Boodang

So, my trusty BBII has fallen silent. It started two gigs ago where there was an overheating smell, then at the end of the last gig it positively gave off that 'fried electronics' aroma. It lasted until the end of the night but now no sounds come forth. Anybody have technical experience with the Baby Blue amp? I would get it looked at professionally but there is no one here with the expertise. So, fuses are ok. Replaced the ECC83. It switches on and the DI works (in both direct and line mode), so presumably the preamp and valve circuitry is ok. But there's no sound from the speakers, not even noise, dead silent (speaker cones are free moving and measure the correct dc resistance). Which points to the power stage having gone. Oh, and no sign of burnt components in the amp.

Well, vocalists aren’t the only ones who can talk into a microphone! We have the same issue but our keyboard player and backing vocalist are like a double act and it goes down well.

Number of sharps and flats. Good to know when you're working with a keyboard player, that way you can pick a key for the song that's the most awkward for him/her to play.

Are the pickups active or passive? If they’re passive check out the Audere pro-z module which has some great impedance options.

I’ve had several Aguilar OBPs and I’ve always found them to be too much, as others have said. Also I’ve always thought the bass was too wide and ended up being a bit woolly. Best onboard preamp I’ve had so far is the Audere. They have lots of control options as well.

The first and last pedal mainly so I'd have artwork to look at!

Mine would be; Blancmange Creme Brulee Lemon Meringue Pie Cobblers and Crumble ... oh, sorry, that's from my desserts island list.

On your phone (you've got a phone right?!) there's a small piece of glass on the front called a 'lens'. This directs light onto a 'sensor'. This is called a 'camera'. On your screen (that's the large piece of glass at the front) there should be an icon that says 'camera', if you use that you should be able to get a picture of your current setup (ps you have to point the small piece of glass, as previously mentioned, at the object in question for this to happen). Hope this helps.

Try the EBS valve Drive.

Flats I use on my fretless (I only play fretless); D'addario nylon (much brighter than the La Bellas),TI's obviously (you'll like those), and my fav which are the Galle Synthesis with nylon core (they're bright enough but not as much as the TIs but they have a great buttery feel).

Rather than a funeral, my wife and I have decide to become trees (I want a plum tree planted above me so people can suck on my plums after I'm dead). So, instead of a funeral we're putting the money into booking out our fav indian restaurant so all the guests get free curry and beer. Consequently the music for the whole thing will be 'evening' ragas.

Yeah, pretty much! These are tools the luthier used to make my jazz. I even got upset he used a belt sander!

We're currently using the LD Systems Icoa 15 (about £400 each). The horn is coaxial loaded which keeps the size down. Can thoroughly recommend, we did a small outdoor gig with them as foh and they were perfect.

PS in fairness the larger board is just where I put all my favourite pedals, half of which all do the same thing but have great artwork on them (primarily how I actually choose a pedal to buy!).

Short answer, yes! But it's not as daunting as it first seems. The comp is always on, as is the Seamoon as I'm just using it as a lpf, and the bright onion are just switchers. I'm in a covers band which ranges from 50/60s up. So the envelope filters get used a lot with disco/groove numbers, as does the grape phaser which is super funky. The octamizer is great for adding beef in heavier numbers and when you switch in the Fwonkbeta and fuzz you get a great heavy synth sound for the electro stuff. Echo to add body in the sparse songs, and the SLO reverb is the least used for special occasions. To be honest I could just use... nothing! But for me, as I'm in a covers band, the devil is in the detail, and it's the icing on the cake. Anybody who thinks the audience doesn't care or notice is doing them a disservice and underestimating their appreciation of our art. Not that you need loads of effects to practice our art, just not a contempt for your audience.

In fairness I'm outraged by anybody using cnc machines and charging custom prices. And just because the prices are comparable to another company doesn't make it reasonable it just means they've jumped on the band wagon. People can be put off customs as it can be hit and miss, and I guess having a known quantity with a name like Status is reassuring but doesn't justify the price tag. I had a custom jazz made recently with graphite stringers in the neck, not only is the hardware top notch and build quality incredible, but more than half the price of what Status are asking.

I have to say as I've got older I've been getting back to basics. Now I only gig with the small board and have somehow managed to get my pedals down from 21 to 12.

As you say, it's not so much about the sound as the 'vibe'. Plus they're charging custom prices for a cnc'd wood bass (I know the hardware is top notch but it's not that much!).

Actually I don't have a YouTube channel but it's a good suggestion and I'll knock up a demo next week. Apart from selecting pedals and blending the signal, rather than having them daisy chained, the tri mixer also helps control input/output levels to optimise the gain structures. Channel one has the Seamoon which I'm running as just a LPF (great for low end punch), channel two is the supafunk as that doesn't like a hot signal and works better clean, channel three has the octamizer and Fwonkbeta/fuzz (via the aby looper). Input to the tri is via a comp and output goes to the grape phaser/echo/reverb. Once you get your head around it, it's quite logical. PS my fav pedal on the board is the grape phaser which is so funky!

Two bright onion pedals; the orange one to select an input, the yellow is the aby looper which has the octamizer and Fwonkbeta on it. Apart from being rock solid pedals you get to choose the colour of the pedal and the colour of the leds! Plus,I think, great value for money.

Yep, Vigier did a similar thing a few years back. They've been making neck thru basses since the start then it's bolt on necks only. Supposedly for sonic reasons which means it took them over 30 years of making basses to realise they'd been doing it wrong all that time!

Status graphite not making graphite basses! I’m going to be cynical here and say the new basses are cheaper to make and thus more profitable.

Good shout, I can go back to mixing with drumsticks then.

I do this when I’m playing drums and have the laptop controlling the xr18 at my side. Trouble is, when it was an analogue desk I could adjust the sliders using a drum stick but that’s not possible now, unless I had sticks with capacitive tips!

Well, I think with the xr18 it's a bang for buck thing. Not a lot out there, if anything, doing the same thing for the money.