msb

I had several Bassmans , not great bass amps , but great guitar heads. Harp players love them. I think the seller is a pedal steel player. Any old blackface Fender is going to need a trip to the spa , but once they’ve been rejuvenated they’re good for many years. There’s good reason so many guitar players love them. We’ve got several really good tube techs in town, and I believe the buyer fixes them himself.

The guy that picked them up is an amp & guitar tech, and says they both need work. I was privately chatting on a Canadian forum. Seller said the amp worked last time he tried it , but it doesn’t now. The buyer is not too concerned , it’s stock. The bass is a 62 and will need a refin and major clean , neck , pickups , pickguard and pots are original. Major restoration , but it will be gorgeous when he’s done. He got quite the deal. But a major overhaul is needed.

There was also a 64 Jazz refin for $1200 . And $1200 for the Bassman. I’m not into long scale Fenders (even vintage bargains) but somebody got one heck of a deal today. The Jazz was a stripped natural refin , and the decal was terrible. But I’m about 99% sure it was the real thing. The Bassman looked to be in nice shape.

A blackface Bassman just popped up on our local kijiji. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-guitar/city-of-halifax/bass-guitar-and-amp-fender/1651862063

That’s wild!

I’m mostly a finger player , and often a thumb player , up by the fretboard and palm muting for a real old school almost upright sound. But there’s things that call for a pick.

I recently ordered a 3 point bridge from the Hipshot EBay store , and the service was stellar. They state that they only ship to the continental US , but will make exceptions. .

I live in Canada (with a health care system that is falling apart) , but I was referring to some in the US that are against taxpayer funded health care. And I have heard some in the US refer to the metric system as being part of a Socialist plot. They also believed that I was trying to take their guns away.

That’s exactly the type of service I was referring to.

Some there seem to think health care is the gateway to communism. They even think going metric will lead there. But I’ve found excellent retailers in the US. And despite the exchange and shipping I’ve made some cross border purchases. Mostly because the service has been beyond wonderful. I’ve dealt with people that really knew the product and were very keen to help.

I prefer a preamp you plug into , in fact I use one , even if I might pick up and play an “active” bass. Mine has some tubes so it’s not going to work inside a bass. I prefer passive basses and have no problem with the term. And I’m one that enjoys short scale , passive , set neck , single humbucker in the sweet spot , two knob basses. This one here is probably my favourite bass to play. So I was quite happy to see Sandberg release this.

I had been thinking of this skit …

Eleven!

Before you buy another bass , have you tried stiffer strings on the shortscale?

That’s a nice looking cab!

Long & McQuade is the coast to coast Cdn retailer and we have several in the Regional Municipality , the big one is in Halifax but they just carry basic stuff. Fender, Ampeg, Traynor, GK and Mesa for the most part although some Ashdown has just started to appear. With a very vanilla stock of basses. There’s no depth for choice. Even a simple set of shortscale flatwound strings is a special order. We used to have a great Vintage shop that would have interesting stuff pop up , it’s unfortunately gone. I see more interesting stuff pop up online in the local buy&sell … kijiji.

I have the e500 and just keep it as a little practice amp. I like it , it’s fun to spin the knobs and create presets. I enjoy it so much I decided to buy a Darkglass hoodie. It seems everybody got there before me , they’ve been sold out, there’s no sign of any more on the way. I’ve been checking their site for some months now. I live in Eastern Canada, and we have winter. Darkglass stated their hoodies were warm , quality hoodies , and being based in Finland I figure they understand winter pretty good. … so I’m a bit whizzed with them.

Fine looking rig!

When the DC Jr was introduced it pushed a lot of my buttons , and I eventually bought one. Truth be told , it’s easily one of my favourite things to play. I love it. And was sorry to hear it was discontinued. This is very similar to the Jr , and this too hits a lot of my buttons. I like a single humbucker in the sweet spot , and the two knob simplicity. I prefer short scale basses. I trust this will be beautifully made. I’m not crazy about the headstock , but that’s not a big deal. I have a Jr , so I’m unlikely to buy this. I have too many now. But I like that this is quite similar to the now discontinued Jr. And for those that happen to like those features … a welcome addition. Nice to see something other than yet another Fender shaped thing.

I’m nerdy about gear , and I’ve been on TB for over twenty years. I was an old Pbass guy that got into Rics and now seem to play just about anything but Fender shaped stuff. Today I seem to have a thing for Gibson shortscales and Danelectros. I always found people supportive and was able to consult with some who are recognized authorities. The beauty of the internet. I initially started coming here to get some insight on amps and cabs that are popular in Europe and the UK but have very little presence in North America. I enjoy this site. Here in Nova Scotia the available gear in most music stores leaves a lot to be desired. And they only push what they have , so I am thankful to learn of other options.

Beautiful , and I’m not generally fond of relics.

It’s nice to understand the character of an amp before you plug in a bunch of pedals, but some players demand a heavily processed sound and might have five or six preamps on their pedalboard. I play around with a Darkglass Exponent at home , there’s twenty two pedals and effects in the software. Sometimes I go for the dirt but I mostly create relatively clean presets. And I do have a mid sized pedalboard to goof around on. And there are hybrid amps that contain a tube preamp stage along wth gain and volume stages. The catch is that where there’s more knobs , there’s more time tweaking. There is a lot to be said for a simple tone stack , and a single pickup bass with just two knobs. That is much of the beauty of Monique , a simple three band eq with fairly broad bands , so it’s a very simple and easy tone stack to set up. More time playing , less time fiddling.

We were lucky , minimal power outages because of ice on the lines. Good thick layer of ice on the cars though. Glad I wasn’t out driving in it last night.

I’ve been using a Bergantino Forte , a very simple , straightforward set and forget amp. Modern , clean hifi. And absolutely loved the sound. The 4 band eq is almost surgical. Beautiful. And then I spotted a Monique by Jule tube preamp , something I had spent some years lusting after. I had hoped to pick one up last year but it just didn’t happen. This year it happened. So I’m going in the effect return and completely bypassing the front end , and tone stack of the Berg. And Monique gives me that thick , warm , buttery , old school thump. My modern hifi has completely reverted to old school . But with some serious slam behind it. And it’s not a backbreaker to lug around. I just did a 180° spin.

Halifax , Nova Scotia and we’ve got an ice storm on the way. Freezing rain and ice pellets , I’m thankful I don’t have to drive anywhere tonight.