Leaderboard

So many things in life are just designed to get in the way of what you want to do. The last two weekends we were away, this one i had 3 gigs! During the week I did get to do some sanding, all at 1200 after the colouring, and I found the joys of lintfull paper. If you rub it down with a paper towel, it only leaves lint where something catches it, so that is the bit that needs smoothing. I did all the final holes I needed for neck screws and jack socket. I messed up with the jack socket but luckily it didn't do any harm and didn't show. After having to go and get stuff I managed to put a coat of oil over everything. It looks a lot darker, I really like it, even the line down the back. Like this:

New rig finally sorted.

I put a teeny bead of titebond along the tang, then hammer in the fret and then clamp a radius block on until the titebond has gripped: Here's the board now with frets trimmed and chamfered:

Look like a whisker above 2mm at the 12th fret

Well, quite, but I came to this thread to watch/listen to a band I knew nothing about, and so gave it a go (otherwise why post these topics at all..?). It turns out that, like Lenny, I was, let's say,.. unimpressed, and chose to post in that vein. It's just my opinion, and for my part I have no wish to change the view of anyone at all, but it's comment on an open forum on a subject of interest to several. I'd have thought that all loyal views would be welcome, whether for or against. I'll post again in the same spirit on any similar subjects if I feel inspired to.

And we have frets! Ready to trim and bevel once the glue's fully dried. Then a demarcation veneer and then glue it on the neck

We also have a coffee machine now! Pop round any time @Quilly

Got a bit more done today, Headstock cut started to redo the taper and took some of the bulk off the back of the neck aswell

I had a rehearsal yesterday and our guitarist said he had bought the flagship Helix board to try instead of his pedal board and valve amp. He went straight to PA (we all go through FOH live) and it was incredibly good with none of the stress of mic’ing up amps and noisy pedal clicks etc. For me it is an excellent live solution and if you read /watch interviews with bands most of them will say the same about Fractal/positive grid/kemper. There isn’t enough difference live to warrant the pedal boards, and big expensive valve amps that need maintenance and care. I think there will always be the pureists, and I love a valve amp as much as the next guy, but in the gigging world I think the nuances of the analog kit is lost.

Little-known makes that deserve to be better known? (Speaking as a hard-core lover of GMR basses 🙂 - I wouldn't swap any of my three for a Maruszczyk any day.) Now that I've thought of it I'll start a thread in Bass Guitars.

Tuesdays. You can use them on Tuesdays.

Don't have enough space or time to contrast and compare my amps. Plenty of good reviews and youtube clips about but a quick summary. Edit: I have been using Markbass Cabs for over 10 years and more recently (last 5 years) Vanderkley or Barefaced with all the Class D amps mentioned below. Have used MARKBASS SA450 and Little Mark 500 for around 15 years, both excellent amps, the SA450 no longer in production. Little colouration so sound of bass very evident. Lots of tonal choice and VLE and VPF controls are great. Plenty punch and power. No mute Switch. Good DI out. Good value overall. GENZ BENZ ShuttleMax 9.2 and Streamliner 900. My preference is for the Shuttlemax which I have been using the most over last 5 years or so and I marginally favour over Markbass. Great sound, two channels, loud , punchy, excellent DI out feature laden but which I very rarely use. I find my Shutttlemax cuts through mix better than the Streamliner which is a great simple little amp particularly for warmer older school sounds, three valve preamp and far less features than the Max, Sadly Fender pulled the plug on the amazing Genz Benz range over 5 years ago. I have little doubt that the GENZLER MAGELLANs are excellent just waiting to try one out. GK 500MB, bought as a back-up, but excellent amp as first choice. More colouration than other amps here with a distinctive GK sound (which I really like), seems very loud for a 500W amp.great overdrive and boost. High end can be a but hissy and a little noisey Good DI. Great value for money. Phil Jones Bass D400 with C8 cab. I love the PJB stuff of which I use a variety and the D400 is most recent. Excellent clean HiFi sound, great for studio and practice. Nice low B for such small drivers, excellent for acoustic instruments. PJB gear does cut through the mix nicley, but to even begin to compete with other amps here and loud drummers here one would need to consider the D1000, which is close to a grand! SANSAMP RBI and CROWN XLS 1002 power amp. Great set-up, classic Sansamp grit for Ampeg-like tones, 1100W of power.but getting into rack gear here. QUILTER BASS BLOCK 800, Portability, great tone punch and power at a very competitive price, only Markbass and GK come close at this price point. The Depth and Contour controls provide all I ever need.( Siimilar idea as Markbass VLE AND VPF). I was very pleasantly surprised by this little beauty at under €500!! The QUILTER DI/line out is great and DOES vary with Gain and Master volume. Not overly impressed with T.C ELECTRONIC great fun TONE PRINT stuff but sound a bit synthetic and under powered to me. Had two combos, both with unusable humming DI outs!! Have gigged with HARTKE gear nice punchy sound, like the old HA3500, if it didn't weigh a ton. The new TX600 is nice but seems very quiet compared to GK, QUILTER, MARKBASS etc. Used an AGUILAR TONE HAMMER 500, very good indeed, nice gritty punch but cost quite a bit more than the QUILTER. I started out 45 years ago, with HIwatt 100, then Fender Bassman135, and then Acoustic Control Corp 220/406 which was my favourite. Have used HH, Peavey, Laney, Trace, Carlsbro (less said the better), but am now firmly in the Class D club, for portability as much as anything. In summary the QUILTER is a USA built unit that should be seriously considered by any player. BTW I have no connection, allegiance or affiliation to Quilter, but think I know a bargain when I see one. Hope my self-indulgent ramblings are helpful. Cheers

Had less luck here. Tried to buy an bass recently but after a couple of messages they didn't get back to me. On the plus side, it was a bit expensive and so I still have the money!

Indeed, if I whisker is .5mm

Cats and string Height, not a bad evening

I'm with the shop on this. You bought it in person. They don't have to give you any return time at all if you decide you just don't like it. The Cooling off period for online sales is because you don't get the chance to try it before you buy. I'm still amazed that clothes shops allow changes for so long after purchase - the amount of people they must have buying stuff and wearing it for a party and returning it must be mental.

I’ll be the controversial one, then! As much as I love Fenders, sometimes I think the tuners look stupid. There; I said it! A full set of “T” (or are they called “Y”?) shaped ones would look fine, but if the rest of the hardware is that dark chrome I’d look for replacements in that colour.

Very true. If all you want is to ask others for TABs and know just enough to busk your way through a few covers and, then SBL isn't the place for you. TABs is something that simply doesn't get a mention on SBL.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I bought the Yamaha F310 yesterday. It was in definite used condition but played and sounded extremely good. Much better than my Fender acoustic! It was a bargain at £15 too.

Sanding sealer... applied with a brush dries quickly, will need a sand and a second coat

Miming to the original track. 'Soul Train' very rarely had anything live. Also, why would Herb wanna play the same duff note again? 😂 (Louis Johnson playing Bass on the recording)

Both myself and my guitarist have gone Helix. The biggest benefit is consistency in sound and the ease in which we are able to set up the PA. We're not fiddling with buttons or tracing dodgy patch cables or balancing output volumes mid gig. The ability to create complicated signal chains with ease and the variety of amps, cabs and effects on offer do it for me. There's no way I could afford to do that in the analogue world. I'll concede that from a tone purist point of view the Helix isn't going to be 100% a match for valve amp and analogue pedals but for my live use it's ideal.

What do you consider to be essential spares to carry with you? (Or is that a bit mundane?)

My Yamaha Bex4 sounds wonderful whatever I plug it into. I've always liked the playability of Yamaha basses and loved the look of the Bex4, especially the tobacco burst one, so snapped one up when it appeared on here. It had the same soapbar as in my BBG5s in a P position and a underbridge piezo so I reckoned it would sound alright but I'm blown away everytime I use it. Our soundman thinks it's the nicest sounding bass he's heard. Less than £300 as well.

If you're OK with Jazz neck dimensions you won't go far wrong with a Squier VMJ, nice used ones turn up for around £150 - £200. Still kicking myself for selling mine.

@thebassgallery call ahead and tell them you want tea and biscuits

Yup. The Gallery in Camden and Wunjo Guitars on Denmark Street cover a lot of ground as they both have quite a lot of stock and pretty broad selections. Something for everyone in these two shops! The guys in Wunjo in particular have bent over backwards to help me out on a few occasions. They’ll often do deals on things too. The Gallery probably leans more toward the “boutique” end of the spectrum. Also, the staff in both establishments are friendly and happy to let you try stuff out. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Great minds and all that! 😁

Bit late to the table here, but the "Vintage" brand guitars are pretty good. I bought a VA100 (IIRC) a few years back, brand new, for £100. Great little guitar, sounds good, and great to have "just lying around". It's a "Grand Auditorium" or "000" size body, which is not too big or deep, but still sounds nicely resonant and has plenty of projection. Anything bigger for a beginner is a challenge, anything smaller won't have the same kind of sound, and can get a bit too "boxy". Likewise, Tanglewood acoustics are pretty good too. The thing with any cheap acoustic guitar, is to make sure it has a solid top (whether it's spruce or cedar). The solid top will give a sweeter sound than anything with a laminate top. Most acoustics in that range are laminated mahogany back & sides, great to learn on, but can also sound a bit "boxy". Consider getting new, wooden string pins for it, instead of the standard plastic ones. They will also make a difference to the sound. Some rosewood or ebony style pins will really help to "warm" the sound up a bit. Also, don't go for one with an onboard pre-amp to start with. The low end ones not only compromise on the pre-amp, but the construction of the guitar itself. Go for one that is just an acoustic guitar. My first acoustic was an Applause (a cheap Ovation) bowlback. It was really nice to play, but ultimately, it was a bit too "piano-y" and "boxy". The pre-amp was pretty good though, and recorded well. Part-exed it for a more traditional acoustic because of the sound.

I’m very much in this camp, however taking a closer look at the Helix family in particular has made me realise that Yamaha/Line 6 put a LOT of work into creating a user interface which is almost as simple to use as individual pedals. I’ve watched several demo videos where the “presenter” has just received the unit and is effectively working it out on the fly, yet they are able to set up patches quickly because it’s just so intuitively laid out. To be fair it’s never going to be as simple as a small board with a handful of analog pedals, or something like a Tech21 Fly Rig, but that isn’t an apples to apples comparison. To be able to match what the Helix (and similar systems like Headrush etc) can do in terms of number of available effects, routing options, inputs/outputs, you’d need a board the size of a dining room table for six. Example provided below

They haven't had their day yet, but that time is coming. Maybe a couple more generations from now, but I didn't feel the Helix could replace my favourite analog pedals just yet. Things will change when you can design and upload your own FX creations to a modeller like the Helix, but some standardisation has to take place with a common open file format before that can happen. Tons of pedals are digital these days, but every one we buy needlessly converts to and from analog to digital, adding latency and reducing fidelity... Take away the physical components and you are left with the algorithm, which can be sold at a lower price. A system like VST FX for your DAW but on your pedalboard is required where you can buy effects for a few quid each or even free from multiple vendors and upload them. Closest we have to that right now is the Mod Duo on Kickstarter.

Well, this afternoons gig wasn't great fun. Private party in a large garden, in a leanto. Sound was good, we played ok, but not really any involvement from the crowd, so rather dull. Paid ok though. This evening was a local community field on a truck. It was cold and a bit windy, and I thought it wouldn't be any good. Turns out I was wrong, and I was pretty happy about that, apart from a couple of my leads dying for some reason and another mysteriously coming out it was a great night with a responsive and friendly crowd. AND it paid ok! All in all, a good weekend for enjoyment and money.

Good luck to both of you. Although i've been thru a few bands in past couple of years i've not gigged since early 2017 and current band is in rehearsals at moment. Only half way thru our set list of Glam Rock covers but that's because guys all have other commitments with other successful bands and are trying to slot this project in the gaps but hopefully will pick up once we start gigging. The talk within the band is that this band will take over as the main band for them all so that's nice.

I had been considering joining for a while and this thread renewed my interest so I joined up last week. I'm finding it very helpful so far and have already watched a number of lessons. Very well laid out web site and the tutors including Scott are very likeable and easy to follow. Downloaded some of the podcasts too to listen to in my car. Like has been said above you need to put the time in to get your moneys worth and I'm fortunate now that my wife is out most evenings so once the kids are in bed I can have an hour on my bass every night.

Normally avoid ‘virtuoso’ bass players but Michael Manring blows my mind.

Ah OK, tbh I've never really got too hung up on neck profiles. I'm no good on any shape lol.

Without doubt Mick Karn was once of the most original players out there, that Japan catalogue still sounds like nothing else on the market. Lovely fellow, sadly missed.

Although I am proud to be English, I cannot look at the flag of St.George without thinking "Football Yob".

I get a little annoyed when a band member leaves right after a gig leaving an hour and a half of tear down to the rest of the band. Blue

Here's a CODA Effects Black Hole PCB, a Model T inspired preamp (4 x J201) with a boost (LPB1) in front of it. The boost was meant to be on a DPTD switch (or footswitch) with an internal trimpot to set the level of the boost. I decided to have the boost always on and moved the potentiometer to the front. I also put C1, C2 and C7 into sockets, so that I could easily swap those caps for more bass if needed. Although, using the 3 band EQ, it can get pretty bass heavy with the stock values. The pilot light didn't function as intended via the footswitch board (from pedalparts), so I had to run more wires than planned first ... Anyway, the light works now (and is red, of course). This could have fit into a smaller enclosure, sure, but I wanted to put numbered knobs and a jewel light on there to give it a bit of an amp like appereance - and I like big pedals!

Have you come over from GuitarChat to insult us, or what..?

Get them sent to one of us then we will forward on to you

Band members playing along to the music coming from the juke box while others are setting up.

I watch Later. Actually, I record it and ff through the stuff I don't like. I sometimes see a band that I like. I've no idea why people like the stuff I don't, but they seem to, so why should I call their music crap and slag off one of the only music programs on TV? I'm in favour of the TV companies filling their schedules with live music. We need more. Later is a good program and TV would be the poorer if it was cancelled.