BillyBass

PM'd

How do you find the bridge pup? Does it have the same output as the neck pup? And is it noisy? I assume its not hum cancelling.

I've always found my Bongo to be very comfortable to sit on. Sorry, I'm thinking of my toilet seat. Scratch the above.

When I was a teenager I had a 7" called the 'Tampax E.P.' It was by an Italian punk band that I never saw and never heard of again. it was a numbered single and was difficult to get hold of. It was rubbish but very offensive, the lyrics went something like: "Tampax....Tampax...Tampax...Tampax in the Cnut". I only ever played it when friends came round and we would all have a good giggle (making sure my parents couldn't hear it). It was presumably an attempt to be as outrageous as possible, this was 1980 so you had to push the boat out a bit to be considered outrageous.

It certainly helped me. Thanks.

I've had a lot of Gas for fuzz and drive pedals over the Christmas period and have been looking over websites by small overseas manufacturers, like Fuzzrocious, Jam Pedals, Iron Ether and Becos. Trouble is, ordering them can be less than straightforward; Becos won't deliver to the UK and now their U.S. distributor won't either, Fuzzrocious have a overseas $50 postage charge...and then add on the VAT when it arrives. @stewblack started a thread about an OD pedal from a brand I had never heard of: Raygun FX from Southend. This got me thinking, how many other small 'boutique' UK based pedal companies are there out there? I have a 'Subspace' by Hamstead, an Origin Effects 'Cali76' and a 'Micro-Thumpinator' by Sfxsound; so that is three I know. Any others?

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this pedal when you've had a go. £65 for a handmade analogue pedal, that really isn't bad at all.

I am a Jam pedals fanboy and the Rippyfall is a great chorus but that is all I use it for at the moment, I have no use for the phaser. I bought the Ripplyfall as I thought it was just a little extra over the 'Waterfall' and you get an extra effect. The size/shape is a bit awkward in that its not a very economical with pedal board space. Jam pedals do custom builds with any combination of their pedals but they are not cheap and I don't think they do a reverb.

This is my latest board. I have an Electro Harmonix Switchblade Pro incoming so this might be a bit impermanent.

I would like to add to above praise. Camden Town is nearly local to me, I live, work and rehearse in North London, so the Bass Gallery is quite convenient. Martin has done a fair bit of work for me over the last couple of years: set ups, pick up replacement, shielding and, recently, replacing fret marker dots with Luminlay dots. Occasionally I have had to chase them about work I've asked them to do because they haven't called to let me know its finished but the work itself has so far been flawless. I feel lucky to have them around.

Playing guitar through a bass amp is fine, you will get a perfectly reasonable clean tone. Bass amps differ from guitar amps in a few ways but mainly in their ability to deliver large amounts of clean power. If you want gainy guitar sounds out of a bass amp you need pedals. I don't have a studio 40 so I can't help there.

Santa brought me a couple of pedals:

All personal taste of course but I'm not a fan of tort with blue; the pick guard in pic 3, which came with the bass, works ok. Miami blue is a nice colour. I have a 'Tidepool blue' Mexican Jazz with a maple neck. I would like to change the pick guard because the standard white is a bit boring but I just can't think of anything else that will improve it. My candy apple red P bass was simple, Tort! But blue basses are more difficult to improve.

I'm keen on trying a Fodera, I'm just waiting for an Indonesian built tribute to come out.

In: Balaguer Select series Goliath HH bass Cali 76 Jam Pedals Tube Screamer overdrive MXR vintage Octave Ashdown RM800 In then out again: Electro Harmonix Pitchfork+ Quite modest spending compared to 2020 but I think I'll have to do a pedal clear out in the new year.

Is this an OC-2 clone?

I have occasional use of the chorus effect, or had, until our guitarist pointed out that the chorus effect on 'Come as you are' was on the guitar, not the bass. Bloody spoilsport😒 I'm experimenting a bit with it re thickening up my sound when the guitarist solos, so, no. I won't be selling it. The only thing I don't like about it is the shape. Having a taller and narrower pedal, particularly with top mounted jacks would use less real estate.

I love the sound of flangers, but...I would have no idea how they would be used in a song. What songs would you use it for?

How does the EHX mono sound with sustain? Does it start to glitch when the note starts to flatten?

The band leader got back to me, just bass is fine. Panic over, but thanks for all your advice anyway.

I think I'll ask them. They have a guitarist who also plays keys so I'm not sure what they do about the synth sound for this song. But if I can get away with not opening the wallet that would be the best solution, this isn't a Gas induced purchase.

I have an audition after Xmas. One of the songs I have been asked to learn is 'Take on me' by A-Ha. This seems to be a synth bass line. I know very little about synth bass pedals and I've got zero interest in playing around with synth sounds on a computer. I'm after something that I can tread on and it works. Internet searches point to either the Electro Harmonix Bass mono synth or the Boss SY-1. The EH bass mono synth is just over £100 which is a plus but apparently it has tracking issues? I think I could play 'Take on me' without tracking problems as there aren't long sustainy bits and if I focus on my technique I'll be ok but If I get the gig there will probably be other songs I 'll need the pedal for. The Boss SY-1 looks good but it costs £50 more, is it worth it? Are there other cheaper options?

Had a quick play around with it just to see it works and doesn't need to be sent back. Now it's back in its box and will be reopened on the 25th. Very impressed with what I heard in the couple of minutes I tried it out.

Unboxing photos of my Christmas present: