Russ

There's always been "scenes" - groups of people who'd listen to certain genres of music, dress a certain way and have interests and personal/political beliefs in common with other people in that scene. Thinking metalheads, goths, indie kids, teddy boys, skinheads, New Romantics, punks, beatniks, mods, rockers, etc. They still exist, but one side effect of the whole streaming revolution is that, for people who actually listen to music instead of using it as audio wallpaper, they seem to have broader tastes these days. A lot of kids listen to a bit of everything and don't feel the need to partition themselves into a "scene". Anything from metal to R&B, to West End showtunes, to video game music. They just pick and choose what they like, and this extends beyond music, to fashion, etc too. This is a good thing since it means many of the prejudices that some of us faced for our taste in music is fading, but it does kinda dilute the influence a "scene" can have on attracting its own audience, and hence how many die-hard fans they can sell stuff to.

From what I understand, the "Transporter" range used cheaper, less sturdy speakers compared to the speakers in the XL range, and the Transporter speakers were the ones used in my old combo. I got them replaced for free too, but after a while I just got too annoyed with it breaking and sold it on. When Hartkes work properly, they sound great - they have punch and clarity like nothing else, and a ton of bottom end too. I just wish Larry would pay a bit more attention to QC for the stuff that carries his name. I also find the branding rather garish - huge logos and ugly colour schemes, although not quite up there with Markbass in that regard.

They look like Herricks to me, with the Lusithand preamp (the knobs are a dead giveaway :D). Herrick make great stuff - all handwound to order - but they're not cheap. https://www.herrickpickups.com/

🤣 I had a Hartke 2x10" combo years back that went through three speakers in less than a year. It sounded great, when it worked, but I never trusted them again after that. I've met Larry Hartke several times. Nice bloke with a magnificent mullet. But I really can't vouch for the quality of his stuff. Supposedly the newer HyDrive speakers are a lot better and less prone to ripping than the old full aluminium ones, but still, once bitten and all that.

It was a great show. My highlights were Nirvana - having a succession of very different singers made those all-too-familiar tunes sound fresh, and they were obviously enjoying themselves. And Violet Grohl has a bright future ahead of her. Pink was fantastic, and Joni Mitchell smashed it, even at 82. She was accompanied by a bloke playing fretless guitar, and it sounded amazing. And Billie Eilish surprised me. You can tell how good a singer is when it's just them and an acoustic guitar, and she passed the test and is worthy of at least some of her hype. As for the others, No Doubt - Gwen not sounding great. Standard issue stuff from them. Chilis - same. Was nice to see Flea show up with Stevie to do Higher Ground though! Alanis - good. She's still got it. EWF - super funky. Verdine killing it on his white Sadowsky. Stevie Nicks - not bad. Sting - excellent. Stevie - amazing.

FWIW, here's some DR Neons on my Maruszczyks. I think they fit the colour theme pretty well. They sound pretty good too.

That's a shame. Brandoni was a goldmine if you liked new-old-stock stuff. They'd put together some interesting hybrid instruments too - I always remember a Tele-style bass they did with lipstick pickups, and the entire front of the instrument was covered in an abalone-style finish. The Eko acoustic basses they sold were interesting, and surprisingly loud. Everybody used to use their gig bags back in the day too - they were hard to avoid!

I've always liked them. Got to be the steels though, never liked the nickels. However, they're not sold in the US - the Bass Centre will ship them (and I still get "mate's rates" from them!) but I'd rather pick something up locally. Been using mostly Ernie Ball and Rotosounds, since that's what's most widely available. I am going to try some DR coloured strings on my Maruszczyks - the fretted one has a blue theme, the fretless a red theme, so this is just taking that look to its logical conclusion. I did dabble with Picatos for a while back in the day - they were good, and reasonably priced. Not sure what happened to them, but they seemed to vanish from the shelves about 15 years ago. I think they're around US$3,500. Saw someone on TB talking about ordering one a while back and I seem to recall that was what they were asking for one. If that's the case, it's not terrible, since it's now a custom-order instrument, and they seem to go to relatively silly money on the used market - not Wal-silly, but silly enough.

Still available on a made-to-order basis: https://kubicki.com/store/basses/ They also sell the pickups and preamp - would be interested in hearing what they sound like mounted in a different instrument.

They were great for promoting UK-made gear - I'm not sure Trace, Status, Jaydee, Wal, Overwater, etc would have got where they are without them as a storefront. That got them into the hands of players. That's kinda what's missing these days - actually having places where you can try out all this fancy high-end gear you read about in places like BC. I do wonder if there's some correlation between losing shops like the Bass Centre and people moving back to more generic Fender-style instruments, since they're the "default". Maybe, without specialist retailers, people are just getting what they know will work rather than potentially something that might work even better?

I always remember a white Zon with a Kahler, signed by Mark King, that was always hanging by the door. I wonder if they ever sold that?

I didn't start going there until the early 90s (didn't pick up the bass until '92) but once I did, I went there regularly. Got to know most of the staff pretty well, and played many fantastic basses. Even met a few bass "celebs" along the way. What that place had was a sense of community - like a little oasis of like-minded people, where you could go, try stuff out in a low-pressure environment (nobody ever actively pushed me to buy stuff in all the years I went there) and kinda be shut away from the world for a little while, while you pursued your passion for basses! When it shut down, we still had places like The Gallery, which is fantastic, but it's a much smaller place - with more than two or three people in there at a time, it starts to feel a bit crowded! I'm glad there's newer places like Bass Direct that are bringing some of that bass community spirit back. And, of course, Barry and the Bass Centre gang are still out there, even if the shop isn't, so we can all still get our Elites strings and so on! I'd love it if they could get a "physical" shop again though - these days, so many people buy instruments without ever getting the chance to try them first, or even speak to anybody knowledgeable, and, in that regard, we've definitely lost something.

He was also occasionally playing Warwicks - he was sometimes seen back in the 90s with a Thumb 6. He's pretty much always been a Trace Elliot endorser too - he was the first person to be seen with the new TE-1200, several months before it was released. He's also flirted with Ashdown (after TE shut down the first time, before Peavey resurrected them) and I vaguely recall him briefly being involved with TC Electronic and Markbass as well.

I don't use mine either - no rack, everything apart from the head leaves the house in one laptop bag. But rack ears with green stripes and UV LEDs in them would fit the bill, I think.... would fit the whole Trace aesthetic.

Those old Peavey cabs as basically indestructible, as are their old amps. Shame they sound like bum. If you want an amp you're never going to have to repair, get an old TKO or TNT. It won't sound good, but it'll last for ever.

No new cabs though. I love my TE-1200 through my Barefaced BT2, but I'd like to see them come out with cabs that don't require an American-sized SUV to transport.

I never had the good fortune to meet Nick, but I'm well aware of just how well thought of he was, both on here and out there in the real world. RIP mate. Do we know what happened to him yet?

I’m a big Ashdown fan, but I must admit I don’t like the garish branding of their signature amps - they might be amazing (I know the Geezer one is excellent) but I can’t get over the huge, ugly graphics they put all over them. The new Shavo amp is a perfect case in point. They had the right idea with the old Mark King head - subtle branding, but a distinct feature set, with the 12-band graphic, etc.

I did, a while ago. They said no, basically. Even when I offered to buy two! You'd think that might be worth their while. I also mentioned it on the EB forums - Sterling is known to reply to comments on there from time to time, but tumbleweeds, alas.

Peavey might make them, but the Trace team at Peavey are all hardcore Trace fanboys/fangirls. They know and love that sound and have done a great job at reproducing it in the TE-1200. Just much, much louder. It’s the first amp I’ve had that’s really stretched the limits of my Barefaced Big Twin II. I just wish they’d make some more practical cabs to go with it - they’re either too small (the 1x10” or 2x8”, the ones meant for the ELF) or enormous and heavy. We need new versions of the old 1153 and 2103H - ie, something that’ll actually fit into a normal-size car and not break your back when moving them!

I had a ATK405 years ago. And it was one of the best sounding basses I've ever played, and it recorded beautifully. Neck was a bit chunky, and it was quite heavy, but it's probably one of the best basses Ibanez ever made. If nothing else, Ibanez need to revive that pickup set. Most of the newer Ibbys I've played have looked and felt great, but they mostly sounded incredibly anaemic, even with the Nordstrand or Aguilar pickups. Better than the Bart Mk1s, but still not exactly a "big" sound. The ATK MM/J set had some serious cojones. I always wanted them to make a BTB with those pickups.

Agreed. Just making the point that that's how the SimS pickups were sold - that one pickup could do the job of three. There are many other pickup manufacturers who offer switchable humbucker/single coil/split coil pickups, but, for the most part, they don't sell them as a "these can do it all" sort of solution. The original Enfield Cannon bass, with the huge single Super 8 pickup, was actually a much better solution than the later models with the two separate pickups.

I remember playing a few back when they first came out. Gorgeous looking things, but, despite the promises, the pickups couldn’t really nail P, J or MM in a way that was satisfying or particularly authentic. They had their own great sound, but the big selling point - that they could ape all those other sounds - just didn’t ring true for me. YMMV, but I wasn’t convinced. To get an authentic MM sound, you need the active electronics to work on specific frequencies, which are different to the frequencies you’d use on an active Jazz for that Marcus tone, or the frequencies you’d want to use to bring the bark out of a P pickup (all mids, and the basses had no midrange control).

There were two tricks with his recorded sound. First was that the Ibanez he plays, an old SR1305 (which his K5 was based on), had the old Ibanez Vari-Mid circuit, with a parametric midrange EQ control - he set the frequency towards the upper mids, and dialled it all out, leaving the low end and that “clack” that he’s famous for. The earlier versions of the K5 - the version with the mahogany body/padauk top combo - also had this circuit. Not sure the newer versions do though. Secondly, he recorded through a big Hughes & Kettner rig, taking a direct sound and a miked sound, but the mic was pointed directly at the tweeters in the cab.

I’m considering a 5-string as a project bass - would be a good platform for a Turner/Lusithand electronics setup, tuned EADGC. The pickups look like standard-sized MM humbuckers so it should be easy.