lemmywinks

Yeah the driver makes a massive difference, a mate of mine used to have an Evri (Hermes back then) driver who introduced himself to everyone on their new build estate when he delivered parcels, gave his personal number out and wrote down their preferences for alternative delivery addresses or locations. Super reliable guy, Evri went from being their worst courier to their best and pretty much every house gave him a decent wedge of money at Christmas. He went back to Portugal (due to the thing which cannot be named but everybody knows was a ridiculous idea) and now their new driver is awful with things going missing all the time. Was the same with us and our good driver is still the one dleivering parcels 95% of the time, it's that 5% where we get the other guy and we consistently don't get our stuff. because of that 5% I just don't use them aside from via AliExpress where I get the option of Parcel Shop delivery every time.

Nice 4 knob Audere in the Marketplace which may be a drop in replacement:

Yep, that's Evri alright. I stopped using eBay because of this. If the seller refuses to play ball then contact eBay (via live chat, type "talk to agent") with a picture of your front door showing it was delivered to the wrong address (also a link to Streetview) then you'll get your money back, they may require you to sort it out with Evri yourself (they did with me) which is really their problem and not yours. I got my refund then closed my eBay account. I had a similar issue with a problematic driver where I live, the proof of delivery picture just showed the parcel label with nothing surrounding it, not even the whole package in frame so presumably it never left his van. I had to provide CCTV records showing no delivery attempt had been made but if you have a picture of the wrong house then you should be good. Our regular driver is decent but every so often we get this guy and parcels go missing.

The Redsub ones have been avaibale for a few years now, 4, 5 & 6 string versions, I think they look a lot nicer but I don't like singlecuts at all really: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/G4M-972-Fanned-Fret-5-String-Bass-Guitar-Blue-Burl-Burst/5DUY

Been trying some more of the full rig NAM clones, really like the Eden Traveller + Techsound one which with some minor eq adjustments and volume boosts is probably my new go to. Can also get some nice sounds out of the Orange Dual Terror and Markbass cab clone with some more extreme eq'ing, whoever made that clone really likes mid clank!

Any sort of online DRM check is an automatic no for me. Piracy is a service issue so just see if you can download an "alternate" version of the product you paid for that you can actually own.

I wish we could see this sort of tech integrated into a bass tbh.

They actually come with a removable belt clip so you could attach it to a strap I think.

Fender made guitars in China a while ago, also the old Lite Ash series (and a different line I can't remember the name of) were made in the Korean Cort factory about 20 years ago.

Tried a few of the NAM clones, a bit disappointing. The Markbass and Avalon pre clones were a bit limp and very quiet, the Darkglass was good though. Couldn't tweak them to the point where I was happy so went back to the stock SVT model, will have another mess around when I get the chance. To get these working there's a tab on the amp bay you can switch between BASIC and CLONE, took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure this out. The cab IRs from that Tonehunt site are very good however, currently got the Hartke 4x10XL one on my main preset, does do a good impression the real deal.

I use one of these on my bass head: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235674913502 We have a generic USB powered BT>3.5mm adapter permanently hooked up to our XR18: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/356414748890

Yeah I saw that, will have a dig over the weekend. Any recommendations for where to get them? Found these: https://tonehunt.org/search-results?search=bass

New bass specific amp models and drive are very good, rather unsurprisingly the best choice if you're using this with bass so I'd recommend updating the firmware straight away if you get one of these. The free bass IRs from shiftline are quite poor though, sound heavily compressed and lacking any real mids or highs, like a rubbish sound engineer's idea of what a bass should sound like. I'd just find one of the factory guitar ones you like.

Sonicake have just updated the PC software, Android app and firmware for this, the app still doesn't work on my main phone but you can now manage effects and IRs from your computer which is probably more useful for me as my tablet runs Windows 11. They've also added a couple of bass effects (Voks and VT, assume Vox and SVT amps) as well as a bass drive.

They do work as long as the bass has the flared out bits of the mini headstock, newer Hercules stands come with detachable NINA accessories which clamp the neck a bit tighter too, no issues using my EHB with my old Hercules stand.

Been having an issue with the app on my current phone, it will connect to the Pocket Master but no effects or patches show and you can't do anything. Got it working on my old phone and managed to get those free cab IRs linked above loaded which was pretty straightforward - just click on any patch, select the IR slot, click the cab selection window in the lower section, press "User IR" and click the 3 dots. Can get all 5 slots loaded from there. Will see how they sound later, this was all I needed the app for but hopefully they update it sooner rather than later.

A Cort with a Fender logo you say? That'll be an extra £200 please!

It's a fair point, I wouldn't buy a headless with that level of design oversight.

That's the correct cable, the BH250 just has a Speakon socket and the BC208 had 1/4" jacks. Some for sale here with the more robust 1/4" jack plug:

It nails the convenient home practice angle, just plug your bass and headphones in and that's it. I'll try this on it later tonight: https://shift-line.com/irpackbass

Been after something for quiet portable practice and song learning for a while with some very specific requirements, it had to be tiny, have bluetooth audio streaming from my phone, rechargeable, have a built in tuner and be able to drive headphones. Didn't need anything else, also had to be cheap because I don't like spending money. The Ashdown Tone Pocket seemed to fit the bill (regular and BT versions currently on sale) but I was a sick in my mouth at the prospect of buying a device that uses Micro USB in 2025. So anyway I bought this: https://www.sonicake.com/products/pocket-master First off it is truly tiny - just 104mm x 85mm x 29mm so about the size of a cigarette packet. All plastic but feels well built for home use, screen is nice and the buttons feel decent. Can get going straight away by powering the unit on and either using the jog wheel or buttons to cycle through the pre built patches. Tapping the jog wheel cycles through BT on/off, volume and patch selection. You can exit menus by tapping both buttons, all pretty intuitive. I couldn't get this to pair with my phone straight away but after pairing it using the SonicLink app (which enables you to manage the patches via your phone if you so wish) I could add it as "Pocket Master Audio" from the regular bluetooth menu allowing me to play backing tracks over my phone. Bass sounds good through it, enough volume and clarity for headphone practice which is all I really bought it for, most of the presets and amp/cab sims are for guitar but it does have some dedicated bass effects, the eq and comp pretty good. As usual there's loads of over the top presets (50 factory, 50 user) but the standard "Basic Bass" patch is good for me. You can add your own IRs in (up to 5) via the Sonicake software. Can also use it as an audio interface and it has a basic drum machine, unlikely I'll ever use these but they're there. All in all it more than does what I bought it for and came in at £50, really convenient as you just plug your bass and headphones in and away you go which is what appeals to me the most as it's great for short sessions. The one downside is that there's no dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack so you have to use a 1/4" adapter. Here's my rubbish picture to prove I'm not shilling for some random company, as you can see it's about the length of a Neutrik jack plug. Crazy stuff.