Finbar

Thanks again guys The thing gets prettier the more I look at it The rest of the band approve to, especially of the LEDs, hah! Always a good thing. Anyway, got to give it some thrashing today. Seems much mroe untamed than the Conklin was. I don't know how I can describe it, but I feel like I actually NEED a compressor for the first time in my bass playing life. There's plenty of growl in the tone, but it is coming across a bit muffled as it is - I need to do some tweaking on the pots inside. Too much bottom end (the bottom end and sustain is incredible on this, it is a monster)!

Ee ^_^ Thanks guys - I'm pretty happy with it so far! Not had a chance to plug it in. Girlfriend got in the way of playing, and before I knew it it was too late to be plugging an amp in. Thanks, neighbours. There are still a couple of things to iron out on it, but Jon's got that in hand. It'll happen in the next week or so I have a practice with it on Thursday, and a gig with it on the 12th June. Hopefully get some nice action shots from that! Already thinking on the next one, worryingly o_O

The colour is closest to the ones in the natural light shots there, just so you know Went with no pickguard. When it came to collecting it, it just looked right. There is no way it looked like anything was missing. Damned if it looks at all like a Stingray now, but it still looks awesome The EQ switch makes a big pop sound when you switch between presets, but Jon has the parts to rectify this on order Not had a chance to play the beastie plugged in yet, but I will soon ^_^

Okay, so here we are! Photos are from my phone, so they're not brilliant Waiting on the ones Jon has supposedly taken! Took quite a few various ones, but here's a few to keep you going This thing is sexy.

Was going to take a few snaps of this, but it just looked like the above pictures! Shiny and black! Didn't see much point. Looking fine either way man

I'm just about to take a couple. Jon said he took a couple this morning that we will let me have too - considering he was planning to use them for his site, they're probably better quality than what I'll put out

Off the top of my head, the Hiwatt has 2 'normal inputs' and 2 'brilliant inputs'. Someone should be able to confirm that for me?

As far as I know, the Hiwatt has a master volume, and only one channel.

Ah, I see. What's the science behind this then, if all of them are inputs, and none are ouputs?

I saw someone with a Hiwatt 400 valve head at a show once, which had 4 inputs. He had a short patch lead connecting two of these. Just wondering what this was in aid of? Sorry if it is painfully obvious, I was just intrigued

Damn right. The hour draws near! Going to phone Jon in the morning to clear that it is alright to drop down, but hopefully you should all get some pictures tomorrow! I'm going to be leaving Jon's place with a lighter wallet, but it'll be worth the six months of extra wait on what he quoted me! Hah.

When I get a new amp, I'm going to be looking to flightcase the head. Some people might think it is a bit extreme, but flashing the wrong side of a grand on an all valve head, only to lug it round the country in the back of a van without a case seems counter-intuitive to me Having looked around and seen the options, I'm just wondering something. I've seen two main kinds of flightcases - the one where the lid lifts off and the amp can still be used in the 'tray' that is left (my current amp has this and it works fine), or the one where the front and back come off, and the amp is left inside the flightcase (like a rack case). Anyway, is there anything that makes either one of these options better than the other? I'd prefer the latter option - it is a more practical and better looking solution IMO. Would it have a problem dissipating heat that the head generates? Anyway, all advice appreciated, Cheers, Chris

Yep, I really get the impression when Jon gets something a little different, he really puts himself into it. I think it is going to be a corker! Just need to sell my Marshall head off to complete the next step of rig evolution... Man, Tuesday can't come soon enough (Jon's taking the day off for the bank holiday, understandably )

Making money But yeah, I did just realise Monday is a bank holiday - I won't hold it against Jon if he doesn't want to go to work to hand over a bass on a bank holiday ;p

Shoes are a steal at a tenner ^_^ Thanks Jake - all sorted out very swiftly!

Well Jon says the bass is finished! He said I could pick it up tomorrow, but I'm not around tomorrow, so it'll have to be sometime in this coming week. To say I'm excited is an understatement

I don't have a transcription for my Claire De Lune unfortunately. I got hold of the piano music, and then just worked through bar by bar, learning it - didn't write it down Forgotten half of it now!

Hmm, I recently arranged Claire De Lune for my 7 string, and it sounded pretty cool. Don't know if it is the kind of thing you're after, but it sounds pretty on bass

Been meaning to start a thread on similar lines, so I'll add my question in if TS doesn't mind! I've got one of those nice Levy's straps, the wide padded ones. Problem is, it rubs on my clothes - every tshirt and jumper I own has a big rough bobbly patch on my left shoulder from where this strap has had its wicked way over the course of time. Doesn't take long to happen either. It also seems to pick up much easily, and any white tops I own don't seem to stay white for long around the shoulder/collar when I'm using this strap. It is getting pretty annoying. Maybe the wear is happening because I'm active and move the bass around a lot? I bought a Comfort Strapp the other day, and while it IS comfortable, the bounce is really putting me off it. I move about too much for it, and I can't bend the neck of my bass for bending notes anymore, as the effort I'm putting into bending it is being absorbed by the strap - in a way, it is too efficent in that respect! So yeah, can anyone suggest a strap that has the comfort (or near comfort) of the Comfort Strapp (I play a heavy 7 string, so I need something good), but which won't eff up all my clothes? o_O Ta!

I'll still try and get a couple pics for you when I'm up there - Jon's finishing date for my build just keeps slipping, so I ain't been to pick it up yet