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Nice little vid here from Sir Horace

Now, for disclosure, many here know I'm a long term Markbass user (my main rig is currently a Casa head into 2 x STD121HR cabs) and I do the odd bit of work for MSL, the UK distributor, but as we haven't had many guitar shows to do, thats been a bit sparse this year... 😞 However, they sent me one of the new Vintage preamps to have a look at before it went to Bass Guitar Review for them to look at. Anyway BGR are not going to get their grubby little hands on this one because I've only been and gone and bloody bought it!! Its got some pretty clever tricks, which set it aside from other preamp/drive pedals. The preamp is based on the Little Mark Vintage head, so it has Gain, Master, 4 x tone knobs set with the same frequencies as the head and, instead of filters, a three way flat/scooped/old switch, which works along with the tone controls to give huge tonal variety. There's no clip light, so loading in a boot full of gain doesn't cause any issues, it just introduces a lovely warm tube gain. It also has a boost switch, giving +6dB headroom. Pressing and holding the drive button for 2 secs switches between two different drives, one modern rocky, the other a more organic old school drive, which can be blended with the clean tone. I've never used drive pedals, but I can definitely see myself using the old school drive, both can be ferocious or very very subtle. It has input/output, a transformer DI out and an effects loop. Then it gets clever... It has a Digital out, both RCA and Toslink, s/pdif switchable between 44.10, 48 and 96KHz. This evening I have been playing with it using an optical cable, directly into my Audient ID44, and it sounds fabulous. The aux in and headphone jacks are sensibly on the top of the box, making it a great practice amp, its going to work well for silent stage, in-ear gigs, and I'm looking forward to doing some recording with it. I'm a happy bunny and gonna enjoy my early Christmas present to myself, because I'm not gigging until NYE, and even that is looking less likely by the minute.

There's a feature line running through the fretboard blank that @Fishman would like to incorporate in the final fretboard. Trouble is, it is quite diagonal across the blank. We looked at a number of orientations using a template from the original board and came up with this as the closest we could get for the feature being centre-ish at both the heel and the nut: With this agreed, I could then cut one of the sides of the blank to give me a 90 degree datum for the fret slots. I also thicknessed the board down to around 5.8mm. That done, I attached the blank to the G&W mitre block 34" template: And then I could start sawing the slots. Here's about half-way through. I'll finish off tomorrow.

No gigs for me in May, I will be too busy queuing for food whenever it might be available.

Hi this is my Ovation B768 Elite

That light blue one looks lovely, shame about the dead spot. I've been trying to avoid stuff we gig as it makes me realise how much I miss it, but the snippet of Nite Club made me go and listen to a live version of it. I love playing that one live, the guitar and vocals used to leave it ages to come back in on the 'that bass part'. Just me and the drums grooving and everyone dancing. Octave runs galore 😁.

Ahh dude this man is a god. The reason I picked up a bass in the first place.

I wouldn’t touch this government with a barge pole...... Oh hold on, sorry. Thanks Jabba 😊

As ever far more eloquent than me - I was furiously typing whilst having a sleepy breakfast before being late for work! Looks like all eventualities will be covered for you

The loop is used with line level effects, whereas instrument level effects are used before the amp input. By and large if it's a stomp box it's instrument level, if it's not it's line level.

The Doobie Brothers! They cover a huge breadth of musical styles with ease (from folk to blue eyed soul to heavy rock to dixieland..... and everything in between) while engaging the audience, grooving tightly together at all times AND looking like they're having a GREAT time!

Are we doing a little bit of man maths here to help justify a BBPH purchase?

ACG J-Type 5, strung E-C. Alan built a new fretless neck for this recently, partial lines on ebony board. East Uni-pre 4K.

Free - Rodgers, Kossoff, Fraser & Kirke. Perfect.

I have the 4HH Special and had the 4H version, with a brief overlap where I had them both. To my ears the HH sounded no different to the H when set to the bridge pickup, which was a relief as I didn’t want to sacrifice that sound, just add to it with the other options the HH gives you. Gratuitous pic alert:

Tower Of Power 'nuff said.

I’m probably a little more simplistic in my approach, I learn the songs I want to play then I play them. It’s probably why I’m not as good on the bass as I should be, but I can play what I need to do I’ll settle for that.

I finally got the double battery box blocked up and filled in with a piece of swamp ash off cut and topped with polyester filler. I have given the back of the bass some black polyester finish. The back of the body is now sanded flat and ready to have it's final hi-gloss black coating. It's going to look great with the book-matched front that Joe picked from my stock of exotic tops.

It's all in Dutch, but here is the complete live stream I did with Aafke Romeijn. Used my Mustang and fretless Stingray and they sound amazing, if I may say so myself.

For the benefit of my mental health I have decided to build a bass I don't need. So far I have purchased most of the items on my shopping list and I'm starting to receive packages. I'm already learning things... The build: I don't have woodwork experience and most DIY I do ends in disaster, but I want to learn. I'm good with IKEA furniture and I've soldered pickups in before so I've bought mostly components that I can screw together. Body - the most expensive part is an Ash PJ rear routed body from Guitar and Bass build. I got a good deal I think, and it's being made for me right now. It will have all routing and screw holes done. Why PJ? Just fancied it, I don't have a PJ at the moment. I'll finish the body with Crimson Guitars cherry red stain and finishing oil to a matt finish. This is actually the first stuff to arrive off my order list! Neck - I bought a lefty black jazz bass neck off ebay from Jinwan having read they're OK. It's all painted black, rosewood board with white pearl block markers, white binding and some kind of nut already installed. Lesson 1: should have bought a 2nd hand neck with nut and tuners already installed, would have saved time and money. I'm kicking myself now I'm seeing Fender necks with tuners for £100 and I was mulling over a right handed neck anyways for 80s rock-Ness. Pickups: I've bought Entwistle PBXN and JBXN pickups new, about fifty quid. Have heard they're very good pickups, though I would have preferred a more prestigious brand to come up second hand I just got impatient. Lesson 2: be patient. Bridge: 20 quid for a hi mass Retrovibe bridge that doesn't really look Fender ish but looks good to me. That's the major stuff done. I totalled up what I'd spent and gulped a little. I wanted to keep the cost lower than a Sire. Well, depends which model Sire and whether you go new or 2nd hand, but the costs are mounting. Still, hoping the process pays me back in experience. I've got some spare bits like strap buttons and even a spare loom put of an old bass should I refuse to spend any more. While the components are modest I'm regretting not being more of a scavenger for 2nd hand parts already, but even so, I am hoping this can come out quite nicely and teach me a thing or two. Photos and musings to follow as I progress...

seconded thirded

Yes for cabinet scraper and for titebond from me

I've also use an acrylic lacquer by Chestnut once before which has the benefit of being water based, can be applied with a brush or sponge and is non-smelly. Also, if you are joining two parts of a body yourself it can be worth putting masking tape along the joint length to stop excess glue going on the surface you plan on staining. I seem to remember some glues being better than others in terms of showing up under stains (I stay clear of Resin W - much prefer Cascamite or Titebond - just my preference).

I'm using D'Addario Chromes and I can recommend them. Also, although it may be a minority interest, I'm using a 5-string acoustic, an Ibanez from their 'Exotic woods' series.

Possibly even try a cabinet scraper

The guitars are the property of the shop. They've got money tied up in them and will now have to go through the cost and inconvenience of dealing with the theft, so this is far from a victimless crime. It must be hard enough to run a guitar shop at the best of times, never mind with this sort of thing happening.

Doodling with the pb20, seems a great pbass.Nice neck profile.Mega value

Toto as together and individually they have played with the best over the years and featured on some of the biggest selling albums of all time.

Yep as above - really sand it bare - I often sand up past even 600 - or higher until I get bored

@Merton story of my life.,,

You probably need to sand further down. Glue (or previous finish preparation residue if it's stripped) doesn't soak in a lot - but it is surprising how much you have to sand down to get rid of it. So it's a sanding block with something like 80 grit (60 is too coarse) sanded with the grain until a wipe over with a damp cloth reveals no light patches - lighter patches usually designate the areas where the dampness isn't soaking into the wood and flags probable contamination still there (because almost all woods darken when they absorb moisture). Then - after letting it dry again, sand out the sanding marks with the progression of, say, 120, 180, 240 grit before staining again. The stain should then soak into all of the wood leaving just the teeny glue line which will hardly show (other than clearly being a join line )

So pleased to have read this thread! I have the TC Spectradrive pedal and had been using 'Natural Drive' - that was OK but a bit too fuzzy for my liking so most of the time I left it switched off. I had a proper read of the toneprints available and it seems that 'Clean Boost' approximates to the Spark Booster. I had previously ignored it because I didn't want a clean boost! So I beamed 'Clean Boost' into the pedal, boosted the mids a little, cut the bass a tad and - yum, there it is - the drive I've been looking for Really fattens it up in the way I want it to. Another score for Basschat!

Fixed that for you

I think you said that the body was going to be stained, @oldslapper ? If that is the case - while I fully endorse what @Cuzzie says, and especially thinning the oil a touch for the initial sealing coats - I would make a small but important change to the sequence. What @Cuzzie describes in terms of applying the initial coats with sandpaper is exactly the best way for unstained wood. It basically creates a slurry of oil and fine sawdust that acts as a perfect grain-fill/surface preparation that will eventually lead to a wonderfully organic silky smooth satin finish and a perfect base finish if you wanted to build up to a gloss. However, for stained wood, while using sandpaper is still done (I actually use very fine wet and dry c 1000-2000 grit), it is best not to use that for those initial coats. Stains - and especially water-based stains - are surprisingly thin. They do no penetrate the wood much at all. And if the surface is slurried at this first stage, the stain will certainly be sanded off in places. So - and I emphasise this is only for a stained finish - I would just change the sequence a touch. What I do is: - apply the sealing coats. Thinning is a great suggestion to get the oil properly into the wood. - I then apply 2-3 further coats (making sure they are dry between each coat) - and then I apply the next coat using 1000+ grit wet and dry, where the wet is oil, and gently apply the coat with the paper in a smooth gentle movement - pretty much as @Cuzzie describes. The same thing happens, but now the slurry is a mixture of hardened oil mixed with fresh oil rather than oil and sawdust. I check the paper regularly to ensure that minimal stain is coming off in the oil - if it is then let it dry and put a couple more coats on before repeating this process. For unstained, I do pretty much exactly what @Cuzzie suggests

Yeah, played a few at Andertons the week they came out. Too many variables though to say the exact cause of difference, the single H were heavier and had ebony or rosewood boards. It’s also the same old thing of the same spec bass won’t always sound the same on each example. I get that the signal has to travel through additional components on a HH, but they always fundamentally sound like a Ray to me. I guess the only real way to know is to alter/test a HH as a H... but life it surely too short 😀

Cheers @Reggaebass. I’m thinking of treating it to a Matt scratch plate. I am a big fan of them. Far more robust than the standard shiny finish.

How about a spot of Black and Blue?

My 2020 Stingray Special in Aqua Sparkle :

If it helps, I’m planning on going to Ashdown at the end of next week, if you want me to look at anything specific just let me know 🙂

@TheGreek a combo was my first thought but I think he just wants a head and a cab, so he can feel like the people he looks up to, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to spoil him or whatever. I’m just trying to be as supportive as I can as playing the bass seems to be doing him a lot of good in so many way.

Certainly having two cabs with the same speakers eliminates phase issues as all the speakers are doing the same thing at the same time. A few years ago I had a set of SWR cabs with a 4x10 and a 1x18. I replaced the 1x18 with an identical 4x10 and the difference was very noticeable.

As promised, here is one of the tracks from my tape transfer. I've listened back to it a couple of times and it's cringeworthy for several reasons, but I was only a teenager when we wrote this stuff, so it is what it is. I'm going to have a go at re-recording this one with a few of my current band members and see what we can do with it.