Stub Mandrel

Plane crazy.

Semitone 😉

Many a true word posted in jest: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/line-6-variax-bass-700

Those whose delicate ears cannot cope with inferior lumber, need the latest Line 6 Variax basses with Dial-A-ToneTM body material emulation.

I have ten basses, all different woods and they all sound and feel different but I'd be very wary of attempting to put the differences down to the body materials. In a band setting, I take different basses to rehearsals to see what suits what best. When I was gigging regularly (back in the 90s) I'd use three different basses over a gig for different sounds. So I can hear differences. But not between different woods.

But... the pups will make most of the tonal change. Also... does ash sound better than basswood? Or does Ash sound better because it's associated with vintage fenders?

I have a Markbass dap bag. It's cleverly designed so that everything falls out if you pick it up by the wrong part of the cord, conveniently arranging all your accessories on the floor.

Some of my basses only have 20 frets and I can't reach the High E in 'The Real Me'. Have I been ripped off? Am I due a refund? Is it possible to retrofit and extra fret, perhaps by supergluing one to the end of the neck? Can I swap a fret over from one of my 24-fret basses.

Eeek! I've set up loads of guitars and basses. Then I saw him say snug up the neck screws. Picked up my Jaguar SS and the two bridge end screws both took a half-turn. There was a creak as the neck snugged into its pocket 😨

To ignore all this fluff 🙂 to repeat my point - other factors make a much bigger difference to the tone than the wood, as evidenced by how hard it is to eliminate these other factors and the struggle to hear the remaining differences. The question has to be is there any point worrying about the 'tone wood' when any difference it can make is easily compensated for by easier to make changes?

Playing along to one of the mellowest basslines ever, by Duck Dunn:

The Machine Mart linishers are pretty cheap and surprisingly effective, even if not over-engineered.

Do horny-handed sons of toil get a sharper attack than the soft-fingered effete?

Nah, bass schat.

Cort made the Hohner versions as well. I've never had balance/playing issues with my B2 and I'm 6"2". I've got a Jack V as well and the balance is different, but again no issues.

Arghhh!! Run Away!

Well that chaos doesn't bear much resemblance to a controlled scientific test. But... The fact that everything else has to be carefully matched and many people still struggle to hear the differences doesn't prove that wood doesn't contribute to tone, but does emphasise how much more important other factors are.

Joan Baez is a great singer, but I am not a big fan of her vibrato.

Indeed Neil Young is one of my favourite singers, what I can't stand is the new trend for artificially generated vocal special effects*. *OK I'd include 'Computer Cowboy' and Transformer Man' in that category, although I appreciate the story behind the latter.

In the photo above, you can plug any 8R cab (of sufficient power handling) into the top socket. If you remove the built-in speaker plug it will disconnect the built-in 4x10 cab. You can then plug in either one 4R cab or two 8R cabs. What you can't do is plug in a 4R cab when that bottom plug is in place. The speaker sizes are irrelevant to how you wire them up as long as the impedances and power handling capabilities are OK. Obviously the choice of cab has an impact on sound. What I do (or would do if I had an opportunity to play somewhere that could take the volume...):

My perspective is that when fretting a note you push the string down below the level of the frets and the break angle means the string goes slightly upwards as it leaves the fret. A zero fret does not usually have this effect so a very tiny excess height may be needed to stop open strings buzzing (which is why nuts are usually cut a little higher than fret height too). Be cautious, if you drop the zero fret too much it's harder to replace than a nut, but careful inspection of the clearance at et first fret should guide you

I am looking for an off-the-shelf sleeve for the amp in my near-identical combo. The [problem is the front is designed to fit an 19" rack box (there are filler pieces either side that you can leave off) but the rear section is separate and requires a large cutout for ventilation on the upper part of the box. I'd rather not have to go to a larger rack box with a filler at the front and a vent panel at the rear as it's already quite tall. Is there an off the shelf solution or am I making a custom box out of ply?

This is correct, the TE internal speakers are 8R for a second 8R cab in parallel. You can unplug the internal speaker and plug in a single external 4R or two external 8R cabs. Slightly older versions do away with the jack plug and are wired so that the bottom socket disconnects the internal cab when something is plugged in.

Hmm... it's interesting to see that long signal chain described. I find that the fewer effects I use the better my sound gets, aside from my compressor which works as a 'better knob'. My effects are used for, well, effects... My brother is a guitarist. Some of his playing videos have been getting attention recently. He got queries from people with lots of FX asking how he got the tone on one video. He replied 'I went direct into an amp'. Of course, they then demanded to know what wonderful amp was creating the elusive tone... a Blackstar Fly 🤣