Muzz

I had an issue with a replacement pickup I had fitted to a Shuker (by Jon), it turned out that the pickup was verrrrrry bright paired with the active circuit in the bass. When I couldn't live with it, I took it back to Jon, he changed a couple of caps for me in the circuit, job done. The issue was clearly because I'd asked for a different pickup to be fitted, and I'm sure there are people in this thread who might have rolled their eyes and said 'Durrrrr', but Jon just sorted it, no charge. That's customer service: the extra mile. I have four Shukers now, and those two facts aren't unrelated. I ordered a different pickup for my Dingwall (a P-Tone), as it turned out they sent me the wrong one by accident. Sheldon's (immediate) response? 'Really sorry, we've shipped you the correct one, you can keep the other one.' And those pots? They haven't been specced correctly. End of. The excuse of 'Oh, that's just what they do' doesn't wash. I played a Maruszczyk once, it was a nice PJ copy. I wouldn't buy one new, though; too many unhappy customers for the price bracket. Oh, and if anyone who'd sold me something new for £2k+ said 'You find something good or is it only stinky poo?', they'd be getting it back by return post.

I'd been playing Rush's 'Limelight' on and off in bands for a decade, completely oblivious to its time signatures before some biff buttonholed me at a gig to waffle on about the mastery of the interplay between 4/4, 7/4 and 6/4, and how tricky it must be to switch between them. I said 'I dunno, it's just a good song.'

I had a Midget (not the Super Midget, mind) and I found it very (too) barky. Might have just been me, tho... We do/did Uptown Funk, and I thought the ST was plenty for it...

I like the form factor of the Super Twin more for louder stages - the BB2 was very capable (I played an RAF gig with it once, in a hangar with a 900w amp and no PA support, and it more than coped), but on smaller (still loud) stages I felt most of the sound was flying past my knees. For the record, I should say I'm not a fan of tweeters in general - for my needs, the 4k top end of the ST has more than enough zing - and I like an aggressive, pick tone a lot of the time. I'm no slapper, mind... 😁

Just to add to the anecdotal tales of more than one of these cabs, I've never owned any of the Tens, but I moved my BB2 on for a Super Twin, and I'm glad I did...the only, only thing I'd change it for is a pair of SCs, just for the options for smaller load-ins for smaller gigs...

Oh, and an update on the 4th July brouhaha...my other half has found out she is in fact on shift that evening. It's not going to be pretty...

The root of the problem is this 'should' wording in the Government publications; they're trying to have their cake and eat it - it would be very, very simple to replace the 'should's with 'it will be illegal to', but they just don't want to do it (for whatever reason, but that's far too political for here) and their lack of commitment means that an awful lot of people will take the 'should' as an option. Especially when senior Government advisors have been seen to flout the strongest Government rules without censure of any sort. As I mentioned before, the bit about no loud background music is complete nonsense...

Challenge accepted... 😁

So the Government article says loud music makes people raise their voices? The loudest pubs on the planet are Wetherspoons, and they have no background music at all...'Go to the pub but keep your voice down'? It's nonsense...

And yet they all sound the same...quite a cute bass, tho...

As an aside, the first thing my other half did when she heard about the 4th July re-openings was check her duty roster...no-one in A&E/AMU wants to be working that weekend; it's going to be carnage...thankfully, she's not on, but I suspect the 5-0 are bracing for a similar nightmare Saturday night...

My other half (a nurse) tested positive for the antibodies a couple of weeks ago, and then negative for the virus. So, within the parameters of the testing efficacy we've got, she's had it and it's gone. She had a bout of loss of taste/smell a couple of months ago, and the other two of us in the house (myself and our lad) have both had odd two/three day 'lurgies', but nothing with the then-prevalent 'dry persistent cough' symptoms. I'm struggling to believe with my other half having had it, that we haven't. Anyhoo, we've been offered a gig on the 4th; a pub with a huge garden and outside bar. We'll be playing outside, and I can't wait...

As an item of memorabilia it's a lot, as has been said, for a kinda second-division bass of Dee Dee's. Still a piece of rock n roll history, tho...

That sounds right up my street, and at that price it'd be worth refinishing in white...put me in the queue for one... 🙂

From my POV, I’d have almost any of the BBs other than the new ones, which I think look awful. Sonetimes the most obvious answer can be the right one...

The smaller 1212L, 1210L, 1515L Schroeder cabs being a case in point: barky and boxy on their own, fantastically effective at volume in a band scenario...

Guy: "I like the hole, makes it look like someone's knocked it up in a shed or something..." Warwick: "That'll be £3,500 please" Nobody: "Fantastic, I'll have two..." 😁 Great idea, though - I can never understand all the hoohah about tonewoods, when this is soooo much more influential on sound...

I've had a 1200, a 300, a 3000A and a 1024, and I'd completely agree that the 414 I have now punches waaaaayyyyy above its weight. Just a really, really good passive P/J. I liked the 2024 I played at Bass Direct years ago, but I don't think I could live with the neck profile these days, and spending almost ten times as much to find out? Probably not...

I've mentioned this before, but we play a bit of Irish stuff on a regular gig in an Irish pub, and we have the following conversation a lot: Punter: 'Play 'The Black Velvet Band*' lads... Me: Sorry, we don't know it Punter: Ahhhh, you do... Me: No, we don't Punter: Sure, you do: it goes 'Tah diddle day-ay-trah-la...' Me: Nope, sorry; we don't know it... Punter: You dooooo... The singist came up with the best response to this unending cycle: 'We'll play it at the end if we have the time' We never have the time... * Substitute obscure/inappropriate Irish tune here, although that one is particularly awkward anyway: it's a right old dirge, and we usually get asked for it as the place is bouncing...

That's fantastic in every way... 😁

Change for a fiver. He’d already asked both the singer and guitarists. He was really disappointed when, amazingly, the drummer didn’t have change on him either...

Soooo, the other day I took one of my lesser-played Shukers off the wall, and I guess it must be the bout of unseasonably warm and dry weather we've had, but the fret ends were suddenly sharp. It's an ebony board, and I've never had a moment's trouble with it until now (it'd be about 15 years old, as far as I can judge - I've had it for probably ten), it's suddenly gone over the last few weeks. I hadn't played it in maybe a month. Is it worth a sustained effort to oil and re-oil it (I'm in the habit of oiling it when I change the strings, so maybe twice a year), or should I just bite the bullet and have the fret ends dressed?

Oooooog...thanks for the info, it's not looking good, though...I don't fancy buying a 2024 and having to fork out again to have the neck reprofiled...I might just get Jon Shuker to make me a neck to my normal profile for the 414...

Just don't mention 'heft'....