JPJ

I used one of These when I had the KK Baby Bass five string

I’m afraid I can’t help with the restoration, but it’s a bloody lovely looking bit of 80’s bass you’ve got there 😍

First around 1977-78 Jedson short scale catalogue special, photo taken in my bedroom (I was probably playing through the family stereo using the old trick of the microphone input and putting the tape deck in record and pause). Second one June 2025, playing my Boosey Hawkes Excelsior double bass, no amp, EBS Stanley Clarke preamp straight to FOH with in-ear monitors.

Got chatting with the singer from a very good traditional country band we saw last night in Laylas, they are indeed only paid in tips, bars make no contribution, but drum kit (minus breakables), backline, and full PA with engineer are provided by the venue. He said they aim to do two four hour sets per day, and pick up drop in or dep gigs if they’ve got a slot free, this can result in playing 12 hours a day, all for their share of the tip bucket!

So yesterday (Monday) we arrived in Nashville (self-appointed music city). We were amazed wandering down Broadway at 5pm how many bands/duos/trios were playing in the bars - every bar had live music, some having multiple floors of live music and on a Monday. Fast forward to this morning and making the same walk at 11am, same result! Obviously, most if not all are playing for tips only, and you had to feel sorry for those playing to empty or near empty bars. We spotted at least two musicians playing in different groups to yesterday (one bassist was still wearing the same clothes). Got me wondering how it works out here? Surely you cannot make a living playing for tips only? Do you have to take the early, empty gigs to get later more popular gigs? Are agents involved or does each bar do its own booking? So many questions - you can tell I’m in the second week of vacation and have nothing else to think about 😂

I’ll take a look when I get home at the weekend, just landed in Nashville so heading out for some local culture yeehaw 🤠

I transport ‘Lilly’ in a Gewa Prestige bag, which seems to be well built and robust for the price (I paid £170 from Thomann).

I’m a massive fan of John East’s work having J-Retro and U-Retro pre’s in most of my active basses. But, for fretless, I much prefer the simplicity of a passive circuit. My Fender Tony Franklin fretless PJ is all passive, two pickups, 3-way Strat style switch, and a single volume and tone. Best sounding fretless I have played, with mwahh for days. The J-Retro does have a pronounced low mid boost baked in, but I think John might have added a dip switch or jumper for a flatter response in the newer J-Retros. Mine are the older style so I have a lot of the bass controlled dialled back.

Bargain!

It’s an easy one hand carry, and cheap as chips secondhand

The TC Electronics BG250 208 would get my vote but I’m biased as I own one and rate it very highly. Ticks all the boxes you mentioned. I’ve ‘upgraded’ mine with better drivers at a total of 4 ohms internal so that I get the full 250 watts without an extension cab but honestly, the difference is negligible.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack, but I started to build a vertical 2x12 some time ago, then became impatient and bought a Vanderkley 2x12 that came up local to me. As a result, I have a professionally pre-cut plywood carcass ready for assembly sitting in my loft, along with two of the desirable Faital Pro 320 speakers from the Basschat 1x12 cab design if anyone is interested.

Having shipped my Head of Doom back to Ashdown I received a call today from the legend who is Dave Green. Turns out she’d popped a capacitor which he has replaced along with its sister, and she is now winging her way back to me, and should be here on Monday. Amazing service again from the Ashdown team.

As a recent convert to the world of double bass, I have followed your rebuild thread with great interest. He/she/they/them looks an amazing bass and another one saved from the great gig in the sky. Well done 😎

So 24 hours after the initial website enquiry I received an email from Dave Green requesting that I sent her back to them. She’ll be on her way tomorrow, arriving in Essex on Monday. Outstanding customer service again from the guys at Ashdown 👏👏😎

So this board saved our gig on Sunday when my Ashdown Head of Doom decided it had retired along with Black Sabbath. I’m really getting to grips with the Capo now, for me, the secret is in the blend control 😎

As I mentioned in the ‘How was your gig” mega thread, I decided to take my Head of Doom to the gig yesterday as a bit of a nod towards the recent final Black Sabbath gig. Turned up at the venue, loaded in, set up the PA, then set up my rig. Powered up the Ashdown and she illuminated like normal but wasn’t making a sound. Tried all the usual idiot checks without success, so running out of time, I just upped the level of the bass in the FOH and relied on my IEM’s for monitoring. Tonight, I decided to check again, and in the silence of my man cave, she is making a noise, but not a noise you want to hear. So, thinking it might be preamp valve related, I whipped her out of the rack case she lives in, and had a squint through the ventilation slots. Preamp valve looks like it’s firmly seated, but more worryingly, there is that unmistakable smell of blown electronics. I’ve shot a website enquiry over to the guys at Ashdown but I think she’ll need to head back there for repair.

I did all the Idiot checks including changing cables, plugging directly into the amp, plugging into the fx loop, turning the amp off and on again, repeating the previous idiot checks etc 😂 but sadly all to no avail. So the amp just sat there with its two VU meters illuminated but unmoving, staring manically out into the audience whilst having an afternoon off.

Just in from a very hot and sweaty early evening gig with our southern rock band. Played to 120 people packed into Hartlepool’s south Durham social club or as its known locally “Hartlepool Steelies”. Decided to take the Ashdown Head of Doom coupled with my Vanderkley 2 x 12 cab in tribute to one of my hero’s Geezer Butler who as I think we all know, played his last ever Black Sabbath gig just over a week ago. Got everything set up, plugged my pedal board into the HoD and nothing, not even a flicker of an input Vu meter. Checked everything including plugging directly into the amp but the same result, nothing nil nada. Running out of time before show time, I had no option but to raise my level in the FoH, and rely on my in-ears for personal monitoring. The result, no one noticed, and we had a great gig. Looks like I’ll be calling on Ashdown’s legendary customer service tomorrow.

We didn’t attempt to get tickets despite both being life long fans because we just don’t enjoy stadium gigs any more, especially not at the ridiculous prices they charge. As I said, I’ve been a fan for close to 50 years, and whilst I’ve loved the music, I didn’t really appreciate Geezer’s playing until I did a short stint in a Sabbath tribute and had to learn the songs properly. So far I’ve only seen YouTube clips from this latest final show, and looking at Ozzy, I’d say this really was the final ‘final’ show. But for me, they didn’t disgrace themselves or their legacy. Sure, they weren’t super tight but hey, it’s hardly like this gig was off the back of a tour where you could reasonably expect them to be road ready. Thinking out loud, I suppose Geezer and Tony could do a farewell gig with Tony Martin, just to close the whole thing down……….

Interesting experience. Two questions, did you use the built-in presets on each channel, and second question, do you normally use a digital or analogue desk? My experience is that you need to use the channel presets to get the best out of the flow8, and that digital desks can sound very dry compared to an old school analogue desk like the Mackie.

It does give you the option of using AES50 for a digital split if the FOH is also using an x32 product.

A few more inputs (if you add a stage box) as the x32 has er 32 channels available whereas the XR18 has 16 plus the usual stereo channel hence the ‘18’. You will have a lot more routing options in the x32 but with it a much steeper learning curve. Same with effects, but if you are only using the desk for IEM’s that shouldn’t be an issue. You’re more than welcome to come and have a play with my XR18 if you want before you commit to the x32?