lemmywinks

Prices probably gone mental now, suppose that isn't helped by no easily distinguishing features so they'll just be classed as a regular USA bass.

The old Highway One were nitro finishes weren't they?

That's another bonus of a digital desk, you can record your entire gig over USB and the quality is excellent.

Same, my early days of playing in bands with our own PA involved various Peavey cabs like Hisys4 and HP400, a huge pair of bass bins, heavy monitors and three massively heavy amps (usually CS1800) to power them all in a back breaking rack unit. Needed a van to cart all this around, gigs with stairs were a nightmare and we still needed to take substantial backline with us. The limited monitoring options offered by our desk meant hearing vocals was a compromise as was the on stage sound overall. None of this was cheap either. There does seem to be a lot of personal attachment to amps and I get that, it's the way things have always been done at pub/bar level. I still oggle bass rigs in the FS section every day even though I have no desire to use one live again and was reluctant to stop using them myself for a long time. In the end the ability to have full instant control over my own monitor mix and hear everything clearly won out - just being able to turn the snare down would be worth it tbh. Everything else such as pretty much halving our load in and decimating our setup times was purely a bonus.

Are they the Guyker ones? If so that was fast delivery!

I think it had a bad defret when it was originally listed on eBay prior to being MDP'd. EDIT assume you're talking about the Mazeti, dunno about the other one.

Worse still he mentions getting them like that was fiddly because the tuners he used have locating pins, so he's either filed those off of mangled the headstock in some way to accomodate them. Still might be a good puchase if you need a replacement neck on the cheap. Weird how he prices completely worthless tat up at £350+ yet the one thing with some value in it is pretty cheap, I think he prices things up based on the amount of time he's had to spend on them and not what they're actually worth.

THis might be worth a look for parts though, £200 and it seems to have a legit USA Fender neck on it (serial Z9384893) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193633699976?

He's got feedback for 7 sold instruments in the last year. When it was mainly overpriced old pawn shop tat with sales spiel and the 7 string conversions he used to sell a bit more, ow he's branched out into wacky modifications with biro logos etc it seems to have slowed up. Last time I looked it was around one a month I think. Maybe there's a finite number of people who are going to fall for the car saleaman vibe and they already own one of his creations, maybe people are just more careful with their money now to the point where an Encore body with a Crafter neck bolted on and nothing in the correct place doesn't seem like a worthwhile purchase.

The odd scale length, saddles backed right up as far as they can go and the need for washers on the E string are issues he's given the bass by not putting the bridge in the correct place. Good to see the mismatched control knobs making an appearance again though.

What on earth are you on about? 🤣

The 30cm cube bit is an odd specification seeing as it would require a 10 or 8 inch driver. There are smaller cheap ~15kg 10" subs out there but not sure what they're like, I was just a bit surprised by our Alto as it didn't seem as much of a compromise as I thought it would be going from our old PA. Does nobody else in your band buy/store/transport PA? We got rid of our van ages ago and our amp free setup is easily manageable with small cars, everything we buy is split between 5 of us as we all use it.

What a weird requirement! Check out the little Alto 12 subs, I think ours is a 15 but it's a fair few years old now. Easy one man carry especially compared to out old RCF behemoths. Kick drum sounds great through it too.

You can get cheap, compact and pretty lightweight subs now which will do the job in most rooms, we use a single Alto which we planned to upgrade but still haven't bothered. Full band PA used to mean big, heavy and expensive but it's very accessible now. These threads always get a bit testy and aren't really much help for someone looking to switch to IEMs or wedges.

I genuinely don't care. My comment was purely to correct the assumption that IEMs are for big stages and "just a corner of the pub to set up in and play some tunes" is actually where I see the most benefit in using them.

I do have an amp, I just choose not to gig with it due to the reasons I mentioned above.

This is what I was saying, previously on a small stage I'd be stood right in front of my amp and being tall I struggled to hear myself yet was too loud out front, no fun at all and was solved with a wedge monitor and then IEMs.

Because you said "the rest of the world that often has no stage as such just a corner of the pub to set up in and play some tunes" which is pretty much the ideal situation for a small band to use IEMs. Cramped stages are where I get the most benefit in terms of being able to hear myself without compromise to FoH. Also why would I carry monitors for everyone? I'm not their dad!

I still play venues like this and it's a lot easier to get a good FoH sound without backline. Of course the PA volume is still dictated by the acoustic kit (minus kick) but generally I have a much easier time mixing with no amps on stage.

The same forces who are instructing you to be angry at whatever is termed "woke" this week are the same as the ones who have just passed a law prohibiting your right to protest against perceived injustice. The free speech card isn't one you have in your deck I'm afraid.

If you can solder and buy used drop in replacement parts then reversible upgrades are a fun way to try new things and improve a cheap bass. Where it gets risky is doing irreversible modifications which might not have the desired effect and leave you with someting you may struggle to sell if you decide it's not for you. Sensible upgrades for a cheap P copy would be a better pickup (although the difference might be less noticeable than you would expect) and quality tuners if you intend on gigging it. There's worse things to spend your disposable income on.

FoH mix is a breeze when all you have to worry about is an acoustic drum kit, a lot issues that plague amateur bands doing their own PA just disappeared overnight when we ditched backline as well as a drastic reduction in setup times (which is still on a downward curve btw!). Add that to the consistently great monitor mix I have regardless of what room we're in and the minimal gear I need to take there's no going back.

I think the 3EMP3LD preamp has been in everything for a while now as it's their modular design so chances are it will have been the same.

Was there ever any clarification on what the BEQ3 and VM3 voicings are btw and do they change the frequency points of the eq? So far most people seem to think the VM3 is pretty transparent whereas the BEQ3 is slightly scooped. I know they are meant for different pot configs (varimid being VM3) but the general consensus is that there's other differences as well.

Big Splits in the EHB so hum cancelling split coils, most Nord equipped Ibanez have Big Singles or the CND variation of them I think. I also really like the preamp but maybe it isn't the best fit for the licensed Barts which do have a reputation of being dark, suits the Nords really well though.