Osiris

Thanks for the heads up guys, I've just nabbed the last one currently in stock from Amazon to use as a back up DI According to Amazon they will be back in stock on the 15th, which is this Saturday so if you order one now you should get it in about a week or so. For £17 delivered it's a no brainer. But it does say this is an Amazon prime exclusive price so I don't know what the current price for non-prime members is.

Thanks for that @Dood, I'm not sure that I have the knowledge of skills to do something like that so it sounds like the mic-less option is the one for me

Do any of you who own the KZ ZS10's have the cable that includes the mic? Is it any good at picking up ambient noise to help reduce the feeling of isolation? Or is it crap? If so, how? The option to have the mic is only £1 more on Amazon so I'm wondering whether to go for it or not? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CM6Y82R/ref=twister_B07CVHH8SN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

OK, I understand now I've only recently made the move to short scales, a dodgy nerve in my left wrist is forcing the issue. Like you I had no luck finding a sensibly priced, widely available short scale case. I already had the Protec for my 34" scales so I just use that. There is obviously some dead space in the case but it's not an issue for me. Having said that, as and when a decent, affordable short scale case becomes available I'll be tempted to pick one up.

I cart my Mustang about in a Protec Contego. There's obviously a bit of a gap (but possibly not as much as you might think, less that 100 mm) between the end of the headstock and the casing but once the bass is secured in place with built in the velcro neck retainer thingy it's very secure and doesn't move about in the case. And while it's around £120 on the Thomann link above, I got mine from Amazon for about half of that 3 or 4 years ago.

I met up with Mike last night to try out an amp he was selling. In the end I didn't buy it but he was more than happy to let me try it out first before committing (or not, in my case!) and he was not pushy in the slightest. He, like me, wanted to be happy that I was getting what was right for me and had no qualms when I decided not to buy it. That earned my respect for him straight away. We had a chat for a few minutes and to echo everything that has been said, he's a very friendly, funny, genuine and down to earth guy. I'd certainly be more than happy to deal with him again in future. And he even laughed when I called him Pete by mistake

That's more 80's than a Betamax player, love it

OK, understood, thank you. It seems that the Behringer threshold control works backwards to just about every other compressor that I have ever used, seems a bit of odd design decision to me but I guess you get what you pay for (I was going to use the 💩 emoji but that would just be puerile).

Interesting! Mine have tons of character, like a traditional single coil but somehow bigger sounding. The neck single coil has an almost Precision like tone with a real low mid kick that gives the bass authority in a busy mix. My favourite pickups by miles!

What's the thinking behind having the threshold at minimum on the Behringer? I don't have any experience with that particular model but it's likely that with the threshold so low that the signal was not triggering the limiter to kick in, especially if your source material was fairly consistent dynamics wise.

In my experience the Nords and the Bart's are just different flavours. Both are fantastic quality pickups but to sum them up in a sweeping generalisation I'd say that the Bart's are very clean, clear and precise whereas the Nords generally have a more traditional sound with a bit more character and personality. I'd say that neither is better than the other, they just have their own tonal traits. If you like a more clinical and controlled sound then the Bart's are the obvious choice. If you want a more traditional sound then go for the Nords. Personaly I'd take the Hausells in my Sandberg TT over both of the Nords and the Barts anyday

@songofthewind There's actually nothing wrong with Bartolini pickups. Both of my Ibanez SR's had them although they were different models in each (I don't recall the model number of each and my '1000 is currently inaccessible). The set in my SR1000 have a more inherent mid range grunt than those in the 500, with the EQ on the bass and the amp set flat, in my experience. However, both basses shared some similar characteristics; they were very clean sounding, there is an even response across the entire range of the bass (on 4 string versions at least, I have no experience of the 5 or 6 sting versions) and both basses sit perfectly and effortlessly in a busy bass mix with a flat EQ, your are not fighting against them to make them work. They really are fantastic pickups in that regard, indeed on paper they are something of a perfect design. But for me personally, I prefer the grunt, punch and warmth of a good old passive single coil. But that is just my personal preference. I don't care what the collective opinion is on TalkBass. I've always gone with my own opinions, which more often than not don't follow the crowd anyway The Barts are very good, really good, especially if you're after something clean and precise. Just a word of warning if you are considering changing your own pickups. I tried to change the Barts in my SR1000 a couple of years ago to some Nordstrand Big Singles (I think it was that model?) which are supposedly a direct replacement for Bart' sized pickups. The stock Barts in my 1000 are a custom model and are very slightly different sizes to the regular ones. If I recall correctly mine are a little taller and thinner than the regular size. But it may have been that they were shorter and fatter! Not by much, only a millimetre or so on each side, but it would have meant routing, or at least botching, the pickup cavities to make them fit. And without a scratch plate to cover things up it would have looked messy so I decided against it. So please bear this in mind if you are thinking of changing yours.

I used to have an SR500 (and still own an SR1000 prestige), the necks are so comfortable to play on the SR series. They really are superb basses. I only sold my 500 as the Bartolini pickups were too civilised for my uncouth tastes

I've just got back from a hurried meet up with John to buy his Trace Elliot transit B pre-amp. Although we only met briefly he's an absolute gent to deal with. The pedal was in immaculate condition as he'd described it in his ad. Now to see if his thing can change my opinion of Trace Elliot after growing to hate my old SMX rig with a passion

And yes, Florence is flipping you the bird @Al Krow

True. Just because you cannot hear it working in the same way you can hear something like a drive pedal or a delay, that doesn't automatically equate to it being pointless, or mean that it is not performing an extremely useful task.

@Les Elvin Compression is a really useful tool, and despite what has been said earlier in this thread, it definitely has its place in a live situation as well as for recording. The trouble is that it is a subtle effect, if you are thinking of it as an effect like a chorus or drive pedal, then it is not at all obvious when set up correctly. They are used to control the dynamic range of your bass signal. As such, they are not always apparent - but that doesn't mean that it is not doing its job or isn't working. The job of a compressor is to keep your signal in check, not to wow the audience with a sonic gimmick. If you trawl through some of the other bass chat threads on compression you'll see there is a lot of talk about about the subject including a number of widely repeated misconceptions e.g. compression killing your dynamics. They don't. Not when they are set up correctly. But if you have time, read through some of these other threads because there is some great information in there that may answer your original question. And here's the obligatory link to the most valuable resource on bass compression on the net - http://www.ovnilab.com/ I'd definitely recommend you read the FAQ section before going any further - http://www.ovnilab.com/faq.shtml Compression is a bit of a dark art and if you want to use one it's worth doing some homework to get an understanding of what they do, how the various controls interact with one another, and how to set one up to its optimum settings, so it is keeping the signal spikes in check whilst still giving you control over your dynamics. Once you have found the right settings, they are hugely rewarding in terms of what they can do for your bass sound. Some are transparent and will keep everything in check and stop the big spikes in your playing overloading your amp, some can colour your sound in a useful way, others will give your sound a real punch - where every note from the highest to the lowest will stand out in the band mix. Some will do all of these things. For the record, a decent compressor is an essential tool for me, it is the only bell or whistle in my rig. Bass into a compressor into my rig. That's it. And you don't need to spend a fortune either, the various Zoom pedals have some cracking compressor models, the Boss LMB-3 (which is actually a compressor and limiter) and the TC Electronics Spectracomp are all excellent compressors that don't break the bank.

The F being for Frail, I assume?

Cheers @ped 👍

Thanks for reply. Wow, yes please, I'd love to try the bass squeezer pedal. What a generous offer, thank you. And I'd be more than happy to review it and report back my impressions too. Thanks again!

Ain't that the truth. Moaning about various various ailments and afflictions becomes mandatory from about 40 onwards I managed to catch Black Sabbath on the 13 tour, and for a bunch of old blokes with drug problems older than me (I'm 47) they have still got it. Their performance puts many of the younger bands to shame.

Cheers @Cuzzie. I like the look of the Squeezer, I currently get great results from a digitally modelled dbx160 compressor so the Squeezer is really tempting. @BassicsBod Does the BPA-1 use the same compression circuit as the Squeezer?