JPJ

Have a look at the Radial Big Shot I/O. I used to have one for exactly the same purpose. Totally passive, only needs 9v for the LEDs

A little update. I contacted Julian at Schalltechnik_04 who very helpfully marked up some photographs of my PCB with joints he wanted me to resolder. Kit No2 came without the push button switch so I had incorrectly wired in a DPDT on/on in its place and Julian also helped me with the correct wiring. Unfortunately, during the desoldering of the switch I managed to cook the board (I know) so kit no2 is now in the bin and this spells the end of my DIY effect building career. It’s been fun and a huge learning curve but I will step out now and let those of you who clearly know what you are doing carry on with the electrickity 😎

For me, TC got it right with the Plethora pedal. I can have multiple effect boards each comprising of three effect slots (mine is the x3 which fits neatly on my board, and there is the bigger x5 if you need more slots). As many have noted the biggest drawback is the lack of a good bass overdrive or distortion but for me my always on SansAmp takes care of that. There is no preamp either (it is just a multi fx) but for my needs it is more that sufficient. For me, the key to any multi fx is the ease of use, both in terms of setup and use. I don’t want to learn a programming language or remember a list of foot tap sequences to access a good compressor, a bit of tasteful chorus, and a little bit of octave action.

Wow - but probably a bit overkill for my needs?

Ooh this looks like what I’m after - thanks

I’d looked at that one, but wasn’t sure of the suitability for bass and also put off by the price - I mean it can’t be any good at that price can it? 😂

I’m looking for a good eq pedal to help bring out the sparkle on my fretless when my rig is set for fretted bass. As the magic lives in the mid-range and lower high range, the candidates are the Tech 21Qstrip and the WMD utility parametric EQ pedal which I must confess I am leaning towards due to its smaller form factor. Another contender could be the Source Audio EQ2 but I cannot find much info on using this with bass guitar. Anybody care to point me at any better options?

Without understanding the science behind this, I’ve recently gone from exclusively playing five-string ‘active’ basses with onboard John East tone circuits to playing four string passive fretted and fretless basses and the transition has been revolutionary for me. The best way I can describe it is that the tone of the passive is wider, breathes more, and feels more natural. As a result it cuts through the live mix more imho. If it were me, I’d be going with a passive onboard setup and doing the tone shaping either outboard or in your amp. That said, if you wanted a hybrid approach there is nothing to stop you using a stereo lead to run separate pickup signals to an outboard preamp box and doing active blending/tone shaping there.

So kit no2 assembled and tested and……..well it works, but it is quiet, like really quiet. I’ve obviously cooked something or made some other error but I am going to take another look tonight to see if I can spot anything obviously wrong.

Last nights rig, I love that Geezer Butler ABM - nearest thing I’ve played to a full valve head 😎

Just a thought but that E saddle looks a long way back for a BBOT bridge. Have you checked the intonation?

Ah the IKEA chair, the thinking man’s alternative to the classic Eames 😎

This is why I love Basschat 😎

Doh I missed that, although 99% of the gigs I played with my old G50 were with John East powered active basses and I didn’t encounter any issues 🤷‍♂️

No, the 2x12 is to replace my venerable old 4x10 which is neither a one-handed lift or capable of passing the door jamb test 😎

So yesterday I snapped up Funkydoug’s Ashdown ABM400 Neo 1x15 combo which looks like it will be ideal for a new project I have kicking off in the new year. First impressions are really positive, light enough to carry in one hand, small enough to pass the @warwickhuntdoor jamb test, but powerful and authoritative tone. Looks like its really well spec’d too with a proper crossover, tweeter, and two front facing ports including flared port tubes and acoustic wadding in the back of the cab. I’ll be taking it to rehearsals on Friday night to see how it stands up against a drummer and two guitars (albeit using low power 1x12 HK and Fender valve combos) and will report back.

I’ve just acquired the Ashdown ABM400 Neo 1x15 combo from FunkyDoug on here. The combo is fitted with a crossover and an Eminence U-ATP80-3 tweeter with a simple on-off switch for the tweeter. I’d like to have a little more control over the tweeter as it is fairly prominent when on so my question is “is it as simple as fitting the Eminence L-Pad between the crossover and the tweeter or should I leave this well alone?”

So in a bit of a panic purchase, I’ve bought a Line 6 G30 which arrived today from PMT (“Play Music Today” never knew/realised that was what PMT stood for). First impressions are this will not last as long as my old G50, which incidentally whilst registering the new unit I found out I purchased back in May 2010 and that means its done literally hundreds of gigs. Both the transmitter and receiver of the G30 are housed in plastic unlike the old G50’s metal enclosures. As a result, both are lighter and quite a bit smaller too. No external antennas to get in the way either although this has never proven to be an issue for me on the G50. Plugged in, no noticeable difference to my old G50, and I did ‘switch off’ the RF2 mode as a couple of muso’s I work with still use the older models (there’s a big warning label about this immediately you open the box, but strangely to find the instructions on how to disable RF2 you have to go to the Line 6 website). So I have a rehearsal on Friday night followed by a gig on Saturday night to put her through her paces and see how she stands up against the legacy unit. Fingers crossed I didn’t just blow £179 for nothing.

So my new kit arrived today and I am now armed with smaller soldering iron tips, solder sucker, desoldering wick, and a better magnifier. I’m not going to start on this until the weekend but I’ll keep you posted. Fingers crossed I don’t foobar this one up too.

Been thinking, depending on what scale length you settle on, you could do something similar to the traveller guitars and basses with the drone strings to lessen the headstock mass?

Ooh now there's an idea - I think I may have some in my parts box too 👍

Well my venerable old Line 6 Relay G50 gave up the ghost last night - no signal, just a flashing red audio light on the receiver. I've done a quick search this morning on the old t'interweb and cannot find anything about that but it looks like the receiver thinks the transmitter is clipping putting the receiver into a protection mode. I'm not surprised given the age of this unit (easily 10 years maybe 12) and I've been looking at alternatives but they seem in really short or non-existent supply at the moment so my gig this coming Saturday may be my first using a cable in the whole of that time period.