Ghost_Bass

Why don't you use a earplug in the free ear and reduce the volume on the EA. If you need a EA i guess it should be usefull on stage aswell.

May sound stupid to say this but check the screws of the strap pins, i've had rattle on my TRB wich i traced down to a loose strap pin.

From experience i can say that it's easier to play in a large stage for a big audience than in a small pub where the punters are right in front of you looking you in the eyes. When you're up there on stage you can't even see the audience most times with the lights. I've played on a new years eve for around 30.000 people and i only had the reality check on a few occasions between songs where they turned on the floods for the audience and i could see tiny heads as far as i could reach, once the lights went out i was alone in the stage with my mates again. Blue, my advice is to try not to think about the audience, enjoy yourself and have a good time. Enjoy the big roomy stage where you can crank your gear up to eleven and feel the bass rumbling up your trousers. Focus on the music and your band mates as they'll be far from you and comunication will be more dificult. Make sure you have a good enough monitoring as the guitar amp will sound tiny up there and masked by your bass amp, don't forget to ask for kick drum in your monitor it's very important. There are far more things to worry about up on the stage, the audience should be the least of your concern. Have fun!

First choice Promethean P5110 if you can find one used, closed seconds are the equivalent RedSub and Harley Benton, all made by Beta-Alvin. If that fails then you have the Fender Rumble 1x12"/1x15", GK 1x10"/1X12" or used GK MB150, Hartke HyDrive 1x12", Markbass CMD121P, and the price starts to rise from here on up to the likes of Phill Jones and AER. There are lots of old used and cheap combos that will do the job like the Trace Elliot Commandos, Peavey TNT150, Behringer Ultrabass BX1200, etc. but they're heavy to move. EDIT: all the listed combos will be able to cope with a drum set if your drummer isn't Lars...

^ +2000 I've been fortunate that most bands i've been in became a family and i'm still great friends with everyone i played with. There's nothing better for a band that having a real connection between the members. People enjoy themselves more whilst playing and become more driven to get better and better knowing they have the support of the rest of the band. I would go for the best person with the best personality every day.

Isn't it plain TuffCab?

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1493825021' post='3291019'] If you buy a used bass you can get an MIM for less than £400. Does it need to be new? [/quote] +1 The best Precision(s) i've had in my hands were two Classic 50's MIM basses. Only sold both as i use 5 strings verytime. Light, comfortable and great sounding basses that cost(ed) what i considered to be a fair price for the product. Would be my first choice if i ever find myself in need of a P.

What a shot in the foot from them! It's a real shame as JD are amongst the few high quality and great sounding/feeling basses i've ever tried. Your post puts me off thinking about ordering one from them (if i had the money...). Awfull CS in deed. Spend your money elsewere or, if you really want a JD, just buy a used one and stick a Fender decal on it!

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1493422954' post='3288285'] Strictly speaking, 11 frets would do... [/quote] Yep! I saw that comming after posting but decided not to edit

Hope not. Hope they keep their good QC as allways and stop hiring poor photoshoppers... just look at the paintjob on that body, a nice high gloss finish with reflections on the horns that fade in to a matt finish on the bottom of the body as seen on the arm rest...

Why do you even need more than one string and 12 frets? All the notes you need are there...

My mic/stand/xlr and mixer track... but i'm fully aware that i can't sing so i know when to shut up!

[quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1492949254' post='3284289'] Or just wire the mains to the handle....... [/quote] I like the way you think but i would take out any handles from all the equipment in the shed. It would make it more dificult to cart the stolen goods.

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1493234857' post='3286847'] Wouldn't this be just dreamy? [/quote] I must be living the dream then... In the last 5 years i've had the luck to work with musicians that understand their place in the band mix onstage. I own a RCF PA in half with the drummer and we leave it to do it's work so we don't leave the gigs deaf. I've gigged a lot of times with an old rock band using just my Promethean 1x10" combo and it was more than enough to cope with the drums. Now i've been using the S12T as it lives in the drummer's (band's) van with the rest of the gear as it's easier for me to have the small combo at home for transport, if i need to play anywere else. Only volume war we have on stage is with the vocal monitor the tends to go too loud but it's easy to manage.

1. Teach the drummer and guitarrists to play in a civilized and respectfull volume; 2. HPF the bass (onstage) at around 70Hz; 3. Have all the band go through F.O.H.; There! Can we close the thread now?

Wow!!! Such a messy pickup routing on this body! Huge gaps on the "P" with the scratchplate ending beyond the routing and the "J" routing looks untidy and not straight at the ends... Definetly not what it's expected from Yamaha!

[quote name='nash' timestamp='1492813915' post='3283497'] Banging a Fender logo on a bass to invite confidence is a lie. It's deception. Whether you sell it or not. It's the intention of making people think it's a Fender. It's brand snobbery enablism. [/quote] The "brand snobbery" moral dillema quickly disapears when you find yourself being dismissed in band auditions even before playing or getting crossed eyes from sound engineers before playing/recording. Your bass may sound great but the first impression will last. Of course this doesn't bother me a bit as i find that a good Fender is the one that keeps you warm at night... [size=1]...whilst creacking in the fireplace... [/size]

That's the port panel on a barefaced cab by the looks of it. I can say from experience that that is a weak spot on the cabs due to the lightweight plywood. I've had to ask the band members to stop lifting my cab by it's side using only the port side handle as it broke the glue and came loose. I had to glue the pannel back. Having said that i think that i wouldn't take much force to do this damage, just an infortunate situation like the carrier stepping on the box to go over it and catching it in the edge and in the middle of two braces could be enough to break it as it's a weak spot. In your case, you have pictures to prove the damage in the box, you have payed for insurance, go all the way up to threatning them with court as you're entitled to a refund for the damage. No package handled properly should show signs of exterior damage like that. It was either a big knock or somebody used your cab as a step. Good Luck

I agree with the POV that a Fender logo invites confidence from other musicians and punters/techs. It's an icon in the market and a brand everybody associates with a professional bass guitar. I've been gigging my ~3k Yamaha (and even a ~4k Ken Smith) a lot and i lost count of the amount of people talking to me at the end of the gig congratulating me on my tone but "i should get a Fender, that's the real deal"... There was a time where i proceded lecturing them on how badly constructed Fenders are with no attention to matching bodys to necks and basicly built like a kit put together in a hurry in the end of the line and that a USA Fender hasn't got enough material or labour to cost more than $500... now a just smile at them and answer that i don't have the money to buy a Fender, cuts the conversation short

I usually change strings rather than cleaning them but i've done it when i find myself between ordering a new batch of string sets. My cleaning method is a bit unorthodox as i don't like to boil the strings due to the big rise in temperature or soak them in solvents that need to be stored and release vapors. I use kitchen supplies to clean them, i soak the strings with a few squirts of heavy-duty kitchen oven grease cleaner and leave it to act for 5 min, then i rinse them under running cold water while i wipe them with an old kitchen sponge. I dry them with a clean cloth and leave them in the sun for another 10 min to completely dry. I find this method very effortless and the end result is great and can last for another couple of gigs with the new string zing while the new strings arrive. BTW, this is the degreaser i use:

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1490642043' post='3266741'] The background image is his. I took the SVG on the website for the guma drive, changed the fonts and a bit of the layout and just used the image as a background, moving it round to get bits in the right place. Inkscape is quite good for that. Then printed onto waterslide. Took a few goes to work out the right way to do it, but still came out pretty well I think. [/quote] How's the noise on your pedal? I've been seriously thinking about ordering the B3K clone for me as my B3K doesn't like to fed by the PSU and hisses a awfull lot. I'd rather build a quieter clone to use a separate PSU just for one pedal.

It's not uncommon for parcels to skip a few readings. I bought a piece of gear from BC a few years ago (can't remember what was now) traveling from UK to PT. After the first two or three scans it gone out of the map, calls to the shipping company turned out empty as thay didn't had any shipping info also. After a couple of weeks the package was delivered to me, turned out the seller printed the shipping label on the wrong side of a sheet of photograph paper and the bar code got blured. That delayed the delivery as the package wasn't read by the scanners and it explains why it got no tracking info. Hope you get a nice present for your B-day, good luck

[quote name='malcolm.mcintyre' timestamp='1491512596' post='3273690'] Switch failed on my EBS multicomp, of similar vintage. I e-mailed EBS manufacturer, and they are aware of problem. Sent me a new switch free. I then soldered it to the wrong side of the board [/quote] Well... that'll teach me not to go through the middle man and go straight to the the big shots. EBS rep quoted me 28€ for a switch. I now have a new switch incomming from Banzai for 10€ in a joint order with a friend so i could split P&P. Should have gone straight to EBS in the first place...

[quote name='funkle' timestamp='1492093041' post='3277897'] I basically agree with what you say. Upper strap horn changes make a big difference; I have in fact fitted an extender to my Modulus. Completely reversible but it works reasonably well. The issue around number or frets largely relates to the overall design of the instrument; it doesn't change to overall scale length that you have to manage. The issue with most 24 fret 5 strings is how they deal with it, at least in my experience. [/quote] Yep, i understood your POV, it's valid and i've seen what you mention in a lot of basses. My best advice for you is to go for a 34" bass if you're looking at off the shelf models. Stingray has the best 34" B string and i've yet to find a Yamaha with a weak B. Ibanez also make great basses with good B strings. I've tried a Fender Deluxe V from a friend and i liked the sound of it, also i've had a Sadowsky in my hands that sounded lovely. They're out there, you just need to search and try until you find "the one".

[quote name='funkle' timestamp='1491984065' post='3276877'] It's a matter of increments. The TRB above is better than some of the earlier TRBs, but could in fact get the tailpieces a little bit closer to the end of the bass; there is room for a little bit of shift (though small). The upper horn doesn't quite reach the 12th fret; it's in between the 12th and 13th. The ideal is probably sitting between the 11th and 12th, though very few basses do this. (And I happen to find those necks a little wide, as well as the string spacing not quite being narrow enough.) All the little things add up to where the 35 inches of scale ends up sitting, and how far over to the left it is shifted. At least in my experience. I guess my reach is just a little bit shorter than others. [/quote] Again, i'm not saying to buy a TRB (first thing i've wrote about it was that i find it too long to reach the first fret but i'm used to it), i'm just using what i know to try to explain (using a visual aid) how i believe that removing 3 or 4 frets from the fretboard won't make the bass shorter if you maintain the scale length and strap pin position. I understand what you say about the bridge, it can be pulled back even if it takes the body to have a block of wood extending back but, IMO the best way to get the headstock closer to the body is to extend the upper horn strap pin - above the 10th fret should make it way easier to play - this can be achieved with a bigger upper horn (custom build) or retrofitting a strap pin extender (there are some talk about it in this forum). Cheers