Leaderboard

Now safely with its owner, v happy with it too as well.

Hi all, Promising update from Tom on Facebook today. For those without ‘the book’: “TL:DR - a small batch of T-16 Octaves have been added to the webstore with more to be added ASAP, some other things are changing at Cog too ------ Hello all, First up I want to let you know there are some T-16s available at www.cogeffects.co.uk/shop Second, I just want to confirm that Cog Effects is still a thing, I'm making pedals and plan to do so for the foreseeable, but I need to make some changes to make it sustainable both financially and for my own health. It's no secret that I haven't added stock to the website for some time. The main reason for this is an absolute slump in my own mental health in recent years due to a combination of factors both in and out of my control that I either hadn't or couldn't effectively deal with and, to be brutally honest, this spiralled and I almost completely shut down. This has affected my personal life, physical and mental wellbeing, relationships, and of course Cog Effects. Over recent months, and with the support of people I am grateful to have in my life, I've begun to get to grips with many of these issues so I can start moving forward again. This will have some practical changes for Cog, which I will begin to outline below. The largest issue I have faced with Cog is having too many metaphorical balls in the air, which has been detrimental both to the level of service I have been able to offer and to my own wellbeing, and the changes I plan to make will be to help limit this. 1. The product range will be more streamlined. This will mean some pedals are retired, either temporarily or permanently. When new pedals are added this may then result in older ones being retired, again either temporarily or permanently. 2. New pedals will be less focused on earlier Cog designs, and more on aspects of effects that particularly interest me - primarily octave effects, modulation and signal routing. 3. Standard pedals will be simpler and more stripped back in appearance. 4. Pedals will be available to purchase only when they are in stock and ready to post. 5. I will have dedicated times set aside when I will handle correspondence, and plan to limit contact just to email (as opposed to social media messages as well) so I can stay on top of it better. You can get me on [email protected] My aim with Cog Effects is to keep it simple, and to build products that I personally find interesting or inspiring for as long as enough other people also find them appealing enough to keep this financially viable. I have no aspirations for major outsourcing or sitting in an office while other people do the work or anything like that, and while I understand that such a choice will no doubt limit what I am able to offer/achieve in the future I'm also aware that because of how my brain works these changes will allow me to keep on top of things more easily. Finally, mental health is some proper serious stinky poo. We all need to look out for those around us and step up for each other when things go sideways. Asking for help is not always easy, even when there are people who we know would want to help. Every single one of us has the ability to be a light in the darkness for someone else, reaching out can make a difference. Tom x“

Congrats to @xgsjx , @Nail Soup and @upside downer on a deserved joint win. Without too much fuss, the picture choice became incumbent on xgsjx, who provided the following image stating...... "Hoping it inspires a good range of genres from Ambient to Synthwave to CyberPunk & anything else that it can muster." Simple rules ✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and recorded this month. ✖️ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on ✖️ No Bagpipes. The BST truce has duly expired . Panpipes only if you have too. ✖️ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you. A line or two offering an insight to your inspiration/track choice will be good as well , it works nicely on the voting thread. The Deadline for entries is Midnight on Wednesday 23rd November . Before closing off just a reminder that come December we traditionally have turkey a cover song challenge, so get your thinking caps on for a song to choose, or even get started on. Have fun

I recently joined a 60s band and though my Sandberg Lionel sounds the part, I had an urge to get a more 60s style bass. I play short scale basses these days and thought perhaps a violin bass. Then, last Saturday, I popped in to see my mate, who owns Aire Valley Guitars. I didn't expect to see anything in the retro bass department, although he does get some unusual and retro stuff in. Anyway, the first thing I spotted was a brand new Guild Starfire I bass. I've always liked the look of the Starfire II bass but thought the Starfire I looked slightly odd, with it's split coil pickup. Well I had to have a go. This is a centre blocked semi acoustic, with a 1 1/2" depth, arched mahogany body, that is bound back and front, with unbound f-holes. The split coil pickup is controlled by single volume and tone knobs. The volume can be pulled out to change the pickup from series to parallel wiring. I first played the bass acoustically and got a reasonable amount of volume, for such a thin body. The bass does feel nice and resonant. The action was nice and low, the frets are well done and the bass was easy to play, with a vibrant feel, that gave me a lot of pleasure. Before I plugged it in, I put the bass on a strap, as I can not deal with neck dive. I like my bass in a diagonal position and to my surprise, the Starfire stayed put, on releasing my hands completely. That was with a very flimsy, 2 inch strap. Now it's home, I use a well padded 3 inch strap and it really is solid as a rock. Plugged in, the single split-coil pickup sounds nice and full, with plenty of clarity. The tone rolled off also sounded useable, even though the passive tone control isn't the best I have used. But mostly I have my tone on full, almost always. The series/parallel knob, when activated, kind of thins out the tone. This could be quite useful in some circumstances but I'll be leaving the knob down, as I much prefer the thicker sound. The bass comes with D'Addario EXL165 Nickel Wound Bass, Custom Light (.045 - .105) strings. I had thought of changing them for D'Addario Chromes or GHS Pressurewounds but these round wounds sound really nice, especially if I play an inch or two nearer the neck, than I usually do. Once the newness is played out of them I have a feeling, they will be just right. This bass is built very well. It is solid yet light and has a nice finish. If I was being picky, the inside edge of the f-holes look scrappy and there is a miniscule cherry red blob on the body binding, near the heel of the neck. You have to look close to see these though and the dark, transparent cherry finish is rather lovely. I am rather looking forward to taking it to the next band rehearsal, on Wednesday. (Sorry, I forgot to remove the plastic covers from the pickup)

The Final Tease. I should get my sweaties on this work of art in the next week. It’s been a wait but it looks worth it to me. Final pictures next week hopefully. 🥰

One last update, after much deliberation I remade the control cavity cover in American Black walnut which matches the pick up covers. Luckily i found some at the correct thickness so have recut a new one and I must admit, it looks much better. To me the ash one was trying too hard to look the same and yet, looked too different. A contrast looks much better! It's oiled but not to bring out a sheen so again, will match the pup covers. Anyway, first outing with the revamped Xotic tonight - looking forward to it!

Day 5 - The Leadmill, Sheffield Quite rushed for soundcheck and an earlier start of 19.30, as opposed to the usual 20.00. There were a couple of moments of feedback from the system, as it did seem to be a difficult room. Aside from that, another great audience and we seemed to go down pretty well. The drive home was pretty awful, lots and lots of rain, then fog and some monumental puddles on the road. Wasn't fun!

Richy Titchy board v2.0 now assembled and just a few power lines to run.The 'STFucupcakes' pedal is my new mute switch, the Zoom now sits in a loop for hopefuly reduced tapdancing, and the BDI21 is there mainly as a just-in-case. Once it's all fired up and working, I can disassemble and paint. Definitely going to look into the idea of self adhesive checkerboard film as per Woody's suggestion.

I have the purple one coming

And the winners are ... @Nail Soup, @upside downer and @xgsjx ..! Here, then, are your Winner's Certificates (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... BC_Chal_Cert_2022_10.pdf ... which look like this (but bigger, of course..!)…

Yes Chris Agnew.

Not sure to go the whole Sting with this and keep the pickguard off. Well, it's got to be easier than tantric sex...less screws for a start.

With my Sandberg (a VM5, a beautifully made and great feeling instrument), I too wanted a warmer, vintage sound. It took a while, but I did get there in the end - here are the steps I took. First, I put on flatwound strings. It was better, but not quite right yet. So then I swapped the stock pickup for an Aguilar ("designed to capture the vibe and feel of the 60’s"). It was better, but not quite right yet. Then I removed the preamp and rewired it as passive. It was better, but not quite right yet. So I put it all back to stock, sold it, and bought a P bass...

That's the great thing on here. I had someone contact me who hadn't posted much and wanted a bass sending to somewhere abroad... I flagged it as potentially dodgy and, I think it was Ped, got back to me confirming it was a real person who contributed sporadically to the site. I always want to sell or buy stuff through here as my first option so I can deal with top class people and have a level of security you just don't get with other things like eBay and Facebook.

Busy schedule meant my bacon has been saved. White it shall be. I’ll save the blue for my next one, providing Jon doesn’t refuse to build me another out of sheer frustration. 😆

Really pleased to hear that Tom is on the up. Sounds like he’s really been through it and I wish him all the very best for the future.

The Final Countdown - Europe

Consonant Craving - k d lang

I just made this and thought I'd post it in case anybody finds it useful. PDF: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p9r89rf3241agcl/221030 - 5 string bass fretboard.pdf?dl=1 PNG: edit: ... and while I'm at it, some blank tab: https://www.dropbox.com/s/me10i5xdnbns7ej/5-string-bass-tab-paper (pale grey).pdf?dl=1 https://www.dropbox.com/s/48q1e4ralbfpa7g/5-string-bass-tab-paper (grey).pdf?dl=1

True, but how many folks on Basschat spend more time talking about playing bass and related issues than actually playing? I suppose you have to accept that for a lot of folks talking about their pastimes is a big part of what they enjoy about them.

Designers certainly sit down with these graphs when developing amps and speakers. They really aren’t intended for end users, especially because of the misunderstanding of the correlation between the graphs and how this translates to end results.

Never really considered one of these in my eight years of playing, though I've owned a number of Epiphone Thunderbirds. Took one for a spin last week and discovered I've been missing something special. (Hipshot Supertone 3-point bridge and Magma black tapewounds.)

well its time to get on it again

Ear training is a long journey, so don't get discouraged. If you look here https://www.miles.be/software/ there are several versions of a simple but effective program which is also available in smartphone/tablet app format. I stumbled on this many years ago and used the discontinued functional ear trainer basic (which IIRC is stand alone and doesn't require adobe air) Some intervals are much harder than others to hear clearly and distinctly, this app plays a cadence to establish a key and then a random note which you have to guess. The nifty thing about it is it allows you to custom select which intervals it tests you on, so you can focus on what you are struggling with - initially you should stick to a fixed key center and a small selection of notes in order to maximise repetition and reinforcement of the learning process - when you are confidently and consistently able to identify the notes, you can then increase the difficulty. The other thing I would recomend is singing(focus on getting accurate pitch), especially when you are practicing - once you can clearly and accurately sing intervals/arpeggios/scales, they become much easier to recognise.

See That My Bike's Kept Clean - Half Man Half Biscuit

YES!

If this was my bass and the problem was simply that the two pickups were unbalanced, I'd be asking for recommendations for someone to rewind the bridge pickup to the same spec as that of the neck. However before that I'd want to go through a complete diagnostic of all the components in the circuit to ensure the problem doesn't lie elsewhere with something like a dry joint or a failing pot. Out of interest do you get the same fault using both of the outputs? TBH apart form the active section which appears to be totally self-contained and therefore can be temporarily ignored, this looks like a very standard late 70s guitar type circuit so anyone who is having difficulty understanding it probably shouldn't be making alterations to the electronics and wiring. Are you able to return the "replacement" pickups?

Black is Pickup earth DPDT are serial/parallel switches Brown is north coil start White is north coil finish Green is South coil start Yellow is south coil finish If you've only got two wires on the new pickup then the two lugs on the right side of the DPDT switches as the pic is orientated, your signal and your earth heading to the volume controls, are relevant. The DPDT switches are no longer in the circuit as the new pickups don't facilitate coil tapping. Edit -> Actives usually have at least three wires. Signal, earth, and one which gets connected to the battery to power the active part.

There was a time when Darkglass innovated and shook the market with game changing products. Now we have releases like the B1K and this.

There will be many, and generally using the same components. ClearTone cables are such a manufacturer. Link here: ClearTone Cables. Welcome to award-session.com ClearTone Cables

At the moment we give the PA individual feeds for everything. We're only a 3-piece - vocals, 2 x synth, and Bass VI with drums/drum machine and some additional synths on the backing so it's not a difficult mix and we already have all the relative levels between the instruments and backing sorted out from rehearsing, so once the feeds have been adjusted for the room there isn't really anything for the engineer to do. IMO stereo isn't much use for the FoH sound as very few people in the audience will be placed to get the full benefit, so the stereo on the backing is very narrow and only really used for special effects. We will probably switch to a full on-stage mix done by the band at some point in the future which will most likely coincide with the band going full IEM. I done full mixes for the PA before with previous bands but it relies on fair bit of time spent in the rehearsal room to get all the relative levels right for each song. IMO once you start looking at this route pending time working on the mix in rehearsal is as important as being able to play the songs as a band. Both bands I am in spend about a quarter to a third of each practice working on the sounds and mix of the songs. This IME is where covers bands who don't rehearse fall down because once you start doing your own mix you need to spend time working on it.

Some John Holt this morning, big reggae bassline

I don’t know if the same applies to goods coming in the other direction but I bought a bass from @briansbrew without any problem. He might have some insight on this?

Well done @xgsjx , @Nail Soup and@upside downer on a deserved joint win. If you can work out a picture provider between yourselves that would be great, or I can set a tiebreak question for the privilege 😁

@Ricky Rioli’s plan yielded results, thanks. I received a call from the head office just earlier and it has been located and found and is on its way from the hub to its new owner. Fingers crossed but it looks like (despite me writing the consignment number, address of the sender and the recipient and phone numbers on the crate in BIG BLACK marker pen), the box was missing a barcode sticker.

Growing up in the 80s for me it was mostly Derek Forbes, especially the Empires & Dance to New Gold Dream era. I also nicked my elder brother's Stranglers albums to try and emulate JJ's tone on tunes like Peaches. Never did though.

A dep gig from hell last night. Playing with a late 50's - early 60's band - I've played with them before and they're pretty OK with the material they do. But last night they had a dep singer, and he was an elderly crooner, who told me proudly that he normally sung at care homes and used " a cassette player with backing tracks" It was appalling. I was already a bit concerned when we did a soundcheck (don't really know why they bothered) and played a bit of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and instead of singing the word 'one' on the first beat of the bar ("Well it's one for the money" etc) he tried to sing with the word "Well" on the first beat of the bar........... It didn't get any better. But in fairness, in some songs he started off in the same key as the band, so that was an occasional bonus. The crowd was fairly well oiled and there was some polite applause after every number, but maybe that was just with sheer relief that the singer had managed to get to the end of the song. At the end, the singer asked for my number as he "could sometimes do with a good bass player" Unfortunately I forgot to give it to him. 🙂 👍

Personally, i watch your reviews with both the sound, and my pants, off.