Al Krow

My local bass tec has disappeared from the Hackney to Jersey, so defo not as convenient for me anymore... Came across the following: Guitar Hospital 253 Rotherhithe St, London SE16 5FX The Walking Bass 54 Glenhouse Rd, London SE9 1JQ Graham Parker Luthier Lewisham, London, SE13 Dunno if any of you London BC'ers have used any of the above or could recommend someone not too far from E3? @Reggaebass - do you have someone local that you use for more than a basic set up e.g. replacing a preamp?

If you're buying new from Thomann, you'll be paying exactly the same Customs and VAT as you had to pre-Brexit, so no drama. (Very different if you are buying used goods UK <--> EU now, where we do have VAT on imports in both directions that we didn't have before). Vaccines are a good thing 😉

Went to a Prom at the Albert Hall with my 21 y/o last night, lovely night out. Maybe all the more special as it was the first such outing in 18 months. Everyone was asked to show either a negative lateral flow test or a vaccination card before entry; didn't seem too onerous. Coming back to not getting sacked for smoking in a public place: actually on reflection I don't think you're correct - I suspect that if someone was found smoking in the work canteen their first offence would be a yellow card from HR and a second would be a swift red card, so yes they could likely lose their jobs over it. Having said all that, I'm very much with you on the general principle of personal liberties i.e. massively pro defending them, where they do not cause harm to others - that is the key balance; my beef is primarily with anti-vax propaganda leading to too many entirely unnecessary deaths.

@Alan Wilkes - you may also be interested in this thread, which I think was one of the most comprehensive on this pedal.

Good post @Cuzzie, thank you. Couple of points: The only reason for illustrating with people seeking to ban the N-word is that it's another example of society not accepting anti-social behaviour which can cause hurt i.e. of society restricting "liberties" for the greater good. But let's drop that if it's not a pertinent example and stick with the bans on smoking and not wearing seat belts as more on point comparisons. I do entirely agree with this from Count Bassy: You make some good points in your post to counter. However when you say: There's a very simple reason for this isn't there? Going into a public space just once and infecting others with Covid can directly result in many deaths. That is way more serious than smoking just once in a public place or arriving somewhere not having worn a seatbelt.

Glad it went so well at the wedding! 😊👍

Ah cool! Yes I think you did mention you were playing at your daughter's wedding a few posts back - no pressure then! 😁

Ah Witney! A former family haunt of Mrs Krow! Enjoy mate - hope it goes well!

Hi Phil - perfectly happy for you to comment on here: for me the thread is about two things: - live music returning, and - what's enabling that to happen (e.g. vaccines appearing on the scene). You and I have always managed to discuss our different PoVs with civility, so no concerns from me on that score!

My sense is that at a pub gig with a full rock band the only person who is likely to notice a difference in tone between two different 4 (or 5) string basses will be the fella / lady standing nearest to the bass rig, playing some great bass riffs with a slight air of disdain, whose ear is most attuned to the sounds of the bass i.e. us! But do you know what? Even if the only person who is really getting pleasure from the nuances of live tone from their different basses is us, that's plenty good enough a reason

Been almost exactly a year to the day since we had clips of fellow BC'ers bands playing live. Be great to see you all back in action!

Wow amazing! Good luck! And if you get any clips please feel free to share on here: It would be great to get that thread up and running again!

Phil - the Aus / NZ 'zero covid' model is definitely worth keeping an eye on as it is a clear alternative to one being adopted by the US, UK and Europe. There was no play book for Covid for any government to follow other than the WHO shouldn't have taken such a supine position and should have encouraged other nations to cut travel to China much, much sooner. There were understandably lots of plaudits early on in the pandemic for the Aus / NZ model but their zero-Covid approach is starting to look a little threadbare. Came across this article which you might find interesting. Right now I would much rather be a 'free' citizen in the UK than facing another 12 months of lockdowns in Aus & NZ. Covid-19 - Aus & NZ (21-08).pdf

Hehe! But tbf on our fellow BC'er whose comment you are alluding to, it's massively easier to hear nuances of (pretty much) solo'd bass tone in a "bedroom" environment. Put a full rock band alongside and then try deciding which bass was which in a blind test without being able to choose based on their looks? Hmmm not so sure many of us would easily be able to. Nicely played btw @ped - my vote went to the G&L; it just has a more 'interesting' / richer tone.

I entirely agree that getting the EQ right on your bass e.g. boosting the mids to cut through the mix, or reining them back a little to sit in the mix etc and certainly avoiding boominess by judiciously paring back some of the lower 20 to 40 Hz freqs, where possible, is very desirable. No disagreement from me whatsoever on the important topic of EQ! Every bass player will have access to and ability to adjust EQ - it's vital part of our toolkit. But plenty bassists don't bother using pedals (other than perhaps a tuner) and they can manage to sound just fine, fantastic in fact. At the end of the day live performance really does boil down to groove, feel and technique and those are 90% in your fingers. The rest is what we angst about on BC to keep ourselves, as bass players, entertained.

Fixed! Brexit has happened, it's history and reflects the will of the British people. I get that losers in elections and referendums can sometimes be sore. But did I mention before that democracy beats dictatorship.....? 😁 Now how is your tasty reverse P BB refi coming along?

Very cool - it does have a touch of Rush about it, particularly the drums!

@Dood what track is the riff from you are playing at the start of your review? (It very much feels Rush, but I'm not familiar enough to pin the track down, if Rush is correct!)

Yup - go for it!

Yup that's right - there should be NO Customs duties or VAT on goods travelling from NI <--> GB in either direction. Only exception is GB --> NI --> EU i.e. goods being routed from GB to EU via NI. Steve @Steve Browning is our expert on this stuff and will correct me if I have got this wrong, I'm sure. Obviously still the issue of transport and courier costs to deal with.

Paul - I kinda get where you're coming from. I have had exactly the same debate over the years with the compressor-brigade that no typical pub audience is going to really notice pedal board compression (which, FWIW, I contrast to carefully sound engineered compression on studio recordings). But I think you're perhaps taking it too far in that, as you have acknowledged, a Rick does have its signature tone. In the same vein a classic Fender P is pretty signature and quite different to e.g. a Warwick MEC growl.

The Sire gig bags are pretty decent. I held onto mine when I sold my Sire P7 and regularly use it now for everything but Sire! 😊 PS I think Andertons sell them separately.

So my last gear purchase was exactly 9 days ago - arrived on the 2nd August. A pedal that I've only bought and sold three times before, lol! Does that I mean I am officially, finally, and forever cured of GAS and will now spend the better part of my bass playing future making the most of the gear I already have? 😆

You will get parallel routing options on the Helix, but not on the Ampero or Zoom. The plastic construction on the Zoom B1-4 is pretty robust though and you get metal on the B3N.