fretmeister

Sandberg Electras are narrower than the rest. The California VT / VS / TT / TM / VM, and the custom / basic / etc etc are 39.5mm The DK sig model is 38mm

La Bella White Nylons would do it. Bright tone, like a round that has been on for a month and lost the horrible top end, and completely smooth. So no finger noise. I had them on a Zon Hyperbass.

There’s no rules. Trust your ears and experiment, that’s part of the fun.

None.

They offer it in every colour they do. And in every wood,. and hardware, and aging. You just have to order it that way. Not all the options are on the configurator.

I really want one of them. I am slowly saving up.

Hipshot Ultralites for me too. My Sandbergs have their new super light tuners too - like for like (Clover keys) they are actually lighter than the Hipshots. They are available to buy to be fitted to other basses. Y key Hipshots are still the lightest of all though.

I think that's very fair - especially the P types where there is an active circuit with it. I'm not a fan of the pickups they use for that. Mind you, I have a suspicion it's more about the preamp. When I got my TT4 i swapped the Black Label pickups for EMGs and an EMG preamp. I just didn't like the stock sound. The EMGs sound great. When I bought a used TT5 it already had the East J-Retro Deluxe fitted but had the stock Black Labels. I expected to put EMGs in again, but the Black Labels with the East works very well indeed. My incoming Lionel will be passive and I notice the pictures all have small pole piece traditional looking P pickups for those. It might be fine, but if not, there will be an Aguilar AG-4P 60s wind ready to go in it.

I'm inspired by Dusty Hill's rig for this. He did this live.

I'm going to send him an email for that very thing. Although on the website it does say: "Can I have a micro-Thumpinator with a variable frequency control? One of my friends bought a HPF with a knob that sets the cut-off frequency... We designed the micro-Thumpinator with a single goal in mind: audio performace. Although it is possible to design and build high-pass filters (HPF) with variable frequency, they don't even come close to the performace of the micro-Thumpinator. From the power supply circuit to the enclosure, the micro-Thumpinator is designed to deliver the best possible sonic results. In simple terms, the micro-Thumpinator is the sniper of the infrasonic frequencies: if your signal has a component below the cut-off point, the micro-Thumpinator will remove it leaving everything else untouched." [sic] So I suspect he doesn't want to! But I might offer to spell check his website if he will!

Basses for Sale. Just mark it up as a For Trade.

I tend to use the pickup as an anchor, even on my 5 strings. I mostly play fingers unless I'm singing. Always with a pick when I sing. For some reason I can't play with fingers and sing at the same time. I've tried for years. The odd bit of backing vocal is ok, but if I'm singing the main parts, then something just disconnects in my brain.

I'm just looking at the specs. The Thump's slope is 36db/Octave and the others are 12db so that's quite a big difference. I do want to really kill the lows I don't want. I'll send out some emails to see if they can be modified easily, or of the Thump can be in a different enclosure with a pot.

Lovely! I shall investigate. Thank you. I hadn't thought of a kit - I cannot be trusted with soldering irons but my eldest is an engineering student and is building all manner of stuff in the electronics module. I just won't pay her rent until she build one for me!

I see Ed Friedland recently got one and is very pleased with it.

Is there a good variable HPF in a tiny size? Ideally as tiny as the Micro Thumpinator? I'm experimenting with a subtle / low level always on Octave pedal after looking at some rig rundowns that have used some HPF units after the octave to basically stop the effect when the source note gets low enough. I have a Thumpinator and it's great but I'd like some control on the frequency. Any ideas?

Doesn't matter. Bodyshape is almost impossible to protect, unlike a headstock.

Or just play it 3 times in a row with an average pub band drummer. That will be 3 different tempos!

Just practice. When I can play a song without needing any notation I like to play it at a faster speed for practice. When I've nailed it 10% faster or so then it becomes easy at normal speed. But to get there I'll often play it way under tempo and only increase speed when it's perfect, and increase speed in small amounts. Youtube can now change playback speed so it's a really good song learning resource. Practice DOES NOT make perfect. It makes permanent! Only Perfect Practice makes Perfect. So slow it down until it's easier and get it right. Don't practice until you get it right - practice until you can't get it wrong.

I just use the passive input for everything.

I had a Zon Hyperbass for a while. I bought it used, but it was still significantly more than that. IIRC they are about 7 grand new. These days I’m very happy with my Sandbergs, but I do have a hankering to get another Marleaux one day. Probably pushing 4K these days for the spec I’d have. But worth it. Amazing workmanship. Now I’m paying for kids at university the chances are very slim!

Mind you - if the thinking happens in the amp head and not the pedal, maybe a non-latching one would work. Could get one on Amazon and return it if it doesn't work.

Needs the proper one. Quick push turns drive on and off and a long press does the muting.