Alfie

Second gig with new band. Top musicians, great songs and we totally nailed our set. But there was nobody there.

How has the RD-9 been now you have had time to play?

The stripping and polishing process mostly involved swearing. I did as much as I could with a random orbital sander and 220 grit, then sanded by hand every grit from 320 to 7000. Then I used auto sol aluminium polish combined with a vigorous wrist action developed during my teenage years. Finally I dropped a screwdriver on it from a great height, creating the dent you can see in the middle. The switch is a soft-click 3pdt so it feels like boss switching without the faff of building a relay. There isn't much margin for error with the switch because the battery cover plate doesn't leave much room for the latching process to complete, but it is possible.

Family shot

I have rehoused a minibooster I made years ago. I love big knobs. I might alter the CLR to improve the LED effect.

Thanks for the offer, Banzai are sending replacements

Yes and yes. Also breadboarded to try different resistors. I think I have been sent the wrong LED

Warm white when illuminated.

A couple of LEDs I ordered recently are white rather than purple, is this likely to be a problem with the manufacturing/stock or is there some electrical wizardry I am missing?

BJFe Blueberry clone in a repurposed and polished old Boss enclosure.

A bit of synth? Like a Boss SY-1?

Boutique pedals are like craft beer. People get drawn in by the names/graphics/exclusivity. Often they are virtually indistinguishable from each other, or downright unpleasant. I find it annoying how on the other bass forum, most requests for pedal recommendations are met with, "try the Tuba Bazooka Goat's Balls", or whatever other blink-and-you-miss-it snake oil is the flavour of the day, soon to be defunct.

As a teenager in the late-nineties I went up to Denmark Street with a grand intention of playing a Rickenbacker through a valve amp. Confronted by the frostiness of late-nineties Denmark Street hospitality, I lacked the balls to go through with my plan and ended up doing a quick circuit of the shop and pointing to the first set of strings I saw behind the counter before leaving with a mixed sense of shame and relief. A tale as old as time. Of course the strings in question were Fender Original Bass 7150s and this started a lasting romance. It helped that for a young bassist, the smoothness of the nickel, compared to the scouring nature of the steel roundwounds that was all my local shop would carry (Rotos in the orange packet). This made playing so much easier. I loved the initial zing, gradually developing into a mellow thump and less obnoxious than the clang of steel roundwound. Santa got me a set of 7250s once and that ruined the dream of Christmas for me. Over the years I have put flats and steel roundwounds on various basses, even those weird black nylon things, but the bass I have always picked up the most and gigged the most has carried Fender pure nickels because it has the best compromise between steel roundwound and flatwound. The only downside is that the sweet-spot does not last long and I am too lazy to change them as often as I should. Also they changed from a gold sil wrap to no wrapping at some point. I muched prefered the silk wrapped version, both aesethically and tonally.

Generally speaking, I would not consider buying a used bass for more than 75% of the price I could get it new.