BillyBass

I found the source of the noise. The handle!🙄 I took the grille off again and continuously plucked fret 14 on the g string while running my fingers over bits of the cab, then back to the bass for another long pluck. I started out with the eminence speaker but no joy and then went round everything until I got to the handle. The handle has seen better days, I don't think the previous owner looked after the cab so well. The handle looks fine and is perfectly usable but its loose, so I have just found out, and at the appropriate frequency it vibrates against the two metal clips that hold it onto the cab. As I mentioned above, it particularly likes the last A on the G string. If I pull the handle up, so that the metal ends of the strap are tight against the two clips it doesn't make a sound. I shall send Alex another e-mail on Monday morning.

I've been learning to play 'Limelight' by Rush for ages, never quite nailed it but I'm getting there. I'm ok until the guitar solo then there are about 40 bars or so where Geddy Lee accompanies the guitar in B and I struggle with the memorising. I have created 4 cheat bars in B that are close to what Geddy Lee plays and I repeat them from the bit I haven't memorised until just before the end where Geddy Lee repeats a riff from earlier in the song. I haven't checked but I wouldn't be surprised if Geddy Lee improvised when playing live. I also use 'Goodbye Toulouse' by the Stranglers as a practice tool. Its too fast for me in finger style but as JJB played it with a pick, I use it for pick practice. I'm also learning 'Smoke on the Water'. All in G, not so difficult, just a question of memorising it.

Ta, I'll try that now.

I acquired a Super Midget on E Bay just before Christmas. It had a few knocks but it plays fine until you get up to the E and F and particularly further up, to 13th to 14th fret on the G string and above. If I dig in on the Ab, A or higher I get a rasping/ringing sound coming out of the tweeter area. The sustain on these notes is accompanied by this raspy ring. The A seems to be the worst note for this. I contacted Alex about this just before Christmas and he thought it might be a cracked horn on the tweeter. I ordered a replacement from him and installed it yesterday, same problem occurs. None of my other cabs have tweeters, so I'm not used to playing through one but I'm sure this isn't normal. I took the tweeter out and placed it on top of the cab, still with the spade connectors on the terminals and it still made a sound but it was not so loud. I couldn't tell if the sound was coming from the tweeter or inside the cab, as there was just enough slack on the cable attached to it to place it on the top of the cab. Anyone got any ideas?

I'm a bit more dim than you. I'm just starting to experiment with my compressor as I'm probably about to buy another and I want to get a better understanding of how they affect my tone and how I can tweak them. The tip about using a looper might be obvious to some bright sparks out there but I'm as thick as pigsh*t. Loopers can be great learning tools, I should use mine more.

I just got the Geddy Lee DI-2112 for Xmas. I wanted a warm slightly overdriven sound as an always on. I can get this from the Hamstead subspace you can see on the board but I have this set for a cleanish fuzz sound (we cover Hysteria by Muse) and I don't want to be twiddling between songs, I just want to press down on the pedal and go. I also wanted a DI. It took a little while with the blend knob on the Di-2112 and the parallel on the Hamstead Subspace to be able to switch between the two without the DI-2112 muddying the Subspace but I've worked out a way now. You may notice I have an Ampeg Optocomp, which up until I got the DI-2112 I liked but its baked in warm sound can have a muddying effect along with the DI-2112 and its a lot easier to get a decent tone with it switched off. This might take a bit of further experiment but I may end up moving the compressor on and buying a more neutral or slightly brighter compressor.

Yes, Christmas present from wifey. I have spent a few hours with it, trying to get the tone I want on its own and interacting with the other pedals on my board but I'm not there yet. Due to the lockdown I haven't been to a rehearsal studio to play through a rig at decent levels so I haven't come to any conclusions yet but... There are 2 channels. The 'deep' channel has a pre baked in Geddy eq with just level and saturation adjustments available. This appears to be a drop at 80Hz and a bump at 400 Hz ish. I'm not certain as I've been fiddling with the levels on the 2nd channel 'drive' to try to replicate the deep channel and the above alterations get me close, but I am playing this through an Elf, which has a baked in slight mid scoop when the eq is flat. The 'drive' channel has a very useful parametric mid shift (from 170 Hz to 3Khz). So far the best tone I have got has been with a blend of the two channels but it is early days yet. I'll post in the pedal board section too, with comments about how the other pedals on the board interact with it.

So if people in Canada have never heard of JJB, who do you worship then? That bloke from Rash with the big nose?

Yes, but now their insurance premiums will go up and there would be quite a bit of disruption due to the damage caused by the break-in etc.

I'll post a second glowing feedback for @TrioRec (Andy). I bought a Barefaced Super Compact from him, probably the one sold to him by @Paul S above. Straightforward transaction, nice bloke. Though I had to drive down south of the river to pick the cab up it all went smoothly.

Don't see why not. Same size, same impedance, same main driver with the addition of a tweeter in one cab. A bit like a super compact and a Big Baby 2, but with the 10" drivers.

I will admit, so would I.

I don't have an always go to GAS dealer. I check the usual suspects, Andertons, GAK etc and go with the cheapest. I bought a pedal from Thomann during lockdown, all went well but it took longer than the UK based dealers. The only dealer I have had bad service from is PMT. B***** might make Thomann and also all European imported gear a bit dearer next year but as we will now have our seas back we can all eat loads of pickled herring and all the other weird fish we flog to the Europeans.

Alex had to lower the main driver and put the tweeter in the top right hand corner. The logo then had to moved to the left (and I don't think the usual bass logo would fit) and the arc of black steel above the grill had to go to. It had to be done this way.

Barefaced have just announced a new version of the one10. The One10T. The T stands for tweeter. https://barefacedaudio.com/products/one10t A little pricier than the tweeter less version but there is currently a £50 off deal on them at the moment.

Brings back good memories. Saw them play a couple of times, 40 years ago!

The pedal wifey ordered from them last Sunday arrived today. 7 days, Sunday to Sunday, not bad considering it came from Slovakia, with Brexit and Covid-19 etc.

I've heard this sort of thing before. One of my customers is a camera man, he has worked on a few documentary/reality tv series in the UK for a certain big TV channel. There is a person in charge of the budget for each programme, hiring the staff, venues etc. If they produce the show for less, its better for them, so they screw over whoever can be screwed over. Gary Lineker and the like don't get asked for a pay cut, because they'll just go to ITV instead but the essential staff that aren't in front of the camera will be pushed to work for as little as can be got away with, especially if there are plenty others to fill their boots if they say no.

Wifey has just ordered my Christmas present from Muziker, it should arrive early next week. They have sent her a few e-mails about the progress and what she should in the event of a damaged package or item. I'll post an update when it arrives.

Looks like a great compact modular rig😎 I have an Elf and a couple of Barefaced one10s. I didn't demo the 10" Trace cab but I played the Barefaced one10s against the Trace 2x8" and preferred the Barefaced cabs. I thought the little Elf sized depression in the top of the Trace cab was a great idea though. My main amp is a Markbass 500w but I keep the Elf for home practice and back up.

After having two heads die on me in rehearsal studios since the first lockdown ended, I am acutely aware of how having a back up head can be a life saver. The more bits I use for a rig, the more bits I'll need in case they die. Power amps and a separate pre can all go wrong. I thought pairing 2 identical amps would be ok as the back up could be a 3rd of the same head. Even better would be a single head and an Elf as back up! Another thing. PA power amps generally come in one size. I want something that will fit on top of cab with no overhang. I'm in no hurry to decide what to get yet, its not as if I'll be gigging anytime soon!

My main head is a MarkBass. Following @Bill Fitzmaurice's post I connected my pedal pre-amp to the return jack on the MarkBass; the master volume worked but the gain didn't. So the gain is in the pre amp, which makes sense, but the master volume control is after the fx loop. This means that should I purchase a 2nd MarkBass head, I would have to adjust the volume on both heads.

If you need to use two 4 ohm cabs, could you pair two (minimum 4 ohm load) heads together through the FX loop, i.e. use a patch cable between the send of one amp to the return of the other? By doing this I assume the first amps' EQ would work for both but the volume controls would be independent and both would have to be adjusted? Or do you have to either use both amps separately in 'stereo' or buy a 2 ohm minimum load head?

Rubber People - Adam & the ants

Master of puppets - Metallica