Leaderboard

Probably the bass i love the most. This is my 6th Laky.. Just fat tone. Pleked, amazing neck. Its a classic Lakland for a reason i think. I will probably always come back to a 55.. really great preamp. Feels so nice to play.

Just got back from playing a gig in Witney (about 5 miles from home). Gig was playing outside a small real ale bar in the town centre, and was the first time out for the Wirebirds as a three piece. Quite a few local musicians there, several of whom sat in with us on some songs. Decent crowd there, most of whom stayed until the end. We got paid 50% more than agreed, so everyone was happy, especially our drummer playing his first gig with us. Very satisfying evening, my wife kindly offered to drive me there and collect me afterwards, so I was able to take advantage of the free beer as well. Tomorrow, I am playing music of the Grateful Dead with Franklin's Tower in Oxford.

I bought a MM SUB 5 becuase I fancied a bit of single pickup Leo. I do like a FSO. I had it painted all lovely. I went to a bass bash and for the 2nd time had my head turned by an L1000. People who really care will tell me that the original L1000 and the CLF design L1000 are subtly different. I like both of them. Luke and Keir, you are both to blame. Of course, I was safe because the L1000 was not available as a 5er. You cannot spell bass without a B (come at me, haters). And then they went and announced one with a B. I was weak in the face of beauty. And it has a subtler 4+1 headstock that I find easier on the eye. And then this kind of teal colour. If it came with a white pickup it would be better still. 36 year old Owen in 2002 would be horrified, but hey ho. I am really enjoying it. The body is a bit more compact than the US J5 I have also picked up. It all fits me really nicely and that excessive chromage is really floating my boat. It is made of some lightweight wood (Empress aka Pauolina. Sp?) but is still sonically plenty hefty. It weighs in at 8.8lbs. I have never owned a brand new bass in my life. It is not something I intend to make a habit of, but I thought the chances of one of these in this colour combo appearing on here were pretty remote so I went for it. I know that everything comes through if you wait long enough. But life is short. Share my joy.

Just had a phone call from our guitarist about last night's gig - he wanted to tell me how good my bass sounded! I had planned to take an ABM combo, but as it was still quite hot, decided to use my Orange Little Bass Thing and Super Compact. He was raving about the tone, and several people at the gig complimented it as well. Must be doing something right, at last!

Thanks to everyone for your input, enthusiasm and support on this! I'll be starting work with the transformers, as they dictate size and weight constraints and of course performance! The YI200 used a toroidal output transformer, but this had to be rated at over 300 watts to maintain 200w at 40Hz. I've learnt a lot out transformers and will be switching to traditional EI designs for output, and keep toroid for mains to reduce weight. It's still gonna be heavy but nowhere near SVT levels. I made a 100W valve bass amp for the bassist in my old pub band, had volume to spare and solid as a rock, which was the inspiration for the YI-200, should have just started with that but I wanted more power 😁

My last performance went just fine! I played guitar in a thrash metal band as a substitute for one dude. And before the concert they gave me a taste of cannabinoid gum (hop over there) lol. I'm not advocating drugs by any means! I just want to share this story! So I tried these gummies and oh my god, I have never experienced a similar sensation when playing the guitar! It was so weird and unusual, my head was spinning in a good way, but surprisingly I played the concert well and everything went off without a hitch.

First time playing at Nottingham Boat Club, the scene of some great gigs I went to when I first moved here, and it's only taken me 42 years to get on this stage. No gig photos as yet, but here's one from the afternoon soundcheck...

Apologies for being somewhat late to the party, but I played an SB1000 back in the day, not coz of Cliff Burton or even John Taylor but simply coz the thing was so much superior to anything else. Through loads of agency gigging and studio work, no one ever complained or questioned why I played an SB1000 rather than a Precision/Jazz. Fair to say the SB1000 was far more hard wearing, versatile, faster playing, better sounding, and a damn sight cheaper than the alternatives. So after some 30 years after my aspiring musical career inevitably foundered on the rock that is family, career, and responsibility, I found myself at a time of life where I had both the time and money to indulge in literally whatever bass I wanted. While my first thoughts were towards a second hand SB1000, i was intrigued by reports that Aria had rereleased the model. However, try as I might, no UK distributor had the model or was able to order it. Even US distributors indicated that they had no stock and no foreseeable hope of getting any. In the end, contacting Aria distributors across the world, even Japan, either resulted in disappointment or concerns over the provenance of what was being offered. Online searches pretty much suggest the rereleased SB1000's were a limited run and got snapped up literally as soon as they hit the ground. In the end, I ended up getting a Specter NS Dimension which, while being an incredible bass, is about as far from a an SB1000 as you can possibly get. Then Karma struck in the way she so often does in the form of a dealer in Denmark (nope, not Bass Buddha) with a (very) limited stock of SB1000's. Not believing a word of it, I asked the chap to confirm and he remained entirely admanant he had the 'real thing' and not some second hand monstrosity or, worse still, a 1GB-50 (to be fair it's not a bad bass, but certainly not an SB1000). Bear in mind that this kind of unicorn doesn't come cheap, even more so when you live in a country that has stupidly and pointlessly left the European Union in such a way as to incur exorbitant import duties on said already expensive bass. However, buying a real brand new SB1000 isn't something to be undertaken on a limited budget or any kind of common sense. Anyhow, my Danish friend was as good as his word and is someone I would go out on a limb to recommend. So how does a brand new SB1000 compare to current basses? Well the neck is still a thing to behold, being thinner and faster than younger peepz and Fender afficionados will be used to. The fretboard together with the neck-thru construction still impresses with its incredible sustain and, yes, it's still as ridiculously heavy and back breaking as ever it was. This isn't a bass for the feint hearted. Whereas today you might just get an oak top, the wings on an SB1000 are pure un-adulturated oak. While not a believer in tone wood, I would really love to think the extra density contributes to something more than aching shoulders and lower back problems. I guess the upside is that it looks impressive as it feels. The same thing goes for the monolithic bridge, industrial strength tuners, and brass nut. Everything is geared to scare the s**t out of you in order to totally max the sustain. And there's no delicacy in the design of the single massive pick up, or the controls that go with it, which were likely conceived in a first world war trench with a view to beating an unsuspecting enemy to a pulp. In every respect, the instrument looks and feels like it was built to last at least another 30 years while still reminding you of everything cool about John Taylor playing 'Rio' back in 1982. Clearly it's a personal opinion, but this is one of those instruments worth selling your kids, wife and whole damn family for. It looks, feels, sounds, entirely different from a modern bass, but not in the same way as your grandfather's crappy precision, ridiculously overpriced Ricks, or weird shaped neck-diving Gibbos. To be fair, the SB1000 is best played sitting down (unless you want to make frequent and repeated visits to a chiropractor). However, it is still arguably the pinnacle of Japanese bass design in terms of its sheer playability and sound. Alas, the cost and difficulty of getting hold of one of these unicorns makes it very much a cult instrument which I suspect will appeal only to those who find impossible missions impossible to resist.

So I bought this after a tip posted by @TheGreek in the 'eBay' section. It was advertised as having a truss rod problem - I took a punt and won it for a mere £77. I collected it this morning from a very nice chap called Clive who was only 15 minutes down the road, we had a good chat about basses, I had a little play on his recently acquired Harley Benton 'Stingray' 5 and his Fender Deluxe Precision 5. His eBay advert said 'truss rod problem', now that wasn't strictly true as the bass appears to have had the truss rod entirely removed! The adjustment end of the neck has been blocked up and a stick of graphite has been inserted to replace it. Clive bought it from a local luthier who did the work himself. As much as the neck now cannot be adjusted due to no conventional truss rod, the neck is absolutely arrow straight with a VERY low action. The bass plays perfectly and is in almost flawless condition! With a graphite rod inserted the action will be stable for years to come. So, £77 for a BB425 which is arguably better set up than an 'off the shelf' one and is certainly in 'off the shelf' cosmetic condition, I think I got very lucky here! Cheers @TheGreek! Russ.

Saturday saw another first in the short gigging career of the now-not-so-new band - our first outdoor gig at a charity fest raising funds for the local air ambulance. As first band on, we got the benefit of a decent soundcheck and it sounded superb, with the old Ashdown MAG300 combo I got off @karlfer donkey's years ago still delivering heaps of warm, punchy goodness. Things went slightly awry two songs in to our nine-song set with intermittent dropouts and odd noises coming through the monitors (plus Mr Lead Guitar forgetting to turn his chorus off because he couldn't see the LED glowing in the sunlight), but apparently nobody out front noticed the occasional off-piste moments and various people told us it all sounded OK, so happy days! We had been told that someone was going to be filming all the bands and if we took a pen drive along we could take a copy on the day, but unfortunately it didn't happen so all we've got to show for our efforts is a very short clip on FB. Still had fun though, and hopefully we'll get another, higher up the bill, crack at next year's event. https://fb.watch/ejF2BlydJF/

Final gloss coat done on neck and back of headstock - this will now be left to harden fully before polishing - and flattened gloss coats finished on headstock front prior to @funkle's decal being applied, followed by a couple of final sealing coats. Over the next couple of days I'll add the side and top dots and then finally do the fretlevelling, etc.. Should be ready to ship off to @funkle the week after this one coming,

How cool a program is this eh?! Especially for those just starting out. Almost impossible to imagine something like this being made today, sadly.

Awesome that Martin, reckon it could be killer. Deffo a NE Bass Bash prototype trial run 🤞😉

Played a sailing club 40 miles away. Didn’t get paid until this morning but all ok in the end. Outdoors and a decent crowd, so took the full stack (valves, 1x15, 4x10). Had to take the master to 6 but got loud enough in the end. Somehow the older covers don’t cut it now. White stripes and Kings of Leon well received.

Just wanted to chime in here. Got an Atlas a couple weeks ago and finally gigged with it last night. In short, it's a totally legit, high quality compressor/limiter. My 'very good' sound is now even better. Not surprising given Source Audio's track record of producing some very cool pedals. Yes, for tweaking and crafting settings, the software editor is a must-have. I've got my pedal tweaked so that it is essentially set-and-forget.

Geddy Lee for me, the man must have 3 brains to sing, play bass and do keyboards and bass foot pedals at the same time. Oh, and he makes it look easy too. 👏

Having watched all 4 of these I have to agree Keith’s was the weakest episode. I thought Mick’s was best as he seemed to be honest in his interview without much pretence. A close second was Charlie Watts, the ‘jazz drummer in the rock n roll band’, so different from the archetypal rock star, Charlie loved his drumming but didn’t care much for the fame and hysteria being a ‘Stone’ brought to him.

Sounds like we need another NE Bass Bash once the prototype is available 😎

How was my gig last night? Rather lovely, that's how it was. Wedding celebration in a teepee-style marquee, in the grounds of a farm-cum-wedding-venue. Bit of a hike from the car park to the teepee but we were well looked after by the organiser and of course the weather was lovely. We optimised the space by putting the drums off to one side - we're all on in-ears anyway.

How was my gig last night? Hot. Very hot. I may have melted a bit inside. It's the fourth time I've depped with this rock covers band and I'm kind of getting used to the way things happen. Not had one rehearsal with them as they don't rehearse and new songs keep getting added, but it just seems to work. I suppose it must be what a jam night is like, not that I've ever done one.

I see now that the dimension 5 is also in Inferno Red. If they had that colour to start with I would have probably already got one! seems USA only at the moment though

I was playing at a local town festival yesterday in Vordingborg - a small town in DK. It was one of the bands I am working with - and we play our own material ( rock-oriented. ). We had a nice audience,but rather windy. Excellent roadcrew and soundcrew. performance went well besides a minor glitch which nobody noticed - a nice evening indeed.

I did an after party for a posh soirée in Cheltenham town hall. We were in the ‘pillar room’. I snapped this from the stage whilst we waited (in very strict total silence, whispers only!!) for the main event to finish and folks to file in. It massively over ran and we ended up taking the stage at 10:45 and only doing 40 mins !! Ah well hey ho. 6859418E-9208-413E-B827-1D1B6F98862B.MOV

To be fair, having a banjo anywhere near the stage is far from ideal...!

Just got back from a very hot Cider Barn gig. It's tiny so we had drums across the entrance ( there is a side door ) and the banjo was next to me too so not ideal. 45 minutes into the set my grub screws loosened on the A string saddle and I started to lose notes. Luckily I packed the right size driver and it took me longer to get it out of the gig bagnext to me than wind the screws back up. I've bought some Loctite and need to give them all a tiny drop, hope this sorts them out? Checked with Nordstrand who say the string must be as low down the bridge and tuner peg as possible too ( which they already are). Bit of an annoyance and need to ensure the banjo is across the other side of the stage and me and lead guitar are side by side......

Just got back from a Franklin's Tower gig in Oxford. Took my MiM Precision in case the heat got to one of my US Standards. Used my Sansamp to DI straight into the venue's desk, which worked well. The roads and parking in Oxford are terrible these days (mind you, they were pretty awful back in the 60s) so needed to travel light. Venue was the bar at the Bullingdon, not a bad place for small gigs.

I cheat too 😂🤣 I used this one slightly different fingering but I find it’s more compact and it has Tab I don’t read that well I’m still learning

Installed some of the hardware. I hate wrestling with bear-trap retainers but not as much as I would hate the sound of a broken KT66 rattling around inside the enclosure. I haven't fitted screening cans for the preamp valves as this is a fairly low-gain design and the enclosure is one big Faraday cage. Also wired up the circuit board. Some of the eyelets are as yet unsoldered as they will take leads from the transformer.

100% agree. Its great to see a UK manufacturer taking this on. Bass amps that bass players actually want rather than what the companies think they want. Huge respect to @Stoneham for doing it and joining in the discussion to keep us informed. If only all bass amp companies could be like this. Dave 👍

Last time I had a KFC, holding the box was messy enough!

Maybe eat some KFC before you play next time 😁

July update:

Slurry Seems To Be The Hardest Word ～ Our Reggie

Pawlonia is a hard wood to get hold of.

Yeah, I forgot I'd left a bass out in the little shed at the back of the garage. It was like a Welsh longbow. But they're all bending.

I have one Bass Guitar which turns 40 next year. Apart from a Double Bass that I owned for a couple of years it's the only bass I've ever had. Every now and again I go in a music shop with the intent of buying a new one and come out empty handed.

Excellent. Fingers crossed your move works out. Bass players of Sefton, unite! You have nothing to lose but your disputed county borders!

Paul was a lovely, humble guy... Gutted to hear about his passing yesterday. Played some Mondays tunes last night & got his old Ibanez out. RIP mate

I’d look at the Markbass CMD121P, great little amp, much more powerful than it looks but in a very small portable package.

Great thread. I had a Mark I and should never have sold it, but I didn’t know I was about to be approached by a new band. I remember playing a mini festival organised by Matamp, who also provided the PA. The Matamp engineer took one look at it and said “I’m glad someone here has a decent amp”. I wasn’t that glad… he made everyone else plug into it… Enjoy the amp.