Beedster

[quote name='chaypup' timestamp='1443646531' post='2876652'] All a bit passive aggressive isn't it? You've put enough detail in so anyone reading your post can work out who you're on about but decided to moan here rather than have a word with the basschatter directly or leave feedback - poor show! [/quote] +1

[quote name='roceci' timestamp='1443647468' post='2876668'] What am I to do mate? Name the guy & get slagged for calling someone out publicly? I took a decision not to based on that. Bit of an assumption there buddy & the wrong one I'm afraid. [/quote] [quote name='roceci' timestamp='1443647658' post='2876669'] & if anyone's got the time & inclination to get all Columbo & put the pieces together...well I wish I had as much spare time on my hands. You his mate or something? [/quote] Not sure how relevant this is, but about 10 years ago I bought an Ovation USA acoustic bass from eBay for, IIRC around £450. It was a bargain and one of the reasons it sold cheap in the auction was that it was collection only in a bloody remote area. So, I booked a day off, paid my £100 or so train fare to collect it, and then forked out close to another £100 on a hard case. About 6 months later I realised that it hadn't lived up to expectation and listed it on the old BC site for what it owed me, that is around £600, which was still well under 50% retail at the time (in fact they were around £1500 if you could find one). Lo and behold, a member started PM'ing me telling me I was being unethical and was profiteering. Whilst I found it slightly unnerving that someone was paying so much attention to my buying and selling, I wasn't overly worried, until it became clear that he was bitching about me to other members, suggesting I was dodgy and was only buying stuff to make a profit at the expense of other members. And my point is.....? It's no-one's business but the person who own's it and who's selling it. None of us know all of the factors involved, and even if there are none, so what? You ask above whether you should name the guy? Of course not, because he's done nothing wrong. He's just upset you a little bit, and now you're just whining.

These things happen, and it's happened to me a few times. I used to moan about it, usually in a thread on here, and then I found that moaning about it just prolonged the frustration! Most of what's written above - and from both perspectives - is pretty much spot on. And that's the problem really, it's not right or wrong but simply differing values. You wouldn't do it, he would. Doesn't make you right and doesn't make him wrong. Had you got your bass only to find it not as described, that would have made him wrong. When stuff like this happened my Granddad always used to say 'Worse things happen at sea'. No idea what the hell he was on about to be honest, and as he was in the RAF it always struck as a little odd, but I think the sentiment was "forget it and get on with something else"

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1443449245' post='2874752'] I'm surprised at how little actual amplification the BigHead offers. The sound is excellent, but it seems to have very little headroom. [/quote] You might want to check it's working properly Jack, I can't turn mine up very far before I start to feel my ears reacting? Plenty loud enough for me for sure, especially using the Aux in.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1443445944' post='2874715'] What you got to remember, is that the great recorded tone that you are hearing, especially in modern recordings, have been eq and post processed to feck in the studio. It may be worth experimenting with some outboard if you are struggling to get a great core sound... it may be that your brain is hankering for something more processed. I know that there will be people going on about "pure tone" but at the end of the day, the resulting sound is the result of the component parts... so maybe book a day at a studio with a competent engineer to help craft your tone so you can figure out what you are looking to do to your core tone maybe? [/quote] All true, but one of the characteristics that makes Wals so good is that the onboard filter pre does so much of that stuff for you

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1443437605' post='2874584'] I remember trying a Wal fretless many years ago and I'm wondering, is this the king of fretless basses for both live and studio work? [/quote] Yes, or at least a contender. Much like the Middle Ages, there's a lot of argument over who is actually The King by right, but as I found out recently having tried almost every other brand, there's a reason Wal have the reputation they have.

So, long story short, the sale fell through, and necessity being the mother of invention, the idea of Clarkson became reality yesterday afternoon. It's big, ugly, heavy and not yet set up (nut and bridge slots etc, but it's playable, has surprising sustain and actually balances quite well. I was half expecting the rather rude awakening in the night as the tension of the strings pulled the whole thing apart, but having survived 16 hours I think he's good to go! [url="http://s80.photobucket.com/user/Beedster/media/IMG_5419_zps8ksbxc82.jpg.html"][/url]

OK, two gigs this weekend, one on a relatively large outdoor stage (large for us anyway). Main problem for me with the slapping stuff - which by the way has become a critical part of the overall bad sound - is too much sustain and still the occasional need to mute the E string (although I've got a lot better at doing this over recent weeks). Any tricks I can use to drop the sustain a little - on electric bass of course I'd just chuck a lump of foam under the strings! I think strings are part of the problem at present, but I don't want to start messing about with strings ahead of gigs! Can't believe that after 10 years of trying to develop a technique to improve sustain I'm now trying to reduce it! On a related issue, I would love the opportunity to play a DB set up and optimised for slap just to compare notes really. So if any of you good folks are gigging in the south east, have such a beast, and would be happy to let me noodle on it for 10 or so mins ahead of your gig, it would be hugely appreciated. Cheers C

I use a set of Nordstrands on my PJ and they work very nicely. The key thing to getting decent balance across PUPs is to get a pair that are designed and built to work as a PJ pair, and to ensure that you use a circuit that facilitates this. I doubt there's much that can be done to compensate for a poorly matched pair that wouldn't involve essentially compromising the output of the P-PUP. And yes, I'd certainly recommend John's (KiOgon's) circuits Chris

Crikey, you've probably got more of them than the man himself! Absolutely lovely collection Chris, such great basses.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1443011157' post='2871407'] Please God ... why, Why WHY??? [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34323112"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-arts-34323112[/url] [/quote] Man, that photo of them in the 70's............

All of the above specific points re pain and fatigue are of course 100%. However, amongst some folks there is what is to my mind an unjustified mystique surrounding lighter-weight basses in general, that is that all other things being equal the lighter the bass the higher the quality, which I seriously doubt is the case (as a Wal owner I have to say that don't I)