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Hi, about a year and a half ago I bought and installed a new (version: Volume/Blend/Tone) J-TONE into my Lakland JO5. Although it's been stable and I can mostly get the sounds I want, I'm pretty certain I'm not getting the best out of it yet, nor is the battery life great. If you have or have had one, what are your impressions? How much tweaking did you do? Do you use Passive often and when do you? Are there some pedals or other things in your chain that doesn't like Active being on? Things I'm considering getting into rechargeable batteries and installing a permanent charger extension cable neatly into the bottom of the bass through to the cavity fully trying out the various adjustments that can be set, interoperating my amps and IEMs frequency wheels plug-in tone cap bass control (boost/cut or boost only)

Might be worth getting this moved to the "Items Wanted" section.

Battery drain in passive mode: Some East UK preamps draw power from the battery even in passive mode. This is a design feature to avoid loud thumps when switching between modes, but it means the battery will drain regardless of the selected mode. Make sure the black battery lead terminal has only one wire connected. Always remove the jack plug from the instrument when not in use, as inserting the jack activates the battery connection. Use a new, high-quality battery for best performance. Check that the jack socket is not touching any wiring outside of the preamp circuit, as this can cause unnecessary power drain.

You sir, are amazing, thank you so much

I don't understand why the other girl was so impressed with Mohini writing charts when working out a song. This is literally exactly what I do first time listening to a song. I have books and books of charts from bands I've played for, mostly original music where I've charted out the chords. I then work out the bass line based on the groove or what I'm hearing melodically. I thought this was the norm and everyone does it this way but there was nothing impressive or amazing to me what Mohini did in this video.

We played a club near Bolton for the fourth time. The Concert Sec there lives in the 1960's and puts some real clunge on. He's been ignoring my whatsapp messages about next year. He came up to me before went on and tauntingly reminded me that I had gone up to him and shown him a fake Rickenbacker the last time we played. I had two with me that night, plus a P Bass. He wouldn't have it that the Ric I brought last time was real. It was a 2002 4003FG and it was on my stand. He very grudgingly admitted it was real. We always get told what a breath of fresh air we are when we play there. We went on played our two spots, went down like heroes with a 1.05 second spot with dancers throughout. When he came to pay us at the end, I reminded him that he hadn't responded to my Whatsapp messages and laughingly said that I thought he'd died. He told us that though he really likes us we aren't right for the club. Some people left. Like they do when it's cold and dark out and not far off Christmas, etc.. I remined polite and cheerful, as we aren't short of work. Instead of losing my sheet, I just said, we will go down far better than some of the acts you've booked up to June next year. You should've seen his face. Permanent worry-lines forming. He was beyond horrified and demanded to know which ones would frighten their punters and clear the place. I was too much of a gentleman to tell him.

That's confusing. Do you sometimes leave the bass plugged in for days? Unplug whenever you have finished playing. Other than that, check your jack plug isn't shorting and if it's not factory fitted, that it's wired correctly in the first place.

Anyoe got a short scale Serek Bass for sale?

Yup - Lovely stuff - Already got some Monk on the playlist.

Wonderful! Ive added the first track.

My J-TONE preamp eats batteries like noone's business! Maybe 10 in the past 18 months, I've lost count. I do use that bass (Lakland JO5) a lot though and try to limit battery drain by removing the instrument cable at every opportunity. I bought good quality batteries from Amazon and Thomann, but still they seemed to last a couple of months at most. I'd like to give rechargables a go. has anyone installed a USB extension cable, neatly, into their guitar so you can simply plug a 5V power cable into the body? If so, any tips? reading through the answers it seems good quality NiMH 9V batteries help reduce noise and maintain 9V for longer than Lithium Ion, is that what people are seeing now with recent batteries?

Best of luck with it, great to see a new venue opening.

16 hours worth culled from the Bass chat thread. Couldn't keep up with it in the end 😲 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59RhYT5dLPwboS9u3njL4S?si=eqXaQgxpTV-nCwXW18bOxg&pi=AYELaBxHRR6-T

Stephen Thanks for this. Ambient temperature is around 7-8C, air moisture level is pretty much saturated as it's raining constantly such that flood warnings are in place and I am told Keswick Campsite is being evacuated which is a step into the unknown. Very little wind so air drying is probably not on. I do have a nice space heater courtesy of ScrewFix so may use that and see how it works. I suspect without artificial heat, we're into next year for painting Rob

Brilliant work Tom.

For me one of the main factors is 15min changeovers. Even when the band set ups are the same it can be a challenge, throw in left handed drummer etc and even more so. Add in bands who take forever to pack gear up/set up, chaos abounds. I’d prefer 30mins from a performers point of view, would be interested how long people who do sound engineering would like.

You use what there is, as best you can. Antagonising the sound man is the biggest mistake you can make - however justified you feel. The rubbish amp (the hire car of backline) is likely to be just your monitor. Live with it and trust (or just hope) that the guy out front is making it sound as good as he can. Let's face it, the only performance that will suffer is yours. I was about to be broadcast live on BBC TV, switched on the supplied bass amp and it gave a light show reminiscent of a car audio demo. I had no idea what did what and was just thankful it made a noise at all. Subsequent listening showed the FOH sound was fine. Sure didn't feel like it at the time.

And Greg Howe! And Guthrie Govan...

New covers ep/album by early Weeds guitarist https://chrishaskett.bandcamp.com/track/pick-up-the-pieces