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Hey @Bart Funk Bass - as your channel just seems to primarily be lots of content copied from other YouTube channels, is it not a bit cheeky asking for PayPal support..? Just curious.

It’s here!!! Spent a little while getting her strung up and adjusted, pleased to report the neck is dead flat and I’m able to get my preferred super low action. I’ve been playing it in passive series mode whilst I get it set up. It’s so smooth sounding - and it does a great P sound, so I’ve got rounds on it to add to the P I have with flats. More later once I’ve had time to properly play it!!

If he'd said Blood Sugar Sex Magik I'd be all over it.

Mrs Bassfinger has sent Thomann a photo of me and decreed that they will not sell me any more HB's without her approval.

So... this was a bass I was watching with a very keen eye on eBay last week. It's a ZAK bass, which, from some of Mayones history information, seems to be an export brand name used by Mayones in the mid nineties... check out this old catalog page for instance... vintage! The ZAK branding appearing in the upper right of the page. And here's Mayones founder at a trade expo showcasing the basses in the early nineties... So for the moderately small sum of £215 I got; The Zak BeJJ BO4 bass £? A new Warwick Rockbag worth £70 A brand new unused 5 Pot pre wired Bartolini preamp HR5.2AP/918 worth £145 Ernie Ball replacement knobs worth £13 So already a bit of a good deal all things considered...BUT... this just isn't a cheap bass... it can't be, the quality for a start is superb, for a bass that must be 25 - 28 years old it's oozing quality parts and timbers. The body wood is Etimoe, which is highly curved and shaped, very much like the early Warwick Basses, note the matching control cavity cover and look at this cuuuurve! The timber also has lovely figuring and good matching, and is solid, very solid. Speaking of Warwick Basses... I was pleasantly surprised to see this... I thought, a ha! a fake Warwick Bridge... but no, a Schaller Bridge manufactured to Warwicks Design! Again really solid, nice and heavy, very classy. The neck is a 5 piece, if it's maple it's very dark, possibly cherry / mahogany but I can't see it being much else, stringers are either Wenge or Ebony, but again under the lacquer they're very dark, stamped number 54. Japanese Gotoh tuners. Matching headstock veener cap and truss rod cover. Plastic nut, Wenge fingerboard and mother of pearl inlays. I'm currently stripping the lacquer off the bass as it's very very thick and glossy which I can't stand and I'll be giving this a brief sand before oiling and waxing the finish, but from the parts shown above the bass has the following hardware; Japanese Gotoh Tuners Schaller / Warwick Bridge & Tailpiece MEC active 2 band EQ MEC active jazz pickups it's a super looking and feeling bass, with a little TLC i'll get it looking a little fresher and hopefully for £215 have myself a bloody bargain at long last! I'll be doing a refin build diary over in the build diaries forum for anyone who wants to track that. Cheers!

G&B built the VFL pickups for Peavey and the Tone Pump preamp for Spector ; also did the EMG Select many moons ago 👍

Walking round King’s Lynn market square, as you do whilst playing.

So would it be safe to say that Marc S won't be needing a Marquess .. 😉

I got drafted into a Ragtime / New Orleans type jazz band as a substitute bassist for a gig last week and I was planking it. The band are really nice folks (and forgiving) but I was totally out of my comfort zone in terms of musical genres as this was their first gig in ages, I didn't want to make a dogs dinner of the bass. I needn't have worried (too much) its was a blast and I was able to blagg my way through most of it, the crowd loved it.

Definitely, under absolutely no circumstances whatsoever, I absolutely promise! lol EDIT: Of course.... this doesn't stop me looking......

My Old Smoothie with Radio knobs on it now.

Just counted the cash- from admission fees and raffle money. Total is £104- venue costs are likely around £50-£60 (just waiting on their invoice). Is everyone happy with the rest going to our previous charity (nordoff robbins)?

Harley Benton – Marquess 5: Quick Review This bass is good and at its price point it’s excellent value. Sound & electronics You immediately notice that the pups have considerable punch and that’s without being particularly close to the strings. Each pup has a separate volume control to allow you to use them individually or blend them to taste. Both pups deliver a very nice touch of growl. The neck pup is warm and full; the bridge more gnarly as expected and blended together they deliver a sweeter, slightly mid-scooped, tone. 2 band EQ. Bass set to ‘neutral’, or a very slight cut to tighten up the low end, is good; you certainly don’t want/need to be boosting the bass. The treble has a good range from vintage when rolled off to bright when maxed to deliver a slap ‘zing’, should it be required. Very slight high pitched whine from my rig when the treble is boosted - similar to what I get on some of my other basses e.g. Spector Euro 5LX, but completely disappears when set to ‘neutral’ or cut. It has no problems in belting out a meaty low B - entirely consistent with being a 35" scale bass. Comfort, design and playability The first thing I did was to weigh the Marquess because some HB 5ers have been known to weigh more than some minor planets, which would be a deal breaker for me. I had a good feeling about this one as it didn’t feel too heavy in the box and that was confirmed when it weighed in at just 4.2kg (9.2 lbs). Yaaay! The strings are 17mm spaced at the bridge which I’m very used to as it sits between my Ibby SR Premium at 16.5mm and Yamaha BB at 18mm and is, in fact, actually the same as my Spector Euro LX – but I appreciate that 17mm may be too narrow for some folk who prefer a 19mm spacing. The bass is comfortable to wear, but has a fair bit of neck dive which can sometimes be a feature, particularly of 5 string basses where the neck : body weight ratio is higher than on a 4 string due to the broader necks on a 5er. But when compared to my recently acquired BB 2005, which is a little heavier at 9.9lbs but which has almost zero neck dive, this is probably the Achilles heel of the HB for me. The bass was well set up straight out of the box with a very comfortable action and no noticeable fret buzz. The dusty end of the fretboard going up to the 24th fret is very accessible. Comparison This new bass reminds me of my Spector Legend Custom with its similar 2 band EQ set-up. I liked the Legend a lot and it gave me the confidence to upgrade to a Euro 5LX that I absolutely love. Except I prefer the Marquess to my former Spector Legend (which was a little too heavy for me and I ended up moving it on). The HB is both lighter and has punchier electronics; the Legend Custom’s EMGs always felt slightly anaemic, certainly in comparison to the pups on the HB Marquess. IMO, other than the neck dive issue on the 5 string, HB have delivered a very decent product particularly at the price point.

As some of you may know, I have been on the hunt for a Motown and old-school (rock) bass for quite some time. Well, the hunt is over as I recently bought this Fender American Pro II P bass in the dark night finish. Very nice bass. I especially like the smooth neck and the build quality. It was a bit difficult to actually find a Pro II in this finish. Couldn't find one in the UK. I eventually got hold of one on reverb, seller was LL Music Center in Belgium https://www.llmusiccenter.com/gitaren/bas.html The owner Luc was very nice and packed the bass super safely (double boxing). The whole transaction went smoothly and I definitely would buy from Luc again. As you can see from the photos, I added a Dark Knight hologram sticker I found on Etsy. I just could not resist. As I always buy and sell basses (this year, so far, I've bought six and also sold six), I got a replacement pickguard to protect the original one from unwanted sticker glue. The company is called d'Andrea and the pickguard is of excellent quality with perfect fit. I cannot notice any difference between this one and Fender's original one. Could it be that they produce pickguards for Fender? Would not surprise me. Anyway, I can recommend d'Andrea in case you are looking for a replacement pickguard. I got mine from Thomann. https://www.thomann.de/gb/dandrea_p_bass_style_pickguards_for_bass.html I also added a thumb rest. It came with two screws but I am only using one as I did not want to drill an extra hole. Still works perfectly as I am anchoring my thumb near the end of the thumb rest where the screw is. Finally, I changed the strings to LaBella 760 FS. I love these strings. They really help create the sound I had in my mind for this bass. So far, so good 🙂

💥

Ooh, she's naked!! 😄 Just finished taking all the lacquer off, only with 80grit at the mo but will go down through the grades tomorrow to a nice smooth finish. I've slightly reshaped the neck, not a lot, but took some of the depth out of it and it feels nice. It was fun shaving it off wondering how deep the truss rod was. 😄 The red ink should be here in the next day or two and hopefully I'll get it stained over the weekend and then lacquer it next week. No reply from the decal man though, and that needs to go on before lacquering. There's some quite nice grain in places which hopefully will come out more once smooth and stained. I'm considering cleaning and sanding the fretboard, then lacquering that as well, a la Rickenbacker. The only problem is that the frets aren't very tall so with the board lacquered they might just be too low to play well. To be decided. One cool thing, the side dot markers are brass as well as the front ones. Still need to scrape out the rear cavity. I kind of feel guilty taking all the age out of it, but it's a pretty worthless lump anyway so it's allowed I think 🙂👍

Probably going in the wrong direction sound (and looks) wise, but if SD 1/4 Pounds are your thing then the Entwistle PBXN & JBXN pickups are fantastic. I actually prefer them to the 1/4 pounds as they have that same feel but not quite so scooped, a bit more middy. Excellent value rather than 'cheap'. 😉👍

Making a start on refining the body shaping - used a roundover bit in the router first, then on to rasps. Work in progress!

A video from last week... We're rusty and any semblance of a 'show' is sadly missing, but we'll soon look like we are enjoying being there

Ah well.

When I bought a C4 I thought, this could be special, but there's something about the interface that doesn't gel with me, so disappointingly not to be. Then, out the blue, I came across the Aguilar Grape Phaser. Now I've not really been a user of phaser pedals so I wasn't holding out much hope but.... now I'm finding it hard to switch it off, it's so funky! It could be a combination of 'new acquisition syndrome' and finding a new sound but I'm really enjoying it and it's my new fav pedal. Also, I'm playing it with a pick, rhythm guitar style which I think the phaser responds to very well and unlike a filter I don't sound like a demented duck!

I'm the one on the right. The beard has now gone, having made way for a Derek Smalls moustache. Oh, and the little feller is Bruce, named for Jack Bruce. My boy Lemmy died of cancer recently and I was in pieces, but nothing heals an aching heart better than a lab.

I needed/wanted a simple distortion pedal for home recording of guitars; just wanted to dispense with recording off an amp and wanted something a) dual channel and b) switchable. 9v PSU or battery. It's got two gain/dirt channels (A/B), both with a rudimentary tone control that just ramps up the treble a little (there's a switchable bass boost which works over both channels simultaneously that just adds a small amount of low end). Channel A is best described as more vintage/old school tonally, Channel B being more modern high gain; both channels be run individually or blended. It's blissfully simple - I don't need to run extra cables to the audio interface, just swap guitars and rotate the Blend knob to A or B. Bass is nice and gnarly (very BDDI) and at £75.00 this is ridiculously cheap. This is a belter of a pedal.

BB1600 on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203596321096?hash=item2f67495148:g:AwEAAOSwJEZhNjv4

Nice resurrection. I'm into hip hop, which reminds me:

It's an SX bass that someone has remodelled the headstock on and had refinished in blue. The bass in its original form would be approx £300.

Welcome Kunnallisjäte.

Untill we see the critter on a tuning peg it hasn’t happened!

Thanks Al, I believe G&B Pups are also used in PRS and Reverend basses. So they must be highly regarded.

Tbh, I can probably count on one hand the number of opportunities I’ve had to get away with driving a ‘Big rig’ on a stage? It’s complete overkill in club’s & pubs especially with decent P.A & foldback & almost every sound engineer I’ve met likes to keep a fairly quiet stage to avoid feedback issues? The outdoor events I’ve played this summer have had fantastic monitoring, both wedges & IEM. Over the years I’ve become less & less precious about my sound as what I hear on stage can be completely different to what an audience hears? My tone these day’s is down to the bass & strings I play & I certainly don’t miss the humping of gear late at night?

I much preferred them when George Clinton or Andy Gill were at the controls!

Every time Clarky says this, it’s like a dagger in my heart. You lucky duck.

Honestly, it is a long time since I did it, but I was bending notes up "almost" a semitone or sharpening slightly to make it happen. Sometimes pressing the string really hard into the fret was enough to make the difference. But it was definitely a thing.

I can't fault the stock pickups, to be honest.

.... the Grape Phaser has a 'color' knob which controls the amount of signal fed back through the phaser. Simple, but the more you crank it the more it adds a sort of 'wah' into the sound and it's seriously funky. There's a good demo of it on the Andertons youtube channel where they play through all the Aguilar pedals.

Thanks again @jebroad . Next year I really would like to see the GCSE Bass wired up and making some noise....

@cheddatom He actually is....he's a bit of a prodigy tbh and is happy playing all sorts of stuff. It takes the heat off me - I am the great leveller in the skill levels with this lot :-) Here's the top secret phone vid of the first attempt at it to see if it merited a bit of time spending on it - the singer had done the usual trick of not bothering to learn the vocals and it was our first meet up for 18 months so the vox are absolutely shocking - try to block them out in your head f you can. It's a lot better now after an hour spent on it in a couple of rehearsals and it sounded fine on Saturday. (he's really funny - if he's been caught out not doing his homework he starts fiddling about changing his guitars and amp twiddling but we've wised up now and just take it off him) The guitar solo stuff starts at about 2.50 in.... Yellowhouse Extreme 1.mp4

The only way they'd sound different direct versus daisy chained is if the cables are seriously undersized. All cables have some voltage drop, and when you daisy chain that drop is higher compared to when each speaker has its own lead to the amp. But with the length and gauge of correctly sized speaker cables the voltage drop in either configuration should be virtually unmeasurable, let alone audible. I keep seeing these references to getting more headroom with lower impedance loads. I imagine the reason for this notion is the higher power output into a lower impedance load. That notion should be divested. What happens with a lower impedance load is that for the same voltage output from the amp you get more SPL from the speaker. That's all well and good, but you also draw more current from the amp, so from the standpoint of current you don't have more headroom, you have less.

Thanks to @jebroad for organising the bash, and thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome. It was my first bash but it won't be my last.