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Band photoshoot pic. Rob

I’m amazed Scott’s bass lessons hasn’t covered this.

The bassrig stuff is modelling the preamp, poweramp, reactive load and cab sim that’s been tuned to match the original cab - it’s going to do one thing but it’s going to do it really really well. the VTDI is a preamp with a simple cab sim at the end, I don’t know how complex it it is shape wise. Where I’ve seen an electrical examination of the VTDI the character knob is a variable eq curve that can dial in a more driven sound, or dial it out (b15 a like) It’s a great pedal big “I want a B15 sound in a pedal” investigations don’t often mention the VTDI as an option. I think they sit in different categories, an Ampeg sgt would be a closer alternative- or if you really were after two bass amps on a budget the tonex one would probably do it digitally. Origin aren’t doing it in digital, are U.K. made and are aiming at a level of “let’s engineer this thing well” where price point and value for money aren’t their primary driver of what they are doing.

Don't often post on BC these days but I'm sitting here with a cup of coffee and thought I would share my 32" ACG and 32.5" Sandberg.

Reason for my original enquiry, latest bitsa project to land….

I’d imagine it would translate quite well. I can hear a difference running just my amp versus running my pedal board into my amp. Same way my amp Di is adequate- I never use it but had to recently as my tube pre amp wasn’t giving any sound (turned out it was a simple fix but the amp DI did the job in a pinch). Did it sound ok for the gig yes but it’s wasn’t as enjoyable a sound. I could defo he’s the difference in my IEM’s This same question gets asked a lot on forums and there’s been some great demos showing how a pedal can sound like another pedal but I believe Origin are going for more of an experience in both feel and tone. It might not be important to folk for a pedal to feel like an amp if it’s nearly £500 but it’s exciting that we have a recreation of a classic amp that folks are describing as nailing the tone and feel. Does a 5k bass vintage bass sound better than a £400 bass? Does it feel better to play versus the £400 bass? Not everyone cares for these things but it’s nice when we can feel and hear a difference and that can push something form desirable to must have fall in love at the first play. If a £99 pedal can do 80% great but some players live for the last 20% because that’s where the inspiration lives.

A while ago I splashed out on a cheap Kay Gremlin. The nachine heads responded to a drop of oil and I decided the pickup was ok. The slightly worn finish I tarted up with ratty mustang stripes and added a tiny amount of extra wear on the upper bout. Needed a shim to let me drop the bridge. Took me a couple of sessions to sort the frets... I suspect a few might lift again. I only resorted to superglue on one. Lots of filing, scraping and stoning. Action isn't super low but is much better. Quite a fun wee thing now.

RIP Mani, not many bassists make the front pages when they pass, says something about just how much you influenced music and culture 🙏

Always wind to the bottom of the tuning peg, and check that the strings aren't in torsion (twisted) when they go through the bridge. I do this by getting the string tight enough to produce a pitch (not anywhere near the final tuning), grip the string between my thumb and forefinger and run them down the length of the string from the nut to the bridge - when the ball end spins then you're taking the unnecessary twist from the string. Doesn't happen everytime I re-string, but it's worth doing every time, just in case.

I heard he stopped after laddering his glove?

All done! Gave the corners a final paint early this morning so I could fit them this afternoon, drilled out the speaker mounting holes, re-dyed the baffle, fitted more wadding inside so that more or less all internal surfaces are covered, cleaned the jack sockets and replaced the wiring, mounted the speaker, and put the grill back on. Finished. I've given it a blast as loud as I dare at home, and the house was rattling. It does sound better than it did, in fact it sounds bloody marvelous with the Bassman. Perhaps it's just me making sure everything was tight and secure, extra internal wadding and the speaker mounted properly, but it's tighter sounding, no rattles and no flub. My intention was to create a recording setup, but I think I could gig this rig! Very happy with this! Cheers, Rob

I 'need' a P bass because it works for me. Tone wise ive never been in a situation where someone else has asked me to use anything, or ive been in a situation where one bass doesnt work over another tone wise. What I find with a P is it's more plug and play. For me even a Jazz bass give's me more tone options to think about, and get distracted with. I do like Jazz basses, but I just find a P works in every situation, no fuss messing about with onboard EQ, and sits well in any mix. Tone wide open and thats it as far as that end of the signal chain goes. I was put off for a while with the P bass chunky necks, but having found P basses with slimmer im happy to stick with it.

I'll battle through. One bit of news I forgot about - there's a young lad called James Bartholomew who does Tamworth open mics, and played bass for the organisers of the three Tamworth/Shard End/Chelmsley Wood open mics I go to. His band Jayler have just been chosen to support Deep Purple on their upcoming European tour. As I'm now house bassist for those open mics, I'm waiting for the phone call asking me to step in for Roger Glover.

Hi. I've been drawing on influences of the likes of Steve Harris and their impressive phallic bass moves. I'm working on my own moves and know the importance of practice but need some advice, and where better to ask than here. The move I'm concentrating on primarily is 'The Zip', executed in standing position. I place the butt of the bass body into the inner thigh extending the bass towards a would-be audience. At the end of each phrase I thrust hips forward, slipping the neck through my fretted hand to produce a glissando. That's all fine. I'm struggling to remember the correct technique for the switch back move. Mine's not looking so graceful, and I seem to end up with my feet to far apart? No doubt I've missed something silly but hopefully someone can remind me how it's done and I can get this popular move practiced to perfection.

Well, always wanted to have a go on. Road trip to Doncaster yesterday and returned with this example. A very decent price and it sounds immense. Not everybody's cup of tea but hey ho.

Not sure if Mysterious Traveller by Weather Report would count as Alphonso Johnson is well-acknowledged as a virtuouso and the album is hardly unknown. But in terms of counterpoint bass working in the spaces yet still driving the music, and the use of effects to get some killer tones, I think it's a visionary bass masterpiece from start to finish. And always worth reminding the world that Weather Report is Zawinul and Shorter plus a great rhythm section and not simply a vehicle for Jaco as it sometimes seems to be painted.

This is a few months ago now.

Hi everyone, there’s a 15% Black Friday discount at the moment on all Singular Audio products including the Tubedrve pedal: https://www.singularaudio.nl/shop/tubedrvepedal/

Since all my old photos in this thread were on Photobucket, here's a more recent one of me that you'll actually be able to see:

I want to be sure of a good reaction from the ladies in the audience.

There is a great album by Barre Phillips and Dave Holland as well as Holland's Emerald Years and Ones All.

"What Origin are doing is pretty cool and gonna make a lot of people happy who want the sound and ‘feel’ of those classic amps recreated as closely as possible in a compact form." Summed up perfectly. It's all about the feel.

I see what you did there.

Today on Youtube.... "Why 'the Zip' destroys other bass moves!"

Depping with the Lee Aaron Band at The Cavern in Raynes Park this Friday night. Small stage, loud band, small venue..... should be er........full on!

Put a little more zest in the run up as to launch the bass, freeing it from the hip position with a single powerful thrust, after which it returns to regular resting position. This is called the One Pump Chump.

Yeah I think the origin stuff isn’t a ‘like for like’ comparison to the other gear out there claiming to do a similar thing. While the question will always be does it sound like… many of these boutique businesses (such as Wren and Cuff with their era correct Muff recreations) it will sound like the particular amp or pedal they have access to which might sound different form your pedal or amp from the same era. What Origin are doing is pretty cool and gonna make a lot of people happy who want the sound and ‘feel’ of those classic amps recreated as closely as possible in a compact form. Will my tube preamp set to sound like a B15 with eq tweaks sound like the Fifteen? No but it may sound close enough or closer than some other B15 recreations, it may sound good enough but I’ve never played a B15 to compare. Im gonna try and pick one up (mostly if a used one comes up) as I think the sound and way people are describing the feel would be the perfect direct to PA for the always on tone and with a simple twist of a knob it would provide the gritty tones I sounds get with other pedals. If anyone’s sending one back let me know if you’d be up for some trade and Px discussion I’ve got some gear I’d be up for discussing 😀

IME scale length on its own has little effect on the sound and feel of low B. It is all down to the construction of the bass and the right choice of strings. If I was in the OP's position I would first try another set of strings, maybe one with a taper-wound B string. Remember that strings that work with one bass will not necessarily be the best choice for another. All my basses are fitted with different strings because each has a set that suits that particular bass the best. If the problem persists look first at the neck joint. With the strings fitted but not tuned to pitch very slightly loosen the neck bolts - about half a turn is normally sufficient. Then tune the bass to pitch and leave for a few hours to settle. Then tighten the neck bolts up again. What this does is to use the tension of the strings to pull the neck tightly into the neck pocket which makes the joint as strong as possible. If you are still getting dead spot problems then try a Fat Finger as suggested although be aware that this works by moving the position of the dead spot to somewhere where it is hopefully less obvious rather than removing it.

£7 to 8k sounds a bit high tbh; tho "rubner" covers a wide range of qualities and values. The "name" has been sold on a few times and only basses made in the 60s were made by mr rubner. The company was owned by musima in the late 80s. You may need a valuation, bearing in mind that an "insurance valuation" will be a lot more than a potential "sales" price. 1. Put it up on here. 2. Try musicalchairs.info Minimal advertising fees ...but selling can be slow. Dealers will ALWAYS rip 15 to 20% from you for a commission sale and usually find "some work" that needs doing before it can go in their showroom....however, they will also put a top price on it and are more likely to find a buyer. Use a specialist: Turners in Nottingham Thwaites in Watford Tim Toft in Stone T&G Martin in Oxfordshire, maybe. Etc My mum sold my late dad's cello last year. It was worth up to £90k (!!) sold for £85k by a dealer who took 15% and also charged £5k for "renovation". Mum got £73k. Last seen being played at the proms! Anyway, that's how it is with dealers and restorers.

Maple Road Saturday 11/22/25 7:00-9:00 "Join us in the newly revamped Eden Ave. event venue located inside Game Over, downtown West Bend! Full bar, killer food menu including smash burgers and a Saturday night of live rockin' blues tunes!" I don't know about this one. I have one main concern. This is downtown West Bend (30k). We're not a 3 hour Saturday night party band. We're a better fit for the larger Summertime afternoon multi-band festivals and fairs, playing for 1.5 hours. This could be a real dud. I've been wrong before. And here's another issue. Dep drummer. Daryl

Due to arrive tomorrow and continuing a trend for Japan Exclusives (my third), here it is. I've had an eye on it for months. It's one of 5 made in that spec. EX = Exotic, LTD = Limited, NAM (Spector Colour Code) = Natural Maple. Nothing to do with NAMM but one of the 5 of these was at NAMM last year to show dealers what is possible with special orders. It's a 3-piece roasted maple neck with a 4A North American flame maple top, walnut sandwich layer, empresswood wing-backs and the headstock matches the top but seems to be gloss vs the matt finish of the body. The wood build is as per the standard RST but in a limited edition finish. It has EMG P (reverse) + J pickups with ivory coloured covers and the DG Legacy Tone Capsule where the standard RSTs have Aguilar humbuckers and an Aguilar preamp. There's an LHZ-04 preamp on standby ready but after playing Gary's CST the other day, I think I'm going to leave the DG in there for a while.

https://digidownload.libero.it/peppelr/ebay/fane/FANE_Classics Series.pdf

Interesting read for me as I'd come to a similar conclusion to - I bought a little Yamaha DXR8 a few years ago and have since found it very capable of carrying vocals/keys/acoustic guitar etc in a pub scenario at a quality we'd have been amazed by at the turn of the century. Apart from the easier weight and the smaller storage footprint, the (lack of) visual intrusion up on a pole is a very nice bonus. Couple of things that follow from what Phil has said - the quality and design integration of horn, crossover and compression driver matter a lot more than the woofer and you can see this in these mid-price little cabs. The Yamahas have a fairly decent Celestion compression driver and cross using DSP with FIR. The woofer is just ok. Cheap out on the top though and it would be much more objectionable. I think our low-end bias as bassists, and a DIY culture that has focused on bass response partly because that's easier to model, clouds our focus a little bit. 500-5k is where the money is IMO. In the age of DSP it's really hard to beat what can be done with modern active FIR crossovers and bespoke programmed multiband compression. I've built several good, flat and well-behaved speakers with passive crossovers using that excellent Bagby spreadsheet program combined with outdoor measurements, but it's a lot of work and the passive components are expensive especially if you have to tweak spec from a prototype. About the only way to make it cost-effective would be to do what LFSys appear to have done and turn it into a premium product. If those cabs had a PA form-factor and big brand behind them I expect they'd cost a lot more (and some components would be downgraded too!).

So, I've finally got space to do a bit of work on this cab to make it worthy of using. I pulled the speaker, cleaned all the black tarry gunk off the edges, cleaned it up, and I've fitted 3mm high density foam speaker gasket. I've glued and dowelled the speaker mounting holes ready to sand down and re-drill. Some of the speaker mounting holes were a bit stripped and the screws couldn't be tightened. All the corners have been removed, sanded and repainted. I'll give them another coat tomorrow before refitting. The whole cab has had a really good clean, and it's come up very nice. The biggest job today was fitting the castors. I went for fairly big ones, 75mm grey rubber, with the front two having brakes. These are mounted with M6 bolts through the cab into internal T Nuts. There's no way these are going to pull off, and it will make it so much easier to move around. Next jobs - re-drill speaker mounting screw holes, more acoustic wadding inside, re-do the speaker wiring. Pics!

☝️ Press each string down on either side of the nut as well, so that it doesn't curve like a banana over the top. Reduces your chance of weird chorus-y noises. Same thing at the saddles too.

Big Country, 'Steeltown'. Tony Butler is an absolute monster on this, superb melodic playing and a HUGE tone. And fabulous BVs too. Another guy to file under 'criminally underrated'.

Too many windings, 3 is enough.

You're worrying too much - there's only a problem with break angle over the nut when there isn't enough of it.

Weeds tripping the light fantastic...

A new venue to play and it's like 2 minutes from my house! Playing tomorrow night with Nine Lives at the Grampian Bar in Torry, Aberdeen. Always an experience to try new places - no idea what to expect!

A very good point. Although I have substantial liability insurance, I intend only to do this on larger stages such as on world tours and possibly cruise ships (if visible on stage) where the risk of poking someones eye out is reduced, as can happen in pubs. I'm hopeful that when I fully master the switch-back, with strong audience eye contact and head-twist winking, I will be generally admired.

Be Bop Deluxe: 'Live in the Air Age' Charlie Tumahai did an amazing job in supporting Bill Nelson's extravagant and complex material. He's surprisingly funky, too. He also contributed some outstanding harmony vocals and had a very cool stage presence. fIREHOSE: 'Ragin' Full-On' There's nothing like a three-piece band to get a bassist to put the effort in. Mike Watt blazes all over this album, filling up the dead air in melodic and interesting ways. Max Webster: 'Live Magnetic Air' Max Webster were more than 'that band who hung about with Rush' - they made some great albums and bassist Dave Myles was at the heart of them. This live album really showcases his superb playing - always forceful and driving. 'Paradise Skies' is a high point, but it's all good. (An honourable mention must go to the guy he replaced after their first two albums - Mike Tilka). 10cc: 'Deceptive Bends' I've picked 'Deceptive Bends' but it could have been any 10cc album, really. Graham Gouldman is criminally underrated as a bassist. His composition skill carries over beautifully into how he writes his bass lines, and they are always superbly constructed. 'The Things We Do For Love' from this record is a great example of what he does.