Leaderboard

Sadly, I wasn't getting on with the Stingray Special 5, especially in comparison with the 'Dreadnaught' 95 Stingray, so I spotted this in BassBros and sallied forth to do a deal with Will. I have an old association with Goodfellow/Nightingale/GB instruments - Many, many moons [read decades] ago, someone at the then Derby branch of Carlsbro took a lump out of my original Status Series II neck with a hammer while trying to reseat a fret, so I was without the bass for what turned out to be quite a few months. During this period, they loaned me one of the Goodfellow Standard originals, which I really enjoyed playing. Of course, it's faded into a distant memory now, but it was a very good long term impression of Goodfellow basses. As for the old 97-98 Spitfire, it's certainly VERY punchy and seriously fast. It was apparently at BB for quite a while, so I'm surprised no one jumped on it. Destiny, I expect. Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures...

Picked this up (literally and factually) today - but only just Trace elliot gp12 smx 410 combo What an absolute beast. I've always wanted one of these. All the bands in pubs when I first started had one. And I longed for one... Ended up with a 100w commando amp instead Its a lost art. Lost to history if we are not careful. THIS is how bass amps used to be. What has happened with today's amps????!! (I'm a tonex IEM user so take with a pinch of salt). Everything has been done with care, the best materials and purely sound based. However it's aesthetically gorgeous too. Its absolutely a work of genius and has been built with real pride. It's built like a tank. Built to last (it's 32 years old and everything still works perfectly). It has everything you need. Mute switch Gain stage and led guide to correct gain. Passive active switch Input blend dial from pure solid state to valve preamp. 12 band eq. Switchable. Switchable 3 stage pre shapes. Graphic level dial. Low compression dial High compression dial. Eq balance dial. This is the same as the supposed new angled tilt dials on amps. Effects level dial. Effects input dial Send return DI Output level Earth lift. And what a sound! In excellent condition with the originally paperwork and warranty too! Gees, this is a proper amp! Long live the old amps!

I used one to garotte a former bandmate...... Oh, hold on...... delete! delete!

My compact Metro 20 pedalboard. Swapped everything around to fit 7 pedals, and changed the Velcro for Dual Lock (why have I never done this before).

Ah, that's great to hear. Everyone was very welcoming. Up early the next morning for a rainy 7-hour drive to the Laundry Theatre in Bowness the following night. Another lovely venue. ...and then back to 'proper' work for 8am Monday morning. Even so, I'd do it again tomorrow.

Pretty much what @Tradfusion says above - I use a Warwick Gnome head (similar to the TC heads) and Phil Jones C2 cab - I play jazz on DB with a drummer, piano and vocals and it's plenty loud enough so you should be fine with your lineup. The total weight is about 8KG so it's an easy carry. As others have said, there may be cases where you need to go louder but in my experience of playing "acoustic-ish" music this is usually done via the PA so you don't need big volume from your own rig.

I'm a big fan of G&L basses. Although I currently only have one (a CLF L-1000) I have owned several Tributes in the past, and they've all been excellent instruments. I only sold them because I was pack shuffling (or fundraising) and figured I could easily buy them again if needs be. Whoops, that might have been a miscalculation, given the information swirling around the internet. Honestly, I've felt in my gut they've been in bother for a while. They gave me the impression that they had retreated to their home market - there has been little to no stock in the UK/EU for many months now (the recent burp in availability of Tributes and a single Fullerton Deluxe bass at GuitarGuitar is an anomaly - trust me, I've been keeping an eye on things). Thomann don't even list G&L as a brand they carry any more. That's a red flag, when your products aren't even listed on presumably Europe's biggest music retailer. Ever since I got introduced to G&L instruments at a bass bash and fell in love with them, I always got this feeling that they were like a "secret owner's club" and "best kept secret" type of outfit. Back in the day, that might have worked in a "when you know, you know" organic kind of way. But these days where if you don't make a loud noise about yourself and your products in a flashy, attention grabbing 10 second short video you're officially a behind the times loser, that just isn't sustainable any more. No-one apart from old farts care about Leo Fender's "DNA" in the instruments. Frankly, even though I am an old fart (in Internet terms at least) I don't give a monkey's about it either, never did. You've got to move with the times, or step aside. I really hoped that after they finally dragged their website into something approaching a modern, contemporary design a couple of years ago that it would signify a shift in focus/attitude but it seems that was only window dressing at best. I hope they pull through. Apart from my direct affection for the brand and its products, from a purely selfish point of view, you know what the second hand market will do with the news that there is suddenly a finite supply of something...

Depending on how it is set up, you can either quantise to the nearest semitone or use pitch bend information to achieve the precise pitch being played. Controlling synths by using pitch detection has always been too much of a miss IME. Admittedly the technology has come on a long way since the early days, but at some point you are always going to run foul of the laws of physics which says that the very best pitch to synth systems still need at least one and a half wave cycles to accurately detect the note being played. On a bass guitar this means that you will probably be able to detect the latency in any note with a fast attack below open D. This is why you find lots of slow attack sounds being favoured in the demos of such systems. On top of this you need to have a much cleaner playing technique, because ghost notes, struck muted strings and lots of other things that are not noticeable in normal playing are going to introduce glitches into your synth part. When I first started looking at guitar synths I quickly discovered that modifying my playing style to suit was going to take longer than learning enough rudimentary keyboard technique to be able to play the sorts of parts I wanted to on a synth.

Very nice. Perhaps you can subcontract with Paul to help out with his waiting list!!

I think I read that as a euphemism first time around....

Old School Trace heads with modern lightweight cabs is the way to go I reckon! My rig from Sunday . . .

I was in a prog metal band for a relatively short time. We wrote and recorded enough for a 40 minute set and then had a meeting about getting ready for gigs. At this meeting, the front man brought lists for each band member with specific items of kit each of us had to have. This wasn't little things like leads etc, my list included Ampeg SVT Classic with 410 cab, the guitarists list included a HiWatt amp and a load of pedals. After a relatively short argument, we all quit. The front man contacted me again recently claiming he's a bit more chilled out now, I told him to get stuffed.

Finally…… I have got my hands on the one. I was 16, when I first got into bass. A mate played me “Live Xcert” by The Stranglers…. and I was hooked. Jean Jaques Burnel playing a black/maple Fender Precision. Yes mate. 44yrs later, and 100’s of basses…. like all the basses, and finally I have the one I should have had in the first place….. I’ve owned most brands except Fodera , but one bass always eluded me, the one that started it, at least in my head. I have no idea why it took so long tbh… Anyway, there you go, better late than never eh?

Will they be like decaf where as there’s less of them they’ll cost more?

Alembic SF-2 clone:

If I use the high gain switch position, it gets very furry very quickly - can't turn the input gain above about 3 without it getting hairy. I'm using an active bass with pretty high output though. I'll keep experimenting. I've got the EQ controls all pretty much centred right now at around 5, but, again, I'll play with it some more and see what I can come up with. It's still early days, basically. EDIT: I dialled down the HPF a bit and dialled up the bass and mid controls, and left the shelving switches off. Kept the input on low gain, and it's much better. It is starting to shake the doors a bit now.

New Rick shorties being rolled out

So I got mine yesterday. Only just had a chance to plug it in and put it through its paces. First impressions - it does sound like a Bass 400+. In that regard, job done. It's got that little bit of inherent dirt from the valve preamp, and a very similar character in terms of the overall frequency curve (a bit middy, but in a nice, smooth, detailed and slightly furry way). Here's a pic of it sitting on top of my Ashdown RM800 - you can get a good idea of its (small) size. Downsides? Sadly, it does seem to have a big one - it just doesn't seem very loud. My RM800 is louder when turned up to about 9:00 (see pic) than the Mesa is turned up to about 7 or 8. This is with it going into my Barefaced BTII (which can handle 1600W). Maybe I'm doing something wrong with it, but that could potentially be a dealbreaker - if I can turn it up to 8 in my house and not shake the doors off their hinges, then there's something not quite right here. The Ashdown is too loud for the house once it gets to about 11:00, with loads more volume to go. Which is weird, because they probably use the exact same ICEpower modules for their Class D power sections. I'll keep playing - will report back with more findings.

As I hit the 'submit' button I knew it would just be a matter of time. Thanks guys, you have not let me down 🙂

Sad news if they actually go out of business. I wouldn't trade this for a brand new USA-made Fender Precision 𝘢𝘯𝘥 Jazz bass.

Here's most of the bits. I need to cut and drill the aluminium backbone and floor. I've done the drill guide for this, and thats about 90 mins of work with pillar drill, tap and die set, and finger grinder followed by lots of hand work with a file. The wiring is all done, I'm printing a pickguard in white as I write this. The neck heal all fits the neck, strap buttons are done. I do need to put a small amount of maple veneer on the back of the neck, but need to source some first. I really want to do a proper quality paint finish on it, but wondering if I can do it before the SW Bass Bash so it'll dry.

I bought some bass string cufflinks from Etsy for my wedding a few years ago. Looks like the store is closed now though.

It should look pretty cool when it's completed

There is a problem with lightweight cabs and feet. Very thin ply is clearly less strong than thicker material and poplar ply is slightly softer than most hardwood plies. The earlier Barefaced cabs got lots of complaints about feet and even handles coming adrift. These seem to have died down so I imagine they addressed this problem. I think LFSys use 15mm ply thoughout as the best compromise between lightening the cab and keeping it robust. I believe their cabs are also reinforced below the handles. You can't expect a simple wood screw to hold in material as thin as the walls of a BF cab.

It’s a beauty and I always offer a little discount to BC members too. Both @AndyTravis and @Old Man Riva have played this at the Birmingham show.

First proper outing of my project bitsa P bass on Saturday night at a gig in the Griff and Coton Social Club in Nuneaton. First time there, small crowd but filled up as the night went on. Torrential horizontal rain and high winds during the load out at the end which was annoying. No pics unfortunately as I spent most of the time away from the stage nattering nonstop to people at the bar. Gear - the red bitsa Unfender P, Little Mark 2 and MB Traveller cabs etc.

So the Stingray came back from the shop today, all buffed and polished and I'm loving the new look for it. The brown wash really makes the grain pop and rather than a completely flat polished look which is the standard for Rays in a natural finish, I have opted for a more tactile polished finish with no grain fill to allow the nitro to sink into the grain. It really looks good and feels a lot more natural than the standard polished finish. Not the best photo but I have started added copper foil to the cavities ready for the electronics to go back in and will add some pics when I can which shows the finish a bit clearer. I'm just waiting on a price for the black bridge from musicman and then it can all be put back together!

I used screws the exact same length as the ply is thick and reinforced them with clear gorilla glue, smoothing around so as a silicone type finish. Very durable job I think, trying to stack them on corner pieces wasn’t stable enough for my liking. Much better now.

I did a quick search for "A duck playing bass guitar" Of course I got this:

Yes, quite normal for 70s Fenders, they just wired them like the right handlers. They did progress to wiring the pots in reverse by the 90s, but as they are tapered it just made them act like a switch. Finally in 2015 they got round to fitting reverse taper pots.

Gotta love Bernie’s creations. Enjoy……..and welcome back to the Goodfellow club.

Thanks, that does help, though it provokes GAS as well 😕

Yeah I guess it's a useful shorthand but I don't think many players using the GK system use it for MIDI. I tried it once and gave up because the VB99/GR55 have such great effects and options anyway.

I did many times, but it always ended with a whole resale as I didn't see the point of all this. That said, it works very well latency wise and I don't see why it wouldn't work with a fretless bass as it's only about converting a note into data for the MIDI system. Listen to Uzeb and Alain Caron as he's been using (6) strings MIDI fretless basses since the beginning in the ... 80's (when the latency was delirious especially with a low B).

I've been on this journey with a couple of duos. I started with just wanting something to amplify me to the same sound levels as the acoustic guitar so we could play together with minimal equipment. You don't need anything like a 2x8 to do that never mind the pair you mention in your OP. The problem is that there aren't too many small combos or even speakers with a grown up sound. I ended up designing my own cabs and regularly use a 1x6 for simple play alongs. I've also used a 1x8 and 1x10 which is way over the top. All the designs are on Bass Chat but I'm assuming you don't want to build so this is just to say you don't need to be huge and a single 2x8 will be epic in this situation. FWIW the duo which was intended as a side project now gigs regularly. For gigs with a duo in noisy pubs the guitar needs to go through the PA so we put the bass through too. I took my little speaker along for a while paired with a Warwick Gnome but the 'stack' has been replaces with a floor monitor which does for bass guitar and two vocals. Long term it's probably better to spend on a decent PA and monitor than spend big on a new bass system IME. My tiny bass speakers let me jam along and do the odd open mic. A 1x10 or 2x8 combo will be more than enough so the Rumble isn't a bad shout.

I am not wholly satisfied with this but it's a beautiful tune and easy to play. The tune is 'Self Portrait In Three Colors' by Charles Mingus from the 1959 classic, 'Mingus Ah Um'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/self-portrait-in-three-colors-charles-mingus/

Nerina Pallot is great. I first met her in the early 200s when I had a room in Cable Street Studios in London. Andy Chatterley has a studio in the complex, and one day when Chris McIntyre were in visiting Andy, he introduced us to his girlfriend, Nerina. A short while later I saw Neil Finn performing at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh, and to my surprise, Nerina was the support act. She was really good, prompting me to buy her debut album when it came out shortly afterwards.

In my acoustic duo I use a Fender Rumble 100V3 combo. I plug a Fender Kingman V2 acoustic electric bass into it and it sounds really good to my ears. I’ve also used this combo with other small line ups including percussion and it’s coped very well. The best bit is it’s weight - 22lbs / 10 kg. People who pick it up can’t believe how light it is, and it is the best thing I’ve bought for years. I also have a Rumble 500 combo and that is a great bit of kit too.

So you are saying I shouldn't wear my stilettos this year?

Last time they did this I saved the codes and entered them when D'addario did a double points offer and ended up with another £35 of free stuff 😄

Having recently posted my rig from a few years ago, this is my current rig……

Good news…..I have been successful with the re-glueing and clamping the top on the bit that lifted. All re-sanded and oiled so onwards and upwards.

First layers of polyurethane are on Headless’s walnut body that will be paired with Kiwi’s graphite neck.