'll get an opinion on just about every enclosure from 4x8s up to 1x18s, and/or combinations thereof. Cabinets are just one part of your signal chain; everything therein will contribute towards what you quantify as 'punch', from the end of your fingers to the air that moves a millisecond later. Your opinion of 'punch' will change from room to room, even cabinet positioning inside the same room.

Porcupine Tree. While there's no doubting the talent on show, there's just something about Steven Wilson that I just find difficult to connect with, he always comes across as so earnest and nice. On the times I've dipped in, I always felt his voice didn't suit the heavier passages. I love his non-contributary work (for instance, the 5.1 XTC/Tears For Fears reissues). Perhaps there's just too much back catalogue to wade through (I've finished In Absentia and I'm deep in Deadwing territory), maybe I should just create a playlist of everything and just put them on shuffle rather than focusing on things on an album by album basis.

Just concerning the tripod stand, I was rooting around in my garage yesterday and found a powered speaker stand I'd bought a couple of years ago (don't ask). It's very light and appears a way more sturdier compared to the NS stand; most importantly it has a pretty small footprint. The uppermost pole though (which would normally go into a hole in the base of a powered speaker) is 35mm, so way bigger that the top part of the NS stand that has the mechanism to attach the EUB. So now I'm on the hunt for a step-down adaptor; I figure there has to be something on the market that will allow me to simply take the top part of the NS stand (whatever the diameter of that is) and marry it with a 35mm hole.

Just because it doesn't come up for sale shouldn't be an indicator that rack kit generally is unliked. I'd probably say that selecting two different components (pre and power) that delivers precisely what you want is a country mile ahead of a one box solution. For many years I ran a 4U rack with a Sansamp RBI, a Korg tuner and a Matrix 2U poweramp. It was joy.

I'd say first out that all my pickups are set at the optimal height to facilitate this. Passive basses (VVT or VT) volume(s) and tone knob fully open. Active basses, volume on full for each pickup, tones at the midpoint, adjust to suit...generally I'd roll the bass up a little to phatten it up.

Fiebings Leather dye. (It stains anything...)

They're tuned differently...

Longevo coated strings are now available at Bass Direct. £34 for four string sets, £39 for five string sets. Nice to know. These are lovely strings.

The photos don't help here at all, do they? To the sellers credit, he is selling an Ampeg head a fridge. Thinking back, I used to work with a chap who owned an old Rickenbacker; about a year/eighteen months before my brief dalliance with a 4003, I borrowed it for an hour one lunchtime for a noodle and the set up was even worse than the eBay seller's bass...the action was easily a centimetre or more mid-neck. The sellers strings look perilously close to the neck pickup cover too.

I worked for a medical company for ten years. Colostomy products in the main (although we did do the writickets for Reading and Leeds festivals). Got the runs? Eat marshmallows. Bag filling with firm poop? Eat a couple of bananas.

I think the thing is, these get buried within long threads and if you're not contributing or reading those threads then you're unaware; simple as.

Already on pre-order!

I have an A/O 900, honestly thought it was going to be a revolutionary solution to my tone needs, but it wasn't and it's ended up that I just use the poweramp side with a GED2112 or dUg plugged in. My ears did prick up earlier today when I saw this, 500w or 900w is academic, but the tech just seems to reflect what TC Electronic were doing with their TonePrint kit a few years ago and what Line6 were trying to achieve two decades ago. Realistically, the natural conclusion is that Darkglass just need to bring out a small-box poweramp with a lone volume control on it. No tone controls, just let your phone control everything.

Yep. I had the original album and lost it somewhere...got 21 Thorns (the expanded version), it's a belter. I love a bit of Jean Beauvoir!

Crown Of Thorns.

He's got cold hands, not constipation. 🤣

It's an odd question. You should never somehow feel inadequate/inferior/unworthy because your gear doesn't costs thousands of pahnds. Play what you want on whatever you want and if anyone looks down on you, just punch them in the throat. Simple.

I think you need to have a look at some of @binky_bass basses!

Lovely work, Rob. At one point I was thinking about getting Mike Lull to make me one of these, it's Jeff Ament's JAX-T4 bodied, with a Hamer Chapparel neck: I loved the idea of an oversized body married with the Hamer neck...we did speak about it and I think that if I'd lived locally to the Lull workshop, I may have pulled the trigger, but the costs were getting out of hand; donor Hamer bass, the Lull build fees, shipping (Hamer to Seattle, finished bass to the UK), plus taxes. We were certainly nudging £7.5K.

I'm not big on the club thing, but I've owned three Ibanez Riadster basses; back in the 80' an original Roadster (happy memories), then another one (awful) and I picked up one as a project (neck, body, bridge, machines) last year. It's had a stripback and respray, new guts. It's wired into the switch and then the volume, so three of the knobs are just there to fill the holes. Sounds fine to my ears.

Lace Helix similarity aside - early Wingman guitars from Danish maker Baum also look similar.

I saw a similar schematic earlier. A different coloured board (black) and a black headstock would definitely make it look better.

Or not. Just watch. It's compelling. I suppose this experiment - with a bit if jiggery-pocket - would apply to any stringed instrument that requires pickups.

It's begging for something. Fire maybe.