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'm guessing that these will replace the Pulse II basses, which appear to have ceased production....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc

This one will be put together in the next few days and then for sale on here. Some idea of the specs: Sapele hand sanded Liberon Finishing oiled body Wenge neck with custom poly finished headstock shape but back of neck just sanded, oiled and waxed, rolled fretboard edges, levelled, dressed and polished frets. Hipshot Ultralite tuners Gotoh bridge Tone Emporium TE-18 pickups Bloodstone Guitarworks solderless electronics with .47uF capacitor Handmade walnut control plate Schaller Strap lock buttons D’addario EXL165 .45 - .105 strings If this bass sounds like it might be for you, it will be selling for £600 so feel free to message me to ask more questions or reserve. i will post more photos and hopefully some sound clips when I do the advert. Builds coming soon are a wenge drop top and elm body J bass with roasted flame maple neck with rosewood fretboard A spalted English walnut drop top with sapele body which has not been built yet so could be a P, J or PJ if you want to commission that one (it’s not going to be a Flying V!) I would like to get the grain swirl in sapele in the middle of the back of the bass if I can so it runs the length of the rear. Walnut will be black grain filled and oiled to make it pop then either just waxed or satin/gloss nitro depending on customer preference if reserved. this is the walnut body that I am doing for Headless at the moment to give you an idea of what oiled and poly looks like.

Remember that this is based on the Fender tone stack eq which can benefit with the eq controls higher than you might expect. Also, the master volume control applies gain evenly throughout its entire rotation, many master controls do 90% of their work in the first half of the rotation (which makes people THINK they are more powerful though they are not).

So two pickups. one as close as possible to the neck and one a little further back. This is the pickguard now and what you are looking for For me, that's just a case of printing a new pickguard and possible lengthening the cables at the neck pickup (or something). Pretty simple to change, just moved the sketches for each pickup. The pickguard holes are automatically generated in the pickguard, so thats it. Took just under a min to change and using Apple-Z even less time to put back. Rob

Isn't that the NHS replacement testicle implant?

Ta-da!!

Sorry misunderstood. CAD = Cardboard Aided Design

@SumOne what about something like the Genzler Re/Q pedal? You could dial in the punky tone with the 5 band EQ and then use the low pass filter dialled right back for the reggae sound. Both sounds on a single, analogue pedal. Oh, and I know a guy *cough* who may be about to list one, boxed and in excellent condition *cough*. PM me if you're interested and I'll pass the message on to him... It's definitely not me though... Err...

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/

That was a huge factor in my getting a Fender Rumble 800 210 combo. At 13kg it’s the same weight as one of my Ashdown 210 cabs (of which I have two). So as well as reducing the weight (and number) of the large-ish items I need to carry I now don’t need to carry an amp head & speaker leads, plus the inevitable bending over plugging them all in, just combo & mains lead, much less stress on the back.

So no dancing with large cider flagons wearing hob-nailed boots? Asking for a friend...

Daltrey's autobiography's very funny; on the night he flushed Moono's entire stash after walking off at the end while they were trashing the gear (off their collective gourds on uppers), Moono went for him... "I only hit him once. And I apologised when he came round." They sacked Daltry, but took him back after negotiating a settlement: "The band wouldn't do loads of drugs until after a gig, and I wouldn't knock any of them out again." 🙂 I've had a fairly easygoing run of being in and out of bands, nothing more savage than the aforementioned ghosting sort of thing, but on one occasion (and I've mentioned this before) I did have a blazing row with the other three - the details are unimportant/forgotten (late 80s this was), but they did have their old bassist on call, and sure enough he joined immediately - but the whole sturm und drang of the episode was slightly undermined when, after arguing/shouting/gesticulating around the pool table at the rehearsal rooms, I stumped off to the car with my bass and amp (an SVT at the time, and it's tricky enough to stump off carrying an SVT...my back was clearly better those days), came back in, remembered my 810 didn't have wheels, and had to ask the band for a lift getting it up the stairs... I haven't stumped off anywhere since...

Genuinely fascinating! Wonder what they chat about?