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I couldn't understand half of what I just read so sympathise with the woman from eBay!

Mine's probably Lateralus, lots of excellent bass work on there (not just the intro to Schism that everyone and their cat seems to learn )

I used an AO pedal last night on my gig (and the gig last weekend too (irish/pop/rock covers) and I swear the tightness of the bass and low end (with a CAli 76CB in the signal chain too to be fair) when playing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" really jumped out for me. It had great bottom end retention, nice and crispy in the highs without harshness - I know what I mean - I saw one guy mouth to his mate "That rhythm section is tight as f*ck" and this was at 8pm in an Irish bar on St. Patrick's day after the spectacle of the 6 Nations. I'd say 'the sound' contributed to that as much as the playing. The AO is quite a versatile unit and I'm not a massive DarkGlass fanboi in terms of how I've heard a lot of folk use their gear. It sounded great in other tunes too as did my Bass Soul Food. I guess knowing the strengths of a piece of gear and maximizing it to work for your rig/band is the key. All those pre-amps bring something to the table. It's nice to have the choice really! It's not gonna be as dead on old school as an Aggie TH head for example but I can make it work in my covers band to roll off treble and add a bit of gain here and there or go balls out for 7 Nation Army etc. You may disagree, I'm not that bothered

For you maybe, not for everyone and it’s entirely unfair and unhelpful to pigeonhole them as it depends completely on the context of other kit used and other instruments played with. Its like me declaring I am the most handsome man in the world, when even my mother thought I have a face for radio. A good thick Scotch Broth could be eaten with a fork and the rest mopped up with a nice crusty roll, and that is a very heart warming meal If you are after a thin, insipid watery soup just like England’s 6 nations campaign, then yes, a fork is the wrong tool for the job

It's 4 years since I bought my first PB-50. I'd just signed up on BC and had no idea who Thomann were, that soon changed First time I viewed their site the PB-50 caught my eye but it was £76 and £76 buys you nothing remotely playable. Bought one anyway just out of interest. 2 1/2days later a big box of goodness arrived. Now I don't have a list of conditions when it comes to basses, I like a decent neck, a bridge that holds strings,tuners that hold a string in tune and a pickup to convey bassy sounds. PB-50 delivered that Interest in these spike everytime @discreet posts one of his mods and I will post headstock templates out to any BC'er who fancies having a go themselves. The templates started off for use with a router and guided cutter but as yet no-one seems to have used one. @MrTea suggested I do a post on shaping the headstock so here goes First thing I forgot was to take a before photo so here's the Thomann link. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_50_sb_vintage_series.htm I use the Mike Dirnt headstock shape and print on 200gsm card The set up on the newly delivered PB was great so the neck was left attached. Removing the tuners was first job. I'm working from the back so left the bushings in place. The screws can sometimes be awkward so if you've an old PH1 screwdriver,file the tip down and it'll seat itself into the screwhead better. The printed template has the tuners marked so align them with the holes and draw round the template. Remove the large areas with a copingsaw or in my case a pullsaw. ( in the photo is a router template made from doubled up floor tile) This is the rough cut, then I used a rasp to clean and round the shape. Sorry I forgot to take a photo after the rasp stage. After getting close to the pencil lines it's sanding next. Make sure you check the front face when sanding as you may not be sanding vertical. If you veered away from the lines you can hide it by sweetening the edges of the headstock. At the tip there it looks irregular. I managed to chip a bit of the front face so it's actually tape holding the glued in chip you're seeing The boss reckons I should tackle the 2 saddle bridge next. I masked off the edges so I had witness points then removed the bridge. Lady Luck came calling and the centre screw on the 2 saddle bridge matched the centre screw on the PB's bridge but I glued and plugged the other 4 holes.After fitting the bridge using only the centre screw I added the new Herrick pickup,this way I could run a string from saddle to nut and see they went over the pole pieces. Another thing was the bridge base was smaller then the PB one so the machine screw on D&G got swapped for a longer one (just robbed it from the PB's bridge) All lining up the back got masking tape before I drilled for the through body holes. Thought I'd a picture of the 4mm pilot holes but guess not The string ferrules had a 9.5mmm body but the rims were 12mm. Marked the depth on a 12mm flat bit and drilled for the rims,then swapped to a 9.5mm countersink. Tapped the ferrules in with a mallet and it was ready for strings and set up. I really shouldn't have bothered with the 2 saddle bridge, intonation is a hassle and I've decided to fit an ashtray There's also a bit too much shiny wood showing so I'm thinking about a scratchplate. Still undecided about the logo, I wished the HB logo had been in a different area so I didn't cut into it Looking at it now I'll get a Benton logo printed up and fit that. No shame in playing the HB

1st rehearsal today with the Glam covers band and it went exceptionally well. The guys are all seasoned musicians to be fair. 8 songs virtually completed just a few wee bits to tidy up like how we do the endings. Other than that it went exceptionally well. I put a lot of work in beforehand and almost nailed the 8 songs first time around. All that and at a decent playing volume too. No sore ears and didn't even need my ear plugs. Might look for a 2nd guitarist or keys player to fill in during solo's tho plus keys would allow us to do a wider range of Glam songs. Dave

I'm only wading through this topic in the hopes of learning about compression. I would therefore like to thank those who have posted calmly and rationally and shared their knowledge. As for the OP, I can't tell you if an audience would notice or not but I can share one little tale from my years of bass playing. Packed house, lively gig band steaming along nicely. Suddenly a thingy came adrift inside my amp (my tech savvy mate fixed it and glued it in place, been fine ever since) the immediately apparent effect of the loose thingy was to reduce my previously warm, rounded yet punchy and dynamic bass sound to a terrible quacking fart such as a giant duck might produce were it to have imbibed with undue vigour of Mr Perrets Traditional Stout. The actual volume remained reasonably consistent but the tortured distorted sound was like the world's worst fuzz box put through broken speakers. I have never produced a more dreadful noise on stage either before or since. Now, the moral of the story is this. I soldiered on, ashen faced through the final numbers of the set, the only saving grace being that there wasn't long left to play. When we finished and a happy appreciative audience was congratulating us no one knew why I was apologising for the bass sound. I mean no one. Not the paying public, not my mate who had a special interest in the rhythm section and was stood near my side of the room, and yes, you've guessed it, not one member of my band noticed anything amiss. So polling us based on what an audience does or doesn't notice, seems to me a little unlikely to achieve much. Still, I shall be pressing the compressor button on my amp in future so this thread has been useful, if a little painful at times. There'senough anger in the world. We could try meeting it with love maybe. Just a thought.

Just email Adrian like we used to before the configurator existed. He's really easy to work with and I'm sure he'll be able to make it for you. Really like your idea. That would look great and be really unique.

Its a compelling reason but if I had to just learn the stuff I was going to play in one of my groups I would have probably given up bass a long time ago!

I don't think it is that, John (although you never know). I'm going by the fact that my wife's pottery glazes do the same thing - again when the bond with itself is stronger than the bond with the fired clay. I think she calls it creep - although she may have just been referring to me generally....

Pre Cuzzie: No pedal boards, no PSUs, 3 pedals (hardly ever used) Post Cuzzie: 2 pedal boards, 3 PSUs (one spare), 10 pedals (and a bunch bought and sold in between) Folk - be warned about associating with this guy. He's not good for your wallet... (Fortunately second hand pedals can be moved on with minimal loss = free rental, and a fair bit of fun in the meantime trying them out).

Played Pilton WMC and Village Hall last night with the Bad Cowboys. Told to arrive at 7.00 as PA would be provided. Massive PA, helpful crew and the wall was posted with all the enclosed. Pilton is the nearest Village to Glastonbury, for those who are unaware. Gig went well and at the end this nice chap with white hair was very keen to be photographed with us. He's in the middle, I'm on the left: apparently he's some local celebrity, I'm not......

Ignore any Behringer sneering; it's a good little unit that does a job and costs little. It's not ideal for what you want, however. How do I know..? I've got one, for exactly the same reasons as you. I don't use it; now, though; I replaced it fairly rapidly with a s/h Tascam 144 interface (bought through the Marketplace here; thanks again, Paul...). Why..? One has very little control with the Behringer. No way of setting the input level, not much in the way of monitoring options; the sound quality was OK when everything matched up and the stars were aligned, but my interface does a far better job all round; I have it permanently plugged in as my 'sound card' for my PC. Recommendation: don't invest much, if anything, in the Behringer unit, despite its qualities. It's useful for recording DJ stuff, or HiFi output, but not best adapted for guitar/bass use. Look for a reasonable interface instead; they often come up in the Marketplace here for little money (and can be bought at budget prices new, too...). Just my tuppence-worth; hope it helps.

If you put a few drops of water on the ding, put a damp cotton cloth over it then gently use your steam iron to get it nice and hot, you'll probably be able to steam the ding out. Edit: That's assuming it's still bare wood

After a couple of slurry-and-wipe sessions with Tru-oil, I've then given it three wipes with slightly thinned Ronseal Hardglaze applied, as usual, with a budget soft micro-fibre cloth. Although the new formula Ronseal is a bit quirky and doesn't self level quite enough, this is probably the quickest I've got to an acceptable finish at 3 days total from sanded wood: After a week of letting it harden fully, I will polish it up properly with Meguiars Ultimate compound but this is perfectly tough enough for normal handling already so hopefully the build will be finished over the next 2-3 days

The Cheap Trick setting did cause me fire up eBay to see whether there was a B12A on sale anywhere.

http://youtu.be/bSABkZfh8-A

That is a pretty stunning collection Steve, and really not helping me with the fact that I currently have 7 Precisions and am desperately trying to convince myself that at least 2 are surplus to requirements (when I really don`t want to offload any).

How did I miss this one out? My favourite film. The dirty romanticism of 70s New York.

Which bit is giving you trouble? If it's the transcription I can do you a little how to video?

I’ll start 🤗

There's something hypnotically good about Tool! What's your favourite album by them?

Currently out of stock, but no reviews anywhere. Given that many other Harley Benton products are amazing value for money, why would one not get one of these in preference to the Mesa Boogie version at three times the price? I suppose they could have cut corners in places, but the power amp section is the same. Isn't it?

Taped the neck up and have been working n the frets. I've used a beam to level the frets (needed very little work - which was pleasing)., then I've re-crowned them and polished the ends. Time to remove the tape and start assembling this now. The only thing left to make is a small plat to go under the string retainer just to raise it a little. I'll do this this afternoon while Leicester beat Chelsea in the FA Cup......

I just noticed that the knob spacing on the control plate is exactly the same as in the J-Retro preamp, which is my all time favourite preamp for a 2 pickup bass and they are easy to find used...

Hi @SpondonBassed, Nice to make your acquaintance good Sir! 😊

Welcome Akio.

The uca202 is designed to be the link between a mixing desk or other device with line outputs and a pc, I was using the slightly more basic uca200 with my pc up till last week when I got a scarlett 2i4, it worked for me without any drivers on both Windows and Linux, if you want to hook a guitar into it then you need something with a guitar input and either line output or headphone output, a multi effect pedal would probably work with a headphone to 2 phono cable. Or a small mixing desk works well too, I was using a 5 input behringer one and connected the interface to the 4 phono connectors, gave me recording and playback. It's not a super high end interface but it worked well for me for a few years. Matt

Exactly my thoughts. Unless you're starving the family or depriving them of all reasonable luxuries, why should you feel compelled to lie to them when you buy music gear? Did they not know that you were a musician when they met you? And if you became a musician after you met them, should they not support you (like presumably you support them in their career/hobbies)? I really don't understand.

My homemade 6 strings fretless with the extraordinary Q-Tuner pickups first generation coupled to the very musical and transparent Musician Sound Design 3 bands preamp. 3 pieces flamed maple neck with black Gabon ebony fretboard bolt on a 2 pieces basswood body with bookmatched spalted walnut top. Byl was my nickname when I was young. It's now fretted and fitted with an aluminum Hipshot 18 mm strings spacing bridge instead of the brass Hipshot 19 mm strings spacing one.

Radius only makes no difference to string action IF the strings all run parallel and have the same strings spacing at nut and bridge. But in most cases string spacing is wider at the bridge and the strings (particularly the outer strings) then run at a slight angle across the curvature of the fingerboard. The tighter the fingerboard radius, the more pronounced this will be, and this affects how low you can get the action. Conversely the larger the fingerboard radius, the less pronounced this will be and you can achieve a lower action. The difference between the string spacing at nut and bridge is also a determining factor (the more 'splayed' the strings, the more pronounced the hump). Here are some pics to illustrate: Pic 1 - Strings running perfectly parallel with the fingerboard can take a uniformly low action Pic 2 - Strings running at a slight angle have to effectively cross a 'hump' in the fingerboard which requires a higher action to clear Pic 3 - Strings running at any angle across a completely flat board can take a uniformly low action This assumes a fingerboard with a fixed radius (ie, a cylinder with the same radius at either end) which is generally the case. One way to eliminate the 'hump' issue is to have a fingerboard with a compound radius. This follows the curvature of a cone (rather than a cylinder) with a smaller radius as one end and larger radius at the other: This allows a uniformly low action with typically 'splayed' string geometry.

There's a LOT of choice out there. Here's a list a few of us previously pulled together of some of our favourties, updated for recent releases; with links where I'm aware of dedicated threads. (Tech 21 seem to be all over this! ) Coming soon: Tech 21 dUg Pinnick (First batch of buyers about to part with ready cash for a BC discounted price of £240 a piece) TC Spectradrive (toneprint enabled compressor gives this a USP alongside dirt and a reasonable EQ) Recent releases: Darkglass AO Ultra (6 band EQ 2 voices and the ability to blend. At £390 this tops out the price list of the preamps listed) DHA VT1-Pro (One in the FS section as we speak and it kinda does everything (including making the tea)) Been around a little longer: Tech 21 Q\Strip (Has a parametric EQ; not cheap at £315) Two Notes Le Bass (Excellent dirt / drive and decent clean EQ but with limited mids tone shaping - need to dial back the bass and treble on the clean Channel A to effectively boost the mids. Only other complaint from folk seems to be a lack of aux in). Tech 21 Paradriver V2 (Lozz has two of these and, as he mentions above, it has sweepable mids giving it an edge over the Tech21 BDDI and then there is also the Tech21 VTBassDI) Mesa Subway DI (why haven't they released a Mesa Carbine M DI? Now that would be a pedal...) Aguilar Tonehammer (the fabled Aggie sound in a pedal). Ampeg SCR DI (you own - really nice EQ, but IMHO the dirt doesn't come anywhere close to something like the Two Notes and for that reason I would personally avoid) Hartke VXL (as Cuzzie rightly points out this is going to be pretty hard to beat this in terms of value for money!) Several of these (e.g. VT1-Pro, Ampeg SCR and the TC Spectradrive) also have aux in and headphones out so can double up as a quality portable headphone practice amp, which is a nice additional feature. If I had to choose one (having really quite liked my Two Notes Le Bass which only got shifted following getting a DG M900 head which covered a lot of the same ground for me) it would probably be the Tech 21 Q\Strip as I'd be purely interested in the tone shaping as I've got dirt and compression sorted out with other pedals. Second hand dUG and TC Spectradrive units should be available to buy in FS in about 3 months... UPDATE (AUG 2020) - just read @Lozz196's 15,000th post at the end of this thread and seen that he, like me, has re-discovered the outstanding quality of the Tech 21 VTBassDI. It really does continue to be an all time favourite on both sides of the "Pond" for very good reason. I'm really happy with both my bass rigs (Mesa M6 + Fearless F112 and DG AO900 + BF BB2) but I'm often left feeling that the Tech 21 VTBassDI's Bite, which is on all the sample settings and is such a key ingredient, manages to remove a 'blanket' from even such really good rigs! It provides a ‘presence’ boost by boosting the upper mids and treble so that the tone becomes more pronounced and "present" especially in a mix. It also has a subsonic filter (i.e. HPF) to tighten up the sound.

Interesting - never seen one of these in the UK before. Lotus was a US-only brand so someone's imported it here. Firstly it's not MIJ - these are Korean, made by Cort. Check out the sexy brass triple-dot inlays - identical to the Cort-made, Kay-branded double cut basses & guitars that frequently turn up. Cort made a variety of body styles based around the same neck-through basis & they all feature this fretboard. Confusingly, this is actually a Korean copy of a Japanese copy of a Japanese made Washburn original. In the early 80s Moridaira made a range of very good guitars & basses which were direct copies of models from the Washburn Wing range - these appeared branded as Hohner, Morris, and in the US, Lotus. It seems that when Moridaira ceased manufacture of these, Lotus' brand owner contracted Cort to build similar instruments based on the same design. II'm not as yet aware of these Cort Wings being sold under other brands, but have seen several Lotuses, both guitar & bass versions. Quite relieved it's not a P/J, might be sorely tempted to take a punt if it was!

@Al Krow Change the drop-down category option under emojjis to 'default' and you will get some extra ones...

I have La Bella 760FL's on my JV P bass and it has a slim neck and there are no issues, is there anything wrong with your squires neck ? if not a proper set up and a set of flats shouldn't be a problem.

If you're using a webbing strap, run a couple of stitches through it where it doubles. That stops it changing length unexpectedly.

I'm mainly going for a clean sound from a SC P-bass with flats. For easy sakes I use the Fishman Platinum pro. I think the Hartke is a good preamp and again follow @Bigwan in liking the Behringer. Others I've used are the Harley Benton Bass Expander (great for a headphone practice amp), Moen Buffalo and Dr J Sparrow. Plenty drive with the Moen but it's only had home use, intermittent fault ruled the Sparrow out. Eden WTDI is a nice compact preamp to consider.

The guitar is actually very simple generally. The bass and drums though, eek!

Aww dam, i've only just seen this via the sticky note system on the new site. As luck would have it, i'll be free tomorrow. I can bring: 75 Jetglo 4001 76 burgandyglo 4001 05 fireglo 4003 90's Fender jazz 62RI ampeg SVT300 and 810 cab 70's roost head. I too can't wait to see the Entwhistle tbird

Yes... MUCH different. The AG 4J-HC are noiseless. I've experienced no noise through amps, or house system. My condo has dirty electricity and sometimes even with some noiseless pickups I get a bit of hum. NOT with Aguilar 4J-HC. They sound terrific and I'm so happy with them. A BIG upgrade from the Duncan Designs. Much clearer sound. Not cheap. They cost more than the bass (which I bought used for $150) but well worth it for a bass that's a keeper. Even if I upgraded basses I'd take the Aguilars with me and put the DD's back in when I'd sell it.

yep, $7,000+ and when we ask for $200 a set for the whole band they look at us like we are robbing them lol

When did this ... replace a full stop?

Definition of a musician Someone who drives 50 miles in a £600 car with £6000 worth of equipment to earn £25

I think this must be a US thing. I've never heard of anyone drinking green beer in Ireland or England.

Nice one Bill, as always!

Last night I played at Newcastle Cathedral as part of a concert raising money for a cancer charity. There was music, comedy and Christmassy stuff. Amongst other things, we were asked if we would do Fairytale of New York with a wonderful guest vocalist. I love the song, but it's pretty complex, and we only had piano, acoustic guitar, bass and voices to make it work. But I think it came out pretty well...