neepheid

Yes, it is. And while my brain knows that it's sitting proud of the surface of the body by 4mm or so, my eyes feed back a picture sometimes that looks like it's sunken into the body instead because of an optical illusion, probably based upon the way the light is hitting the edges of the pickguard, or how it's reflected/refracted/whatever.

Yes, I've seen that too at certain angles.

Pickguard arrived yesterday, and here are the final results - I'm done tinkering with this now, it's as perfect as I can be arsed making it!

Yes indeed I imported it - none of the US retailers carrying it would ship internationally so someone in the US I know bought it on my behalf and forwarded it on. It is supposed to be a US dealer exclusive (zzounds, Long & McQuade) but a few have leaked across the pond - Musicstore/DV247 had a few a few weeks ago but they're sold out now (they still have blue sparkle in stock) and Strumenti Musicali in Italy seem to have the purple one in stock right now... https://www.strumentimusicali.net/product_info.php/products_id/190410/epiphone-thunderbird-64-bass-purple-sparkle.html (apologies to your wallet)

A pox on Epiphone for discontinuing the white Vintage Pro! Easily the nicest of the original issue.

Well, I had a wee razz through the amp tonight, and even at levels which won't incur the wrath of neighbours it sounds punchy and solid. Felt like a complete and utter rock god even without an audience, but any T-bird will do that to you I reiterate - NO NECK DIVE (caveat this by saying I use a Neotech Mega strap - but it isn't pulling at the shoulder of my jumper either). It will hold a 40-ish degree angle up from the horizontal, and is quite happy at 20 also, I kid you not. There are a couple of things I might change though. The electronics mostly - I don't like the taper on the pots - it's a bit all or nothing in the final quarter turn. Tone pot does very little also, so I think an experiment with different caps may be in order. Also, I'm not convinced by the stock choice of knobs - there's no context for them to be gold, they're the only gold coloured thing on the entire bass, save for the Epiphone logo on the TRC. I think I'd prefer black and silver top hats instead.

Sorry, not a fan of the slim BB.

Really? That's what caught your eye? Should have gone to Specsavers!

Snagged one! It's a Thunderbird, it does Thunderbird-y things (except neck dive, which is apparently a Thunderbird-y thing). Only had a quick razz in the headphones but it sounds good to me! It's a hard so-and-so to photograph for the camera in my mobile, it only shows the true sparkle when it's pulling focus and I catch it in the act thus: Sod it, have a video. 07_thunderbird 64 purple moving.mp4

Not quite, it's the Harmony pitch shifter, and yes, they are cool little pedals - I laughed my ass off the first time I opened the box! So cute, like doll house furniture or suchlike...

Me too - Brian is on the case making me a clear guard, hopefully will get it this week.

I wouldn't read too much into it - there's always a bias towards the negative in reporting. No-one ever seems to mention the fact that mine arrived pristine and in perfect working order. Did I mention, for balance, that mine arrived in excellent condition, fit and finish? The only "issues" I had were my dislike of the stock knobs and my ham-fisted exploration of the internals pulling the connector off the bass pot - both "me" problems.

Nah mate, post them up here - don't make us do work and stuff.

Sorry for the sidebar, but could you Tamworth boys go and pull UPS's effin' hair for me? Got a bass stuck at UPS Tamworth for the past 3 days...

A wee change of preamp (and removal of old compressor, think it's gone a bit pecuilar - unsurprising considering it's about 40 years old!) Battalion has a built in compressor, and a noise gate too, so some consolidation and an extra feature gained. Lose the headphone out from the Monomyth, but I rarely used it - really needs aux in to be truly useful IMO.

Good old Super 10 to the rescue! It ain't called "magic spray" in my house for nothing...

Awesome news!

Last night, a new venue for Nine Lives - the St. Olaf Golf Hotel in Cruden Bay. It was a bit blowy driving up to the place - thought this might limit attendance. Place is nice though, we got to set up in the lounge bar which felt like playing a gig in someone's living room (albeit with a bar at the opposite end. Setup was a doddle - small room, levels were easy to dial in. In the first half, it was surprisingly busy - a group of 6 or 7 ladies determined to dance the night away made for a great time. Unfortunately, they had to leave to go to another social engagement (for which one of them apologised - that was nice). Second half was a bit dead, unfortunately and annoyingly there were quite a few folk through in the main bar but barely any of the effers came through, despite me going through a couple of times in an attempt to shame them into it. Honestly, you can take your second hand "enjoyed the band" comments delivered later by the staff and stick them up your holes sideways as far as I'm concerned. Props to one lass who kept coming through when she heard a song she liked, you're alright! Gear was the G4M "rat" bass, then the Epiphone/DiMarzio Les Paul into the Markbass cubes. One plus from last night was finding the culprit for some recent pedalboard nonsense - my old 80s Yamaha compressor is getting cranky and making humming sounds which change when you wiggle at it. I removed it from the signal chain last night and played without it, but it looks like its time may be up.

Also, the H2n can still be bought new in a couple of places - Amazon and Musicstore/DV247, although I get the feeling it's on the way out so if you wanted to pounce on one, best do it soon!

Who signs off on this shyte? I'm with you - like your old H4n, my H2n can be set to manual gain and I put the wheel at minimum and it'll handle a band in a room going full chat with acoustic drums and everything.

Thanks for the advance info about new Zoom stuff - I've got an H2n that I've had for yonks. So "handy" (heh, see what I did there?) for recording rehearsals when jamming out songs so we can remember what the bloody hell we did!

My delivery date has been brought forward from 27th-30th Dec to 17th Dec, and I only just got charged for them today which confused me no end - that got my fraud radar twitching! I had to look back and no, I did not get charged for them when I ordered them back in November. I guess that means it's definitely happening then.

I left it out on the stand with the guard off where I would see it often to make sure I knew what I wanted. I like the look of it without the guard, but I despise pointless screws in the body, and I hate pointless holes worse. I CBA filling the holes, so the clear guard is the compromise.

He does everything through his eBay store https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/earlpilanz I would just send him a message via eBay messenger.

Brian received the pickguard for copying on Thursday and I paid yesterday so hopefully it'll be next week some time. Not trying to be secretive but it might be cheaper now that Brian will have a template for the Z7 - I'd enquire directly.