Muzz

I pick up a bass less than I did before, but then that's due to the fact I've got less time to do it - supporting a burning-out Covid Nurse and a stir-crazy GCSE 15-year-old as well as sitting in my home office 9-10 hours a day kinda hoovers up the spare time and energy. Like many others, I'm starting to struggle now with motivation, as the best part of playing an instrument for me is playing with others, and I really don't see when that's going to happen again. I'm considering selling off some of my herd and buying another motorbike, just for something I can actually do...

I got my pickup covers and rings from an online store in Germany...I'll try and dig out the details...

D'you know, I owned a BB3000A for 20+ years, as well as a BB300 and a 450, and I never noticed how different their body shapes were...mind you, I never had a sofa at the time... Aaaaand now I want a VW 3000A again...pfffft...

Noooo, I wasn't saying the ST didn't have much presence - they'd both make their presence felt in a ridiculous manner - but the 810 puts speakers nearer your ears (I'm talking about standing right next to it) so it's more immediate. 10ft away there was nothing in it. I had a similar thing a while back with a Big Baby 2 on a stage in a verrrry large RAF hangar. It was set low down, and I was close to it, so it was kinda firing past (below) my knees. Our singist went out into the soon-to-be audience area and nearly passed out (or so the dramatic dahling claimed) there was so much bass...I hoicked it up on a crate, turned it down, and things got a lot better...It's not dissimilar to my Patented Cure For Overloud Rock Geetards - point their speakers directly at their head; works every time... The eye rolling was from the geetards, affronted that the bassist, of all people, should want to faff about a bit with gear...this after the traditional 45 minute 'let me just get my pedal board sorted out' from the pair of them... 😒

Blimey...if you fell downstairs carrying that, there'd only be one winner... 😕 I do kinda like it, tho...

I used to run an SVT/810 rig, back in the days when lifting wasn't something I even thought about, but the only time I've had both a Super Twin and an 810 in the room together was in a rehearsal room, so, despite the rolling of eyes from the other band chaps, I had to A-B them. Yes, the 810 has more immediate presence when you're standing next to it, definitely helped by being the right height for it, but at PBLRB (Pretty Bloody Loud Rock Band) levels - two 412 Marshall geetards - and from more than 10 feet away, there wasn't anything in it. If anything, the Super Twin would go lower... The 810 obviously looked far more rock and roll, tho... 😀

That's a useful pic - I have a Super Twin and a Compact, and yes, I've stacked them on a couple of occasions, but pretty much only for the Stacktastic look of the thing (oh, and the volume/head-height of the Super Twin - eeeeek!), but never really noticed any tonal issues...then again I was on big stages, DI'd and monitored, too. The Super Twin alone will go loud enough for any gig I'm gonna do, and for smaller gigs I have a Rumble 100 with a 'proper' Eminence 12 in it that's really quite startling on the size/weight/volume ratios, so the Compact is falling between stools...I might sell the Super Twin and the Compact and just get two Super Compacts - the added height would make them easier to hear on smaller stages...

Yeah, the more I think about it...reissue the II and the IV, chrome covers and all...

Good point - I hadn't spotted the bridge...two piece or don't bother...

Beeeeyoudiful...I've got a Shuker with a Nordy Bigman in roughly the same position, and it's wired single/parallel/single (series was too mental), and just that has a real spread of tones, add that Varitone and it's even more versatile. Brilliant.

God yes...

Oooo, that's good news...I have a couple of recipient basses in mind...

Yep, I've replaced all the preamps in all my gigging basses with John East Retro/Uni-Pre ones. Not only are they the very best preamps out there, it also means I've got a standard set of controls when I look down mid-gig, and I know exactly what does what... If I still had my 3000A, I'd have put a John East in there a good while ago...the only thing I'd do to the 414 (other than possibly put Ultralight tuners on it) would be to put a P-Retro on it, but they don't make them any more...

Without wanting to unbalance anything, that's exactly what I did...I only had half an hour with a 2024, but I thought it was really, really good.

Well, I have 2 1/2 Shukers right now (two Horns, and a Shukerbird), plus one in the pipeline (a JJB), and I've owned another three, but the course is on my Bucket List, for sure. I have a hankering* for a white BB-shaped PJ, and seeing as my neck requirements have changed over the years, and I doubt I'll find a Yamaha with the right neck now, I may as well make one... I've always said Jon's place is in the least industrial industrial park I've ever seen, it'd be a great place to spend a week, and I'd echo everyone's comments about what a good guy genius Jon is...and very patient...patient is good around me... 😕🙂 * Kind of a requirement thing for a band I'm in...

In all honesty, if you offered me a choice between two cabs, one of which sounded a bit better than the other, but my amp was to wide for it, and produced The Dreaded Overhang...I'd go with the other cab. Yup, I'm that shallow... 😕😁

Ohhhh, if I was taking an amp in the back of a Hilux down the Road Of Bones, there'd be only one maker to consider, but sheer ruggedness has never been a huge criteria of mine, I tend to look after stuff. Handy when I was a daft kid, mind... I wasn't aware amps got blander sounding the more you used them, tho...this one was working fine (and I used it into a couple of different cabs), it was just that I realised how rose-tinted my glasses were...

Well, I used to have a Peavey 15 combo (yep, with the BW), and it was good...but not that good. I also used to love my MkVIII head, too, and a year or two back went into an unfamiliar rehearsal room that had one. I went all nostalgic, and waxed a bit lyrical, then plugged into it and went 'Oh.' Our drummer dropped my Compact down some stage steps (while carrying his hi hat...he didn't drop that, I noticed... 😒), it was fine, it kinda tumbled a bit. The old Peavey Combo would've taken out a good chunk of the stage...

Barefaced Compact, hands down. Did someone mention that already? 😁

I know, and it's just me - I have a similar issue with Warwick Corvettes, stemming from a friend of mine who isn't musical at all, but has a savant gift for saying just the wrong thing to ruin an impression; I had a lovely blue fretless Corvette, the minute he saw it he said 'That bit looks like a nob', and that was it; I couldn't unsee it...I sold the thing eventually... 😕

Eyes closed, a terrific bass: light(ish), comfortable, and very versatile - it'll do Ray tones and an awful lot more. Eyes open? Ohhhhhh...it's a bog seat... 😕

Well, the last time I saw one being used in anger was by Glenn Hughes on the Black Country Communion tour a few years ago; I'd guess that's a pretty good endorsement... 😉 Don't forget Leg Day at the gym, tho... 🙂

Bit late to this one, but nope. I'm OK at playing up and down the neck, and if I need lower notes I have a Helix. I really, really don't like big necks. And by 'big', I mean pretty much anything over a Jazz.

I saw Whitesnake with Thunder and Journey probably ten years ago, and I was thinking it all sounded a bit downtuned (plus the bassist's bottom string looked verrrry floppy) - they held a long open E long enough for my phone tuner (I knowwwwww, tragic, etc) to register they were downtuned to C...

Don't get me wrong, I love Glenn H (I even liked Hughes/Thrall back in the day), him and Jimmy Barnes (oh, and Sammy H, and he's even older) are the last great rock voices that can still do it, and his tone is constantly great whatever he's using - last time I saw him live was a few years ago and he was using a Laney Tube head, and that was epic, too. If it ain't a syrup, tho, it's still a silly hairdo...apologies if I've touched a nerve with anyone... 😀 Dave Coverdale is looking more like Zelda from Terrahawks every time I see him, tho... 😀