Baloney Balderdash

The original : And the very different, but just as awesome cover :

I looked it up, and as far as the Wikipedia article tells his record company did produce for "Take That", though it doesn't seem like he did so personally. Also according to that Wikipedia article it turns out he is a member of an experimental electronic music duo called "The Fireman" along with Paul McCartney, never knew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_(musician)

Top 40 is a pile of pig dung. Retarded background entertainment that makes a mockery out of the most advanced form of communication we humans were gifted with, a degenerate perversion. And for the large majority of songs that makes that list it has actually always really been like that, though as of recent years it does seem like it is only getting worse.

You are late to the party buddy, someone already linked that before.

Now while we're at it, why don't we just shut down the forum and read some books instead? Actually, why don't we just quit playing bass and read some books about it instead? Hell, why even bother living, there are already plenty of great biographies as it is?

I regret missing out on the Ibanez SRC6. I did eye it and pondered on getting one at some time back when they were still in production, but even though I was very intrigued by the concept I just wasn't entirely sure weather it also would be for me in actual practice. Now that I got a similar instrument I can say that it definitely very much is. For someone who originally started out on guitar, which I still play once in a while on the sideline, and whenever needed for the music that I create, though I did switch to bass as my main instrument of choice after only a couple of years initially on guitar, it really does seem like the ideal instrument for me. Best of both worlds you could say, though I am sure for some it will be worst of both worlds. And speaking of noodling, I named my Harley Benton GuitarBass yesterday : (and no, I didn't tape the logo over because of the fact that it's a Harley Benton, in fact I actually even quite liked the look of it, better and more discrete looking than many higher end brands, but I tend to remove or tape over the brand names, regardless of whatever status, prejudices e.t.c it might or might not be associated with for some people, on most of my instruments and amps, simply because I find the concept of paying for the questionable privilege of getting the "honor" to humbly being allowed to do free advertising for a company not alone rather strange, but frankly quite inappropriate too, big corporate company's territorial urine marks on my gear, no thanks, even worse on clothes though (that is as far as mass produced gear goes, had I owned an artfully crafted unique custom instrument made by an independent luthier it would of course be an entirely different matter, beside their signature marks, if any, are usually more discrete as well)). PS: I didn't read your initial reply, but seems like it wasn't meant to be anyway, so all good.

In fact as far as I am concerned the Harley Benton headstock even looks better than any original Fender headstock. Also removing the original logo, which from a purely graphical aesthetics point of view by the way looks better too, to replace it for a Fender one to me is just cringe worthy. What is it that makes advertising for Fender for free, even false advertising too, so desirable? I just don't get it... Why I personally usually remove the brand logo from my gear is because I feel stupid paying to get the questionable privilege of being humbly allowed to do free advertising for a company. If it was an unique artfully crafted custom instrument by an independent luthier, then sure, the only right thing to do would be showing the decency to honor it's maker (ironically though those are actually less likely to leave obvious urinal marks on their instruments than big corporate companies), but a mass produced tool, just what the flip... Obviously I don't actually know their reason for doing it, and not saying they ought to ashamed of them self for changing the headstock and logo, to each their own, but the above is honestly how I feel about it and how my immediate reaction to such is going to be.

And my Harley Benton GuitarBass (heavily inspired by the Fender Bass VI) has now officially been named:

So this is a thread dedicated to flashing and discussing short scale 6 string basses similar to the Fender Bass VI, that is 30" 6 string basses, meant to be tuned in E standard tuning, like a guitar, just 1 octave lower, and with a relatively narrow string spacing that is closer to that of a guitar as well (baritone guitars and regular 6 string basses tuned to D standard tuning or higher are acceptable too). After having eyed various incarnations of the Bass VI concept for years, I recently decided to pull the trigger on a Harley Benton GuitarBass, which is strongly inspired by the Fender Bass VI/Squier VI, but with a fixed bridge and much flatter fretboard radius (which I personally happens to prefer), and which turned out to be absolutely astonishing value for the money. I very quickly fell deeply in love with it and it has become my main instrument of choice. I do however tune it in F# standard tuning, that is 2 half steps above regular E standard tuning, as in: F#1 - B1 - E2 - A2 - C#3 - F#3, strung with custom made Newtone roundwound nickle plated hex steel core strings, gauge: .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .027 - .020. Which I use as the main instrument, beside drums/percussion and vocals, for my stoner/doom rock project "all I nil", that I am currently working on, run through an always on TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini to add an 1 octave above signal, for an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string bass/12 string guitar, and I am planning to use for my dark drone/ambient project "Fjernsind" too, and am pondering also possibly using it in place of a guitar for my alternative folk project "...and for such a long time". This is how it looks: And you can read more about it here: UPDATED photo :

Joyo makes an amazing clone of the Oxford called Oxford Sound. Considerably cheaper than the original pedal too.

This interview touch topics such as the nature of music, it's history, and future, and the big music industry's influence on this, and I think everyone ought to watch it:

I just recently read an article about Proco RAT's history, and the myth about this "Woodcutter" was mentioned too. Turns out he was just some guy who was really fast at assembling RATs, that's right, he didn't make them, he just stuffed the parts together, as you say, the same parts as everyone else, and he had no knowledge whatsoever about electronics or pedal design. The name is there so they could trace down any eventual faulty unit to whoever happened to assembly the specific individual unit in question, and this "Woodcutter" was as said really fast at assembling them, so he got his name on a lot of RATs, and the name he just got from a part time job cutting wood, to identify him as they had a lot of workers who shared his real name, which I fail to remember right now, nothing mysteriously really about it. I find it ambiguously funny and depressing/tragic at the same time how much especially guitard gear heads seemingly completely uncritically believes and continues to replicate pure myths as if they were nature laws and keeps listening with their eyes, like as if their aural perception is filtered through this thick layer of pure nonsense.

Ibanez needs to make a new Fender Bass VI inspired short scale 6 string bass, that is a 30" short scale 6 string bass, meant to be tuned like a guitar, just 1 octave lower, and with narrow guitar like string spacing. Like the discontinued Ibanez SRC6, but with a bit wider nut, for not quite as tight string spacing at the head end of the fretboard, just like on their only current baritone guitar offering, that got a 45mm wide nut. Here's a random Google photo of the Ibanez SRC6, that was a more modern and a bit more bass focused take on the Fender Bass VI concept, released in 2014 and discontinued in 2020: My recently acquired Harley Benton GuitarBass, which is a much more traditional take on the Fender Bass VI concept, really had got me regretting that I didn't get an Ibanez SRC6 while they were still in production, as it is now they are not too common to find used and when there is one for sale it typically goes for prices near double of what they originally costed from new. I did ponder on getting one even back then, but wasn't 100% convinced that the concept would be the right for me, even if intrigued by it, however I love my Harley Benton GuitarBass, and if Ibanez ever takes up the idea again, even if just an identical reissue of the SRC6, without the slightly wider nut that I would love to see, I will make 100% sure to get one. I guess it is a niche product though, and the market is somewhat limited, which is likely why it got discontinued. Still with 6 years actually in production it must still have generated some worthwhile sales statistics, and perhaps with a slightly wider 45mm nut, compared to the original SRC6's 42 mm nut (identical to the nut width of the original Fender Bass VI), perhaps it would draw more attention from bass players (maybe especially with how short scale basses have become in recent years, and the extremely limited options on the market for 6 string short scale basses), since the SRC6 also seemed to actually be a bit more oriented towards bass players than Bass VI type instruments traditionally have been, though I guess the reasoning behind sticking to the 42mm nut of the original Bass VI instruments must have been to get the attention of guitar players. Who's with me? Ibanez product chief manager (or whatever the correct tittle of whoever's in charge of deciding which products are to be released, and which are to be booted, is) are you tapping this line? If you are we want a revisited version of the SRC6, or at least just a reissue! Also now we are at it, personally beside the wider 45mm nut, I would actually prefer a revisited model to just feature one single middle humbucker pickup, like placed pretty much just right in between where the neck and bridge pickup of the original are located.

Most recent incarnation of my pedal board, for my 6 string 30" scale Harley Benton GuitarBass (Bass VI type instrument, strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .026 - .018 (plain string) D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, tuned in G standard tuning, 3 half steps above regular E standard tuning) : For those interested the whole signal chain for the above setup, and some elaboration on how I use the different pedals, can be found in the "About" section of my profile here on the forum : https://www.basschat.co.uk/profile/50585-baloney-balderdash/

I am also just as exited of my Joyo Oxford Sound as when I got it about a month ago. Now, my always on signal chain in my "amp-less" setup is a lot more complicated and consists of quite a few more pedals and more EQ'ing, among those finishing with 2 tube preamp stages, but I believe I could get perfectly by with just the Mosky XP Boss (Xotic EP Boost clone), stacked into the Joyo Oxford Sound, at the start of my chain where they are positioned now, and then the 2 band bass parametric EQ model in my Zoom MS-70CDR, that is placed towards the end of my chain, right before ending with the 2 tube preamp stages currently, that I use to mimic an about 3.6kHz -12dB/Oct LPF, by having it set to [12kHz Q=1 -18dB // 20kHz Q=0.5 -20dB], that I use a faux cab sim. That is: Mosky XP Boost -> Joyo Oxford Sound -> Zoom MS-70CDR with parametric EQ mimicking a 3.6kHz -12 dB/Oct LPF, as a faux cab sim If I was only allowed to use 3 effects. The Joyo Oxford Sound really being responsible for the primary character of my current tone.

St. Thomas (R.I.P) :

And artistic rendition of the photo I shot of my Harley Benton GuitarBass:

The Ibanez Mini Chorus is a pretty great analog chorus pedal, and the Super Metal Mini is an amazing high gain distortion. I'll never get used to people thinking and listening with their eyes, very strange phenomena to me.

I love the old Trace Elliot amps, before first Marshall and the Peavey bought them. Regret selling my GP7SM, it was an amazing sounding amp, and now these seems to gettting rare and pricier (like most every other used musical equipment though) on the used market. Liked it even better than the Ampeg B-15S tube amp, that I one own, but also was stupid enough to sell. Have been pondering on getting one of the newer Peavey Trace Elliot Transit B preamps that are supposed to actually recreate the tone of the original old Trace Elliots really well as far as I gathered.

Well, Harley Benton does use it on a lot of their sort of higher priced instruments, which really is more like lower/mid mid priced instruments compared to most other brands, and this GuitarBass being one of their mid priced instruments, which compared to most other brands would be more like mid budget price level. So don't know if it really is all that inconceivable, though I do think you probably are right, even if it is what it says in the description of the instrument on Harley Benton's own page, but I guess I just took that piece of information and ran with it because it would explain why my specific unit is so damn heavy, while Thomann's spec list claims it's body is Basswood, which is generally considered to be a really light wood type. I suppose though that the Nato wood body part of the Harley Benton instrument description still could be true, even if the Ebony fretboard part isn't.

Update regarding the question of which wood types actually is used for the Harley Benton GuitarBass: So I wrote to Thomann to get a confirmation on the wood used for this instrument, but they replied that after having one of their guitar technicians expect their demo model he confirmed that the spec list on Thomann's own homepage was indeed correct, that is a Roseacer (heat treated maple) fretboard and a Basswood body, despite not matching the description on Harley Benton's homepage. However I am not exactly entirely convinced about this guitar technician also being a wood expert, and how he could possibly even make a proper accession through the finish of this instrument, even if he really in fact actually should happen to also be an expert in wood. And in any case it still leaves the question why Harley Benton would claim the body being made of Nato wood and the freboard Makassar Ebony in the description of this instrument on their homepage, though the spec list on the same page does indeed match that on Thomann's. Also still it doesn't quite explain how a piece of basswood this size could possibly be so abnormally heavy as is the case, despite the fact that it is supposed to be a really light wood type, even when accounting for natural variations from individual tree to tree and even specific cut to cut out of the same tree. I guess it must remain one of life's great mysteries, and I guess I'll just have to learn to accept that I'd most likely never will come to learn which of the official claims match the actual truth, or even if either of them even does, and if the reality of which wood types used for this instrument could possibly be an entirely different 3rd mystery combination.

Well, while certainly not my dream bass, which it is very unlikely I will ever get the funds to have custom made for me, at the moment it is my quite recently acquired Harley Benton GuitarBass (heavily Fender Bass VI inspired instrument, but with a fixed TOM style bridge, and a few other welcome differences, like for example a much flatter 14" radius fretboard, and a pickup switching system that actually works for immediate pickup combination changes on the fly while you are playing). My first Harley Benton, and despite all the praise I've read and heard about their instruments I was still blown away by what amazing value this instrument is, it really is true what I've read and heard, a simply a mind boggling, truly astonishing, level of quality compared to the money they ask. And after initially struggling a bit with the super tight guitar string spacing I am actually feeling quite at home on it now. Such a joy to play. Would you imagine, practically perfectly leveled frets from stock, and an absolute perfectly cut graphite nut, and that on an instrument that costed me what equals just about 190£ from new. Even the grains of the neck wood runs perfectly straight along the length of it, as it ideally should. Just wow! How is this even possible? Well admittedly the pickups are intolerably noisy when not touching any metal parts, creating a ground connection for the bridge ground wire, but aside from that they do actually sound genuinely great, and if it wasn't for that noise I wouldn't have any reason whatsoever to upgrade them, in fact I ideally would actually prefer exactly those pickups, just without that horrible loud hum. It also do have a couple of slightly sharp fret ends, but nothing that really bothers me, or that I even notice, unless specifically focusing on it. And that's about it as far as flaws goes, as far as I have been able to identify at least, and I did actually do a pretty thoroughly attempt at specifically inspecting the instrument for such. Otherwise seemingly absolute perfection, though I guess one likely would be able to find better tuners (the stock one aren't exactly bad though), a broader saddle part of the bridge, that would allow for proper intonation of a wider variety of string gauges (though the stock one does work perfectly for the strings and tuning of my personal preference), and this instrument is on the rather heavy side too, but those aren't exactly flaws as such. Well, and of course the strings it came with was pretty horrendous, and it did need a setup, even if the one it came shipped with, while not perfect, actually was pretty decent and absolutely playable, with pretty comfortable string action, without any fret buzz whatsoever, but those are things you ought to expect from just about any new instrument you buy, regardless of price point, at least from any mass produced instrument that you don't physically in person buy directly from a shop that offers a personal setup according to your personal preferences, but is shipped to you with a standard factory setup. I wouldn't mind a 4 string custom made 30" short scale MENSINGER Cazpar though, which might, might that is, just get within my range of what I can afford to spare for a bass, at some point at least. Something like this, just in matte black finish (or perhaps transparent black with a spalted maple top?), not 100% certain about the pickup choice, gold hardware, monorail bridge pieces, 17mm string spacing, and a figured Ebony fretboard: Or perhaps even a 30" short scale 6 string Cazpar, same specs, except 16mm string spacing: And I would definitely love a Simon Farmer Gus Guitars G3 Baritone (which is a highly unique take on the Bass VI concept), that is 30", 6 strings, but a slightly wider 45mm nut, and 12mm string spacing at the bridge), like this, just in black, or possibly purple, with gold horns, like the guitar and bass he made for Prince: http://www.gusguitars.com/product.php?model_id=10 http://www.gusguitars.com/modelpics/gpic10.jpg But that's like totally unrealistic, I will most definitely never get that kind of money to spare, unless I win in lotto, or inherit a large sum of money from a rich uncle I never knew I even had, or a generous Nigerian prince that isn't just an e-mail scam, but even then priority would be the custom dream bass that I have meticulous though out to my very specific specs and design, matching my personal ideal preferences in detail, which though is not really all that realistic that I'll ever get the kind of money required to have made either, and then if I still have enough money to spare I would get that Simon Farmer Gus Guitars G3 Baritone as well.