ern500evo

I traded my TH500 for a GK MB Fusion after having a PM conversation with Discreet. Best move I ever made, I currently use mine with a Barefaced Big Twin 2, with either a Yamaha Attitude Ltd or Music Man Bongo, and its immense!

I've been following Bill on Instagram too, some of his playing in the videos he posts is just frighteningly good! As for the tech, I use a guy called Simon Bamber. His company is called Sico setups, he's got a purpose built workshop at his house. He used to work at Waghorn guitars in Bristol. http://www.sicosetups.co.uk/ He's an absolutely cracking guy to deal with, excellent service and workmanship, good prices and only about 10mins from the Cribbs Causeway exit of the M5 if you're coming from outside Bristol.

I'm sure some of you are aware that our very own Bill (Bill Banwell) is the bass player for Rag n bone man, Bill is a monster player who's fairly local to me, and he's on the Graham Norton show performing tonight. He's had some work done on his custom shop Warwick at the same luthier/tech I use, who speaks very highly of him too.

If you search YouTube there's a video of James Lomenzo demo'ing the pedal himself. He gets some really cool tones from it on the vid.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1483105617' post='3204761'] Here's my Korean made, thru neck NS2000/4 [URL=http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/FairfaxAikman/media/spector/spector1_zpsqvkkmm88.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/spector/spector1_zpsqvkkmm88.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/FairfaxAikman/media/spector/spector3_zpsw4jmv6kk.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/spector/spector3_zpsw4jmv6kk.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/FairfaxAikman/media/spector/spector2_zpsd5eqs7za.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/spector/spector2_zpsd5eqs7za.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] I have the exact same model, in the same colour. Ridiculously good basses for what they cost!

If you are going down the RH route I would say that the 750 is definitely worth the extra cost over the 450. I'm sure someone with more technical knowledge will be able to explain any internal differences, but to my (cloth) ears at least, the 750 is a far better sounding head. If you want even lighter, I've been using a GK MB Fusion for the last few months and have to say it's my fave class D to date. I've tried RH450, 750, GB Shuttle 9.2 and Aguilar TH500, but the GK seems to be exactly what I've been looking for. Having said that, I would have no qualms whatsoever going back to a RH750, it's a good head with an excellent feature set. As for cabs, I'm a Barefaced user but there are lots of excellent options in the lightweight cab field right now. I second what Lozz said, that TC heads do seem to work better with their own cabs though.

Edit: Double post!

I'm absolutely loving my GK MB Fusion. I've tried a few class D heads now, RH450, RH750, Shuttle 9.2, TH500 and have to say the GK is the one I've liked the most. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with any of the others, but the GK seems to be able to do everything I want. I had the TH before this, and the Shuttle before that. The GK is like a hybrid of both of them for me. It will do very modern hi-fi type tones, wind up the gain and you can get into thick, old school territory. With the added bonus that it's got 2 switchable gain channels.

I wouldn't have any concerns about the fit and finish on the Gen 3 Barefaced cabs. I've been gigging a Gen3 Big Twin 2 since 2013. It's been my only gigging cab in that time, and for a fair chunk of that time I also had to use it for rehearsals, as we used a friends function room. It's still as good as the day I got it, nothing's fallen off of it, the finish is still perfectly intact, and the handles haven't snapped! Sound is obviously a far more personal thing, is there anyone near you that owns either of the cabs in question?

Actually GAS free at the moment, my current rig of Yamaha Attitude Ltd 2, EBS Sheehan drive pedal, GK MB Fusion and Barefaced Big Twin 2 is finally giving me the tone i've had in my head for what seems like years! I've also got my MM Bongo 4HS and Sire V7 to fall back on if I want to mix it up a bit. Maybe this will be the year I pull my finger out and actually kit myself out with some home recording kit!!

Had a great gig at a local golf club last night, 5-10 min walk home and able to store all the gear there overnight so we had the chance to have a few beers after. Was a bit wary as we had to use a dep drummer at fairly short notice, he was a friend of our guitarist and hadn't done any live gigs for about a year, but to his credit he pulled it off and everyone had a great time. My second gig with my current gear setup and I'm absolutely chuffed with how well it's working. Yamaha Attitude Ltd 2, EBS Sheehan drive pedal, GK MB Fusion, Barefaced Big Twin 2. It just kills! I keep the drive fairly low but it adds a fantastic growl to the tone. Happy new year!

Local pub gig last night, pub was known more as a food pub/carvery, meaning its busy all day but by about 7pm trade is slowing down. The landlord is trying to draw in more customers to use it as a pub on weekend evenings and it's just had a revamp. Quite a crowd in when I arrived to load in at about 7.30, and a large percentage stayed for the band which was good. Bit of a strange feeling, it was our lead guitarist's last pub gig, he's leaving after NYE gig, but I now think he's having regrets. His potential replacement came along last night and I think when our guitarist realised that, it sort of hit home to him. Played well as a band though, couple of small errors but nothing majorly noticeable. From a personal point of view, I enjoyed it, used my EBS Sheehan drive pedal for the first time, enabling me to run the two pickups from my Attitude ltd bass independently. The combination of Attitude Ltd>EBS Sheehan>GK MB Fusion>Barefaced Big Twin 2 was awesome! I know every one of us has probably said this at some point and changed our minds, but I think this could be it, I was dialling in tones last night that have been in my head for years. Very happy!

As I commented on the other thread earlier, I've seen her cover of Paganini's 5th Caprice, the piece that Steve Vai did at the end of the Crossroads film, and it's pretty impressive imo.

I've seen her doing a cover of Paganini's 5th Caprice, the piece Steve Vai played at the end of the Crossroads movie, and have to say it's pretty damn impressive!

Just bought an EBS pedal from Lewis. Seamless transaction, item arrived in original box, with all original instructions, and very promptly too. Can highly recommend!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1476362585' post='3153646'] Can't sniff at Yamaha's build quality. I miss my BBNE2 - I haven't seen another instrument built as well. [/quote] I'm really impressed with that side of it Russ, its just so well put together. My 2 main basses now are this and my Bongo Stealth, the fit and finish on both instruments is absolutely first class.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1476361516' post='3153633'] Yeah Jon Willis is a very cool guy, always posting some new way to connect certain things up to acheive tonal heaven! I can whole heartidly recommend the EBS Sheehan pedals, I've had both versions and currently use the deluxe model. Rigged up using both outputs, it's the best sound I've ever had, by a country mile. [/quote] Cool, thanks for the heads up, I think I'm going to have to give it a try!

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1476267403' post='3152797'] How are you getting on with the neck? [/quote] It's really nowhere near as bad as I was expecting, to be honest. I've owned USA P''s and Stingrays so, although I went from a Streamer with a tiny neck profile, it's not as much of a shock as I thought it would be. I took it to a gig on Friday, just a couple of hours after taking delivery, and played it all night, with my Bongo sat on the stand right next to me, which is a pretty good sign for me!

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1476267030' post='3152788'] Also, if you're on Facebook, there's a group page dedicated to the Attitude Basses, which Billy is a member of and regularly chips in on stuff. Well worth a visit. Some very knowledgable guys on there. I have 2 Attitudes, a black version 2, and a blue version 3. What I will say is they really come alive when you use both outputs, and although it is definitely the best way to experience it, you don't always need 2 amps to do this. You can use the EBS Billy sheehan pedal (either standard or deluxe version) to get a very good sound using both pickups (I do exactly that).. [/quote] I have 'liked' the Attitude FB page and yes there are some very knowledgable and friendly guys on there! I did see a post from Jon Willis about using an EBS pedal to use both outputs to a single amp, looks like my Hyperdrive pedal is going to be replaced now then! 😄

Cheers guys! Got a full rehearsal weds and a gig on saturday, so more chance to play about with it in a band setting.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1476017166' post='3150439'] Swap the tuners for Hipshot Ultralites and the dive will go. [/quote] Thanks for the tip, I will take a look into that.

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1475943124' post='3149977'] That's a beautiful thing ern. [/quote] Thanks man, only one gig but very encouraging so far.

Well I finally did it! I've fancied trying one of these for years, initially put off by reports of massive neck profiles, and also the thought that people who know what, or rather who's signature bass it is, expecting you to be able to pull off an onslaught of overdriven riffs, licks and tricks. All I can say is I wish I'd thought "sod it" sooner! Bought from our very own Torvic, it was due to arrive on Thursday but a delay with UPS meant it arrived late afternoon on Friday, just a few hours before I had to leave for a gig, so it was a case of tune it, try it, gig it, in a very short space of time. First impressions, it's very well built, a good level of fit and finish, it feels like you could knock down walls with it! Was able to take it straight out and gig it last night, set up was fine, and im guessing Vic restrung it recently, still lots of snap and bite in the strings, which going by the coloured ball ends I'm thinking are D'Addario Pro steels, which I use on most of my basses anyway so that was a bit of a result. I played it in mono mode through a GK MB Fusion and a Barefaced Big Twin 2, I did have a Ashdown James Lomenzo hyperdrive plugged in which I used on just a few songs. Sound wise, to me at least, it sounds like a P bass on steroids! Soloing just the split P pup gives you a typical p bass tone but with added meat, due to the DiMarzio pup. Using both pups on full seems to reduce the volume slightly but really smooth the tone out, I found for me the sweet spot was to have the P pup wide open, woofer pup at about 60% and tone on full. It sounded fantastic for last nights rock covers gig, lots of clarity and bite but with a real weight to the bottom end. It does feel a fair bit heavier than my Bongo, but not enough that it's going to cause me a problem. It does have a small amount of neck dive, lettimg go of the neck sees it drop to a more or less perfectly horizontal position, so not a huge amount of neck dive but it does drop slightly when you let go. I've been using a Neotech mega strap and, as much as I love it, I'm thinking that I may buy something different for this bass, the added weight and that slight neck dive doesn't seem to be helped by the neotech's springy feel. On the whole though, I'm really glad I finally went and did it, slightly saddened that it meant saying goodbye to my beloved Streamer to fund it but I'm sure once I've played this a bit more it'll more than make up for it! [URL=http://s1289.photobucket.com/user/ern500evo/media/39D7485F-9A51-4181-9E78-1689111EDBEE_zpsnakd3yb4.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b502/ern500evo/39D7485F-9A51-4181-9E78-1689111EDBEE_zpsnakd3yb4.jpg[/IMG][/URL]