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I play in a church with a number of other bass players who are all quite young or beginners. I was asked a few weeks back by our music director to have a look at the amp settings they use (a Trace GP7, 4x10) as they don't sound "as full as you do". My initial response was to feel please that my 1k+ pedal board and much better basses were making the difference (given the amp setting are exactly the same), but having now sat down with three of them it turns out that technique makes the biggest change to the sound. Playing closer to the bridge, not using open strings, left hand muting other strings, playing passing notes rather than just roots etc. and we all start to sound far more similar! Annoyingly for GAS new/different equipment is seldom the answer to these sorts of things!

Damn, I should've been on Batch 2, LOL!

Looking at that circuit diagram you posted, your pedal already does some sort of combining and sends the signal out as a "serial data" stream. Whether that be a MIDI type stream or (more likely) an analogue variable voltage kind of thing, is anyone's guess. I'm guessing it is not MIDI as I can't see a return comms connection on the drawing - unless it is send (MIDI OUT) only. The Thomann one you posted has a wide ribbon cable connecting to the MIDI module, which would suggest separate contact connections for each note pedal. if you wanted to do that with yours, I guess you would have to cut in further up in the pedal board circuitry before it turns them into one serial line? To me, your drawing looks like it is for the organ end, and if so: Pin 1 - Ground Pin 2 - Ground Pin 3 - Connection for separate volume pedal which I assume plugs into this pedal board on its way to the organ? Pin 4 - Not Used Pin 5 - 9v supply from Organ Pin 6 - Serial data out of pedalboard to organ Pin 7? I assume this is chassis connection of the organ socket to ground? As there is a separate connection for serial data and volume pedal, this suggests to me that the transmission medium is not MIDI. I'm happy to be schooled by the electronics whizzes on here if I'm wrong as I don't read circuit diagrams very often any more!

Also asking for a "friend"?

Personally speaking, I'd go for an eBay refund. You can spend a lot of time and money trying to get it to work or hacking something together. If you like the challenge, go for it, but you could easily lose 10-20 hours just trying to figure it out. I'm not demeaning your talents here but being realistic. I know what it's like as I love a technical challenge and waste too much time and money doing something that I shouldn't. I now price my own time up and add that to the costs. So if I think something might take 10 hours and I think my time is worth £20 per hour, is it worth me spending £200 to fix it? I make exceptions for learning activities, as I think that learning is always good. Learning not to do something is valuable as well. YMMV Rob

Sorry to hear that, Michael. Fingers crossed it may turn up over the weekend. They seem to deliver via Royal Mail, and the local city Parcel Van, as opposed to the Postman. The Royal Mail tracker is also very delayed in showing you any useful information. It usually changes from "We're expecting your parcel" to "Out For Delivery Today" the very morning it's coming out to you for final delivery.

Wow! Nicely done! There’s hope for this old dog yet!

Iron Lion Zion - Bob Marley & the Wailers

Earthing wires installed & a general service. A noticeable difference in my opinion. If you want it done to your 900, send it to Surrey Amps. They can do it for you.

As MacDaddy mentioned, a lot of it really is in the fingers and how you phrase/articulate. If there is a signature sound for me, it always involves very clean strings, boosted highs and lows with mids in the middle. The singist/guitarist I've worked with for 35 years says I have the best live bass sound he's ever heard. High praise indeed. Audience members often come up to chat and comment that they could hear every bass note clearly, like it's some kind of revelation, so hopefully I'm doing something right! It doesn't seem to matter which bass I'm using - a Status, my GB Spitfire, my 30 year old MusicMan, or one of various active/passive Jazzes. I always sound like me. I'll be interested whether I still sound like me when the new Precision finally arrives...

I joined a new band last year (at 43) and we’ve got 5 European trips planned next year, including a 3 week tour. Never stop!

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/457140-doepfer-mbp25-midi-bass-pedals/ This thread touches briefly on the subject of adding midi capabilities to a pedal board. And of course, the pedals will (should) already have electrical contacts (on-off switches), so I won't need to add magnetic reed switches.

I've just ordered 10 sets, should keep me going for a while

What are the upgrades you mentioned?

That's impressive! Looks like you got the top off pretty cleanly. How many times did you have to kick the cat out of it while the top was off?

If it was advertised as a MIDI pedal that you can legitimately ask for a refund because it is not one. I you want to tinker, then it might be possible to convert it but that will very much depend on your soldering skills electronics knowledge and how much time you want to put into it as project. BTW MIDI leads despite using 5-Pin DIN connectors only use 3 of the conductors - the centre pin for earth and the two pins immediately either side of that for the data signal. The other two pins are unused.

Looks like mine is still stuck somewhere. Hopefully it turns up on Monday!

Happy Birthday. . . . youngster!! 😁 43 is REALLY young!!!! The most gigs I did were after I was 46 and played a lot then. You may get a second wind and then regret letting them go - especially Ken's. I can't stop looking at it!!!! It's only someone who has/plays one of these that knows what they are like - not run of the mill. I wonder how long it would take you to replace then, if you let them go and then became musically active again, in a few years time. You just never know. I had quite a long break and then started up again. 👍 Cheers.🙂

My goals this year are the same ones I wanted to achieve last year but never followed through. Learn a bit more music theory so I that I have a better understanding of the fretboard and can improvise over chords with different scales and arpeggios and not just stick to the one mode. Would also like to play music with some other humans and not just my computer or looper.