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Rare-as-hens'-teeth lefty Eminence, with massive thanks to @Happy Jack for his generosity and organisational skills in a. ordering it as a pressie; b. having it secretly delivered to his little sis in Pasadena; c. flying both of us to Pasadena on holiday, and collecting the parcel and taking it with us on the flight home. Since it was packed in a golf club case, I was none the wiser until we finally opened the parcel at home in London. Kudos. The bass is NOT as red as these photos show, despite my desperate attempts at colour correcting in Photoshop. It's more of a brownish-red tobacco colour. I feel I have finally graduated from beginner's upright to a slimmer version of the real thing! 😄😍

Hi Those of you who follow my threads will know two things: My workshop is TINY I absolutely HATE routers Well, based on MrsAndyjr1515's assertion that I fill every room in our house with my c**p already, the first item is unlikely to change But I ought to do something about the second one - if only because there still are certain things I have to use a router for and, hand routed, they remain the messiest and most risky operations pretty much of any of my builds. So, with a short break between actual builds, I decided to rethink my cellar / workbench arrangement and ask the question of whether there was any chance of all of getting a small router table in there. And I've just done it and I am so, so pleased with how it's turned out. The research and thinking process was long and painful (especially the thinking bit ) This is what I ended up with: Anyone who has also looked at tables will know that it is a complete minefield of partial and/or ambiguous information of what each option will do or not do, how portable, how big, what routers they are compatible with, what guide rings they are compatible with, what comes in the box and what is extra, how heavy, how easy to disassemble, how stable, etc, etc.. I also had a requirement to be able to easily store it in a very small space when not in use and small enough to be able to use it in the narrow standing space in front of the workbench And this latter requirement knocked 90% of the options out. So a bit of lateral thinking. Was it madness to consider using the folding stand from my £12.00 (yes £12 !!!! from Maplin, god bless em and RIP) lightweight workmate and do a 'bitsa' job on the table itself? Could I use my Draper router fixed base (on the right in this pic) that - against all odds - actually does fit into a so-called universal sub-base: ...and therefore be able to still use it as a hand router with the plunge base and remove it easily for storing the table and changing the router bits. And the answer was yes. Not cheap, but I think meets all my requirements. And - if early trials are anything to go by - SO, SO, SO much safer, more accurate, easier to set up and cleaner than hand routing. This photo was taken immediately after rounding all eight sides of a test piece. The sawdust in the tracks were from an earlier tryout without the vac attached. The rest of the chips - ie none - were what were left after the cuts: Can't tell you how chuffed I am

Is this another example of the necessity of correct punctuation..? Hmm...

The other week a fella wanted opinions on the Peavey T45. Being an honest soul I chipped in that the T45,like the Sarzo, was a great looking bass but sorely lacking in the tone department. The single humbucker T45 is 1 vol 2 tone set up and would've been better wired parallel 2 vol 1 tone IMHO. You'd need to rewire the pickup to get parallel and I don't have a spare so other options were needed. Being a fan of Warman pickups, that decision was quickly made 4 wire MM humbucker. Spare Peavey Foundation body would finally see some use 😎 First snag was the 2 pickup Foundation body, I'd need a scratchplate big enough to hide the pickup cavities.Printing off a Stringray plate showed the trouble,tight to neck heel exposed the bridge pickup/moved back to cover the holes and it was shy of the neck heel. OK I can live with shy of the neck heel 😀 Pearloid plate arrived yesterday,as did the Warman. Dropped the pickup into the plate then marked pole positions on masking tape. Popped a neck on the body and run 2 wires from bridge to tuners. I looked into pickup position/frequency response,sweet spots etc but the bottom line was the pickup position would be decided by the plate hiding holes and lining up with strings. Plain sailing followed 😎 Routed out for pickup,wired it up,fitted stings, took a photo. Then decided a maple neck would look better so took it apart again 😂

Was always quite proud with how this came out, a playthrough of an old electronic/dubstep band I was in. You absolutely need headphones or decent speakers, listening on your phone or laptop speakers? Don’t bother pressing play . There’s no bass sounds on the track, all me! The verses are just OC-2 (-1 Octave, no direct) and this slow gear effect on the ME-50B (basically a volume swell). The synthy ‘choruses’ are all tapped on my fretting hand so my right hand can operate the Hot Hand for the enevelope changes. So that’s a Source Audio BEF, OC-2, Orbit CoPilot Fuzz & the ME-50B for some chorus and the whammy bits at the end of the phrase. Worked nicely live. Basically every modular bass synth sound is Envelope filter, fuzz, modulation and pitch in some variation. Si

Well Darren sold his 🍌M and then bought a replacement(!)**. That kinda told me it's a pedal worth investigating - 'cos there have been MANY pedals that have crossed Mr Gisser's pedal board, most have come and gone and very few stayed! [Aside: the only pedal I've ever done that with is my Zoom MS-60B - bought my first one back in 2013 when they first came out...and I'm more convinced than ever that they're probably the single best value for money pedal on the market, particularity with the advent of the Tone Lib editing software!] I pulled my weekend's effort into a crib sheet for future reference, which I've attached in case this might be useful to you (if you do decide to get another one!) or any other BCers who might be interested in this pedal. At the moment it seems to be quite complementary to my Markbass SS in the sounds it produces, so I can see a place for both of them on my pedal board; besides the octaver on the MB SS is surprisingly good (both in terms of tracking and also having an octave up). Having never owned an OC-2 but in the knowledge that, together with @Sibob, you're our BC expert on those ancient emblems of glory: the third BM clip I uploaded is how I imagine an OC2 would / should sound like. (The clip is not a million miles from the "full filter" sound on my COG T16 v2 which I recently moved on and whose place the BM has taken on my board). I'd be really interested to hear from you how close that third clip is, if at all, to the classic OC-2 sound? (And please do feel free to upload a clip so we can hear them side by side). Bananana Matryoshka.pdf [**Edit: and has sold it again now. Lol!]

I was tempted , but i decided it was too obvious Carry on Christine - the world is watching these incredible axes

My turn to make some belated contributions to the thread. Here's a couple from my Markbass SS: MB SS (1).WAV MB SS (2).WAV

That was what I was afraid of.

That was aimed at Jack.

That's a voluptuous pair of volutes you have there. (I like a volute)

Not really, and it's back with its current owner. I'll see if I can grab it again. Here's some other general pics:

Whereas I'm a Yank...nuff said.

I bought it yes! but I obviously didn't know it was stolen until after Received it! --As I said I will give a full report once it is finally sorted so no more silly accusations please! Will.

No, he's a footballer...

And before anyone asks, yes I paid full Duty & VAT as we passed through LHR. First time I've ever walked through the Red Channel.

Hahahaha! No. I'd look at owning one in the same way that I'd look at dating a supermodel. Having wet dreams about one is okay but living with one is totally different.

Don’t broadcast it, I want to increase my chances of winning!

Well; you try getting the strings taut without one, it’s a right pain!

I won’t have rumours started about me.......I only have 7 😇. Si

My '04 CIJ Oly White mustang bass with its rather fetching 'aged white pearl' pickguard.

So that's going to be your 5th OC-2 to add to your collection?! (Or have you moved some of your previous ones on?) You'll be catching up with @Sibob shortly - I think he's got a current herd of seven or NINE or something! So which synth pedals have you owned / still got?

Cheers, thanks for the confirmation and you're very welcome re. the pdf I've deliberately got it on the Arpeggiator mode, which gives the output of "Out1" a little boost as compared to all the other modes, precisely so that it might cut through the mix better. If the 🍌M can get close to an OC-2 (and full filter COG T16 v2) sound, well it's almost earned its keep just on that one setting as it means I won't need to get myself an OC-2 (not that there's any space for one on my board 😂). It also means that I'm not going to regret moving my T16 v2 on either as the 🍌M can cover off the full filter and my Markbass SS the octaver side of things. ...Just had a listen to your OC2 clip. It's definitely more rounded, stable and super synthy as you say! I like it a lot, I'll have to admit (fortunately my peal board is full)

Aha! Ok well my BM recordings were with my Ibby SR Premium set on active and with output on full! The pedal was certainly sensitive, so I had to mute the strings before playing the phrase to prevent my Boss RC 30 being prematurely triggered to record! I'm looking forward to trying your suggestion, Darren, of lowering the bass output and / or using my passive Yammy BB1025 and separately also to checking out the settings that Andy Martin is using, to get his excellent synth sounds, on his Reverb review of the 🍌M.

I can almost guarantee the noise was caused by high output bass. I had the same glitchy noises when I first got it. Did you try a lower signal going in? I find the BM sounds better in all cases with the output of my bass down considerably! And entirely eliminates the glitchy noises I was experiencing.

LOL They're not as big as they look, yes they look huge in the photo

I used to make anodised aluminium extrusion and know how much it costs per metre, so biting my lip at the huge profit margins clearly involved by someone along the way (and I suspect that's not the Taiwanese), it does seem to be very well made...

Well if it`s of any help Hooky, I`m going to use my Tony Butler V4 as my gigging bass, I rate it that highly, in fact I`m buying another so will have the two TBs as giggers. Save me taking expensive basses out with me, but I wouldn`t do that if they didn`t feel good, play well and sound good. The TB V4 does all of that, and Mojo on here rates the regular V4 very highly (it was him who tipped me off re the TB when it was up for grabs) so can`t think it performs any differently.

Nice new toy.... Fine work by Jack in keeping the masquerade going till you got home.. (just noticed that this is my 6500th post)

I'd say my nanyo bass collection. 200 quid and it's bloody astounding. Everything of it feels quality. I bought it basically to try it, as I'd heard good things... But it absolutely exceeded expectations! It's my #1 bass now. I've played dep gigs with absolute strangers who've commented mid set on how clear and precise it sounds. Obviously I take full credit for it, but it's entirely this bass!

Yup, he's a keeper isn't he?

Absolutely right - finger or brain trouble I fear!

@only4 We had a further look last night. Very interesting if you find that sort of thing interesting! The casting with the hole in that you pointed out screws onto the end of the quill. If you take the depth-stop off you can remove it completely. What it reveals is the underside of the lower spindle ball race, fortunately semi caged otherwise we'd have been cleaning and regreasing the bearing after finding all the balls that had dropped out! The No1 Morse taper is part of the spindle, there's a collar on it that loads the internal face of the bearing but it's, as far as we could see, all one piece. Certainly it was going to get messy taking any more bits off. It's a shame, the extra 100mm would have been useful, but it's a solid machine with no runout even at full extension, so for £150 I'm happy with it.

Ah but that's tone paint, that is ...

Laying it down. It will not balance on its side; it tips over on its back. I use a cello stand for gigs. BSX does offer a tripod stand as an extra but Bass Direct did not have one in when I bought mine. Output. Mine has quite a low output. I checked the internal pots and they are all set to pencilled calibration marks. I decided to leave it all alone and just turn up my preamp gain. I have not noticed any additional noise through gh my Genzler 350. Gig bag. The shoulder strap is not up to the job; use the handles. One of my band mates dropped the Allegro when, unasked, he decided to help me carry my gear to car. It landed on the tailpiece and this pulled the screws out. It is in for checking at the moment. As far as I know no other damage was sustained. They are built to take a few knocks.

Girls dance to the bass. Now that's important... 😁

An option would be or could be rather, mix epoxy with black powder paint and really bulk it up with brass or bronze dust to give it a polished metal effect. There was a furniture maker on the Scottish borders who did that on Elm burr table tops and it was sensational. Just found a video to give you an idea

Last night my blues band played the town's Art Centre. This may not sound a particularly big deal but for me it was one off the bucket list. The venue isn't big, but it has a good reputation and has had some very good artists and bands play there...the likes of John Martyn (obviously when he was alive), Andy Fairweather Low is there again soon. The first time I went so see a band was at this venue, I was in my teens and went to see a band called the Cult Maniax, ironically last night, my first time playing there, our guitarist was in the Cult Maniax. This was a ticket event, we didn't sell all tickets but the venue were very pleased with the turnout, I think we out sold a much better known blues band a few weeks ago. It was a great gig. When we finished the first song we received a massive cheer. I think this really spurred us on and gave us confidence to not just play the songs but to entertain as well...if you get my drift. Post gig I had people come up to me and say how good they thought it was, never had that before. This was the first time the band had played an established venue having to sell tickets (we usually play pubs) and we were all really chuffed with how it went.

I started a tribute act: Billy Idle, but nobody could be bothered to learn the material...

I'm also a fan of the Schaller 3D bridges, because I think they're a clever and simple piece of engineering to give some lateral adjustment, but mostly because they're a comfortable shape if, like me, you spend a deal of time with the heel of your hand on the bridge. As far as tone goes, like soooo many elements in a bass guitar, I'm unable to conclusively comment one way or the other. Oh, and anything that replaces the Gibson 3-point 'everything falls off when you remove the strings' bridge can't fail to be an improvement...

@rubis - managed to find the other shots I was looking for just now - these are outdoor shots on the day I actually sprayed it. First one is the daphne blue as is, and then the overspray so you can see how it looks prior to ageing, relicing and so forth! And here are some outdoor shots after the relic process - it's a heavy relic as I was going for a proper battered look.. Hope that helps - if you need any more help just give me a shout.

Well... when a Fender sets you back close to 1.5k and doesn't have half the QC, Fit&Finish and attention to detail i can't say that Musicman is an expensive brand. They're absolutely flawless basses. well worth the 2k price tag in comparisson with the competition. It's still too rich for my pocket though.

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.