Chris2112

Interesting scam, I haven't heard of this. I usually try to transcribe by ear and use Songsterr for the really tough stuff. I'll admit that I did use Songsterr to get some of Jeff Berlin's 'Tears In Heaven' down as it's pretty wild and complex.

Went down the wrong chute - bloody hell! There must be warehouses and warehouses stuffed with undelivered parcels around the country as stuff so frequently goes missing. I ordered two winter tyres for the rear wheels of my XJ8 a couple of years ago through Camskill, delivered by (I think) DHL. Only one turned up, so I queried the missing tyre and was told that it was missing so Camskill sent another FOC. Weeks later, a delivery driver turned up with the 'missing' tyre stating that it had been mislaid at the depot and found during clearup, so it had been sent on to the customer as per the delivery label. I did wonder how something as obvious and large as a brand new tyre with labels on it could just be mislaid and not get redirected for delivery for weeks.

It sounds as though the issue was with the amp rather than the bass circuit, given that even after plugging a passive bass in you used it to adjust the equalization. I'd be hesitant to attribute the entire cause of your dissatisfaction to a 9v powered circuit in this case. There are so many variables at play.

It has an oddly dissonant and 'ugly' sound that doesn't sit well with my ear. It's also quite a chaotic sounding piece. Not to my taste.

I think you're getting your Fodera and Fedora confused too.

This may be something that they only found out about later - like after they'd built a load of basses only to find out they'd all warped and twisted after being shipped! Though it would suggest to me the wood wasn't properly dry and stable. Even a top builder can fall foul of bad materials.

I had an MX-5 back in the day (a 1998 NB model). As I remember, the boot was only fit for hold crisp packets. It wasn't very good. I had a Jaguar XJ that was much the same, it has a massive boot that was very low and shallow (X308 shape). On the other hand, I had an MR2 Turbo that had an amazing boot, right behind the engine bay. It was deeper than it was wide and could have probably taken a couple of PJB items. In short, buy a car with a bigger boot for load lugging!

Yes, you can see the quality in that. The well lit, high resolution images help the case too.

Whilst I must say that not all of their basses are for me (although I do really like the Sputnik), their configurator technology is great. It's a world class programme so far as I can see and the fact it is such a topic of conversation both here and on Talkbass proves it's worth. It's a great way of getting people to share builds and ideas and press on to make orders. Carvin/Kiesel should really get something like this on the go too. I'm surprised given Kiesel's 'ticky box custom' buisness model that they haven't already invested in a really great configurator tool like this.

Bass Direct are nothing if divisive. But I've never really had any complaints when dealing with them. The Ibanez SR3006 they shipped me a couple of years ago had very dead strings on it, which from a shop seems a bit of a blow. You'd expect that they could put fresh strings on and just charge a little more to the owner for the service, but then I suppose fresh strings mean nowt in the world of internet sales and it didn't stop me buying the bass - indeed, I usually wear out 'shop strings' pretty fast and get my own preferred sets on and the price was very reasonable to start with. I do wish they'd send an invoice with strings, though. It just feels 'right' to get a paper invoice with an internet order. I also 'bought' an EBS Billy Sheehan Overdrive pedal from them when I saw it on their used gear page. I got an email from Marcus the next day who immediately processed a refund, so no great loss - the disappointment of missing out on the pedal prompted me to do some proper research and I realised that the Deluxe version was a considerable uprgade for not much cash, so I bought one of those brand new instead. On the other hand, they sold my Pedulla Pentabuzz at some point in the past and I happened to stumble across the pictures of it on google images, which were still hosted by their website and searchable long after they had deleted the link to the advert from their website. So I was able to snatch those photos and later did a bit of colour correction to make up for the very dark photographs. I still have the originals on my phone - I can tell you that the metadata confirms they were taken with a Nikon camera! They also have an absolutely amazing selection of gear and a very healthy used gear page. They can easily shift used basses, which looks harder than ever judging by how slow the marketplace has been over the past year. Long may they continue to serve us.

I always knew it was Meshell but after so long I imagined he looked like that too!

Barts are easily my favourite pickups. Not strictly by choice, but three of my four basses have them in (and the Peavey Palaedium's pickups were obviously created to mimic Barts). They can be quite varied in sound depending on the bass they're in. My passive Cort Rithimic sounds nothing like my active Bogart. For my taste, the beauty of Bartolini pickups is that they sound great no matter what I try to do with them. On the subject of the big B string, I have never heard a low B with quite the impact or punch of my brother's Raro TM bass. It's an absolutely massive singlecut 35" bass, looks a bit like a Ken Lawrence. By god, that thing can shift some air but it really should do so as it's got more mass than some planets. It has some very trick active electronics that surely help it along. In terms of other basses with a great low B, the SKC Bogart Blackstone I have now is a high point for me. I've had graphite necked basses before but this really brings something else to the mix, more than just bright low B harmonics, it gives massive fundamental. The B string feels tonally incorporated, rather than being distinct from the rest of the bass in terms of timbre. Pedulla neck thru basses also always have an awesome low B, very smooth and present by dint of the neck-thru design. There are many ways to achieve a decent low B these days without having to resort to something like fanned frets. Some of the worst low B's I have ever heard have been on Fender basses. I don't know what it is that makes them so uniquely bad. Hollow, floppy sounding rubbish. I know this isn't the case with all Fender basses, mind.

Well, I didn't think you'd look like that! Points for staying with your profile picture.

I was laughing as I watched this the other day, as that buffoon rants about versatility before proceeding to show us several shades of mud.

I'd agree with your comments about final build quality. Sei are as good as it gets in that regard. Fit and finish to match any builder in the world on every bass they make.

Oh yes, very cool. Looks like a TVR.

I've played some awful necks over the years (mainly on Gibson and Rickenbacker basses). That said, size and shape don't matter to me, so long as it's comfortable. I always roll my eyes when a player says "Oh, I won't play that, it's .5mm too wide at the nut" or "oh, thats 150g over the weight I'm happy with". I've generally found my hands quite adaptable. I love fast, thin necks like on my Peavey Palaedium and Cort Rithimic Jeff Berlin models, but I also love wide and flat with wide string spacing, like on my Bogart. I can swap between them quite happily at the drop of a hat without issue, which suits me just fine.

The current lot seem to be very well regarded. That said, I've played many EBMM basses over the years and I'd he loathe to buy one without playing first. In all eras and variants of Stingrays, I found good ones and bad ones. You might pick up a 'golden age' 'Ray and find it has awful dead spots and a weak G string output. So I suppose the golden era of Stingray for me is from 1997 onwards, when Modulus refined the concept into the Flea bass.

You can get firewood cheaper elsewhere, try a garden centre.

I wouldn't buy one myself but I think the headstock looks pretty good.

Enfield are really something special. Their carbon fibre necks are amazing. Sadly, they're very rare. I don't think I've ever seen more than four or five for sale on the used market.

Top video. I saw that when it was new and recently re-visited it. Glad to see you still have the Wal. Do you still have a mate in a cowboy hat to nod out-of-time to your playing?

Oh of course. I owned #32 about eight or nine years ago (I think). Although back then there was just a bit of Buzz building about ACG.

I do love ACG. I find most of their shapes are not really to my taste these days. The first era of ACG designs are the strongest and most cohesive to my eyes, and the passage of time has seen a general to less attractive shapes. I also think that ACG were very competitively priced to start with but are just about market average now. I'd long said that Alan's work deserved to be mentioned alongside the very best in British bass-building, but the days of them being an attractively priced upstart are gone. Out of Sei and Shuker, I'd go with Sei. I think they are the finest instruments being made in the UK at the moment and their jazz model is stunning.