Leaderboard

It lives! With many thanks to @KiOgon for troubleshooting the wiring loom, The Spondz and @Andyjr1515 for advice during the process and @AngelDeVille for sorting getting the body to me in the first place. I present the Peavybird It's not quite finished, I've left the knobs off for a moment because I have a suspicion I've got one of the pickups out of phase, certainly the volume drops right off in certain coil combinations. I'll detail the not quite right bits if you want me to 😉

OK, a catchup from before Xmas; a mix of the good, the bad and the indifferent...lots to cover, but I'll keep it brief(ish)... First off the Bad; a Black/Mad Friday gig before Xmas at the Weasel Dust Palace up in Burnley; packed out when we walked in at eight (he really didn't need a band on), we play on the dance floor, so early drunks had to be forcibly removed (some several times) so we could set up. We went on early (for this place) at 9, and from the off there were drunks falling all over. We asked for some security, nothing happened until a pair of 20+ stone blokes hugging each other fell into the band area (I stepped back so they didn't hit me) and just lay there like stunned elephant seals until they were hauled up by their mates. Broken rotating spotlight (£350), broken mic stand (mine), broken iPad screen and stand (singers), they just stumbled off. Then a 60-ish pisht woman (I'd been keeping an eye on her swaying dancing) just fell backwards and deposited her drink through the air about three inches from my Stomp; again, she just stumbled off. Mic stands getting knocked into singers teeth, people stepping int the band area to walk onto the stage to demand songs (one woman three times for the same song; in the end I just physically barred her way; she still tried to push past me), the whole nine yards. We stopped till they brought a bouncer to stand by the stage. Then the AC unit about three feet to the side of the band (not my side) started pishing water, again the staff did nothing till we stopped, then some half-hearted mopping commenced. At the end I saw the guitarist's pedal board (and the case on which the mixer stood) was in a puddle about an inch deep. Half the drum carpet was soaked, if I'd seen it I'd have pulled the gig, but the guitarist likes the place and didn't. I've told him I'm not playing there again, it's always awful. Better gig on the 27th, but that's no fun to report, it was all just OK (tho we got overpaid because the landlord liked what he heard), and no NYE gig (because the guitarist wanted to go out on the lash). First time in 16 years I've been at home for NYE, my other half was working but the Boy was back from Uni so we hung out and had a good night in. Since then another three gigs and one to come this weekend, only high/lowlight of which was playing the night the snow came down (4th?) up in the wilds Chorley way. Quietish pub, we played the first 45, and then in the break I noticed the snow getting serious outside, and given I had 30-odd miles to drive home back into the hills, we went back on quickly and played the second 45 and then just the one encore. I apologised to the landlady, she was happy and understood. As we were packing down, I saw a bloke talking to the singer. I'd clocked this bloke in the second set standing off to one side of the dancers, standing there with his arms folded. We've all had one of them at least once; they're always on their own, they're never well dressed, and they just stare without clapping. Anyway, I was over that side, and I overheard 'You lot are stealing a living; that wasn't 45 minutes.' Now I might have mentioned before, but the older I get the less patience I have with drunks or opinionated arses, so I stepped in and said 'Are you paying us, you personally? No? You got 30 miles to drive home in this? No? We've played 50 minutes, so you can...' Yeah, to prevent pinging the sweary filter I'm sure you can fill the rest in yourself. It takes a very sad mindset to think you can personally give a band the TripAdvisor critique to their faces and imagine you're not gonna get some pushback. Next time I looked up from packing he'd left. Anyhoo, another one at the weekend, and possibly another the last weekend in the month, so a 5-gig January will do me...I think we've a weekend off in Feb, but the calendar's very busy (apparently we're booked 28 weekends so far this year), so I'll put up with the idiots a while longer...

I saw this Guild M-240E Troubadour on the cash converters website when they seemed to be doing a Dutch auction as the price was dropping by £20 every few days. It got to a price where it would have been rude not to press the 'buy now' button, so I did that. It arrived the next day very well wrapped but on unpacking it there was a definite odour. After a wipedown with kitchen roll slightly dampened with febreze and then a piece dampened with water, the guitar is no longer malodourous, but the gigbag is taking a bit longer to destink. I've used approximately half a bottle of febreze so far on it inside and out, and it is currently sitting zipped up with an open tub of bicarbonate of soda inside. It only has a trace of the smell now if I get my nose right up against it but any other tips to get rid of a weird smoky smell from a gigbag will be gratefully received. If it was a tatty old gigbag I'd put it in the bin, but apart from the smell it could pass for brand new, and its a good quality well-padded bag with embroidered Guild logo. The guitar itself it lovely. It is parlour sized and has a solid sitka spruce top and a DeArmond Tone Boss passive soundhole magnetic pickup which sounds surpringly good. There was a bit of rattle on the low E string as the fingerboard was almost dead flat. I had to remove the pickup to get to the truss rod adjustment, but after a tweak and refitting the pickup I now have a little relief in the neck and the guitar plays very well with a good lively feel and bright tone.

A very early (judging by the serial number) Roland Cube bass 60. Made in Japan. Think this is from first production year as the serial is only 4 digits long out of eight. All works, and I can't believe how great it sounds. Even handles the low B on my EUB 5 string. It's not light and it's been seriously gigged but the original tolex is in fabulous condition for what must be 45 years old. Not sure , but I assume it's the original 12" in there. Sounds incredible.

Just a heads up, we have filmed a short video on the 5 Burners we have in today, keep your eyes peeled

Is this a multi-track recording with processing or post-production opportunities. If so, a pre eq DI would offer the most options "after the fact", in post.

First gig with the new Zoom (new to me, anyway) and despite only having had it for a few hours it was brilliant. Quick and easy to adjust on the fly, awesome sounds; I could use this and no other pedals quite happily. I've got so many pedals from boutique to big name, no name, hand made, Chinese clones, classic old school, plastic cases, hand painted, digital, analogue, big, tiny super expensive and dirty cheap. But this pedal produced such an amazing bass sound tonight - nothing else I own could do better. Fair to say I'm blown away.

Given that from the description the audience will be mostly getting their sound from whatever amp you’re using, and FOH just an added presence I’d go with the GK & Orchid DI option as the GK is your favoured amp. But I’d take along the RM just in case the sound engineer wants a quiet stage with FOH handling the audience sound & volume, that way you’ll get your sound to FOH (as the RM only does post-eq).

So I left my last band at start of November. I think my last gig was 2nd Nov. Not picked up or played the bass since then. Took it out the case today and played it for at least 2 minutes! It felt very,very strange! I think I better get back in the saddle!!!

I’m not a regular visitor to the NBD posts given that the last new bass (any bass) I bought was a decade ago but last Friday I picked up my new Sandberg VM4 in hardcore aged Marley Blue. I’ve long been a fan of Sandbergs and had had a hankering to get one for a long time. My comment about them was always that I’d never played a Sandberg that I didn’t love. And that’s perfectly true. I tried the bass before Christmas and loved it. I had a work event in Holborn and managed to arrive very early. Getting off the tube at Tottenham Court Road it was only right to kill some time browsing idly around Denmark Street before strolling on to the venue. I saw this bass in the bass basement at Wunjo’s. Having been wondering about whether a P bass pickup plus Music Man humbucker was a good alternative combination the fact that the bass had this layout was interesting. So, of course I asked to have a tinkle on it and was very very taken with the looks and the sound. I’m not a relic fan but this seemed to be a bit more restrained than some of Sandberg’s other hardcore jobs. To me it was really quite good looking and authentically done. No huge bits of finish scraped off in ridiculous places you can’t imagine getting regular wear etc. Having tried it out and reconfirmed all my Sandberg prejudices it got me thinking that I’d work up my ideal config (not that different - different blue, no relic, dots rather than blocks, pearl scratch plate, same neck and pickups) and look into ordering one. I finally got round to doing that in the New Year and, having inquired at a couple of dealers, I discovered just how long the lead times are… yikes! Not quite Wal levels but 18-24 months is a long time. Anyway, having loved this bass when I tried it out before, I decided to check whether it was still available. It was and the price was no different from the configuration that I’d worked out. So that sealed the deal. The specs are as follows… alder body, maple neck with pau ferro fingerboard, P/H pickups and Sandberg 2 band active/passive electronics. The neck is so comfortable - a shallow rounded C which fits in my hand perfectly and a silky smooth matt finish. The sounds is great too and having tried it out at our regular jam night it played so nicely and sounded beautiful. The pickups are really powerful and full sounding and it was a pleasant surprise that switching from active to passive mode doesn’t cause a particularly noticeable drop in volume - which is a bonus and makes the passive mode al the more useable. The strap lock compatible strap buttons are a nice “icing on the cake” kind of bonus too (even though I do prefer Dunlop to Schaller). It’s hard to complain when they come as standard. I’m not someone who names their things (cars, guitars, basses etc) but this one does have a name. It will be unofficially known as “Alfie” after my dad , who passed away last Spring aged 100. I kinda think of it as his last present to me so it’s named after him.

I've messaged the arranger and asked for clarification. Watch this space...

It seems to me that whoever the last bassist was had a problem with the nature of playing in flat keys when a low E flat wasn’t available. I’ve seen that before. So they drop half a tone to be able to play it lower instead of using a 5 string or just playing it within the normal range of the instrument. I’d definitely ask the band leader for fresh / corrected sheets and then just play it as written.

You’re absolutely right here, but I think Hell’s point is that they’re not always listed completely honestly. I can’t remember what page it was, but I found two of my previously owned basses for sale. None of the changes was listed, despite all being pretty obvious to anyone with a bit of knowledge on Fender basses. There’s plausible deniability if you sell on commission. But wilful omission is still mis-selling.

The one you are playing might be in a different key. That’s very common for this sort of thing. Blues Brothers Gimme Some Lovin is originally in E major. But one of the most popular community orchestra arrangements is in F Major to make it easier for the transposing instruments. Basically for this sort of thing you’ll have to get used to the version you are playing to be quite different from the original recording.

You need to use jpegs nowadays

Bought the one @Jean-Luc Pickguard linked; https://amzn.to/423AdgY Redid a pedalboard last night - wow! It just works! Can’t believe I put up with the old one for so long!

All looks to be standard tuning to me. just follow the tab and you’ll be fine.

Point of order - our very own Bass Doc met Leo. Just sayin' 🙂

@GuyR and @bakerster135 : Why don't you question the expertise of Bass Gallery or Andy Baxter and not only mine? To my knowledge, they have no proof of their expertise, except making a lot of money reselling instruments that are simply sold on commission and 15% of 18k is £250 more than the average monthly English salary. The "funny" thing about Fender vintage instruments is that those experts always highlight the fact that Leo Fender was a cheapskate using everything he had on hand to build instruments. So according to this, people like Klaus Blasquiz who is the only Fender historian to have met Leo Fender becomes questionable and not reliable, which is totally delirious. Some people are simply rewriting history the way that suits them and everyone is just ignoring the real history, because they have been really convincing... Maybe it's time to think about that. Expertise of a Fender instrument is really like archeology and you have to recoup a lot of details. If you want some recommendations for book about the subject, I can give you a list, but you'll have to read them and dismantle loads of Fender instruments, which is what I've done over 40 years (and always for free).

If Boeing made speaker chassis the cone would fall out and they would spontaneously catch fire....

I personally feel moderately sorry for them, but ultimately it's their decision what products to stock and if stores stopped stocking (for example) Mooer's 'smart' guitars because they couldn't trust Mooer to support them properly, maybe Mooer would think a bit harder about supporting them properly.

Well mine arrived today and I'm slightly disappointed with it. There's a number if faults that weren't in the description. Notably 1. The bridge is lifting away from the body resulting in high action. Common problem I know but wasn't advertised as such. Possibly a replacement bridge will solve this. (see pics) 2. Rear pickup doesn't work at all. I'm assuming the switch in the up position is rear, but either way it's as dead as disco. *EDIT* it's actually the neck pickup as I've just discovered that Rick's dont follow Gibson pup selector switches of the bridge pickup being the up position of the switch. 3. No strap buttons at all, not a biggie but again, wasn't advertised. 4. There's a crack along the neck, just below the binding, as far as I can tell, it's cosmetic (it's a 50 year old bass after all) but wasn't advertised. 5. There's a number of screws missing from the pick guard, TRC and Jack plate, again, easy fix but wasn't made clear. 6. The machine heads are loose when no strings are attached due to no bushings being present. Not sure if this is normal (assuming not) but I was going to replace the machine heads anyway. There's other cosmetic issues I'm willing to let go such as the back being sanded from what I can tell but that's not a major one for me as it'll be used mainly in the studio. I want to keep the bass as I love the chunky neck and weight if the bass so I've asked for £100 refund which I think is very reasonable. I'll keep you posted.

Will the orchestral versions include brass instruments? If so the weird keys/tunings are probably to accommodate them. Brass instruments often struggle with standard "rock" keys.

Someday I would love to have one of these fall into my hands.

Guys Oveloud TH is giving away their Essentials guitar suite. Go to their website and get your license. The offer runs out before February.

Not if its been used for 3 months. In this case, the shop would accept the guitar back as faulty and expect a refund from the manufacturer.

Which is why I have asked the OP how long it has been since the problem first occurred and what the actual symptoms are. Given also that Mooer should be receiving OS updates for testing their products in advance of them being released for the public there is no excuse IMO for an update to take more than a week to be made available after the problem is discovered. The usual reason why what appears to be a minor OS update has caused an app to fail is because it wasn't written with 100% compliance in the first place probably because the developers think they know better. Spoiler: most of the time they don't. The lack of a timely update to me suggests that the product has already been abandoned. It is also in the retailer's interests to at least be seen to be doing something about this, as otherwise they have potentially unsellable stock or unhappy new customers whose guitar won't work properly from day one of getting it.

I got a cheap dedicated compressor pedal a few days ago, a Donner Compressor. Looked cheap and I thought I'll have a look at that and I'll put it on my pedalboard. Well, what a disaster that was. The pedal is very small, I hadn't quite appreciated how small. It's metal and well made BUT it almost falls between the rails on the pedalboard. Thats not the biggest problem though, nothing I have will actually stick to the bottom of the pedal. So none of the Velcro I have stays on. The rubber appears to be some sort of inert rubber that is very non-slip but at least three different velcro tapes just slide off it as if it had some sort of repulsion built into it. NASA needs to know as this could be cheap way to launch rockets. It turns out that its not just me and other people have the same issue. (https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guitar-amps-gizmos/83801-attaching-mini-pedals-pedalboard-velcro-aint-workin.html) So rather than peeling off the rubber from the bottom of the pedal, I designed printed a new base that simple screws in AND is quite large so it spans the pedal board rails. The old base is in the box, I used the same screws that came with it. I suspect that all of the Donner mini pedals have this issue, nice pedals but a little tricky to fix with Velcro. If anybody wants a base let me know and I'll print one out and send it for free. Rather annoying TBH. Rob

Nice one @David Morison just the information the OP needs. @Bone Idol The graphs show the advantagesof porting the cab. Crucially the -3db point reduces to around 70Hz which means all the second harmonic down to E is reproduced strongly. You've also got an extra 3db from around 110Hz which is significant. The mixed blessing is that you have roughly a 1db hump in response centred around 120Hz. This will give an artificial warmth to the bass sound which many bassists like and a roughtly half of us don't. The long and short of it is that you are going to get more bass if you port it and it's more than enough for you to hear a real difference. Whether you will prefer the lighter sound of the sealed cab or the fuller sound of the ported version is to an extent a matter of taste.

Enjoy it at low volume as it is. Maybe you don't need to mess with what's already cool?

I don't see an android upgrade as a decision given the potential security vulnerabilities you could leave yourself open to by not doing it. Given that the phone would also contain other apps , by not upgrading you could also compromise them in the end and I am sure the realistic expectation from Mooer will be that users will update their phones otherwise they would have to stipulate this as a condition of purchase. From the manual : GTRSApp The GTRS App functions as the editor software for the GTRS guitar. Users can easily select effects and create presets for the GTRS system,download and share tones to the cloud,and update the firmware of their GTRS guitar.Several tools for practice are included in the app as well. 1 Get the GTRS app To me this clearly indicates the app is an integral part of the purchase and whilst not directly supplied by Andertons they know users will have to download it to use the guitar.

Your experience matters as your experience is so vast that I again I bow to your knowledge, and I am glad you put the myths about class D to rest. I have also repaired ICEPower modules (I blew them up 😀).

Small but effective Broughton-update for the “Der moderne Hans” board… 🖤🩶🖤

Biased opinion here potentially, being as we sell these AND we are big fans of Hadrien's playing. Massive fans of these basses, they are beautifully made with some of the best setups I have ever played. The necks are thinner in dimensions in terms of the back to front measurement, pretty lightweight and versatile enough tonally

I've embarked on a build with Mark - for what is now called the MK2 body style. It's early in the process - but I've found Mark really easy to communicate with and very helpful. He's addressed all of my questions and ideas very quickly and was very open to my concerns about weight and how to manage that. Very excited to see things come along!

Porting would give you a bit better result, but not enough to make it worthwhile IMO, the box is too small. You'd need to go up to at least 50 liters not including the space taken up by the port.