Leaderboard

First impressions: HB have upped their packaging game further. Never had a bass of theirs broken in transit, can't imagine it will ever happen now. It's feather light. Don't ask me to weigh it, I just pick it up and it's obvious if it's heavy or light. It looks and plays beautifully. No I'm not looking for silly niggling faults so don't ask about irrelevant details because I don't have any answers for you. Very happy.

So we're doing a gig as a trio tonight. It involves travelling from one side of Birmingham to the other. I'm a nervous driver and so I only agreed to do it on condition that I wouldn't have to drive. Guitarist doesn't drive anyway, so singer offered to drive. But yesterday her car failed its MOT, so guess what, I'm driving all three of us in my 3 door Fiesta. It's a multi band event, we're only doing six songs and we're not getting paid. And they've just texted me to say it's in a beer garden, it's cold and so bring a coat. Oh deep joy. I'll report back later to let you know if it was remotely worth it.

From L to R - US '95 with a CS 62 Pickup, a very sweet sounding Precision strung with Detroit Flats, my 'Motown' bass. Next is my 2021 USA Precision Pro II in Miami Blue currently strung with rounds (for now) and the lovely LPB with ebony fingerboard as built by Walshy. Three absolutely cracking basses.

Well, not me. I've already taken one for the team with the book.

Signal chain: Boss OC5 --> Pigtronix Octava --> Boss SY-200 --> Zoom B1-4 --> 3 Leaf Proton --> Thumpinator HPF (under the board)--> Tech 21 VTDI. All powered by a HB Iso5 Pro. This update got a big thumbs up from our band’s guitarist! 😊 I've replaced my Future Impact mono-synth pedal, with its cool bass synth sounds, with a polyphonic Boss SY-200 synth pedal. Whilst not quite so lush as the FI the SY-200, being poly, tracks more tightly and with less latency; a more winning combination IMO for a band-mix particularly on faster / busier bass lines.

Excellent - no gaps

Tracking says Monday. .. parcel has arrived!

I'm beside myself with excitement as I had a new (to me) Jazz Bass delivered today. It's a 2012 model, with the Customer Shop '60s pickups and high mass bridge. This is a significant upgrade for me, from my Squier Classic Vibe 60's (which will soon be for sale) and the first American Fender I've owned for over 10 years (I had a USA Std Telecaster 6 string which I instantly regretted selling). It's also the first ever maple necked instrument I've owned and I love it! I've had it less than an hour and it's well...perfect!! Detailed tone, very growly. The neck is absolutely sublime and is set up with a really low action. I'd be tempted to say it "plays like butter" but I've never actually played butter, so I don't know what that's like. It's just a BEAUTIFUL instrument. Picked it up from Bass Brothers, who were great to deal with. That colour as well though 😵

Update - took it to my bands recording session today - it recorded very well. Flat EQ, straight into the board - I think it may be a go to recording instrument. Even managed to get a bass solo in there up to 22nd fret on the C

Sorry for the minor hijack @AndyTravis but I know the rules...

Wednesday April 27th - Sky Arts 11.40 pm Muscle Shoals - docu/film about the famous recording studio.

I'm done then , itys a bit on the simple side and I got lost a few times even doing this ! Mercifully no singing this time just some speakage and plenty of dodgy guitar work ! I used a couple of freesound soundFX to give it some direction but its all ive got .

Lobster is as good as it gets by youtube standards. You can accuse him of clickbait video titles and thumbnails, but within the context of the culture of YouTube, his stuff is very mild. That's just how the youtube algorithm works I'm afraid. If he didn't engage with the youtube culture at all, none of us would likely have ever heard of his channel. Unlike basically all the other bass and guitar channels, Lobster doesn't do sponsored content. He buys all the basses himself, or borrows them from friends. All the other youtubers I know either get paid for their "reviews" by manufacturers or dealers directly, or at least get the gear for free. Lobster is only able to do that because he's basically independently quite well off. He did a video explaining this. His videos are monetized, so will be generating some ad revenue, but it will be a pittance, and probably won't even cover his expenses. That's not how youtubers make money any more.

It looks like a vibratortron 5000. Erm......... So I'm told. 😳

The fine-tuning takes a little longer, but the basic rough carve can be surprisingly quick. That's why moving to lighter cut methods sooner rather than later is quite important...it is very easy to cut too deep with, say, a spokeshave

The neck profile carve is now finished and ready for final sanding. But wait a minute? What's happened to the overhang?? Don't panic - I've temporarily (and intentionally) removed it. The reason is that because presently there is no neck or body to support it, the 22nd fret pushes the gap and curves the overhang towards the body. And when you are fitting the heel...or when you are attaching the plate that will be fitted under the overhang to fill the gap, the chances are that either the neck heel fit in the pocket will be compromised because the overhang is fouling the body, or that the strain on the overhang will snap it off in an uncontrolled manner. Better to take it off in advance and stay in control. So the neck will be: - temp fitted to the trial body and the heel adjusted (if necessary) to give the right adjustment at the bridge - the fill in plate under the overhang will be fitted to the neck - the overhang will fitted to the plate - the fret will be re-fitted to the overhang What could possibly go wrong? So next job is the heel. My donor body is, theoretically, identical in the key dimensions as @fleabag's and I have the dimensions of the bridge and the all-critical saddle height ranges. To check the present theoretical action height of fret line to the saddle position, I fit the neck firmly in the pocket and lay a carbon rod along the top of the frets. I've popped the loose overhang piece on also to see how thick an underplate I am likely to need: At the saddle position, this is currently just under 11mm. Hmmm...might be about right even without the use of the optional spacer available on the 3D. I'll get @fleabag to do some calliper double checks on the physical bridge but in the meantime move onto the headstock plate. Oh - and the Fiebings dye has arrived - I'll also be doing some trials on the maple off-cut

Other option : keep the three holes system and drill the neck… install the neck, and use the body holes as pilot holes to see where the new holes should be drilled in the neck. three screws are enough…

And I'd add that the B6 and HX Stomp are very different animals in many aspects: B6 much larger footprint than HX Stomp B6 simpler to program and limited; HX has many options and allows deep diving parameter edits B6 doesn't allow much for programming control switching; HX allows for sophisticated switch programming B6 has a lot more switches with dedicated function; HX has only 3 switches that are multi-function B6 has an XLR output for practicality; HX does not B6 is dedicated as a bass modeler, though you could coax some guitar tones out of it if needed; HX excels at guitar modeling. B6 has separate A/B dedicated inputs with switchable impedance, dedicated switch, volume and EQ for each input; Not sure what HX offers there. B6 is a little less cost than the HX. B6 has no MIDI; HX does MIDI IMHO, you'd get the HX Stomp if you want a very small footprint don't need to do a lot of sound changing via footswitch don't mind menu-diving and appreciate a higher level of complexity of design need very specific programmed control of sounds/effects prefer deep editing of parameters want to integrate within an existing MIDI framework may want to use it also for guitar amp modeling are not concerned with having XLR output have the extra coin to spend All-in-all...different horses for different courses....etc...

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Birmingham Symphony Hall, April 22, 2022 This was booked 2½ years ago, and sadly the friend who booked it died last year. So it was with mixed feelings, but huge anticipation, that his brother and I took our seats last night, right up in the grand tier of Symphony Hall. Man- that was a heavy gig! Thunderous drums and phenomenal bass underpinning early Floyd played with more passion and energy than on any LP. Truly astonishing to hear, and the band so obviously enjoying being back on the road. Most of the set was as on the "Live at the Roundhouse" album, but with 'Candy and a Currant Bun', 'Saucerful of Secrets' and 'Echoes'. Hard to pick out any one song, but Guy Pratt's bass break in the middle of 'See Emily Play' was unexpected and superb. The keyboards and guitar playing was of the highest order - and who would have thought Gary Kemp could rock, shred, and distort a guitar like that? The sound was crystal clear, from the bass and toms though to the lightest shimmer of cymbals and gong. The occasional banter and introductions to songs were also hugely entertaining, Nick sounding like Radio 4 and the rest of the band gently ribbing him about his being born in Birmingham. I would see them again in a heartbeat.

Tomahawk Kid Sensational Alex Harvey Band

I didn't get mine "setup" in the end. I adjusted the bridge which was way too low and it sounded and played loads better. Then, exactly as you said, I now put it through a Fishman Platinum acoustic preamp and it absolutely sings. I decided to play it for a bit before paying for a set up but I honestly don't feel the need for the time being

OK, here goes! The picture made me think of eavesdropping... did a bit of research and found stuff like a quote from Thornton Wilder (me neither!) : "There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head". Built up the lyrics with such ideas. God knows where the music came from 🙂! Technical stuff: Studio One DAW, Piano-roll drums with Red-Zep hits, Vantage Bass, Squire Tele gtr, Gibson acoustic gtr, Studio one strings, Behringer condenser mic. Lyrics in spoiler:

If it helps - for the money that looks great as you got it - and I think you are going to make it even better!

Like many others on here, I've been tinkering with various multi fx and controlling them via external pedals. I had a Zoom MS50B a while ago which I was controlling using a Gen2 DMC Micro, but I found I wasn't really using all of the effects on it, and those that I was sounded slightly lacklustre (IMVHO). So I recently found myself with a Source Audio C4, which I love. The editing options are way beyond whatever I can think of, and it covers all of my effects bases, which is squidgy filters, the odd octaver, chorus and some nasty synth bass occasionally. I predominantly got the C4 to use as a filter with additional options (yes, I know the Spectrum is a better 'standalone' filter but I wanted the occasion synth option). However, I've rapidly found myself using it a lot more which meant I was needing to use more than the 6 switchable presets (I mean, I wasn't using them all at once but I wanted to be able to change presets more easily on the fly). Which meant going back to something like the DMC Micro I had with the Zoom. The downside of using the Micro with the C4 was, unlike on the Zoom, there was no display, so the Micro only showed preset number. OR SO I THOUGHT! Looking at the latest version of the DMC Micro, the Pro, it has a new OLED display screen which means it can show present names as well as numbers! Perfect, so I decided to buy one from Andertons. First downside - Andertons don't sell the gHOST USB adaptor. I've bought one from Disaster Area direct in the past, but for a cheap cable dongle it came to about £25 once shipping was included. Plus, that was pre-B-word so I have no idea how that might have affected things. I reasoned that Disaster Area probably wouldn't have manufactured their own USB Host cables, so took a punt on this for the princely sum of £2.95: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DM6EMQ2/ Along with a generic USB-B to USB-mini cable. The last of these arrived this morning, so had a punt at wiring it all up and DISASTER - it wouldn't communicate with the C4! Dangit, thought I - should have splashed out on the DA one instead. Start going back through the manual and I'd overlooked "make sure the MIDI channel on your device is set to 1". Delve into the C4 setup screen, and voila! They're talking. Problem 2 - despite loading in the presets on the C4, the Micro was only showing numbers. More delving in suggests irritatingly the present names don't carry over, so you have to manually edit the names on the Micro to correspond with the names on the C4. Someone suggested online editing on the pedal itself - which frankly sounded like a nightmare to me. Thankfully Disaster Area have a webpage editor, but even that is a little fiddly - you have reconfigure the Micro to USB MIDI to communicate with your computer, and you have a character limit of 8 letters/numbers. However, once it's done, it's done, so (leaving aside the fact I clearly forgot to do present no16) I can now have all the present names displayed on the Micro and cycle through the C4 presets easily. Hurrah! Only downside so far is cycling through switches the preset on - I'm sure there's a setting somewhere so more digging needed. So far it's seeming like a great solution.

Overloading the output stage of a valve amp as a way of getting nice distortion is slightly complex and is due to the nature of the tubes themselves, the architecture of the amp and the presence of an output transformer. Each valve amp will have its own flavour of distortion too. overloading pretty much any stage of a solid state amp a causes a different sound from valve outputs. Chopping off the peak of the waveform as the limits of the voltage swing available is reached. It sounds pretty bad and I don’t really think it’s worth your while going there. Find a flavour of drive pedal you like and use that.

It was also modded after PW sold it, based on the description .... "Mods (Badass Bridge, coil-splitter toggle switch, white knobs) were made by previous owner, UK metal bassist Rocky Newton-who sold it to me directly." So its not even in the format that PW used and recorded with. Nope

Clinton fearon today

There's nothing more frustrating than a truss rod slot not long enough for a standard allen key - so best to measure it first. The spacer is a graphtec piece that will be cut to make the string spacer later on: Then out comes the jewellers saw - one shot to get it right so that it will be a gap-free fit when the magnets are fitted: And even for a headstock plate, you can never have too many clamps!

I think you must be talking about the Variax bass there. Look how quickly they discontinued that. I can only assume that was because us bassists actually like owning multiple instruments, or was the modelling bad? I doubt the latter, if my Variax guitar was anything to go by: most of the models were brilliant. The weird thing was that the Variax may have sounded like multiple different guitar models but it didn’t feel like them. Maybe that’s why we like to own multiple instruments: they don’t just sound different, they feel different too. I think the difference in feel affects the way you play and that in turn probably affects tone as well.

Meeting with the band tomorrow, I'll give it a thorough test then.

Haha - that got a genuine LOL from me! 🙂

Ashdown have the best customer service in the business. They will repair any amp they have ever made and usually for a very reasonable fee or free. They offer a 5yr warranty on their amps. I've used a Viper setup in a rehearsal room and was somewhat underwhelmed. An Ashdown rig, ABM/MAG/Rootmaster would blow it out of the water in imho.

I had a Gretsch Electromatic baritone. Odd thing. Drawn to it out of a 50/50 mix of curiousity and a desire of ownership. Found it to be neither guitar or bass, on the one side I suppose I wanted to do some odd/dirty drop-B stuff without going the 7-string route, or some kind of twangy Glen Campbell stuff. Not succeeding with either, I went the bass-six route and that didn't really pan out either, so I sold it on. Sometimes, it's not the having it's the getting that drives these purchases. Desire satiated, experiment was over.

If you like reggae and Nirvana, check this out

Geez, I just quickly looked over it and thought it was ok. Didn’t notice that much damage and those photos are quite damning. You always have the option to send it back under their warranty guarantee. Saying that though, a restored natural bex would look amazing.

Amazing! Thanks for all this Bart Funk! 👊

Complete and ready to ship out to me this week. I can’t wait to get my hands on this beauty!