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

Hi folks You may have noticed a new forum in the marketplace called 'commercial items for sale' Currently it's just a bit of a test, but ideally I'd like it to be an area for used bass shops, luthiers and small scale companies to list items they have for sale, so you can look through all the stock directly on BC. We'll see how it goes, and I'll be adding some companies as we go - I will over the next few weeks be talking to small shops and dealers to sign a few more up. Ideally I'd like items posted there to be automatically tagged as 'dealer' but I'm working on things like that, so it's still a work in progress. I hope you like it and find it useful - let's see what happens. Cheers ped

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.

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.

See schematic below. These measurements were taken from my original '57 Precision (see pic). Spacing between ferrules is actually 20mm. I'm sure dimensions varied a bit on these early models but this should get you going.

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

That's getting close to something like this: Just saying.

I'm sure I won't, which is why I'll get my tech to do it 🤣

A slight hiccup but as soon as it is my hands, I will take proper pics and share them here 😉

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.

Avoid the use of a chorus pedal unless you with to be permanently exiled to the 1980's.

Why are bass players usually the sensible/practical/organiser one in the band?

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

Looks good and I'm sure covers all the basics. A lot more sophisticated than my first one....

Wunjos Basses in Denmark Street too.

That’s a great way to look at it. if Scott’s courses inspire you to pick up the bass, then they’re doing the right thing!

And especially with more and more bassists using DI pedals. My guitar setup was fully analogue, cost a fortune, and sounded amazing. Boutique, UK made valve amp, hand wound pickups, the only digital element of the signal chain was the true bypass tuner pedal. Annoyingly, I can now get a very similar guitar sound from my Line6 HD500x. Though it doesn't have the same touch dynamics of the analogue setup, it's 80-85% there. For bass, the HD500x is my go to kit. My bass amp lies in the spare room unused, and the pre-amp of the rehearsal room amp gets bypassed. I think it sounds great, and I've had no complaints from the rest of the band. In fact the only "complaints" I've had were down to my No.2 bass having new pickups, and the heights weren't quite right. I'd like to get a Helix, but for now, the HD500x is more than what I need, it's ace.

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 think Scott's lessons are excellent. They work very well for me, and I've been a lifer for a couple of years now. Money well spent IMO but, like anything else, it won't suit everyone.

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.

+1 I joined right at the start and when I came to renew, I'd had pretty much zero value out of it due to lack of time. So I didn't renew and wished Scott all the best with his venture. I also decided that I'm not the type of person that learns from watching videos. It's worth watching the videos on YouTube to find out if Scott's voice grates on you. Also, it's worth noting that you should download the videos etc as you won't have access to them if you cancel your membership.

This. SBL is well worth it if you've got the time to make the most of it.

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

I once discussed joining a band with someone - their precise requirements were that I play exactly the lines they told me to and also drive him and the singer to and from gigs as neither of them drove. That was a tough gig to turn down!

For the avoidance of further confusion: England Flag UK Flag Flag of the Klingon Empire

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

Welcome Borderlineblues. It sounds like you've hit the ground running, so to speak. Best of luck with the new venture.