BillyBass

I used this: https://www.east-uk.com/product/uni-pre-5-knob/?v=79cba1185463 Be aware, it isn't quite plug and play. I had to drill out the 5th knob hole, slightly, to allow the active/passive push-pull pot to fit. Also, the bass treble knob has a long pcb thing fitted to it rather than being loose, connected by wires. The problem with that is the Charvels have shallow sections in the cavity where the knobs go; this then rises a few mm about a cm or so past where the knobs fit. Unfortunately, the John East bass/treble pcb thing is too long and though it fits in the cavity with room to spare, it doesn't fit into the shallow section around the knob hole. Consequently, I had to remove a few mm of wood inside the cavity where the bass/treble bit would fit. So I would say the John East stuff does require you to have a few tools handy...or get a luthier to do it I suppose. I like the John East pre amp as it has semi parametric mids and a proper passive side with a passive tone knob. You pay for that though, they aren't cheap. I had a Nordstrand pre amp fitted to my Charvel fiver but I prefer the John East

Yep, what they said 👆 Early 70s: Glam rock, Prog, Bowie, Sabbath, Zep and Purple Late 70s-early 80s: Punk, & (what later became known as) post punk, Rush Though I was more into the Sex Pistols and the Damned at the time, the mid to late 70s had some great disco stuff out of America too.

Our guitarist was firm about not wanting a second guitarist but he was a rhythm guitarist trying to do lead and I think instead of putting the effort in to adapt he would veto stuff he found difficult.

We are a punk band/new wave band so all our songs roughly fit into that category. With a previous band we tried Hotel California but it was vetoed by the guitarist as it was him on his own and I think the Eagles had three guitarists, one with a double necked guitar.

I think we pay quite a bit extra for American goods. The manufacturers never know how much the exchange rate will vary so they err on the side of caution and add more to our price. I would think twice before buying something with a warranty I wanted, like an expensive Mesa head, but American strings or pedals are possibilities.

I ordered three packs of DR strings from Amazon.com. (i.e. the American Amazon). They cost me $102.80 (roughly £85 to £86) which is considerably less than I would have paid Strings Direct. Ordered on Sunday 5th March, arrived Tuesday 14th March. Amazon US included the VAT in the transaction and I was not asked to pay customs duties. I've had a $100 gift voucher in a US Amazon account for a couple of years. My brother lives over there and he wanted to put a Christmas present in my UK Amazon account but he cocked it up and I acquired an American Amazon account. Not knowing what to buy for $100 that would be cheaper than buying here, I didn't use it. That is until I thought of buying strings. If you buy stuff from the same seller, the postage is cheaper and, as I found out, can be cheaper than getting it over here.

I started gassing for a Thunderbird after watching this: At about 45 seconds in you get a bit of bass not smothered by other instruments. The bassist in this band is on Talkbass and she said her bass is a Gibson Thunderbird.

That isn't cheap for a second hand bass, you can often find them for £700 new over here. You may have less options in Ireland though, I suppose.

I love the look: shell pink, tort, roasted maple and block inlays on a dark fretboard!

I would have to agree with you that a £1000 bass shouldn't need all that work. These are roughly equivalent to the MIM Fender player plus series basses; made in Mexico but with better hardware: posh bridge, luminlay side dots, rolled edge fretboard, DiMarzio pick ups with a noiseless J pup. They also have the beautiful roasted maple neck and fretboard and the flash colours, though I'm not sure if these would add to the price. The biggest issue is the cheap pre amp they come with; if you buy one of these just assume it will be improved by a better pre amp. I saw two shops not too far from me selling them at £699; DV247 in Romford and 'Stompbox' in Northwood. DV247 also had a guitar rack in stock that I wanted so I went there. The bass was possibly a return; it was immaculate but had Rotosound flats on. Fender stuff always comes with Fender strings, so I'm guessing someone bought it, put the flats on it, then changed their mind and sent it back. The slight fret spout did make me think in the shop but I thought it would take me longer to drive over to the other shop and buy theirs than sort the frets out myself. The John East pre amp is really expensive: £285, but its an easyish fit, has sweepable mids and active passive with a passive tone knob too-it does everything I could want on a bass. So I have spent nearly £1000 on this (or more if you consider the travelling and new strings). I feel its worth it; the other bass I was considering was the Spector Pulse 2 but these are £1000 and there was a possibility I would replace the tone pump pre amp on that so it could have ended up even dearer.

I don't know about Nova Scotia but olives in shops around here aren't lime green metallic! Unless, of course, you've been eating olives grown around Chernobyl.

🤣 Nowadays, if you are after the old school Charvel look, Jackson or Ibanez might have what you need. These new Charvels are fender shaped objects. If you want an active PJ bass, with a very comfy Jazz sized neck these are for you.

I ummed and arred about the fretspout in the shop (DV247 in Romford) but I knew I was buying this with the intention of modding it so I thought it would just be another task to add to the list. Learning to do all this stuff myself was part of the attraction.

I've still got it; I just use it at home at the moment. The band I used it for folded a few months ago and the current band I'm in doesn't go below E, so I'm just using 4 strings at the moment. I'm sure I'll need a fiver again in the future so I'll keep it. I just love the look of these Charvels. I haven't seen/played the platinum pearl Charvels but the photos on the internet look good.

I'm 60 on Tuesday, so wifey gave permission: I've already got a metallic blue Charvel PJ4 and its my favourite bass. The neck is just perfect and it looks and sounds great too. I wanted a back up bass that had the same string spacing and nut width, and as I hadn't got any metallic lime green basses in my collection, I thought, why not buy another Charvel. I had to spend two afternoons working on it to get it playable: fret sprout filing, removal of supplied pre amp, shielding, installation of John East pre amp, replacement of strings and then set up. Worth the time spent, it feels great. And I love the colour; this will probably be my first choice over the metallic blue.

GAK in Brighton have several heads in stock, including the MarkBass and the Aguilar heads mentioned above. GAK must be very close to you.

Ashdown still make these: https://ashdownmusic.com/products/ctm-30-little-stubby

Electrician here. Be aware, people, those plug in socket testers have their limits, they are not an alternative to a proper test by an electrician. I use them to indicate whether a socket is on or off and for testing polarity (whether the conductors are wired the right way around). In the UK, the potential difference between the line and neutral and line and earth is supposed to be 230v +10%-6%. If there is a poor earth and there is some earth leakage, and say the potential difference between line and earth is e.g. 120 volts, those socket testers won't pick that up. They are useful as indicators of issues, just don't rely on them.

The Bergantino Forte D is pretty small and that is rated at 800 watts into 4 ohms, I believe. There may be smaller kit around, I'm no expert.

Apologies for derailing the thread OP but, I have a tidepool player jazz. I'm not keen on the white pick guard but have struggled to think of another colour for a new pickguard; tide pool doesn't really match with the colours pickguards generally come in. I was thinking of a gold one but I might try black now.

I had a chat with John East this morning, enquiring about his filter pre amp. He basically told me that if I didn't get it, it probably wouldn't be for me. In his experience, people buying them to try them out are not normally happy with the results. If, however, you really know that this is the sort of thing you are after, as you seem to be Ely, then it can be perfect. So I just ordered another one of his standard frequency altering pre amps. But thanks for the input.

I'm sure some people would be offended but I doubt they would turn up to one of your gigs. Fantastic job mate.