Al Krow

My Sandberg TM4 was shown the door in favour of Ibanez and Yamaha basses 18 months back. I'm a Berg free zone for the foreseeable future. Used 735A is not a bad shout. I'd not bother putting a reverse P in as that would be a visual mess, but the MM split coil is definitely doable. And worth leaving that thought on the table for anyone wanting a BB with an MM pup. I've actually got split coil J/MM on both pups on my Spector which has kinda scratched that particular itch for me. And I have to fess to being ridiculously content with my BB 1025, so I'm kinda sorted

My experience of multifx is that they have been improving leaps and bounds over the past few years. Not sure when the ME50B was originally released? As the available chip processing power has increased so has the quality and realism of the effects patches. The Zoom B3N was a revelation in terms of a relatively budget multifx 3 years back and has recently been re-packaged into the smaller form and even more value for money B1-4. It's pretty good, but never made me think I could replace dedicated pedals at the 'harder' modelling end: synth, filter, drive and octave up & down. Helix has taken it to the next level, although at a considerable price premium to the Zoom pedals, and a lot of folk have dispensed with their entire pedal board. It doesn't have a synth engine and can't compete with my Boss SY-1 for example, but otherwise it's pretty close to being a one stop shop for me.

But the single J is sooooo good! What's needed is a split coil MM with a selector switch so you can toggle between a J and an MM. And might as well go for a reverse P while you're at it. Dammit, it's turning into a Sandberg... 😄 Now if you could get a Sandberg VM5 pup configuration in a BB with the excellent BB Alnico pups and 3 band EQ for the price of a 735A, we'll you'd be talking!

Dunno about back in the game, more like back on the game (and that's a reference to you, Dave, and not your third wife, for the avoidance of doubt!) 😁

The gig bag (strings or pedal board) would have been fine, it's just everything else that tripped you up as far this thread is concerned...😄 @bassfan did try to argue that a swanky new amp and TKS cab were required "to get the most out of his basses", but he would have been better off buying a really swanky set of strings with a free bass thrown in. Missed a trick there.

A Yammy BB user and pedals mainly for creative home use rather than gigging. That's a pattern of behaviour I can relate to!

Well folks - looks like a full 2 months under our belts and 17 / 24 of us are still standing! This thread has actually been very helpful in avoiding new gear so far; I'm sure without it I would be snapping up that mint GM800 amp head in the FS right now!

It would be interesting to see if they ever go down that route. I think for a lot of us we associate the BB brand as being PJ, or just P for older models. The notable exception being the NE2, which really isn't a BB at all!

Sidetrack: my regret is that Orange have taken the fear out of Terror and now only do 500W at 4 ohm, heads.

Synth: Bananana Matryoshka. BUT it depends whether you want something small or something that is going to deliver you usable synth tones? If the latter get a Boss SY-1 or SA C4. Fuzz / OD: COG mini 66 (I'm guessing that may too close to the COG Knightfall? If so, I'd be tempted to swap out the Knightfall for the mini 66 and use the extra space for the SY-1 or C4).

Sweet! Not sure I've seen one of those in the flesh before. MM/P config, fully passive?

Nice! Which model?

Spector + DG AO900 + Barefaced cab. Hmmm... now where did I see that recently?

Nice clip! So have you lost your marbles in wanting to move your 2024X on?! Well if you're after one, then...:)

My thoughts exactly!

I know, but would you have loved his sound anyway? 😉

You're a Precision guy to your core, you'll be back! I do think it's great to have tonal variety in our basses, just keeps things fresh. (BTW, I see your MXR lasted as long in your rig as mine did. Compressors eh? 😄)

You do realise I'm going to ask you to randomly switch off your comp mid song, at your March 13th gig, and see if any of us in the audience notice! Although tbf the Spectracomp is quite coloured, as comps go, so we hopefully will! 😁

I think I'm right in that Fodera is an ex KS luthier (and also F bass?) Although I've never had my head turned by either in the way that a KS bass seems to do!

They've missed a trick then: so few pedals offer a decent HPF / LPF. But thank gawd for that 😁

I see you've succumbed to the fatal outcome that is prevalent amongst those who start threads - it's a surprisingly expensive pastime and should come with a health warning from the mods! Funny though your Becos now looks wonderfully simple compared to the Stella and shouldn't take you till the end of the week to master. And when you've had a few stellas, you'll no doubt be "doing a Simon" and getting one of these knob fiddler's paradise: Which dammit, I've just noticed has got Lo Cut and Hi Cut - if those are essentially a 'free' built in HPF and LPF thrown in and they're half decent...

Haha - he does most of the singing and plays the acoustic. He could make do without her but not vice versa methinks...so he's defo good for his half share 😉

Great to see a B1X-4 in action! Out of interest, what particular effects are you using it for and do you get to use the expression pedal much on it? Looking forward to seeing you play live with your band on March 13th! (Any other BC'ers planning on going to see 'STRAY' then please give me and @PJ-Bassist a shout and we can meet up for a beer).

Came across an article which said that Ken Smith, after 40 years of making basses, had shifted production to Brubaker guitars in the US in 2019 and, whilst he would still be involved, it would be in a significantly reduced capacity. Be interesting what that will mean for the KS brand. Kinda now glad I managed to get mine used as a 2018 build and towards the very end of the old skool KS production set up!