PaulKing

I got one for chrimbo. For the money, and convenience (permanently set up in kitchen for spontaneous plugging in without shaking the house with 500W) ... it's a groovy little thing, fits underneath the sideboard. I can stick on a CD at reasonable listening level, and play along without struggling to be heard. It goes pretty loud (at least with the extension cab), although the sound [i]quality [/i]is not great - unless you want to play dirty crunch bass. Then it kicks out an astonishing amount of noise. But no, it doesn't really handle bottom end - at low gain/volume it is a bit thin and puny (no surprise). Doesnt sound like my bass, doesn't have richness of tone. And then gain can only go up to 50% before overdrive kicks in (that's on clean channel), and even at that gain level it starts to distort with volume anywhere over 50%. I finger pick, hard and bassy old-school flats sound. And I guess all my basses are pretty hot-output vintage instruments.. But then the aux input really reveals the audio character - it's not a pleasant reproduction, like a really cheap portable speaker. I guess I'm used to the quality of £100+ mini-bluetooth speakers, which increasingly blow me away ... so i shouldn't have hoped for anything like that quality in this low cost baby. Still, I'd actually rather play along to audio from a separate system than listen to the nasty nasal reproduction of the Blackstar. All the bass from MP3 is lost ... which makes it tricky to pick out what you're supposed to be following, if that's what you're using it for (alternatively you could say it provides a convenient hi-pass filter to rid your MP3 of bass so you can play along unhindered!) All that said, I'll happily take this away on holiday for idle play along practice. I'll just always miss that 'mmm' factor of hearing the warm tone of my basses. Perhaps I'll have to start playing crunchy rock fuzz bass. 6/10

If you're reasonably practical, its no sweat to lower the string height your self. Lie the bass flat, slacken strings, take off bridge. Post shouldnt fall. If it does, time to learn how to reset it. Measure the thickness of your bridge along its top edge. (see later) Draw a pencil line parallel to the curve of the bridge top, spaced however much you want to lower the height. Keep the curve (profile) the same Draw vertical lines down from existing notches. Easier to remove the excess wood before recutting notches, but make sure those vertical lines dont get rubbed off ... they show where to cut your new notches. Place sandpaper on firm flat surface, and then draw top edge of bridge along sandpaper, rolling it along the curve as you go, until the top edge is taken down to your new pencil curve. You might want to thin out the lower side of the bridge to restore the curve, and make sure your new top edge is the same thickness as it started (see above) Then re-cut the notches using appropriate chainsaw file, and round off the edges of the notches so strings don't catch. An rub pencil lead into notches to lubricate them. Dont be scared.

I've raised a bridge using milliput epoxy paste ... it's like a superhard wood filler, get it on amazon. Mix the two parts, and roll paste into 2 small flat squares a few mm thick, slightly wet the feet of the bridge and stick the squares on, then lay some cling film across the belly of the bass before pressing the bridge gently but firmly down into place. Hold the bridge in place with string tension ... not too much to squeeze the milliput shims out. Once set, lift the whole thing off, peel away clingfilm, then sand down the edges of the milluput so flush with the bridge feet edges. If you're lucky, thats it ... if you need to reduce the height a little, stick some fine sandpaper onto belly and rub bridge back and forth to sand down the new shims. Keep it vertical .... dont want to round those feet off. . DIY ... a lot cheaper than luthier, and you get to know your bass.

10mm isn't that high for slap, you probably just need to practice technique. Sure you can get whackers or Rotosound - you'll lose a bit of tome but on the G it isnt that bad. But a better solution is to keep practicing and get good slap and tone from that Innovation string. Although those strings are a bit clacky when slapped, compared to gut. You could try lowering the height if you're brave enough - I presume you don't have adjusters? Sometimes shifting the bridge closer to tailpiece will lower the height a mil or so just for an experiment. But it'll also lengthen the string ... so you have to tighten it more to get up to pitch... bah.

I've buggered about with all this sort of kit for years, preamps mounted on the bass, pickups wired together, separate leads etc etc. Round the block more times than I should ever admit to. In the end, settled for unbeatable simplicity and neatness: [b]Underwood [/b]- with jack socket mounted vertically between string ball-ends, behind tailpiece (velcro strip through string holes to hold in place). invisible. [b]Line 6 G30 [/b]relay wireless, mounted behind tailpiece - invisible. Super low-profile lightweight patch lead between the two. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pack-of-3-Hand-Made-Low-Profile-Patch-Cable-for-Guitar-Pedals-and-Pedal-Boards-/190690060988?hash=item2c66036abc:m:m2rc9oM82T47qrPpL2Y5m-g) [b]Pre-amp/Eq[/b] on amp top. (Honestly. Line6 G30 is the best solution ... far more to go wrong with eq's and pedals and leads. It has never gone wrong anyway. And it has warning light for low battery. And it sorts impedance issues for you. What's not to like?) No leads or cables anywhere, no need to turn things off and on, or plug and unplug cables to save battery life. At a gig, my whole rig is on and primed all night... I take my bass out of the bag, flick the switch on the Line6 ... and I'm playing. I do all adjustments on the amp. I tried K+K opn-board preamps mixer, LR Baggs preamp/mixer ... But onboard mixing is always a compromise, fiddly limited controls, batteries to die. Do it on your amp .. how far away from the thing are you ever going to be?! I briefly had a slap pickup with this system too, and I went for a second wireless bug. Airline mini thing tucked behind fingerboard ... Can't be bothered with it now, plenty of slap from the Underwood. But if I ever did it again for that real 'billy click I'd use another Line 6. Worth every penny.

I used to worry about waking the babies up. But actually, on the occasions my wife was oot and I thought bugger it ... they slept right through all sorts of noise. And I slap loudly. I think a lot of continuing noise just washes over them. Its sudden noise that can wake them. Mine are 7 and 9 now, and actually a much bigger problem after bed time. Even so, + 1 for mute and f-hole covers for silent practice. Keeps very quiet for practice downstairs, if you have a downstairs. I made f-hole covers myself, exactly like Doug's Plugs (had to buy big foam sheets, wasnt cheap ... and took a few hrs fiddling). Work a treat. http://www.dougsplugs.com/beforeafter.html Mute - https://www.thomann.de/gb/ultra_kontrabassdaempfer.htm?glp=1&gclid=CjwKEAiAjvrBBRDxm_nRusW3q1QSJAAzRI1t8O1CQvf-IjGWKRSTgkUXJ_qkdEnQx0xCyFERqZKq2hoC-WLw_wcB I added a bit of soft foam inside the mute to dampen the strings further. Silent bass!

If you can get hold of an Innovation Braided 140RB E string try that ... a dark sounding string that slaps nicely, with plenty of sustain and projection. Matches gut, doesnt have the boing of Silverslaps. It's remarkably similar to the EP slap actually... Or try Presto .. Light or Standard guage, You talking Lenzner wound or plain gut? Dont get plain gut unless you know what you're getting into... vey different sound, different technique to get projection out of it. Useless for pizz. But I'm surprised you're finding that with the Pirazzi Slap E ... it sounds lovely and rich and dark and loud and bassy on my Mortone. Less good on my Kay funnily enough, lacks a bit of balls. But it certainly isn't slack, neither does it rattle, on either bass. At that price I cant imagine you're too pleased with the result! So maybe its just your bass

http://bbc.in/1m487du "Never underestimate the power of spray painting things gold. It triples the value instantly" Chabuddy G Entrepaneer People Just Do Nothing

Oh I forgot I already posted that pic, so you can see the plates before anyway...

[quote name='GaryDay' timestamp='1467654426' post='3085182'] Nice post Paul! Big fan of the Specials and Horace's work with them. I'm guessing you already know of [font=Verdana, Arial][color=#000000][size=3]Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon? He played bass for Chester Burnett (Howlin wolf) in the 50's before becoming a singer, the reason [/size][/color][/font]kay k162 bass is referred to as the Howlin' wolf bass. [/quote] Cheers, Yeah Gary (that Gary? I'm an ageing 80s psycho...) . That's the exact bass I got hold of ... except I pimped it with tiger-stripe scratchplates like the earlier 50s originals. That famous Wolf pic must date from 1959 or later, as that's when they started using white scratch plates like McMahon has (and changed model name from K162 to K5965). Here's mine ... [attachment=226920:5 basses update.jpg]

Short. Well I use for blues, but occasionally venture into some fat rocksteady and a bit of ska. Big fat full sound, but I dunno if thye'd give the punch you need for a big room shaking dub. Maybe a bit too woody. But double-bass-ish, so good for Skatellites style ska.

There are now re-issues of that bass Horace is playing, £500ish. Big sound, only improved with Mojo of a 50s original (massive collector lust for them) Here's mine (2nd left) ... with family. [attachment=221936:5 basses.jpg]

Nice one, thanks tredders. Ask him about it someday, I bloody love them but they're so rare. I bagged me a Kay K162 from '59 recently and it is incredible - for rootsy Chicago blues at least.

What a very special gift from a very special friend. Hehe.

Ah yeh, deep and authentic rocksteady but with modern inventiveness and energy. Great player.

Watching reruns of TOTP (gotta love BBC4), was very surprised to see Fender man Horace Panter sporting this delicious looking vintage Kay on Ghost Town - more than once. Not many of them around ... last seen with Paul McCartney on Wings tour. Anyone seen one anywhere else? [attachment=221918:Horace Kay.JPG] I wonder if he still has it ... drooooool. One going for $5k on ebay right now.

shes [size=1]tiny[/size]

Now I feel somehow closer to Sheryl Crow... .[url="http://kayvintagereissue.com/img/sherylcrow.jpg"][/url]

Well I decided to pimp. I know it's against the rules, but I've done nothing that ain't reversible. After owning and loving a reissue K162 with it's sexy tiger-stripe scratch plates, I'd always lusted after an early (pre-'59) original with same tiger stripe. Sadly the later (post-'59) are much more common, and delighted as I am to have one at all, that's the model I got my hands on eventually. But I kept thinking "I wish it had the tiger stripe, instead of plain white...". So I googled a bit, bought some vintage-white blank scratchplate material and some repro vintage tortoiseshell veneer, cut them to shape by hand, and made a new set of scratch plates. Plus, the old bridge was practically matchwood, so I made a new one out of a bit of old ebony. Criminal, strictly speaking, but I like. Before: [attachment=220562:body.jpg] After: [attachment=220563:Pimped2.JPG]

A surprising amount is down to your state of mind I reckon (note - I am not a hippie). I only get blisters occasionally - yes if I've not played for a long time, but also sometimes totally unexpectedly. It's when I get nervous, tense, sweaty (more than normal), grip too hard, work too hard ... If you're relaxed, your tone is good, you're not fighting to be heard ... you're much less likely to blister. Permanent callouses are a must. My biggest is on 3rd finger left hand, which is odd seeing as that should be the LEAST used finger. Technique? pah.

[attachment=214112:Willie Dixon Mortone.jpg] Willie Dixon, treating a King Mortone dirty ....

[attachment=214040:image.jpeg] Thanks to a little trade (enjoying the Kay Baz?) a 1959 Kay K5965 (aka K162) has finally joined the family... L-R 1963 Jolana Basora 1959 Kay K5965 1965 Kay Speed Demon 1963 Hofner President 1966 Harmony H22