Paul S

Bought a Trace Elliot Transit B from Dave in the most straightforward of deals. Great comms, quickly dispatched, beautifully packaged. Perfect! Thanks Dave.

I didn't try, Lozz - I didn't have a lot of empty house time at my disposal. I seem to remember an online review saying it stayed the same but that might be a false memory. Seem to get a lot of those these days! Anyway, I'll give it some wellie when Mrs S is next at work, which will be Saturday.

I have in my head a mash-up between Wham's Last Christmas and ZZ Top's 'Rough Boy'. I wonder if it would work in reality? I haven't listened to either in case they stick for even longer.

I have a late entry that is going to compete for best purchase. Trace Elliot Transit B pedal. Just arrived today, had a 15 min play and I am excited - looks like some delicious tones to be had in the interplay between drive and gain. I remember when these came out thinking they would be a fab bit of kit but, at the time, I was using lightweight gear and full backline - one of these seemed like an expensive bit of overkill. Then I promptly forgot all about them until a couple of weeks ago when I was looking at a 'one pedal solution' just to rationalise what I use now I have gone down the FRFR route. This popped up in the search - with one for sale on this very forum! Have to say there was nothing wrong with the TC Spectradrive I've been using for the past couple of years but this TE jobbie is everything I need in one pedal - DI, EQ, drive, compressor AND a tuner, which is a huge bonus in my book. And it has green lights! Having been a Trace Elliot fan back in the days when my back used to work this feels like going home when I see them. Can't wait to try it out with the band, which is a couple of weeks hence. (Also new, Lekato WS-50 wireless).

At the budget end of things, the Squier VM Mustang has a skinny 38mm width neck and the Musicmaster Vista Series is slightly deeper 40mm.

You can tell its xmas

That's the thing with spares - you never ever need them, right up until the time you do

This is still here, free to whoever wants to make the effort to collect it.

I always have a back up bass with me but it stays in the gig bag or, ideally if there is space, on the stand next to me. I generally pick one to play and stick with it although I've been known to change at half time if I'm feeling adventurous. But never mid-set. I was in a band once when I used to swap about from normal bass to EUB but that is a different scenario.

Yes, another fan here. They were my 'local' band playing stuff I loved and I saw them countless times. Barry was as happy behind the bass or drums as the guitar.

Jon, you have a PM on its way

TBF when you've had a skin full they are pretty cute

I don't know what you mean by 'noise isolating' - they have silicon cups at the ends of the tubes that fit themselves to the inside of my ear. If I take out my hearing aids I can't hear very much at all. If I put my hearing aids in, and have them set at their usual level, the band is loud. If I turn the level down via the app I can hear but it isn't loud. Works for me, anyway.

What sort of hearing aids do you have? Mine are NHS digital Oticon of some sort. They pair with an app on my phone which does various things, including turn the volume down. This, in effect, gives me ambient sound piped directly into my ears at a comfortable volume. This might be something to explore?

Works out fine for me. Made in 1965, in 1992 it was 27 years old. It is now 2023, so 31 years later which is more than half its life. Maybe the time difference between NZ and UK is the problem.

Plenty of reasons why I wouldn't buy it, the initials are way down the list.

Ah, yes, restraint. Hmm. I've seen the word written down. Once I've stuck the new pickguard on it I'll take a nicer pic or 4.

Having decided that my recently acquired Gibson SG is the perfect bass for my band I stopped looking for anything else. For a fortnight, at least. I was having a cheeky look on eBay and saw a MIJ Mustang for sale at a price that was hard to resist. 😍 I've had several 'similar' basses - a 70s Fender Musicmaster, couple of Squier VM Mustangs, couple of Squier Musicmaster Vista Series - In fact I have one of those currently. But I've never had a MIJ Mustang. Weight was good - under 3.6kg, price was good as the body is rather tatty. Anyway, it now resides here and it is totally fabulous. Def. a different league to the others I have had, even the Vistas, which are damned fine basses. The neck is superb, bit slimmer than the Vista, but it is the tone from the stock pickups that is the stand-out for me - exactly what I would want from a Mustang. That lovely woody, organic thump with just enough edge to make it interesting. It is the best of the Fender flavoured basses I own at the moment, for sure. It has a little bit of neck dive but a grippy strap has cured that. It is vintage white with a black pickguard, can't live with that so a white pickguard is coming. Odd place for a thumb rest! 2 more holes or leave it? Dunno. Here is the eBay pic, which doesn't really show anything much.

I like the look of it as it is, really interesting.

I stuck one in a Harley Benton PB Shorty and it is a little monster now. I mean, it was OK before but that pickup has given it the balls the stock pup was lacking. It's been said before but worth repeating that the Tonerider sounds almost exactly like the Fender CS'62 Pickup but considerably cheaper.

Yup. End of thread.

Steady. Next thing you know you'll stir the 'Just Stop Cliquey In-jokes' brigade into action. Last seen un-glueing themselves from pictures of Helen Willetts after a failed attempt to prevent another page turn.

I ws discussing this with the guy who does my bits and bobs and I believe he has come up with the ideal elegant solution. The bump that passes for saddles on this is a floating, separate bit of metal. He is going to make me a new one that is 'set' in the perfectly intonated and saddle height spot, keeping all the rest of the bridge intact. I'm not likely to change the strings so this would work.

I dipped my toe into the Mesa Boogie water just once - Prodigy Four 88 or whatever combination of words it should be. Damned thing blew a valve the first time I used it in anger, took half the pcb with it. That wasn't cheap. 🤪

I'm still massively evangelistic about the pair of RCF EVOX 8s my band invested in 3 years ago. They don't feed back so can sit behind us - no backline or monitoring needed with appropriate ear protection. Routinely we use it for 2x vox/bass/kick drum but on occasion all the drums. Once in a blue moon we'll mic up the guitar amp and stick it through. Absolutely crystal clear. Massively loud if needed, we've used them outside a couple of times, usually it is coasting. Super easy and fast to set up/ break down. The units I believe weigh 24kg but sit on the floor but, in any case, our drummer is a fit forty year old farmer He just picks up one in each hand and sticks them in his landy.