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Had an interesting gig in all but name tonight. Had arranged to go to a blues jam with a couple of guys from one of my bands, plus a very good Australian guitarist who flew in this morning. Hacked our way round Oxford to the venue where we discovered that it was cancelled. So we went back to the village we'd started in and managed to persuade the landlady at a pub there to host us, so we played as a 4 piece without a drummer. Surprisingly, it went down a storm and we have an open invite to do that again anytime we want! Got bought a couple of beers, had a good time and basically saved the cost of a rehearsal studio. I was surprised and pleased by the reaction of the customers who commented on the job I was doing as a solo rhythm section, especially when my greatest supporter bought me a drink. Got home shortly before midnight having snatched a good evening from the jaws of a very disappointing one.

There's no room for a bed in my guitar room!

As discussed in the other Helix thread, this is just for posting links to patches for the Helix or the HX unit. The official Custom Tone page doesn't let us search by instrument, which is a bit annoying, and searching using the word "Bass" doesn't help as many descriptions use parameter names. So to get round it we need an easy search system. How it works: 1: You create a cool sounding patch on your Helix or HX. 2: You give the patch a name that starts "BASSCHAT____________________" (You don't have to keep that name on your Helix, it's just for the upload, then change it on your machine). 3: You upload it to the Line 6 Customtone library here: https://uk.line6.com/customtone/browse/helix/ 4: In the description box you also start it with BASSCHAT to give a better chance of it showing up in searches 5: When it's uploaded you post the link here. 6: We can then find it by a link on here, or directly on the L6 page. That's it! You can also link to other good patches made by others, so we've all got a chance to try them out. I suggest we only have links to the official L6 Custom Tone to avoid getting riddled with nasty infections. I'm at home so I can't upload any right now but I will over the weekend. get stuck in! @dood @CameronJ @Muppet @Musashimonkey @intime-nick @LewisK1975 @dannybuoy

Virtually finished just got to do a setup and sort some of the electrics out...........

You should create a poll!

Outdated information. Thanks for the heads up. I'll correct it to 33" For the following reasons : 1. It allows better placement of the bridge, while still using the same body as the CHB-1. The 34" had the bridge pushed back towards the tailpiece more than I was comfortable with. 2. 33" feels comfortable and familiar if you play 34", but still leaves the strings under slightly less tension for good semi-hollow bass tone 3. No tippy-tippy neck dive. 4. Nobody else makes them at 33". Nice to do something different.

My old set up was Bass into Boss OC3 into a Moog Bass Murf. The signal was split with lows going into one side of a mixer/loop pedal I made & the other side went into a PSK dirt, Moog LPF (with exp pedal & an envelope out to the Bass Murf to shift frequencies as the note decays) & then a boss CH2. This then went back into the other side of the mixer to sum it all together & then to the amp. The loop side of the pedal allowed me to switch everything after the octave on or off. Here's a track I made 5 years ago for Basschat. The bass comes in at 2 seconds. My current rig hasn't made as great a synth sound yet, but I've not really played much with it. I now have MXR BOD > PSK Dirt > Source Audio BEF Pro > Boss CE2.

I'm sorry but your last sentence is a bit stupid. I swap between a passive fretted bass and an active fretless because the songs sound better with the slides. I forgot to switch the passive/active switch at a rehearsal once and vowed that I wouldn't do that again and went down a route that forced me to act for each change. You use pedals to change the sound to suit songs, some of us use a different bass.

So I've got the Chowny chb-2 on a very generous 3 week loan from @Mickeyboro and my first impressions are that it feels much more substantial than the JC as it's a semi hollow rather than a fully hollow bass. That goes with the territory of being a heavier bass, but whilst my shoulders and back may not thank me, I do like the sensation of something more substantial / robust! Looking forward to giving this a proper play over the next couple of weeks and will gladly report back my (hopefully positive) impressions.

Interesting stuff ref the planing - it certainly is borne out by the result! So have I understood, is your jack-plane blade gently radiused? Ref the chambering, I basically follow the same logic as you where I can - I visualise the body as a centre-blocked ES335 or similar with a continuous beam from nut to bridge. Of course, the reality - once you've sliced through it to within an inch of its life with the pickup routings - is somewhat different. On a lightening project for @Harryburke14's very heavy Harley Benton, I actually did chamber at partial depth across the 'centre block' and there was no audible difference to my ear: But generally, I do something similar. This was my last one: Again, if you envisage how deep and wide the pickup routes are (this had twin humbuckers), then the reality is that the body is strong enough / rigid enough/ tonally good enough to chamber in the centre block too. But, like you, I prefer not to if I don't have to.

Definitely try the additional cab first, just in case. However, if the Trace gets the sound exactly as you want, I think the answer is there. Please do let us know how it pans out. Geoff

Great topic idea and I totally agree with @Al Krow with regards to it being I think with covers your inevitably chasing a multi-functional sonic palette and finding the elusive "Swiss Army Tone" is a nightmare and as previously touched on the gateway to a serious case of G.A.S.. Personally like most I started off aspiring to sound like my early heroes; Alex Katunich of Incubus and Stuart Zender of Jamiroquai. I chased the "Super Jazz" Warwick Streamer sound for many years but always being rather broke I've never managed to actually own one. I was about 16-17 when I discovered a through neck ,Korean, Spector 5 string at a local music shop which I snapped up for £450 quid (To this day the most I've every spent on anything other than a car). That bass has been the foundation of my tone ever since but now it exists in a heavily modded state. After the "Super Jazz" obsession I went through a Hardcore Punk phase and sought the Music Man Stingray Punk tone of Players like Jason Sinclair of Belvedere. So naturally instead of forking out for a new bass I just got a MM pickup and squeezed it in-between the two soap-bars already in my Spector. At this point I disconnected the Bridge pickup to wire in the MM pick-up to the Spector "Tone Pump" circuit and used my bass like that for a long time. After the Punk phase I discovered Progressive Metal and just wanted to sound like Justin Chancellor of Tool so I got a decent pre-amp pedal (a Dave Hall Amps-VT1) and of course a Digitech Whammy. In my mid to 20's I became disillusioned with bands and started writing solo material, I didn't want to spend more money on gear but I wanted a wider tonal palette to play with so I re-wired my bass in passive so I could get my bridge pick-up running again, I figured I have my pre-amp pedal so why do I need one in my bass? So that about brings me to just before where I am now, except I should probably mention that along the way, because of financial issues I'd sold my Amp/Cabs. So I'm writing solo stuff I still want to gig it but I'm broke AF, that's when I spent the last two years creating this solution; My no amp solo rig in a box, its two parallel bass chains and a vocal chain with click and backing tracks coming in from the tablet, all monitoring through hard wired in-ear's and I send a single mono line out to the front of house and that's my sound. So really I came to know the sound I wanted, through years of seeking to sound like other people and I ended up finding "My Sound" through combining them all and trying to solve a problem within the financial constants I had to work with. Oh and here's a few pics of my Bass; If anyone's interested I'm running 1 meg CTS Log pots for both volume and tone and a 47uF paper in oil cap.

True fact: first record I ever bought was 'My Gang' by Gary Glitter... picked it up from a jumble sale as a kid. Probably still have it somewhere, although I imagine the resale value has dropped a bit.

I've watched the Bobby Kimball live version a few times since it was originally posted - to the OP, I offer my thanks for the comedy high point of the week.

Budget? You can look at older equipment but IMO the gear being made today is as good and in many cases better. I'd be looking the Basschat Classifieds for good gear at good prices. There are Mesa Boogie amps and cabs, Bergantino cabs, a couple of Genz Benz amps. Some TC, GK, Ampeg, Ashdown and TC. You'll sound good with any of these and IMO separate amp and cabs are better for upgrading and adding cabs. For live work you'll need a 500 watt amp for a full clear sound and enough speakers to carry your sound throughout the room. You might need to project your sound on some gigs even if you have use of FOH on others. Hartke Hydrive and Fender Rumbles are good to start off with. So are GK, Ashdown and Markbass. You can spend more on great amps and cabs like the Quilter BB800, Mesa Boogie and EBS. You will not have any problems sounding like a million dollars with Barefaced, Aguilar or Bergantino. These are my opinions and none of this is set in stone. There are guys using boutique gear who sound average and guys using cash converter junk who sound good, but it's easier to sound good with better gear. We can tell you what we think but you'll have to put in the time to try gear out or see what suites you. Check out local bands and see what gear they are using. Hear someone making a sound you like and ask them about their sound. Most bass players will be happy to talk gear on a gig.

Yep all the time. It’s to make up the fact that I suck.

A good read for anyone interested in the story of Chicago ( from drummer Danny Seraphine's point of view) : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Player-My-Chicago-Story/dp/0470416831

18 feet, definitely. Then we can give it to @Al Krow so that he can punt himself down the river away from any thread that mentions the dreaded C word *. * Compressor - not the other one

Spectracomp, always on. Always fingers. All styles.

My shame bypass filter is not that good.

@Osiris is the the soft key or the hard key version you play with?

I play whatever style comes my way - finger style only i use a p bass and a zoom b2.1 set to ampeg svt, with full fat cab flavouring. The comp is set to fairly subtle - I tried turning it off and the whole thing didn’t sound quite as smooth, throbby, focused so I leave it on. Never heard a bad word yet about my sound ** ** I’m probably deaf ...

If someone said to you "I bet you're a bit of a c*nt.. No offence" you'd probably be offended

https://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/117920603/mexican-fender-5-string-jazz-bass.html?link=%2Fsearch%3Fkeyword%3Dbass%26sectionId%3D2175%26page%3D2

Kevin - it took a couple of goes to get it working (maybe I'm being a bit slow after a long day), but I've set one up for you. Hope that's broadly what you had in mind?

Thanks mate I’ve just got the 5 string build to put back together after glossing it then I’ll be making a start on the next one (the single cut)

That's a lovely bass , I was very tempted to buy that bass as I was looking for a 5 string for my 80s band . I ended up taking a trade for a Ray35 for one of my P bass .

Always. Heavy rock, with a pick 95% of the time.

OK, just re-read the older thread (which i remember, just not who posted it) That one was left with the OP just seeing out the current bookings and then more than likely going to jack it in. Has that changed and you now want to stay? (also, where did the keyboard player come from? he wasn't mentioned in the previous thread...possibly he wasn't relevant to your gripes) If not and you've still got one foot out of the door then left them get on with it, and hand in your notice when you get back from holiday, or even better, do it now. I wouldn't kick off about the PA, though it's maybe a better strategy to quit after your holiday as they're more likely to take better care of it if they think they'll be using it again soon than if they know it's the last time they're going to see it. But given it's the second time you've posted on it in the last month, clearly you're not happy and doing the adult thing and having a grown up chat about it hasn't worked, so what's the point in continuing?

I very recently went from dinky little heads to a big Trace AH600. Heavy but a doable two handed lift. Pair it with one or two lightweight cabs. Sounds absolutely amazing. Can’t see myself going back to class D anytime soon. Dont worry too much about the age - they are built to last, but get an amp tech to check it over when you get it just to be sure.

Welcome! I just started playing in January and my first bass is also a Yamaha TRBX174. Lovely instrument for the money (picked mine up second hand).

you're right but i bought my basses and guitars all for less than £500, so not exactly highly sought after models. I' not having much luck with trying to sell on FB or through old school approaches . So cheers to you guys who gave the heads up for the Cov shop. Def give that a go

My feeling is that things need to be discussed. The very fact that the OP has posted this on here for advice shows that he is not happy with the situation. Air your grievances. If you don't get satisfaction then either you have to put up with it or leave. If it causes you stress then it is not worth staying IMO. Weigh up the benefits of being in the band versus the costs (financial and personal).

Hi there ZombiPyrate. Welcome to Basschat and congratulations on learning to play the best instrument Have fun with it and I found the quickest way of learning is to get with others to play a few tunes. Scary to start with but mucho fun.

True, but no sane person would actually want to cover up such a lovely piece of walnut with a bit of plastic so i guess it's not an issue!

Yes, always for every style. Live and in studio.

I saw it at the bash and am glad you were able to make a deal on a lovely bass, but that was an odd looking endpin, the new one looks nicer and is adjustable...great!

If you have a decent digital mixer then this is a good option

The thing that cover really screams at me is that Peter Tork is playing a Guild Jetstar, which is absolutely NOT the bass I would have expected to see him holding. Gretsch 6070 fine, Fender Coronado maybe, but a Guild? Having done a quick Google it's obvious that he did play one quite frequently, but I was a big Monkees fan in the mid-60s (I was 10, OK? Cut me some slack.) and I just don't have any memories of this bass.

The gig shouldn't have been rescheduled without talking to the bass player first, even with a dep.

You can do this using white PVA glue too. Basically replace the "sticky back plastic" with PVA by painting three or four coats of watered down PVA and follow Jimothey's process. The PVA dries clear and can be laid on top of another coat of PVA and left to dry. Paint another coat on top to seal. Old trick for decorating tobacco tins.

Best advice in your budget. . . . get another Hydrive112. Also check out a Hydrive 210 to run with your 112, I've had good results putting 112's and 210's together. Where are you based?

NOT Spectors, they're great value at any price point.

Leave it to rest overnight he says... well, the nitro feels solid so let’s just sand it lightly, yeah all good. Maybe I’ll just put the tuners on, it’s getting late but well you know... Oh I may as well do the string tree too... oh sod it lets just assemble the thing!! I’ll put a better photo up tomorrow in natural light, but oh my god it’s gorgeous! I’m super delighted with it and can’t stop looking at it. I did wonder at the outset if I was going to bugger up a perfectly good Harley Benton bass guitar with my lack of experience in performing the modifications I envisaged, but I’m thrilled and so glad I did it. Like my Bruno Bass build I've learnt heaps and loved every minute of the process. Bring on the next project!

You know I’m just messing with you Al

Thought I'd add to this what i can from my experience 1st class D i got was Markbass LMK ordered at a show about 12 years ago, had to wait for the new kid on the block. It was great never let me down or left me wanting in over ten years with various cabs 2nd was an GK MB500 fusion as back up to the LMK . great amp used mainly for rehearsal and jazz. Great warm amp. EQ presets didn't really suit my cabs ? or basses? to be 1st call. change of cabs to two Acme 4 ohm, left me looking for a stereo amp with 2 ohm capability. bought an SWR SM-500 on here to cover the gigs where two cabs were req. Then got a Mesa Subway D800 to take the strain. Bomb proof design and great depth of tone, Just got the Mesa D800+ for the added footswitch mute and tuner out, also greater EQ flex, Gas again + grass greener etc. So verdict is I would be happy gigging any of these. Gas is the only reason apart from Ohms loading that pushed me to change. Some amps EQ centers suit certain basses and cabs better. and may be able to respond better to room E.Q ing. some shops let you try at home / gig well worth doing if you can. It is the only way to be sure. N.B. An old mosfet amp with a 4x10 cab will always feel good but your back will prefer the class D

OK, lets have a go at uploading some piccies Seems to have worked, old pictures sorry and forgive the album cover it was something daft I was posting on Talkbass