neepheid

Last night with Nine Lives at the Harbour Lights in Peterhead. Probably the best gig we've had there - reasonably well attended with a few repeat customers. Played pretty well, the usual little fluffs but nothing song derailing. Best part for me was how well the Brainwaves pitch shifter performed - the sound quality is much better vs. the Hotone Harmony because even when playing -3 semitones there's none of the warbling/slightly underwater quality that the Hotone excusably has (it was less than £50 after all). And the "fake guitar" thing (as in 50:50 wet/dry mix, voice 1 = +7 semitones, voice 2 = +12 semitones) plus overdrive from the Joyo Monomyth produced a deliciously rorty sound - enough to elicit a look with puffed out cheeks from the guitarist across the stage from me and positive comments afterwards from both the guitarist and the singer. Drummer probably didn't appreciate getting his hair blown back by the rear port, but he just doesn't like it when someone makes more noise than he does Gear was the Epiphone Em-bassy Special IV then the Epiphone Thunderbird '64 into the usual Markbass toan cubes. Footwear - pink suede Vans.

For the last two bridge changes (which were, in order, a BBOT which had an annoying rattly spring and a BBOT which would probably have mandated a tetanus booster if was to keep it on the bass), I used this £19 Guyker thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B8VZGRP6 It's a good bridge - it intonates and string height can be adjusted independently for each string, with a bonus of being able to crudely adjust the string spacing thanks to the part threaded saddles (not that I've done this - the strings have just naturally gone where they're going to go and it's been fine). As for it being "high mass" - well I couldn't really give a toss to be blunt. I just bought it because I liked the look of it and it was cheap.

No mirth to be detected - for once it is intended to be a serious and hopefully useful suggestion, you old fart

Take something like this with you? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2026642

You cannae win 'em all. This is how we learn and improve

Same car. The answer to the question "how do you fit all that in a 2011 Mitsubishi Colt?" is... me.

Ahh cool, gear confirmation time. Not much time to change between then and now so I think it's pretty safe to nail these to the mast... G&L CLF L-1000, Yamaha BB1200, Sire D5, Sire Z7, Greco LGB-700, Reverend Triad, Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard, Epiphone Thunderbird '64, Squier Jaguar H (with Ibanez CAP double humbucker from ATK200/800 etc), Gear4Music rat bass (with Lace Aluma-P), Epiphone Em-bassy (with Entwistle PBXN neodymium), 1 or 2 amps depending upon space...

Now see that's the kind of attention to detail I can get on board with and tickles me greatly.

Daft question (which has probably been answered in these 26 pages, I tried searching - honest!) - see the tuners are mounted facing each other (as in the E and G are mounted "upside down") - is that so that when the bass is strung up properly (with the strings following the path of least resistance and winding on the tuner on opposite sides), you still turn the tuners the way one would expect on each side of the headstock? Sorry, it's one of those questions where your gut is screaming the answer at your brain, and your brain is going "hold on, gut, I need to give this some more thought"...

I find myself drawn towards finding out what all the SGC Nanyo fuss is all about. In all my years of playing, I don't recall having the pleasure of having a shottie of one.

Ooh, as a lugger around of the previous gen stuff (IV), I'd be interested to check out the new MB stuffs.

Tail lift, nothing you can really do about it other than replace the bridge. If you try to bend it back into shape, it'll just bend up again I reckon.

I have no horse in this race, but maybe this thread could be used to arrange a meet up of any BCers in the same boat as @kevin_lindsay with travel and accommodation already booked? When life gives you lemons, and all that?

Everything was brown then. Oh wait, that was the 70s. Where's your neon GE-7B from the 80s then?

Your English is excellent, fear not and absolutely nothing to apologise for! Tastes change. These things happen. Your tastes might come back around. I don't get the disconnect between other people playing your bass and yourself - that's your mind playing tricks on you IMO. It's the same bass - I think you are conflating the playing chops of the other player with tone and using it as a stick to bash yourself with in your head. They may be able to play things you can't (yet), but that's the player, not the bass. If they used different amplification, then it's the amp. It's not the bass.

Got a back of the headstock pic?

I think it's dangerous to deal in absolutes when dealing with a subjective, opinion based thing like what something sounds like. You're just going to pee someone off because they'll take it like you're calling them stupid for having an opinion. They heard what they heard, just leave it.

NJ coming in hot!

As some of you might have known, I had devised a project to build using only new parts a "giggable" (my definition) bass for £150, using only new parts. Unfortunately, the bass upon which this project was to be predicated was on back order from Bax, and last week they went bankrupt. Womp womp. So I had a bunch of parts (Entwistle PBXN neodymium pickup, Guyker bridge, comedy knob) with nowhere to go. This irritated me, so I had a quick poke around on local FB Marketplace ads last week for something cheap and not boring. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a 2005 Epiphone Embassy less than an hour away - a bass which shares almost nothing with its 60s namesake or the modern remake of it. I quite liked the look of it, it's a bit more interesting than a typical P copy - reversed pickup, 22 frets, angled headstock with matching finish. So I took a punt. Well, it had had a life; it was pretty grubby, the bridge was rusty and the tuners felt (and sounded) like they had sand in them when you turned them. Time for some TLC! I stripped it down, cleaned and polished the body and headstock, polished the frets then oiled the fretboard, serviced the tuners (as in dismantled them, cleaned them, tightened them up then regreased them) and then fit the new pickup and bridge. The original bass I intended to put these parts in had a single volume control, so I bought a stupidly big knob for it, because I'm quite mad. Unfortunately, this bass has a tone control as well. I thought about getting another oversized knob to match, but someone on Lowendlobster's Discord server gave me the idea of having matching knobs, but wildly different sizes. I thought that sounded hilarous so I managed to snag a 16mm knob to match the 45mm one. Enough chat, here are some pics... I am very impressed with the Entwistle pickup - it's a punchy beast and frankly ludicrously good sounding for its measly £36 price tag. I'm really happy with how this has turned out. A cheap, throw around bass which isn't worth enough to get precious about, but sounds great, isn't too light or too heavy, and has a little personal touch which makes me chuckle every time I see it. I was worried about the tuners, but they have responded well to some love being shown them so hopefully they'll be passable - because the holes are 12mm so I'd have to ream them out in order to fit any replacements worth considering.

Well, I'm glad you were counting, but we forgot to set a maximum. We'll do better this time. Live and learn and all that.

It is a duty I take very seriously

Don't let me open it...

Anyone attending the bash next month fancy taking a free cab off my hands? BFM Omni 10 crossfire - tweeters don't work, but the main driver is sound. I got it for free years ago, but it hasn't been used since I moved to my current Markbass rig and it's just taking up room at the rehearsal space right now.

Is it the 90s again? Don't make me go through all that palaver once more