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So........ I’ve read every post! We’ve covered design of pedal, graphics and box - benefits of amps or no amps, digital vs analogue, the future and the past, personal issues, and I got offered out for a fight - started training only to find out it was in jest, and TB was slated as those that may look upon there. Some are for, some are against, smattered amongst the comments are tongue in cheek ones and pointed ones, even positive ones can have perceivable or actual negative vibes to it. What are we left with............ A bloody good pedal capable of a number of different sounds that’s easy to dial in, but can still be learnt over time to tweak to what is required to match what someone would want. The fuzz can get synth like, the OD does an OD and can be warm and subtle to overt, and clean can be blended into it to retain girth and clarity. Some will like, some will love, I doubt it can be hated. Level of love will decide whether it replaces existing pedals, people new to dirt/fuzz pedals will get a good pedal to cover ground for them. There you go.

I’m probably a little more simplistic in my approach, I learn the songs I want to play then I play them. It’s probably why I’m not as good on the bass as I should be, but I can play what I need to do I’ll settle for that.

If the lid closure is the deciding factor in getting one or not a sliding lid could be the final nail in the coffin for some.

Just checking - got to the 6th bar - already there's a mistake in the transcription, so I can see I'll have to do my own version! 🙂 I'm not in any way an expert at transcribing or using notation software, so don't hold your breath. Edit: There are 6 errors just on the first page, to be nit-picky.

Lets face it, there are some folks on here that, were they to receive a cheque for a million pounds from Alex, would complain about the signature. 😁 Such is the nature of the internet.

I hardly ever comment on BC, but visit most days. It was funny enough people loosing their stinky poo over the pedal, but now the packaging is mental. I thought the box was a nice touch, I guess Alex could have charged more for the pedal and sent it out in a varnished box with hinges 🤣

I finally got the double battery box blocked up and filled in with a piece of swamp ash off cut and topped with polyester filler. I have given the back of the bass some black polyester finish. The back of the body is now sanded flat and ready to have it's final hi-gloss black coating. It's going to look great with the book-matched front that Joe picked from my stock of exotic tops.

Obviously - why did he not just electronically transfer the money? (Wire can hurt you right?) Those cheques give nasty paper cuts, don’t get me started if it’s one of those massive ones, plus you’d have to queue to get into the bank to cash it - disaster, I would refuse the money all day long

I have the 4HH Special and had the 4H version, with a brief overlap where I had them both. To my ears the HH sounded no different to the H when set to the bridge pickup, which was a relief as I didn’t want to sacrifice that sound, just add to it with the other options the HH gives you. Gratuitous pic alert:

My 2020 Stingray Special in Aqua Sparkle :

Tragic news, Sean has been a huge influence on my playing since I first heard him back in '93 and is the reason I play fretless and Chapman Stick. To lose both him and Sean Reinert this year is devastating. I had the privilege of being taught by Sean back in 2000 when he was in London recording with Bill Bruford. Not only was he a stellar musician but he was a great teacher who was very passionate about education. Years later I had the incredible honour of - albeit briefly - stepping in to his shoes to play Chapman Stick with Cynic on some shows in 2008.

@Deedee sold me his cracking Series 6 AH300 and here it is powering my DR Bass 2x12 cab. Love it!

So the pedal costs around £210 plus tacks. Well, someone needed to say it so it may as well be me If you want to talk about dangerous packaging, I have on a couple of occasions cut my finger on those staples that Thomann and other retailers use to keep their large cardboard boxes together before they are taped. Now THEY are dangerous

So we can only opine if we want to buy, gotcha.

It`s definitely up there, and it was also played by the best line up of Whitesnake by far. I think Mr Coverdale, who was once described by Jon Lord as "the Roger Moore of heavy metal" didn`t realise or appreciate the talent that was in that version of the band. I would be interested in a Neil book or how about one of the talented interviewer type chaps on this site setting up a chat - over the net even - with Neil and he could ask all the questions we are dying to ask?

I just think this point is completely moot, unless you're absolutely not buying this pedal as a result of it coming in a wooden box. It comes with a clear warning about small tacks, so isn't an issue. The upside is it saves cost, protects the pedal, reduces waste and as an owner, I like the touch. I've also had other pedals packaged similarly in a wooden box....so this isn't a first. I guess if you will absolutely buy it if they change the box and the symbols the feedback is warranted. If you're not, then it's not opinion the builder should worry about listening to imo as even if they change to your will there's not a sale there. I'd prefer it if this thread started to refocus on the pedal capability tbh......might start a setting thread shortly.✌️

The Band, The Meters and Little Feat were fantastic "ensemble" players. You could probably include every Funk band in that list. Funk is a team genre. Also the studio bands like the Funk Brothers, the Swampers and Booket T and the MG's with Isaac Hayes at Stax.

@neilmurraybass I too would love to read some of your thoughts, stories and descriptions from your life in music. But I also get that writing a book is a hugely daunting task. One possible alternative would be to do the video version. Leland Sklar does exactly this. It started as a bit of a lockdown thing, but he has produced hundreds of videos now, detailing not just his basslines, but gear stories and much more. It helps that he is a natural storyteller, but if your posts on here are anything to go by - so are you!

Blockheads!

Pablo day today

There are occasions, notably with amplified acoustic instruments, where the sound from the instrument and the sound from the amplification combine, usually at specific frequencies, to start feeding back, or sounding 'boomy' or 'ringing'. Phase reversal can help there, as a phase-reversed amp sound tends to cancel out the acoustic sound, so bringing clarity. Much depends on the stage, venue, proximity of the amp, so it can't be a permanent, 'built-in' thing; it's used by listening to see what sounds best in any one situation. If there's such an issue, phase reversal can be very useful indeed. If there are never such issues, it won't fix what doesn't need fixing. Hope this helps.

Well, a lot has certainly been said about the symbols! Have to say the hieroglyphic knob labels make a lot of sense to me. Whether you’re familiar with the symbols for sawtooth and square waves is irrelevant. The pedal enclosure couldn’t be more clearly divided into 3 sections so *at most* you’ll only be thinking about 4 knobs at any one time for each. The top row of each drive section is just gain and volume, bottom rows being EQ shaping. Once you know these basic rules of thumb it’s a walk in the park. And I don’t even own the thing.

LTD edition @Alfie Noakes signature Stingray 🙂

Here’s the list. Keep your eyes open for any guitars turning up for sale on here, Gumtree or anywhere else. Please share and get the word out. If you see them advertised or are offered then for sale please contact the police on 101, quoting incident number 4444 of Saturday, 12 December, 2020, or make a call anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 1. Fender No Caster Telecaster – USA Custom Shop Relic (2017) Butterscotch Finish (£2499) (Shop Ref : A3318) Serial # R17644 2. Suhr Modern Pro (USA, 2017) Trans Denim Blue, Maple Neck & Fingerboard (£2499) (Shop Ref : A3315) Serial # JS7H8W 3. Echopark Kentucky Clarence Rose USA 2013 White Victorian Rose Finish Maple Neck (£2899) (Shop Ref : A3258/11) Serial # CK12-001 4. PRS Custom 22 Semi Hollow Ltd Edition 1 of 300 Made (USA 2010) Black Cherry Finish (£2599) (Shop Ref : A3258/5) Serial # 162801 5. Gibson Custom Shop 356 (USA 2008) Black aged finish Gold Hardware & Bigsby Vibrola (£2999) Shop Ref : A3213) Serial # CS (8) 3381 : 2008 6. Suhr Classic T Antique Korina (USA 2012) Tele Style Aged Finish Pau Ferro Fingerboard (£2299) (Shop Ref : A3161) Serial # 17378 7. Hofner Violin Bass 500/1 – 20/40 Anniversary 1 of 400 (1995/96) Sunburst Finish (£1999) (Shop Ref : A3299) Serial # 2040307 8. Fender Nashville Telecaster (Mexico 2018) Fiesta Red Finish, Noiseless Pickups (Shop Ref A3225/A(1) Serial # ? Acoustics 9. NK Forster Model C (England 2006) Spruce Top Indian Rosewood Back & Sides Serial N/A ? £3499 (Shop Ref : A) Serial # 20/3 10. NK Forster GHO One off / Super Rare How Orme Neck Joint (England 2013) Brazilian Rosewood Back & Sides, Spruce Top (£3999) (Shop Ref : A ) Serial # 20/3 11. Santa Cruz Tony Rice Model (USA 1994) European Spruce Top Indian Rosewood Back & Sides Signed By Tony Rice on label (£3999) (Shop Ref : A3270/2 ) Serial # 1213R 12. L’Arivee OM-09 Spruce Top, Indian Rosewood Back & Sides (Canada 1993) Spruce Top, Indian Rosewood Back & Sides (Shop Ref : A3187) Serial # 0913359

Put a offer in on this but it went for the asking price of £310. Tried one of these in 1985 also a lefty. Sounded like a very good P Bass to me.

Doh! At least they’re owning it and rectifying the problem promptly.

Well I think it is not really difficult to recreate the sound without a BBPH bass. But the 1000MA has the same revearsed p-pickup ..which I like better than the normal way. A key reason for me to love the MA-BBs for so many years. I had several BB's but after Ii got used to the tone of the MA pickups the normal position is too boomy, to bassy for me.

Nice cover here of Marley’s Zion train from 12 year old Nethumlee, and on a 6 string🙂

I'm watching the G6 from a distance...seeing what develops and if anything interesting is described in an English translation owners manual. Hopefully, they'll integrate native (or add-in via editor) bass amps/cabs/effects since the G11 at least has a couple of bass items as a courtesy. If so, I could justify flipping gear for the G6....but....we'll see. Parallel signal path would be a big help IMO. Otherwise, I'm perfectly happy with my G5n, B3n, and Atomic Bass Box. Seems like the G11 has been a sales disaster from the little that can be concluded to this point, and though the G6 is definitely a step in the right direction, I hardly think it will "gateway" people to want to spend the extra cash on the G11, which evidently had a significant "cyber week" price drop recently, but now priced back at original MSRP (which is a bit too high IMO).

Excuse me putting this here I bet you’re all sick of it now 🤗

Nit picky is good. We all win. 😊

That popped up on my You Tube feed yesterday as I follow Divinity Roxx. The thing that does my head in is watching her as a lefty. Surely someone could have flipped that for her. Other than that, I quite like it. What would be wrong is going to all that effort to get something that sounded close to the original. IMHO of course 🙃.

Exactly this as explained by Alex in the video, staggered to make it easy for single on off, but close enough for most feet to turn both on together in a single push without having to angle your foot to achieve this

I’ve had a couple of Stingrays but this Special in Dropped Copper is a keeper. Replaced stock white scratchplate with the white pearl

Tim is a lovely bloke. He makes great stuff (he’s done about 10 for me) this chap https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/earlpilanz?_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2754 seems very well thought of too.

Santa is eatly this year !!! 🤣😎😉

Sorry to go back to the BBPH again, but from about 6 minutes onwards here it's sounding great. Why do I keep torturing myself? 😄

I record a lot of Sky Arts. Recently watched programs on Chess Records, Joe Cocker, Aretha Franklin, Blues in Chicago and Chuck Berry. Mumford and Sons is on at the moment. Great channel.

So I chiselled the moved piece flat so that I could properly detect any movement. I didn't want to remove it because that bridge over the trussrod end thread is useful for keeping wood glue out of the thread So basically the nylon block is supposed to be fixed. Theoretically there are two timber haunches (marked in yellow) stopping it simply moving in the direction of the arrow when the trussrod is tightened. But, clearly, it has moved at some stage. It's moved forward to leave that small gap at the back and enough for the top of the nylon to snap the timber bridge over the rod. That may have happened the very first time the trussrod was tightened - it is only about 3mm thick and the force is pushing it's weakest grain line. Or it maybe that the haunches themselves are weakened and every time force is applied, the block moves forward and loses the force applied to the rod. So now I can see right up close, I can do a live stress test. First I clamp a block along the neck - I am not applying downward pressure - but I am stopping the neck rising up from flat: And now, watching the block and split wood very closely, I start tightening the trussrod. The neck can't go anywhere so the allen key starts becoming difficult to turn. I turn it to the 'luthier's touch-point' - the point where you would normally stop because you know from experience (quite) that much more will break the rod. And it passed with flying colours. No movement, no creaking, no cracking. This will be fine in service. So the neck and rod are confirmed sound and now I can get on and start making the new fretboard. In the meantime, there's a Wall 1e pro template winging its way across to me to start thinking about the body that this will eventually be fitted to. As always, thanks for looking

Have to say Neil has been such a great guy answering so many questions i've been storing over the years. He has shared some of his vast knowledge about everything from basses, amps, strings, playing and recording. He has confirmed my thoughts that he is a true gent and just a really nice guy. I was gobsmacked that he even took the time to reply. Just goes to show that some pros are still nice people after the fame. Dave

My Favorite bass today!

Thanks for the nice comments! I don't go on Basschat nearly as much as I should - mostly when I'm buying or selling basses! I bought that bass in spring 1975 as a late '60s P-bass body (had been resprayed black, which I stripped and varnished) already with a Tele bass neck (maybe 1968, can't remember, and it's in storage so I can't check). Immediately I added an EB3 mini humbucker at the bridge but as the pole piece spacing was narrower I had to use Mustang bass saddles pulled together with a piece of thick wire. I used it like this with Colosseum II (Gary Moore, Don Airey etc, 1975-6), mostly using both pickups, and National Health (1976-7), generally just the J pickups, but I think in 1977 I changed the EB3 pickup for two J pickups wired as a humbucker. The P-bass pickup was still as standard then but I don't have any pics that show it in this configuration. I removed all the frets in 1977 (Jaco! See photo below from rehearsals for the Bruford album Feels Good To Me, standing in for Jeff Berlin who was the actual bassist in the band) and sometimes had to borrow other necks or basses for particular songs, sessions or gigs. I had it refretted in late 1977 or early 1978. Soon after joining Whitesnake in early 1978 I needed to change from the mid-heavy tone of the EB3 or J bridge humbucker to a more full sound, so I started using the P pickup (at this time and in Colosseum II I was using flat wounds for more definition - the treble of round wounds was swamped by guitars, cymbals etc. Later with Whitesnake I changed to La Bella Quarterwounds then La Bella Hard Rockin' Steel) but wasn't very satisfied by the tonal difference between the two halves of the pickup. I discovered there was a type of replacement P pickup (Mighty Mite, I think) which had a single polepiece under each string, like Sandbergs today, so the coil size wasn't as wide as in regular P pickups, so I could shave the ends of the bobbins and put two coils side by side, similar to the two coils in a Di Marzio J pickup. I made a cover (as seen in the photo above) with two pickups (4 coils) underneath, and wired it so I could try the various combinations. Until halfway through 1978, it was my only bass, and to make changes to my gear required me to make modifications to that one, as I couldn't afford to buy new instruments. I discovered that I preferred the sound of the coils wired in 'reverse P' configuration, which wasn't a thing then, though Yamaha started doing basses like that soon after. So that's how the bass was when that photo was taken. I used it on the Whitesnake Snakebite EP and Trouble LP, through a miked-up Peavey cab and no DI. After that I moved to Kramer then Aria, plus a borrowed Alembic for some albums. Later, with Black Sabbath in 1995 I reinstated a normal Precision pickup (Bartolini) for some touring, and I used the bass for periods during my 12 years in We Will Rock You in the West End. I shaved down the back of the Tele bass neck during the 70s as I found it too chunky, but went too far and exposed the truss rod! So that neck was retired in the 90s and I've had a couple of different P bass necks on there since then. By the way, there's a version on the net of that photo up above that has my hair sticking up on top and looking very odd, which is a digital mistake I guess, so I'm glad you used the better version! Cheers, Neil