skelf

Mr Steve Lawson will be attending this years Moffat Bass Bash.
Steve is a well known 6 string bass player making extensive use of looping and effects to produce cutting edge solo performances, this is your chance to both see and hear him in action as well as ask the odd question or two.
Masterclass/Demo will be taking place on the Sunday afternoon.
Tickets available from:


[url="http://www.moffatbassbash.co.uk"]http://www.moffatbassbash.co.uk[/url]

Hi
There is no up charge for a left handed bass pricing is exactly the same as a right hand.

Alan

Still weekend and Sunday tickets available.

Dam foiled again.

No I have amboyna burl which looks great. I have a stack of them arriving this week including more ART tops and finger boards. It is not the burl aspect of buckeye that is the problem it is the soft pulpy areas and the large voids.

The guy that supplies me with the acrylic has retired and now only supplies two builders me being one of them. There is a limit to what you can use I suspect buckeye might not be possible.

I will be down at the London Show and I will have the blue Recurve with me. I am not building anymore Uber basses for stock because they are very individual instruments and customers want to pick the spec themselves not have it picked by me. The Moffat Bass Bash is also an option more ACG basses there than at any other place or time. I realise it is a long way for you to go so London is probably easier.

I am pleased you liked that bass having players rate them is the name of the game that and making a living.


The difference in sound would be accounted for in many things including pickups.. The construction of that bass and the materials used are completely different from any Wal and the difference you mentioned regarding cleaner and more precise will be correct. I try to build modern instruments without an over riding character of their own. But I also want to provide an instrument that is a canvas for the player to try and get the sound in their head out into the world. A Wal is a distinctive sounding instrument much like a Stingray and while character instruments are great they never really get out from under that signature sound. I read an article I think it was either John Giblin or Percy Jones many years ago and they said that they stopped using Wal because they where being associated with the Wal sound. There are constant questions regarding how to get my basses to sound like the classics and while I am told they can get in the ballpark for most of the well known bass tones that was never the idea. If they can it is a by product of wanting players to be able to produce their tone or a new tone that is what I am interested in. Filter pre-amps in my opinion make that more likely to happen. And while the MC pickups may help I have no idea the spec on the actual Wal pickups. I have been working with Aaron and John East on my own agenda. It would be more than fair to say my agenda has been influenced by Wal but coping it verbatim was never the plan. Frankly had that been the plan I would have achieved it years ago and at a lot less cost.

At the end of the day if you want a Wal I would suggest you get a Wal,I did. If you want a bass that can sound like a Wal but has features both in design and materials that are not available in a Wal plus a bass that does sounds not capable on a Wal feel free to get in touch. I should also point out I don't cost as much as Wal.

I actually had a bass built by Chris Eccleshall before I had an actual Wal. It was to look like a Wal but had fairly standard pickups and electronics in it. I mentioned to Chris that ideally I wanted a Wal. So he got in touch with Pete who he knew and I got the pickups/pre-amp and bridge in the bass made by Chris. I sold it along with an Overwater Progress Elite 6 to help fund the guitar building. By that time I also had a Wal but I also sold it along with all my guitars, synths and recording gear to buy wood and tools.

I would have to disagree with it being nothing like a Wal. I played a Wal for many years and have recordings of that Wal the sound of which I have got very close to with the EQ03 and single coil pickups. This however it was a fretless so I am less familiar with what I would regard as a good fretted Wal sound. While possible to get what I would regard as a good Wal sound it does take some work since the EQ03 was never really intended to be a Wal copy so it does take some time. You turned that bass round fairly quickly and the EQ03 has a much broader range than the Wal pre-amp and did take work to refine down to what I was looking for.
An example of a bass with FB Humbuckers and an EQ01 pre-amp which to me gets very close to what I define as my favourite Wal tone that of Mick Karn.
[url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/joe-leitner-mick-karm-medley/"]http://www.acguitars...ck-karm-medley/[/url]


The DFM with the much reduced treble does make dailing in a Wal type tone much easier. I have the prototype MC pickups in a fretted bass but I have much less of an opinion as to what constitutes a fretted Wal tone. What the MC pickups do bring is greater clarity across the whole board. Increased articulation again all over the entire range and simply makes the bass better. If it was not for the fact that they cost so much I would use nothing else.

I am working on a demo with Colin Cunningham on the Uber ART Recurve 4. Generally I leave him to pick the sounds he likes as per the other vids but with this bass I may pickup out a few tones that I like.

Also hope to do a guide to the DFM just working through the range of tones possible. And while I think it will get you as close to a Wal as you can without a Wal (this is my idea of how a Wal sounds and I can pretty much nail it,your idea will be different so I can't comment on that) it does so much more that a Wal can't touch. The idea is as you said to make a bass that sounds great in it's own right if it happens to sound like a Wal as well I can live with that.

I now have my own Multi Coil pickup and the new DFM dual filter pre-amp. Not really interested in a Wal clone to be honest but you can certainly get firmly into Wal territory sound wise. Should point out the DFM and the MC pickups are not for sale outwit my own instruments.

[url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/basses/electronics/"]http://www.acguitars...es/electronics/[/url]

[url="http://www.acguitars.co.uk/acg_admin/wordpress/basses/pickups/"]http://www.acguitars...basses/pickups/[/url]


I am also on the MKII version of the EQ01 which has just been released. Difference is the reduction of the lowpass filter range to bring it into line with DFM. This brings the filter range more in line with the Wal. We went over board on the EQ03 making a pre-amp which in hind sight had to much of every thing so it was possible if used in the more extreme settings to sound pretty nasty. The reduction in the filter range took top end out of the system because it simply had way to much.

Many thanks.


Hipshot are now on board as well. Even more goodies to give away.
Tickets for the full weekend and the Sunday are still available. This type of Bash will be a one of so this is the chance to see a top flight player and to score some excellent prizes.

[URL="http://www.hipshotproducts.com"]http://www.hipshotproducts.com[/URL]

With a bit of luck everyone should leave with a prize worth more than the entry cost.

Moffat Bass Bash News.
www.moffatbassbash.co.uk

This year the Moffat Bass Bash coincides with the 10 year anniversary of AC Guitars. I have been very fortunate to work with some excellent suppliers and with their help we are in a position to run a very special prize draw at this years bash.

Prizes for the main draw.

: 25% discount voucher for a Custom ACG Bass.
: East SPM02 2 band pre-amp.
: Armstrong Pickups goodie bag.

Donations for the second draw.

5 iBass Magazine subscriptions.
www.ibassmag.com

2 Basschat Polo Shirts.
www.basschat.co.uk

Dunlop merchandise from Westside Distribution.
www.westsidedistribution.com

SIT Strings merchandise
http://www.sitstrings.com

Overwater strings.
http://overwaterbasses.com

ACG T-Shirts

I would like to thank all of my suppliers for stepping up with donations, it is very much appreciated.
Equally appreciated is the participation of the exhibitors, forums and magazines for supporting this years bash.

More donations to be added once confirmed.

Based on my own experience yes I do think 20% can be accounted for through expenses mentioned and things like the exchange rate.

As far as I am aware these costs apply to imported items into the UK someone has to pay them. Different codes apply to different goods but charges apply to everything as far as I am aware. As a general rule the end customer picks up the costs. The example you gave and that VAT does not account for difference is not taking the other costs into account. Even the import duty alone makes your calculation wrong. I would also assume the distribution via the rep must add a cost as well. The link does not appear to work.

Having imported a fair bit of wood from various parts of the world VAT is only the starting point with regard to the costs so allowing for 20% does not in anyway cover the import costs. There is import duty which on guitars runs at 4% which they add VAT on top of. Nor does it cover the transport costs to the port nor from the port in the USA and the various taxes applied. Equally when you see the list of charges that bringing anything into a port in this country which include things like a security charge, a fuel charge a DTI charge for what I have no idea. On my last import there was a VAT adjustment which meant they add £1600 to the value of the goods then charged me the VAT on it. If you are unlucky to have an inspection of the container then you get charged for that. If you are in a part container you get charged with unpacking your stuff from it. The list is almost endless. So 20% does not even begin to cover it. As I said if you don't have any idea of the actual process then it appears that people are making loads of money. This is my experience of importing into this country it is not cheap and cheerful at the level I work on. Most of this experience comes from bringing in a full container so I assume it represents the general approach to all containers. The part containers are worse.

45% profit margin is the land of dreams. If the margin in retail is bad it is the promised land compared to builders. Again there is a huge disconnect between the perceived money made by the builder and the actual amount made by people who have no understanding of how a business actually works.

With regard to trying gear. For eight years I have run the Moffat Bass Bash which will be the largest and most diverse selection of bass gear in Scotland which you are free to try out at your leisure. Amps and cabs that you can fully crank up in an actual live setting. Over 70 basses last year all available to try. But the number of people from the central belt that turn up to take advantage of this is pretty poor. So while I see on the forum much complaint about lack of opportunity to try stuff particularly in Scotland the one event that gives that chance struggles to attract any punters.

If you hold of a couple of days the reason for all the donations will become clear.

Not embarrassing in the slightest.

Posted on my phone so victim of auto correct.

Basschat the next to step up and have donated some polo shirts which is very much appreciated.

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Another update for the Moffat Bass Bash.
[url="https://www.facebook.com/nick.wells.3150"]Nick Wells[/url] editor of the iBass Magazine has kindly donated 5 yearly subscriptions for us to give away at this years bash.
[url="http://www.ibassmag.com/"]http://www.ibassmag.com[/url][/font][/color]
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SIT Strings now on board with some merchandise to give away.

Good to know. I mentioned in my previous comments that being able to use it within Digital Performer would be my first choice.

I am currently working on a loner bass to allow people to try out the flat board/asymmetric neck and the filter pre-amp. Thinking that a security deposit would be paid via bank transfer. Agree time of lone with carriage both ways deducted from the deposit which would then be returned on the bass being returned.

The bass is a 5 string Recurve with a RFB in the bridge and a PB in the neck. Pre-amp will be a DFM 3K. I will post details on my website once the bass is completed. This will be a UK only deal.

Alan