Leaderboard

As I went down the road to the SE Bass Bash in November I stopped off en route to purchase a bass for the hell of it, a Cort Curbow. I had always been really intrigued about them, what with their use of man made materials and I always thought they looked pretty neat in some finishes. I spied one for sale, a sunburst one and figured "what the hell?" So, I like how it looks, and I like how it feels to play. Unfortunately, whilst sounding fine in headphones, it was utter garbage live with the band. Where are my mids? This thing is so scooped by default that they're barely noticeable. I had to crank the mids on the preamp AND crank them on the amp just to be audible, seriously, it just disappeared. Well, I picked it up for a tasty low price so I figured it was worth modding. I procured a Bartolini Classic Bass soapbar of the appropriate size and shape (MK4CBC) (thanks @Bass Direct) and someone on here sold me a Glockenklang 3 band preamp for a decent price (cheers @Fettsman) and got to work on the mods. Fitting the pickup was a piece of cake, the only thing of note I had to do was accomodate 2 screws on one side instead of one. Then I replaced the stupid "slap switch" (which scoops an already inherently scooped bass some more - WHY?) with a much more useful parallel/single/series switch and fed the pickup into that. However, fiting the preamp was another matter. This body is thin, and to compound the issue, the knobs are sunk into the top. There was no effing way that Glock was going to fit in there as supplied. I mean, I was modding it anyway - don't need a blend control on a single pickup bass after all. First problem - the body of the push pull volume control was just too tall, even if the shakeproof washer was eschewed. So out with the drill and the forstner bit to remove some material from the cavity to sink it down enough so the lid will go down... Just made it! Not a lot of material left, but this luthite stuff seems sturdy so I think it'll be OK. Then onto the main board, which was way too tall. So, to scheming. Thankfully, while the control cavity in the Curbow may be shallow, it is thankfully quite wide. Lots of dead space above where the bass pot would go... So to cut a long story short, I turned it through 90 degrees. The pot legs wouldn't bend enough while it was mounted, so I had to desolder the pot, bend little 90 degree nubs on the ends of the terminals then resolder it thus: >>>>> Did a test fit (the small board attached to the mid pot was able to be bent sufficiently with the pot in situ)... Yas, the lid closed. So I soldered up the rest of the wires... Cheeky little single connector block thing for the myriad ground wires I had to connect together... Great success! It now has mids when the preamp is flat! I took it to a subsequent band rehearsal and praise be, I was able to hear myself with the preamp set flat. MIssion accomplished! I hope you enjoyed this shaggy dog story and if you only take away one thing from this, is that it's usually true what they say - where there's a will, there's a way...

That’s right that’s right that’s right that’s right …🙂

We have 50 in stock and they FLEW out the doors... More coming in the new year! This must be the product of the decade (or longer) for MXR Merry Christmas everyone!

A little video, not much good but it gives a good idea of what the bass might sound like in better hands!

Because you're worth it. Don't let that pesky imposter syndrome get in your way. And lose the "just". Even "just" doing pub gigs you are already in the rarefied air of musicians who actually make it out of the bedroom.

Best Buy It has to be this, the bass was bought on the rebound, I missed a Lakland i wanted. I wasn't looking for one of these but the spec's pulled me in. Light with the deepest bottom end passive. I don't need the active EQ on this. A great endorsement when you get something you didn't want or lust after, but find it to be just what you always needed.

Here you go ian goes through how it works as well as his rig.

Oh no it doesn't! 😁

Broadband duly restored, even if the wiring for it has all but been condemned (full fibre to be investigated), and now I have recovered from opening the case, here is my new Overwater headless Progress. Feels completely at home in my hands and is a joy to play. Martin nailed the neck profile I wanted and I do love a headless bass. Thanks to Martin Lee, Chris May and everyone else involved in the building of this marvellous instrument. We will be very happy together for a long time. Three piece ash body Three piece maple neck Lined ebony fingerboard Hipshot tuner/bridge John East Overwater preamp

I've just finished a theatre run for 'Come From Away'. We didn't have sight of the cast for the show, though the MD did. The MD cued all parts and counted in some sections for band where necessary. Their headset mic was mixed into our IEMs, of which we had full control ourselves in the pit (a god send) The guys at the top level could pretty much do a whole show with their eyes never leaving the pad - I was just happy to get through it as a previous non-reader! I found the experience very challenging but hugely rewarding.

Lovely story about him on New Model Army's Joolz Denby's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/share/1G7qSysD2w/

The Back in the Studio version of this is now out, and it shows just how well put together and executed the bassline is:

New pedal board and pedal day. Thunderstorm is a bargain at £33 and Stritch board £69 with built in power. I’m looking to get a lovely compressor for start of chain and maybe a Pork & Pickle for OD. But as it stands: Polytune Hot wax (hot tubes constantly on, wax for dirt) Thunderstorm battalion (dist always on and Pre EQ)

- I was getting into #4 - slapper thinking yeh that's me... then #5 *fell off chair laughing* 🤣

That's neat

Sorry, but I forgot all about Fender when I discovered they weren't the only company making jazz basses.. I went with this and it puts to shame everything Fender's making. I definitely want another one.

Dear agedhorse, Dan, tauzero and nekomatic, Thanks for your responses. This is what happend so far: I rang the Eich-office. This is what they told me: A few years ago, Neutrik has changed the design of some of their connectors/plugs and therefor the problems that I'm having in my cabs, are somewhat well known to Eich (and they are really pissed about this!). Therefor Eich offered to send me complete new back plates of the cabs (for free!) so that these bad connections belong to the past (for me). I find that very generous of Eich. As soon as I have changed the plates, I will notify you all on the outcome. For now; thanks for your involvement!

Expensive is so relative. The two basses I paid over my 'expensive' threshold, were both made possible because I completed large chunks of work. I've been through long periods where spending £50-100 could mean many months of saving. I am having to be careful now, as I need as many savings as possible to buy somewhere when dad's house is sold and split three ways. So those two big purchases (and my rig) were really special; both were cheaper alternatives to genuine vintage instruments I could never afford but give me a feeling of connection to music I love.

I expect the Chinese Hofner (Contemporary and Ignition) violin basses outsell the German built ones many, many times over, which couldn't have helped. As an example, out of curiosity I bought a couple of the cheapest Hofner Ignition violins to decide a) whether I liked violins at all, and b) which pickup positions I preferred. I chose the Ignition basses because their construction is a little closer to the hollow body originals, not having the full maple centre block of the Contemporaries. I then very briefly owned a genuine German violin bass, but to be honest, the Ignitions got pretty darn close sound, feel and weight-wise so the German went back and I still have the Ignition. It may get gigged when I need a featherweight shortscale in my old(er) age. It's a shame when anything "iconic" disappears, but such is commerce.

I wish to thank you for not saying "colourway".

Too complicated for me

I've cut the grill to size and used Gorilla tape on the outside of the frame just to keep it clean tidy. I've printed some riser blocks for the outside of the grill that fit in the corners of the cabinet. The ones in the picture are far too large, but they're to check things out and I'll print some better ones shortly. These will be glued to the front of the baffle (NoNails) and will have a M3 nut embedded in them. The hole for the nut is aligned to the holes in the grille. On top of the riser block will be some adhesive rubber, 1mm thick), to stop vibrations. More riser blocks may be needed, but the principle is set now. I have the "advantage" of not gigging at the moment, as there's only me and the drummer, so little chance or marauding fans rushing the stage sadly. It's very, very likely that I'll design some M3 handbolts to screw into the riser block. These will probably have the felt washers that are on the guitar strap buttons to further reduce vibration (or may not). I designed a lot of hand bolts for astrophotography, you can check them out here (https://starclamps.com/), these are all parameterised so I have lots of options. I also have some nice brass ones somewhere which might look nice. The red corner pieces have been redesigned so that they don't protrude as far into the baffle area as before, to give the grill some some space. The hand bolts should allow the grille to be taken off easily, Once I've painted the baffle board matt black, most of the riser elements will simply disappear, well that's the idea. Lets see how it works. but I'm off from tomorrow to London so nothing will be progressing. Have a good Xmas all Rob

The latest update from Gary at Upton Bass. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

That’s a beautiful colour scheme

Although a Precision player, I would suggest MIJ for the consistent and excellent build quality, both of which represent terrific value for money. I have no doubt Jazz basses are just the same.

Any excuse to re-post this ...

To annoy the internet 👍

Merry Christmas guys x mwah 💋 😂

But one pedal looks.so.sad😢

For both of us...

Those would all benefit from a tort scratchplate. 😁

Just for clarity … AI as in artificial intelligence, or Al as in short for Al Krow? On my phone a uppercase i and lowercase L are the same. I mean if Al Krow did come steal my job, it would be, to quote him , a game changer’

For those who prefer an alternative slant of his on Christmas check out Joys of Christmas from Dancing with Strangers. And his slide work on That Girl of Mine. Great songwriter.

Not to be a stick in the mud guys , but this is the beginners guide to home recording this latest discussion may as well have been a dissertation on quantum physics for what I understood of it 😁

There is another dimension to this in that some people might want to buy a US made bass like a G&L or say a Hofner bass because they live in the USA or Germany and want to support local producers. Perhaps if more people bought one bass from a company in their country rather than 3 from the far east these companies would not be facing bankruptcy and disappearing from the market.

Had the 5 string version in the gold leaf finish, always had a bit of a soft spot for them. Really nice design, mine looked like this:

Back to the OP, I think an expensive bass is where there is a bass i want, but immediately think that perhaps I should wait and see if I can pick one up used, rather than just buying it new. This was me when I wanted a Rob Allen. As to the actual level of money, this will always vary from person to person and we shouldn’t judge others by what they consider expensive/cheap. That aside, upper level instruments seem to be outstripping inflation by some measure. My first ever custom bass is coming up 10 years old, so I dug out the invoice, did the inflation calculation and it should now cost roughly £250 more than I paid for it. Even the basic, off the shelf, version is way beyond that. If I go back to the aforementioned Rob Allen, these have doubled in cost over a 15 year period and I mentioned my surprise at the cost EBMM basses earlier in the thread. Manufacturers seem to having a laugh with their premium instruments.

Literally any bass that I buy is going to be more capable of sounding good than I am of making it sound so. I have a sire v7/5 and it is light years ahead of me, therefore c. £500 is where I draw the line between “good” and “vanity”

Another good one gone. One of those artists who we all took for granted, but now he's no longer with us I can't think of any equivalent singer-songwriter to replace him. I remember hearing an interview with Chris Rea once where he spoke about wanting to be like Joni Mitchell, where each album was a progression of his style regardless of commercial appeal or fashion trends. Well, I think he achieved that, so rest peacefully Chris.

I've not done pit work, but I have done stage management and lighting design, so I think I can answer some of this. The phone handset isn't for talking to the band. It'll be hooked up to a talk-back circuit - essentially a closed-circuit intercom system - that allows the stage manager, conductor, lighting and sound operators to talk to each other. If the show uses follow-spots, their operators will be on the talk-back too. Music rehearsals will include lengthening parts of songs, cues to play riffs at odd places and repeat some parts. Those will be agreed between the music director and the show director, and be rehearsed seperately. It's not unknown for the actors not to encounter the band until the first technical rehearsal. They'll have been working with backing tracks up to then. When a show does go off-piste - and you're right, pantos do do that - the people who keep it on track are the stage manager, the conductor and the lighting and sound people. The band will have rehearsed what might go off-script and be able to respond accordingly.

Well it would seem I've answered my own question... I ordered a Precision today - the American Professional Classic in faded Sherwood Green Metallic. There's been one in the Gallery in Camden that I've looked at several times, and today I pulled the trigger, so it'll be here in a few days - probably after Xmas. I went for the new model, as [from what I've heard] the new 'Coastline' pickup (apparently derived from the 'Pure Vintage' series pickups) sounds very warm at the bottom, but has clear highs without the nasty nasal honk. Basically quite similar sounding to my previous Am.Professional I. We'll see how it plays after I've set it up...

Three very good friends of mine have all toured on Keyboards with Chris at various times. They had nothing but great things to say about him and often spoke fondly about him as a musician and a human being. R.I.P.

Sad news, a fine musician and songsmith.

My Thumb NT cost £900 in 1988, which apparently is the equivalent of £2750 in today's money. The equivalent would be a Masterbuilt, €8900 plus shipping. That's wildly outstripping inflation, and shoots past "too f*cking expensive" into "you've got to be f*cking kidding" territory.