Leaderboard

My sister sent me this... I didnt realise what I was about to hear. Its a wonderful record but good lord that groove at 4,40 mins... that is one of the most satisfying guitar solos (2 part) and groove sections ive ever heard that seems to go on and on, the galloping/ 16th note bass playing, the drumming is just amazing also..... just wow.

Simple Zoom up/down patch switcher. I wanted a simple way of going up and down through patches on an MS-60B - this would also allow one effect in each patch to be switchable. This uses the Arduino Pro Mini (3.3V version) and a USB host shield, which keeps it all in a compact format. It does require a minor modification to the host shield as the Zoom pedal will take power from the USB connection, which needs to be at 5V. This is the USB host shield I used: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192928198858 and an example of the Pro Mini is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305210446733. This also needs a programmer, for example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235444132988, as the Pro Mini doesn't have a USB port. The host shield is modified by cutting the trace running to the USB 5V pad (note: there may not be a 2k2 resistor where shown) and then connecting Vraw on the Arduino Pro Mini to Vbus on the USB connector (the red blob marked 5V, see photo a bit further down). Power is then supplied via a protection diode and 7805 voltage regulator, giving 5V. Incidentally, cutting the trace is harder than it seems - after cutting it, check there's no continuity between the 5V Vbus pad and the 3.3V pin. Two momentary action footswitches do the switching: patch up -> pin 2, patch down -> pin 3 Cutting the hole for the USB socket - make sure the plug body can fit in to ensure a good connection. All the internals: Switches and power supply (I used 4-way male and female headers for 5V, ground, and the two switches to make it easy to split the two parts). The voltage regulator is bolted to the box, somewhat overkill for a heatsink but it does keep it anchored in place. The connector is centre negative and there's a diode in the positive line for reverse polarity protection (somewhat surrounded by heatshrink).There's not a lot of vertical space so the footswitches are as high as they'll go. A less obstructed view of the board. Note that the plain veroboard under the Arduino is simply there for insulation, and the two pieces above it are just to hold the Arduino in place - thinking about it more, with the benefit of hindsight, if I'd soldered the male headers pointing downward on the host shield rather than upwards on the Arduino, they would have protruded enough to solder a piece of perfboard with pads rather than strips on it to the underside which could have been used to fasten it all to the lid. You can see in this that I've run the 5V (red) to the Vraw pin, and from there a second red wire runs to the Vbus pad right behind the USB socket. There's heatshrink all over the place because this is so tightly packed. The GND and DTR that you can see written there are to make it easy to get the programmer connected the right way round, although that should no longer be relevant since I got it working properly. In the program, set patchMax to 49 for MS-60B etc or 99 for G3/B3. The program itself is pretty simple, it uses ezButton to handle debouncing etc. The only bits that might warrant further explanation are the delay loops in setup - the 7 second one is the pause for the MS-60B to get started up (from powering up to when the current patch appears on the screen) and the USB one is waiting for USB to get ready (behaviour is rather odd if that isn't in, took me a little while to work that out). Note that because it's not detecting the current patch number, it simply resets the pedal to patch 1 (program 0 in MIDI terms). ZoomPatchSwitch.ino

It was first orchestra rehearsal last night with this term's conductor in charge (we use post-grad conducting students for conductors). We looked at first and last movement of Tchaikovsky symphony #3 - I was on cello. There are a lot of notes...

As much as I'm a fan of Steve Harris & Geddy Lee and would love to master loads of their basslines. If there was one I'd like to be able to play as a party piece, that would go down well with, I think, most people, it would be, The One That I Want from Grease.

A few few more pics from last Saturday nights gig in Hull. Nice shot of the, new to me, Lionel on its second gig. Also a shot of the bar staff dancing on the bar….that’s a new one on me.

Well, the Kania is gone already. It was a wonderful instrument to play. So nice, that it made me long for a 5str fretless. Had it up for trade in the Netherlands and got some offers. Most of them where very expensive basses that needed me to dig up my savings. But this guy offered me his Martin Keith for my Kania and my 12 string guitar. I've never spend so much for one instrument. But the moment I had this Martin Keith bass in my hands it felt so very nice and there was so much resonance in its body and it was so easy to play. I'm a guitarist, so it helps me a lot when a bass is easy to play. And it doesn't way that much, so it's pretty easy on the shoulders. I contacted mr Keith for some info, and here is what he could tell me (nice guy he is); Built as an exhibit instrument for NAMM in 2011. Maple neck with katalox (royal mexican ebony) fretboard, 34.5 inch (876mm) scale. Mahogany body with spalted maple top. (Body thickness 52mm. His current basses are 42mm thick.) Citron HB pickup with passive volume control. Polyester finish. So I'm very enthousiastic exploring fretless bass more and more. Love that sound. I'm not sure what strings it has at the moment. Feels a bit like half rounds.

Finally succumbed to getting the red muck, bloomin lovely it is as well. Also gob smacked by how nice the NUX tape core is, sounds and feels very premium, the repeats are gorgeous

Yes - Mrs Zero. Consequences...

After skirting the edges a few times, a very tatty MXR Bass Octave Deluxe came up on Ebay and as nobody wanted it first time round, I had it second time round. As it has the word "bass" in its name, I can't really evade the consequences by pretending it's for a different instrument. So, less pressure on me not to buy a Cort Space 😁

We hear this phrase a lot, but I don't think there was any hiding. People knew what was going on, maybe not the general public, but certainly within the industry, and as long as the perpetrators were bringing in the money the behaviour was tolerated.

For the last 5 years I've had cracking this as my new years resolution..... Progress is slow. Buying a Status S2 did not improve progress.

If you love Steely Dan and Allman Bros.... and have just heard this.... go and listen to The Doobie Brothers (particularly Tiran Porter's bass work on the albums Captain & Me, What Were Once Vices.... and Stampede.

Busy couple of days with a rehearsal with my teacher's youth orchestra yesterday where I am one of a few adults who fill out the cello and bass sections, not enough big kids to play full size cello and bass. Lots of fun playing everything from Pachelbel's canon to a medley of fiddle tunes and we are getting ready for a May concert. I left that one a bit early to rush across town to a rehearsal for the swing band I am in, we have a show in early May. Five of the seven members have music degrees of one sort or another so it is a challenging group to play with, we have been together for 6 or 7 years and have played gigs in a lot of different venues. This afternoon I had a three hour rehearsal with a bluegrass band that will be playing at three festivals this summer, it is our first get together since autumn, the band leader spends the winter in Forida. Lots of fun and we managed to remember most of the music and our vocal harmony was pretty good considering the long break. The banjo player is a joy to play with, he is a sensitive musician and doesn't overdo things, quite rare for a bluegrass banjoist! Lots of variety, I played my Shen ply bass arco for the youth orchestra, same bass through an amp for the swing band and an old beater ply Czech bass acoustically with the bluegrass band. For the rest of the week I will be practicing for these bands at home and prepping for my lesson on Friday, happy to be busy.😊

You've never heard Freebird before? I first heard it maybe 45 years ago? It still amazes and moves me. You have just had an amazing epihany, I envy you.

Waterfront by Simple Minds.

Today I finished the braces. There are huge differences in the heights of braces that other builders use. Benedetto goes from 12mm in the centre to 4mm at the sides. Ken Parker goes from 5.5mm (!!!!) in the middle to virtually nothing at the edges. I've decided to aim for 8mm in the middle, to 1.5mm at the ends. This is really significantly less than most acoustic bass guitars have. But it seems to me that for bass frequencies you need flexibility. I'm flexing it with my hands all through the process, trying to memorise how it feels so that during the next build I've got a comparison already in my muscle memory. Anway, here's my carving station: Here are the braces at their final heights. I found it really usefuly to write the heights every 30mm all along the braces. They ended up being 8mm (16mm for the flyover) in the centre, thinning to 1.3 & 1.6mm at the ends. It's pretty flexible. Will it withstand the downforces of the strings? Ummm.......not sure. Let's hope so! For this bass though, that's as far as I dare go. The top needs a bit of cleaning up, sanding etc but we're pretty much there. I'm excited!

Current setup. Waiting for a Laney Digbeth DB-PRE, and a 60cm patch lead to connect the SP to the Wooly Mammoth clone. I don't think I like the Swollen Pickle on the board because the Splinter needs to be on to give it sufficient boost. The Wooly Mammoth clone is very nice though. The chorus was £30 and due an upgrade to something else. I absolutely love the Orange Kongpressor. It adds a really nice flavour to the clean tone. DIY pedal board made from an IKEA shelf (remember this one kids!?). The power supply is a Cioks DC7 screwed to the underside. I tend to play doom and black metal, but messing about with a 90s alternative rock cover band too.

Having originally planned to quit with all my lovely bass rigs sold ( except cabs ) I had the opportunity to join a new band that gave me my mojo for playing again Frantically looking for new amps but used I found myself searching on here for some “ different amps” I hadn’t tried before Enter EBS Reidmar 750 wow a cracking amp and very nice sounding with a better EQ than previous amps I have owned Next enter EBS Reidmar 752 same as above but newer less powerful into 4ohms version ( decided to keep this one ) Next TE1200 omg bloody amazing amp ( keeping ) So I’ve found the EQ frequencies on these amps especially the “ low” is more to my liking compared to many Ashdown, Ampeg, Orange etc amps I’ve owned. Never thought about EBS as a brand but they make an excellent very decent sounding amp. The TE1200 is just a nudge above them for sound quality but very close and one of the nicest sounding amps I’ve owned. All have good built in compressors so no more pedals to worry about. Hopefully that’s it with my new stock of gear !

It’s like they know me

The results are in! Based upon the OP's supplied internal dimensions, the Faital and the LaVoce are very close. WinISD calculates the net volume as 59.80 litres and with those two ports, the tuning is 60.06Hz. LaVoce is mauve line, the Faital is orange. Input power 180W. Both are very loud. See graphs for transfer function, power handling and cone excursion. Faital Pro 400 neo £179.

If we have to have a thread about the programme, let’s call it by its name: Glitter:The Popstar Paedophile, not just Popstar.

I'd always heard how good Markbass CMD 121 P combos were but always assumed they just wouldn't be loud enough in the type of bands I played in. I saw one for sale slightly used on ebay, about 3 years ago, and it was so new and so cheap I decided it was time to try one. When I actually took it to play with my band I was amazed how loud it was (I've never had it above halfway). I did team it up with a barefaced compact cab for a while but, frankly, it was overkill.

This is one I've been working on for a while now and it's a bvgg3r to nail down. Here's the man himself playing it solo in a bass store, Julian Crampton of Incognito, The Pasadenas, Sunburst Band, Down to The Bone, Heaven 17, George Benson, Donna Summer and Paul Young among others.

Not carrying backline along with having a very compact PA is probably why I can still enjoy gigging properly. My entire bass rig including preamp, cables, IEM setup and tablet fits in a gigbag, our desk (with router, power strip and bluetooth aux adapter) is in a 3u shallow rack bag and all our cables are in one of the Thomann cable bags. Never been easier or faster to load in, setup and packdown. We had a band member and PA re-shuffle a few years ago and decided to go for the most compact PA as lugging a ton of stuff around was becoming a chore which we just didn't enjoy any more. Had a think about how we transported things and ended up with a tiny setup that sounds great and gives us excellent monitoring on any stage. Wasn't even expensive.

For me it was Ashdowns ABM amps. I’d heard them being used and the people using them always had them set to that warm mushy “woolly” sound so I’d never bothered with them figuring that was all they did. But at a gig the provided rig was an ABM500 and matching 2x15. Precision & Sansamp plugged in I was amazed at the depth of sound available, and dare I say the H-word, heft coming from it. It wasn’t far short from the same Precision & Sansamp through a full Ampeg fridge set up.

I was reminded why I seldom read these lists after hunting twice for Nicko McBrain (assuming that I must have missed him first time around)

Yeah. That’s the attraction for me. BDDI on all the time and add others to taste as and when the song needs it. I might create a separate patch for just one song. I normally use a 5 string as it needs low B and C#. Thinking I’ll just add the octave below in with the pedal and play higher.

Maybe try Stairway to Heaven by a band called Led Zeppelin, next. It will leave you SHOOK.

This is the one I'd like to master, but I don't think I have enough years in me left to do so (I'm 45).

Totally agree about the ZNR ("Zoom Noise Reduction") being a must - that's a standard block on pretty much all my B1-4 patches.

You mean there are singers where you don't want to?

I have to say, the Djent preamp is SICK! I'm still playing with it to see if I can get the settings right for it to be useable for me in the band, but it's an incredible distortion! The ZNR is really useful in conjunction with any of the drives too, I've just left it at default settings but works really well as a noise gate.

Yep, the three classics now are: "Freebird!" "Play something you know....!" "Alexa! Next!" ......at least at my gigs..... 🤣

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (at full tempo).

I'm a massive Skynyrd fan and was into them before they broke over here in the early 70's, but strangely, Free Bird is my least favourite Skynyrd song, I find the intro and the verses dreary, and the solo's go on far too long. Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, and Call Me The Breeze are my favourite Skynyrd numbers and were the first songs my new band's set list. 👍

Forget me knots - Patrice Rushen - just love that groove.

2 x N115s

Well, these were in my Bedroom, and trace sounded nice via a Quilter Interbass

Better late than never.

Just back from tonight’s rehearsal. Whiskey In The Jar (Metallica version) went faultlessly so it’s slotting straight in the set. Played some stuff we’ve not touched for a while, but it all came together right away. All ready for our first gig of the year next week. It’s been a slog having 4 months without playing to an audience but such is life for a new band, I guess.

Wasn’t Chinn and Chapman, but Mike Leander…

Do his victims really need reminding over and over? Just let these people fester in a dark room somewhere and give them no attention. I worked with the victims of abuse for many years and even the mention of the name can reignite trauma. And the TV companies are doing it purely for profit.

I’ve been learning to do most of my own tech work down the years, and I’ve accumulated a fair amount of tools etc. Changing pots, and parts most of the time I really enjoy, but I’ve never really had a proper go at fret dressing and polishing. So today is my first attempt on one of my Sunn Mustangs….. Came out nice I reckon. An overnight soak of some Monty’s aging wax and lick of boiled linseed oil and we’re about there. New wiring loom next…

I've never been one for getting flavour of the month gear, preferring to get what is either decent and affordable at the time or what just personally appeals to me regardless. I'm not out to impress other bass players, it's all about what makes me happy! Recently I bought 2 Laney 2x10 cabs from their ebay shop. They cost me £200 each and I don't think the Nexus cabs were cheap items when they were the current bass gear. The spec certainly isn't cheap, and is on a par with those new Ampeg VB cabs aside from my Laneys handle more power at 400 watts each, a bit heavier at 17kg, I think better looking, and certainly much cheaper! As I grew up in the Black Country, it's also nice to be supporting the brand also. 😎