Owen

I have always thought that a machine head was a machine head. My ACG has some Hipshot Ultra Lite jobbies on it. Wow, it looks like a machine head is not just a machine head. The mechanical action is massively pleasing and the tuning accuracy is fabulous. What should I have on my shopping list?

As that cockney geezer who plays the violin said, "monster".

Just say no to mixing sets.

DB strings. A whole vortex of £pain.

I could bore for hours on the topic of the TC Spectracomp. Why is it so good? Presets. Other people who understand how to set them have set them. You can zip through lots of presets by firing your phone at your pickups (I dunno either). Choose your fave, set and forget. I like it so much I have 3. One in church, one on my pedal board and one on my desk. With regard to lockdown editing. Yep, it was a monster undertaking by lots of people. If that bloke has left, it is not too late to contact and say that you appreciate what he did and make that conection. A pat on the back NEVER hurts. Ever.

It is weird, I have always gone for the cleanest/fastest sound I could get. This is why I had a soft spot for the U5, but lack of EQ was a non starter for DB and I could not justify 2 preamps. But then I spotted that a nice bit of squelch makes everything a bit more fruity. Just a bit hairy-er. There are all sorts of options out there, but I totted up all my present preamps and toys and figured a QC would give me the best of all worlds. I am not going to rush into one, but will be doing a lot of research. The thrill of the chase!

It is an odd thing. I suppose we are only responding to urges which everyone has but we are expressing it in bass-dom. In the past 2 years I have gravitated towards solid colour basses rather than natural wood ones which were my thing. The problem is that I have more than one bass which essentially do the same thing as soon as the Guitarmageddon kicks in. A case in point is my MM5/G&L L1000/5 conundrum. As soon as I crank the bass on the MM (and why would I not?) or hit the afterburner switch on the G&L (and why would I not?) then they are much of a muchness. I know that there are all sorts of differences, but to own both "for that special moment" is difficult to justify. But I like them both. The other side of the coin is that given that I buy carefully then I know I can get my money out of them easily so it could be a lot worse. I would happily flog 3 or 4 if I could find one bass to rule them all, but every time I have bought that one bass, they have never hit the spot.

Snap. 3D goodness. The SSL Native X-Saturator does much the same thing.

And you have to hand it to Strymon, I don't think I have seen any other brand maintain such buoyant 2nd hand values

Thanks all, I now have time to YT it because there is a Christmas film on the TV. Everyone is happy

I used to have a Monique preamp. It did LOVELY saturation. I fancy a bit now. My SSL plug-in does it very nicely. But lugging a mac book and interface around seems excessive. I do not want grind or distortion or grit. Just that saturation. This is new for me. What does it? I know that the obvious answer is another Monique, but that is not going to happen. I cannot play without earplugs so am not dropping a £grand+ to entertain other people and not get the goodness myself. But I could happily get a pedal which would do it. I am sure the super-dooper multi FX would do what I fancy. But I just fancy a footpedal on my tiny FX board.

I wish there was a magic internet way of putting all these useful people on a map.

I was playing Ebay roulette late one evening and accidentaly won a 5 stringer. The rubber finish was not for me so I had it stripped and painted with some chamfering and a tummy cut in the process. Lush it is. I like the 'ray teardrop plate but with the amount of strings I like.

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I guess the cat is out of the bag then Andy and I both love the same basses!

Good morning BC Massive. I am looking at a bass which is pickup only in Tadley. Is there anyone remotely close who could collect it, receive a case from me via courier, pack it and give me an address for a courier pickup organised by me? Obv I will cover costs etc. Ta.

It is more my ears really

I used to lift those mid boxes onto stacks of bass bins all the time when I was young. I do not miss it.

Am I the only one who reckons that they did not think it through when they named these?

Many, many years ago I commissioned a Sei J5. My bass to end all basses. One of a series, but that is another story. I had specced it up and considered side LEDs for 10 seconds before deciding they were vulgar and useless. When I was discussing it with Martin (1st name terms) he asked about LEDs and it took me 2 seconds to change my mind. They were superb. I should not have sold it, but you know how it goes. LEDs are the bomb. I have another bass on the way with LEDs and I am childishly excited about them. When the stage hits blackout and you hit that switch they make an awful lot of sense.

1. Sanity prevailed the following morning. 2. Someone else bought it anyway. But thanks for humouring me

This is the kind of thing I was thinking of but could not bring into focus in my head. Ta. It is an Overwater guitar built in 1980. I have no idea what is in there. I will have a look at it on Monday.

A friend is selling a guitar with a truss rod which "turns in place and doesn't do anything". I fancy it, but that info might as well be written in Greek before Google Translate existed as far as I am concerned. Obviously I am not expecting anyone to tell me exactly what is wrong - but what might I be looking at? Someone who did some work on it did say the truss rod was fragile before it stopped functioning. I am aware that this is like asking what shade of black my t shirt is when the light is off. I am also aware that I will have come to my senses by tomorrow morning. But, as we all know, it is fun to think about these things.