skelf

Hi

A small clear out of gear because I have streamlined my show demo gear down to a Helix.

Pretty much everything has now been sold.

Just the Pedal-Train with Gig-Rig power supply is left so I will throw in the patch leads with it. £125 inc UK delivery.

Pedal-Train Nano with gigbag and Gig Rig Generator plus 1 Distributor. All as new with velcro on the Nano.  £125.00 inc UK SD. Would prefer not to split.

 5 x Patch leads Nuetrik Jacks Klotz cable £30 inc UK Delivery.

Any questions fire away.

Cheers

Alan

1 hour ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Hi Alan,

I hadn't previously looked at your RetroB model, it looks slightly different to the J Type I had seen in ACG archives (is that correct?).  Anyway I came across this image earlier; I really like the more elegant shaping of the cutaways compared to a standard Jazz shape!  

Hi

If I put the J Type and the RetroB together you would see that they are quite different. The RetroB has effectively replaced the J Type (it is still available) The RetroB is much more in keeping with the Jazz bass type vibe much closer than the J Type. A joint effort with Colin to improve a few aspects of the Jazz bass while keeping the essential feel and general look.

1 hour ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Of the ACG range I thought the Krell looked really interesting.  A bit contemporary for my personal taste but I do appreciate it is a fine  looking instrument, and I loved some top wood designs in the finished examples, particularly the wood choices on this one.

Yes I am more drawn to modern designs as a builder but accept that does not suit everyone. It is the reason I worked with Colin Cunningham on the RetroB which is the most traditional bass I do. It was based on his Jazz bass but still had to look like something I would do since I don’t want to build copies. The remit from Colin with that bass was for it to be not noticed. Basically to get by as Fender enough not be commented on but different enough to be an ACG. From that perspective it has worked well. 

Cheers

Alan

7 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

I do love ACG. I find most of their shapes are not really to my taste these days. The first era of ACG designs are the strongest and most cohesive to my eyes, and the passage of time has seen a general to less attractive shapes. I also think that ACG were very competitively priced to start with but are just about market average now. I'd long said that Alan's work deserved to be mentioned alongside the very best in British bass-building, but the days of them being an attractively priced upstart are gone. 

 

Out of Sei and Shuker, I'd go with Sei. I think they are the finest instruments being made in the UK at the moment and their jazz model is stunning.

Hi

All the shapes I have ever done are still available. The Recurve and Finn still front and centre have been about from pretty much the start. However I don’t get asked to build most of them very often. What you currently see as the main models Recurve,Finn,Krell, Salace and RetroB are the models people actually order.  ACG has now been about for 14 years so I am no longer in anyway a new upstart.

Cheers

Alan. 

6 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

How odd - I have played through your helix but it didn't occur to me to press any of the footswitches, I thought the idea was to listen to the basses!

I got my unit pretty early and for a while people were more interested in the Helix than the basses. To be honest it is mostly guitarists that feel the need to stand on things. I have a setup for the basses with just an amp/cab plus a little room Reverb. Bass players seem happy with this and now that a Helix is not so much a novelty they want to hear the basses. Guitarists want to try a loads of amps and effects so the tap dance on every thing in front of them and some are less than gentle. Shows can be hard on gear I am on my third pair of headphones the previous ones all broken by people at shows. Some people just don’t care it is not theirs. 

I wish I had went for the rack. I use the Helix to take to shows which it is excellent for. But some people seem to want to put the footswitces down through the bottom of the unit. I have always looked after my gear and watching people stomp on my Helix is hard work. Had I got the rack with out the controller it would have worked better for the shows but I use the foitswitches all the time when used for my own entertainment. 

The small hole is for the low battery which comes as standard on the Uber Series. Being fully active it is a useful thing to have. 

String spacing is 18mm as are all 5/6 with the MC pickups. The 4 being 19mm. 

Alan

Add this to the list. 

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2018/11/10/dsm-noisemaker-announces-the-omnicabsim-mini-pedal/

Thanks very much. Any time you want to have a chat you know where to find me. Still a killer bass you are selling.

No offence taken,all good. Best of luck with the sale although if I was you I would keep it. An original JP will be hard to replace. 

Hi

The business came into being in 2005 I was building before then so no coincidence at all. However it is also public record that JP was and still is one of the biggest influences, and making me want  to build in the first place. My main wood supplier Larry was also JP supplier it is how I found him. So I have always held JP in the highest of regard.

You can get just an active blend from John East.

The filter pre-amp does use what you give it since it does not really add its self. It can boost to a degree what is present in the filter but if the pickups/bass does not provide the basic raw material then the pre-amp wont add it. It is one of the fundamental difference between the two preamps. 

I find John's Uni-Pre the same it sounds fantastic and has real weight and presence. However I am personally still a filter guy to such an extent I find 3 bands harder to use than the filters. Mind you I have been using them a long time way before I developed my own circuit with John.

What can I say, let you down there.

It is not just about tension it is also about compliance. How much force is required to move the string. A stiffer string requires more energy to start it moving which in turns makes the string feel it has a higher tension. So while a higher gauge does help it is not the only consideration string construction has a noticeable effect on how the string/bass feels. 

Tension is fixed by the scale string gauge and pitch but how it all feels can be manipulated  to an extent. The construction of the bass also effects how the string feels. Ideally you want a stiff construction which is less prone to flexing along with the string. 

I have been using the ART tops for many years the first to use these type of tops as far as I am aware . I have a deal with Larry the guy that does them. There are now several others doing something along the same lines. 

Maybe but I would need the bass in hand to be 100% sure. 

7 hours ago, Chris2112 said:

I remember looking at that Nuevo Spellbinder a while back and wondering how many had been built for customers. At $15,000 each, I didn't expect that even one would have been sold beyond the two prototypes. I suppose this confirms that. A shame that the project didn't get off the ground.

Those two were for SC and had the electronics we supplied. They were supposed to be for him to use which he did briefly before going back to Alembic. There was then going to be a production run with two versions a passive one and an ACG equipped one. They then tried to sell the two customs and we were to get part of the sale price to cover our costs. Nothing ever appeared. A hard lesson on dealing with famous people. Actually meet SC and he was very pleasant. 

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Wasn't he playing an ACG at some point recently?

He was supposed to be using my EQ01 in a new line of his Spellbinder basses which he was resurrecting.  Of which two custom models were made which we supplied custom electronics in the form of modified 01s but it came to nothing other than a lot of work mostly for John East and costs for both of us. 

My ACG EQ01 was in the prototype when it first came out a few years back. 

I have pretty much only built multi laminate necks the main reason being I can manipulte the grain direction in persuit  of making the most stable necks. So I have never tried a one piece Ash neck so not sure if there is specific reason for it not working. Heavy White Ash is pretty stiff and hard so it should make a decent neck and having built several basses with Ash necks all laminated I have to say I really like it as a neck wood. 

Just completed a 5 string 30.5" scale bass and it seems to work pretty well. I have another on the books which will be done in a few weeks.

Just the way I route for the trussrod and spoke wheel. It does not need to carry on past the spoke wheel and in some with part of the top on the neck it does not. 

It is 18mm but there is a degree of adjustment.