Acebassmusic

This is a great bass which somehow a friend persuaded me to sell it to them during one of my "not that bright" moments I have since come to my senses and bought another that looks very, very similar 😁

The bass weighs 3.9kg (yeah I'm sad....I keep records...lol) Here's a photo I took in the Scottish sunshine when it had the original bridge. GLWTS

Yes to a number of your comments. I have hit that wall several times over the last 40 years of playing. Sometimes its down to me getting frustrated with my playing / progress, sometimes the music or gigs, whats happening with my life and sometimes my fellow musicians I can fully understand the demoralising effect of projects falling flat and having a negative effect. I've gone through similar and thought why bother and then the next band puts a smile back on my face. 😁

As far a equipment is concerned my turnover of basses (or other equipment) has subsided (not stopped of course) as I've tried many different ones and can pretty much look at a bass / specs and rule many out. This is not 100% accurate but due to the experience I've gained is usually pretty close and has saved me a lot of money 🤣 I still "bass chase" but the number of times it turns into an actual purchase are now very reduced. Maybe your desire to buy gear has been sated through your experiences. You know "got the tshirt" and all that.

Sounds like you have a supportive partner and I would say that if its financially sensible, hold onto your gear for the moment. Don't force getting back playing and take a bit of a break. Who knows in 6 months the desire might be back 👍

On 22/09/2023 at 17:19, joe_geezer said:

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I have gone with something based on the 5 string version of this bass:

 

 

Martin is going to run a few other ideas passed me but we have a good base to work from!

That used to be my bass which I bought 2nd hand in 2009. Great bass and very easy to play for a six. I played it for 4 or 5 years and the only thing I would have changed was to have had graphite rods fitted as the neck was a little susceptible to the weather. Must get myself a 5 string Sei........

I have a set of these wonderful pickups stored away in a box. I've used them in a number of different basses and wired them with DPDT switch to give parallel / single coil / series options. I've thought about selling them a couple of times but know I'll want them again. GLWTS. 👍

I've modded a number of basses over the years sometimes for aesthetic reasons and sometimes to "upgrade".

The first one I did was when I was about 17. I had bought myself a brand new Squire jazz in white poly about a year beforehand but was obsessed with the look of neck through wood basses and wanted to try and emulate one. In my wisdom what did I decide to do? Yep, break out the nitromors / heat gun / sandpaper and take it back to wood. Part 2 of the plan required me to mask off the centre section of the bass so I could stain it to look like my desired neck throughs. Did it end up looking like a prized Ken Smith.....er not quite! 🤣 I'd underestimated the ability of stain to leach into the other areas of the wood.  No photos have survived thank goodness.

Did I learn my lesson and decline to modify basses after this first calamatous excursion?....nah! Over the years that followed I've refinished a JD calibas, replaced several bridges and hardware with more functional ones and changed out several pickup / preamp combinations. All much more successfuly I might add. 😁

Apart from installing a updated preamp into my Overwater which was a simple swap out, the last major modification I did was to my Roscoe. It'd had several owners so at some point the original Bartolini pre had been removed, an hole drilled in the body for a mid-control and the pre swapped out for something else. This setup wasn't working correctly so the last owner had taken it into a shop to get it changed out to an Audere, all now working tickety-boo. 👍 I quite happily bought the bass and played it for a number of months but was never quite happy with the Audere sound and as I had a Sadowsky preamp going spare.....Only problem was it was a 4 knob pre going into a 5 hole body. The solution was to wire the pickups to a double DPDT switch so I could fill the 5th hole and get parallel / single / series options.

Reworking the electrics / pre / wiring was the easy bit. Once I got into the cavity and emptied out the old pre it was aparent the wood had been "modified" as well as a heavy coating of shielding paint. This was no recent change as there was evidence of years of tinkering in there. There was only one thing for me to do, break out the Dremmel to remove the shielding and router to flatten the cavity for the pots. Rather nervously and VERY carefully I spent hours Dremmeling (?) the shielding off and routing small amounts away. Eventually I got it so that all the pots and switches would now fix flat and copper shielding would adhere successfully. I've added a couple of before / after photos showing the controls and the cavity. The sound from the bass is now what I was looking for with the flexibility of the DPDT switch added in 👍

Controls before and after:

Control cavity before and after:

2 minutes ago, Scotbear said:

I sort of thought I was...I have a log-in etc.

The subs is extra to your standard login. Well worth it I think to help keep the site going👍

37 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

You need to be a subscribing member to see that forum.

Oops, sorry didnt realise that. 😬 

Not an easy question to answer as there are so many different ways of interpreting "the value of an item". The only info we have to go on is:

1) it's a bass - depends on the make, model, features, condition and desirability of the bass. A Wal will currently hold it's value, my old first kay bass would not even make good firewood! 🤣

2) its discontinued - why was it discontinued? Was it a limited run, end of production, bankruptcy or did people just not want them? Theres another thread about Fender Dimension basses where they are rated as a good bass. However traditional Fender fans didn't buy them in lorry loads as they weren't the traditional Fender shape / spec etc. Some basses that were discontinued in the 80's or 90's now attract mythical status (which changes over time).

3) not many sold - is this due to availability, exclusivity, not a good design, limited run etc?

Over the years I've owned a number of "non-standard" basses that were not easy to determine the value when I came to sell. Usually searching the internet for similar basses helped give me a range of values. What would I pay to own the bass? What would I be happy to let the bass sell for?

There's also a forum on here that you can post photo's and further info and the community will help you assess it. It's linked here - "Wotzit werth?!!" The responses to valuation questions are pretty accurate as there is a lot of knowledge on the site. Also in so much as "keeping it real", if a price is proposed that is too high or too low then someone usually comments to bring some sense into the proceedings.

I would post the bass details on "Wotzit werth?!!" first which will hopefully give you an idea of the range of value. Decide what price you would be happy to sell the bass for then advertise it at that price. If it doesn't sell then re-evaluate (it could just be a slow market and nothing to do with price).

Good luck.

16 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Yup. Can't hear XyZ? Turn yourself down.

What???? Turn DOWN??? 😲  Radical statements like that will get you in trouble 🤣🤣

How many time have I heard that phrase "I cant hear XyZ...can you turn it up?" I've found in many cases turning up just compounds the problem. The book Basic Live Sound is a great little book. 👍

1 hour ago, Phil Starr said:

Presumably as a result of the sound levels at gigs.

Yes, one guitarist has just had their ears tested and found 50% hearing left in 1 ear. 😲

Another thing to consider during any technical rehearsals is the tone / sound of each instrument and how they interplay. I mentioned in another thread about earplugs that my time with the band may be limited because of volume levels when rehearsing that when I mimed for 4 songs, because of the bass heavy guitar tones and volume no-one noticed I was missing. 😭😭🤣🤣

On 21/09/2023 at 21:20, Phil Starr said:

The final trick is to have a technical rehearsal once in a while to give you time to set up more thoroughly without an audience present.

Yes, yes and yes!

I used to have technical rehearsals with my old band whenever I got new PA toys or there'd been sound issues on a gig. At the gig I would be the bass player, backing vocalist, lighting guy, sound engineer and band leader so anything that simplified things beforehand helped a lot.

For the technical reheasal I found it best to get a pub / bar / big room to do this in undisturbed for a few hours. The first time I did this there were grumbles from certain band members about us wasting time / bored / we could do this at the gig etc..... all duly ignored as this was MY practice time to make the band sound better.

I set the band up as if we were playing a gig with full PA and monitor mixes but had the desk out front so I could hear what was happening and adjust accordingly. I could now spend some "me time" understanding how the combination of mics, effect, monitors, feeds etc interact and get used to what desk changes work and what dont. Familiarity with the equipment was first done by reading the manual beforehand 😲 and then in action during the rehearsal. Trying to adjust or fault find, under pressure on a gig is not fun.

Band members could also get themselves a long lead or wireless so they can get in front of the PA to hear and understand the difference between stage mix and FOH. It also seemed to reduce the instances of "phantom volume changes"  during the gig 🤣.

Proposing a technical rehearsal (or even soundcheck at gigs) with my current band has fallen on deaf ears.........

Yep, ASC Pro17's get my vote as well. I must have used them for the last 15 years both playing, rehearsing and attending gigs. 👍

Just finished rehearsing tonight with a bunch of very talented musicians that I've been with for 2 years. Unfortunately I'm seriously considering giving it up. 😢 I can see so much potential to take the band from "good" to "excellent" by working on the sound, both the balance, dynamics and overall volume levels. However only the singer is appreciating what I'm proposing. Her husband, one of the guitarists, has serious hearing loss in one ear and is refusing / ignoring / "still in teenager mode" as far as volume, guitar tone and sound levels are concerned. The last few songs we played tonight I mimed. Yep, I turned my bass down to 0 and pretended to play along.......no-one noticed and I even asked the other guitarist how the overall sound of the songs were....."Great" was the reply and then I told him I'd mimed.......😲 I asked myself "If they couldn't hear a difference, do they need a bass player?"

Sorry for the grumble....back to the OP....I use ACS to protect my hearing but feel in some situations I shouldnt need to. I find that many of my peers have hearing loss and play louder to compensate.....thus compounding their hearing loss so then they turn up more The usual response is "We used to play this loud in the 70's". No you didn't because the gear you're now using is twice as powerful with more headroom and the old WEM 3x10 PA columns maxed out at 50w per side wouldn't allow the vocals to go higher.

I've been playing for over 40 years now and am tired of the "quantity over quality" being dictated by ego's. But then, is it just MY ego that's saying "my way is the right way?"  🤣🤣

That's probably one of the nicest grain patterns I've seen on a Thumb. GLWTS

18 hours ago, chris_b said:

I  thought I was GAS-less. . . . until I heard a Tec-amp Puma 900 this afternoon. I really liked it!!

18 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Awe jings crivvens now i've got GAS. 

 

Always liked the look of them and you've put it in my head as a great back up amp to my SVT7 

Best not look at BassBros then....😲 I have a Puma 900 and its a powerful and great sounding amp 👍

I have played this bass and like it a lot. As Ian says it's got a wide and varied range of tones which surprised me as I'd expected the Darkglass pre to be very "metal voiced". Nope, you could use this anywhere. I would have been very interested in it had I not just got an Overwater and I'm trying to keep control of the numbers (both basses and £ 🤣) GLWTS 👍

2 hours ago, benh said:

I don't feel it's a good enough standard really, would I be better off stripping and selling the parts (pickups etc?) Thoughts welcomed.

I totaly agree. It's a shoddy attempt at slapping random bits together. You should be ashamed! As a fellow Yorkshireman I will take one for the team and forward my address so you can send it to me and I will deal with it appropriately.....

.....and back to reality....that's a really nice looking bass! The body reminds me of a W&T I had. What makes you think its "not good enough standard"? If it was mine I would try selling as-is first before stripping it.

39 minutes ago, EmmettC said:

I guess the most important thing to note is that I have GAS for a thing, and I may not be satisfied until I have that thing, regardless of how useful it actually will be.

27 minutes ago, BlueMoon said:

Way to go!

 

Been there, seen it, done it, and bought the tee shirt! Totally understand.

There's a T-shirt to buy? Where? What size? Vintage? Is it any good for metal? Darn.....looks like I have T-GAS now! 🤣🤣

I'd love to try and go IEM for gigs but unfortunately don't think my band will entertain such new fangled stuff.....at the moment.....but I am working on it 🤣

I may have read your post wrong but are you only providing on stage volume for the drummer and not yourself? If its just for the drummer then you're being very generous looking to buy a GRbass for essentially their use only! 😁 If it was me I'd look to provide them with a jack / xlr output from my rig or the PA and let them choose / buy whatever monitoring they fancy.  🤔😁

59 minutes ago, stewblack said:

So...could this be added to a multi effect to add 7 extra foot switches?

Please excuse my ignorance.

If your multi effects has a midi IN then yes you can use the Midi Moose to send program changes to it. The first 5 pedal buttons (known as a group or "bank") send program changes to your multi effects. The last 2 buttons are used for changing between banks. As there are multiple banks you can, in effect, have up to 128 extra footswitches. 😲 You don't have to use them all of course. 🤣 I used this with a TC GMajor and to select the programs I needed I only used 2 banks max.

I guess we're uncool then 🤷‍♂️  🤣

Just sold my Sadowsky to Livio. The deal was smooth with good communication and quick payment. Hope you have fun with the bass. Thank you 👍

25 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

I was there and had vivid memories of Dave's comeback on the bottle thrower and his threat to do things to his girlfriend.  LOL

 

I too was there! Don't remember seeing you though...lol 🤔🤣🤣 The bands I can remeber being on the bill were Accept, Y&T, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC. Quite a line up.

2 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

We thought about that but ideally we don’t want to go through this again ( they tend to be here for 3 yrs max ) although for the right singer we would consider it perhaps 

I can understand not wanting to go through the change of personnel too often. It's a bit of a pain and inconvenience, however:

How many bands stay together for 3 years?

Can all the current band members guarantee that they will still be in the band in 3 years time?

If the band can't guarantee the above points 100% then why expect it from anyone joining the band?

If you find a great singer and they're only going to be around for 1 year then I would go with it. It gives you 1 more year of active gigging and 1 year to find a replacement and get them up to speed. If your band already has a name that's known in your area I wouldn't "rebrand" due to changing 1 member as it will take time for people to become familiar with the new band name etc.

It sounds to me as if you've been blessed with a great front person who can really sing. Not always easy to replace but some of the singers I took into my band took a little time to settle in, open up and then they really shone with a bit of patience and support. Good luck

37 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

 

Surely these issues are not gender specific?

Definitely not gender specific.

If you advertise for a male <insert instrument here> you will undoubtedly come up with many male chancers who have no idea about being in a band. It gets frustrating trawling through them to find the hidden diamond but does that mean that all male <insert instrument here> are full of "weaponised bovine faeces"? Nope, same with women.

The band I ran for over 15 years had, at any one time up to 3 females in it. Throughout the 15 years we must have had up to 7 female fulltime / deps. 95% of the time absolutely no issues....the other 5% were just normal problems you have between human beings and not gender specific. Most of the problems I had usually came from the male element of the band

@Happy Jack I think I could quite easily use all your comments but change out gender / instrument as required and apply them to many people who have applied to bands I've been in.....you're not alone! 🤣 I once auditioned a drummer who could not drive, didn't own a kit or have funds to buy / hire a kit and had his kids on a weekend so Friday and Saturday gigs were out .....but wanted to be in a band. I had to say no which was a shame as he was a great drummer and nice guy.

5 hours ago, EssexBuccaneer said:

But until we hit the stage in front of an audience for the first time, we have no idea if we’re actually up to scratch. It’s a really mindblowing and frankly nerve-wracking sensation.

My band were in a similar situation where after a line up change (me and the drummer) our first gig in 2022 was to headline a local festival in front of 2000+ paying punters! This tends to focus the mind 🤣 Are there any local band jams you can go along to and play 2 or 3 tunes? We did this and because there was no pressure we were able to play, enjoy ourselves and most of all realise that as a group we were ready to do the big gig. A couple of mistakes were made, none of them critical or life threatening and it just helped us focus on a some areas we needed to improve.

You seem to be prepared and rehearsed musically so I dont see that being a problem. As @rushbo says have a think about what can go wrong mechanically eg: your cable fails, string breaks and think of alternatives (but dont overthink the problems 😉). If something does happen on the day you've got a solution already in your head. We played the same festival again this year and 2nd song in my wireless decided not to work. It took me max 30 seconds to unhook the wireless and run a cable I had ready. Minimal disruption and one of the guitarists hadn't noticed until he saw the video several days later!