Muzz

Part of the joy of getting that decorative drop top I mentioned earlier was digging through Jon's wood store (with his help and guidance) and picking the actual block of wood (flamed maple, as it happens) he used for my bass... 🙂

Our drummer comes from a reading/pro background, and has his dots on his iPad at all times. He doesn't need them, but it's just the way he works. Anyway, part of his software (I dunno what it is off-hand) has a visual flash metronome for tempo, which means he doesn't need to use an audible click...

Fantastic pictures, tho if I tried that these days I'd definitely be as stuck as Nigel Tufnell... 😕😀

Thinking about this a little more, a good luthier will be able to tweak the bass even if, after a period of time, there's things which niggle; I'd owned and played several Shukers before I got my custom made - I knew exactly what I wanted, and that was what I got. Even then, there were a couple of things which I had done afterwards (at least a year afterwards) - I had a more decorative drop top added*, and then later I had the neck slimmed even more (and some Luminlays added). All my fault, obviously, but the point I'm getting to (eventually) is unless you've picked something really, really unsuitable (like the wrong shape), your luthier will be able to improve on it... * Long story short, because of the complete failure with buying a Rickenbacker for my 50th (it was a very poor bass and went back the next day), I was on a tight schedule to get the bass for my actual birthday (part of the money came from all my friends, so SWMBO was very keen it was ready to be presented at the party), so to shorten the lead time I took a stock body from Jon which, while lovely, wasn't as decorative as I would have picked from scratch...

Since when do Fender Custom Shop relics have such shiny gold hardware?

One of these is what I'm getting (under instruction, despite being the one in the band who works in Cloud IT, I'm not the Alpha Techie), which will do the job: http://quicco.co.jp/products/

First proper run out with the Stomp at a big function gig last night, and it was fantastic: just the best sound I've had going DI/FOH ever. A couple of my more extreme patches (the big ones with distortion) need some of the top end fizz backing off, but that's a result of setting them up via headphones rather than using one of the PA tops, and over-egging the top end. Once I've tweaked them it'll be even better. We've working on a setup now where the BL has his setlist on his iPad, and if he changes a song, it changes his patches (it does this already), but will also change mine, so no more frenzied footwork to find the patch for the song... We can also set it so that when he selects his solo patch, it can select my bigger patch to fill the sound out. Sounded great in the in-ears, too... We've just got a small 12" RCF sub to go with the two RCF tops, so the load in and out is even lighter than before. It was plenty loud enough for a function room holding 250 people last night.

I've had a Sei (albeit a rather odd one) and several Shukers, and the good news is there won't be anything to choose from them in build quality, they're both superb luthiers. The main issue will be how much you really know about what you want, because I'm sure you'll get what you ask for. Whether that's what you want/need/can live with is another matter. For the record, I've had an ACG, too (actually two), and they were superbly built instruments but, like you, visually they don't do it for me. Jon has some basses at his place, and I can recommend a visit, the drive through the High Peak is great, and he's on the least industrial industrial estate on the planet... 🙂

A Cadillac Bongo?

Wouldn't be for No One Knows, by any chance, would it? That's what ruled out the B3 and the HD500X for me... 😃

They're just rubbish at what they do. When I moved into a function/covers band with a wide range of styles and genres, the challenge was (and still is, which is one reason I love doing it) to play outside your comfort zone and make a completely different style work. All they're doing is shoehorning what they already know into songs where it doesn't work, because they're scared to play something they're not comfortable with... The best dep guitarist I've ever played with could switch from genre to genre, and every one sounded authentic; the tones, the feel, the way he played. He was a chameleon (not the band, tho they are from round here) : you would never know what his favourite genre was just by listening to and watching him play.

Ohhhh, that colour scheme/top design on a Thunderbird-y bass...the full Ray Dietrich... 😍

There's a book of jazz standards? Nominally interesting, but completely irrelevant to my music and playing...

Wow, look at that string spacing at the nut...I doubt even in Fender's darkest days of QC that'd have left the factory like that...I agree with the Shonky diagnosis above...

That's what I paid for mine...

I'm enjoying the 'youth' bit, but seeing as I've only ever had one pedal at a time (ME50B, then the Zoom, then (very briefly) HD500x, and now the Stomp), and long periods in between without a pedal, I'm not exactly the Pedal GAS type: I don't like too much complication onstage (or off it 😀) and I only use them in the function/covers band, where we play a verrry wide range of songs, and being a trio, it's nice to get the bass tone close to the original if I can. When I'm playing with the Rawwk band(s) and dep situations, I'm happy with going straight into my Walkabout, but the function/covers band is DI/IEMs and no backline... Having said that, if the tone I had the other night (and as I said, that was after a 20 minute from 'Now then, how does this thing work?' to All Done rush) is anything to go by, I could see myself killing rock 'n roll stone dead and going FRFR across the board...

Only in certain areas: if it's all virtuoso noodly stuff then no, the returns in punter appreciation are likely to be sparse outside of the odd muso in the audience, but if the work has gone into making the band very very tight and gets the punters up and dancing/singing/engaged, then they'll appreciate it. IMHO, IME, etc, etc...

Yeah, but the drizzle set in by half four...

I loooove that bass, but the price tag's gonna be hefty...

I've been chasing this particular beastie for a while, as the Zoom B3 and HD500x I had got rather wobbly down past D, with lots of artefacts chiming in, but I'm pleased to report the HX Stomp's as clean as a whistle down to C. A bit expensive if that's all you want it for, mind...

There's also the point that the band will sometimes need to change the arrangement of a cover to take into account the lineup of the band; we're a trio of guitar, drums and bass, but as an example we do Daft Punk's Get Lucky. There's no way we can play the song as recorded, so we change it. The parts change, but the groove remains... 😉

I left a pair of glasses at a posh hotel gig a long drive away from home. I called to ask the following day, they said they had them, but they wanted £25 to put them in the post. I've got other pairs...

First gig last night with the new Stomp. Having just moved house, I hadn't any time at all with the pedal, so in a 20 minute session yesterday afternoon I just found a factory preset I quite liked, faffed about with it a bit (changed cab, eased off the compression), and went with that. Straight into the PA, and it was a small pub, so I monitored by the traditional method of Ears And Wander Round A Bit. Sounded really, really good. I mean better-than-good-backline good... I also set up some pitch shifting (one of the main reasons I moved on the B3 and the HD500x was the solidity of pitch shifting, which wasn't quite there) and it's rock solid. Looking forward to having a good play with the thing once I get more than 20 minutes at a time, but initial impression is this is the last pedal I'll need, which makes it very good value...

Yep, I have no EQ change from fingers to pick (or technically vice versa, as 85% of my playing is with a pick); if it doesn't sound the way you want, just play the thing differently...