uk_lefty

I'd not played an instrument since the recorder at primary school. Unless you count being given a knackered electronic keyboard and some sheet music and being told "learn that in two weeks" as my music "lessons" at senior school. I basically had no clue and was trying to work it out from myself by getting learn guitar books out from my local library and trying to play my friends' electric guitars upside down. Luckily the shop had a few lefty basses in.

I had a Tanglewood Nevada, a sunburst P bass copy. It was left handed, though I thought it wasn't logical to have the deepest note at the top and was toying with getting a right hander. I'm glad I didn't. I learned on that bass slowly out of two books, one of which had the play along cd until I started playing with a band. I was 17, the guitarist 20 and the drummer 25. They were both experienced gigging musos. The guitarist was a bit of a legend from his early teens and had played gigs all over the country with his previous band which split in two, the bassist and singer going one way and he and the drummer going the other and recruiting me. I took along my Tanglewood and played with them for a year, eventually on my 18th persuading my parents to chip in 1/3 each and 1/3 from me to get my fretless 5 string Kramer. Massively ambitious at the time but that again helped take my playing up a notch. I traded in the Tanglewood as it was just sat doing nothing. I think I traded it against either a Zoom BFX 708 or a Marshall Bass State 150. I can't remember which exactly. The Kramer is still with me and still gets the occasional gig. The Tanglewood wouldn't have stood a chance. It was OK to learn on but light years behind the Kramer, which in itself isn't the best quality bass. The only photos of the Tanglewood are at my Mums house, so here's the Kramer almost 20 years ago, and again around 3 or 4 years ago...

The second hand prices of fender japan basses are soaring. I'd only relic and do irreversible mods to one of the common easy to get 62 reissues, not a PB70US or something like that, personally.

I don't believe anything can be worse than this...

Yeah that is quite annoying. I like their reviews but more for the playing than the products. At least its not all 300mph slap. Because of the randomness of it all though you can't really compare stuff. I think the German guys are the best for reviews, Bass the Word is it? I've been looking a lot at amps recently and was watching their review of the Markbass Marcus Miller stuff. They were not impressed with that at all, underwhelmed probably the best word for it.

A mute button is an essential for me. On board compressor not really, but drive and sub harmonics I have been known to use via footswitch. I don't find tweeters douch for me. I like the idea of flip top amps, I see Ashdown have done an Origin.AL fliptop now which would be good for carting stuff about. I love a kickback Combo, my old Hartke kickback sounded fantastic and it was always tilted, same with my old GK Backline.

Fair enough in some ways... Just seems odd. I don't fully understand the Watts vs ohms thing but if you make a 200 and 500 watt head why are the cabs 400 and 600 Watts...? To give additional cover so you don't drive the speakers too hard...?

Why is the "vertical" 4x10 nearly 300 quid more than the square 4x10?

What didn't you like with the Laney... Not criticism, just curious because with you liking Orange and Ashdown I'd have thought these were up your street.

They certainly sound good and the mid preshapes and tilt make it very versatile. I'm very tempted.

I had a partner in the past who made me wait in Oxford Street M&S for an hour while she looked at the same few rows of practical underwear then as soon as I walk in to Bass Cellar or whatever its "right, you've seen it, can we go?". Amazed that lasted 8yrs. She didn't support my music which was majorly in the back seat to my sporting endeavours. She attended one game. I got to the semi final of the national cup, played alongside and against international players, got man of the match performances in games to keep my side in the tip tier of leagues in the country... And she was coerced in to attending the one game she did. All the time I was a "study widow-er" if there is such a thing, her academic pursuits dictated almost everything in our lives despite nobody getting any joy from it. Fast forward a few years... My wife however is AWESOME. When we got together I'd been in bachelor mode for a while and booted the TV to the side of the living room for a modest bass amp and a couple of basses. Hadn't been in a band for a few years. When things got serious she said to me "why have all this kit if you don't use it? You should join a band, fill your boots before we have kids..." so I joined a decent band. I have footage of my pregnant wife dancing with her parents at my 2nd or 3rd gig. She makes sure we have the option to visit Denmark Street if we are in London and has even TOLD me to buy guitars that I like (in a supportive way, meaning "you really like that style, if there aren't many about you should get it. It's your money..."). Now we have two kids I did a deal on gigs, the gig money goes in the kids savings account. They had a few good years before covid. Now for rehearsals I can't go out until we've got both kids asleep. In my main band three of the others have kids, luckily older than mine so they fully understand that sometimes I'm not going to be there to set up for gigs but I'm always on time to get the gig started. In my new venture the singer has a kid younger than my youngest, so the pair of us are often rushing to get to an 8pm rehearsal. Everyone understands and nobody is a n0b about it. Put simply, my wife is AMAZING. She is supportive and every single parcel that arrives raises a shout of "is this another guitar bit?!" She doesn't understand the constant buying and selling but she knows I won't spend money I don't have and I sell stuff to make the cash to buy new stuff.

They're brilliant, phone them up and explain what you need and why and you'll get good advice. I first found them via ebay but now deal directly with them. They were doing a deal to get 5 or 10% off your second order or something a few months back. Great for buying bits and bobs for repairs and putting Bitsas together. Have never let me down, always top service.

Have been thinking about a practice combo for a while now. I was using a Blackstar BEAM for a while which was great as it covered electric guitar too, the bass sound wasn't up to much though. I sold that a while ago to party fund other toys but am now without an electric guitar amp and without a bass amp at less than 500 Watts. I have been aware of the Peavey Vypyrs for some time, does anyone know how well these handle bass? Then yesterday I came across the Laney AH series. They're listed under keyboard amps but they're really small PAs, multi input amps than seemingly can handle anything including electric drums. Wondering if these are a good shout with an HX Stomp providing pre amp and cab sim? It could solve two problems and be good for recording... Then there's alternative brands making similar products. It wouldn't be for gigging, unless maybe used as a monitor, just home practice and recording. Would be interested in the collective experience here of people using multi instrument amps or keyboard amp/ PA monitor combos.

Bizarre indeed when it's the variances in the wood etc that you want to check out... Can't please everyone I guess. Suppose I like Wunjos approach, you buy the bass and then they ask you how you want it setting up and also offer free set ups for life. Which would be great if I was in London a lot more!

You should probably prioritise quality ear protection over a new amp. Also, what sounds like it's running out of steam in a rehearsal room when you're stood in front of it might be crushing the ribs of someone at the back of a gig...

This is surely down to EQ rather than volume? I play fingerstyle 99% of the time along with two guitarists and never gave a problem being heard. Being heard at the right pitch and at the right time, however....

Sounds like a bug to me.

I didn't realise but for the last few rehearsals one of my guitarists has been using a Hotone (is it "Hot 1" or "Hoe tone"?) Ampero One with a Head rush 1x8 speaker and sounding excellent. He is one of these who really spends time with learning his equipment and getting it to mimic whatever exact sound he's after. He's had loads of separate pedals and loads of different multi set ups, I was surprised to see him using something from the cheaper end of the market but it really did sound excellent in his capable hands.

Aha. So you're obviously pleased with it. Do you know of you have access to the older Boss multi effect presets for bass units, on the unit itself or via the Web?

Has anyone on BC got one of these yet? I've read the whole thread, lots of talk on number of effects and specifics and some reviews, but what I really want to know is... Can I import somehow the presets from the old Boss GT10B? They were awesome and I'm missing those on my Helix stomp, which is a great bit of kit but there was a whole gamut of excellent cleaner tone presets on the old GT10B that I would love to have right now in a much smaller box without having to programme it myself.

If I was right handed that would be an image of heaven for me.

Buying online I guess. You can make an AliExpress China fake special look like the real deal in pictures but its not until its in your hands that you'd notice it's good for nothing other than hanging on a wall to look at.

Here's an oddity... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ken-Bebensee-Lefty-Strings-Fretless-Base-4741-/174812815240?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0