JPJ

Snap! Being right handed and exclusively playing finger style for 35+ years has left me with callouses or dead finger sensation. Post gig I use a liberal amount of lens cleaning/storage fluid on my finger tips then slide the lens off to one side before pinching to remove it.

One of my bands is a southern rock covers - cowboy hat is mandatory stage wear (see my profile pic). My other band is generic country/americana and I do not wear a hat (although our singer thinks I should still wear the cowboy hat).

Thanks Phil, I should really have been clearer. The ZLX15P’s have indeed served me well, and are normally paired with two old powered Peavey pro 15” subs. All the kit is a one-man lift, and I like to think I’ve got my rig dialled in pretty nicely (I’ve certainly had compliments on our sound). I guess my real issue is volume. If you push the ZLX’s too hard, then they become very prone to feedback mostly due to proximity to either of the guitarists mics. They’re only rated at max spl of 128. I admit this has become less of an issue since I added a DriveRack and pinked our ‘system’, and like most amateurs I’m still tweaking to get the most out of the boxes I have (panning has been a revelation). My question was really is there a single box per side solution capable of projecting a five-piece band to the back of the room be that a pub or a small club. Oh and I’m a gear slut who loves new gear and the ZLX’s are probably five years old and the subs probably ten. So I guess I’m tempted to ‘upgrade’ simply for a bit more usable headroom overall.

So I’m on the edge of upgrading my FOH speakers, nothing particularly wrong with the EV ZLX15P’s I currently use as tops, but anything more than a smidging of guitars and bass and it becomes very difficult to get the vocals ‘on top’ of the mix and they really need the support of bass bins to get a good sound. Years ago, we used to have a pair of enormous and unbelievably heavy Mackie 1532 columns (2x15 woofers, plus midrange, plus high) and whilst they weren’t all that powerful or efficient, they did do a good job for the full band both with and without the support of a bass bin or two. Oh and they looked mighty impressive too (I know, size isn’t everything 😊). Given advances in loudspeaker and amplifier technology, is anyone aware of a manufacturer offering a similar to the Mackie multi-speaker one box solution for the average pub band or am I overthinking again ☺️

I’m a bit late on this one but I’ve got La Bella low tension flats on both my acoustic basses and the sound sweet to my ears. Mellower sounding than the Fender flats I used to use.

So in need of a quick late night practice on the EUB, I remembered that the Stanley Clarke has both a headphone out and an aux in socket. Tried it for the first time and I’m impressed. It’s certainly quicker than setting up the laptop, interface, etc. and great for a bit of late night noodling. Can’t believe I haven’t tried this earlier 🤦‍♂️

Both the Eminence and the BSX were on my wish list before I bought the NXT. Looks like you’ve scored a very nice bass. I’m sure I am not the only one who would be interested in hearing a few sound clips 😉

I second that. He's just made two cables up for me. Great comms, fast turn around, top quality cable and plugs, and a ridiculously good price.

Ooh Headlite 😍

Posted this in the Ashdown ABM owners thread but it’s worthy of posting here too. My rig this weekend, Ashdown ABM 400 Neo 1x15 combo, with Ashdown 1x15 Neo cab. Together for the southern rock band, the combo on its own for the Country/Americana band. Fretted, fretless and NS NXT EUB.

Years (and years) ago, we used an enormous valve Carlsboro PA mixer amp as we were too poor to afford back line. Everything went through that amp, guitars bass vocals, into a pair of H&H 4x12 columns. No back line, we were so ahead of the curve 😂 I remember my Bass as sounding full and fat.

And your £20 supports keeping the forum alive. I happily pay mine whether I intend buying or selling or not (but I do so its certainly value for money).

And todays winner is 😂😂😂

Sadly not as the neck has maple binding

So, I want to tell you a story. A few years ago I had an upcoming acoustic gig so I rushed out and bought a brand new four string Tanglewood acoustic. Now I know these things are marmite but I fell on the ‘like’ if not ‘love’ side of ownership so much so that shortly after I bought a secondhand Warwick Alien five string (Rockbass) off this very forum. Now owning two very similar instruments that have poor residual values has gotten me thinking of going fretless with the Tanglewood as I am mainly playing fretless electric and EUB these days. I have some purple heart strips ready to glue in place but I’ve been looking at fret pullers and nut files on line and there is huge price differential. So my question is, any recommendations for nut files and fret pullers please?

After years of avoiding one I eventually gave in and bought a SansAmp v2. This thing does a really good growl but will go all the way to full on distortion if you need it to. Warms up my fretless P bass beautifully, getting that early Cream era Jack Bruce sound spot on imho.

Gig was out in the wilds of Northumberland on a rainy foggy night and I was driving 😉

So tonight was the night, 20’ish song set, nine on EUB. First doubling gig in a few years and it passed off without issue. Left hand was very tired towards the end of the second set (EUB heavy) not helped by our leader starting a medium paced blues tune (Ma Rainey anyone?) in quadruple time 😂 The NS was very well received and got almost as many compliments as the fretless. Quote of the night “Don’t guitars usually have lines on them so you know where to play? Yes, but I couldn’t afford the lines so I had to get one without” 😂 Oh and here’s a picture of bass corner (don’t worry the Heineken zero moved off the amp straight after the photo 😉

On one of my gigs I double on EUB and fretless bass through a single channel amp. In this setting, and IMHO, a preamp or a true twin channel amp is almost essential if you want both instruments to sound at their best.

It does 😉

I hear you, and it’s also a useful check of your intonation when playing fretless or EUB but I found it distracting hence why I wanted it disabling.

So I received a reply from EBS tech support who told me of a dip switch inside which sets the tuner out to either mute activated or permanently on. A quick flick of the switch has mine now behaving as anticipated i.e. the tuner only active when the mute is on.

Thanks for this, I have shot an enquiry off to EBS directly before going back to Mark at Bass Direct. Let’s wait and see what they have to say, but I suspect I may have a duff unit 😔

Question for the EBS Stanley Clarke users - according to the manual, the tuner out only becomes active when the Mute is on. However, on mine, the tuner out is active irrespective of the setting of the mute switch. Is this normal behaviour or does mine have a problem?