Wolverinebass

A few years ago, I played an Elf at the SE bass Bash. I literally laughed at it. We tried it through different cabs and my conclusion was that unless you were using an 8x10 (which negates using such a small amp!), or were playing a coffee shop gig it was so underpowered as to be ridiculous. I was red lining the thing the whole way and it was barely getting anything that resembled decent volume.

That video reminds me of the insane video where Gibson drove a massive JCB over all their surplus guitars with all the pickups and hardware still installed. Still, that bloke who picked all of that G&L stuff out of the skip can now set himself up on ebay he's got so much gear.

Is anyone going to be driving through Reading so I don't have to sit on a rail replacement bus for 45 minutes? Just for the records.

The last person who did that to me asked why I was playing "such a crap bass and not a precision." I was playing an Alembic. That was about 15 years ago. It didn't end well as I lamped him. Not for that comment, but for some others which were much more offensive.

I would imagine brandishing some sort of club or weapon will make them pay for the rehearsal. Oh, sorry, everyone is talking about organisation.

I think that model is 600W. I toyed with getting one of them about 20 years ago, but the weight put me off. I think the joke is that Ashdown recently launched the new ABM range and the 4x10 are still 35kg and they're trying to charge £1300 for them. It's almost like time has stood still and chiropractic costs have come down.

That will have a horrible neck profile for it. That's before you get to all the other nonsense that would have to be done to it to convert it. If you're going to get one, just get a proper one. Either the Schecter Dug Pinnick or get Brooks to make one that has EMG DC's and BTS system in it. Then you're in full Hamer territory. Job done.

Frankly, no banana yellow Auerswald, no deal. None of the basses on sale are any that you would care about. Great, a bunch of horribly ugly Warwicks bought when he was changing basses every song on tour. Hold me back from selling my kids into copper mine slavery.

Yeah, plus I bet the venue took 40% of that merch cash as well for doing absolutely nothing.

This has been my experience over the last couple of years too. There are things that I won't do and things that I'll never get to do because of the culture of moronic 30 second videos and clickbait crap. People low balling you because what you do isn't valued. Not because you're not good at it. Why would it ever be valued when this is people's perception of what a musician is. Spotify is basically free. What you do doesn't matter. If we all became nodding dogs maybe we might have more luck.

It's a joke which came about from one of my own bands. I was discussing cymbals with my drummer and he said he had seen a Zildjian ride cymbal called "the megabell." Basically it had a hugely pronounced and exaggerated dome which I presume was designed that way so that it was impossible to miss. When he told me what it was called, I burst out out laughing saying that it sounded like a great insult. "That guy's not a bellend, he's a f@&*ing megabell!" In that they have transcended the normal level of bellendry to a higher lofty plain that us mere mortals will never attain.

Turro is a thief and a megabell. Sapko and all the other Youtubers mentioned are megabells. I find them all grating, so I don't watch them. In fact, Sapko, Davie504, Charles Berthoud and Scott Devine are the 4 megabell horsemen of the apocalypse as far as I'm concerned. Anyone who thinks that anything will change other than Sapko's bank balance because of his "moral stand" is deluded. Turro will go back to doing what he does, stealing other people's work and Sapko will get the clicks and ad money from our collective outrage. Then, he might figure out something else to say "bass" about in a hyper stylised northern accent.

Thanks for putting the idea into my head! Ha! I'm happy with my Vanderkley 2x12 currently, but things change, especially as they've went out of business. It might be worth a punt to get one for smaller gigs. Having said that, the bass I took to the SW bash and the HX Stomp settings I used I know exactly how they should sound and that's exactly how it sounded. As there's so much top end and percussive distortion in my signal, it's something that I have to be able to hear clearly to be able to relax. If the cab doesn't reproduce it, then, that's a problem. I'm sure other people at the bash would have much rather I was a precision with flats person. They didn't get to relax because I could hear what I wanted to. Ha!

Nice work squire. Glad to have helped you out.

There is that Chris. I'm someone who is quite particular about how I sound. I can say that @stevie's cabs are possibly the best I've ever played. A lot of people gauge things on the low end. I always compare on the treble end. If that's off then I'm not interested, because if it is, you can pretty much guarantee the mid range is wrong and the bass end will probably be hyped or coloured. I hasten to say that I'm not on retainer, nor do I even own an Lfsys cab. They're just really, really good and if you value sonic fidelity of what you put in is what comes out, then this is what you're after.

I could always bring my Hamer.

Yeah, that is of course my Grainger Hades on the right. I think a few folk thought it was just "too mad" to have a go on, which was a pity. Naturally, sonically, it's set up for me, so precision with flats it most definitely is not. Noisy? Not really. Loud? Absolutely! I don't think that one can play a bass that visually striking quietly without appearing silly. Especially not when you're playing through a Laney Nexus and one of your Monaco cabs.

I can second that. It was a fantastic bass. Not just to look at, but to play as well.

Many thanks to @scrumpymike for organising and also for lunch. Also to @Sean for giving me a lift to and from the train station as well as letting me play his Laney amp and Spectors which were brilliant. I might have to try and find myself an Epiphone Les Paul bass after playing @neepheid's. It was fantastic. I think that after properly playing through @stevie's Lfsys cabs with a bass setup that I've recorded a lot, I think if one were to be in the market for new cabs his would be top of the list. Sonic fidelity in spades and frankly beyond any insane definition of "lightweight" you might have. Ultimately, it was good to see familiar and new faces. If anyone is going to the SE Bash, you may have to put up with me again. I was disappointed at the cab shootout replacing the cage fighting. I felt this was a missed opportunity for the community as a whole.

Maybe is should have just said "sell" instead of "sell well." You are of course quite right. They generally don't do anything anyone actually wants. After all, how long did it take them to change the bridge? Then everyone complained they wanted the original one anyway.

I'd never accept that. The scratches are in themselves beyond any level of acceptability for a new instrument. I don't care if it cost 3 grand or 400 quid, that'd be going back if it was like that. No ifs, no buts. The fact the Luthier has tried to justify this is really properly poor behaviour. Rectified with no shipping costs paid by yourself and a discount for the fact that they shipped a below par instrument to you or full refund. That's the way I'd go.

The peeps at Rick are on the crack pipe if they think these will sell well. I love my 4003, but there's no way many people will pay for something that looks like it's been conceived by a toddler and charge more than 3 grand for it. It's profoundly lazy what they've done here and why would you let it get out like that when it's so out of proportion? Madness.

Go look up promotional literature from the mid to late 70s.

As someone who owns both a Wal Mk2 and 2 Alembics, I can say that they sound nothing like each other. At all. Especially the stereo Alembics. Virtually nothing sounds like that. In defence/explanation of Wals, yes, the neck profile is curious. I don't mind it, but I can readily understand why folk don't get on with it. I don't find my Wal uncomfortable to play at all and as to the action, anyone who has ever played one of my basses will know that I have the action supernaturally low. Stupidly low even. They are probably the best recording basses I've ever played and take effects really well too. What they aren't are basses to take massive long solos on. Not only are they timbrally wrong for it, the neck profile will probably dissuade you from it if you have even a modest issue with it. Ultimately, there's the reason Entwistle played Alembics but helped develop Wals and appeared as an endorsee. Whilst I think the prices now are insane, given the choice, give me Wal over a personality-less Fodera or Dingwall any day. Or 4 of the latter actually given the current pricing.

Well, I'm not getting there until about 1030, so I'd imagine there won't be any cage fighting before then.