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BassChat: The Movie - News Tinseltown reels as Brit-flick provisional cast list leaked: Chris O'Dowd as: Kiwi Zachary Quinto as: Ped Christopher Plummer as: The Bass Doc / Sir Charles Lytton Yul Brynner as: Happy Jack Alan Bennett as: Billy Apple Brian Blessed as: Dad3353 / Prince Michael Bakunin

Just watched some rapper (someone Lamarr) (I guessed at the double "r") Appeared to have backing track problems at the start, every other word bleeped out no doubt due to language and all this whilst his mate smashes up something Lamborghini looking with a baseball bat. You know what? I'm glad I'm old😤

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Thought I'd share this little moment with you... Earlier today I pulled into a car park and spotted a large estate car parked awkwardly on the side of the entrance with its hazard warning lights flashing. Does this person need assistance I thought? A guy was leaning against it scanning the carpark for who knows what... Meanwhile another man was walking toward him with intent. Both nodded as if to say, yes, I'm your contact. Was this a drug deal, undercover cops, secret services???? Just as I checked in my rear view mirror I realised, I know this guy. He was half hiding inside the collar of his jacket but there was no mistaking it, it was @thebassdoc!! I knew that face from the good old days of the bass place, but hadn't seen this revered figure for a good 20 years. My mind raced at what was in the boot of that estate, a quiver of expertly set-up basses most likely!! As my car rolled into the first available bay and I scrambled to get my basschat autograph book out, I looked back and he was gone. Disappeared back into the bass underworld. Ha ha, the whole thing felt very cinematic in a non-stalkery, not geeky-at-all kind of way!! Liam Neeson or Matt Damon would be good casting shouts for the badass bassdoc. This opening scene could then lead to a groovy theme tune, like a bond film, but better Apologies to @Thebassdoctorifthisisabitcreepy

Wind back five years and you’ll hopefully understand why this bass is as special to me as it is.... In Feb 2013 I was diagnosed with a massive tumour on my right kidney. It was at Stage 3 due to the size (an unbelievable 9.5kgs!) and I was told by the surgeon that it they didn’t operate soon it would kill me one way or another. On Thursday last week, I was given the good news that I had no signs of recurrence and that they were leaving it to me whether I wanted to continue under observation; in short they were happy for me to be discharged. To get to the 5 year milestone was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to, so to say I’m relieved is an understatement! After a few tears (something in my eye) my wife told me to treat myself and knew I’d been hankering after one of these: who was I to refuse! After an early morning start I picked this up from Bass Direct on Saturday. The guys kindly restrung it with TI Flats and it really is the best Fretless I have owned. It is more special to me than words can adequately convey. Here it is:

Just be careful not to mix up your car park assignations. I met a chap in a car park to buy a bass cab and ended up with £200 worth of hash. It's terrible - no low end, undefined mids and a harsh top end. (Also nice to know the bassdoc's still about)

Go to The London Bass Guitar Show for starters!

Best bass ive ever played was a Sei. Second best bass ive ever played was also a Sei. Neither owned by me. @joncaulfield72 owned them both.

By the way, you can still specify purfling on the fingerboard - a choice of various different types is available - when custom ordering (it's likely I'll have it on my next), so whilst you see it much more on the early basses it isn't necessarily an indicator of the bass being old, if that makes sense. I don't know why people don't specify it more often to be honest, I think it's a beautiful aesthetic touch. Oh, and Martin is a gent and then some. I've been a regular customer since 1996 and he's one of the nicest, most genuine blokes you'll ever meet. I love the Gallery. I wish I could live there.

I don't understand any entertainment awards. All I can see is well known and in the main, wealthy people patting themselves and each other on the back. I find it quite embarrassing and cringeworthy really. Why anyone would want to watch this type of media driven shambolic tripe is beyond me. 😂

Know what you mean. Gave up all that faffing a while ago now, nearly always just set the eq flat and make slight adjustments if necessary on the fly. Works for me

If he's so socially right-on, why didn't he sell the car and get a few homeless people off the street? Or donate it to a charity to auction?

If I've understood your description properly, then it sounds as though the second from last fret is slightly high. If that's the case then it would need, either tapping back into position, assuming that it has lifted, or filing level and then crowning.

Let me guess. Stormzy, rag and bloody bone man and dua lipa. They seem to be the only musicians the public are aware of at the moment.

So I guess pulling on a bong midsong is deemed unacceptable these days?

It's hard to believe there's a comment that is more interested in the Basses than the Beer...!

Not heard of this brand, but familiar headstock & body shape. Very Ibanez Blazer-esque? https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F292450625132

Yes I have used it at 2 different venues with drums, both with the Eminence. The first one which is a large room with tiled floor and hard surfaces I thought it lacked a bit in the low end. I tend to leave the eq flat because it sounds so natural and I'd only just got the Clarus SL-2. Now I'm familiar with it I'll take it again and adjust the eq and it should be fine. The second venue is smaller and carpeted. The line up was sax, trombone, guitar/banjo & drums. It was Mardi Gras and the drums were quite loud at times but the Upshot was great, I could've gone louder if needed but it seems to fill the room, I could hear myself no prob and no one asked me to turn up. Haven't played bass guitar through it yet with drums but in a trio without drums the Jazz Bass & Rob Allen sound great.

if it's overkill for you playing sold-out arenas then what excuse have I got when I'm seriously considering getting one just for home practice?!

World conspiracy against Trace Elliot... During the 80s the Earth moved from it's orbit ever so slightly raising concerns that the "oomph & kick" from TE was responsible. World Governments insisted on weedy Class D amps knowing that they don't move objects in the same way.

A Warwick is even less like a Spector than a P Bass is. Any similarities are entirely superficial. Think of a Warwick as a comfy pair of old slippers and a Spector as a Tesla Model S and you'll be getting somewhere. Warwicks only sell because they look a little bit like a proper bass. Otherwise they would have already been consigned to the dustbin of history. File under 'Rickenbacker'.

That sounds like a cover story if you ask me. Great story! Thanks for sharing. I’ve had many car park encounters over the years on Basschat and only two have turned into shootouts.

Why do you have problems with your tone? The EQ on both channels looks perfect to me on that picture! I bet it sounds awesome like that.

I think there's enough clearance for it to pop out.

Hey all, Sorry for the late notice - promo has been a little lax on this gig! I'm playing in Birmingham this Sunday, with a project that I really love - Illuminated Loops is me plus visual artist Poppy Porter - she's has synaesthetic superpowers, which means she sees sound. So as I play, she draws what she sees... it's pretty trippy, and a whole lot of fun, and there'll be Q&A for anyone whose going 'WTF?' after seeing it tickets and details are at http://music.stevelawson.net/merch/illuminated-loops-live-in-birmingham-advance-ticket and the FB event page (if you want to help out by sharing it around, which would be MASSIVELY appreciated ) is at https://www.facebook.com/events/409769609473669/ Hope to see some of you there (if you're coming into Brum for the British Guitar Show, this'll be the perfect antidote to shredlandia Steve www.stevelawson.net

I've got one of these on order, due to arrive in March. Looking forward to gigging it in pubs and clubs around the north west. Still not much information available online however.

Yep! Spent a few years faffing around with my old TE amp trying to get find a tone that in the end was just a flat setting with a bit of HPF. Thank god for the class-D boom!

So many times... and recently acquiring a bass with coil taps and a 3 band EQ does not help.

I can't come up with any ideas despite downloading some free vst plug ins. I was also away skiing but the culture abroad did not motivate me either. But managed to compose three thrash metal songs instead 😊🤘

Yeah, I’ve got a Sansamp it’s the VT Bass DI model and it works extremely well through my Ashdown rig, as you say go into the Return socket on the amp to bypass the TE’s own preamp and (with mine anyway) plug a 1/4” headphone adaptor into the front input socket. Use the XLR on the Sansamp to the desk not the TE’s XLR out. Superb sound, I used to hate hearing the sound of my bass through the PA but it sounds really good now. So now I have a really good on stage sound plus I have confidence that a good sound is going out front. As it’s a Trace Elliott I would turn off the Pre Shape button as this will affect the sound.

Hair - Larry Graham.

Oh. Bad decision. NOT! Enjoy 😎🎸

Ease of use: I read the instruction manual before going to guitar center just a single time, and i didnt have any problem setting the b3n up. Switching patches is much better, as you clearly see what patch you are switching to. Editing effect is also easier, cause you see all parameters at once. When adding or changing an effect, you don't have to scroll through all of them to get the desired one, they are categorized. Only thing that changed to (anyhow) worse, is that you don't see all selected effects at once, and have to scroll through them, but thats easy one-button operation. Worth to mention that springs on footswitches are not as hard as on b3, so they are comfortable for both foot and hand operation. Menu navigation with this pressable knob is as easy as total and global menus from B3. All that ease of use improvements make up for a downside: the PC/Mac software no longer allows editing the patches, only moving and renaming. So all your editing will be on B3n now. Build quality: B3 had full aluminium housing with only plastic elements at the display section. B3n has almost no plastic on the "dashboard", but instead unit sides are black plastic. Despite that, unit seems as sturdy as B3. The lower plastic footswitches function way better that similar hinged switches on some low end pedals, like behringer. They have the same nice "click" as the upper, chrome-looking footswitches. Parameter knobs are smaller, but click as nice as on B3 and were comfortable to use for me, i have medium sized hands. Displays are of course smaller, but backlight is closer to white. Features: I'll be short on that one. Tuner works as well as on B3, but displays on screen, not on dedicated LEDs, so visibility is slightly worse. Looper and drum machine are now separate effects to add to the chain, didnt test if you can put in multiple loopers, but i know that only one drum machine can be used at a time. There are 4 variants of looper: stereo/mono and single/dual unit. B3n is missing some features from B3: - separate balanced XLR out - usb bus power - usb audio interface - possibility to reverse order of effects (to right to left) - possibility to change dry/wet blend on patch level - possibility to power it with batteries But they are some added features too: - master level knob - aux input - possibility to install and remove effects/amps/cabs to the unit - and up to 7 effects in the chain of course! Tone: Compressors seem to be same quality as in B3, didn't notice any difference. Amp sims... there could be more to choose from. I couldn't get my favorite GK tone, but they are as good as on B3, especially after some tweaking and getting used to. Overdrives/distortions/fuzzes. I got surprised by those. I tried to get my frequently used Big Muff to sound same as on B3, but it changed drastically. Maybe a little closer to original one, but to my taste worse. In my opinion, darkglass gear make up for that, they sound really good. Tube screamer is pretty much the same. Thanks to the introduction of 2-unit effects, you finally can use distorted channel of MXR DI+. All other effects from this category sounded more harsh, somehow mid-lacking, but i suppose they just need more tweaking and combining with other effects to get good results. Potentially better than on B3. All effects are now having 4 or 8 parameters, so some effects lost the blend control that i am using all the time on B3. Refer to the effect list for more information https://www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_B3n_FX-list_0.pdf. Synths didn't change much. They seem to track a little better, but sound pretty much the same. Sadly i didn't test Octavers. In my opinion, Reverbs, Choruses, Wahs and Delays sound same as on B3, but i don't use them too often so it's possible i just missed the difference. They removed the Bit Crusher! Tone overall seems a bit diffrent. On B3n all preamps/amps and overdrives have a bit larger tonal range, but mid frequencies are somehow less defined. It were a barely noticable difference, something that is rather felt than heard, and is not really easy to describe. I hope that my amp's graphical EQ will be enough to build up the mids. Worth to mention that B3n seems to be more sensitive to the instrument's tone. Is it worth upgrading?
 In my opinion, none of them is better. They are just different units with different purpose. B3n is more tone focused, as you can chain more effects and switch between patches easier. Use it, if you already have external DI-box and USB audio interface (or you don't need them). B3 is all-in-one utility, get it if you are sure that 3 fx slots will be enough for you. In other hand, when i were buying B3, i didnt thing i'll use all 3 slots, and now it turned out that i need much more! And for the tone, i think its a matter of taste, you can guess how it feels to play basing on my review, but i highly recommend trying it out at local musical store, if possible.
 
 Some tips: - Refer to https://www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_B3n_FX-power-chart.pdf to check if all effects that you want to use can be selected at once. - To tighten up your sound and make bass more clear and readable, use the splitter to remove all signal below certain frequency. For my mahogany bass, 100 or 125hz is just fine. It works best for me if put at the front of the chain. - You can also use splitter to get rid of that hissing, digital sounding high tones from distortions. - If you're not really good at timing with the looper, you can set it to end after certain time, based on the tempo set on the unit. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Hi Basschatters! Just to let you know that the full line-up and timings for the Main and Masterclass stages are now on the website. We're sorry to see that a few of you are frustrated by the way in which we reveal artists and timings. There are several reasons for this - we're sure you can understand that it is part of our marketing campaign to announce artists one by one rather than in one bunch at the start, but also artists often want to change time slots, artists drop out and are replaced - and we wouldn't want anyone to plan their whole trip around a specific performance only to be told that it's been changed or cancelled closer to the time for reasons that are out of our control. Anyway we hope you're as excited as we are about the show this year - be sure to make use of your 20% off tickets code, we can't wait to see you all there! Best wishes The London Bass Guitar Show team

I don't really do nerves any more, but I had expected them to make an appearance on the day of the show. Surprisingly, they didn't...

Sorry it's been a hell of a long time since i've updated this...It's actually all built, but lets pretend it isn't I got the strings on and started to rough out the buffalo horn nut. Frets have all been filed flush levelled and dressed at this point. Oh, and i painted in the pickup cavities with shielding paint. Always easier to do before oil, so any spill over can be sanded away. Once all slots have been roughed in, I can get the strings on. I've not gone up to pitch yet as it's a new neck. Cutting fret slots with nut files to a rough depth to be finalised in final setup. Final sanding ready for oil is next, then onto wring it all up and assembling it for the final time....back soon, I do mean soon!

Yep. This is the reason I could do with getting over the issue. I plan to play mine instead of tickling it though

Worth noting that Bobby Vega is actually appearing in the SBL workshop too: http://www.londonbassguitarshow.com/features/bass-workshop-with-scotts-bass-lessons Looks like just on the Saturday for SBL Henrik Linder exclusively on the Sunday though (again in the SBL Workshop). Si

The problem I had gigging with Hitler was he was always booking shows hundreds of miles from home, usually in the dead of winter. Getting back was often a nightmare; we'd be on the road, up to our nuts in snow and he'd just swan off on the train with his mates. It all started well enough; touring the continent, big crowds, good money. Then we took on too much work and the quality began to slide; eventually he'd call band meetings then just ramble on about 'the future' even though we weren't getting the gigs anymore. It all collapsed when he suddenly told us he didn't want to carry on and that he was more interested in marrying his girlfriend. I'd do it all again, mind you.

Never understood the attraction. Hideous thing...

Not that I like the song much but the simple bass in Argent's Hold Your Head Up is really effective

Mods: There needs to be a ‘yeah cheers for that mate, now I’ve got GAS’ button.

One word... massive. I was instantly reminded how tactile valve heads are. Here's a really crappy vid I've thrown together tonight. The camera mic is terrible, so please don't pay too much attention to it. Also, I was so giddy with excitement I forgot to play anything useful. ha ha.