Leaderboard

First new bass in many years and I'm chuffed! Spector Euro LX4 DW (Doug Wimbush) in Amber. Great quality build, fantastic playable neck (and I'm digging the narrow nut) and a beautiful maple finish, reminds me of a Warwick thumb in many ways, but more 'grungy' Oh, and the pups are *really* hot! Lovely, lovely, lovely!

there you go, you're getting it! 🤣 seriously though, I apologise if my previous post sounded patronising - that wasnt my intent. ive often made the mistake of writing a sarcastic or fascectious remark on this forum only for it to be taken the wrong way because I didnt put a "lol", "haha" or emoji in the post so when I say this I say it because I have learnt the hard way myself. Not everyone will take the time to proof read or use "proper" English when writing a post on a forum - that said, you are right, your posts do generally seem to be more well written than most. I admire everyone who has taken the time and effort to learn another language as it is something I cannot do. I wasnt trying to be patronising, the sarcasm wasnt self evident as explained above. Peace

I couldn't resist - I've just ordered one. I'm going to be in so much trouble when the missus notices it.

All went good! :

Stanley Clarke (of all people) came out with an absolute diamond piece of advice once in an interview. He said "Learn all you can about theory and then forget about it". I didn't really get that until years later. It basically means learn as much theory as you possibly can, but just play what you think sounds best, regardless of what you think will impress.

had no problems with the sale, buyer has confirmed he's received the Bass in good condition

A musician, yes. Everything else is just detail. Professional, semi professional, amateur, talented, journeyman, good, bad, trainee, experienced, retired, Jazz, studio, session, classical etc etc.

Sorry about that. If you wait a few weeks it'll probably be up for sale, knowing me.

Gutted for the man. Is it me, or is just about every stolen music kit incident I've ever heard of been from the boot of a car? How do the buggers even know? There must be some times when its unavoidable, but I always force myself to unload the car after every gig, no matter how late or tired I am. I'd rather take the heat for waking the wifey and kids than find an empty car in the morn 8(

The Roadworn nitro is the one to have in my book, selected lighter woods me thinks.

NBD - Squier Deluxe Active Jazz IV *Revisited* I had been very smug and pleased with myself for getting down to just the one bass, a Bitsa Jazz that I assembled from parts and finished myself. Hipshot, Gotoh, KiOgon… all proper premium components, no tat! Very happy with it and its powerful Entwistle JBXNs, which sounds really killer through my 1997 Trace GP7 715 150W combo. BUT… dangerously, I allowed my mind to wander in an idle moment. What was the bass I most missed and most regretted moving on? Being absolutely honest with myself, it turned out to be (weirdly) a Squier Deluxe Active Jazz IV - which I bought and reviewed on this very board some four years ago and then sold, for a reason I can’t now remember. GAS, probably. So, as they’re not the world’s most expensive bass and as I was curious, I ordered one - an end-of-line display/demo model from Andertons. Notable features include a three-band active EQ circuit and an Ebonol fingerboard. As I understand it, Ebonol is a phenolic polymer that mimics the qualities of ebony in that it is hard and dense…but is synthetic and thus completely impermeable. I like it a lot. It’s a slab board basically and renders the underlying maple neck very stable indeed. The neck plays well with practically no relief in it and allows a lower (and more buzz-free) action than I would otherwise entertain with a more conventional wooden board. The neck is arrow-straight and the fretwork is superb. And I mean £1000+ superb. Completely level frets and not even a hint of an edge anywhere. To find this quality on a bass that cost less than £300 is truly remarkable. This board is smooth and fast and this neck alone is worth the price of admission. The controls comprise volume, pickup blend, stacked treble/bass and mid. There is also the so-called 'slap switch', essentially a mid-cut which boosts the lows and top end, ostensibly for slapping… I won’t be doing any of that, but it’s useful to have at your fingertips and in conjunction with the EQ allows for more tone-shaping options. The board radius is 12”, a little flat for me but I don't mind so much as the nut width and shallow neck are (unsurprisingly) very Jazz-like, so a flatter board suits me here. The bass feels good in the hand, isn't overly heavy (around 9lb) on the shoulder and balances well on the strap. It's effortless to play and after a few minutes the controls become completely intuitive and very easy to use. This bass punches WAY above its weight. There are always negatives of course - the bridge and tuners are not premium quality - especially when juxtaposed with the Hipshot Ultralights and Gotoh 201B fitted to my Bitsa. The bridge is a generic Gotoh-alike high-mass top-load affair with saddle-screw runners - and does its job perfectly well. The ubiquitous budget ‘vintage’ clover-leaf tuners work smoothly enough and adequately hold the bass in tune, which is all you can reasonably expect, so no complaints yet. The treble/bass stacked pot is quite a bit taller than the other controls and I can imagine it taking a knock or two. The pots could be smoother and more positive in their action and the midway detentes could be more obvious. But I’m guessing Squier had to cut costs somewhere. These are minor niggles. Would I use this as my main bass? With absolutely no hesitation, despite the fact I don’t much care for sunburst and especially not pickguard-free sunburst. But irrelevant cosmetic issues aside, it plays quite differently to my Bitsa Jazz and has WAY more tone options on tap. You can of course produce the generic vintage single-coil Jazz sound if you want it, but you can also quickly dial in more ‘modern’ sounds - and anything else you can think of - from fat, fingerstyle dub tones through clanky, gritty rock via hefty plectrum twang to full-on growl, burpy funk and mid-free hi-fi slap. It’s all in there. And you'd be very hard-pressed to tell the difference between this Indonesian Squier and a MIM Fender (or dare I say it, a MIA Fender) in a blind listening test. The Squier feels right, plays very nicely indeed and sounds fantastic. It’s essentially a wannabe boutique Super Jazz, but aimed at the budget-conscious entry-level buyer. Or those in my position - the seasoned (yet impecunious) overweight senior cheapskate-cynic. But is it as good as I remember? Very much so, and in some ways it’s better. Four years have passed since I owned one and my priorities have changed, my playing has changed and I see things a little differently now, as I’m sure we all do. But I’m very happy to have this back in the fold. I did have a little fantasy about refinishing it in vintage white (and I may yet do so), tinting the headstock, applying an F-decal and fitting a guard. But I don’t want to drill new guard holes in the body, the decal thing is really only of interest to bass players and other idiots and frankly I’m getting a bit bored with the ‘identity’ thing. Name-band pro players regularly rock up sporting the S-decal and if it’s good enough for them, etc. So for the moment at least it’s going to do its thing completely stock and original as nature (and Squier) intended - apart from the new DR Nickel Lo-Riders I fitted. Hardly a modification, but a very positive improvement on the iffy strings that came with the bass. I can easily see it becoming a bit of a workhorse and it’s already a go-to instrument. It’s one of those basses you just can’t walk past without picking it up and playing it. You won’t be surprised then if I recommend you add this particular arrow to your quiver - it can currently be got at a silly price, especially if you haggle - even if you’re not a Jazz person (and I'm not), you can’t fail to be impressed by the dead-straight and supremely playable neck, the smooth, hard and fast Ebonol board, the extremely versatile and intuitive EQ and the huge range of tones on offer. In short, it’s a bargain. But if you ARE up for it, get one ASAP - Squier seem to have discontinued this model and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Yes - it's much higher than the standard fixing screws. The i.d. of the standard fixing screw is 3mm and is usually - I think - mild steel, the i.d. of a stainless m4 machine screw is 3.24mm and is, of course, stainless giving 16% greater area over a much stronger steel. The o.d. of the inserts is 9mm, against the standard fixing screws at around 4mm. Wal are the only commercial basses I've personally worked on that fit machine screws and I'm pretty certain they are m4 too. The thing that staggered me was once seeing the tubular fuselage of an Auster light aeroplane. Welded on were 4 small brackets with the holes for the 4 machine screws holding the engine on. Now, admittedly, that will have been aircraft grade stainless, but they were tiny. I reckon 6mm tops - maybe even 5mm.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I haven't used any loopers before and wasn't sure whether swapping the lead would be feasible. I suppose I'll just jump in with the looper first, and look at splitters if I find swapping a fuss - or play chords on bass! Cheers all.

Hi Frank, Yes Times are good for the gigging Bassist. There is good Equipment for nearly every Pocket (pricewise), but no..that was not an exaggeration. We compared the two Amps at a small Bass Player Meeting from a german Bass Forum and the Difference was noticed by other Bassplayers too. When we really turned up the volume to get some performance, the mesa was much more sovereign, but of Course you're right, the Mesa is in another Price Class without a Doubt

You'll still be a musician but a jibbering idiot along with it.

Very tempted to bid in & see what happens.

Not bass related but.....I applied for holiday leave at work for a fortnight in 2019. Already planned what we were going to do - Eurocamp. Price was £1239 for a fortnight in a caravan in Italy (flights & car hire on top of this). My boss approved the holidays yesterday so last night I sat down to book. Black Friday deal with Eurocamp reduced the cost to £560 thus saving a whopping £679. Unexpected and a genuine saving for something I was purchasing anyway. Impressed!

This is sarcastic, in fact, you are the one who didn't get it, sorry. And by the way, the correct sentence shoud have been : "I'm not sure you understand sarcasm : furthermore, I guess English isn't your mother tongue ?" And certainly not this approximation : I'm a bit fed up with this "not your mother tongue" remark as I do write a way far better English than most of the natives on this website. Period.

I must say, the experience of being part of a choir has not only made be a better bass player, but a better musician all round. I didn’t have any formal training in music. I started playing as a teenager, so moved and inspired by the early output of Jamiroquai/ Zender, that bass was the direction I took. 25 years later and no regrets. Bass is still my primary instrument, and the one I love above all. My musical tastes have remained very much rooted around that hemisphere of music too, but deeper, naturally. However, a few years ago, by some bizarre accident of events, having had no previous singing experience and no involvement in traditional music, I found myself joining the local Gaelic Choir. It was a revelation, and there was no turning back. There is something ethereal and electrifying about standing in the midst of 30 voices when you’re locked tightly into a complex arrangement of a big piece. Whether it’s sensitive and beautiful, or vigorous and bold, the emotive power of the situation is huge and unquestionable. There are strict technical requirements though, and these are what have made me the better musician. Firstly, I had to learn how to read music and, by default of the learning process, my sight-reading is ever improving.By absolute necessity I’ve developed a greater sense of subtlety, restraint, and discipline. A more refined sense of place and, as a result, the whole. My natural timing has improved, and the basic nature of choral singing has made me infinitely more harmonically conscious. Also, the specific process of learning, breaking down into tiny detail and reconstructing a few select pieces over many months, and the inherently complex nature of the arrangements have allowed me to understand music in a way I never would have otherwise... and it’s all transferable to bass. Choir singing happened randomly, and out of the blue, but now that it’s part of my life I love it. I’m more of a musician than I ever was before, or ever would have been without it ... and I’m grateful for that. Are there any other choristers here? If so, what benefits have you perceived? Tell me something of the kind of choir you’re in 🙂 My choral experience has been entirely in the (Scottish) Gaelic language, in both men’s and mixed choirs, in performance and competition, Scotland, and abroad.

I tried googling all types of knobs and frankly this isn’t the website where I landed at all 🤗

Whatever goes into the input comes out of the link, untouched. So if the input is at line level, the link will be at line level.

why the DI? Surely the mixer should have a "line" or "mic" setting on the input, and if the XLR out from the cab link is line level and the desk is set appropriately it should be fine? Our guitarist uses a Line 6 Helix and the matching Line 6 FRFR powered monitor as a cab and we take a line level XLR out from the cab into our Yamaha PA to round out the sound a bit. Works for us.

Gold or a nice deep tort. Black is just lazy IMO.

Is the cab link out at line or speaker level? If the former, you can do it, but will need a DI box with attenuation, to lower the signal sufficiently to avoid overloading the input stage on the mixer. If the latter, no.

Behind me I'm in. Already on my calendar.

Back in the late nineties I tried to put together an Eighties tribute act. I couldn't find a guitarist that would play the Pop stuff needed to get decent gigs. At one rehearsal I discovered that the keyboard player had an amazing voice....long story short... I purchased backing tracks, he sang and I mimed the keyboards. At first I took my bass gear along and played live on some songs because I felt guilty ( the agent and the venues always knew that I was miming) but eventually we realised that nobody cared and I stopped lugging it around. In two years of gigging two or three times a week only one person came up to me and said " You're not playing those keys are you?" when I answered" no" he replied " you do a good job of making it look like you are though!" Go and enjoy the gig ….the punters will just be out to enjoy themselves.

Am I the only one that thinks black pickguards on light colour basses look absolutely awful? Jesus christ, I think those Seafoam/Blue PJ basses would look MUCH better with a white pearl pickguard.

For Sale - A particularly grim copy bass which frankly I can't wait to get rid of. £1 I've checked the wanted ads - nobody is going to want this sucker. From the minute I got this I knew I'd end up selling it - it plays like gristle. Never been gigged. No way I'd risk this in public Trades gracefully accepted - even for a pack of old used Ernie Ball flats I have dogs and smoke like a chimney. I let the dogs sleep on it and chain smoke when playing - it's the only thing that numbs the pain I'd link to my gumtree ad, but it makes me look like it's a scam. Action at 12th fret - about 1' 5" Weight - more than me, but less than the missus. No photos coming soon - it's hideous enough in the flesh without a permanent record I'm based just north of Peterborough. I'll wait for years if necessary to get rid of this. It's likely to be discounted tomorrow and every five minutes subsequently until I end up paying you. I'll ship this in a brown paper bag. It'll only improve it. I'm prepared to travel about 3 miles from home, on my pushbike, dragging it behind on a rope. Feel free to lowball me. I quite like it - it's a chance to feel someone actually wants to talk to me. Is this what you meant @skankdelvar?

Sounds like my ideal gig, well paid, food, not using my own car and I don’t have to actually remember anything.

Hubby's a busy man, so I've been tasked with posting a few pics, before it all becomes utterly obsolete. 😉 It's a unique, 5-string semi-acoustic bass that Umut Dal created for Jack to his own specification. It has a stereo output and two pickups (piezo and magnetic) which can be blended into an amp through a splitter cable. These images are from my own 'propa photoshewt'. Jack prefers the natural, non-photoshopped look, but I found that I needed to get rid of as many of the harsh shadows as possible, at least from the background. Many, many more photos HERE.

I use a Boss RC30 which, if I'm honest, does a lot more than I really need it to. The Zoom B1on (and the G1on) opened my eyes to the possibities of looping on bass and guitar but they only have 30 seconds of loop time which can be a bit restrictive. And of course they don't let you remove the layers that you c*ck up. The ability to delete a layer that you are unhappy with is absolutely vital if you don't want to have to give up on something that you've spent some time and effort building up. It's also nice to have the option of saving any loops that you're particularly pleased with or exporting them to a PC or laptop. The drumbeat/metronome feature on many loopers is invaluable for keeping things tight.

Welcome Julien.

Good

thats lovely...and a relief!

I have a Mesa Subway D800 and I really love it. Lots of Power. Your really can feel and hear, that it is the second or third Generation of Class D Amps. A few Weeks ago we compared the Mesa D800 Side by Side with the Quilter BB800 and the Mesa has blown the Quilter out of the Water. It was really a huge and without a Doubt noticable Difference. The "Lightweight Thing" was also my Intention to go with the Mesa.

Nice!

This is all very exciting! I think you've earned a few days "off" Eude

This is more 'mellow' yellow (Buttercream to be exact). It's a new series 2018 Mexican Player with maple neck, black pickguard and some Custom Shop pickups.

I absolutely love my Squier Pro-Tone V. 2-pup Precision-ish loveliness.

I think if I was pretty sure I wouldnt be recognised and there was little chance of any muso's in the audience (as seems to be the case in the OP) I'd probably do it with xmas approaching.

Spraying again as planned, got the blackburst done but a minor change of plan on the Maple I wasn't too happy with the colour of the red over gold, it was just a little dull so I sprayed a thin coat of silver over the top so it was a gold/silver blend, the test piece looked good so I sprayed the transparent red over the top. I think they are all looking good, the two Ebony ones look as moody as hell and my red one looks very girly Excuse the poor pictures 😦

The TM2 will as @Cuzzie says, ‘bring balance to the force’. He recently played my TM2 which is now fitted with the Sandberg Black Label pickups. I think he was quite surprised by how nice it was. I even said to @Cuzzie that of my 6 Sandberg’s the TM2 is probably my favourite.

So, could I wait 36 hours? Could I b***ery Thing is, one of the remaining major co*k up potentials is fitting the machine screws. It has to be right because there's no wiggle room with machine screws. The inserts have to be absolutely in the right position and absolutely vertical. So rather than worry about it, it was better to just do it. First I dowelled the previous holes - they were originally drilled to 5mm and the machine screws are 4mm and they weren't quite in line with where the neck is now going to be: Then remeasured and drilled the holes for the stainless machined ferrules: Next, drilled the 4mm holes, using my mini press drill to keep it all vertical: Used the point of the wood drill to mark the exact centres on the assembled neck though the body, used some packers to make sure I was square to the mating face incorporating the neck angle, drilled a 6mm hole and fitted the machine screw inserts: Then moment of truth - would it all line up and would the machine screws fit (trust me, they usually don't!). Another 'knock me down with a feather' moment: And THAT means I can look to fit the fretboard very soon and start the neck and heel carve!

Andy sold me some P-Bass "ashtray" covers. Great guy to deal with.

Nancyraygun are you still in the room? Anyway, here's the thing all other things being equal the efficiency of loudspeakers is proportional to their surface area, doubling the cone area gives the equivalent of doubling the amplifier power. There is nothing magic about modern speakers just a gradual improvement in materials and engineering which enable you to squeeze a little more sound out of a modern drive unit. The state of play at the moment IMO is that you can just about squeeze enough sound out of a single 12" cone to match a drummer, so long as you aren't demanding anything unusual in terms of boosting the bass. The Barefaced designs along with loads of others takes advantage of this and the ultralight cab helps a lot with portability too. If you are still reading this thread then I'd recommend you think in terms of buying a couple of 8 ohm, 1x12 cabs. a single one will do for rehearsals and small gigs and adding a second cab will double the efficiency and increase the power from your amp giving you a real boost in sound. It means a single journey for smaller gigs and a return trip for big gigs, though I do sometimes manage two light'ish 1x12's, amp and bass as one lift if the route from the car is straightforward. I think you should be fussed by tone though, compared to speakers amps add very little tone of their own and changing your speakers will change your tone more than changing your amp. I'd go out and try as many speakers as possible, preferably with your own amp.

So the PA outfront - people seeing a gig is usually an isolated event where if they are uncomfortable with the volume, should be standing further back. Most gigs are too loud anyway and will cause permanent hearing damage.... but you can always take earplugs... but again, that isnt rock and roll is it? When playing regularly in a band, this problem is compounded further as despite what the literature says, playing with earplugs doesn't attenuate across the frequency range like one big volume knob... so a lot of people still play without them. Standing next to a drum kit with loads of splashy cymbals and amps running flat out is also going to play havoc with your hearing. Buy hey, as long as it's flapping those trousers, all is good. Here's the rub - those amps running loud are going to bleed absolutely everywhere... straight into the mics, muddying up the mix somewhat rotten. That will make the band sound worse out front. Everybody knows, whether you are in the studio, or live, mic bleed is not a sound mans friend. Similarly, running amps so loud you can hear them over the PA is equally frustrating, as you can't get a good mix and you can't get a good balance between the left and right speakers because those loud guitar amps are highly directional. Pity the guy in the audience who is getting blasted by it. Pity the guy who has come to the gig and is off axis to the guitar amp and can't hear the guitar. Yes, the sound guy could put more of it through the PA... but then poor guy getting blasted is now getting full on assaulted and everybody is questioning whether the sound guy is deaf because there is so much guitar in the mix. You yourself have stated that bleed into mics (from the cymbals etc) is a problem. It is - so by having the onstage volumes more quiet alleviates this. Yes, I know you are going to say that it's just not rock and roll to not be smashing seven shades of sh** out of a kit... but you should be playing for your audience... not for self indulgence. Your band will sound better with a smaller / less loud kit and darker cymbals to avoid all the shrillness coming over the cymbals. Will make your vocal sound infinitely better too. So lets talk in ears. Which inears were you using? When I am talking about inears, I talk of inears that give you 26db attenuation - much more than your typical 17db attenuation that you typically get from ear plugs. Note - 17 to 26dB is a big amount. 26 is like putting your fingers deep into your ear holes. If you had to turn your inears up so loud, I guarantee that you did not have a good seal on them. If you did, you can do a gig on inears at whisper volumes. Fact. Standing 1 metre or 1 mile from the drum kit will make no difference when the band is playing because the isolation provided by the inears means you can't hear the ambient drums with any clarity or volume. So when you say the snare is too loud in your ears, it's because it's too loud in the mix being supplied to your inears... not because you are standing too close to the drums. If this indeed the case, I know everything I need to know about your IEMs. They either don't provide any serious attenuation or they are a poor fit. This isn't my opinion. This is fact. Theres guys out there using IEMs in tiny venues every day - and it's arguably better to use them in those type of venues than the stadiums because you will be usually standing a lot close to the drums due to the reduced stage areas. So you tried the Helix instore? I'm glad you had that time to learn the system intimately in order to form a good opinion on how it can work for you. I guarantee that the store would have set it up in it's optimum setting and nobody had messed around with the presets or anything like that too. Likewise, I'm sure your rock and roll ears are a good medium to draw such statements. Should also point out that modelling from the Pod and Eleven Rack is very, very old and not in the same category as the modern offerings from the main players, Helix, Kemper and Axe FX. If I was to blind test you with a Kemper, there is zero chance that you'd be able to tell the difference between the two... even with your golden ears. This isn't me saying this... this is the industry. These great bass players that you talk of - most of them don't. They have roadies. On theatre shows, they will have carriage (this in particular will determine what they choose to use - the truth is, they'll use what ever is the least hassle - they won't even care if it sounds any good or not most of the time). And again, a lot of the time, it's stage dressing... because the audience want to see something on stage, even if the sound isn't coming from it. A lot of these great players ARE using modellers - because they can take their rig with them on a USB stick. It makes it more consistent when the hire stock hasn't got your amp and cab of choice. What you have to remember also, is that a lot of these guys are using the gear because they are either endorsed to do so, ego driven because they want to see their image in the bass rags or because they are dinosaurs. As I've stated, theres nothing wrong with dino gear... but things can be done differently. There is a load of backlash against inears and modellers... and as demonstrated by yourself, those opinions are usually strongest from the people who haven't tried the gear properly. Your inears experience is typical - using the buds you got free with your phone does not count as trying inears in anger. I, along with a load of other guys have been the dinosaurs.... and thats cool... because modelling was pants compared to where it is now. But I kept my eye on the modelling market as I knew that if they got it nailed, thats where we should be... in terms of tone and portability... and safety to our own ears. Im sorry that dinosaurs are insulted by such a label. I kinda get fed up of being called a sound geek. Ah well, this is the snowflakeosaurus generation after all. Right, I'm going to find a corner to cry in because I think somebody accused me of not knowing sh**.