molan

[quote name='HartkeUK' timestamp='1393852713' post='2384986'] Not sure where the "management got involved" came from cause they certainly never mentioned anything to me or the other guys as far as I know. [/quote] I think it was when the Eden guy challenged the two players on the Hartke stand to a slap battle and volume war. They played louder and louder and louder (and one of the buggers was out of tune which made it even worse). You could literally see the Eden guy pushing them to play louder and retaliating by turning his rig up. People were physically wincing and putting their hands over their ears (luckily I found my earplugs but even then I had to leave our stand because the noise was intolerable). I then saw someone disappear to get help because it was so objectionable and saw him heading back to the stands with an organiser. Two minutes later the noise war stopped so I can only assume the organiser got them to shut up and show a bit of respect to both other stands and the show visitors. The Hartke players weren't on the stand at any other time so I think they must have been visitors and not official Hartke people. The Eden guy was definitely one of their demo players. He repeatedly played nasty clicky clacky bass off and on throughout the Sunday sessions. Even his finger style play was very percussive and, at the volumes he was using, was really unpleasant to hear.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1393860160' post='2385125'] No, that was my first recommendation and I did name check you..! Barrie (Merton) had been talking to someone about the Star Bass and as he's tried mine mentioned me and how I was knocking around. Just after I then went over to Bassgear to say my cherios and Barrie ran after the guy, brought him back and then we had our chat, my second Warwick Star Bass endorsing session of the day. Actually, I could not help mentioning to Lee Sklar that I had a Star Bass too.... (forgot to mention it was a cheapy mind) [/quote] It was Sibob Actually I think I deserve the commission payment given that I chased after him and tracked him down at the coffee stand in order to recommend a brand that BassGear don't sell

Look out for a used one in the US. If there's a dealer with a used or ex-demo one then they can ship outside of US.

The noise levels were a bit strange this year. For much of the day on Saturday they were kept really manageable, certainly down in our corner of the show anyway. We had a fairly simple policy of not ever turning up loud and asking people to be respectful of others. Maybe more importantly we asked players to be respectful of some of the instruments we had on display because they were owned by customers and for display or gentle playing only. Anyone that slapped like an idiot was imply turned right down on the amp and asked to stop playing because he might mark the bass. I totally accept that some people feel they can only get a feel for a bass if they slap the living daylights out of it but we weren't able to accept that given the venue constraints and the instruments we chose to display this year. I wasn't aware of any problems from any of our customers and, on Saturday certainly, we had a lot of nice players actually playing nice chordal and harmony driven stuff. The volume near us only really started to rise on Sunday. The biggest culprits in our corner were Eden. They had some demo players on Sunday who just played the same dull slap riffs over & over again at ever increasing volumes. At one point they were nastily out of tune too, we wanted to loan them our little digital tuner. . . Then two guys on the Hartke stand (not anyone we knew) decided to have a huge volume slap-fest duel with them. It actually could have been fun had they not decided to continually turn their amps up higher & higher. Eventually someone complained and they were told to stop by the organisers. In the main this was awfully policed though. At one point we had one guy playing some quite nice stuff, not very loud, just after the horn had sounded to cut volume. We instantly turned him off and gave him headphones. Approx 5 seconds later the Eden stand plugged in and played at a roaring volume and the organiser just walked away and left them to it! I must say that the single loudest thing I heard all day was from Bernie's stand. I was chatting to someone on the Sims stand when a GB player slapped an open E and popped something higher and it nearly took my head off. Literally hurt my ears badly and made me wince. I sense a bit of 'competitive' noise going on & left immediately In terms of stand layout it's not really much to do with the organisers. Each attendee gets to choose their own position. We, very purposefully, went for a corner that seems to be a decent distance from anyone other than, our good friend, Andy Baxter who we know to be a sensible guy. We hadn't allowed for Eden but at least they were Ok for most of Saturday & a chunk of Sunday. The big trick for anyone who seriously wants to try anything out is to wait until there's a big act on the performance stage - the main hall empties right out and the 'noise merchants' tend not to bother playing much because there's no crowd to show off to

[quote name='Geddys nose' timestamp='1393839344' post='2384749'] They always reply promptly to emails and have good stocks. I called in the last time I was in Florida and was surprised how small the shop was but the guys inside were super friendly and let me try anything. [/quote] It's amazing how much high end stock they sell. I believe they are the biggest retailer of both Fodera and Alembic instruments.

As your friendly local Fodera dealer I thought I'd better chip in here with a few thoughts as well. In no particular order: These Fodera Standards hold their value extremely well. If you consider that your one dropped just 15% from the new price as a used bass and something like an 'off the shelf' Fender standard J would fall 30% then you get an idea. Once that first dip of depreciation has gone they pretty much hold value and don't go any further. In fact there's a private sale one here on BC at £3,400 right now. The black finish on the YY basses can get marked because it doesn't have a thick coat of high gloss over it. Because these basses are closely associated with Vic Wooten (he keeps his one at his Bass Camp) you find they are often slapped and played quite hard. I've seen one of Vic's basses up really close and they are covered in dings and marks. He's very tough on instruments and all of his are heavily worn. The YY basses really are 'player's instruments' - they do look amazing but they are very much designed to be used and not just hung on a wall. From a personal point of view they are my favourite sounding if the Standard range and have loads of tonal flexibility. The key to 'understanding' a Fodera is to really get your head round that Mike Pope designed pre-amp. The active controls combined with the lovely smooth passive treble roll off give loads of different tonal options. I was very much a J only player until I got my first Fodera with a PJ setup. Cut a little bass, boost the mids a shade, roll back the balance towards the bridge and there's some cracking J tones. Roll the passive treble right back, maybe boost bass a bit and bias toward the P and there's a great old school P bass rock/funk tone available. I tend to hold the pass treble cut mid way and use it whilst gigging to fine tune my sound - it really is a killer little device. The YY series particularly comes to life at stage volume. Again, it really is a proper gigging bass and can cut through a live band mix really well or sit back and hold a groove depending on how you set the pre-amp (obviously your fingers and amplification are going to have a lot of effect too!). Personally I wouldn't re-rout one if you're worried about future value. People expect these basses to be 'played', at least that's very much our experience in the shop, but they also expect them to have the original spec pickups and electronics. The only exception to this rule might be if Fodera bring out new pickup or pre options in the future but I think this is highly unlikely with the Standard range for a long while. If it were mine I'd really work that pre-amp for a while and try to get it out with your band and see how it sounds live. Any problems at all just zap us a message or call the shop and we'll be happy to help PS - Apologies if I'm biased about these basses but I just bought a new one at the weekend as well and have had a ludicrous grin from ear to ear ever since. I just love playing them, absolutely my favourite basses ever (and I get to play a lot!).

I have and they are great! The main guy is Beaver Felton - he was an excellent player and responsible for an influential series of instructional series of videos call Superchops. Unfortunately he was involved in a car accident and paralysed from the waist down many years ago. They don't always update their website when gear is sold so be sure to check what's in stock. Shipping will be between $125 and $250 and duties us Vat should be about 23% of the total including shipping.

[quote name='jazzyvee' timestamp='1393807856' post='2384631'] Oh and before you ask, no I didn't buy the Fodera [/quote] I did though

Thoroughly enjoyed today. Working alongside Joey Lauricella and Jason DeSalvo from Fodera was an inspiration. These guys just know so much about building basses and are so full of enthusiasm for all things bass Also enjoyed a stint covering on Andy Baxter's stand. Some amazing vintage instruments on display and working alongside the wonderful Ernie McKone was fun too. Every time things were quiet he couldn't resist a quick blast on the odd vintage Fender or two (especially a cracking '66 transition era Jazz with binding, dots and lollipop tuners). I even managed to sell him an Eat bass, Sleep bass, play bass T shirt Waiting to see if he wears it when playing for 6 Music's Fantasy Funk Band next weekend. For anyone who's coming along tomorrow, make sure you say hi to us all on stand C1A

[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1393331972' post='2378763'] Andy Baxter will be at the London Bass Show this weekend as far as I'm aware .... Don't miss the show. Last year I noticed a lot of vintage basses on his stand [/quote] Yep - Andy will be at LBGS this weekend. He's on he stand right next to the BassGear / BassChat one so a good location to see som nice basses and meet people

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1392405498' post='2368440'] Is it that much more to have it included? [/quote] Correction on my part - DI version is an extra £100 not £175. Non DI is £1,125 and DI is £1,225. I ordered a DI version in the end. Based on first impressions it really is an amazing little amp. Made a couple of cabs sound better than I've ever heard them before. I'll try to write up a proper review when I've had more time to play properly.

Woohoo they arrived a day early - cue complete failure to finish stocktaking on strings and much testing of new amp with multiple basses and cabs

First actual units arrive in the UK on Tuesday and the only people who've heard them would have been at NAMM in January. I've heard a VTB201 (which is close to the pre in this head) through the same 800w power amp section it'll have. It was a very clean but smooth sound and the power stage is really 'muscular' with clear note to note definition. It's not old school valve thump but, equally, not like a super modern solid state head. The new amp is going to sound a little 'slower' and warmer based on what James Demeter says and what I've heard from two people who have used one at NAMM. However, I think the difference may be relatively marginal compared to the VTB210 / Minnie combination unless you have an extremely good ear.

Surely that's more like £1,500 or more overpriced? It's 'only' an RI and not even a Custom Shop. You could specify a brand new CS in this spec and finish for less! With a bit of shopping around you could even get an original '60's J with a refin for this kind of money (although probably not a stack knob). Hope it sells though, I could use it as a reference if I sell my '64 in the same colour

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1392918257' post='2374219'] I think they have promised to allow demos only for 15 minutes every hour this year, and make sure everybody adheres. But I can't seem to find anything about it on the website. [/quote] There is a 15 minute per hour ruling this year. If anyone hears people playing outside of the fixed periods then I'd strongly urge you to complain to the organisers. The more people,grumble the more chance there is it'll be enforced

Here's mine

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1392678974' post='2371638'] How much are they going to raise by? They seem to have jumped from £590 to £650 ish. [/quote] To my ears Aggie stuff always comes into its own in a live band situation. Almost all their heads and cabs sound better cranked up I think. There's definitely some brands out there that seem to be 'tuned' for immediate impact in a shop demo environment. I can totally understand the thinking behind this but some of these can get very harsh at any kind of serious volume. It's been a while since I've heard Shuttle, of any size, at serious volume - odd really, they've definitely sold well but I don't see me out gigging much. Maybe it's just the sort of gigs I go to There's been a two tier rise at a few places. They moved from £599 to £629 but average price rises are going to be about 15% (maybe more on some lines). These are slowly filtering through already and the £650 price means UK dealers are swallowing a bit of margin loss to try and stay competitive. My guess is that they'll hold the £650 for a while but could creep to £679 later in the year. You can still get £629 from people holding older stock I think. These rises will be across the whole Aggie range eventually - certainly any new stock will come in at the higher price. The good news is that availability and turnaround times on new orders will be a lot quicker (especially for cabs which used to be 6-12 weeks delivery) but this is being reflected in pricing.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1392630890' post='2370715'] Take that back.... mine broke this weekend mid rehearsal, footswitch started misbehaving. Funnily enough I've had this happen twice on other TC pedals. Time to order a TU3, anyone got one going spare? [/quote] I've got two that aren't being used - I'll get them listed tomorrow!

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1392462207' post='2368987'] Just got a Polytune mini to save space on a little board and it seems cool so far, some slight noise problems with it being a digital pedal in a power daisy chain. But changing it's position in the effects chain seems to have eleviated that. Si [/quote] Where did you move it to Si? I've always stuck mine at the front of the chain. However I noticed a little bit of hiss when I had a wireless unit on my little board recently. It seems venue specific though, it was fine at home but a bit hissy on a gig.

We played a gig last weekend with instructions from the pub gaffer not to go on until 9:30. By 9:00 the pub was quite full and a few punters were hassling us to start but the landlord told us to hold back. He also asked us to take a good half hour break in the middle because he always sold more beer when there was a longer break. He added that by pushing the second set back we'd be kicking off when the pub got its 'second wind' as some other locals started winding down for an 11:00 finish. We were a bit sceptical and got a bit concerned when people started giving us a hard time for waiting until 9:30 to start but we stuck to his guidelines and he had things spot on. The early crowd mostly stayed for the second set and were all at the bar in the break. Then, pretty much as we went into the first song of the second set, a whole extra group of, much younger, punters came in and stayed to the end Turned out it was a really good night and starting late and having a long break just suited the venue!