skej21

I recently bought a Fender Original 60s Precision in Surf Green from PMT (Initially ordered a LPB but Fender were pushing the delivery out until 2022 and almost beyond within the 2 months of placing the order!) It arrived, I have the Stew Mac heel access truss adjustment tool so didn’t need to remove the neck to adjust, slapped some new flats on and switched the scratchplate over and in about 20 minutes had it playing beautifully. There are so many factors between it leaving the hands of the person setting up (factory temperature, shipping conditions, shop conditions, how the setup applied differs from the buyer’s preferences etc etc). One HUGE issue that people don’t even consider is that managers in these shops are often non-musician managers. Where I used to work, we often hired young, cheap part-timers who were flexible and in the days when senior staff were off during the week they would receive new instruments and either put them from box to shop floor, or attempt “setups” before putting instruments on the shop floor which (inevitably) played terribly (particularly because having a bass player who knows what a nice bass plays like AND can set one up well is rare!). It’s easy to see how poor setups can creep on to the shop floor if the retailer has a lack of experience or a decent technician. I think it’s always difficult to point the finger at the manufacturer and claim it’s an “issue” because ultimately the buck stops with the store. They should be giving all instruments a once over and making sure they apply some expertise to counteract the changes the instrument is forced to go through during shipping etc.

More lockdown boredom has driven me to try and take stock of my bass gear, and I thought why not try and do some decent quality/accurate “YouTube banter/SMASH A LIKE”-free videos that might actually help out my fellow low-Enders! This one is for the classic Avalon U5 preamp/DI. Hope you enjoy/find it useful! https://avalondesign.com/instrudi.html

Yeah the sub-dark low end response is really nice. I was really surprised by how nicely the light variant adds grit and when used with already low end heavy pedals (like a classic OC-2 sound), it plays really nicely. Glad I picked up all three now to be honest!

Having been in a similar situation, I would echo most of the advice so far but also say that sometimes, the huge drop in value from new of a custom instrument has its own special kind of buyer’s remorse that I certainly didn’t feel ready for. Tastes change very quickly and if that coincides with you wanting (or more likely, needing) to sell it, it’s tough to take the fact that you’re likely to only recoup half of what you put in to it. It is an incredible experience though, especially (if like me, who was lucky enough to go to a few big brand factories with work and pick up multiple kinds of instruments every day) you’ve had plenty experience of tone wood choices and scale lengths, neck radius etc and can feel confident that what you pick will suit you. If not, I’d imagine it’s quite a nervy experience! Good luck and don’t forgot to enjoy the ride!

Recently bought these three fuzz variants (light, dark and the bass-voiced sub-dark) from Gojira FX and as fuzz seems to quite popular but Gojira are quite small, thought it might be nice to share my findings with you all in case you are looking for a new fuzz but want something a little different! First up, nice and simple control (one knob!), the fuzz tone is awesome and also Gojira are more than happy to collaborate on the design and do something custom for you. At £75-85, they were a steal. First part of the video is some incremental settings of each pedal from low to max, and the latter half is each variant on the same setting side-by-side. Must admit, I was really shocked at the grit of the ‘light’ variant (as I was expecting it to be the one I liked least!). Hope you enjoy and/or find this useful!

Only problem there is that you’d just push your problem to a nice guy. Headstock distribution who supply Ibanez in the UK are about as efficient as a chocolate fireguard, so you’re not going to get any better results going through a retailer (having worked for one of the UK’s largest music retailers, I know that first hand!). Absolute waste of time dealing with them at all IME and is genuinely the only negative thing about Ibanez in the UK. The products themselves are actually quite good value but no support security if anything goes wrong. We had a customer who bought an SR1605 and it had a defect and they couldn’t even replace it like for like (he ended up with an SR1805 instead!)

No idea how much the other ‘one that cannot be named’ is worth, but comparatively it makes the Casady look 100 times nicer IMO. Stunning!

Good that he’s out working again and has a legitimate way of repaying everyone what they’re owed! 🙂

Totally agree. In a similar way to the OP, I attempted to add an additional revenue stream to make up for the absence of gigs. I posted a few videos (demos of effects pedals only, no talking or standard “hey guys” YouTube wittering) and it hardly got any interest or views. However, this gets loads of attention and clicks (also, YouTube views dislikes and likes as similar levels of engagement, so they aren’t even a negative!). It’s the self-perpetuating YouTube culture unfortunately!

“How I turned my £30 P Bass Copy into a Pro Instrument”... 30,000 hours of practice? 🤣

Sure thing! https://www.instagram.com/p/CGPS7dOAeJw/?igshid=1hqx0f3pmvrdi https://www.instagram.com/p/CCi0zf9gigE/?igshid=7j6y9358ig2y

I always found that, if a bass was meant to be used for its acoustic qualities, it would need a soundboard similar in size to an upright. I’m yet to hear an “acoustic bass” that doesn’t sound like a cardboard box with rubber bands on...

Dunlop flush Mount strap locks on the mustang to reduce the length at the bottom strap button and it’d be snug as a bug in a rug!

Must agree though, the mix is the crucial bit. Obviously in a demo, it’s hard to translate the truth, whilst also not letting it throw off the mix. Personally, in terms of mixing generally it’s the Rams head and Green Russian I find are the easiest to manage. They’re the ones I’ll be keeping too. Rams Head in particular is really nice and easy to handle when mixing with other effects 🙂

Yeah, to be fair I have a video dedicated to each (Nano and BBM) where the switch wasn’t engaged, so it’s there if you want it. Lesson learnt because a few people complained. I could redo it quite quickly with the switch off in the comparison, but I’d rather just learn the lesson and move on. Might redo it some time 🙂

Last two in the series - I also added duplicate videos without the drum tracks for any one eager (sad?) as me to really hear the subtle differences. I still think Green Russian setting six with a pick from the shootout might be the holy grail?!

Next up, the Bass Big Muff - pretty honky to my ears and plays nicely with octave pedals!

It’ll be interesting to see what you all think of this one. The addition of the Op Amp really differentiates this from the other traditional Muff sounds!

Written record aside, I did speak to Bass Direct once on the phone and was basically made fun of for wanting something too “mainstream” - at the time I’d been working in a non-specialist music retailer and knew what I wanted (just couldn’t get it through the shop I worked in!) and was spoken too like I was buying my first bass from Argos for £20 and that I wouldn’t know quality if it slapped me in the face. From then on, I thought trying an email might make things a little more business-like but then got no response... I’m all for supporting independent stores and bass specialist stores but equally, you’d hope they would try and meet you half way and support you if and when something doesn’t work out!

I think you’re right. The fact it’s a fairly big independent store has its downsides and when that is combined with their attitude (which is publicly known to be very clearly polarised) probably results in similarly polarised customer experience! As a customer who has had issues, it’s also not a nice feeling to be ignored and then hear loads of people saying how great and responsive they are to sales enquiries.

I’ve used them three times. Twice for strings because I couldn’t get them elsewhere (and they turned up looking like they’d lived in someone’s gig bag for 10 years), and a set of hipshot lollipop tuners (one of which was opened, had a massive scratch down the middle and was covered in fingerprints). Tried to email them on all occasions (after delivery was received) and got no reply. I did also try to call to ask about buying a bass that was on their website at one point and was basically told I was an idiot because the bass was a predictable and old fashioned, and wouldn’t something with an on-board preamp and wonky frets be loads better? Needless to say, I’ve found alternatives.

Hi all Next up: Green Russian Reissue! Setting Six on this is 🔥🔥🔥

Not lacking. Just average. Had better 🤣

The beautiful side of a strange coin! For those interested, he sold the bass and ordered a new one. Exactly the same but untouched. He loves playing slap bass so I’m tempted to tell him that if he gives up the slap, he’ll be rewarded in heaven with 1,000 virgin MIM Fender Player basses 🤣