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You clout someone with headstock at that gig and you might get barred. 😂 Dave 🎅

Being as they only announced it a couple of days ago it’s very unlikely anyone has used one. From their post it looks like they’ve just made it simpler to adjust, can’t imagine it sounds any different.

First gig of a double header for me this weekend was the annual Crown Court Christmas Party with the Hulla band. Our singer is a barrister and so we get the Court gig every year - they actually ask for us! You could say we are called to the bar. But you probably wouldn't. It was a new venue for us at the Bay View hotel on the Swansea seafront. With the wind and rain last night, the view of the bay was mostly large waves and spray. We're a 13 piece so the set up was quite tight but we're used to it. After the soundcheck there was time for a swift ice cream at the nearby Joe's Ice cream parlour (given the weather, the staff were surprised out our late evening arrival). The venue was an odd shape - the building has been a pub and hotel since the mid 1800s and occupies the end of a street that joins the main road at an angle. At the junction end it is very narrow but it expands in a wedge back away from the main road. Inside there are pillars and several areas divided by bits of wall and single or double steps. From a sound perspective, it seemed as if it would be a nightmare with the pillars getting in the way of the throw of the PA tops and the 'dance area' in front of the band was about the size of a couple of commemorative postage stamps. In actual fact, the sound was very good and there wasn't the nightmare sound reflections that we anticipated. Instead, the nightmare reflections came from a big mirror behind the bar in which I was able to watch myself in all my performing glory during the soundcheck. I stepped to one side for the actual gig as it was very off-putting. The place was closed for the private party so our audience was around 60-70 people. Most started off in the little area in which the food was being served but as we started to play the dance floor filled up (3 people) and the dancing spilled over into every available space, included that reserved for the neck and headstock of the bassist (I was on the far left of the band line up). What looked like a lively and dancing bassist was actually me trying not to batter members of the legal profession as they laid their moves down. 30 songs and 2.5 hours later we finished with Hey Jude. I think the singer would have gone on and on but his voice was decidedly croaky and much to the relief of the rest of us (and perhaps the remaining audience) we came to a halt. It was a very local venue for me so I was home 10 minutes after I left. Kit for the night was my Sterling 34HH through a board - MS60b for tuner and noisegate > NUX Sculpture compressor > NUX Voodoo Vibe (only for the end of Hey Jude) > Ampeg SCRDI and into the desk. Monitoring for me was via a Behringer P16m fed from the X32 desk and into a Gear4Music wireless system with KS Z10 earphones. Footwear were slightly damp (from our visit to the ice cream parlour) black Skechers.

Allegedly this bass is supposed to be inspired by Steve's main bass pre-modification, like he was playing 50 years ago. I suppose I can see their reasoning, but as others have pointed out, at least put the proper decal on ect. The have retained the maple body, but that also makes the bass very heavy, which will put a lot of folks off. It's a lot of money for a pretty unremarkable Mexican P Bass that weighs a ton. I'm pretty sceptical about "special" boutique P Basses on the whole - they usually end up sounding like a P Bass, surprisingly enough- but this one doesn't even seem to be trying to be special except that it says Steve Harris on it. He is a special bass player though, no doubt about that.

I love that John, I find myself doing the same thing sometimes. We haven't mentioned the Sontronics much. I've got an older Sontronics I actually won at a raffle at the South West Bass Bash a few years back. It's the same body as the Solo but a cardioid and I think it might have beenthe predecessor of the Solo. It's a nice mic up with the quality of my Senny E935 but the Solo is cheaper. You need to warn people about the build quality of the Sontronics they make all other mics look flimsy, real heft. Made in the UK too.

The End - The Doors

@bass_dinger, you checked the best pianos in the sub £600 category, but you didn't try the last contender, the Casio PS-X1100, which is worth a try as Casio is not a cheapy maker anymore. Check this video, or the links in the links (yes, the first link opens the shop ad where you can find all the details and the full review link down under) in the description for more in depth reviews. PS: He always speaks in Canadian dollars, which makes a huge difference. 😉

So it’s not necessary to use some specialist hifi speaker cable?

Start! - The Jam

I have read that Sandberg has made a new bridge with more mass to increase sustain. Do you know anything about this? In terms of sound, how does this new bridge affect in the sound? Yes, more sustain but anything else? closer to a vintage sounds?

I’m a big fan of changing out pickups, but at this level I don’t think any tonal change would amount to anything worth noting. I like the colour, it’s different, without being outlandish, to my eyes.

It really is, he comes across brilliantly.

I totally agree, that would be my lack of thought about it 😆

Luca does a video play though of all his basses he’s built. I was looking to change out the pickup for a Emg Gzr or a quarter pounder but honestly the stock pickup is decent! Measures 10.8k with alnico 5 magnets.

Look on YouTube, Luca posts a lot of his work with sound samples, lots of lovely 51' style basses.

I owned a WAL mk2 and a mk3 and the mk3 body carving was irrelevant. My arm was nowhere near. If you're designing your own bass, I wouldn't bother with it. The mk 2 was ok and probably helped a little.The mk1 looks more like the Fender style body carved shape. Can't hurt to do the same but I never played a mk 1.

I don't think it came stock on this bass. I've read somewhere, that around that time Fender had a product line of brass aftermarket parts that could be used for "upgrading". I remember a local advertisement where this bridge was offered in it's original blister packiging. Also loose bridge saddle assamblies could be purchases from that seller from old shop stock, and probably other hardware parts though.