Matt P

I'd go for the rega carbon, if you read through the reviews they struggle to find much bad to say against it, from my own experience of fitting them to a few different turntables I have to agree, I fitted one to a 70's trio turntable as a stopgap solution whilst the owner saved for a new turntable and 4 years later he is still using the trio/rega set up and loving it, the money he was saving has been spent on more records. Matt

I would suggest that a new cartridge would be the best bet, the main question is how much you want to spend now. Matt

You say that it's the original cartridge, do you know the make and model, there are still very good quality styli being made for certain cartridges. (the Jico SAS ones are supposed to be excellent) if a quality stylus is not available then I would suggest a new cartridge, modern ones have come a fair way since the 70's. what would you class as not too expensive? personally i'm running a Ortofon 2M red on one turntable and a Rega Carbon on the other, the Ortofon is around the 100 quid mark and many enthusiasts would class that as budget, the rega is under 30 quid and it is my first choice for resurrecting old turntables as it has surprisingly good performance. i am interested in the new grado E cartridges as well, the E3 is quite tempting. https://www.hifix.co.uk/ortofon-2m-red-moving-magnet-cartridge https://www.hifix.co.uk/rega-carbon-cartridge https://www.juno.co.uk/products/goldring-e3-moving-magnet-cartridge-stylus-eu/661196-01/?currency=GBP&flt=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NTxBRDxARIsAHyp6gDfhIwI_GVpDb8ewxTPw1JA11cdlOi7YL5MwSV0LcTOOTL7lIcZgtAaArqUEALw_wcB Matt

Yes the Hiscox cases aren't cheap compared to most gigbags but if the bass is wearing through them then the initial outlay will pay off, i bought my first Hiscox about 20 years ago and it's still in very good condition, i have bought about 12 of them now for various instruments and all but 3 of them secondhand and have rarely paid more than 50 quid (some have been as cheap as 30 quid!) unfortunately the EBP is one of the less common ones but does still pop up secondhand. If you compare to a Mono M80 (as suggested very early on) then the Hiscox is actually cheap, £127 for the Hiscox vs about 170 for a M80 gigbag or 120 for the M80 bass sleeve. Matt

I know that you asked for gig bag recommendations but has he considered a hard case? The hiscox std-ebp is 49" long inside so would easily take the bass and they are about as light as they come for hard cases and very long lasting, and if you compare the prices to bags from mono etc they're very good value. Matt

I bought Chris' LIne6 wireless, a totally painless and pleasant experience, it was posted very quickly and was better than described as he had included an upgraded cable, definitely someone you can have confidence dealing with. Matt

that's a lovely looking bass, the big plus point for me is that it was assembled by the bass doc, i have had a few of my basses setup by him and they all came back playing perfectly, he really does know how to build a "fender" bass (even a bitsa that i threw together out of 50 quids worth of bits came back from his surgery playing superbly) the top spec components of this build should make it a tone monster. Matt

I might be able to help if you want a neo Celestion, think i have a BN10-200X sitting in a box at home barely used (bought a couple of neo Celestions about 10 years ago to build some cabs but never actually got round to it) (if any kind of deal is made i will make sure pay my subs to BC obvs) M

@owen Has it nailed here, I think i have played more hours in church bands than i am ever likely to manage at "secular" gigs, one thing that i would suggest is that if you have a 5 string (and are comfortable with it) then that would be my choice, the most common bass that i take along on a Sunday morning is a 5 string singlecut with chrome flatwounds on it, this covers 99% of what i need. (although i have used ukebass, EUB, P-Bass, and fretless on different occasions when i felt like it) quite a lot of the music will have been originally written on a keyboard instrument so Eb is sometimes the key of choice. don't expect to have the music in the right key for every song, and it might be anything from proper sheet music right across to a handwritten chord sheet (quite often with 2 different sets of chords depending on who used it last and what fret they like to capo at on their guitar. i played with one worship leader who only really knew the chords for the key of g so they just stuck a capo on wherever they needed to to be able to sing. some songs might ot have any written music at all but these tend to be 3 chord songs and easy to busk. the ability to transpose on the fly is probably the most useful thing i ever learnt, sometimes the leader will forget to take the capo off so launch into a song in a different key to the one agreed upon. and if they have kids songs then i have been known to kick in an effects pedal or two (the bassballs was especially good for this) making friends with the PA team is worthwhile too, the church that i attend doesn't run the bass through the PA at the moment so i control the level on stage, i always have a word with the PA operator after the pre-service run through and make sure I'm at a sensible level, often i'm told to turn it up a bit! (I've taken ownership of the house rig as i've paid for all the servicing etc over the last 10 years, a lovely Trace Elliot GP11 AH250 head with a Peavey 4x10 and a slightly cobbled together but nice sounding 1x15) Matt

i can't comment on playing Skiffle but i can recommend the book that Billy Bragg wrote a couple of years ago https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roots-Radicals-Rockers-Skiffle-Changed/dp/0571327745 a really enjoyable history of how skiffle developed and where it led. Matt

great review! these look really interesting, what is the string spacing at the bridge please? i had a rockbass 5 string a few years ago and couldn't get on with the 16.5mm string spacing no matter how much i tried, just too tight for me. if this is more like 18mm then i might have to get searching for one! Matt

i think some of the rip-off is happening i the uk, the whole unit is $49 on the mesa site, https://store.mesaboogie.com/products/high-frequency-driver-406-with-horn.html and the driver is $19, have you got any american friends that could buy it and have it sent over? https://store.mesaboogie.com/products/replacement-diaphragm-for-406-driver.html Matt

Cleaning the laser would be my first step, failing that the next step is to work out which cd mechanism it has, there are not really that many companies making the laser units so you should be able to buy a replacement one, depending on the unit it might be a simple job of unplugging the old one and plugging in the replacement.

having been to the last 3 or so bashes i'll be up for the next one, not sure i have anything bassy to bring that people might be that interested in but i guess i could bring baked goods! Matt

i must apologise, I managed to get your plans all back to front! in my head you were planing a printed core with front and back plates of aluminium. the solid core plan is much more robust, and a single thickness through the body will certainly give a good solid foundation for everything to mount to, i'd probably go for some lightening holes in the alu plate as it would be much easier to add some mass back in than try and remove the material at home. i would still suggest that testing the adhesives on a small scale and under fluctuating temperatures would be worthwhile as the embarrassment of part of your bass falling off on stage would be pretty high, also having used a 3d printer i know how long it actually takes to get a print out (even ignoring the fact that there is a fairly high failure rate with 3d printing) having a part that took hours to print fall off and get damaged would not be ideal. the thermal co-efficients of aluminium and ABS are quite different so the testing should show up any issues that might occur. If you can design the whole thing to work without glue then that will work much better but i would still make allowances for the different rates of expansion of the materials and the vibration of the whole instrument will be subjected to. i look forward to the first parts being made! Matt

As you are planning to smooth and paint this body i would be tempted to reduce the amount of aluminium to a minimum, you only really need the high strength round the centre to counteract the string tension, the outer areas could have a much thinner skin of only 1 to 1.5mm, with a thicker central area for the bridge etc, i'd suggest some kind of bonded in threaded metal insert to take the strap buttons as well. if this was my project i would be tempted to go for a clear coat finish to show off the construction methods! a brushed or polished finish on the aluminium parts with the printed section visible at the edges could look really striking. the only thing that i would be wary of is the thermal expansion of aluminium, i seem to remember that alu necked basses were a thing at one point and they had tuning difficulties if the temperature was not stable (under hot stage lights or coming in from a cold journey) this might cause bonding issues between the aluminium and the printed parts or tuning issues. it might be worth making a small test part to check (simple printed block bonded to a small sheet of aluminium. then try warming and cooling it to see how it holds up. it would be embarrassing to have the body split or crack after all the work. I should say that i am a mechanical design engineer by day so my first reaction is usually to look for the areas that would cause a product to fail (i spent a long time designing access platforms for offshore use and they get a little shirty if people fall through them into the sea) but a little bit of experimentation before launching into the project could save you from making an expensive paperweight. Matt

I've been sketching out a case like this to house my Markbass F1 for years, i'll probably never get round to though so buying something appeals to me! my thoughts have usually included an easily replaceable front panel and an open back so that it could be modified to fit a different head if needed. and the whole thing sized to fit perfectly on my Barefaced Midgets Matt

what about making a thin (but rigid) plate to go under the bridge that extends forward enough to mount the gk3? something like brass maybe? as long as the edges were carefully smoothed and the shape was aesthetically pleasing it should work. the bridge saddles will need dropping a bit but only by the thickness of the plate, maybe 0.7mm or so?

which 8x10 cab is this? it won't help you for your gig but drivers pop up in the classifieds on here all the time, in fact there is a 10" ashdown driver in the recycling section right now. Or a wanted ad might find you a replacement that the shops cannot provide (especially with older or more obscure cabs) i helped a fellow out a while ago that had damaged one of the 10's in his trace Elliot 4x10, i just happened to have the exact one sitting on a shelf that had been swapped for a Neo alternative in it's original combo. Matt

I've used the 5 spring method on Strat's before, If it's a fully floating trem (floyd rose or one of the more modern strat type designs) then a thin shim of wood might be needed on the spring side to get it nice and level (i have used blocks of wood on either side of a floyd once to keep it in place.) you might need to be careful with the 6 mounting screws as tightening them too much can actually pull the trem away from the body, this depends on the profile of the bottom of the bridge plate though. Matt

i'll check out the Yamaha Reface CS, currently i'm watching Ebay and the local selling groups for a bargain deal, i've missed a few so far but i'm not in a huge hurry, unfortunately my music fund has little chance of getting bigger as our house needs a new roof. matt

thanks for all the suggestions and recommendations, Space is a huge factor here, when i mention studio in my first post it's really just a corner of the study and incredibly cramped so anything larger than the monologue/bass station is impossible, it's going to be sitting on my desk and fighting for space with the PC keyboard! My main reason for wanting one is curiosity i think, so having just a few dials and sliders to play with suits me well, i'm going to be learning as i go, if i find myself getting deeper into it or hitting the limits of the kit then i'll find the money to buy something more advanced. any sounds/tracks that i create are unlikely to go any further than the door of the study, certainly for a year or two. i'll keep a watch for the K-station as it looks like a good option, but there is a microbrute for sale on a Facebook group and it's only 8 miles away and quite tempting. Matt

thanks for the input, unfortunately the Bass station 2 is out of my price range as they start at about 150 if you are really lucky and in reality 180 is the starting price for a reasonable one and 200 is fairer, it is the Bass station 1 (the original one from the 90's) that i can afford as clean ones are around the 130 range (scruffy ones start at about 80 quid!) so with some patience i should be able to score a clean Mk1 bass station with my budget. i don't think the mk1 bass station has any preset options. i'm really not that bothered about presets as if it does end up on stage then i'll likely only use it for one or two songs, are the keys on the microbrute that much smaller than the minibrute? i had no issues with the minibrute keys in the shop but they didn't have a microbrute for me to play with and compare. Matt

i know this is a question that has been asked a few times but i haven't found answers to my questions yet. For some reason i find myself really wanting a synth to have a play with and possibly to record some random stuff with, this is most likely never going to leave my home studio unless i feel super brave and take it to a band rehearsal. I have been looking at monophonic analogue synths and in my price bracket there are basically 3 that i'm seeing most and that look like the kind of thing i can work with and don't scare me with too many buttons/dials/sliders. Korg Monologue, Arturia microbrute and the original Novation Bass station. my budget is maximum £130 so the bass station 2 is out unfortunately and the minibrute is probably out too. i had a play with a minibrute in a shop and really liked the sounds and it seemed pretty easy to use, i want something quite simple so the microbrute with fewer controls really appeals but i've seen a few of the first gen bass stations go for under 100 so this looks very appealing.which would be good as the 130 is really pushing my budget the monologue seems to get plenty of love as well and i'v seen them sell within my budget. i'm happy to wait for the right deal to come along. has anyone got any experience of these three? i see a lot of love for the mk2 bass station but no mention of the original, should i avoid it for any reason? i want to stick to an all in one unit with a keyboard as i think the less setup required the more i will use it, space is limited as well so the 25 or so key layout is about right. if anyone can suggest alternatives that i should be looking out for on the secondhand market that would be great too. thanks Matt