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Welcome ! I’m just over in Halifax .

Practice rig for tomorrow and gig Sunday.

One nice thing about the V4B is that they tend to get pushed all the way because they’re only a hundred watts. They do get fairly loud.

Trussart have been doing hollow body metal guitars for ages. Works of art. https://jamestrussart.com

I have an older GenzBenz Steamliner that has a three tube pre. It certainly warms and thickens the Class D back end. I sent it off to California when I heard agedhorse was still doing service work on them so it’s like a brand new amp today. Sometimes you see Streamliners go for very reasonable money.

I recently picked up a good tube preamp , it works.

Watch the video and decide. It sounded like a guitar to me.

I enjoy using more than just one amp too.

I enjoy using different basses rather than thinking one will do everything.

John Hall has been retired for several years and is living in England.

A friend just picked this up for $1000 Cdn on kijiji the other day , it’s a “slightly” modified late 4001.

I found one on kijiji for a good price a couple of years ago, unfortunately a friend got to it before I did. Several weeks later he flipped to me to fund something else he was gassing for. Great basses!

John Hall has been retired for some years now. I picked up a nice used 4001 about twenty five years ago for a good price , I bypassed the .0047 cap and put on flatwounds. A Ric can do a very nice old school thump , they’re very versatile basses if you give them a chance. It quickly became my main bass and remained so for some years. It’s been retired and these days I mostly pick up shortscales , but when I pick up that old Ric it feels like home. I’ve been reading how people bash Rics for ages now and sometimes think the most vocal Ric haters have never actually spent any time playing them. I’m quite familiar with their quirks. And I love a nice Ric. Some say the current basses are among the best they’ve ever made. I have played a number of Fakinbackers over the years and they have not remotely resembled the real thing.

Right up there with playing behind the capo.

At home , with various amps at low volume I found Monique subtle but very present , and found the sensitivity knob was magic. On the weekend I was playing in one of my favourite dives downtown. I paired Monique with a Bergantino Forte with just a single 112 Bergantino cab , the Forte is a very simple transparent modern hifi head without bells or whistles. And going in through the effects loop I completely bypassed the Forte’s front end and tone stack. It sounded like a 700 watt B15. Warm , fat and buttery. Now the four band tone stack on the Forte has almost surgical precision , and the three tone controls on Monique are much broader and simpler , so it’s much easier to dial in. There was a tubey bloom to the notes , but the response was quick. I had that warm tube sound , but it had some serious slam behind it. I was well behaved on the bandstand and settled into a nice stage mix , only vocals were in the PA. Just a mid sized local neighbourhood room. My favourite Dive. The band immediately had grins , gave me the big thumbs up , and loved Monique. I’ll have Monique out to a couple of rehearsals later this week and out for gigs on the weekend. She was expensive , but I plan to use her. She’s to be kept. So I found Monique delivered exactly what I was hoping for from what I had read. At low volume at home it was subtle but that changed dramatically at stage volume. How’s Simone? What are you using for a back end?

Once upon a time , before the term vintage became popular , old or used meant cheap. I miss those days and regret passing up many deals I was offered.

I listen , get familiar , chart the song , and then play without the chart. Doing two one hour shifts a day working on new stuff. Gigs have been booked. There’s a pile of memory work.

I have a HDN 112 & 210. The classic 322. Now for most gigs I just bring a single cab, but the joy of modular is having something ready if you need more.

A basket or birdcage makes sense when there’s tubes , unless you’re outside in the rain.

I was trying Monique with Bergs yesterday.

Practice nook at the inlaw’s the playpen

Monique arrived and I’ve been trying various amps and cabs. Usually drag Bergie cabs and Forte out to gigs , and using the effect loop it’s simple to bypass the Berg tone stack. So I immediately spent some time spinning knobs. Monique is very subtle , and yet very present. And I really love her so far. It will be interesting to see how my listening changes as I get more acquainted. The Jr has slightly mellowed rounds , the Hi Flier has chrome flats. This may be Blue Monday , but I’ve been in nerd heaven.

For many , many years all I had was an old Pbass , I thought it was all I’d ever need. I was wrong.

I simply found short scale basses more comfortable , never had any issues with the 34 in scale. But now I do have a pile of classic basses that don’t see that much playing time now. It took about a year or so playing 30 in basses before my preferences changed. Didn’t happen overnight.

There are a lot of people that are still not going out. Covid continues to rage on. … we’ve found the numbers are not what they used to be , but they are getting better.